Civilization IV PBEM Game (Setup)

[Kizyr]

Let's try to start this on November 1st. So far, we have:
- Kizyr
- Sonic#
- Phyco126
- Ardent Fox

Now, here are the things we need to work out prior to play:

1) Civilizations/Leaders
- You can pick any Civ/Leader you want, but let's try not to have overlapping ones for a more interesting game. (Four people all playing as Alexander the Great kind of makes the game a bit dull.)
- Just post your preferred Civ/Leader here, and if there are any conflicts we can work them out here.

2) Map Type
- The ones that work out best are: Terra, Continents, Pangea, Archipelago, and Inland Sea:
Terra = Earth-like, where we all start out on the same continent, and there's another continent out to sea. This guarantees early conflict in the "Old World", and later conflict during expansion.
Continents = Two continents, probably with two of us on each. This sets up some early one-on-one conflict (or cooperation), and late-game economic competition more so than militarily
Pangea = One continent. Guarantees early meeting, and an interesting mix of wars and alliances.
Archipelago = Many islands. Necessitates a navy, inhibits expansion, and makes conquering your neighbors much tougher.
Inland Sea = Not sure. I haven't played enough of this type to know what'd happen.
- Vote on one of those five options above (or if you think another type would work better, post here).

3) Other Map Conditions:
Map Type: Small
Climate: Temperate
Era: Ancient
Speed: Normal
Sea Level: Normal
- Post if you think we should change any of the above. But, this tends to be the optimal setup for up to 6 players.

Anything else? KF

[phyco126]

1) Civilizations/Leaders
- You can pick any Civ/Leader you want, but let's try not to have overlapping ones for a more interesting game. (Four people all playing as Alexander the Great kind of makes the game a bit dull.)
- Just post your preferred Civ/Leader here, and if there are any conflicts we can work them out here.

3) Other Map Conditions:
Map Type: Small
Climate: Temperate
Era: Ancient
Speed: Normal
Sea Level: Normal
- Post if you think we should change any of the above. But, this tends to be the optimal setup for up to 6 players.

Anything else? KF

If I can be Washington, that would be great. I always play as him.

As for map conditions, can we make the map the next size up? The rest looks awesome. What will be the victory conditions?

[Ardent Fox]

I call Cathrine and the Motherland. Russia will rise my friends. Russia will rise...

Map conditions look good, but I do agree with the map size up. I want a lot of land to conquer.

[Sonic#]

When Britain first, at Heaven's command
Arose from out the azure main;
This was the charter of the land,
And guardian angels sang this strain:

"Rule, Britannia! rule the waves:
"Britons never will be slaves."

I'll be Queen Elizabeth, for England! And in the spirit of islandhood, I vote for an archipelago.

[Aquaignis]

I remember dominating Civ III: Conquests. But then I got Civ IV and thought it sucked horribly and haven't played Civ since...i think i mentioned this in the last Lunar Character Tournament

[Kizyr]

Dangit, if you aren't in the game then don't vote!
*ehem* anyway...

I switched my vote to Terra. With continents, it'll literally be ages before we encounter one another; with pangea, you can run into resource/space constraints rather early. Terra might offer a good compromise between the two.

Sonic#: If you're worried about England's naval power still being a significant factor, Terra will still afford you that possibility, without unfairly disadvantaging anyone else. Archipelago tends to severely advantage and handicap specific civs/leaders more than other map types.

So right now we have the following:

1) Civilizations/Leaders:
Kizyr - Dictator Julius Caesar of Senatus Populusque Romani
Sonic# - Tudor Queen Elizabeth I of the United Kingdom of England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland
Ardent Fox - Tsarina Catherine the Great of the Russian Empire
Phyco126 - President George Washington of the United States of America

2) Map Type
Terra (see above... I think this would be the fairest configuration for different playstyles)

3) Other Map Conditions:
Map Type: ???
Climate: Temperate
Era: Ancient
Speed: Normal
Sea Level: Normal

Regarding map type, keep in mind that this is only 4 players here, and a larger map slows down the game (both in terms of the time to move and explore, and how fast research/gold accumulates, and how fast cities grow). So there's a tradeoff there. The reason I really advise against larger maps for only 4 players is that it really inhibits encounters and trade until much later in the game, and online games area already slow as it is, so increasing map size just makes the game that much more unnecessarily long.

If given that you're still insistent on a medium map, and I'm outvoted 3-1, then we can switch.

4) Victory Conditions
I think all normal conditions should apply. How about you guys?

The only thing we might want to scrap is a diplomatic victory. Maybe an economic one too. KF

[Ardent Fox]

Yeah, the diplomatic victories never work in player games. So that's fine. After playing around a little with the computer on a small map, I can see what you mean by it being a while before you find someone to trade with. That's a slight hindrance indeed. I'll hereby revoke my vote to a small map.

[Aquaignis]

Sorry, for the vote earlier!
My last comment was not meant to be a dis to your game!
Idk if the game you all are playing is the same as the one I am referring to. Just Civ IV, I think...But the game world just seemed so dang small! I was playing on a regular-sized map, but 4 players could barely fit on it! We could only build about 6 cities each...and I'm used to building 20-30 in Civ III Conquests. Also, Civ IV seemed to be very, very short. I think I won space-race style in two hours...pfft...maybe there were facets to the game that I missed that made the game better...idk...Comment please

[phyco126]

Aqua, you can always slow the game to were 2 hours gets you, maybe, one tech, haha.

Kiz, we can do small map.

[Sonic#]

Sonic#: If you're worried about England's naval power still being a significant factor, Terra will still afford you that possibility, without unfairly disadvantaging anyone else. Archipelago tends to severely advantage and handicap specific civs/leaders more than other map types.

Oh, I think Terra is a decent option. Pangea... no, I wouldn't want to do that.

And I'm fine with a small map.

Forgive the curt responses - it's been a tight week.

[Kizyr]

Ok, sorry for the brief hiatus. Anyway, now we need to figure out turn order.

Since we're all in roughly the same time zone (i.e., not spread out across 7 time zones and 6 countries like my last game, this should be relatively easier. Generally, I suggest we go from East to West (based on where we live geographically), so that the turn order follows the order of the day--generally, it makes it more likely that I have free time to play my turn before the next one, and so on. Given that, I'd say the order should be:
Kizyr - Caesar
Sonic# - Elizabeth
Ardent Fox - Catherine
Phyco - Washington

Does that sound ok?

Anyway, if that's fine then I just set up the game. If there are no further changes, I'll play the first turn and we can get this started (I'll start up a new thread for that). KF

[phyco126]

Turn order doesn't phase me any.

[Ardent Fox]

Sounds like win to me.

[Kizyr]

As soon as Sonic# chimes in, then I think we're good to go.

Could all of you PM me the email address you want to use for this? KF

[Sonic#]

Sounds fine to me! You've been PMed in five seconds! (ahhh tense!)

[Kizyr]

...I think you forgot to PM me, Sonic. KF

[Ardent Fox]

Phail.

[Sonic#]

...I think you forgot to PM me, Sonic. KF

Not quite. I think I screwed up the PM. >_< It's sent now, sorry for the delay.