Very Relaxed, perhaps unorthodox PBEM game starting here

[Graeme Dice]

Originally posted by licker:
As far as mods and map files go...

Only the creater of the game actually needs to have them when he starts the game, though everyone would need the .tga obviously (or not...).

Every player must have a copy of any mods that are active when the host starts the game.

[mlepinski]

Originally posted by licker:

As far as me being aquatic goes... since we have someone interested in Ryleth I suppose that would default me to Atlantis, which is fine, just so long as the map has enough water for the both of us I'm still happy to take Jotun though if there is anyone who really doesn't want any aquatics in the game.

Also, if there isn't enough water for two aquatic races, or if anyone doesn't want aquatics in the game, I'd be happy to play Vanheim or Caelum.

- Matt Lepinski :->

[tinkthank]

argh the board just erased my post because of parentheses?

OK well I'll try again. So far we have

- me: (Abysia or Tien Chi or Pythium)
- mlepenski: Ryleh (or Vanheim)
- licker: Atlantis (or Jotun)
- EternalSpear: Arco
- StabWest: Ermor (or Pythium or Tien)
- PhilD: Man
- Guybrush: Abysia (?)
- MiguelD: Ulm
- Duncanish: Caelum
- Zapmeister: Ctis
- Calmon: Pythium (?)
- PrinzM: Pan (?)

Ok, so this is pretty large.

I have put the Last ones in parenthesis simply because of size constraints; let's see about options for this below.

Guybrush, if Abysia is the only nation you feel comfortable with, you take it.
I will then go with something else -- but this something else is either Tien or Pythium. Pythium would be a conflict both with Stab and Calmon, so I think I will go Tien.

Because of 2 water nations, I would have suggested Zen's Europe, but the map is only marginally larger than Aran (best for 7-10).
Otherwise, if we stick to 10, we could try Cradle, which has a lot of water and is designed for 8-10. Both of these suggestions means snipping the Last two, however.
So I am tending towards Orania, which could hold us all, has some decent water, and is also nice for VPs. Consensus seems to be against dominion and for capitals and VPs, and if we go Orania, I would leave the default "extra" VP provinces in for flavor and set the conditions to about 70% of the total VPs.

My Email is bigboote@gmx.net

Feel free to mail me with any news, suggestions, or complaints too. Once we get started, this is where I will need your pretender sent to.

Phil (or anyone else with experience in hosting), could you give me some tips on how not to screw this up?

So let me know what you think of the situation so far. Either we go very large and very slow on Orania (or a different suggestion?), or somewhat sleeker on Europe or Cradle. Or???

I wouldnt mind starting the game before Easter, but will not push it. I will also be away for 4 days during this time, so I am not rushing. (Also, my bones whisper to me of an impending patch, and I smell it coming around Easterish. This, however, is pure conjecture.) Oh I should mention here that I will be away for nearly 3 weeks in May -- sorry, cannot change this.

OK am looking forward to playing with you!

[mlepinski]

I would vote against Orania, Orania is huge! It has 279 provinces, which means even with 12 people it would be 23 provinces per player. (Which in my opinion is a lot)

I'm interested in trying Cradle. Cradle has 221 provinces, which means with 12 players there are 18 provinces per player (much better than 23 in my opinion)

I've never seen Zen's Europe map (anyone have the link for that map? It's not on Illwinter's site).

In my opinion 15 provinces per player is a pretty good number. Ideally, I'd like to see us play a map with 12-18 provinces per player.

Also, what were you thinking as far as game settings? Independent Strength? Magic Site Frequency?

Thanks,
- Matt L. :->

[JaydedOne]

As the new patch is out, I highly recommend we all switch to it as well.

Zen's Europe = too small for a group this big as it's, I believe, 133 provinces.

I'm all for Cradle and can start whenever.

[Stab West]

I'm getting kind of bored with playing on Orania, all my SP games seem to take place there, mainly because I don't like to leave any of the other nations out, and Orania is the only map that can hold em all. So, I would be in favor of playing any other map, and this cradle map does look nice.

[tinkthank]

OK.
Only problem with cradle is that the mapmaker said for 8-10 people, possibly because of problems with starting positions.

[Dixie_F]

I would love to join as any available nation as my previous MP game just ended.

Eric

[mlepinski]

Originally posted by tinkthank:
OK.
Only problem with cradle is that the mapmaker said for 8-10 people, possibly because of problems with starting positions.

I can't speak for the creater of cradle, but most maps work just fine, even if you use more than "recommended" number of players (in most cases, recommended number of players seems to be a guess).

What I would recommend is starting a game with 12 (or 10?) human players, look at the starting positions for each player and decide whether you think they are reasonable.

(I did this and it seemed like people were spread out pretty nicely, with 12 players on Cradle, you'll find your neighbors pretty soon, but there seems to be plenty of room for you and your neighbors to expand a bit before conflict is necessary ... as is to be expected with 18 provinces per player).

- Matt L. :->

[PrinzMegaherz]

Sounds good to me.
What about the rest (independent strength, magic sites etc.)?

I like high indis (around 7) and above average magic sites (45 - 50)