Warmup Game Kickoff

[DaveShack]

There was very strong support for a warmup game, almost 60% of the vote. Accordingly, here is the discussion to start that game. Everything is open for comments, I hope we'll get a quick concensus without needing to poll the setup very much.

Assumptions:

1. The objective is to have fun and learn Civ4 together.
2. Approximately 10 turns played every 2-3 days, using volunteer DPs.
3. DPs can have online sessions using #turnchat but are not required to.
4. randomized DP selection, within the bounds of when people are available to play. (When more than one person wants to play at the same time, I'll do the randomizing as a service to the community)
5. The DP for an upcoming session handles all leadership duties for that session, including figuring out what needs to be polled, setting up the poll, etc.
6. Especially since this is a warmup game, not everything needs to be polled. Think of this game as being like a bunch of people standing behind the DP yelling encouragement and suggestions. The DP may or may not decide to do what the public suggests. The information we're after is what kinds of things need team decisions and what kinds of things don't make sense for team decisions.
7. If there is strong interest I'll approach Thunderfall about having a temporary subforum, so we don't clutter up the main Civ4 DemoGame forum.
8. We'll have a quick discussion about world parameters, but I'm thinking the semi-randomly selected 1st DP should pick.

Checklist

• Ground Rules
• Starting Conditions
• Designated Player Pool

Ground Rules

I propose the following additional ground rules.

1. The objective of this quick game is to have fun playing Civ4 in a team decision environment, and to learn what things need to be decided as a team so the real Civ4 Demogame can have a sound organizational structure.
2. No playing ahead, obtaining information outside normal game play, altering game conditions after initial game creation, reloading to try to get better RNG results, or any other form of cheating is permitted.
3. A minimum of 24 hours (1 day) must pass between the end of one session and the beginning of the next.
4. A maximum of 72 hours (3 days) can elapse between the end of a play session and beginnign of the next. If the DP cannot accomodate playign within 72 hours then they must be skipped and the next DP selected.

Starting Conditions

Future post... don't want to interrupt my game in progress to look at the starting screens...

Designated Player Pool

Sign up in another thread? Do the whole game in this thread?

Another important question:
Should there be a separate subforum? All citizens (interested in the quick game or not) are welcome to voice their opinion. In the meantime I'll ask if it's even possible.

 

[Sticky Fingers]

I think we should do everything in this thread or have a sub forum. That way it will be easy to figure out where all the info is.

 

[Armed_Maniac]

sub-forum would be better... otherwise people would take about all different aspects at once and at the same place so it might make it hard to organise it all within a thread...

 

[Alphawolf]

It's here. Finally.
I vote for a sub-forum. I would love to be a DP but the only computer I have with me at college is my laptop and every but the units is black for some reason. We have all the rules we need let's start now .
-the Wolf

 

[Alighieri]

I think a subforum is probably a good idea as well.

I have the same problem on my laptop, Alpha. Do the leaders all show up as disembodied eyes and teeth for you, too? Oh well, at least I can still play on my desktop.

 

[DaveShack]

The subforum has been created!

For information on the black terrain and leaders with just teeth & hair (nicknamed the "cheshire cat" bug), there are several places you can look.

Civ4 Tech Support
Civ4 Bug Reports

 

[uubry]

Yey! Drinks all around!

 

[*Satis]

There was very strong support for a warmup game, almost 60% of the vote. Accordingly, here is the discussion to start that game. Everything is open for comments, I hope we'll get a quick concensus without needing to poll the setup very much.

Here are my comments.

The objective is to have fun and learn Civ4 together.

Damn right it is. Although... should we play to win, or make deliberately bad decisions to see what happens? For example, build a stack of horse archers just to see how they do against spearmen. Are we trying to learn how to win the real Demogame, or how to run it?

Approximately 10 turns played every 2-3 days, using volunteer DPs. DPs can have online sessions using #turnchat but are not required to.

We need a rule that says the DP must keep a record of what happens, and why they made the decisions they did. Otherwise the game's value as a learning experience will be diminished.

randomized DP selection, within the bounds of when people are available to play. (When more than one person wants to play at the same time, I'll do the randomizing as a service to the community)

Yep.

The DP for an upcoming session handles all leadership duties for that session, including figuring out what needs to be polled, setting up the poll, etc.

Yep.

Especially since this is a warmup game, not everything needs to be polled. Think of this game as being like a bunch of people standing behind the DP yelling encouragement and suggestions. The DP may or may not decide to do what the public suggests. The information we're after is what kinds of things need team decisions and what kinds of things don't make sense for team decisions.

Agreed.

Ground Rules

The objective of this quick game is to have fun playing Civ4 in a team decision environment, and to learn what things need to be decided as a team so the real Civ4 Demogame can have a sound organizational structure.

Agreed.

No playing ahead, obtaining information outside normal game play, altering game conditions after initial game creation, reloading to try to get better RNG results, or any other form of cheating is permitted.

Of course! We need to know what risks we can afford to take when we get to the real Demogame.

A minimum of 24 hours (1 day) must pass between the end of one session and the beginning of the next.
[*]A maximum of 72 hours (3 days) can elapse between the end of a play session and beginnign of the next. If the DP cannot accomodate playign within 72 hours then they must be skipped and the next DP selected.

Is 24 hours going to be long enough? I reckon it would be useful to have more time, particularly as the game progresses. How about 10 turns every 24-72 hours to start with, then change to a 48-96 hour timeframe when we reach a certain threshold, eg 6 cities or the Medieval era, whichever comes first.

Starting Conditions

My recommendations are:

• Ancient era start
• Standard size
• Continents map
• Temperate climate
• Medium sea level
• Quick game speed
• Noble difficulty
• America, Arabia, China, England, France, Germany, Japan, Russia or Spain because they all have mid-late UUs. Using standard units for the early game is bound to teach us more about combat than sending Immortals or Quechuas running around the map.
• Name our leader Daveshack in honour of the man who put this all together

Designated Player Pool

As we have our own subforum now, I'd say another thread. Start as soon as we have ten people prepared to do the job.

 

[LoneOne]

Regarding OP,
Sounds good to me (rules as laid out so far).
I also agree with *Satis about potential for longer breaks between turns (later on), and also the requirement that DP's make a log of actions and their reasons for those actions.

 

[Tboy]

How long will each DP play for? (In turns, not real time).

 

[Alphawolf]

Here are my comments.

We need a rule that says the DP must keep a record of what happens, and why they made the decisions they did. Otherwise the game's value as a learning experience will be diminished.

My recommendations are:

• Ancient era start
• Standard size
• Continents map
• Temperate climate
• Medium sea level
• Quick game speed
• Noble difficulty
• America, Arabia, China, England, France, Germany, Japan, Russia or Spain because they all have mid-late UUs. Using standard units for the early game is bound to teach us more about combat than sending Immortals or Quechuas running around the map.
• Name our leader Daveshack in honour of the man who put this all together

I second!
-the Wolf

 

[Mike Lemmer]

I volunteer to be a DP. I don't want to be one of the first turns, though, since this is my first Democracy game. I want to see it in action.

EDIT: Signed up.

 

[*Satis]

Mike Lemmer: You need to sign up in this thread here. We currently plan to randomise the DP list, so there are no guarantees as to who goes when. I'm sure allowances can be made, though.

 

[Tawkys]

Ok even though I'm late, just what is the Demogame?
Is it just a group of people swapping off "rulership" every X turns? Or do groups of people get together and run the empire together?

I only sk since I can't really find a rock solid definition anywhere...

 

[SamE]

The real demogame will be starting shortly, so you aren't late for that. You can read about it here.

This subforum is for the Warmup Demogame, which is meant as, well, a warmup. We test methods and systems to see exactly what the real demogame will need, at least in theory. I like it because it removes a bunch of formality and endless posts to read through. You're welcome to join, just feel free to make comments and suggestions on the turnset threads and put your name on the Designated Player list.