PBEM game: King of the Hill (Over)

[Cainehill]

I'd be interested - Theater is a neat map, especially if tweaked for 6 vice 12 players.


Getting the standings every 5 turns seems like a great compromise to the graphs, incidentally; I'd think that'd satisfy most of the people who either require or hate the graphs.

[Alneyan]

I have forgotten something about Theater: only land nations can play, as there is no sea province at all.

Cainehill, do you prefer the standard setup (where the Hill would be directly accessible through your fortress province), or the indirect access mentioned in my first post? I am not sure if the normal access makes the Hill too vulnerable, or if it is fine because of magical movement and the like.

[Cainehill]

Actually, the Version of the Theater map I have has the connections going to the small circular provinces on the outer edge of the inner sphere - following the white arrows, as you mention.

That leaves a good amount of maneuvering room as people attempt to get to the "Hill", which I think is better than having the capital fortress directly connected.

In particular, it changes the normal dynamic of expansion, since even if there are some appealing provinces in your sphere, you can't dawdle too long or someone else will get to the Hill and possibly win. Having 30 provinces all in your home sphere doesn't do any good if someone else took 7 provinces in a straight line to the center and got the hill.

I do think the SE sphere (Plains of Ermond) should be tweaked, even in the base Version of the map, because its connection is unlike all the others, which go deep into the outer sphere; the SE is a "shallow" link.

[Sedna]

This sounds like a fun game. I think it would clearly encourage early fighting which is often (in my fairly limited experience) absent as people decide to take independents rather than do anything interesting. For this reason I favor a shorter starting time— 10 turns versus 20.

It'll be very interesting to see how this develops. Will it Last long enough to be purely a battle of SCs and anti-SCs on the hill? I'm sure it will always prove interesting to have a scout sitting on the hill to watch...

[Alneyan]

Interesting Cainehill. I wasn't aware of this modified map; could you please send me the map file? Thanks!

I believe there would be more or less seven provinces between the closest start point (which will be used) and the Hill, so taking the Hill on turn 10 seems doable. No wandering around of course, and it might actually make more sense to have a decent productivity with this setup.

[Alneyan]

There was not a modified map; I should just have my eyes checked I guess.

A gentle bump as we are still looking for four more players.

[PhilD]

I'd be willing to play in this. I'm far from being an expert player, but I like losing in MP.

If naming nations at this point is acceptable, I'd go for Man.

[Alneyan]

Welcome aboard! Feel free to claim dibs on the nation of your choice.

The rest of the settings will remain as usual by default, but can be changed if someone feels a serious heartburn on any of these items.
- Independent Strength 6
- Magic site frequency: 40
- Standard magic research
- Renaming activated
- Master password activated
- Ten entries in the Hall of Fame

I will upload the slightly modified Theater of War tomorrow, after making sure all starting provinces are equally close to the Hill. The only modifications are the change to the SE isle, the addition of the Hill, and the removal of six of the starting positions.

And something I failed to address previously: do you prefer a 24 hour turnaround, or do you need 48 hours per turn?