Spiralus PBW discussion thread. - Page 2

BeeDee10 · #11 July 25th, 2001, 08:37 AM

I'm peace-loving! Just ask the guys from Newbie II!

As for the not-all-warp-points-connected, I think that option is poorly worded. It should say something like "not all _systems_ connected" instead. Basically, the game will not guarantee that every system can be reached by every other system if this option is enabled; you can (and usually do) wind up with separate clusters and "islands" of systems that do not connect with each other.

Edit> To illustrate the difference in case my description wasn't clear, try generating a few maps with the option disabled and then generate a few more with the option enabled to see the difference (this is by clicking "generate map" at the game setup stage).

[This message has been edited by BeeDee10 (edited 25 July 2001).]

CW · #12 July 25th, 2001, 08:40 AM

I'm having real trouble registering in PBW. It keeps telling me registration failed but I can't find the reason. My real name obviously was not wrong, email was triple-checked and correct, tried a few different login names including the one I used here (CW), but nothing made it work. I can make use of some help.

BeeDee10 · #13 July 25th, 2001, 08:44 AM

Now, in response to Dragonlord's original question, it looks like a nice setup but I'm still not sure how many games I should be playing simultaneously. I tend to put a lot of effort into my communications, it takes a while to type it all in and keep my notes in sufficient detail. I guess I could handle one more, but that's getting near my limit.

Note that there is a bug in the current Version of SEIV that causes maps created by clicking "generate map" to have no ruins anywhere, even if you've got ruins enabled. So if you generate a map that way, there will be no ruins present.

Dragonlord · #14 July 25th, 2001, 09:08 AM

Beedee: Ouch. I guess that means no ruins in Spiralus. Hmm the bug introduces an interesting tradeoff though.. what would you like better, a game with ruins or a game where I've tried to get a map optimised for tactical and strategical deviousness?

As for the number of games you can be in: when I started PBW I was not sure either. Now, I can tell you that at the max I was on 6 games, which altogether took me about 2 hours daily (on average). I try to arrange it so that I have some games going which are slow starts (like the one-planet start in the Dracus game) and they take me maybe 5-10 minutes per turn, and one or two bigger games. For example I was in what I called to my girlfriend "the big game" which was a 10-player, 5-planet start medium mid-life galaxy slugfest called "Letharg". In the final stages that game took me an hour a day.

Currently the games I'm still in altogether take up about 20-30 minutes a day, so I'm trying to create another "big game". The 5-planet starts (like Newbie II) obviously get big sooner. And Beedee trust me, the diplomacy in Newbie II was nothing compared to the complex negotiations in the Letharg game, although we didn't send such lengthy in-game in-character Messages there, most went via email.

I've tried attaching two of the maps I generated in the fashion described in my earlier post, hope it works since I've never sent files to this forum before.

Rollo · #15 July 25th, 2001, 12:07 PM

Hi everybody,
first a couple of answers/remarks to your Posts:

quote:
originally posted by Shoujo:
Hello sirs. Guess I'm the only private here... Don't be too harsh on me will you

So far I love my starting position especially because of the planets in my system (huge breathable planet rich in minerals. Yum). It's too early to tell whether or not I'll like my neighbors, hopefully whichever one of you is my neighbor believes in world peace, and not galactic conquest.

Shoujo, don't worry. You not the only private

. The Space Vikings led by myself can make good neighbors. Looking forward to contact with you.

quote:
originally posted by Dragonlord:
What do you think? Any other ideas on game config ?

I like the idea of a map with all warp points NOT connected that ARE connected

. Okay, let's call it "few warp points". Would you consider making that an ancient quadrant type? This way you would really have to plan out military campaigns with complete task forces instead of "just" fleets. IMHO that would really make an interesting game. Stellar Manipulation becomes even more important.
No AI and 10 players sounds good, but fewer players should also work.

quote:
originally posted by CW:
I'm having real trouble registering in PBW. It keeps telling me registration failed but I can't find the reason. My real name obviously was not wrong, email was triple-checked and correct, tried a few different login names including the one I used here (CW), but nothing made it work. I can make use of some help.

Hmm, that's odd. The only help I can offer is suggesting that you try a different email. Maybe the site doesn't like your email address. Make a new (generic) email account and try it with that.

Okay, now to my own issues:

I have noticed that the Yvelon Republic led by Shounjo is using the same shipset as I do. To avoid confusion I will add a "(SV)" for Space Vikings to all my ship classes. I will also use the Scandinavian names most of the time. So, if you see something like "Alesund (SV) class", that ship should be mine (unless having been boarded or converted, of course ).
I suggest that Shounjo will also add a "YR" for Yvelon Republic (or something like it) to his ship classes just to make sure.
Just for the record, I live in the central European time zone (Berlin, GMT+1). What time zones are you guys living in?
I think we should set up a few house rules (code of honor, whatever...). Here are my proposals:
1. Diplomatic contact outside the game via email is allowed (and even encouraged).
2. The use of another players password (should it be known) is strictly prohibited unless approved by that player (I guess, that goes without saying...).
3. Since some players (myself included) are in multiple games, "cross trading" should not be allowed. What I mean with that is deals like: "Heh, xyz, if you give me Mines in Junkyard, I'll give you Fighters in Spiralus". While this cannot be controlled, it should be considered bad behavior and frowned upon .

Any comments/additions/suggestions/applause?
Last, but not least, I wish everybody good luck and happy expansion... [/list]
Okay, enough for now,

Rollo, Space Vikings

Phoenix-D · #16 July 25th, 2001, 08:53 PM

I don't really care for ruins anyway.. depending on what you find, they can give a HUGE advantage to one player.

Phoenix-D

Dragonlord · #17 July 26th, 2001, 12:43 AM

OK, I guess it will be a no ruins game, though I kinda like racing with others towards ruins planets.

quote:
Originally posted by Rollo:

I have noticed that the Yvelon Republic led by Shounjo is using the same shipset as I do. To avoid confusion I will add a "(SV)" for Space Vikings to all my ship classes. I will also use the Scandinavian names most of the time. So, if you see something like "Alesund (SV) class", that ship should be mine (unless having been boarded or converted, of course ).
I suggest that Shounjo will also add a "YR" for Yvelon Republic (or something like it) to his ship classes just to make sure.

I think that is a very good idea.

quote:
Originally posted by Rollo:

Just for the record, I live in the central European time zone (Berlin, GMT+1). What time zones are you guys living in?

The time zones are all listed in every email you get with a turn, although it won't show who is who. We have some Americans, a German and a Japanese player in Spiralus.

[QUOTE

I think we should set up a few house rules (code of honor, whatever...). Here are my proposals:
1. Diplomatic contact outside the game via email is allowed (and even encouraged).
2. The use of another players password (should it be known) is strictly prohibited unless approved by that player (I guess, that goes without saying...).
3. Since some players (myself included) are in multiple games, "cross trading" should not be allowed. What I mean with that is deals like: "Heh, xyz, if you give me Mines in Junkyard, I'll give you Fighters in Spiralus". While this cannot be controlled, it should be considered bad behavior and frowned upon .

Any comments/additions/suggestions/applause?
[/quote]

1) Definitely encouraged.
2) Of course, prohibited. But as far as I know every empire file has a password on it. If you forgot to include one, and are logging on with blank passwords, you can change this within the game under Empire Options.
3) I would definitely frown on such behavior.

I am glad you like my suggested map. The map will have several clusters of systems which are only connected by one line.
As for ancient quadrant type: I never use it, so remind me , how does that affect things? I seem to recall someone saying it gives you way too many black holes and asteroid fields...

As for number of players, I'm not so sure anymore if I'd like more than 10. I'm now thinking it is not so much the number of players which holds up a game, but the timezones they are in. Maybe 7-8 is better, depending on where they are from.

For example, in Spiralus I am already noticing the following: when a new turn becomes available it is usually afternoon or evening for us in America (not necessarily Americans). We here usually upload our turns within 1-2 hours after the turn is available. Then we wait until around 10 PM EST for Shoujo to get to his PC and send in his turn, but then it's 4 AM in Germany and it'll take another 4-5 hours for Rollo to be able to get his turn in. (I think he does it right before going to work/school or does it first thing when he gets there, judging by log timestamps). Then the next turn gets processed (3 AM in the US) and for some reason y'all in the US are nightowls like me cause you all upload immediately, even in the middle of the night. But then we're back to waiting for Japan...

I considered making a game that's restricted to all-American or all-European players, but decided that would not be fair. Also because I like everyone in the Spiralus game and would rather have somewhat slower turns with good diplomatic interactions than fast turns with unknown players which perhaps don't interact as well.

One tip, though this probably goes without saying: if you see that you are the Last person to upload, and you have a limited time-window to play in each day, please send in two back-to-back turns.

Dragonlord · #18 July 26th, 2001, 12:59 AM

Guys,
I have just figured out what the Statistics and History links do on the PBW site.

The Statistics is an admin function only. It is similar to "show scores: all" within the game. I don't know why this feature exists cause it can give the admin an unfair advantage, so I have turned it off for this game since we have a "score display: allied".

The History, I think, is a new feature and it allows you to see for all players how quick they were in uploading turns and how often they missed a turn.
Pretty useful, and according to the PBW admins it will get even better in the future.

BeeDee10 · #19 July 26th, 2001, 01:23 AM

quote:
Originally posted by Dragonlord:
OK, I guess it will be a no ruins game, though I kinda like racing with others towards ruins planets.

Especially considering that you're an ancient race, eh?

Personally, I rarely use the unique ruin tech. The only one I really lust after is the planetary shielding now that it's been souped up in the latest patch.

quote:
I am glad you like my suggested map. The map will have several clusters of systems which are only connected by one line.

Choke points good.

quote:
As for ancient quadrant type: I never use it, so remind me , how does that affect things? I seem to recall someone saying it gives you way too many black holes and asteroid fields...

"Way too much" is in the eye of the beholder. It completely screws up the AIs, they are extremely stupid when it comes to handling long distances between resupply depots and travel through black holes/damaging warp points. However, I think that features like this can be positively dreamy when you're up against a whole bunch of humans. It requires a lot more preparation before and during invasions.

As for timing considerations, I don't mind only having one or maybe two turns per day; once we're past the initial slowness of the first year or two I'm sure things will be complicated enough to keep me interested.

Puke · #20 July 26th, 2001, 01:54 AM

quote:
Originally posted by BeeDee10:
Note that there is a bug in the current Version of SEIV that causes maps created by clicking "generate map" to have no ruins anywhere, even if you've got ruins enabled. So if you generate a map that way, there will be no ruins present.

yeah. and let me tell you, the third time you have to generate a .GAM file for a 20 player game, it gets really old.
(no, i didnt make the same mistake twice, the first regen was because one of the EMPs was wrong)