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[13lackGu4rd]

while we're switching subjects mid thread, what about allowing mods in newbie games? CBM is the most popular mod around, yet NaVII as well as a few other newbie games stick to vanilla. to me it seems counter intuitive, cause eventually everyone will need to acquaint him/herself with CBM... also what about other mods? such as the various mod nations(mostly made by Sombre mind you)? some of them are growing in popularity, so they should at least be taken into consideration as well...

[Septimius Severus]

Originally Posted by 13lackGu4rd

while we're switching subjects mid thread, what about allowing mods in newbie games? CBM is the most popular mod around, yet NaVII as well as a few other newbie games stick to vanilla. to me it seems counter intuitive, cause eventually everyone will need to acquaint him/herself with CBM... also what about other mods? such as the various mod nations(mostly made by Sombre mind you)? some of them are growing in popularity, so they should at least be taken into consideration as well...

I think generally some newbie games opt for vanilla to first aquaint players with how the game plays out of the box. Starting out, I really didn't know enough about battle mechanics, units, magic, and so forth frankly to be able to tell the difference between CBM or Vanilla (aside from the pretender changes).

CBM is quite comprehensive in it's changes to the game. If you play vanilla first, if might give you a greater appreciation for the changes made by various other mods including CBM. You can then make an informed decision as to what mods you prefer playing with. I think everyone should have choices though.

I guess also too having fewer mods, means less things you've got to download. Some noob players may also not be that familiar with how you enable mods for certain games and where to put them, etc. Mods that make changes to pretenders need to be enabled on pretender creation, whereas other mods might not.

As far as whether you learn more playing alongside vets or against vets, that is possibly debatable. It might be safe to say if your a complete noob and playing against a seasoned vet head to head without any help (such as in a FFA non-diplomacy type game), you might not survive long enough to learn very much.

A single team game can teach you a lot. You learn from the other players in the team (and also from the enemy), you learn how to work together, how different nations interact, which can help you in non-team games when dealing with alliances and so forth. You can play alot of FFA type games and get eliminated quickly before you might learn from your mistakes. Generally, I am in favor of games and map configurations that allow noobs time to experiment, research, and perhaps learn from their mistakes in the game they are currently in, without necesarrily having to worry about getting rushed or overwhelmed at the start.