Ruff07 - Poor Marvin, but really ... who cares?

[ruff_hi]

pindicator posted this idea ...

The idea is we coach the AI to victory.

We team up with an AI but we have no starting units except for an "advisor" unit, most likely a worker. We then have to suggest tech paths, attacking targets, and what else we can to help our AI reign supreme. We could even do turns. It wouldn't be much playing, just telling the AI what to do and hoping it does it well enough to win.

We would have to have Complete Kills on for this to work.

... at Deviant Minds and we have finally got around to starting it.

In this game, we are Marvin the Paranoid Android ...

According to his autobiography read in the Secondary Phase of the radio series, Marvin was constructed much against his own wishes by the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation as a prototype human personality artificial intelligence. In his own words:

"I didn't ask to be made: no one consulted me or considered my feelings in the matter. I don't think it even occurred to them that I might have feelings. After I was made, I was left in a dark room for six months... and me with this terrible pain in all the diodes down my left side. I called for succour in my loneliness, but did anyone come? Did they hell. My first and only true friend was a small rat. One day it crawled into a cavity in my right ankle and died. I have a horrible feeling it's still there..."

-from Fit the Twelfth (radio series)

...

As the menial labourer on the Heart of Gold spaceship, he grew immensely resentful of the insistence of his new masters (Zaphod Beeblebrox and Trillian; later also Ford Prefect and Arthur Dent) that he open doors, check airlocks and pick up pieces of paper. He reserved a particular contempt for the sentient doors, despising their blissful satisfaction with existence.

When the Heart of Gold crew arrive on the ancient planet of Magrathea, they abandon Marvin on the surface. The crew are teleported directly from Magrathea 576,000,003,579 years into the future to the Restaurant at the End of the Universe to find that, in fact, they haven't traveled an inch. The Restaurant was constructed on the ruins of the planet they had just left (Magrathea or Frogstar B), and, while there, they find Marvin, who had been waiting patiently for their return for 576,000,003,579 years (he counted them).

According to Marvin, "The first ten million years were the worst, and the second ten million years, they were the worst too. The third ten million I didn't enjoy at all. After that I went into a bit of a decline." Apparently, the best conversation he'd had was over 40 million years ago, and that was with a coffee machine.

Further comments from Marvin included ... "In 4000BC, some tribal humans found me and decided to worship me ... me, with the brain the size of a planet and they ask me if they should settle near the pigs or the cows. What do they know of pain, ..."

... and our job is to bore a poor unsuspecting AI to death ... errr ... victory. We'll have 1 unit and will form a PA with the first AI that is unlucky enough to uncover our lonely existence.

Roster
Rex rgis of Ter (roll up the game, get us a PA)
Ruff
ZPVCSPLFUIFDPEF
Ralph_Jackson
tycoonist
Quotey

Reserves
[nil at the moment]

Sign ups and points to consider are welcome. suggestions on suitable leader and unit also welcome. I'm going to ask Rex rgis of Ter to start the game and play until we have a PA after we have settled on these outstanding items.

Leader: ?
Difficulty Level: ?
Map: Continents
Speed: Epic
Map Size: Standard
Other: ??

 

[ruff_hi]

We will also be using the DMSGEG:

Spoiler Etiquette Guide :

Alpha: The quality of your report outweighs the quality of your play. We’re here to have fun, and, of course, winning is fun, but losing in style is preferable to a boring win.

Bravo: Reports should be detailed, with plenty of screen shots and player commentary, explanations, musings, etc; an auto-log dump will not suffice. Shots of the F9 screens and overview shots of the empire are nice too, once in a while.

Charlie: Punctuality rocks! “24/48” means post a "got it" within 24 hours of when the last save was posted, and play within 48 hours of that ‘got it.’ Waiting 47 hours to ask for a skip is lame. Punk out two times in a row, and you’ll be dropped from the roster. Skips and swaps are fine, but try to let us know sooner, rather than later.

Delta: Major game decisions (war/peace declarations, religion swaps, city placement, etc) should be arrived at via group consensus.
1. If the team disagrees with you, either argue your case better, or do it their way. Do NOT just blow them off and do it your way because it's your turn.
2. However, if there’s no consensus and you’re up, do it your way and explain why. Conversely, if someone else is up, don't whine when they do it their way.
3. Similarly, overruling techs or city builds is rude and should be done via consensus, barring an emergency.
4. In extraordinary situations, sometimes an opportunity presents itself that the group didn't foresee. If the consequences of it are great, players should stop, and refer the question to the group.

Echo: Being a better player does not give you the right to belittle anyone else or their play. Other people are going to disagree with you on major decisions; get used to the idea, and play nice. If not, take your ball and go home.

Foxtrot: Thread spam is good. Trash talking, poking fun, gentle ribbing, virtual noogies, and generally horsing around are all encouraged, but don’t be rude.

Golf: Automate sparingly.
1. Workers should almost never be automated, except perhaps late-game or building a trade network. However, if you have to, set your game options to “disallow automated worker forest chopping” and “keep previous improvements.”
2. Use of the “Emphasis” buttons is fine, but let the group know and explain your reasoning (specialization is a major game decision). If you prevent growth in a city, let the group know and remind them to take it off. Do NOT let the governor select build orders.
3. Sending units on go-to routes that last beyond your set is acceptable only if they’re heading for a rally point or if you otherwise inform your teammates.

Hotel: NEVER fortify Great People. Is it so hard to push the spacebar 15 times??

India: Sign spamming is rude. Signs can be helpful reminders, but too many signs makes them easily ignored. Once a sign is no longer valid, delete it. [The only exception to this are city specialization signs.]

Please note: As per Pholk ... "I'm going to be a bit harder on the 24/48 rule as I want to tighten up the pace of my games, so be forewarned ~ you'll think i was Fox "

Further: Juliet: Play sets based on turn count is gone: stop at a logical break but don't play more than 20.

 

[berserks01]

Dang. If I hadn't already gone over my SG limit I'd have been a part of this interesting SG. Alas, I'll just have to settle for lurking it.

Wouldn't it be interesting to see how the AI handles espionage? Or how they prep before a DOW? Or how they make use of their respective traits?

 

[dot]

• I am not in. I'll be lurkin', though.
• This idea is completely insane, i.e. will be incredible fun, imho.
• My guess is that with PA and complete kills you either need to team up pre-start (via customized game) or you need to WB the required tech for PA into your Civ.

My reasoning for C is that the AI is usually out there to kill you. And a single worker wandering the wilds, waiting for some AI to research the tech to be able to form a PA ... ...
... How many turns would that take?
... What would be the odds to survive?
...

 

[Ralph_Jackson]

Ruff Hi,

Love the idea, please sign me up.

As far as Leader I have always thought Peter had a miserable look on his face and quite Marvinish in his attitude to life...

Ralph

 

[Conroe]

Not a signup, but ....

pindicator posted this idea ...

Great idea for a game, pind!

except for an "advisor" unit, most likely a worker.

You might want to consider making it a Fast Worker. For no other reason than you can high tail it out of there when a barb comes wandering along.

 

[Olodune]

You might want to consider making it a Fast Worker. For no other reason than you can high tail it out of there when a barb comes wandering along.

Lurker:

What about a Great Spy? That would solve any barb problems ... and would allow for some early game exploring ...

 

[ZPV]

Checking in

 

[IamJohn]

lurker's comment:

You might want to think about having a team of 3 vs 3, as just managing just 1 AI might get a tad old after awhile, particularly in non-war times.

You might want to consider making it a Fast Worker. For no other reason than you can high tail it out of there when a barb comes wandering along.

Or maybe a Great Spy, if immunity is really a concern.

 

[tycoonist]

i'm pretty dull if i try, so i will play, i you'll take me :yawn:

EDIT: yawn isn't a smilie? what the hell

 

[mystyfly]

Lurkers comment:

Definitely sounds like quite some fun, I'll stay tuned!

 

[reverend oats]

Your AI may have a handicap, because IIRC civs in teams get research penalties.

 

[ruff_hi]

they do - but that's the AIs bad luck in trusting to Marvin.

 

[Quotey]

Oh... erm... can I join? I love HHG so maybe I'd be able to do some character reports. I think I'm in a couple SGs right now, so if anyone else has a burning desire, take them.


And Peter certainly looks the part (I hated the way Marvin looke in the movie. never imagined the chap being so clean and large and... happy looking)

 

[TheLastOne36]

they do - but that the the AIs back luck in trusting to Marvin.

lurker's comment: Your still a player, so you'll be able to talk to ai's and stuff.

That also means you can trade for techs and resources and maps.

 

[ruff_hi]

Ok, roster is full. Still need to decide on ...

Leader: ?
Difficulty Level: ?
Our Unit: ?
Other: ??

My suggestions ...

leader - don't care
difficult - deity - don't have to worry about the happy cap
unit - Stealth Destroyer on a Mountain

 

[tycoonist]

deity sounds fun. i think our leader should be napoleon: a tiny guy dictating a huge empire...

 

[Quotey]

Do we want someone that does well or middle of the pack? I want to do this myself. It'll be hilarious to see an up to date shaka, and i want to see how mansa works.

 

[shyuhe]

Your partner AI will be at a slight disadvantage compared to the other AI. When you are on a team, you combined your research efforts but techs cost more (I think 1.5 for a 2 civ team). Just some thought... Great idea for a game though!

 

[tycoonist]

Your partner AI will be at a slight disadvantage compared to the other AI. When you are on a team, you combined your research efforts but techs cost more (I think 1.5 for a 2 civ team). Just some thought... Great idea for a game though!

good point... maybe not shaka as our PA then. i think we need a decent techer: can i suggest mansa, hannibal, willem, or huayana capac