Troubling Times: Game over, Marverni wins

[13lackGu4rd]

Originally Posted by Amhazair

* Endgame Diversity Mod has been suggested and endorsed by several people, with one vote against. I have tentatively added it to the OP, but feel free to make your feelings - for or against the mod - clear. I have no objections against using it myself, but since I didin't add it to the options at the start I'll lend heavier weight to any nay-voters out there. And I guess I'd better go take a look at how the mod turned out then. Last time I checked it out it was still in the brainstorming stage.

personally I don't have a problem with EDM, but for such a large game I think we better keep it simply, with as few mods as possible(besides the standard CBM that is).

* Streamers and Standards has also been suggested. I see absolutely no reason to include it, but then again the only downside is having to download it, so... /shrug. Unless anyone objects, it's in.

agreed, Streamers and Standards is almost a necessity for single age games, but in regular games there's not much need to it.

* No objections to site frequency of 50. Changed in the OP, remains open for discussion.

no objections either, in fact I like this idea

* I really like the Idea of difficult research, so it takes a bit longer to reach the massive endgame spells, and especially to have access to every spell you might need. The massive downside however is in early game, where it basically eliminates the option for 'average' nations to try and counter or slow (bless-)rushers with a couple of well chosen low-level spells. As such I will veto this proposal. (Hence the bold in the OP )

The Megagames came up with an - imperfect - solution to this by using difficult (or very difficult?) research, but modding all lower lvl spells down a level, so early research was equally fast, but mid- and late game slowed down considerably. That's a very heavy handed solution though, and the hypotethical mod would have to be written from scrach - I think - Since CBM already fiddles a lot with spells in the game. If any white knight feels inspired to try something like this and everyone agrees, then be my guest, but otherwise normal research it will remain.

the thing is that on such a large map bless rushes are not as strong as they are in smaller maps. even if you manage to rush and kill an opponent early on, you won't be able to rely on your bless for much longer, and will eventually need to catch up with everybody else. moreover, most bless rush nations rely on their holy commanders to lead their first sacred expansion parties, which slows down their early research compared to the others, so it's not as black and white as you're trying to make it sound.

With one countervote to keep as is. I don't really like max strength indies (appart from the VP Provinces of course) but will change it if most people prefer this.

I agree, max indy 6 Imho, with stronger(custom?) garrisons in VPs only.

So far the only opinion voiced about victory conditions. I quite like the idea. This would require the player attaining the agreed upon limit to post his list of VP's in the thread, and then hold them for 3 turns. (Or conquer enough new ones to cover the lost ones of course.) The limit can also be a bit lower in this case. Perhaps 40? With 20 points to be gained from 5 provinces I don't think I'd go lower than this.

yeah, some form of mutual concession type victory is the best Imho.

I had heard about that. Is it usual to cross-recruit? If so I suppose I can go make me a login overthere.

well, it's not unusual to do so, and considering the size of this game I'd say we need as many players as we can get, so it's definitely a good idea to cross recruit.

* And Finally: 13lackGu4rd: I hate your name! If we wind up next to each other I'll rush you on sight, just to avoid having to type that name in PM's. Fair warning.

just use copy paste, like I do for PMs. I can't bother with spelling each and every name for a PM, especially since a single typo will mess it up entirely, especially for mass PMs...

[ghoul31]

1. Pangea
2. Hinnom
3. Agartha

[rdonj]

Something like this, amhazair?

Also, we had a game recently on the other forums that showcases just how bad maenads really are. If I were the pangaean player, I'd have no difficulty agreeing to take no turmoil, or perhaps just 1.

[Numahr]

I can take care of the map editing. Coding is indeed a piece of cake; but agreeing on the starting locations is more sensitive. I woulod appreciate if 2-3 guys accept to work with me on this. THe only thing I want from them is to give me feedback on suggested locations so that it gets balanced. The reason why I say 2-3 guys is to have a workable small group. Then we can suggest the end result to the whole game community.

Let me know what you think.

[Amhazair]

Originally Posted by rdonj

Something like this, amhazair?

Something like that, yes.

My preference would have been for difficult research with lvl 3 spells modded down to lvl 2 too, but I guess it's close enough. I suppose those that advocated difficult research can be happy with this (small) compromise. Any objections from players who prefer normal research?

Originally Posted by squirrelloid

I might point out that there is absolutely no reason to use Standards and Streamers unless the game is going to be multi-age. Anyone who wants to look at the S+S banners can simply copy the code portion of the S+S mod and paste it at the bottom of CBM, and you'll change all the nation banners. This way you don't inconvenience people who don't like the S+S banners, because forcing them to have a blank copy of S+S to avoid looking at it leads to problems when they do play in an all-ages game. (Also, you get to look at S+S banners all the time, no matter what game you play in, so long as it uses whatever mod you pasted it into - CBM in this example).

Well, that takes care of that I guess. Anyone wanting to use S&S can use this method, to save everyone else a (tiny) little bit of hassle. Thanks for the tip Squirrelloid.

And finally: Anyone intrested in hashing out balanced start locations, report to Numahr's offices.

We've got 17 signups now, provided Juffos confirms the settings are to his liking and no-one backs out, so 7 slots left. (And a marked lack of intrest in playing water nations for some reason.)