Yet Another Dominions Game - Game Running!

[Ygorl]

I'll be starting up a game on a soon-to-be-vacated Mosehansen slot (www.mosehansen.dk)
Map TBA, but something with a province count of about 150, give or take. Open to discussion, of course.
Here's the deal:
Indies 5
Sites 25%
Rich World
Difficult Research
Graphs On
15 HOF
standard victory conditions
Beginning at 24h quickhost, slowing down as people request it. It would be great if we could start it off as something of a blitz, but that might be completely unrealistic.

One other thing: no alliances.
This rule is, of course, unenforceable, and so a better way to describe it might be "don't trust anyone". If your neighbor says "Let's have a ten-turn NAP", don't be surprised or upset if they attack you four turns later. Don't feel bad, either, if you want to attack them after three.

Who's interested?

Update:
Not just no alliances, we're shooting for no diplomacy of any kind. The map is Desert Eye. We've got ten players, I think... If more folks want to join, we can take them. Those of us who have been too slack to actually pick a nation should do so and post here.
As far as pretenders, I kicked the one anonymous pretender. Unfortunately, this seems to have taken the game out of the Open list (its status is now "Stopped"). This freaks me out; is it okay? Or did I start the game? Alternatively, my computer is on and online something like 98.8% of the time... I could just host it on my machine, open up a TCP/IP port for it; that way, we can run version 16. Disadvantage is we miss out on Esben's nice web interface.
Anyway, once that's taken care of, and everyone's got pretenders, we can start.

Here's the final list of players:
Ygorl - Atlantis
Jurri - Ermor
Azhur - R'lyeh
izaqyos - Pythium
Reverend Zombie - C'tis
Cyborg Moses - Marignon
Catquiet - Pangaea
extramedium - Ulm
DrPraetorius - Jotunheim
GriffinOfBuerrig - Man
Alneyan - Caelum
Bluebird - T'ien Ch'i
Manuk - Vanheim

[Jurri]

I'm in, definitely! And the slot is freed.

How about going one step further with the no alliances thing and go 'gunboat' all the way? That is to say, ban diplomacy of any kind, aside from what your moves can message through. I'm not sure if it would degenerate into bash-the-leader even sooner than normal, though. A wrap-around map would be ideal for this kind of thing.

Also, how about banning blood nations, as low sites and rich world and difficult research all make them relatively more powerful.

[PashaDawg]

Maybe you could name this one after Machiavelli.

[Azhur]

I'm in for now.

EDIT: As R'lyeh

[Jurri]

PashaDawg said:
Maybe you could name this one after Machiavelli.

Sounds about right Not for the weak of heart and short of temper...

C'mon Pasha, join the fun!

[WraithLord]

I also want in.

I second Jurri and suggest to totaly ban diplomacy.
This of course is unforceble but I feel that playing that way might prove interesting.
How about hiding all the information graphs so that players will tend less to gang against the leader.

I also agree about banning blood nations as they have an advantage in this map.

Anyway, If I was to select a nation I would have taken Pythium.

[Reverend Zombie]

C'tis, please.

[Ygorl]

I set it up on Esben's server just to claim the slot; I chose Desert Eye as the map; 125 provinces, wraparound, seems about right. If anyone wants to suggest a different map, though, I'm all ears.
I think we should leave graphs on; with no diplomacy, "everyone bash the leader" easily becomes "everyone bash the leader except for me - I'll rip up my distracted leader-bashing neighbor's undefended backside".
With graphs off, it's just "everone bash their neighbors", which is a lot more straightforward and less interesting.

If people with more experience than I think a blood-banning is appropriate, we can do that... I wonder if it's really necessary though? We won't see as many massive spells flung around, but with so much income it should be relatively easy to field large squads of mages; also, large armies of more mundane troops should be more supportable. In the amount of time that I imagine this game taking, I don't think the advantage granted to a blood nation by these parameters will be overwhelming. But I could easily be totally wrong...

[PashaDawg]

Jurri said:

Sounds about right Not for the weak of heart and short of temper...

C'mon Pasha, join the fun!

Nah... but thanks. I have enough games going for now. Plus, you'd probably squish me too quickly for my ego to bear.

[Jurri]

PashaDawg said:
Plus, you'd probably squish me too quickly for my ego to bear.

Aw, don't be like that! Fight the power, man!

In my, albeit limited, experience blood nations benefit from a rich world as they can then satisfy their money needs with fewer provinces. Also, low sites make them relatively more powerful, as the blood supply isn't affected. But what do I know, I've played all of one game with a blood nation.