Re: Are you tough enough to be the "King of the Hill"?
 

I'll be away till Monday, but since PBW is down I guess there isn't much happening in Koth.

Re: Are you tough enough to be the "King of the Hill"?
 

Parabolize vs. Zharktas
turn 2405.3
Zharktas surrenders.
Good game but don't choose gas on koth maps. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

Re: Are you tough enough to be the "King of the Hill"?
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Well, I have to second that comment! As posted before, 2nd game with Mark the Merciful and second time it's been a strange game! At this turn level to only have just reached 30K research is, well, very Primitive ( http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif ) of me.

Well, I don't normally reveal the empire design opponents take, but I suspect it will be a long time before Mark tries Religious again in a KOTH game. So, there is reduced worry in revealing the exact nature of his dilemma in fighting.

I thought I boxed him in but when I looked around, I boxed myself in. So, both being boxed in resulted in a lower research level for many of the starting turns.

This turn, I finally made my first LCs http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/shock.gif . I'm planning multiple assualts as a Last ditch effort before he manages to gain the Talisman (besides, I am resource poor).

Mines are still really a major player in this game which is also unusual for this time of the game.

It's really turned into a race for Mark to see if he can split his research up into getting enough equipment to keep his ships competitive while letting the overflow dribble into the Talisman research. For me, I need to stop him.

It's been a very interesting game and Mark has played brilliantly! As I said in an earlier post (well, kind of), I'd rather have had this fun and this kind of strategy game over the quick win I may have had at turn 3 (surprising him at his homeworld with a missile ship). Win or lose.

Re: Are you tough enough to be the "King of the Hill"?
 

Mark the Merciful (Kif Hegemony) vs Slynky (Trithian Empire) - 2406.1

Still a very open, mind-taxing game. The squadron I had such high hopes for chased down into Slynky's newest expansion colonies, and fought about 3 destroyers coming through a warp-point. We won, but took so much damage that there was no functional combat power left - the only ships undamaged were the minesweepers. So they all fled back to their base with their tails between their legs. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon9.gif

A couple of turns later, Slynky's homeworld vomitted out a large fleet that swept all the mines at the connecting WP and destroyed my defending fleet. However, he took a reasonable amount of damage and - most importantly - lost several minesweepers. So, did I have 100 mines orbitting my homeworld, or was it only 20? You know, in all the excitement, I'd kinda forgotten myself. So the question he had to ask himself was; did he feel lucky, punk? Well, did he?

He didn't. His fleet patrolled in the middle of my home system, scaring the children and wrechking the real-estate values. I started concentrating warships as fast as I could, but I was very nervous about any coming battle; my race is just not cut out for space battles. We are a superior civilisation, and our children grow up playing turn-based strategy games not mindless reflex-testing console rubbish. The result is that when they grow up and join the navy, and are put in front of a radar screen with incoming dots and weapons to fire, they just have no idea what to do...

Anyway, Slynky hung around for several turns, and colonised a planet in my system. Finally he decided to take the risk of attacking one of my minor planets in the home system. The minefield was bigger than his sweeping capacity, and he lost a number ships while glassing the planet. I decided that I couldn't wait any more, and two turns ago attacked. Thanks to superior numbers and the damage he'd previously taken, we won that battle (with heavy losses of our own) and cleared the nasty Trithian colony from our system. Now what?

It's still a very low-tech game (DUCs, ion engines, missiles, a bit of armour and ECM) because neither of us have had the resources to spend on development. What's more, there is no way of identifying a front-line or defending, anything very much. So there's lots of maneuver, lots of guessing, and too much tension.

What fun. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/shock.gif

Re: Are you tough enough to be the "King of the Hill"?
 

Well I just dropped Asmala a line to start playing KOTH matches...

I'm definitely green at this game but I think some heads up will be the best way to gain some more experience. I wouldn't call myself a complete newb but I wouldn't call myself truly skilled either.

Anyways just wanted to say I'm looking forward to squaring off against all of ya'll out there!

Re: Are you tough enough to be the "King of the Hill"?
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Check out these befor you start to play:
koth clone
newb faq

[ June 14, 2004, 02:36: Message edited by: parabolize ]

Re: Are you tough enough to be the "King of the Hill"?
 

I still remember my initiation... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/shock.gif

My first KOTH game against the "steamroller", Primitive. He's currently the highest rated player in the SE4 Ratings system. I managed to Last 60 or so turns but it was probably because he wasn't sure of what my skill level was and played it carefully.

You'll find a lot of good players in KOTH. And KOTH is a good training ground. Welcome to the fun (and welcome to your training). And always remember, learn, learn, learn. If you get beat, ask questions about what you did wrong. Most everyone I've talked with is glad to offer tips and critique your game.

Of course, you may be "sandbagging" us...LOL... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

Re: Are you tough enough to be the "King of the Hill"?
 

I'd hardly say I'm sandbagging at all... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

I fully expect to go down in flames for at least 2 quick games and 2 mid games if not more...

I'm confident I can learn to hang quickly but I just need the playing time.

Thanks for that KOTH clone thread parabolize. I appreciate it!

Looking forward to playing some of ya'll!

Re: Are you tough enough to be the "King of the Hill"?
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Try this one for some more tips, too:

Something I Posted

(not trying to plug myself, but just bringing your attention to some things that may help you. I'm above average player and these are some of the ways I do things.)

Re: Are you tough enough to be the "King of the Hill"?
 

You can make a link to a specific post by right clicking on the post icon (immediately to the left of "posted on...") for that post and selecting "copy link".

[ June 14, 2004, 03:20: Message edited by: Imperator Fyron ]

Re: Are you tough enough to be the "King of the Hill"?
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">If I understand you, you're saying I could have posted a link directly to my message instead of just the page it was on. Right?

Re: Are you tough enough to be the "King of the Hill"?
 

Right.

Re: Are you tough enough to be the "King of the Hill"?
 

A few tips which would have helped me quite a lot in my first game:
- ECM, Combat Sensors and training are very, very needed. Fleet training is easy to handle, but you will need some time to train your ships. I guess you have heard about this one quite a lot of time, but it is one of the most important areas in the game, and can truly ruin the day if forgotten.
- There are not too many good weapons around ; above all, do forget about torpedoes and, to a lesser extent, seekers. Torpedoes are weak, and seekers are a bit hard to use with strategical combat, so you will want to be careful with these weapons. (I can tell you losing nine ships to two enemy ships, all else being equal save weaponry, does hurt. *Smirks*)
- Expansion is the key, as being cornered into a corner means a slow death. And if you are playing with someone fond of technology, you will want to do your research as quickly as possible. (Having at the very least 1,000 research points times the turn you are in is needed in all games. But having three times as much is not unusual if you do want to play a tech race)

Welcome to you and good luck! Hopefully you will not run into Asmala himself for your first game, or another similar player. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

Re: Are you tough enough to be the "King of the Hill"?
 

Rand vs. Grazic
Turn 2405.6
Rand surrenders.
Thanks Rand, You certinaly did a few things differently and I know things would have turned out differently, if I hadn't quickly mined that south key system. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

Re: Are you tough enough to be the "King of the Hill"?
 

How long is it before a player is considered to have forfeited a PBW game?? Currently in my game vs Dav, the Last time he uploaded a turn was the 30th of May. Now, PBW has been down a lot recently, but what should I do?? I wanna play (I'm winning http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif ) but he isn't playing so...?? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...s/confused.gif

Re: Are you tough enough to be the "King of the Hill"?
 

Thanks for the tips Alneyan...

I'll certainly keep that in mind once I get in my first match!

Re: Are you tough enough to be the "King of the Hill"?
 

Koth page is updated.

Welcome new players LonghornXtreme and Fire.

Re: Are you tough enough to be the "King of the Hill"?
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">I've sent a message to Dav. Let's wait and see what happens.

Re: Are you tough enough to be the "King of the Hill"?
 

Hi Asmala.
Can you take me off the Hill because my free time has just crashed to almost nothing. I should be able to handle the games I'm in, but no others.
Sorry.
Baron Grazic

Re: Are you tough enough to be the "King of the Hill"?
 

Just wondering if someone could point to the place in this massive thread where the 'standard' KOTH settings are described? Basically I just wanted to know if Intel was an issue along with the standard amount of Racial Points to create my KOTH empire...

Zhakartas and I are gonna duke it out and it should be nice and interesting!

Re: Are you tough enough to be the "King of the Hill"?
 

Basically, any setting is legal, but these are standard/most common:
- Standard racial points are default SEIV settings: 2000.
- Standard Map is small spiral with no ruins, but many choose a Tesco ™ Map (Balanced starting positions) instead.
- Standard is 1 normal (medium) planet. Some prefer good (large) instead (easier to manage resources at the start). 3 starting planets are also widely used (shaves about 10 turns off the game).
- Intel is on, unless both players want it off.
- Many players prefer a “No Ancient” rule. Again, both have to agree.

So the usual way to do this is to e-mail (or post here) the other guy with your preferred settings. Doesn’t have to be more than: How bout: Tesco map, 3 Good planets, No Intel and No Ancient?
When you have agreed, send the info to Asmala. Nothing to it http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

Re: Are you tough enough to be the "King of the Hill"?
 

Thanks for the in depth reply Primitive. This community never ceases to amaze me.

Re: Are you tough enough to be the "King of the Hill"?
 

Nah, Pure self interest. Always good with some fresh meat in the league.
Don’t think I have had the chance to let the Primitive Hordes loose on some Texan yet http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

Re: Are you tough enough to be the "King of the Hill"?
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Done.

Re: Are you tough enough to be the "King of the Hill"?
 

If you read carefully default Koth settings can be found on Koth league rules page:

The default game settings for K.O.T.H. League games will be small spiral arm cluster, no A.I. or neutral players, no ruins, no events, 20000 ships, 20000 units, and everything else will be the default SEIV game settings.

Re: Are you tough enough to be the "King of the Hill"?
 

Mark the Merciful (Kif Hegemony) vs Slynky (Trithian Empire) - 2408.1

Twice I've met Mark and twice he hasn't lived up to his name (Merciful http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif ).

Looks like I'll stay on the bottom for another round (at least).

A combination of an my lack of skill and Mark's ever-changing tactics have produced (I suspect) the first-ever win for a person taking the Religious trait (with one starting planet and starting beside the opponent).


Congrats on pulling a win from a dismal start, Mark http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon6.gif .

[ June 18, 2004, 13:31: Message edited by: Slynky ]

Re: Are you tough enough to be the "King of the Hill"?
 

I have bowed to the GozGuy empire.

Asmala set me up for another one. Please.

Re: Are you tough enough to be the "King of the Hill"?
 

Koth page is updated.

Re: Are you tough enough to be the "King of the Hill"?
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Thanks, Asmala!

Re: Are you tough enough to be the "King of the Hill"?
 

Hey Asmala, has Dav gotten back to you yet?? I was wondering...its been about 20 days now, with no turns...what should be done now??

Re: Are you tough enough to be the "King of the Hill"?
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Seems to me it's time to boot Dav.

Re: Are you tough enough to be the "King of the Hill"?
 

Grandpa Kim vs. Electrum turn 10

Well, no news is good news. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Fairly good start for me. Only 26 systems if I counted right, so this may be a fairly quick game. No contact yet but I'll be surprised if we don't meet before turn 20.

Hmm, doesn't leave much room for a pre-arranged excuse for losing. LOL

Re: Are you tough enough to be the "King of the Hill"?
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Not yet. I sent a new message today. If he doesn't reply pretty soon I'll declare you the winner and kick him out of the hill.

Re: Are you tough enough to be the "King of the Hill"?
 

Well i din't want to win my first game that way, but...if there's no choice, i guess there's no choice.

Re: Are you tough enough to be the "King of the Hill"?
 

I'll be away till Monday. Renegade 13, if Dav hasn't replied to my Messages when I'm back I'll declare you the winner.

Re: Are you tough enough to be the "King of the Hill"?
 

Well the Forgotten Dragon Empire led by Zhakartas just surrendered to the Republic of Texas led by LonghornXtreme...

He ran into my home system around turn 6 or 7 with two colonizers... He had 2 large breathables in my home system but fortunately I was able to emergency build a 3 ship fleet and glass both... I did lose 2 of my breathables as well but I managed to blockade his homeworld and I'm assuming resource starvation screwed him...

Mark me down as 1-0 in KOTH !

Re: Are you tough enough to be the "King of the Hill"?
 

Well it's Monday now...has Dav gotten back to you Asmala?? Sorry to be bothering you so much about this, I'm just anxious to get back into KOTH games. After all, its been nearly a month http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...s/rolleyes.gif . Thanks a lot for all the help you've given me here.

Re: Are you tough enough to be the "King of the Hill"?
 

I haven't got a reply from Dav so I removed him from the Hill.

Koth page is updated.

Re: Are you tough enough to be the "King of the Hill"?
 

Zharktas:

How about 3 GOOD starting planets on Geo's Balance Mod (doesn't require anything special for us to use)? It makes everything pretty much equal throughout the map (just remember there are no moons and NO NONE atmosphere planets).

Re: Are you tough enough to be the "King of the Hill"?
 

LonghornXtreme:

What do you think about 1 Good planet start, and No Intel. Other than that normal KOTH settings??

Re: Are you tough enough to be the "King of the Hill"?
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">It's fine with me, but take it easy with me, I'm totally newbie; newer won a single game http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

Re: Are you tough enough to be the "King of the Hill"?
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">It's fine with me, but take it easy with me, I'm totally newbie; newer won a single game http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Then standard KOTH settings except for these changes:

3 Good planets
Geo Balance Mod (and remember to not choose None as an atmosphere type).

As to your ability, I thought Finland produced nothing but fine SE4 players http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif .

Re: Are you tough enough to be the "King of the Hill"?
 

That sounds just fine Renegade! I'll go upload my empire right now...

Looking forward to the match... I'll let ya know that I can usually do a BUNCH of turns each day if you're up to it... but I won't be offended in the least bit if you take your time! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Re: Are you tough enough to be the "King of the Hill"?
 

Now that I don't have school, I should be able to make lots of turns per day...so its great if you can do the same. I love a fast turn-around. I'll email Asmala our settings, and upload my empire file tonight.

Re: Are you tough enough to be the "King of the Hill"?
 

Hey Asmala --

I'm finding I don't have enough time these days to do my turns for our game (and don't see things getting better any time soon), so I am going to have to withdraw from our king match. I realize how lame this is -- please forgive me! Definitely a fun game we had going - very humbling and tense!

Good luck with keeping your crown next match - you deserve it!

Re: Are you tough enough to be the "King of the Hill"?
 

Tough break Spoon. Having to forfeit due to stupid RL sucks bad.

Primitive flexes his muscles, stiff from sitting still at the top of the hill for so long.
Has the long wait made his already dull mind even duller, or has one of the stranger deities of the universe planted some new tricks on him ? Guess we'll find out http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

Asmala:
Some form of balanced map ?
I also prefer the No Ancient rule. Else I’m game for most settings,

Re: Are you tough enough to be the "King of the Hill"?
 

I'm fine with Geo's balanced map and no ancient rule. I don't have time to update Koth now since I'm leaving in a few minutes. I'll be back on Monday so we can start then.

Re: Are you tough enough to be the "King of the Hill"?
 

First...I don't want to put either you (Asmala) or you (Primitive) on the spot but since no one has commented on staging the game, I offer my services. Setting up the KOTH game is about as close as I get to that throne, anyway http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif .

I hope, by now, that everyone knows I don't play any favoritism and that I do my best to set players in a balanced starting position. Since it appears the Balance Mod of Geo's will be used, only thing I would need to do is balance the starting positions. This means giving a bit of room to both players but NEVER so much that either can think the entire map will separate them. Also, depending on the map, I may even start both players on the same side (if there is enough space) and let them have to explore to determine if the opponent is on the opposite side of the map or on the top (or bottom) of the same side of the map. I try to look for an interesting map with a few choke points but also other ways to move around for possible flanking opportunities. And a few weird links that might fool the players.

If interested, let me know.

Re: Are you tough enough to be the "King of the Hill"?
 

Asmala/Spoon:

The Ratings System provides for the opportunity for a player to leave a game without penalty of loss if there are outside problems that prevent a player from completing the game. It is up to the remaining player(s) to accept that excuse to withdraw. I don't want to post any results until I am sure of what you guys agree upon. The way I see it, Spoon may take a look at his game and say, "Asmala would probably have won anyway...so he deserves the win." Or Asmala may say, "The game was too close to call and I believe Spoon left the game for RL reasons."

Please advise me of the game status for Ratings purposes.

Re: Are you tough enough to be the "King of the Hill"?
 

You hosting it would be great, Slynky. Thanx