YARG - Yet Another RAND Game [Isokron's Midgard wins!]

[TwoBits]

This is interesting, and I wouldn't mind testing my chops with the "big boys". Or is this game only open to proven "experts"?

[WraithLord]

@Calahan, your suggestion has merits. I am not yet decided about it. I'll go with the majority here. So far it's 2:1 against it.

@chrispedersen, you want in or just offer to help with the mod if needed?

@Zeldor, You gave good input. Let me relate plz (inline).
"
- LA Ermor and R'lyeh in no diplo game is a bad idea, will make the game less fun
[WL] Possibly so. In dom-II RAND hosted by Pasha I played Ermor (basically LA Ermor of dom-III). I was in the top most of the game but Jurri killed me with Mari blood theme (similar to LA Mari).
I personally hate to ban nations. If they are overpowered and there are enough vets in the game it is possible that they would be ganged on. or not. But that is part of the fun in the game.
I see it as an experiment. Could work or could prove disastrous. If so, there's can always be another RAND.

- CBM should be a must nowadays
[WL] Yes. You are probably right. If only b/c of the exploits it fixes.
- no game should go over 72h timer, ever, 96h in extreme cases
[WL] Matter of personal preference. I want this game to be relaxed.
- 30-50% VPs max for the win, not 11 out of 12
[WL] Sorry my bad with the 12. It's 22, or 20 if we ban Ermor and R'lyeh
- indie str 9 will make some nations really cry, may be interesting though [but combining that with RAND may be too much
[WL] let them cry . The fittest survives. Let's try something different every time.
"

[WraithLord]

Originally Posted by TwoBits

This is interesting, and I wouldn't mind testing my chops with the "big boys". Or is this game only open to proven "experts"?

All are welcome. Warning though - so far the players that have enlisted are very skilled. If you feel comfortable to join in then by all means go for it.

[Zeldor]

Wraith:

But it's RAND, so if a vet gets uber nation he can own other weaker players. And they won't be able to organise anything. Or trade items to help fight power nations.

Relaxed games die Proven by experience.

VP a bit high, really. Getting 12 caps is almost impossible, it will take ages. See Artifacts. 6 out of 22 sounds like a more reasonable victory condition - and puts more pressure on players.

[ano]

WraithLord
1) I didn't understand your position as for CBM. This game was announced as no-mod game.
2) As for Ermor and R'lyeh, they should not be put into one basket nowadays, IMHO. I won a big game with R'lyeh once and I must say it was not that overpowered even before it was seriously nerfed in the last patch. Yes, R'lyeh is really powerful in the late game but you have to reach that stage in good position to be successful and when your mages eat all your gold which you don't have because your pop dies like flies... Well, it is really hard to be successful.
Population death doesn't mean a lot for Ermor because undead are not money dependent but it (in my opinion) makes R'lyeh one of the hardest nations to play. I never heard of anyone being successful with R'lyeh after that patch (I mean the games that began after it was released) and I personally think it is the weakest nation in LA now. If we want to ban it for this reason - I'm ok with it but not because it is overpowered. Perhaps it is still playable but I wouldn't want to check it. Really.
Ermor is another thing though. In my current game I allowed Ermor and didn't regret it, but... Ermor is certainly unbalanced and very hard to deal with. And in no-diplo game it will be a real pain. Noone wishes to fight Ermor because the gains are negligible even if you win. And nation who fights Ermor is usually pushed far behind. It ruins the game balance, in my opinion, because you are forced to do things that you would never do otherwise if there were no Ermor at your border. And, of course, Ermor in hands of good player will be death for everyone.
Just an example: as LA C'tis with base dom 8 (+ about 16 temples total) and a temple nearly at every province I'm still being pushed by Ermorian deadly dominion. I have a ton of priests preaching (not an exaggeration at all) and still my dominion at the border never exceeds +3 and sometimes becomes negative. I don't know if it is due to dominion spread bug or something else but it is a real pain even in a game with diplomacy.

[WraithLord]

There's an element of luck here. A vet can get LA Ermor and another LA R'lyeh. They may or may not clash, may or may not be ganged on by neighbors.
These nation always get banned these days. I want to give them a chance. I want to hear more opinions on this before decision whether or not they get kicked out of this one as well.

Why, I played lot's of relaxed games that did not die. Some players stick to the end, other's drop. That's why I'm saying out front how this game is gonna host. If you (plural) don't like it then skip this game.

RAND games take to be shorter. Since diplomacy acts as a balancer and prevents nations from growing ubber unchecked.
Artifacts would have been over already had I not been in it.
That said, I see your point and agree 12 is too high. Perhaps 9 would do.

[WraithLord]

ano, do you object to CBM?

got your point WRT LA R'lyeh.

So far we have one player vote against LA Ermor - yours.

[TwoBits]

Originally Posted by WraithLord

All are welcome. Warning though - so far the players that have enlisted are very skilled. If you feel comfortable to join in then by all means go for it.

I feel comfortable That's what I'm looking for - a real test of my (imagined) abilities. I'd try not to let anyone down with an early collapse.

Now, I checked the other RAND game (just the first page, so I may be missing a lot), but how do you enforce "no diplomacy"? I mean, how can you prevent in-game text messaging? Or is that just "verboten" on an honor system kind of thing? Sorry for the stupid RAND related question, which I'm sure everyone else knows.

[ano]

ano, do you object to CBM?

Yes (if I play, of course). Though I find it good I never played with it and I wouldn't want to start with a serious game like this.

[Gandalf Parker]

Personally the only problem I see with relaxed hosting times is if the same person ends up holding everything up for extended time on every turn (thought that does bring to mind the musical chairs game version which fixed that). Also with a rand game, conversation about that in this thread would be extremely difficult without giving away who is who. But if the person running the game is willing to do abit of judge/jury/executioner without calling for votes then it can be workable. Maybe it should be clearly stated how long with no contact will be considered too long before admin takes action.

I agree on CBM. There are plenty of games that use it. It would make a large difference for those who are very familiar with it. Particularly when randomly receiving a nation/god to play. I like seeing a fairly vanilla game with all nations show up. Mark me as approving of all settings already mentioned.