Highlander - LA limited diplomacy (started)
 

There can be only one - no out of game diplomacy.

Now taking signups for a MP game hosted on the llamaserver (thanks llamabeast!). This is play by email, though I’ve got some scripts which automate this to a large degree (moving turn files around and handling the emailing) for windows if anyone wants to use them.

# of players – at least 10 to start, we’ll fill up all the slots if we have enough interest. The more the merrier.
Game settings:
Map - Alexandria
http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/thr...o=&fpart=1
Era – late
Score graphs – off
Renaming – on
indies - 9
Everything else default


House rules –
The only diplomacy allowed is through the in-game interface. The idea is that this will drastically reduce player’s ability to coordinate and make diplomacy less effective. I’ve got nothing against diplomacy, just thought it’d be fun to try. I’ll make no effort to enforce this, but anyone who is contacted for diplomacy out of game should post such to this thread for public ridicule. One exception – you can post anything you want to this thread, so any “open” diplomacy (ie “Mictlan is gonna win if we don’t all gang up on him!”, “I want to trade for air gems”) is fair game. Heck, you could even coordinate attacks if you’re ballsy enough to do so publicly.

All’s fair in love and war- everything else allowable in-game is valid. All exploits, bugs, etc. are considered fair play. Everyone’s on the same page here, though I’m open to suggestions of game breaking exploitable bugs that should specifically be banned. I’m the final judge of this, and I’ll only ban something if you can convince me that not doing so will make the game significantly less fun. Nothing I know of comes to mind.

Hosting schedule-
24 hours until at least two players request extending it, then we'll add 24 hours to the timer every time two requests happen.

2 consecutive stales result in being set AI (my discretion). Hopefully anyone leaving will find a replacement or at least set themselves to AI.

I am open to suggestions for any house rules or settings changes, realizing that it’s my game and I’ll end up picking whatever sounds like the most fun to me...

Players:
Marignon - Baalz
C'tis - Tharsonius
Pangea - meister_miagi
Midgard - Jazzepi
Ulm - BigandScary
Ptala - rasko
Jomon - Sir_Dr_D
Caelum - thraveboy
Rlyeh - ano
arco - Hadrian_II
Tien Chi - Revolution
Abysia - Slobby
Ermor - Falkor
MAN - Kalash
Pythium - otthegreat
Mictlan - Sawyer
Utgard - karnoza
Agartha - Firewalker
Atlantis - OoohSnap

Re: Highlander - LA limited diplomacy (Taking sign
 

How big a map are you thinking? As in, how many provinces/player? I vote few (maybe 12-15).

I'd like to provisionally reserve Mictlan.
Edit: Decided I'd better not play after all

Re: Highlander - LA limited diplomacy (Taking sign
 

I'm in, I'd like C'Tis please

I'd say play on a non random map, or at least with someone picking start positions to make it fairer.
I'd also like to see lower indy strength than 9.

Re: Highlander - LA limited diplomacy (Taking sign
 

I'd like to play as Pangaea.

Re: Highlander - LA limited diplomacy (Taking sign
 

I'll take midgard.

Jazzepi

Re: Highlander - LA limited diplomacy (Taking sign
 

I'll be Ulm.

Re: Highlander - LA limited diplomacy (Taking sign
 

I want Patala please.

Re: Highlander - LA limited diplomacy (Taking sign
 

Yes, I'll be aiming for about 15 per player. If someone wants to volunteer to make a map that'd be great, otherwise I'll pick (and am open for suggestions) one of the included or community made maps of roughly that size once we see how many players we've got.

Re: Highlander - LA limited diplomacy (Taking sign
 

Put me in as Jomon.

Re: Highlander - LA limited diplomacy (Taking sign
 

I'd love to take Caelum.

Re: Highlander - LA limited diplomacy (Taking sign
 

Let me take Rlyeh

Re: Highlander - LA limited diplomacy (Taking sign
 

i'd like to take arco. theese elephants have something about them.

Re: Highlander - LA limited diplomacy (Taking sign
 

Tien Chi

Re: Highlander - LA limited diplomacy (Taking sign
 

On second thoughts I think taking on a third game at the moment would be rash. I'm meant to be starting a big push on my university work, so I'd better be sensible. So Mictlan is free after all - sorry about that.

Re: Highlander - LA limited diplomacy (Taking sign
 

Abysia please

Re: Highlander - LA limited diplomacy (Taking sign
 

I'd like to try Ermor.

Re: Highlander - LA limited diplomacy (Taking sign
 

Hello !!
I'm a noob... I just got the game today.

I played Dominions 2 some times ago but only the demo.

I like you Idea of encouraging in game diplomacy... with maybe a little role play for the most motivated ? (me ? :d)

I'd like to join with nation Ermor ... which I think is ok for a beginner. Unless you have something more suited to propose.

24h is ok but not perfect for me. But I can manage it.

Re: Highlander - LA limited diplomacy (Taking sign
 

Hello,

I'll try MAN, tower of chelms

Re: Highlander - LA limited diplomacy (Taking sign
 

Hi,
Is there still room? If there is, I'll take Pythium.

Re: Highlander - LA limited diplomacy (Taking sign
 

Ooh! Ooh!

Is Mictlan still open?

Re: Highlander - LA limited diplomacy (Taking sign
 

Great! I see lots of new faces, welcome all. New guys take a look at the MP etiquette thread Sheep posted: http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/thr...t=1#Post575472

Also, it's pretty bad form to abandon the game. Keep in mind that everybody else is waiting for you so if for whatever reason you don't want to play anymore at the very least set your nation to AI.

Outside of that, this is a very friendly community so speak up if you have any questions. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Looks like we've got 3 slots open so I'll assume we fill those up for a full 19 before we start. Would anybody like to nominate a map with 250-300 provinces?

Re: Highlander - LA limited diplomacy (Taking sign
 

How fast should i be expanding with indys 9, or whats about normal with this settings?

Re: Highlander - LA limited diplomacy (Taking sign
 

I think normal is Indy 5. I think 9 might be a little extreme. I would personally like to see it a tad lower D:

Jazzepi

Re: Highlander - LA limited diplomacy (Taking sign
 

I think "indy 9" setting just gives a huge advantage to hyperbless and awake SC's strategies (which they already have, btw) making all other approaches almost inconsistent. I may be mistaken, but it seems so. However, it may appear to be interesting.

Re: Highlander - LA limited diplomacy (Taking sign
 

I had exactly the same impression, actually.

I'm not sure how a nation with a midrange site searching pretender would be able to do anything.

Jazzepi

Re: Highlander - LA limited diplomacy (Taking sign
 

I'm not in love with indies at 9, I've actually not played a game like that before and threw it in as a lark. I'm not opposed to 5 as it seems to be the general preference.

Re: Highlander - LA limited diplomacy (Taking sign
 

Maybe 7 will be a good trade-off?

Re: Highlander - LA limited diplomacy (Taking sign
 

I think 5 is a nice trade off, you still get the tough indies but you also get places yuo can beat early on as well.

Re: Highlander - LA limited diplomacy (Taking sign
 

I never considered indies 5 tough, really. However, I don't mean to insist or something. I just think that 7 is the optimal choice for a game with no score graphs.

Re: Highlander - LA limited diplomacy (Taking sign
 

I would like to do 5, personally. I've always felt there was a good balance of tough and easy indies.

Jazzepi

Re: Highlander - LA limited diplomacy (Taking sign
 

I tested it with arco, and i think armoured elephants are working nicely with indy 9, but its a bit of a gamble in the beginning, so i would vote also for indy 5.

And it does not really benefit blessers as they need also more units to fight the increased attrition. But fear/awe pods would benefit hugely from the higher indy setting.

Re: Highlander - LA limited diplomacy (Taking sign
 

The lower the indy strenght the faster we meet on the battlefield.
So, to stay in game longer I vote for 10 http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...es/biggrin.gif

But seriously, the game master set it on 9 and setting to 5 is pretty much a change. Let's lower it a bit. 7 is my lucky number. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Re: Highlander - LA limited diplomacy (Taking sign
 

Utgard - karnoza. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Re: Highlander - LA limited diplomacy (Taking sign
 

I'll take Agartha if its still open.

Re: Highlander - LA limited diplomacy (Taking sign
 

I agree with this sentiment. That said, I have no problem playing with indy 9's, I just think that 5's are more balanced...they can still be pretty rough.

Re: Highlander - LA limited diplomacy (open - 3 sl
 

I'd like to sign up for LA Atlantis if its not too late.

Re: Highlander - LA limited diplomacy (open - 3 sl
 

Alright, looks like we've filled up so we can go ahead and get started. We'll go ahead and use indies at 5. Glory of the Gods (multiplayer) has 274 provinces so we'll use that one unless anyone has a better suggestion. I'll ask Llamabeast to set up the game and we'll give everyone three days to get the first turn in before we start the 24 hour hostings. Once the game is up I'll post instructions on how to submit your pretenders and turns.

Re: Highlander - LA limited diplomacy (open - 3 sl
 

You are changing the indies? You know how long I have practicing at indy 9 for this game?

I would prefer to stay at the settings advertised in the game, because I have never played an indy 9 game before and it sounds interesting.

Re: Highlander - LA limited diplomacy (open - 3 sl
 

I'd prefer keeping Indies at 9 as well.

Re: Highlander - LA limited diplomacy (open - 3 sl
 

And I still think that something like 7 will be a good trade-off between 9 and 5. But it is definitely up to host to decide.

Re: Highlander - LA limited diplomacy (open - 3 sl
 

Btw, the map "Glory of gods" seems to be very well non-balanced. Upper and bottom-left regions are all wastelands and mountains. With such nations density to appear there for a land nation almost means to say "gg".

Re: Highlander - LA limited diplomacy (open - 3 sl
 

I agree with ano that 7 would be a good compromise - but yes it is up to the host.

As for Glory of the Gods, it does have issues but I don't know of any real alternatives.

Re: Highlander - LA limited diplomacy (open - 3 sl
 

You could try Pasha's new "Alexander" map. That's a reasonable size, and wraparound. I haven't looked at it closely though.

Re: Highlander - LA limited diplomacy (open - 3 sl
 

Alright, they do have a point that I advertised 9 on the indies and that's what everybody signed up for so we'll stick with it, design your pretender accordingly. I'm up for giving Alexander a try unless anybody objects...

Re: Highlander - LA limited diplomacy (Taking sign
 

Alright, the game is set up on the llamaserver and it looks like a couple people have already sent in their pretenders. For those of you who haven't done this before check out the FAQ llamabeast wrote:

http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/thr...?Number=531116

If possible try to have your pretenders in for Wednesday and we'll kick it off.

Re: Highlander - LA limited diplomacy (Taking sign
 

I'm really sorry guys but I think I'm going to have to back out of this one, the other games I'm playing are starting to get more time intensive and I don't want to take on more than I can handle.

Hope you guys have fun.

Re: Highlander - LA limited diplomacy (Taking sign
 

So do we wait for C'tis or start anyway?

Re: Highlander - LA limited diplomacy (Taking sign
 

Tharsonius will be playing C'tis instead, so we've still got a full house. Here's the link for the map:

http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/thr...o=&fpart=1

Re: Highlander - LA limited diplomacy (Taking sign
 

People who are absent yet:

Midgard - Jazzepi
Ulm - BigandScary
Ptala - rasko
Abysia - Slobby
Ermor - Falkor
Pythium - otthegreat

Re: Highlander - LA limited diplomacy (Taking sign
 

I'm having issues sending my pretender to the llamaserver. I got the error message twice and I just sent an email to llamabeast. Hopefully this gets sorted out soon.