New games

Actually one of the most enjoyable games I played in was a game where
tech started from scratch. This was Ice World 2 (I think), run by Ice
Barbarian. It was my first proper game, and I got creamed. The set up
however was conducive to early action.

Everybody got 3 small start islands. Everybody was close, with some
islands only 1-2 sectors apart. No deity islands to explore into. So it
was pretty much attack your neighbour once you got frigates.

I was attacked in all 3 of my islands very early (unfortunately the
tech or power chart clearly showed me to be a newbie), which basically
spelt the end for me, but I had a dozen or so updates where I had great
fun fighting back with mil only. If my adversaries had early units,
they might have overwhelmed me much more quickly.

I had a great battle with Ragnarook (Rook and Mongol) before I
eventually succumbed (I think I was getting shelled by an HC by then,
and running out of cash).

Wahbit

Really slow games are too slow for many of us. The update schedule should be
agressive to incite some intensity in the game. Waiting 95.5 hours to issue 30
minutes of commands is just plain boring in the early stages of the game, yet,
once I have 400+ sectors, I would need that kind of time, so the update schedule
needs to be semi-dynamic.

If you are considering being a first-time deity, then keep it pretty vanilla, to
prove your deityness and hostability. Then step it up a notch once you got the
basics under your belt. Then add some Blam, and it is game on, 'bring it
bee-otch'.

-Bungy



<lilienfeld.TakeThisOut@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:lLCdnRJ0IdFO8V3eRVn-oQ@comcast.com...
> Any particular types/themes for a new game folks would like to see/play?
>
>

The other problems with slow games is you still have to keep tabs of
whats going on. It seems the longer between updates the more chances
of trying to find others offline to do their dirty work. I would still
love to see a game where there might be 36 to 48 hours to do
"administrative" stuff, followed by a 6 to 12 hour window for the
action. Would allow for some true time away from the game. Now how to
break commands into "Administrative" and not, thats the million dollar
question.

As for themes, I personnally have liked the games where tech starts a
little higher and at least Inf and HC's are available from the start.
At least gives some good base units right away and gets game jump
started.

I however have not enjoyed the slow tech growth games. Seems to lead
to more stalemates as no one can get an edge on anyone with superior
weapons.

Just my ideas for what they are worth. (probably not much but hey you
asked)

Carl

Carl Spackler wrote:
> The other problems with slow games is you still have to keep tabs of
> whats going on. It seems the longer between updates the more chances
> of trying to find others offline to do their dirty work. I would still
> love to see a game where there might be 36 to 48 hours to do
> "administrative" stuff, followed by a 6 to 12 hour window for the
> action. Would allow for some true time away from the game. Now how to
> break commands into "Administrative" and not, thats the million dollar
> question.
That would be exactly something I would love to see! A further
modification I was thinking about (but I am not sure how realistic it
would be), was that during the week (Mon-Fri) sectors would not produce
anything, which could be coupled with 24+6 hrs updates just for
military action (units/ships/planes would be normally updated).
Production of gold, iron, units rebuilt, would all happen during the
late Friday update, giving the time until late Monday (to accomodate
players from different parts of the world) for administrative/econo
staff.

Peter aka Sarmatia/Epirus

Just to clarify what I meant in the previous reply to Carl's post -
updates of mobility of units, ships, planes separate from the full,
regular update. For example that might mean combat mini-updates 3 times
a week (every 30 hrs) with the first one on Monday, and a 4th, full
update on Friday. Units/ships/planes would regain mobility on mini
updates, say 90 for ships, etc. Since there would be only 1 full update
per week, in order for the game not to last forever tech requirements
for units/ships/planes should be considerably scaled back, for example
frg/fb/cs/os and inf/cav and guns/shells available from the beginning,
possibly enhancing frg a little bit so that it could be actually used
to support the troops assaulting until stronger ships are available. I
think lowering starting tech for everything is a better solution than
playing with the tech base.

The biggest problem with this would be that mils would only gain mob
once per week, so may be it may be wiser to just update both
units/ships/planes, as well as sector mob during mini updates?

The other problem would be a slow start, because any tech would be
gained only after 4th update (in this case after 4 weeks). But the cure
for that is simple, similar to the old fashioned way - add a worthless
unit to the unit types, and give several of them to the countries to
scrap when they break.
Or just give every country some lcm to start with. This way tech can be
produced 1 week after the first update. It might also be good to add a
third starting sanct, to allow for faster development early on.

Bungholio wrote:
> multiposted:
>
> What's with all this talk of modifying the game? Perhaps if you
> cared to try to learn to play this game as it is, you'd appreciate
> the depth that it has. Trying to bring in your outside influences
> to a game that you have not yet mastered because you played
> AOE and liked playing in the stone age won't buy you points here.
Good point, about learning to play the game, but I do care - playing
zebra blitz every week
is the way to learn the game, while waiting for a longer term game.
Also the original question was what games people would like to play,
and I answered.
It was not clear, that only experienced players should answer:)
Of the 3 changes I mentioned, modifying/adding units etc params I dont
really think qualifies as modifying the game. Mini-updates are similar
to the mob_acess you are talking about later. So that only leaves
having 1 update longer than 3 other, but that is not an important part
of what I was talking about.
>
>
> "jpn" wrote in message >
> > That would be exactly something I would love to see! A further
> > modification I was thinking about (but I am not sure how realistic it
> > would be), was that during the week (Mon-Fri) sectors would not produce
> > anything, which could be coupled with 24+6 hrs updates just for
> > military action (units/ships/planes would be normally updated).
> > Production of gold, iron, units rebuilt, would all happen during the
> > late Friday update, giving the time until late Monday (to accomodate
> > players from different parts of the world) for administrative/econo
> > staff.
>
> > Just to clarify what I meant in the previous reply to Carl's post -
> > updates of mobility of units, ships, planes separate from the full,
> > regular update. For example that might mean combat mini-updates 3 times
> > a week (every 30 hrs) with the first one on Monday, and a 4th, full
> > update on Friday. Units/ships/planes would regain mobility on mini
> > updates, say 90 for ships, etc. Since there would be only 1 full update
> > per week, in order for the game not to last forever tech requirements
> > for units/ships/planes should be considerably scaled back, for example
> > frg/fb/cs/os and inf/cav and guns/shells available from the beginning,
> > possibly enhancing frg a little bit so that it could be actually used
> > to support the troops assaulting until stronger ships are available. I
> > think lowering starting tech for everything is a better solution than
> > playing with the tech base.
>
> This just helps the lawnmower effect. Once someone's defenses are down,
> they will be walked all over for these 3 mini-updates until they can produce
> some defenses, if they last that long.
I thought, that this would encourage to having some forces in reserve,
just to protect against the effect you are talking about. Also, the
attacker would not be able to make any use of those sectors for 3
miniupdates.
>
>
> > The biggest problem with this would be that mils would only gain mob
> > once per week, so may be it may be wiser to just update both
> > units/ships/planes, as well as sector mob during mini updates?
>
> See "mob_access". already been done. It adds some micromanagement
> having mobility increase between updates (gotta be on every few hours to
> nav / attack / explore / etc, to expand optimally). Yet, if you learn how
> to properly use distribution, then the player's work at the 'production'
> updates is not significant.
>
Not every few hours, in my post the period of time between mobility
updates is as long, as the regular update. It is non-military
micromanagement which is 4 times less frequent. So if in the normal
game there are, say about 50 updates, here there would be 13 for
miscromanagement, and the same 50 for military activity.
>
>
> > The other problem would be a slow start, because any tech would be
> > gained only after 4th update (in this case after 4 weeks). But the cure
> > for that is simple, similar to the old fashioned way - add a worthless
> > unit to the unit types, and give several of them to the countries to
> > scrap when they break.
> > Or just give every country some lcm to start with. This way tech can be
> > produced 1 week after the first update. It might also be good to add a
> > third starting sanct, to allow for faster development early on.
>
> And I bet still the 25% fodder still won't make tech when they should.
>
>
> > Peter aka Sarmatia/Epirus
>
> Bungy aka Bungholio

Before I posted, I thought that fewer updates of tech would give the
chance for more frequent naval battles, because I rarely had a chance
to try a fleet of battleships and supporting ships, against a fleet of
my opponent - it was always either my ships met with missiles/planes,
or if I was ahead in tech of myy opponent, or they were similar -
artillery/fort fire seemed a better defense than building a fleet. And
I just wanted to know if there were more people thinking along that
line - not to suggest that everyone running the game should set it up
that way:)

multiposted:

What's with all this talk of modifying the game? Perhaps if you
cared to try to learn to play this game as it is, you'd appreciate
the depth that it has. Trying to bring in your outside influences
to a game that you have not yet mastered because you played
AOE and liked playing in the stone age won't buy you points here.


"jpn" wrote in message >
> That would be exactly something I would love to see! A further
> modification I was thinking about (but I am not sure how realistic it
> would be), was that during the week (Mon-Fri) sectors would not produce
> anything, which could be coupled with 24+6 hrs updates just for
> military action (units/ships/planes would be normally updated).
> Production of gold, iron, units rebuilt, would all happen during the
> late Friday update, giving the time until late Monday (to accomodate
> players from different parts of the world) for administrative/econo
> staff.

> Just to clarify what I meant in the previous reply to Carl's post -
> updates of mobility of units, ships, planes separate from the full,
> regular update. For example that might mean combat mini-updates 3 times
> a week (every 30 hrs) with the first one on Monday, and a 4th, full
> update on Friday. Units/ships/planes would regain mobility on mini
> updates, say 90 for ships, etc. Since there would be only 1 full update
> per week, in order for the game not to last forever tech requirements
> for units/ships/planes should be considerably scaled back, for example
> frg/fb/cs/os and inf/cav and guns/shells available from the beginning,
> possibly enhancing frg a little bit so that it could be actually used
> to support the troops assaulting until stronger ships are available. I
> think lowering starting tech for everything is a better solution than
> playing with the tech base.

This just helps the lawnmower effect. Once someone's defenses are down,
they will be walked all over for these 3 mini-updates until they can produce
some defenses, if they last that long.


> The biggest problem with this would be that mils would only gain mob
> once per week, so may be it may be wiser to just update both
> units/ships/planes, as well as sector mob during mini updates?

See "mob_access". already been done. It adds some micromanagement
having mobility increase between updates (gotta be on every few hours to
nav / attack / explore / etc, to expand optimally). Yet, if you learn how
to properly use distribution, then the player's work at the 'production'
updates is not significant.



> The other problem would be a slow start, because any tech would be
> gained only after 4th update (in this case after 4 weeks). But the cure
> for that is simple, similar to the old fashioned way - add a worthless
> unit to the unit types, and give several of them to the countries to
> scrap when they break.
> Or just give every country some lcm to start with. This way tech can be
> produced 1 week after the first update. It might also be good to add a
> third starting sanct, to allow for faster development early on.

And I bet still the 25% fodder still won't make tech when they should.


> Peter aka Sarmatia/Epirus

Bungy aka Bungholio

This message is not archived

lilienfeld RemoveThis @comcast.net wrote:
> Any particular types/themes for a new game folks would like to see/play?

Hi! I'm a potential new empire player with one attempt at a blitz
game. I lost my capital on the first update because I accidentally
designated them both as gold mines.

It only took me 2 updates to figure out how to make another capital.
Once I did this I made 245 gold bars and put them in the bank. I got
quite rich (for a while).

I then built 3 ships and trained 4612 military. Took me a while to
realise this, my money was going down and down and then I noticed them
all sitting in the warehouse, protecting it from attack.

I would like to see a game setup for new players like me. One where we
can make a few dumb mistakes but that's OK because we are all doing it.
Preferably with a fairly slow update time so I don't end up sitting on
the net all the time and ruining my personal life!

I don't care if there's not many players.

This message is not archived