thinking of starting a PBEM game
 

i'm thinking about starting a pbem game because i want to try a mp game and there are'nt any open atm.

this is gonna be my very first mp i play and thus also host.
i was just wondering if there are any things or rules in particular that i need to be mindful of. like what game settings? which map and nations? how many players on what size maps? or are they all subject to my will alone =)i know there are but i just like to know whats common.

Re: thinking of starting a PBEM game
 

In short this is usually completly up to the host, of course it's up to the players if the want in on those terms =). Those mp games I have played the host have usually picked a map with around 15-25 provinces per player, and more than often the site frequency is abit higher than normal (around 50%). It's good in my opinion to use victory points so the game can be decided in a reasonable amount of time. All other settings are usually pretty standard.

But of course this is completly up to you, just pick some settings you would enjoy to play and im sure others will sign up.

Re: thinking of starting a PBEM game
 

A couple more points to make:

I think many players like the renaming turned on.

Turning on or off Score Graphs is a fairly important decision, and you should mention which way you want to go on that in your initial post (or open the point to discussion)

Re: thinking of starting a PBEM game
 

Oh yeah, almost forgot but this is very important:

Be sure to set the master password (and remember it once you've done so!)

Re: thinking of starting a PBEM game
 

You probably want to pic an era (early, middle, or late), how often you want host deadlines (every day? A couple times a week? No weekends?). This is a big one because people vary a lot on how often they can/want to play. Another thing that is sometimes declared (your choice as host) is random nations, where you use some random method to asign nations to the players who sign up, the idea is so that people don't necessarily get the one nation they've pefected to a T.

And on any of this stuff that you don't really have an opinion on, it's perfectly normal to poll the players who sign up.

Re: thinking of starting a PBEM game
 

how about map choice? i generally like the standard maps but are they balanced for mp?

i think i'll just set up a game and see how things work out.

Re: thinking of starting a PBEM game
 

Going with one of the maps in the game is a good choice for a first one. Dont sweat the wrong decisions too much. A wrong choice is usually only decided to be wrong because it made the game end in two days. So no sweat with starting another without that setting. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif