Civilization IV PBEM - If Playgrounders Ruled the World

[Lord Herman]

If Playgrounders Ruled the World
a Civilization IV play-by-email game


This is a play-by-email game, played on a large Tectonics map. Watch this thread for semi-regular reports about the game.

Players:
{table="head"]Player|Leader|Civilization
Lord Herman|Brennus|Celts
Murska|Asoka|Indians
Selrahc|Willem van Oranje|Dutch
Muz|Ramses II|Egyptians
Grey Paladin|Montezuma|Aztecs
happyturtle|Saladin|Arabs
potatocubed|Suryavarman II|Khmer
mikeejimbo|Ragnar|Vikings[/table]

[Muz]

How exactly does it work?

[Murska]

I guess I could play, although PBEM is sloooow and I'm starting next level of education so I'll probably suck.(Yes, the excuse doesn't hold water, it's just that I suck at the game.) :smalltongue:

[Lord Herman]

How exactly does it work?

In a play-by-email, you play your turn in the game, and then you send the game to the next player through the intertubes, who then plays his turn, and so on. Most of the technical bits are handled by the game itself; afaik, the game sends a save to the next player, and all he needs to do is open the file that comes with the e-mail he received, and the game handles the rest.


I guess I could play, although PBEM is sloooow and I'm starting next level of education so I'll probably suck.(Yes, the excuse doesn't hold water, it's just that I suck at the game.) :smalltongue:

Don't worry, you're not the only one. I have finally managed to get some important basics of the TBS genre down, but I still have some glaring weaknesses which I won't tell you about because you'd grind me into the dust if you knew them. :smalltongue:

[Selrahc]

Heck, I guess I could give it a shot. I'm on a CivIV kick at the minute.

Are we realllllly going to go marathon speed though? It just takes forever. Even on single player, let alone play by email.

[Muz]

I'll give it a try, though I work during weekdays and have occasional stuff to attend to in the evenings. :smallsmile:

Though I'd agree with Selrahc that a regular-speed game would work just as well, if not better.

[Asheram]

Wait, wait wait....

Play by Email, on civ 4 Marathon?
With 12 players?!

It'll take Decades!

[Lord Herman]

You have a point; PBEM is slow as it is, so it might be better to play at normal speed. And I guess the size of the map should also depend on the number of players we can find.

[Grey Paladin]

Sign me up.

EDIT: May I suggest we play Fall From Heaven 2 (http://kael.civfanatics.net/)? it is a great mod but only really works well with human players due to the A.I.'s failure in dealing with spells. I figure this is a good chance.

[happyturtle]

In!

Random leaders, or do we get to choose?

[Lord Herman]

Fall from Heaven 2 does look interesting, but I'd rather play this game without mods.

I'd say we choose our leaders and nations ourselves. It's going to be a long game, so we should each get a leader we like. I do prefer leaders having the appropriate nation, however - Gaius Julius Caesar ruling the Chinese is just silly.

If you like, you can start claiming leaders and nations now.

[Selrahc]

I'd be up for Fall From Heaven or a normal game. Whichever. I suspect though that we have a lot more people who know just the unmodded game.

[happyturtle]

Saladin of Arabia then.

[potatocubed]

Sure thing, sign me up.

I haven't played Civ 4 in ages, and I sucked when I did, so the only reason I'm not going to get nuked back to the stone age is because I never left the stone age. :smalltongue:

I have no idea which leader I'll choose.

EDIT: When you say 'Beyond the Sword', does it matter if I have 'Warlords' installed as well? I mean, will the game automatically limit me to what everyone else has or will I just be forbidden from joining?

[Grey Paladin]

Montezuma the Aztecan.

[Muz]

Fall from Heaven 2 does look interesting, but I'd rather play this game without mods.

I'd say we choose our leaders and nations ourselves. It's going to be a long game, so we should each get a leader we like. I do prefer leaders having the appropriate nation, however - Gaius Julius Caesar ruling the Chinese is just silly.

If you like, you can start claiming leaders and nations now.

Seconded. And...Ramses II for me, please. (He's twice as Ramsesier than Ramses I!) :smallwink:

Are we allowed to custom-name our leaders and civs?

[Murska]

Asoka of India please. :smallsmile:

[Lord Herman]

EDIT: When you say 'Beyond the Sword', does it matter if I have 'Warlords' installed as well? I mean, will the game automatically limit me to what everyone else has or will I just be forbidden from joining?

I'm not quite sure, actually.


Are we allowed to custom-name our leaders and civs?

I'd say we should name our leaders after ourselves so we know who's who, and keep our civ's name the way it is.


Edit: I've put a list of players in the first post.

[Selrahc]

As long as you have beyond the sword installed at the latest patch, it doesn't matter what else you have. If you only have warlords you can't play.

Um... I'll go Dutch. Willem Van Oranj.

[Lord Herman]

I think we should keep the sign-ups open for another day or so, and then start the game.

[potatocubed]

Me! Me!

I still won't know what nation I'm going to be until this evening, though.

Suryavarman II of the Khmer please.

[Lord Herman]

We need a catchy name for our game. How about 'If Playgrounders Ruled the World'?

I do hope Ina doesn't miss this game. She doesn't seem to have been online much since the meetup.

[Muz]

My Catchy Name-o-tron 2000 is on the fritz. :smalleek: Stand by.

So if I understand correctly, when we're done with our turn, we email it to the next person in the cycle. Does it make sense to figure out roughly the time of each each of us is likely to be checking email, then trying to arrange the order to fit? (I'm most likely to be around between, say, 3:00 and 6:00 GMT, for example, though that's far from exclusive.)

Or am I trying to make things too complicated? :smallbiggrin:

[potatocubed]

Hmm. I think that any time savings you could get with that method would probably be outweighed by the added annoyance of setting it up. This game is going to be a long-haul job no matter how you look at it.

[Lord Herman]

I believe the game automatically emails the save to the next person in line.

I guess we could order our turns by time zone, but I don't expect it'll make much of a difference. Still, it can't hurt to try.

Edit: I've added a time zone column to the player list. Post your time zone, and I'll add it to the list.

[happyturtle]

GMT. I'm pretty much always online. >.>

[Selrahc]

I'm also GMT.

[potatocubed]

GMT.

Since I think the IT department would frown on me installing Civ4 on my work PC, think of me as online in the evenings only. :smalltongue:

[Grey Paladin]

Gmt +2

[Muz]

I believe the game automatically emails the save to the next person in line.

I guess we could order our turns by time zone, but I don't expect it'll make much of a difference. Still, it can't hurt to try.

Edit: I've added a time zone column to the player list. Post your time zone, and I'll add it to the list.

It's not really the time zone that matters so much as what time of the day (relative to GMT) you're most likely (generally) to be available. But I'm starting to regret my suggestion, as you're probably right that it won't make much difference in the long run. :smallsmile:

[Malek]

I believe the game automatically emails the save to the next person in line.
It doesn't. Or rather it would, but e-mail servers these days are protected so much, that most likely it won't be able to access the accoutn to send the file (I learned that when trying to set up PBE with a friend). Somwehere on the internet there is a program that helps managing Civ4 PBE but you'll have to search for it yourself, because I can't remember what was it called or where did I get it back then.

[Lord Herman]

This (http://forums.civfanatics.com/downloads.php?do=file&id=7531) seems to be the program you speak of.

As for the time zones, it seems everyone but Muz lives in Europe, so it won't be necessary to order the players by time zone.

I think I'll go and start the game now; I'll leave a spot open for Ina, just in case she does show up later on.

Edit: Could everyone PM me their email address?

[Murska]

GMT+2, yeah. :smallsmile:

[Selrahc]

So what settings are we going for?

I'm inclined towards either continents, or one of the weirder map scripts. On a random climate.

[Lord Herman]

I was planning to go with Tectonics. It makes a reasonably realistic world. We could also go with Earthlike, so we're guaranteed to get a 'new world' continent.

[Selrahc]

Tectonics sounds good to me.

[Grey Paladin]

I'm fine with Tectonics, but Archipelago could be interesting.

[potatocubed]

I don't mind what world settings we use. It's all good with me.

[happyturtle]

I like Tectonics, Continents, Pangea.

I've never played Archipelago. If we do that, can I switch to Elizabeth?

[Selrahc]

If we do that, I'll switch off Dutch. Dutch on an archipelago map are just brokenly good. Dike's + UU Ship + Financial is not a pretty combination for opponents to face. Able to outtech, outproduce and outfight opponents.

[mikeejimbo]

Do you have too many people yet?

If not, I'd like to be in. I just re-purchased Civ IV: Complete last night because I lost my disks and I've been hankering to get another game going.

(I'd take Ragnar with the Vikings.)

[Muz]

I'd vote against archipelago, actually, for a PBEM game. I've played too many archipelagos where I've been waiting around on my little island for my scientists to discover astronomy. :smallsmile:

[Lord Herman]

Do you have too many people yet?

If not, I'd like to be in. I just re-purchased Civ IV: Complete last night because I lost my disks and I've been hankering to get another game going.

(I'd take Ragnar with the Vikings.)

There's still room for a few more. I'll put you on the list. Could you PM me your email address, for setting up the game?

[mikeejimbo]

All right, I sent that off.

It's been a while since I've played the regular game. I've been caught up in the FfH2 mod lately!

[Murska]

I've mostly played Fractal. Please no archipelago? Start locations shaft some players so badly...

[Selrahc]

That can happen on any map script though. Kind of a pity we don't have someone to cycle through a few maps and find one where everybody has a fairly good start.

[Lord Herman]

I've went ahead and started the game. I chose a Tectonics map.

I did run into the problem Malek spoke of, so I sent the save to Murska manually.

Also, I've updated the first post and the thread title with our game's catchy new name.

[Murska]

Hmm. A very puzzling start location.

[Selrahc]

Hey Lord Herman, we probably all need the email addresses. I'm certainly going to need Muz's.

[Lord Herman]

I'll send a list of e-mail addresses to each of you. The game should make it clear who to send it to, even if the auto-mailer doesn't work.

[mikeejimbo]

Sounds fun. I look forward to my e-mail.

[Muz]

Finished my first turn and emailed it off. My server wouldn't let Civ mail it directly, either. Ah, well. :smallsmile:

Oh, and don't forget to patch! (I didn't know a new one (http://www.firaxis.com/support/support_detail.php?gameid=16&patch=1)came out in June.) Seems that it DOES work with games saved under the old version, if anyone's worried...

[Lord Herman]

I just had a great start with a single-player Civ4 game. I played Willem van Oranje on a large Terra map on Noble difficulty, and I was able to expand like crazy without bankrupting myself. I did have some trouble with barbarian hordes that came pouring out of a small town north of my territory, but I managed to crush their invasion, and subsequently their city.

It didn't last, though. My Portuguese neighbours, who had been a useful trading partner from the start, suddenly decided to attack with ridiculous numbers of swordsmen (I had mostly axemen and archers at this point). They took one city, destroyed my army when it came to retake it, and then went on to conquer the rest of my empire. I tried getting Hammurabi to attack João, but I'd neglected my ties to nations not directly adjacent to mine.

Lessons learned:
- Never trust João.
- Just because you're not at war with anyone doesn't mean you shouldn't build more soldiers.
- Enough soldiers to kick around some barbarians != enough soldiers to defend against someone who has a magical infinite swordsman making machine.
- Never trust João.
- The neighbour of my neighbour is a potential enemy of my enemy.
- Protect all borders, not just those facing your current enemies.
- Never trust João.
- Always have a small army standing by to destroy a barbarian town or to retake a city. When you're attacked by barbarian and/or Portuguese hordes, you don't want to have to wait six turns for that army to be built.
- Did I mention never to trust João?

[mikeejimbo]

Also, you can NEVER have enough soldiers. Except, you know, when it gets expensive to support them. Still, I'd rather have military power than gold.

Anyway, I just got the save - I'll have to actually play my turn when I'm not at work though. :smallredface:

[Grey Paladin]

Seems we're playing in 24~ hour cycles, then.

To follow the trend, a word of advice on multiplayer games: The A.I. is generally kind enough not to attack your defenseless city early in the game - other player's aren't. While the A.I. will never play a strategy such as Religion denial, other players will. Keep that in mind.

[Muz]

I've got a goodie-hut a short distance away from my capital. I fully expect my warrior to bust into it, find out the villagers are hostile, get wiped out, and have them come to destroy my city shortly thereafter. :smallbiggrin:

[Lord Herman]

Now that I've explored a bit more, I'm starting to like my starting location. I don't know if I picked the most strategic spot, but I've got special resources up the wazoo.

...

Wait, I think I just had a déjà vu. I remember playing the Romans and starting in a similar spot, also chock full of resources. I also remember mighty Rome being crushed by Ethiopians with sharpened sticks shortly thereafter.

[Muz]

You've explored a bit more? I'm still waiting to take my second turn. (Weren't you after me?) :smallsmile:

[Lord Herman]

I'm first on the list. I started the game, remember? :smalltongue:

[Muz]

I could've sworn I was only midway through the play order, though, based on...

*light bulb* Ohhhhhhhh. I think I just realized where I assumed wrong about something. See, this is what happens when I try to...what's the word...think. :smallsmile: (Well, that and getting you mixed up with Grey Paladin for no good reason.)

Never mind. :smallwink:

[Teddy]

I'm a bit sad that I discovered this thread too late to join. Multiplayer games are so much more interresting than single player games.


Now that I've explored a bit more, I'm starting to like my starting location. I don't know if I picked the most strategic spot, but I've got special resources up the wazoo.

...

Wait, I think I just had a déjà vu. I remember playing the Romans and starting in a similar spot, also chock full of resources. I also remember mighty Rome being crushed by Ethiopians with sharpened sticks shortly thereafter.

Almost every starting position in Civ has special resources (especially food resources) up the wazoo. Why would there even be a civic called burocracy if your capital wouldn't be a bit extraordinary?

[Murska]

Uh, Herman. You sent me the same save again. I'm happy with where I placed my capital, thank you, no need to replay it.

[Lord Herman]

D'oh! Biggest number != newest save when dealing with years BC.

[Grey Paladin]

Now come 7 turns of moving my scout :smallsigh:

[Muz]

Hey, at least you HAVE a scout! :smallwink:

[YPU]

Now come 7 turns of moving my scout :smallsigh:
I'm sure he will be a happy camper.

[mikeejimbo]

Well, since I finished my turn, that means Round 2 is over.

[Lord Herman]

And round 3 has started.

Great. I've cunningly manoeuvred my scout into a dead end, so it'll take him about six turns to get back and explore any new territory. What fun!

[happyturtle]

You know what's fun? Have a scout on the edge of the continent somewhere near someone you don't have open borders with. Wait for their borders to expand until there's nowhere for your scout to stand. He'll be teleported across the ocean to another piece of land.

[Lord Herman]

I've got to try that sometime. With a settler. Who needs boats if you have enemies who'll kick your settlers across an ocean?

It's a bird! It's a plane! It's... Christopher Columbus!

[Murska]

Another round, another single tile, another few empty tiles.

[potatocubed]

Man, it's almost as slow as the progress of actual civilisation. :smalltongue:

[Selrahc]

Man its been a rollercoaster for me. I've already reached my first goody hut, and they gave me directions to a second just a few turns away. It's like a treasure hunt, but instead of treasure I get maps.
Looking at the demographics screen and it seems the Dutch are clearly already the greatest empire in the world. We have the highest GDP by a fair chunk, and are tied for highest in most of the other categories. Except soldiers, but then I'm guessing someone popped a warrior from a goody hut.

Anyway, bolstered from my success in the stats, I had a good look at the best city in the world. Which was mine! Hoorah.

Yep. Things are looking good for the Dutch. I'd say the rest of you should surrender now to save time.. but it'll be more fun to bring you under my yoke. :smalltongue:
((What do you mean it's not much of a victory for a financial/creative civ to have the most culture/finance 3 turns in?))

[Murska]

Would've been epic to have a re-enactment of one of my best starts, with three goody huts, Bronze Working, Monarchy and a settler. :smallbiggrin:

It was only on Warlord though. I slingshotted into Vassalage for lulz.

[Muz]

Goody huts give you settlers? I honestly don't recall ever having that happen in any game I've played. Weird. Maps, though...oh, how I hate maps with a passion. (With my luck it's usually a nice map of open ocean.) :smallsmile:

I have discovered and claimed the Great Muzzian Desert.

[Selrahc]

Do our notes appear on others games? So if I find a hill and call it Mount Selrahc (or something good), will other people be able to see it?

[Muz]

I'm fairly sure that notes only appear to you (or to anyone on your team, but as we're all on our own team...)

Edit: I just thought of something else. How does diplomacy work in a PBEM? Do you send a proposal and wait until your next turn to see the response, or is there some more clever method build in?

[Grey Paladin]

You could always negotiate in PMs and then make the offer in game.

As a side note, I have discovered the ocean.

[potatocubed]

I think you'll find that's the Sea of Potatoes, and I'll thank you to keep your grubby laundry out of it.

[Muz]

In Muzland, we call that the "Big Blue Wet Thing." We have heard ancient stories tell of there being food in the Big Blue Wet Thing (rather than just fire-breathing penguins), but we have no evidence of this and blame such wild tales on drunken lemurs.

[Selrahc]

In my domain we call it the playground of the great Hippo. We try and stay away from it, remaining in the lakes and rivers as all smaller Hippos should.

[Lord Herman]

As for diplomacy, you can always use the in-game diplomacy thing for simple stuff like trades, but it'd also be fun to have some diplomacy going on out-game, either through PM or in this thread.

For starters, I have this open treaty for anyone to sign. It reads:

The undersigned hereby confirms having a nice city there, and furthermore confirms it would be a shame if anything happened to it. The undersigned agrees to allow Herman, Lord of the Earth to prevent any such bad things from happening to said nice city at the hands of certain men with certain heavy pieces of wood who just bashed in the undersigned's scouts' skulls. Herman, Lord of the Earth stresses that he does not know who these men are, or who sent them. The undersigned agrees to pay Herman, Lord of the Earth an annual sum they feel is appropriate. Herman, Lord of the Earth cannot guarantee full protection if said fee is insufficient.

[Muz]

Well I'm not signing anything that lists anyone but ME as "Lord of the Earth." Though it wasn't me who clobbered your scout anyway. :smallsmile:

Actually, how is it you don't know who did it? I'm confused.

[Lord Herman]

It wasn't my scouts that got clobbered. It was the undersigned's.

[Muz]

This is what I get for reading while multitasking at work. :smallwink:

[mikeejimbo]

We, too, have seen the ocean. Someday we shall build ships.

[Murska]

We've seen way too MUCH ocean. It's like there's nothing else, anywhere. :smallannoyed:

[Murska]

Eh, doublepost but...

There's something wrong with the game. I play my turn as normal, send it to Selrahc... except that the save to Selrahc demands my password. When I open it with my password, it's my turn, but after it was ended, leaving me unable to do anything. I've tried playing it a few times now, with always the same result.

Try sending me the save again, Herman?

EDIT: Fixed, I think.

[Muz]

I had the same problem on the first round. I erased the save that finishing my turn created, re-opened the original save that was sent to me, took my turn again, and when I ended the turn again, that fixed the problem. :smallsmile:

[potatocubed]

I have the same problem now. It's asking me for happyturtle's password. :smallconfused:

[happyturtle]

I've replayed the turn and resent.

In other news, Arabia no longer exists. All bow before the might of the Chelonian Empire! :smallbiggrin:

[Selrahc]

Oooh! Are we allowed to rename our empires then?

[happyturtle]

I hope so since I already did. >.>

[Lord Herman]

From the first page of the thread:


I'd say we should name our leaders after ourselves so we know who's who, and keep our civ's name the way it is.


Can empires be renamed during the game?

[happyturtle]

Oops. :smallredface:

Yes, they can be renamed by choosing 'Your Details' in the menu. I guess I'll change it back when it gets back around to me.

[Muz]

I wouldn't mind being able to change empire names, myself. (Just once, I mean, not constantly.) We could just list the changed names here and alter the table on the front page of this thread to list the altered names. I still have to refer to this thread to remember who was what empire anyway, thus far, even with the original names. :smallsmile:

[Lord Herman]

Well, if everyone's okay with having custom empire names, that's fine too.

[Muz]

Egypt is now the Goa'uld Empire.

Hey, it's fitting, isn't it? :smallbiggrin:

[Lord Herman]

Anyone who's been having trouble with the game's auto-mailer, try this: leave the username and password fields in the end-of-turn dialog blank. Don't know if it works with every e-mail provider, but it worked for me.

[Muz]

I've just been doing it manually so far. :)

[shadow_archmagi]

How did I miss out on this?

Oh. Right. Because it's play by email and that triples the duration of an already insanely slow game.

[Selrahc]

Renamed to Incarnate Treara.. since I've been using that for fake country names since forever. Since I'm planning on more of a Hippo themed game than group mind led dimensional hackers I should probably think of a different name. Any suggestions?

So far I'm thinking either the Potom Empire, Taweret's Children or Pachydermia.

[Murska]

How did I miss out on this?

Oh. Right. Because it's play by email and that triples the duration of an already insanely slow game.

Only triples? Hahahaha...

We've been playing this game for longer than it'd take me finish three Marathon games.

[Selrahc]

We've been playing this game for longer than it'd take me finish three Marathon games.

And we're on about turn what.. 10?

[Muz]

I've almost built a warrior! :smallwink:

[Lord Herman]

It'll still be another 16 turns before I finish this settler. I bet it'll be eaten by wolves as soon as it sets foot outside my territory. Maybe I should have waited for my city to grow before building something big.

But my scout has finally reached the other side of my territory after being trapped on a peninsula, and he's one tile away from a village! Maybe they'll give me a settler?

[potatocubed]

Closer to turn 7, since I'm just about to uncover my first technology.

My scouts have found... the Arctic. I think I may be trapped on a tiny, scrubby patch of land attached to the north pole. My resources include clams and... well, just clams.

Bah. :smallannoyed:

[happyturtle]

Haven't seen the game for a while. Did it get lost along the way somewhere?

[Selrahc]

I sent it on to Muz on the 1st. So if it is delayed it'll be on Muz or Grey Paladin.

Uh.. I might have to delay it in the near future. Hopefully not though. Laptop dropping fun means I need to send it in to get the screen fixed. I'll still have internet, but might not have a Civ IV computer.. I'll let you all know if it would cause delays.

[Muz]

I sent it along to Grey Paladin shortly after I got it. Hopefully it made it there?

EDIT: Actually, I was wrong. The last time I got the save was on 8/29, I think. Resend? :smalleek:

EDIT EDIT: Things should be back on track now. :smallsmile:

[Murska]

Haven't seen it in a loooong while...

[happyturtle]

Last seen on 29 Aug.

[Lord Herman]

I last received the save on September 1st.

[Murska]

I last received the save on September 1st.

Same, and sent it on.

[potatocubed]

I haven't seen it since Aug 31. =/

[Lord Herman]

I'm guessing Grey Paladin has the save, then.

[Selrahc]

Yeah, I resent it to Muz, and he got it.

PBEMs seem to be kind of a hassle to organize for a large(ish) group of people. :smallfrown:

[Muz]

Sent it to Grey Paladin on the 4th. :smallsmile:

[Murska]

Grey Paladin! Where are you?

[Muz]

Is the great experiment over? :smallfrown:

[Lord Herman]

I've sent Grey Paladin a PM. Let's hope he hasn't been eaten by barbarians.

[Grey Paladin]

My email's still empty, so I didn't get it. Sorry for not checking this thread sooner though.

EDIT: Wow, I thought we had a turn since then . . I sent the save I got at the 4th on the 5th. Disregard the above.

[Lord Herman]

Good to hear you're still around, uneaten by barbarians. :smalltongue:

Happyturtle, have you received Grey Paladin's save?

[happyturtle]

I haven't received it, no.

[Grey Paladin]

Resent .

[happyturtle]

hey! there it is.

Edit: And sent.

I have received a report from our great travelling warrior Suroshian. He says there are deer to the south. Meanwhile, our scientists have discovered that the salty water near Turtletopia contains food of some type. Incredible!

[potatocubed]

Our scientists have discovered polytheism! Sadly, there are so many gods in this polytheistic religion that it took them ~300 years to count them all.

Our scouts discovered bears, and shortly after they discovered the insides of bears.

Curses. :smallannoyed:

[Lord Herman]

Oh crud, I think the game is going to stall again soon. My computer is dead (posting from a 8-year-old computer that won't run Civ4), and it probably won't be fixed for another two or three weeks.

[Muz]

Our scientists have discovered polytheism! Sadly, there are so many gods in this polytheistic religion that it took them ~300 years to count them all.

Our scouts discovered bears, and shortly after they discovered the insides of bears.

Curses. :smallannoyed:

<Leonard Nimoy>You have discovered: Bears with lasers.</LN> :smallwink:

I hate those guys. I really do.

[happyturtle]

Oh crud, I think the game is going to stall again soon. My computer is dead (posting from a 8-year-old computer that won't run Civ4), and it probably won't be fixed for another two or three weeks.

Maybe we could coax someone who has Civ4 but isn't in this game to fill in for you? I can think of two people, at least, who might be wheedled into doing it.

[Grey Paladin]

Since most of us are in a similar timezone, we could mount an actual real-time multiplayer game meanwhile.

[Muz]

Oh crud, I think the game is going to stall again soon. My computer is dead (posting from a 8-year-old computer that won't run Civ4), and it probably won't be fixed for another two or three weeks.

Any news on the computer repair front? :smallsmile:

[Lord Herman]

Any news on the computer repair front? :smallsmile:

I just got it back yesterday. And because my graphics card was broken and they don't make that model anymore (GeForce 8800 GTX), they gave me a new one. A better one. GeForce 9800 GX2, baby! :smallbiggrin:

So yeah, I'll go and install Civ4 now, and get the game going again.

Edit: Done! Murska should have the save now.

[Murska]

Murska got the save and is right now sending it on.

[Selrahc]

Also received and sent on. My hippos are clearly going to be the drunkard empire given the amount of wine resources I've got nearby.

As soon as we discover the concept of kings at least. Because as everyone knows you can drink wine without a proper idea of someone becoming boss when their dad dies. Otherwise how would you do the toast at their coronation?

[Muz]

Received and looped back around to Lord Herman. We seem to be underway again. :smallbiggrin:

[happyturtle]

Wait... how did it loop back around to Herman without coming through Turtletopia? :smallfrown:

[Lord Herman]

I think Muz meant Grey Paladin. That, or half the empires in the game have been wiped out this turn. :smalltongue:

[happyturtle]

My warrior, Suroshian, sends word that he has seen a bear. He expects it to attack sometime in the next 40 years.

[Grey Paladin]

Just as each warrior represents an army, so does each bear a united force of ursines - your warrior army is protecting the land from the bear army.

[Murska]

I'm glad they won't know how to mount the bears... *shudder*

[happyturtle]

http://jeremiejordan.files.wordpress.com/2008/06/bear-cavalry.jpg

[Winthur]

Boned?

http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/9651/civ4screenshot0008u.jpg (http://img18.imageshack.us/i/civ4screenshot0008u.jpg/)

Monarch AIs deserved that statement more.

(I'm trying to make a push to Emperor.)

Oh well, if the thread is going to be as slow as it is and people get caught up in the "Anyone alive?", I might entertain the crowd by showing how bad I am at fightning the Emperor AIs. :smallsmile:

[happyturtle]

Monarch? Heh. I've gotten to the point where Noble is boring but Prince kicks my tail.

[Winthur]

Monarch? Heh. I've gotten to the point where Noble is boring but Prince kicks my tail.

Try some middle ground, then. Maybe a Noble game with Raging Barbs, or Aggressive AIs on? Or Always War Noble?

Or make yourself a goal. Personally, I never won a Monarch game with an early winning date, and my Domination victories are usually done with an army of Tanks and Modern Armors - and when the AI has only riflemen, it hardly counts for me. Push yourself to the limit on Noble and try to win either a superfast Space Race victory or conquer the AIs with Knight/Maceman/Trebuchet.

And to all strugglers who like this game: read some Sullla. (http://garath.net/Sullla) Eh plays variants and doesn't afraid of anything. His writings are entertaining and educational.

[Selrahc]

Yeah, I'd definitely recommend reading some of Sullla's games if you want some good tips to improve gameplay. Very readable too.

I'm at the stage where I can pretty much guarantee I'll win against Monarch, after some early struggles to get to the top but am definitely not emperor level. Even Monarch can be a bit tricky if I've got some crazy bastard for a neighbour. Shaka, Alexander, Montezuma or Isabella(When you aren't her religion) will make any game an effective difficulty level harder if you start near to them.

[happyturtle]

Most of my wins have been culture. I keep trying war, but it gets so booooring dragging units all over the place to make the Stack of Doom.

[Winthur]

It's possible to set up rally points.

[Muz]

I think Muz meant Grey Paladin. That, or half the empires in the game have been wiped out this turn. :smalltongue:

Gah! I keep DOING that! :smallyuk: (Sorry.) :smallsmile:

I'm actually bad at names. To give you an idea how HOW bad, I was playing a MP game with a friend of mine; the two of us and 8 computers, every man/AI for himself. My friend and I had pretty peaceful relations, sharing one large border in the middle of a big continent, surrounded by others. It wasn't in our interests to go to war with each other yet at all. Mansa Musa was in the game. I was playing as (and often go by) Muz. My friend declared war on Mansa Musa. I read "XXXX delares war on Muz!" Immediately I start recalling my troops from one side of my territory to another, make peace with another Civ I'm invading because I need the troops to repell my friend's invasion, and it's 4 turns later before I finally realize, oh yeah, he attacked Mansa Musa. :smallfurious:

My friend was...amused. :smallbiggrin:

[Murska]

Posting to mention I sent the save on yet again.

A few more turns and things will actually start happening for me! :smallbiggrin:

[Lord Herman]

Meanwhile, my scouts are on a plains tile, right next to a pack of wolves. Will they get eaten? Stay tuned!

[Muz]

Naah, wolves are pushovers.

...Probably.

[Winthur]

The only time I fear wolves is when my scout is badly wounded. Because those damn things are fast.

[Muz]

Hrm. It's been six days since I got the game last. Are we stuck again? :smallfrown:

[Selrahc]

Um.. probably waiting on me. I've just remembered that I've been signed into my university email not my regular email. Doh!

Unfortunately I can't do anything about it until sunday. I'm visiting a friend and using his computer. Sorry guys. My bad. :smallfrown:

EDIT: Sent on.

[happyturtle]

Huzzah! The mighty bear army was vanquished... apparently between turns. Kind of sucks not seeing the combat.

Suroshian reports that his army will need to rest for 160 years before they are back to full strength.

[loopy]

Damn you all, for excluding my lovely self. :smallsmile:

Anyone want to have a game with me, either now or when you are finished with this one? PM me. :smallsmile:

[Lord Herman]

My shiny new graphics card broke down. :smallfrown:

That means my gaming PC will be at the computer hospital for another few weeks. I'm terribly sorry for holding up the game like this.

[happyturtle]

*Pokes Herman*

Slowest. Conquest. EVAH!

[happyturtle]

Herman's computer is dead again. Who is up for a succession game instead, since it's faster and doesn't die if one person has to drop out?

Link (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=7326433#post7326433)