Alpaca: 10 player game to test new server(started)
 

I'd like to start a new middle era game, with something in the range of 8-10 players. The object will be:

1) To have a normal fun game.
2) To test a new automated PBEM program I've been working on.

The program in question is called the LlamaServer (I named it after myself http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif), and I'm hoping it may help to ease the general scarcity of games. Essentially you just e-mail it your 2h file, and when it has all the 2h files it processes the turn and sends the new trn files out. You can check who's taken the turn and when the next turn's due at any time on the website (currently pretty rudimentary, www.llamaserver.net).

The idea is that it'll be *nearly* as good as a hosted game - obviously not quite, because you have to open your e-mail program. I went for a PBEM option firstly because I'm stuck behind a university firewall and so couldn't run a normal server anyway, and secondly because there's much less overhead to running a PBEM game, so it should eventually be able to run lots and lots of games at once.

Anyway, I'll probably waffle more about how it works and what it does and stuff later. The first thing is to get the game going. So far we have:

llamabeast - Marignon
DrPraetorius - Pythium
Tyrant - R'lyeh
GameExtremist - Arcoscephale
JayThomas - Man
Reverend Zombie - Shinuyama
Digress - Caelum
Xietor - Pangaea
Valerius - Vanheim
Sieger - Ermor

Map: Cradle of Dominions (Edi's fixed version)
Settings: Independents 6
Graphs on
Renaming on
Mods: Worthy Heroes 1.6
DrPraetorius' blessings hotfix

To upload your pretender, just send an e-mail to pretenders[ at ]llamaserver[ dot ]net, with the pretender file attached. If you want you can zip it, rar it or gzip it. Or not. The subject line has to be 'Alpaca', because that's the name of the game (I thought I'd stick with the llama-like theme). Then also post here to say you've joined.

It would be quite cool if you did everything you can think of to break it. I say this because I've plugged all the gaps I can think of, and at the moment I can't think of anything you could do to confuse it. But, I want it to be super-robust. So please go crazy in your attempts to mess it up, I can soon fix it again. For example, why not rename an ordinary 2h file as if it was a pretender? Create a random text file and send that? Please let me know if any of its responses aren't reasonable for what you did. Also let me know of any typos or errors in the e-mails it sends. I want it to be nice.

Okay, here's the links to the maps and mods you need:

Edi's fixed maps
Worthy heroes mod
Blessing hotfix

The worthy heroes mod is a rar file, which has been known to cause difficulties in the past - if you can't open it (and you're using windows), download WinRar from here.

Re: 8-10 player MA game to test new server (open)
 

Very impressive. I tried two old standard cracks against badly written email handling. Both of them sent me back a form-letter response about the problem. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/cool.gif
I am impressed.

Dont speak lightly of pbem servers. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif
A pbem server can handle at least 10 games for each 1 that a direct-connect server runs.
Instead of maxing out at 10 games, my server could run 100

Re: 8-10 player MA game to test new server (open)
 

Hey, thanks Gandalf. I like your crack e-mails! They look evil.

It looks like people have joined as Man and Shinuyama already, good stuff - who are you?

Re: 8-10 player MA game to test new server (open)
 

Oh, by the way, if you want to change your pretender in some way, you can just send the new file, and it'll overwrite the previous one. You can't change nation though.

Re: 8-10 player MA game to test new server (open)
 

I sent through a pretender for Caelum.

And it was accepted without a hitch.

Re: 8-10 player MA game to test new server (open)
 

I'll take Arco : )

I\'m in
 

as Shinuyama.

Re: I\'m in
 

Anyone have any thoughts as to what map we should use?

Re: I\'m in
 

For 10 players? Creadle of Dominion is handsome.

Orania might be better balanced (note also that it is only slightly larger).

Do you want me to scatter the start locations over a map to maximize consistency of placement? It's a hangup of mine, if you post (or pick) a map-file, I can do whatever you want to it.

Re: I\'m in
 

Cradle of Dominions sounds good. Isn't 20 provinces each a little on the large side though, or am I being silly? Maybe 12 players would be a little better.

Once we've worked out how many players, scattering the start locations sounds like a good idea, thanks Dr P.

Re: I\'m in
 

Well, IIRC, 10/player is small, 20/player is normal and 30/player is large. I forget where those values come from, though.

It also depends on the amount of water and the connectivity of the provinces - if each province has a lot of neighbors, path length between capitals will tend to be smaller and the map will thus "seem" small, even if it has a lot of provinces on it.

Re: 8-10 player MA game to test new server (open)
 

They are meant to actually. Its not as if the password file is all that useful except to spammers. But the ability to get it should be scary and it shows the ability to do other things also.

heehee. No Im not in the game. I dont join games as Gandalf Parker.

Re: 8-10 player MA game to test new server (open)
 

I joined as Man. No hitches so far. The confirmation mail arrived.

Thanks for hosting!

Re: 8-10 player MA game to test new server (open)
 

I will join as Pangaea. Will send files as soon as i can.

Not the most computer literate guy here, where is the pretenders file? I am looking in dom III directory, see saved games etc, but nothing titled saved pretenders.

Re: 8-10 player MA game to test new server (open)
 

Under newlords, i had 1 file that was a 2h file ma Pangaea. i sent you that. hopefully it is the right one. heh.

Re: 8-10 player MA game to test new server (open)
 

It accepted the file, so it must be the correct one.

My suggestions-use the edi's fix cradles map. it has improved starting postions and fixed a couple bugs that did not transfer over to dom iii.

My vote is for default settings, with independents set to 6(rather than 5) and for renaming. All other things to be left alone.

Re: 8-10 player MA game to test new server (open)
 

Also edi's fix automatically scatters the nations for the cradle's map.

Re: 8-10 player MA game to test new server (open)
 

Edi's start locations are fine, I agree with Xietor.

Re: 8-10 player MA game to test new server (open)
 

For cradles map, i think a min of 10 people, with optimal being 12.

Re: 8-10 player MA game to test new server (open)
 

I'd say 8-10 myself, but I prefer a little elbow room.

Re: 8-10 player MA game to test new server (open)
 

I agree with DrP.

Re: 8-10 player MA game to test new server (open)
 

I will play just to have fun, but my build is one best suited for a quick strike on an opponent. This particular build was one i used in aran games where your castle was sometimes 3 squares away from another players and you could be sieging their castle on turn 3.

But Pangaea can do ok in long build up games as well. If people like elbow room i am all for it also.

Re: 8-10 player MA game to test new server (open)
 

Pretender sent

Re: 8-10 player MA game to test new server (open)
 

I have joined as the hated Vanheim.

Re: 8-10 player MA game to test new server (open)
 

Okay, how about we go for 11 players , as a compromise. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

So I think we're up to 9 now, still waiting for two more.

Also, Arco and Vanheim haven't actually joined - have you tried e-mailing in your pretenders yet?

Re: 8-10 player MA game to test new server (open)
 

Sent my pretender in http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Re: 8-10 player MA game to test new server (open)
 

I'll join as Ermor, will send file soon.

Re: 8-10 player MA game to test new server (open)
 

Hmm, I'm not sure what happened. I sent three e-mails. Attached to each was a MA Vanheim pretender with password. I did not zip the file and it was sent from a Yahoo account.

Re: 8-10 player MA game to test new server (open)
 

What e-mail address did you send them to? Should be pretenders[ at ]llamaserver [ dot ]net. It hasn't received any e-mails from you at all - I just went through the log, and all the e-mails that have arrived I can account for.

I had thought that perhaps there was some kind of spam filter on the e-mail account, but one of the other emails came through fine from yahoo. So, I'd double check the spelling on the address you sent it to, and if that doesn't work you could just e-mail it directly to me, llamabeast[ at ]llamaserver[ dot ]net.

By the way, if you e-mail the server you should hear back within 5 minutes, 10 minutes at most, so if it doesn't send you a confirmation e-mail in that time then something's definitely wrong.

Re: 8-10 player MA game to test new server (open)
 

Ok, I just sent it to both addresses. I double checked and the e-mail addresses seem to be correct - no typos.

Re: 8-10 player MA game to test new server (open)
 

By the way, it just occurred to me that I did a poor job of specifying the details of the game in the first post. I'm thinking 24 hour quickhost, independents 6, renaming on, graphs on. Research and magic sites normal. Is everyone okay with all those? Or perhaps magic sites 50? Also I guess we could use Worthy Heroes, people seem to like that generally.

Dr P, do you think it's a good idea to use your blessing hotfix so Ermor can bless his sacreds?

So with Edi's fixed version of the Cradles map, how many start sites are there? Can we assume players will end up reasonably evenly scattered? I'm not up to speed on map issues at all.

Hmm, I've spent so long thinking about the server, I hadn't thought as far ahead as the game details!

Re: 8-10 player MA game to test new server (open)
 

I'll PM you Valerius.

Re: 8-10 player MA game to test new server (open)
 

I do not have any mods. So I prefer we play mod free so i do not have to figure out how to load one.

On a big map like cradles, there will be a ton of magic sites on the normal setting. just my thoughts.

If we are going with the hero mod, can you post the link to download it so we can all have same version?

And I am assuming you just download it, and drag it into mod folder?

Re: 8-10 player MA game to test new server (open)
 

Yep, I'll definitely post links and instructions for the map and any mods. You might be right about the magic sites.

Re: 8-10 player MA game to test new server (open)
 

Yeah, the blessing hotfix is a good idea, I'd say. Give people extra lead-time on the first host cycle - just in case there are bugs, or people can't download the mod(s), etc.

Yes, to use the mod you just download it and drag it into the mod folder. I attached it here again for your convenience.

Re: 8-10 player MA game to test new server (open)
 

Cool, thanks.

Still waiting for one more player... you know you want to.

Re: 8-10 player MA game to test new server (open)
 

What is the blessing hot fix? When I play ermor, i can bless their troops with no hotfix.

Re: 8-10 player MA game to test new server (open)
 

Usually you can, there is an intermittent bug that causes the mages to refuse to cast the various unholy blessing spells.

The nations that *really* need such a hotfix are LA Agartha and Ulm.

In the MA, T'ien Ch'i may be the only nation with undead sacreds and no way to bless them; everyone gets Mound Fiends, but few people care about blessing them.

The upshot of the fix is that it erases the distinction between regular and unholy bless spells, which cleans things up anyway, to my mind.

Re: 8-10 player MA game to test new server (open)
 

Oh, let's just start.

Re: 8-10 player MA game to test new server (open)
 

Yep, I agree - sorry for the delay everyone, I've been away all day today.

I'll just tinker with the server to make sure it won't do anything naughty (it'll be its first ever game start!), then hopefully you'll all get your first turns.

Re: 8-10 player MA game to test new server (open)
 

Hooray! Hopefully you'll all have received your first turns now by e-mail. Apologies for the slow start to this game.

I've added links to the map and the mods to the first post.

The deadline for the first turn is in 48 hours, just in case anyone has any problems, but it'd be great if we could get it done in 24 (or less!), especially since the first turn normally takes about a minute.

You can check who else has taken their turn, and what the deadline is on the website (www.llamaserver.net). Actually it's doing something odd at the moment, but hopefully it won't be by the time you look at it.

Let me know if you have any problems at all, or ideas for improvements. For example from this first turn, I've decided to get rid of the seconds counter from the time the next turn's due, because it looks silly. Any other similarly minor comments are much appreciated.

Good luck everyone, and thanks for playing!

Re: 8-10 player MA game to test new server (open)
 

I forgot to put the hall of fame to 15 places - hope no-one minds too much.

Re: 8-10 player MA game to test new server (open)
 

The worthy heroes link at the root of the thread does not seem to work.

Re: 8-10 player MA game to test new server (open)
 

Good point, fixed!

Re: 8-10 player MA game to test new server (open)
 

*taps foot impatiently*

Maybe it would be better to start the game as a direct connection game, and then move to PBEM after the first dozen turns or so?

This is for the future, I realize that this game you were trying to test every aspect of your hosting setup.

Re: 8-10 player MA game to test new server (open)
 

Surely direct connect would be no faster would it? I don't see that it makes much difference really - if you look at the website, you have all the information you'd have on a direct connect game.

Edit: Wasn't meaning to sound defensive there, I'm interested to hear your opinions.

Okay! We are moving!
 

Good luck everyone, and remember: Cuidado! Hay Llamas!

I've always wanted to say that.

Re: Okay! We are moving!
 

And we are off! Why did i not get my top right spot! /cry.

Re: Okay! We are moving!
 

Ayayay! Que peligro! Cuidense todos!

(And that will probably be the exttent of my contribution to this thread, but in my opinion it was truly valuable. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/cool.gif)

Re: Okay! We are moving!
 

I sent off my 2nd turn an hour ago, but have received no confirmation.

weird, i resent it and got a quick confirmation.