[pyg]

I think you are hitting on an essential concept here. Diplomacy is bigger than skill in Dom3 MP, so fixed diplomacy(teams/no diplomacy raND) changes the game in an important way for people who take this game way to seriously.... don't make me name names. Team games are the most fun I've had in Dom3 MP(NvV:I,NaV). My teammates have had a lot to do with that. On the other hand I've observed that team MP hasn't treated everyone as well as me. Perhaps they've just chosen/not their teammates that well.

This brings me to what I suggest for this concept: Teams should self select (via forum PMs/irc/etc.) and sign up as a team that is also commited to finding subs for team for the game (with expected delays, and sighs). I think team games need to sacrifice the bonus of anonymity, and hopefully nation balance of teams will occur before signup, to avoid contention.

I like the political intrigue of the mole concept in a team game.