Tournament - Game I (US) - Signup

[DrPraetorious]

Rules to Join:
PM me (or post, if you don't care who sees it) a ranked list of eight nation choices for the *middle era* (which may or may not have water nations on it, depending on which game), or an instruction to assign you a nation at random. You don't really need to read the rest of this, except for the scheduling stuff. First eight replies to the thread (so reply even if you are sending me a PM) get seats in this game.
You don't have to play in the game in your timezone, as long as you can make the time for the game's initial blitz.

I'll start posting stuff when attachments are up again, or just use mediafire by Wednesday.

Game I (US) -
Do not include water nations. There are eight slots in this game, I am taking one.

This game will start at about noon (eastern time) next Saturday or Sunday with a three hour blitz. Say whether you prefer a saturday or sunday blitz. If you can't make either, you can't play - but I'll be setting up another (or another pair) of tourney games to start the *following* weekend.

Game II (Europe) -
Your list *must* include two of the three water nations. Put them on the bottom if you don't want a water position (probably someone else will take it, but if not you may be unlucky and stuck with it.)
This game will start on the same weekend with a three hour blitz, timed to whenever is convenient for europeans. If I have a prior commitment at that time, I'll find someone else to administer the first blitz for me (taking volunteers now.)
Register for this game in the other thread, please.

Settings -
Renaming will be allowed, HoF will be size 15.
There will be one VP in each of the eight capitals, and you must accumulate 16 VP to win. The game will be fairly long, possibly out to turn 72 if it's close.
The host interval will be 24 hours until a majority of current players wish to lengthen it. Substitutes are entirely acceptable. Anyone who stales two consecutive turns is set to AI and disqualified.

Mods -
We will be using my blessing hotfix mod (which enables every position to bless undead, although this doesn't matter much in the middle era,) but no other mods.

Maps -
The maps will be wrap-around maps with 196 provinces on *hex grids*. I realize this is somewhat unconventional but it makes it a lot easier for me to make the different start positions more-or-less fair.
The coastlines and mountains are generated at random by GIMP and are reasonably handsome. I add the other terrain myself.
Each pair of start locations is separated by either a mountain barrier, or some type of inhospitable terrain (swamp, rain forest, tundra or desert.)
Each start location has both a modest area of farmland (which will be coastal, if possible) and some mountains and/or forests next to it and near it.
The start locations are still not *exactly* fair, as I've taken aesthetic and realistic considerations into account when polishing the maps. They should be close enough to fair that random effects within game (such as random events, lucky morale checks) will have more of an impact on success than your start location.

Assignment of Nations -
Nations are assigned by draft (similar to Velusions' megagame.) However, since this tournament will take place over multiple individual games, each player will have a "priority" in nation selection. This'll be 0 for the first game anyone plays.
A higher priority player always wins when both players want the same position.
In any game, you gain priority equal to the round in which you were assigned, but random players do not gain priority.
In addition, you get a bonus of choice from the following list for each round that passes where you don't get your choice (random players get one more of these than any other player, as in Velusions' game):
* additional national scout unit, with richness 3 random magic items. You will wish to take this if you have a SC God and are a gambler (chance favors the bold!)
* +50% to the size of your initial standing army, and an extra commander. Typically this gives you another 150 gold worth of troops on the first turn, if your troops cost no resources. Ulm only gets 80 gold worth.
* additional site in capital, room permitting: Iron Mine (+40 RP), Canyon of Wild Winds (+2 A), Maze (+2 S), Broken Tower (+2 D), Earth Blood Seepage (+2 E), Sun Ridge (+2 F), Ancient Forest (+2 N), Mercury Pond (+2 W), Silver Mine (+40 gold). If you start underwater I might give you the underwater versions if I remember.
* A population boost in your capital of +4000 people (Velusion gave +1500). That's 40 gold/turn, before bonuses from administration or scales.

Thus, you are guaranteed at least one bonus if you don't get your first choice. So if you think Ulm *needs* an iron mine to be viable, put Ulm at least second.

Here is my list of choices:
* Vanheim
* Ermor
* Jotunheim
* Caelum
* Pythium
* Man
* Marignon
* Machaka

Tournament Victory -
You can play in up to three tournament games (one in each age.) Anyone who wins a game will automatically advance to the playoff.
If I need more playoff players, there will be "wildcards" based on combined victory-points-accumulated-at-death in each game played.
Total wins and victory-points-accumulated will also give minor advantages in the playoff games which I will describe later (basically, priority in choice of nations.)

P.S. - how do I get the game to export the score graph every turn, again? Can I get it in numerical format so I don't have to squint to figure out how many VP people have each turn?

Positions -
(1) DrPraetorious
(2) Jazzepi (Random Assignment)
(3) AreWeInsaneYet (Random Assignment)
(4) Dragonninjaakira (Random Assignment)
(5) Frank Trollman (Random Assignment)
Alternates -