Anybody up for a game of stock SE4 at PBW?

[Possum]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Naysayers need not reply.

But is anybody up for a game of stock SE4 at PBW? I am told that the final version of Gold and the new Deluxe are compatible. I'm using 1.95 Deluxe myself (patch available at www.malfador.com). It's worth noting that these patches will work on any version of SE4. I personally re-installed SE4 Classic v1.0 and patched it up to v1.95 Deluxe for free

In general terms, I'm thinking

***************
4-6 players
small mid-life galaxy
all warp points connected
all player planets same size
random events OFF
tech cost medium
medium start resources
planet value GOOD
1 planet
evenly distributed
view own score only
tech level low
2000 race points
NO computer players

Allow gifts/tributes
Allow technology gifts/tributes
Allow intel projects
******************************

Again, if all you have to offer is negativism, please don't reply here.

OTOH, if you have legitimate helpful input, (e.g. "Possum, don't use the x setting, or it will cause y problem"), delighted to hear from you, even if you're not interested in playing

[Fyron]

You should consider using PvK Balance Mod to eliminate the racial point cost nerfing.

[Possum]

Imperator Fyron said:
You should consider using PvK Balance Mod to eliminate the racial point cost nerfing.

Please explain "racial point cost nerfing" ?

[Captain Kwok]

It's a reference to the unbalanced costs for various racial traits and aptitudes in SE:IV, which the PvK Balance Mod addresses. You really only need the players to use the mod to make their empire files and not run the game under it.

[Suicide Junkie]

Intel is also a bad idea in general.

The two possible results of intel on; nothing happens because everybody has a handful of points going to CI3, or somebody gets completely demolished because they failed to research intel early enough.

[Suicide Junkie]

A personal opinion:
I like the layouts of naturally connected galaxies better than the forced connection...

Try turning off "all wp connected", and then repeatedly re-generating the map until all the warppoints end up connected by chance.

[capnq]

Hmm. I haven't played a PBW game in a long time (having gotten tired of losing), but since I can't try the SE V demo (computer too old to run it), this is kind of tempting. You haven't mentioned whether surrender is allowed or forbidden.

[Possum]

SJ, I totally hear what you mean. Forcing the connections gives too damn many connections. But if I do as you suggest, I'd be cheating! Think about it. *I* would know what the map looked like, and nobody else would.

capnq, I'm actually open to ideas from anybody who wants to play

*I* haven't played a game at PBW since that abortive tournament, ohh, about 3 years ago?

And you have my sympathies as far as the box. I'm too (expletive) broke to pay attention right now, and no way can I afford a new 'puter.

Anyhoo, let's see if we can round up a couple more players, eh?

Oh, and do you favor allowing surrender or disfavor it?

You know, the last time I asked here about "How are the games at PBW?", I was told that it had degenerated into a contest of diplomacy, with everybody trying to backstab everybody else.

I have to say I find that somewhat unsavory. While I have sure backstabbed AI allies in a single-player game, I have never betrayed an ally in a multi-player game of SE, or even any game like it.

[Suicide Junkie]

Disallow surrender. Gifting all your stuff away counts too.

As far as the map, just ask anybody else to make the map for you.
Give me the settings you want, and I could post one with a minute or two of work.

[Possum]

Disallowing surrender would be fine with me.

Trying to put restrictions on gifts can get slippery. Harking back to that tourney again, I was the strongest player, allied with the #4 player, against an alliance of the #2 and #3 players. I had to use some major gifting to keep my ally in the game. I sent him resources, and I sent him ships and I sent him tech. I even gave him two planets. But it seemed well worth the investment to me, as it kept him in the game, and covered my whole south-western flank.

Are you objecting to this sort of thing, or just the use of massive gifting prior to quitting the game? If the latter, how do you word an agreement to allow the former, yet prohibit the latter?

Sigh, this is exactly the sort of rules-lawyering that turned me off of SE4 MP