"I swear by my life and love of it I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine."
The old adage says that evil cannot exist if good does not allow it. Make no mistake about it: The AI in CIV are looters, they know nothing but leeching off the hard work of others. For too long this has caused stagnation among ourselves and our community, it is time for someone to bring an end to their immoral ways, time to take a stand. Our philosophy is not one of tolerance but revolution, we do not fear to use force to protect what is ours, deny our foes every cent of their ill-gotten spoils. We shall prevail, or perish. WHO IS WITH ME?!
(UPDATED)Game Rules:
-The foundation of liberty in any society is the free exchange of goods and labor. Our people will never enter into a coercive agreement with any other. ANY AI who makes a DEMAND of us will be given an IMMEDIATE DOW. This begins referring any decision of other leaders with a negative attitude towards us (Cautious and Below) acting belligerent. Furthermore, we stand by our principles even if those who wish to be our friends try to compromise them; the severity of our response will be proportional to the affront and our relations with the society (So, in regards to Pleased+ leaders, early game civics/religions may be considered differently than the late-game with UN votes, or "requests" for disposable resources vs. techs). Those who offer gifts may get a grace deference, even as we try to steer these friends away from their corrupt "scratch-each-other's back" traditions towards the practice of free trade.
-Our civilization is not to adopt any but the most free civics. Our entire philosophy develops only from what is in the free individual's rational self-interest in this world. To that end, we must remain in a default state of anarchy (= basic start of game civics) until the government we can form imposes not one iota on the people's liberty (Available civics = Representation, Universal Suffrage, Free Speech, Emancipation, Free Market, Free Religion. Note this means we will also never adopt a religion)
-The greatest people of talent and achievement among us naturally have all the same freedoms as any other citizen. We shall not abuse their abilities or demand an unfair sacrifice. (In other words, we should settle great people, not abuse the game mechanic of bulbing. Thematic uses like academies may also be acceptable. And I'm hoping that ideally we can create some nice super-cities...)
-Other guidelines may develop or be revised as the game progresses, for the purpose of fun and challenge.
The Start:
Technical Details: The excellent Perfectworld2 script; this is a Large map with 11 civs (Start Anywhere, the script tends to generate more land than some others). All other climate settings or anything else are default. Difficulty is Immortal, Speed Epic.
Starting Location:
If people need knowledge of the UB/UU or anything I guess I can post pics but hardly think it's necessary. Traits are Agg/Fin, UU is the Beserker, UB is the Trading Post.
Strategy:
Be warned we have no easy task ahead of us. The power of the rest of the world may be against us, we have only our wits and our own might to match against theirs. Our citizens are equally committed to the cause of freedom but we never be able to gain advantages our foes may have from the mistreatment of their people. But we know the promise that lies ahead of us as well; their nations may not know how to make money, to create wealth, to prosper as free societies. And surely we will succeed in some manner in the end (All Victories Available).
In CIV terms, we should be very aware this game may quickly devolve into Always War, and try to prevent such a disadvantage as long as possible. We'll face some tough caps in the early game, particularly happiness due to lack of civics. But the start happens to be quite nice and we have very useful traits, plus the power of the greatest movers in the world, on strike against those who would steal the work of our very own hands from us.
Also, one small note: I've played just about 10 turns of the first set to explore the immediate area; I had to make sure map generation didn't screw us over, since a couple of other tests gave unacceptable starts for the purposes of this game. Also I think there's still the possibility, if there's a real consensus, to change the difficulty to Emperor (DanF's worldbuilder fix to thank, should have no other spoilers or effects). It's no good to lose too early on but we also want a challenge; I think I'm happy myself with the way things are but I may have overlooked something, so potential participants consider very carefully...
Roster: (will be edited along with whatever else needed in the OP)
Earthling
Loki Strikes
Diamondeye
PaulusIII
Anar
oynaz
(not necessarily order for playing turns, we can sort that all out).
As far as sign-ups go, I'm looking for a roster of roughly 6-8 players who are both interested in the theme and up to the challenge difficulty wise. And of course there's always room for anyone who doesn't feel like playing but has ideas/suggestions/interest in general. I see no reason not to go with first come, first serve but there's one caveat - I'd already invited team members from another forum game so might need extra slots depending on how numbers work out.
And since the game really will be serious about the theme, I figure I ought to clarify a little - to me I'm thinking of a strong mix into the stories and tales side of things rather than worrying about pure competition; I'd still make this a story anyway if there isn't interest by other players, but hopefully that won't be a problem. If we lose we can still go down in history as failed revolutionaries, forever inspiring future generations to stand up against the AI's oppression.
So - of course there's no intention of bringing actual real-world politics into this, nor is there any requirement for players to have read Atlas Shrugged or anything else by Rand. Hopefully no one read this far totally confused though; at the least I could recommend the book as, well, a fun read. But players are encouraged to contribute thematically appropriate names/stories/other ideas (ie. not just by Rand) as the game goes on. And I certainly am not going to try to dominate everything myself; beyond the premise I only have a couple of ideas that I'd really like to implement but the game could take plenty of turns. The idea is that, for those who aren't interested in playing but just want a good story, we players make it still entertaining for them. Anyone who believes in freedom is welcome to our cause!
Edit: Oh, I'd like to get a roster/have me post the first turnset within no more than a week, don't know if that's fast for these to tend to go as I haven't much experience with succession games, I'm sure the pace will settle down when things get going.
The old adage says that evil cannot exist if good does not allow it. Make no mistake about it: The AI in CIV are looters, they know nothing but leeching off the hard work of others. For too long this has caused stagnation among ourselves and our community, it is time for someone to bring an end to their immoral ways, time to take a stand. Our philosophy is not one of tolerance but revolution, we do not fear to use force to protect what is ours, deny our foes every cent of their ill-gotten spoils. We shall prevail, or perish. WHO IS WITH ME?!
(UPDATED)Game Rules:
-The foundation of liberty in any society is the free exchange of goods and labor. Our people will never enter into a coercive agreement with any other. ANY AI who makes a DEMAND of us will be given an IMMEDIATE DOW. This begins referring any decision of other leaders with a negative attitude towards us (Cautious and Below) acting belligerent. Furthermore, we stand by our principles even if those who wish to be our friends try to compromise them; the severity of our response will be proportional to the affront and our relations with the society (So, in regards to Pleased+ leaders, early game civics/religions may be considered differently than the late-game with UN votes, or "requests" for disposable resources vs. techs). Those who offer gifts may get a grace deference, even as we try to steer these friends away from their corrupt "scratch-each-other's back" traditions towards the practice of free trade.
-Our civilization is not to adopt any but the most free civics. Our entire philosophy develops only from what is in the free individual's rational self-interest in this world. To that end, we must remain in a default state of anarchy (= basic start of game civics) until the government we can form imposes not one iota on the people's liberty (Available civics = Representation, Universal Suffrage, Free Speech, Emancipation, Free Market, Free Religion. Note this means we will also never adopt a religion)
-The greatest people of talent and achievement among us naturally have all the same freedoms as any other citizen. We shall not abuse their abilities or demand an unfair sacrifice. (In other words, we should settle great people, not abuse the game mechanic of bulbing. Thematic uses like academies may also be acceptable. And I'm hoping that ideally we can create some nice super-cities...)
-Other guidelines may develop or be revised as the game progresses, for the purpose of fun and challenge.
The Start:
Technical Details: The excellent Perfectworld2 script; this is a Large map with 11 civs (Start Anywhere, the script tends to generate more land than some others). All other climate settings or anything else are default. Difficulty is Immortal, Speed Epic.
Starting Location:
If people need knowledge of the UB/UU or anything I guess I can post pics but hardly think it's necessary. Traits are Agg/Fin, UU is the Beserker, UB is the Trading Post.
Strategy:
Be warned we have no easy task ahead of us. The power of the rest of the world may be against us, we have only our wits and our own might to match against theirs. Our citizens are equally committed to the cause of freedom but we never be able to gain advantages our foes may have from the mistreatment of their people. But we know the promise that lies ahead of us as well; their nations may not know how to make money, to create wealth, to prosper as free societies. And surely we will succeed in some manner in the end (All Victories Available).
In CIV terms, we should be very aware this game may quickly devolve into Always War, and try to prevent such a disadvantage as long as possible. We'll face some tough caps in the early game, particularly happiness due to lack of civics. But the start happens to be quite nice and we have very useful traits, plus the power of the greatest movers in the world, on strike against those who would steal the work of our very own hands from us.
Also, one small note: I've played just about 10 turns of the first set to explore the immediate area; I had to make sure map generation didn't screw us over, since a couple of other tests gave unacceptable starts for the purposes of this game. Also I think there's still the possibility, if there's a real consensus, to change the difficulty to Emperor (DanF's worldbuilder fix to thank, should have no other spoilers or effects). It's no good to lose too early on but we also want a challenge; I think I'm happy myself with the way things are but I may have overlooked something, so potential participants consider very carefully...
Roster: (will be edited along with whatever else needed in the OP)
Earthling
Loki Strikes
Diamondeye
PaulusIII
Anar
oynaz
(not necessarily order for playing turns, we can sort that all out).
As far as sign-ups go, I'm looking for a roster of roughly 6-8 players who are both interested in the theme and up to the challenge difficulty wise. And of course there's always room for anyone who doesn't feel like playing but has ideas/suggestions/interest in general. I see no reason not to go with first come, first serve but there's one caveat - I'd already invited team members from another forum game so might need extra slots depending on how numbers work out.
And since the game really will be serious about the theme, I figure I ought to clarify a little - to me I'm thinking of a strong mix into the stories and tales side of things rather than worrying about pure competition; I'd still make this a story anyway if there isn't interest by other players, but hopefully that won't be a problem. If we lose we can still go down in history as failed revolutionaries, forever inspiring future generations to stand up against the AI's oppression.
So - of course there's no intention of bringing actual real-world politics into this, nor is there any requirement for players to have read Atlas Shrugged or anything else by Rand. Hopefully no one read this far totally confused though; at the least I could recommend the book as, well, a fun read. But players are encouraged to contribute thematically appropriate names/stories/other ideas (ie. not just by Rand) as the game goes on. And I certainly am not going to try to dominate everything myself; beyond the premise I only have a couple of ideas that I'd really like to implement but the game could take plenty of turns. The idea is that, for those who aren't interested in playing but just want a good story, we players make it still entertaining for them. Anyone who believes in freedom is welcome to our cause!
Edit: Oh, I'd like to get a roster/have me post the first turnset within no more than a week, don't know if that's fast for these to tend to go as I haven't much experience with succession games, I'm sure the pace will settle down when things get going.
. Also I like Loki's idea of going for the pyramids, was expecting to seek a fair number of wonders like Colossus too maybe, we'll have to see. I'm confident we can reasonably handle the war part, at least make it fun, if the other restrictions or the land don't prevent us from getting an economy.
