New PBW game: Ancient

[Rollo]

Game description

Inspired be some discussion in this Forum, I decided to create a game in an ancient quadrant and see how it works in PBW. In this game you will not only have to deal with other players, but also with the hazards the map provides. There will be no computer players in this game, because they do not handle this kind of map very well. Good planets are rare in ancient galaxies, so exploration will be more important than usual.
NOTE: You are not allowed to be an ancient race for this game as this would spoil the spirit of the game. If you are normally an ancient race: Good for you, you have some extra points to spend .

I have set this up for only four players at the moment. If you want to join and all slots are taken, write me an email and I'll open another slot for you.

Have fun !

Ancient
Starting resources: 100000
Starting planets: 3
Home planet value: Good
Score display: allied
Technology level: Low, Applied Intelligence off
Racial points: 3000
Quadrant type: Ancient
Quadrant size: Small
Event frequency: Medium
Event severity: High
Technology cost: Low
Victory conditions: 400% of second player
Maximum units: 2000
Maximum ships: 500
Computer players: none
Computer difficulty: none
Computer player bonus: none
Neutral empires: No
Other game settings: warp points anywhere in system, Intelligence disabled.
REMEMBER: When creating your empire, you are not allowed to select the "Ancient race" trait. Also set your cunning to minimum, with no Intel you will not need it.

Discussion for altered game setup can be done here.

Rollo

[Suicide Junkie]

Hmmm. Perhaps the victory contition should be supplemented with an "only after X years" condition.
In an ancient galaxy, there could easily be one lucky player who starts with breathables in the system while the others fight with black holes.
Scores can be quite sensitive to small changes early in the game.
------------------
The latest info on Pirates & Nomads (forum thread).
-<Download V2.1>- (Now with extra scenario support!)
-<Download V1.7>- (With default AIs patched)
-<Download compatible EMPs for P&N v1.2 through v1.7>-
-<Download SJs latest AI Patcher>-
Visit My Homepage

Other Links:
-<Play By Web>-
-<Schlock Mercenary>- (great space-based webcartoon)
-<8-bit Theater>- (fun comic with the pixellated FF1 characters)

[This message has been edited by suicide_junkie (edited 27 July 2001).]

[Rollo]

Yes, thank you. I forgot about that. I suppose 3 years (30 turns) should be enough?

Rollo

[Quikngruvn]

Rollo, I just became your fourth player.

Suggestion, though: 1 planet to start. Two reasons I can think of off the top of my head. With more than one planet, you're able to see from the start at least the neighboring systems to your home system. Also, there's the possiblity of your homeworlds being in multiple systems, so there's more of the map knwon at the start.

(I just realized that in one of my PBW 3-planet games, all my homeworlds are in one system but I can see the neighboring systems, while in the other, my homeworlds are split between two systems, but I cannot see the neighboring systems. Maybe it's just an either/or proposition depending on the size of the map. Has anyone investigated this?)

But I digress. Again. I'm also considering the effect of the ability to make three ships per turn as opposed to but one at the start, but I won't make it a point of my argument. Just a ponderable, really.

Some more ponderables, but not suggestions:

Warp points anywhere? With my luck I'll be surrounded by black holes with warp points dropping straight onto the event horizon!

This would be really diabolical: disable Stellar Manipulation! Then we couldn't do anything with the bLasted things. Please, do NOT disable Stellar Manip. Like I said, just a ponderable.

This should be quite interesting. Lessee... the map will probably be between 24 and 30 systems... only 30% should be inhabitable... meaning there should be between 7 and 9 inhabitable systems in the quadrant... and four will be claimed from the start... leaving between 3 and 5 available for colonization... somewhere in the midst of the 17 to 21 uninhabitable systems... so part of the strategy is going to be... how much of your empire do you devote to Stellar Manipulation? (If you answered "all of it", I'll be visiting your home system in about ten turns!)

OK, enough rambling. Let's play!

Quikngruvn

------------------
Ponder this: Scientists already knew that matter is 98% empty space. After they figured out the structure of protons, they determined the remaining 2% is mostly made up of... well, nothing. Who says God doesn't have a sense of humor?

[Rollo]

Quikngruvn,
thank you for your feedback. I think you are right. If nobody is opposed to that I will change the setup to only one planet.

Warp points anywhere: Yeah, I wasn't sure about that one really. The reason I decided to put it in is that it makes travel around the quadrant faster (Hmm, giving it more thought: Do we really want that?) I guess we can vote on that.

Stellar Manipulation: I will definetly NOT turn stellar manipulation off. Part of the reason we are playing this is that stellar manipulation will be important for your strategy.

quote:

---

... so part of the strategy is going to be... how much of your empire do you devote to Stellar Manipulation? (If you answered "all of it", I'll be visiting your home system in about ten turns!)

---

Yeah, if you can find me... .

One other thing that just came to my mind while typing this and reading your "diabolical" ponderables: You know what would be really diabolical? Finite resources ! The more I think about it, the more I like it. I guess we will have to vote on that one, too.

The current polls:

1. planets: 1 or 3
2. warppoints anywhere: y/n
3. finite resources: y/n

Any other suggestions/ponderables? (<--- Hmm, I like that word. I think I'll add it to my vocabulary.)

Come on and vote! Your feedback is appreciated. The majority will decide. In case of a tie I'll flip a coin (much faster than recounts ).

My votes are:
1. one planet only
2. no (on second thought)
3. yes !!! (come on, this will be fun)

Rollo
[edit] typos (lots)



[This message has been edited by Rollo (edited 28 July 2001).]

[Kull the Conqueror]

1. one planet is fine (if all four players had 2 home systems, these would probably be the only colonizable ones)
2. yes - i am playing in ancient galaxies rather often and i have never seen a warp point closer than 2 sectors to the center of a black hole (if the wp damages your vehicle control - bad luck but it would be the same with wp on the edges if you have no repair bays)
3. cruel fate, but - yes (we can start it again if it ends too soon)
4. i would also like to vote on technology cost (tc) and set it to medium because i dont like the linear progression in the low tc setting. medium tc would allow us to reach stellar manipulation 3 for nearly the same price as on low tc (750k vs 600k) but make higher levels expensive to avoid having planet or sun destoying weapons shortly after reaching open/close wp.