Re: PBW : Paranoia2
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Hum, don't remember.
Some player, not the biggest achieved to build a ringworld.

Tips : do not neglect "Political Savy" in this game. Do not max it, but do not neglect it either.

Re: PBW : Paranoia2
 

Have you decided how to deal with the issues we had at the end of the Last one?

Specifically, there needs to be a definition of what's needed to score, that can't be trivially avoided by opponents using gifts. Such as, maintaining control of the homeworld.

I'd also suggest using, say, PvK Balance Mod.

PvK

Re: PBW : Paranoia2
 

I don't think so.
If we had specified rules about homeworld, even flatline would have lost the game (his homeworld was glassed).

No, I'd rather say :
An empire is destroyed when it has no remaining planet.

I had time to think about the Last game, and there was 1 lesson Flatline had to teach us all : ATTACK YOUR FOE ! DO IT ! STOP WAITING AND GO FOR HIM !

As for your balance mod, I would rather stay on known ground such as unmoded game.

What was in your mind ?

Re: PBW : Paranoia2
 

PvK Balance Mod is actually only altering the Empire cration by balancing the costs for raising each characeristic or for taking a given trait and by balancing the different cultures. Nothing else is changed by the mod. Your choice then. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

Re: PBW : Paranoia2
 

Yes, I know, I had a look at it. But it alters the empire setup quite a bit. As you surely know, games are won or lost at setup....

So we will stay on normal SE4 for this game.

Re: PBW : Paranoia2
 

The problem with "has a planet" is that any player can give any other player a planet (or colony ship) very easily. The only reason the Last game ended when it did was because people got so sick of the status quo that they stopped playing to achieve the stated goals. That is, the weakest player had been suicidal for a long long time, and finally, one of the other players decided to purposely end the game by attacking the remaining planet of that player, even though it wasn't his target.

If Flatline's target had simply accepted the gifts we were offering him more than once every 20 turns or so, he'd have had some very secure bases, etc.

So my point is that if the weakest player can be kept alive by a simple gift, then the game can Last until one player conquers practically everyone, or the other players get sick of it and stop playing towards the stated objective, which is essentially what happened Last time.

I suggest PvK Balance Mod because in the unmodded game, setup choices are very unbalanced, and players who don't know and exploit the imbalances tend to have a pretty unfair disadvantage. The unmodded game setup is unbalanced and very easy to pick a very disadvantaged empire if you don't know what's a bargain and what's way overpriced. The Balance mod makes many more choices competetive - there's much less danger of messing up your game during setup. If you don't want to use it, then I at least suggest that newer players read the description of the mod, so that they can make more informed choices about what is practical to get (or not) in an unmodded game.

PvK

[ November 24, 2003, 22:01: Message edited by: PvK ]

Re: PBW : Paranoia2
 

no gifts http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Re: PBW : Paranoia2
 

I would try to put it the other way around.
I you're a newbye, I mean first get around the normal game. Only after that start messing with mods.

As a whole, I would assume that players should have read the newbye FAQ. If not, other players around will have a hell of a time to keep newbye alive.

And that is part of the fun.

Then, the NO GIFTS is indeed a good solution.

[ November 24, 2003, 22:50: Message edited by: Unknown_Enemy ]

Re: PBW : Paranoia2
 

I would have assumed no gifts anyway! Think about it...

"I want to send a fleet to guard your border. *Evil cackling heard in background.*"
"Just gift them to me."
"My evil plans, foiled!"

Re: PBW : Paranoia2
 

PONTINE LEEPERS LAW
It is forbidden to give planets to a player. You can exchange ships if you want, but no player should be artificially keept alive by the mean of planetary gifts.


From Paranoia 1 and the infamous Pontine misconduct (may they be cursed for eons), we can say that if a small empire is sold a colony ship, it is at risk of loosing it very easily by the mean of intel attacks. Planets can be harder to destroy with intel, and I want to keep ship trade in the game.