After playing a fair bit of single player and a single small-map direct-connect game, I've decided it's time to jump into a larger PBEM game. Since there are none currently recruiting, and my favorite age (MA) is less popular among noob games, I've decided to start one myself. Here are the parameters, including one house-rule.
Map: Primea with semirandomization (150 land, 9 sea). Found
here. I've played a couple of SP campaigns on srand'ed maps, and I feel the game is a lot less interesting without them. There are no preset starting locations for underwater nations, so starting as them isn't recommended (there isn't much water anyway).
Map settings: I'll be using several setting tweaks to help keep things managable for new players like myself.
Magic research will be set to standard. Independents strength will be set to 7 to slow down expansion, but all players will start with 2 provinces to compensate (and to avoid making SC pretenders mandatory). Standard victory. Magic site frequency set to 45.
Players: 7, including me. I personally find 7 to be a more thematic number for the nature of Dominions than 8 or 6. Since this is MA, with no absurdly overpowered nations like late-age Ermor and Mictlan, no nations are banned. (
Edit: It was suggested that Ashdod be banned.) Here is the roster as it stands now.
1. dark7element: Arcoscephale - The Old Kingdom
2. Xerxes2504: Shinuyama - Land of the Bakemono
3. Nightfall: Pythium - Emerald Empire
4. Corvus: Ulm - Forges of Ulm
5. P3D - Abysia - Blood and Fire
6. bgifu: T'ien Chi - Imperial Bureaucracy
7. nozshand: Pangaea - The Age of Bronze
8. Ragnelle: Eriu - Last of the Tuatha
Diplomacy rules:
There will be no arbitrary enforcement of treaties. If your "friend" seems to be massing a huge army of elite sacred troops on your borders, you may want to take his explanation that it's a training exercise with a grain of salt.
Roleplaying and fluff:
I have a confession: I'm one of those wretched, basement-dwelling creatures called 'roleplayers' who likes to give their pretender a unique backstory and use flowery Tolkien-esque language in diplomatic messages. Roleplaying is encouraged but
not required. However, please at least refrain from using 'leetspeak', and refer to other players by their pretender name rather than their forum name.
No Ashdod I've never played with/against them, but apparently MA Ashdod is severely overpowered. Since this is a newbie game, I don't want any nations with advantages only a vet can counter.
No elephant rush against other players. It's never happened to me, but I've heard that this is a very annoying tactic for a new player to get overrun by. Elephants may not be used offensively against other players until year 3 (you can still use them against independents, or to defend against other players).
Torches in the Night: MA, Newbies (10> mp games) only, CBM 1.7 (CRASHED AND BURNED)
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