PitBoss game #1

[Overload]

The game has begun!

How to connect:
To play PitBoss, simply follow these instructions:
1. Make sure you're patched to the latest version of Civ 4. Go to Advanced > Check for Updates within the game to patch.
2. Go to Multiplayer > Direct IP Connection
3. On the right side, enter home.apartment167.com as the IP address and use the password that I emailed to you.
4. Select your leader.
5. The first time you select your leader, you will be asked to enter a password to protect your civ. Enter something that you will remember.
6. Play your turn!
7. Once you're done with your turn, simply quit the game. Be sure you press "Enter" to end your turn first though.

Important PitBoss notes:
Because this is a beta version of PitBoss, there are bugs. The most reported bug on the forums is that for some reason people's passwords stop working. A definite cause of this is if you press ALT-D to enter player details, or use the "Your Details" button on the ESC menu. So in short:
Do not use ALT-D or the "Your Details" button on the ESC menu.
Even without doing that, however, some people seem to still have the problem. Some have reported that trying to connect several times in a row seems to fix it. Others don't have the same luck.

If you are having password issues:
A workaround has been posted on the forums for people getting the Invalid Password error. Note this is only if you're having problems with your password to access your civ, not the password to access the server itself. If this is happening to you, try following these directions:
1. Go to http://www.apartment167.com/md5.php
2. Enter your password in the top box and click Submit.
3. Copy the long string from the bottom-most box (labeled "MD5") and use that as your password when you try to do your turn.


Game rules:
Simultaneus turns. This means that once a turn starts, anyone can play their turn in any order. If two people happen to log in at once, they'll be moving their guys at the same time. It's identical to playing a LAN game with simultaneus turns.
36 hour turn timer. This means that once a new turn starts, everyone will have 36 hours to play their turn. Note that once everyone makes their move, the next turn starts right away. I think everyone should be doing 1 turn per day, but having 36 hours gives people a little slack time in case they are really busy one night and can't make their turn.

9 Players:
OverloadUT (Greg) - Catherine of the Russians (Creative/Financial)
Studlybob (Rob) - Montezuma of the Aztecs (Aggressive/Spiritual)
ThePumaman (Sean) - Roosevelt of the Americans (Industrious/Organized)
Dyluck (Dan) - Tokugawa of the Japanese (Aggressive/Organized)
GLC (Kalan) - Asoka of the Indians (Spiritual/Organized)
Frisxo (Stan) - Cyrus of the Persians (Expansive/Creative)
Mojo (Eric) - Victoria of the English (Financial/Expansive)
EricG (Stan's Friend) - Julius Caesar of the Romans (Organized/Expansive)
IHateGreg (Evan) - Alexander of the Greeks (Aggressive/Philosophical)


Game Settings:

Game Speed:
Quick

World Type:
New World (aka Terra)

Map Size:
"Large"

Diplomacy Rules:

No game-related communication with a civ you haven't met. This means you cannot make trade proposals or offer any game-related information to a player before you have made contact with that leader.

Trades are limited to things in the game only. This means you can't say you'll buy someone lunch if they give you a certain technology or you'll pay them $10 to stop attacking you. This should go without saying but I just want to make it an official rule.

ALL diplomacy talk must be done in character. This doesn't mean role play. This means that if you are talking with someone about diplomacy, you must both understand that you are now talking about the game and may not discuss real life matters until your diplomacy discussions are complete. It is important that the game remain separated from real life because a game that takes place over a long time frame has the potential of making people frustrated with their friends and coworkers instead of frustrated with that leader.

This means that you should not be talking to someone and say "Hey, would you like to ally up and help me fight the Germans? By the way, how was your date last night?" It must remain separate. Make it clear that you would like to discuss Civ 4 in character, have your discussion and make your offers or what have you, and then make it clear that you are done with your diplomatic discussions.


Please keep in mind that we're playing this game to test a beta version of PitBoss. It's possible that when a new version of PitBoss is released, it will be incompatible with our savegame and we'll have to start over. I do not think this is likely to happen due to the fact that PitBoss uses a standard save game format and not its own, but I just wanted to warn everyone just in case.

[ThePumaman]

First Post!

[Overload]

Oh yes, also please post what leader you would like to play.

And of course opinions about what map size, map type, etc.

[Studlybob]

I would love to play. I've never played vs. another human opponent before so this should be fun. I'm on my computer almost every night (much to the angst of the wife) so my turns should go pretty quick.

Personally I prefer the Germans as my race and Frederick as my ruler. If not I'll take anyone who has the Spiritual trait.

As far as game type, I'm not exactly the peaceful time. Not that I'm agressive in my attacking, I just prefer people win or lose in a fight instead of making some fairy spacecraft. I prefer Conquest as the only way to win but I'm happy to play any way that we end up playing.

Not a big fan of boats actually. I like a Pangea type world where people can just go at each other and I think it tends to make games faster. If not Pangea then the fewer continents the better. Again though I will enjoy playing whatever map we end up with. I just love the idea of playing a huge game with no CPUs.

[ThePumaman]

I'd like to be Roosevelt, playing on Continents, and I guess the size depends on how many people we've got.

[Dyluck]

That sounds awesome - count me in!

I'll play the Japanese because they get +3 in sushi making.

[Overload]

I am a big fan of the "New World" map type. It's the one where everyone starts on one big continent but ALSO has a second large continent that no one starts on. It makes it so you don't have the "This guy doesn't get to play with anyone until Astronomy" problem but also allows people who like the ocean stuff to explore and colonize a new world (you can't get there until Astronomy and the barbarians will have built up quite an army by the time you do.)

Also, any thoughts on AI players? I wouldn't mind having a couple but also wouldn't mind doing human only.

[GLC]

My schedule sucks due to WoW raiding and trying to gain PvP rank (hah), but I can probably manage to crank out turns in a reasonable timeframe for something like this. So, yeah, I'm in. I need to reinstall Civ4 and remember how to play tonight, oh yay.

[Overload]

I just posted some "Diplomacy rules" up there in the original post. I am interested in people's thoughts. Think it's unnecessary? Think it's perfect? Tell me.

[ThePumaman]

It's Emperor Tokugawa of the Japanese.

[Studlybob]

I think that's a good point you made in your original post about diplomacy. The last thing that would make the game fun would be if it turned into Fantasy Football. By that I mean two people who are friends in real life purposley combine their powers to dominate. "Hey Kalan, let's share all our techs together so we dominate" or "hey, my civ is almost dead so I'm just going to give this person all my cities because they're my friend"

To me the thing that sounds the most fun is for people to really act like their in charge of their civ. If someone attacks another player and that player asks for your help to defend yourself then you should have a good reason for doing it. If they give you tech to help them, or it's somehow a strategic move for you then go for it.

I just think it's more fun if the game is played as if it was against strangers and everyone was trying to win.

[frisxo]

I'm in. Don't know about leader yet, will take a look (I'm new to Civ4 so I don't know the difs in leaders...any suggestions? leaders to stay away from?).

Re land: I suggest something smallish so we don't spend our time exploring the wastelands and not bumping into one-another. New world sounds good...we start on one continent then can explore the other.

Re AIs: don't like em. Multi-play is for humans, otherwise play the solo game. Bumping into a computer is no fun, they don't react or deal like humans do. They are just an uncaring algorithm, they can't be bargained with and they absolutely will not stop until... so I say do game #1 without and if people find the game is a disaster without them then add in future games.

Re player chat: I suggest all gameplay talk be done in game. Limit outside talk to 'hey its fun' talk but not strategic, deal making talk. This preserves a level playing field and separates real life ? game. I did a pdem game once where there was a lot of outside dealing and people's feelings got hurt, things got nasty, and those that didn't participate got screwed. Ugly stuff.

Thx for hosting Greg. What is eta?

[Overload]

The ETA is I would like to get it up and running tomorrow. This should give enough time for the last people to respond as well as discuss the final details about the game.

Unfortunately diplomacy cannot be handled only in game because there isn't really a good way to communicate in game. The chat feature is pretty limited. That actually brings up a question: How is trading handled in game? I think both players will actually have to connect to the server at the same time. Shouldn't be too difficult; it'll be just like setting up a diplomatic meeting!

Land: From what I've heard so far, I am going to choose New World. Please bring it up if it's a big problem for you. The map will be relatively small for the number of players we have to make the game move a little faster.


About your leader frisxo: I believe most people choose their leader by what two traits he or she has. The different traits can be found on page 159 in the manual (at least the collector's edition manual.) I like to have Creative because that extra culture is good for expanding quickly. Aggressive is good if you are going to be fighting. Expansive helps you later in the game when cities start hitting the health limit. Just read through the descriptions and pick two traits that you really like, and then find the leader that has them. I do not believe any leader is really bad where you will feel you are at the disadvantage.

AI: Okay then right now we'll do no AI players. I think we have enough players where it'll be fun without them.

[Overload]

I have chosen Catherine of the Russians

[frisxo]

ok I'll be Kublai Khan of the Mongolian Empire.