The Innocent Excitable PBEM: Get Set 2 Months Ahead!

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Szpilman

Void Co. Chairman
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Hey folks,

Being almost 2 weeks away from release, and still short on strategies' knowledge, I think it's a good opportunity to start setting a PBEM game for those into it, especially because civilization picks at this point are so full of innocence :D Isn't it just great? Nothing beats excitement and innocence. Though your pick is definitely not set in stone.

Off the top of my head this is what I need to define:
Difficulty: Prince (Standard)
Speed: Quick
Size: Huge
Map: Archipelago (isn't everyone excited to embark and bombard?)
Raging Barbarians (dangerously combined with above)
Default Era & Terrain features
All Victories

AIs: 4
City-states: Double the number of civs
Let me know if I've missed something.

We could gather around 8 players it being on quick, or more, especially as the 2 months wait may help consolidate only committing participants. That's cause PBEM support is coming with a patch, as of now programmed for about a month after release.

Initial civ choices:
Spuma GMT-3 Have email - My pick is an underdog: Siam.
Some guy - Before anyone else does: America.
PawelS GMT+1 Have email - An interesting choice: Rome.
Tibblers GMT-6 - Just for a curveball: Iroquois.
BluebeardRex GMT-6 Have email - Sure you can be Germany.
Schuesseled - Rule Britannia: England.
matthewv GMT-9 Have email - Our pit's boss: France.
MasterDinadan GMT-4 Have email Getting a fresh start: Arabia.
 
Can someone quick explain how PBEM would work here? Do you get an e-mail message with saved game data when it's your turn? Anyway, I pick America before anyone else does...
 
Some things may change with CiV, but as for before it worked like this: someone creates a game and sets up the turn order (mostly based on time zones), that's me, and for each player they receive the save from the previous player by email (as provided), then send it to the next one. You can set Civ IV to send the email automatically, through SMTP, though most people don't and just attach the savegame (which would be created inside your pbem Saves subfolder).

If there's enough interest in this game, I'll start collecting GMT and email addresses, as well game options suggestions, and summing it up in the first post.
 
Oh yeah, forgot that. You'll be able to set yours in your first turn. Ideally we may find someone to keep the passwords just in case, or I can do it myself if others don't mind and we can't find an outsider.
 
I don't want to participate (everything faster than Marathon is too fast for me), but I have a question: Why are you going to wait 2 months, can't it just start when the game is released?
 
I also think Quick is too fast, I play single player ONLY in Marathon. And exactly because of that I'm willing to experience the other extreme (not sure my current PBEM game is Normal or Quick but it ain't so bad). Marathon is utopia for PBEMs, would take years. Also with a faster game we can have more players.

Would Normal be somewhat better for you?

I'm waiting until they actually release the promised patch containing the PBEM mode, which should be within 2 months but could come earlier.
 
Ah, I didn't know that pbem wouldn't be in the first release. Actually I never played any Civ game in multiplayer, but I play lots of pbems of another game (Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic). Does a typical Civ pbem game involve writing turn logs at the forum, like we do when playing AoWSM?

I think you're right that we should pick a faster speed to be able to finish the game in a reasonable time. I think I can give it a try, regardless if it's Quick or Normal. Rome looks like an interesting civ to choose.

My email address is [address edited out]. Timezone GMT+1.
 
Cool! We'll get to decide between Quick & Normal once we have more players, then.
I just saw you posting on The Thread on the Elemental forums. Are you currently having fun with Elemental?

Regarding turn logs, I'm not sure I know how they're written. Are they subjective and occasional roleplays, or are they objective logs of what went on (maybe sprinkled with RP for fun)? The former I've seen some, but it's not that common. The latter I've never seen being done consisntently, as a rule.
And now that you mention AoW, I've been hearing about this and MoM alot since keeping tabs on Elemental. Never played either one. I'd be interested in trying AoW PBEM. How should I go about that (get the game, community, etc.)?

Oh, and you're in for some fun with civ multiplayer, I think. Moreso with all-new CiV!
 
Spuma said:
Cool! We'll get to decide between Quick & Normal once we have more players, then.
I just saw you posting in The Thread on the Elemental forums. Are you currently having fun with Elemental?
Click to expand...

Playing - yes. Having fun - no. :(

Regarding turn logs, I'm not sure I know how they're written. Are they subjective and occasional roleplays, or are they objective logs of what went on (maybe sprinkled with RP for fun)? The former I've seen some, but it's not that common. The latter I've never seen being done consisntently, as a rule.
Click to expand...

Usually it's just a few words about what happened in a turn, although some people try more RP-like logs. Those that are lazy or don't have an idea what to write because nothing important happened post just a 'ts' which means 'turn sent'. Even those 'ts' posts are important because they help track who has the turn is case of a game getting stuck.

And now that you mention AoW, I've been hearing about this and MoM alot since keeping tabs on Elemental. Never played either one. I'd be interested in trying AoW PBEM. How should I go about that (get the game, community, etc.)?
Click to expand...

All the AoW games should "soon" be available at "digital distribution services" (probably Steam and Impulse). I also heard that you can get AoWSM cheap at German ebay (the version sold in Germany has the English language). MoM is available at gog.com.

About AoW1 and AoWSM - the community uses the HG forum. About pbem games - see this page.

I have two more questions: which difficulty level are we going to use and are you going to add some AI players or only city states?

I hope my capital will be located in a productive area :)
 
Hmm. I never tried a multiplayer or a PBEM, but I am planning on trying it with CiV. If there is still room for me, can I be Germany (France if not), please? I'm GMT-6.
 
PawelS said:
Playing - yes. Having fun - no. :(
Click to expand...
Yeah I'm gonna give'em some 6 months, especially when CiV is gonna have my hands SO full (as I also want to get into modding early on).

Usually it's just a few words about what happened in a turn, although some people try more RP-like logs. Those that are lazy or don't have an idea what to write because nothing important happened post just a 'ts' which means 'turn sent'. Even those 'ts' posts are important because they help track who has the turn is case of a game getting stuck.
Click to expand...

About the turn logs, I thought you meant much more elaborate write-ups (think Diplomacy games). Yeah, it's definitely commonplace to do turn logs. For the first few dozen turns it's usually needed for the players to post 'GPS' (got it, played it, sent it) exactly like you say so we know where the file is. I like people to be always posting at least GPS, and definitely encourage more fleshed out turn logs, and roleplaying is always wonderful as well. I'm currently playing a FfH Orbis PBEM in these boards, and it's getting tons of roleplay, I'm having a blast and so are the other players (we're also doing fast turns!)

All the AoW games should "soon" be available at "digital distribution services" (probably Steam and Impulse). I also heard that you can get AoWSM cheap at German ebay (the version sold in Germany has the English language). MoM is available at gog.com. About AoW1 and AoWSM - the community uses the HG forum. About pbem games - see this page.
Click to expand...
Great! I got into Steam just this week because of Civ, so now the more games I can get there, the better. It's a really cool integrated platform, and it's gonna be nice for tracking Civ buddies especially!

The nice thing about you playing this PBEM is you'll be able to let me know of any news of AoW on Steam :rolleyes: Well crushing mighty Rome with my peaceful Siam is the other reason ;) Nah, I really am usually a peacemonger.

Oh, and I'm definitely getting MoM on gog right away after all this hype, thanks so much for the pointer!

I have two more questions: which difficulty level are we going to use and are you going to add some AI players or only city states?
Click to expand...
Great questions! I've added these in the original post, but please do offer your own suggestions, how would you like it to be?

I hope my capital will be located in a productive area :)
Click to expand...
I hope I can identify what's a productive area :D
 
My question is why would you ever want to use PBEM when Pitboss is so much superior in every way.

And anyway we are not going to see either for a while, so discussing how it will work in Civ5 is just peering into a crystal ball.

CS
 
Agreed with CS.

To avoid possible disappointment I'd advise against planning a PBEM game before PBEM is even built into the game. It's still possible it will be dropped.
 
Well, if pitboss works like in Civ4, it will allow simultaneous turns (if I understand it correctly; I never played using it), which I'd prefer to avoid. But if most of players prefer pitboss over pbem (or pbem is not supported), it's fine with me.

If it's a Huge map, I think we can add some AI players.
 
Also, as I understand from my limited experience with pitboss, it requires an always-on server which is an added technical constraint, as well as someone to admin the server. I find that with PBEM we're less dependent on outside factors, it's enough keeping all players checking their turns within a reasonable time :)

PoM, I see how people could be disappointed if the game is not possible, but for me at least that disappointment is nothing compared to the frustration of not being able to ever play PBEM, if it doesn't get implemented as promised. So that's a good reason to keep this game being planned from now, because if there is really the possibility they'll drop it, we are already a resistance force :D The more people are excited about PBEM, the more pressure we can exert towards getting our promised patch. And many many people do live by PBEM on these forums, it'd be a shame if they lost it in CiV without even knowing. So with your permission, I'd like to keep this thread alive.

Canuck, I don't see that the mechanics of this type of game could change as much as to void our planning. We're mostly discussing the map & civ options actually, about which we already know something.
 
Spuma said:
Also, as I understand from my limited experience with pitboss, it requires an always-on server which is an added technical constraint, as well as someone to admin the server. I find that with PBEM we're less dependent on outside factors, it's enough keeping all players checking their turns within a reasonable time :)

PoM, I see how people could be disappointed if the game is not possible, but for me at least that disappointment is nothing compared to the frustration of not being able to ever play PBEM, if it doesn't get implemented as promised. So that's a good reason to keep this game being planned from now, because if there is really the possibility they'll drop it, we are already a resistance force :D The more people are excited about PBEM, the more pressure we can exert towards getting our promised patch. And many many people do live by PBEM on these forums, it'd be a shame if they lost it in CiV without even knowing. So with your permission, I'd like to keep this thread alive.

Canuck, I don't see that the mechanics of this type of game could change as much as to void our planning. We're mostly discussing the map & civ options actually, about which we already know something.
Click to expand...

It's ok. You don't need my permission or anything. ;) Just making you aware of that small risk. I'm a PBEM player too, you know. :)
 
Yes Pitboss does require someone to have an always on server running, but really in this day and age that is not a problem for most people.

And getting people to finish their turn is not really an issue, pitboss has a timer and will advance the turn on time even if someone is not done, in fact players tend to queue production and moves if they have nothing important happening and just let the turn advance without logging in every turn.

With PBEM the turn can't advance without everyone playing and emailing/forwarding the save. So to me Pitboss is well worth the setup for the host.

CS
 
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