New MP Game - Random, Anonymous, No Diplomacy

[The Panther]

I am looking to see if there is interest in a new MP game which was inspired by the QT3-Anon game about to wrap up.

The rules are simple:
1. All nations will be randomly assigned. No one except the host knows which player belongs to which nation. I am shooting for 17 players here.
2. No diplomacy of any kind. No in-game messages. No transferring of artifacts or gems or gold to any player. No external email allowed. I know this last item is impossible to truly enforce, so we would have to rely on the honor system here.

I think we would need a host for TCP/IP since sending 17 emails each turn might be too much for PBEM. Perhaps it would work if the host were to zip all turn files and send to all 17 players at the same time, but the file might get too big too quickly. Also, the host really cannot play in the game since he would know player assignments. Perhaps Soapyfrog or someone else would help here.

Settings:
Map - Orania
Indies - 9
Research - Very Hard
Mods - All Zen's mods plus Turin's Hero Mod
Renaming - Off
Graphs - On
Sites - 50%
Master Password - Yes
Victory Condition - 9 capitols (if 17 players)
All other settings normal.
Also, I would ask everyone to NOT select a name for their Pretender but just use the default supplied by the game. Passwords are essential for all Pretenders.


I will be out of the country from June 17-June 28, so I am looking for a start date about July 1 if everything can be worked out before then. My son (Tauren) has volunteered to watch this thread and respond to questions as required.

The game is open to the first 15 players (besides my son and I) who want in. If we can't get 17 players but can get 10, then we can do Inland instead.

What do you think?

[Manuk]

The random nations is cool but no diplomacy as you said, its impossible to control.

[Cainehill]

Eh - host could use master password to go into each nation each turn, thus seeing if any in-game messages were sent. With nations anonymous, it would be more difficult for people to do email via email, unless a couple of people pre-conspired and then told one another which nations they had.

Again, if the host looks at each turn, cheating would be pretty obvious when Abysia sends Caelum fire gems, or Paris sends Newcastle coal.

I'd certainly be interested in playing. Might suggest looking at using Turin's Hero mod in addition to Zen's collection.

[Shmonk]

Count me in, and looking to get experience with any nation I get. And I like the anonymous no diplomacy idea.

[The Panther]

Cainehill said:
unless a couple of people pre-conspired and then told one another which nations they had.

I must admit that I considered this a lot before deciding to go ahead. The pre-game alliance could really ruin this game and might be hard to detect for a long time.

However, I believe that most dominion players are just looking to have fun and not spoil things for everyone else.

Veterans like me and Tauren and Cainehill and Alneyan and Zen and Soapyfrog and Huzurdaddi and Pasha and newbies like Shmonk (and many of the others over in that ongoing newbie game) are all very trustworthy in my opinion. I believe we can find a lot of people who can be trusted to play by the rules.

[ioticus]

I'd like to play, but only if forced hosting is not less than 5 days. I can usually play a turn every 1 or 2 days, but I may rarely slip because of my work schedule, and I hate stale turns.

[GriffinOfBuerrig]

I am in!!! I like the idea of random nations much!!!

[Alneyan]

I would be interested, even if the game is TCP/IP (and all the Pretenders know how much I dislike TCP/IP), but... Well, I will be away when the game starts, and staling the early game isn't exactly a bright idea.

[Jurri]

Sounds fun! What about quitters, though? In my experience they are a much more prevalent problem than cheaters (I only know of one of the latter and oodles of the former), and preserving anonymity and finding subs is hard if someone disappears.

[Alneyan]

I hear you Jurri. I guess you could establish a Quitter Takeover Fundation, whose purpose will be to play in the stead of players that give up, but...