Homecoming Game on PBW: Debrief

[sparhawk]

As already proposed, some people liked the idea of a team based space empires IV PBW game.
Who is interested is such a game.
The idea was to make a game were there are no AI players and 4 x2playerteams, and something like this:

Starting resources: 20000
Starting planets: 3
Home planet value: Average
Score display: allied
Technology level: Medium
Racial points: 3000
Quadrant type: Open for dicussion
Quadrant size: Large
Event frequency: None
Technology cost: Medium
Victory conditions: Allied
Maximum units: 2000???
Maximum ships: 500???
Computer players: None
Neutral empires: No

The problem that I have is: what if your partner is on the other site of the galaxy http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/confused.gif
Any idea how you can ally yourself with him http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/confused.gif

Or maybe that will be another tasks for the players: find your partner http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

But what if some team are on both sides of the map and others are next to each other... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/confused.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/confused.gif

If your interested, has some ideas or want to join this game, please say so http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

Sparhawk

[ November 27, 2002, 11:54: Message edited by: geoschmo ]

[dumbluck]

Well, you could always have it that the first empire you meet is your partner. (random teams)

Not that I have any time for new games....

[Fyron]

Or, use the map editor to assign specific starting locations, and have the team members start in the same system, or adjacent systems. You can still have a random map with this, just make it in-game, save it, and then randomly select starting postions. Just try not to look at the map too much. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif Or, have someone that isn't involved in the game set the starting locations.

[Stone Mill]

sparhawk,

Actually, I'm playing a game of this nature and it is EXTREMELY fun. It's all about working together with a partner. Surprising how challenging that is!

See Duplicity 2 on PBW.

The way this was set up is with both races edited to begin in the same system, pairs evenly distributed throughout the quadrant.
However, some of your suggestions, such as "find your partner" do not sound bad. May even be a fun twist, but they require some rule-setting up front.

[Batman]

One thing I've wanted to try in a game like this is to take empires with different racial techs, then gift ships to each other and refit them (i.e. Organic armor, with Psychic weapons etc)

You run into the problem of cost limits when refitting, but if you were careful it would work.

Another idea I had for a team game (borrowed from the Tycho scenario on the Gold CD) would be to make one team the "defenders" and the other team the "attackers" and make the goal for the attackers to get say, 2000M people to a given planet behind the defender's line within a given # of turns.

A lot of these ideas would require specially created maps, maybe I'll try my hand at creating one.

[mac5732]

Good idea, I like the idea of find your partner, if you both start in same systems it sort of takes away from the game, looking for each other and fighting/colonizing/researching while looking for each other would be neat, then once you find each other, you compare notes, research etc before you continue on, also would you have restrictions on trade between each other??? if you both start in same system, each one could research different tech, then trade it to their partner, sort of makes it a little to easy in regards to research... my opinion only

just some ideas mac

[sparhawk]

Yes, I like the idea of Imperator Fyron to
use the map editor to assign specific starting locations. That will rule out unlucky placement of you and your partner. Also the same race type (colony type) (tesco samoa ) was a good idea. And "finding" your partner gives also some direction in the game.

There should also be some clear rules rulling: trading, contact etc.
My indeas: All trading is ok, contact only during the game (I know, hard to check, but..)
, Highest alliances with a non-partner: trade alliances.

Some other ideas:
1.49 or gold (I personal would go for gold)
How many teams (5 x 2teams http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/confused.gif )

And final: who has a team and wants to join or has any other idea for this game.

Sparhawk

[Gandalph]

I like the "find your partner" "same race" idea. Sort of like Battlestar Gallactica searching for their ancestors, or Voyager trying to get back to Federation space. If this were set up with predefined starting positions, it would be very interesting indeed.

[tesco samoa]

the best way would be to set the game up. With races and all. Post only the descriptions of the races and have people pick which race they wanted to play.

The only rule would be that the same races could never drop below non-intercourse after they meet. Like the Vulcans and Romulans.

If you wanted to play in this game then get someone else to build the game.

Perhaps find out who wants to play.

Then find someone to set the game up... and then dish out the teams.

(I would rather be surprised on what I am playing than choose)

Not too large of a galaxy. Medium at the most.

[tesco samoa]

u could make each teammember play the same race.

That way when they meet they become friends.

Also each races lore is based around this long lost society.

THat would be a way around it.

And the reason why these races went into space is because of this.

Set one rule that the same races must become allies....

[Taera]

Im interested.
Is it Gold? (if yes im out)
Is there are still places?

[Stone Mill]

I'm interested too...

I really like Tesco's idea, about pre-generating and positioning the races.

Players entering the game roll the dice and are assigned a race.

To prevent players from revealing their partner's starting location (via e-mail cheat "I'm located in this system")... When everyone starts they WILL NOT KNOW who their partner is. With every race they meet, they will need to read the race description/history. If they share a common history, you have just found your partner.

Your partner should not have the same shipset or obvious naming convention, and probably should not have the same abilities. Rather, the partners should have COMPLIMENTARY abilities so when they find each other, they can truly work together research/pop exchange/trade.

Each team should be created in this way.

How does that sound?

[Taera]

Sounds good.
Still, is it GOLD or can be played in 1.49?

If it is gold but everyone who plays has classic SE, can we play it on 1.49? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon9.gif

[sparhawk]

I have some problems with designing races for everyone and let people pick one themselves.
Because one of the fun things and strategy of this game lies in your race planning. What do you find important in your race http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Idea:
What if people can design their on race, but don't know who their partner is, because the gamemaster will write something extra in their backround which discribes from what their homeplanet was (two players from the same homeplanet: BINGO). And that players have to read trough each new race they encounter if that is their partner: if so the MUST ally with each other (because otherwise they can't win!!) and if not they can only make a trade alliances with each other.
Therefore no prearranged partners, you really have to find your partner.
But in this way the idea of common ancester is lost, well...way not two races originated from one planet and they went their on ways and finally meet each other again. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

I will sleep and think about this and maybe you all have some comments about this idea.

Good night

Sparhawk

P.s. Taera I already put you on my list of players.
Anyone else wants to join in advange? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

I will probaly try to start the game next week .
If I have time, bacuse I'm moving next saterday to my new house. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

[geoschmo]

You could do this. The game owner really shouldn't be a player then, or at least you would want to have a non-involved third party. (I would be willing)

Just have the players all submit their empires as normal. Then this third party person could go through and edit (He'd need the passwords, the reason he shouldn't be in the game) and and "tweak" the descriptions just a little to give them some commonality. If you are playing this on PBW, it would need to be something other than the shipset, cause you can see that from the game info screen.

To be really fair though you should have starting positions so one team isn't on opposite sides of the quadrant while everyone else is right next to each other. But again that could be set up by the non-involved third party and noone in the game would know which way to go to find their ally.

Edit: Actually, you could use shipsets, if everyone agreed to use stock ones and didn't display on the game info screen which they were using and didn't tell anyone which they were using. If more than two people used the same set, the third party person would just ask one of them to switch so you had two of each shipset. But you could use whatever empire name and history you wanted, just leave the bio description alone.

Geoschmo

[ June 07, 2002, 22:09: Message edited by: geoschmo ]

[Gandalph]

All these ideas sound great and you can definately(sic) count me in.

[Stone Mill]

If this is 1.49, count me in. (sorry, I don't have Gold yet.)

Also, if you are contemplating a Game Name, such as "Splinters" let us know so we can be on the lookout on PBW.

[sparhawk]

No, It will be v1.49
And geoschmo it will be great If you are willing to be the third party to create this game, GREAT http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif .
I'm writing the whole game idea now. And I probaly will also send it to this page in a couple of days.
The most things will be the same as I already posted.

Sparhawk

P.s. Gandalph and Stone Mill your are also on my player list. Great, just 6 more people and we have a GO http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

[Taera]

1.49? great!!!

Usage of stock races would be welcome by me - i always did like them.
make it simple - choose random races from the list, randomly link them to their partner and then add to the history description that "Long ago the race have been in an alliance with X race" or something like that.

[sparhawk]

Here it is: http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

Home coming

Thousand of years have past since the Last galactic war. As a result of this war many races had to leave their home planet searching for new resources and peace.
Some found what they were looking for, other perished.
Those that found a new world mostly lost their high technology and were confined to their new home planet.

Now after hundred of years some races have invented new ways to travel and explore space…

This is a team-based game (5 x 2 teams).
To avoid prearranged teams and races this game is set as followed:

Starting resources: 20000
Starting planets: 1
Home planet value: good
Score display: allied
Technology level: Medium
Racial points: 3000
Quadrant type: Custom
Quadrant size: medium
Event frequency: None
Technology cost: Medium
Victory conditions: Team that has 300% more points than second team or team that colonize their home planet (see description of your race) with a space yard, mining miner-, Organics Farm- and a Radioactive extraction facility, both after 8 years.
Maximum units: 2000
Maximum ships: 500
Computer players: None
Neutral empires: No
Version: 1.49

The game owner (geoschmo) will start the game and will tune every race with one sentence that refers to the home planet where the race originated from.
Every race will have a partner race, which originated from the same planet: your teammate (random).
You can win this game if you and your partner have 300% more points than the next team or colonize your home planet (see description of your race) with a space yard, mining miner-, Organics Farm- and a Radioactive extraction facility (hint: your race should be able to make warp points)
N.b. you can only win as a team!!
Because all races are scattered over the map, you have to find your partner.
Geoschmo will design a map and put all players somewhere on the map (taking in account the different team players), this will prevent random placement of each player/team-mates.
(Thanks goes to geoschmo, who was willing to be the third party to make this game and let me play this game)

Further Rules:
- Maximum alignment with non-team mates: Trade Alliances!
- Intel is on
- No computer or neutral players

Sparhawk

Note: Because I like to have players who like this idea, please reserve your place through a reply here on this forum.
So we have 10 players who really want to go for it!

The second win conditions is to have a second "clever" way to win, without being the best player in the game (in this way it will be possible to win, even if your are Last)

I will ask Geoschmo to start the game monday (17-6)

[tesco samoa]

Hey guys I won't be playing 1.49

Sorry...

[Taera]

tesco: realy, why not? not too much difference from the Gold i think.

Settings seem fine for me. especialy i love that "smart" victory way.
3k racial points is fine too, my favorite setting.
Im not too familiar what "medium" tech does give me, i should check it out. anyway, the settings look just great. for me.

[Phoenix-D]

"tesco: realy, why not? not too much difference from the Gold i think."

-player order problem fixed (again) is the biggie.
-higher ship/unit limits possible
-stuff like that http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

[Stone Mill]

Sparhawk and Geoschmo-

I agree, good job on the settings. And thanks for the coordination efforts, geoschmo! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

The game concept sounds really fun. That is what is going to make this a good game.

Sure, Gold adds some nice features, but there isn't anything prohibitive about playing with V1.49. Plenty of us are happy with it, and upgrading to any Version always adds new things you would like fixed, and new features you would like to add.
In any matter, SEIV still rocks as a game and I can't believe I'm still playing it regularly...

[tesco samoa]

Yea... Sorry... But I cannot stand 1.49.

There is the problem with the combat and who goes first.
No multi select on the build screen.
Intel bugs
5000 ships and 5000 unit caps are the big ones...

I am just cleaning up my current 1.49 pbem games... and i don't want to go back.

If you get to 8 people and your stuck... I will join.. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon9.gif

Forgive. Please.

[sparhawk]

If most of your are happy with the settings, than its a go! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/shock.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

I'm still waiting for Geoschmo to confirm the starting date
http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/confused.gif

Sparhawk

[sparhawk]

Yes, I agree tesco samoa with in some degree.
In gold you have new and more things to research, beter interface etc., but still its all about gameplay http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif . And in the end the goal/settings/players of a game will determine if a game is good or not (how many games died a early dead because players quit or the game was no fun anymore after some turns, because of several reasons.???)

I hope with these settings and victory conditions I created a game that can be fun and unpredictible untill the end. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

sparhawk

[geoschmo]

Uh, you must not have got my email then. The game is on PBW. You did want to do this on PBW right? If not it complicates things a little, but it can still be done.

Anyway, if you want to do it on PBW, then just go there and join the game. It's been up there most of the day. Look for "Homecoming. (Team Game)" in the open games list. As soon as you can get ten players I can start setting it up, might take a day or two from that point.

Geoschmo

[geoschmo]

Btw, I suggest no ancient races, and said as much in the game info screen. That will make it harder to find the Homeworlds once you meet up with your ally. If you want to allow ancient races though let me know and I'll take that off the description.

Geoschmo

[sparhawk]

No I didn't receive your email.
And yes, No ancient races, thanks for the tip Geoschmo http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif .

I saw the game in PBW (yes, this is what I wanted to do), and it looked good.
So now we can join the game and hopefully start the game in a few days..... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/confused.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

p.s. geoschmo did you received my email about the way the homeplanets where situated, otherwise check your profile.
thanks

[geoschmo]

Yes I got your email, I not noticed the private msg, but I have read it now. I have some ideas about that, you want me to just post them here for everybody tot read/comment on?

Geoschmo

[sparhawk]

No please mail them via my email or a private message.

Thanks

Sparhawk

[sparhawk]

Why not tesco samoa
http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon9.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon9.gif

Sparhawk

[geoschmo]

ok, msg sent

[Krsqk]

Maybe I'm missing something obvious, but how are you going to establish victory? Is the host going to d/l the turn and check out the scores and/or map?

[geoschmo]

Well, once someone declares victory I suppose I could verify it and make it official.

[sparhawk]

The game is ready and you find him on the PBW webpage http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif
PBW (http://seiv.pbw.cc)
Game name: Home Coming

Sparhawk

[Gandalph]

I have to find and reinstall non-gold seiv, then I will join. Can I use one of my custom races if I upload it to PBW?

[Taera]

Sorry guys, for some reason the PBW site doesnt work for me not today neither yesterday. I'll join as soon as i can. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon9.gif

[sparhawk]

Taera, I Used your Shipset, sorry.
If you want to use it, i'll find another shipset for myself

Sparhawk

[Taera]

my shipset? you mean the "Taera" or the TechnoLogic? Dont worry. Im not going to use them anyway, im going to use one of the original races.
btw the site finaly worked, in pending for join http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

[geoschmo]

Five Spots left.

[sparhawk]

Only three places left,

Who wants to join this game of sparhawk and geoschmo. And maybe we can start in a couple of days.

Sparhawk

[geoschmo]

Games all full. Waiting on empires now.

[Taera]

I'll upload my empire file soon.

[geoschmo]

Game is underway.

[tesco samoa]

People.

I am glad the game is under way.

I will follow this thread to see what happens and if you do another in 1.67 then i want to join

[Katchoo]

Sign me up for a 1.67 game aswell if it ever comes to pass.

I just got SEIV Gold and love it!. I lose 6 hours so easily by playing this game http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

Katchoo

[sparhawk]

Great, If home coming is running like I hoped it will, maybe I will ask Geoschmo to start a new game (vs1.67) very soon.
Or maybe some one still has some nice things for tunning up this game further.....????

Sparhawk

[sparhawk]

We need a replacement player for Home Coming
We are now in 2400.7, so you have still a good change to make this empire working.
The former owner skipped 3 turns in a row ( so he did some pre-building for this empire) whithout noticed.
All the empires are still in the building up phase, so there is plenty of room to win, also if you take in noticed the speciale winning conditions: Victory conditions: Team that has 300% more points than second team or team that colonize their home planet (see description of your race) with a space yard, mining miner-, Organics Farm- and a Radioactive extraction facility, both after 8 years.
Because this game is a team based PBW game, we need a player that will not quick because of a small backdraft!!!!!!! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon8.gif
and are willing to play till the end....of allmost till the end http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif .
If you want to join, you still have some hours to fill in your turn.

Have fun!! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

Sparhawk

[sparhawk]

We are still in turn 2400.8, and due to the game rules you always have a partner, therefore this game is also usefull for newbies.

Any one interested??

Sparhawk

[Stone Mill]

Homecoming Debrief
Many years have passed since the Mercator and Whatsit races have splintered into colonies far off in the reaches of the galaxy. Rumors inspired hope of finding their homeworld Premius in a hidden system called Narcisston.
Driven by new technology, the Mercator and Whatsit empires reunited and forged the road home. But this road was blocked by other empires with similar aspirations. Galactic war raged for many years, but cheers echoed when new warp technology opened the way to Premius. In year 2409.2, Premius was established with a space yard, mineral, rad, and organics facilities, declared soverignity over the quadrant, and sued for peace.

Sparhawk / Geo, if you would verify that the victory conditions have indeed been met, I believe this game can be ended.

I want to thank all players for making this really fun, and for simply being excellent and responsible pbw gamers. You have pushed me to think hard, work hard, and combat some tough competition. If interested, I would like to suggest a game debrief where we can talk about strats and how this went.

SPECIAL THANKS
Geo- PBW rocks, thanks for the setup help.
Sparhawk- Great game concept!
1FSTCAT- Pootopian empire poured it on early, and never let up. You forced me to stay on my toes and try new things. Devastating campaign against my partner late game.
Debate- Angora Fish grew extremely huge, and were quite a threat. Massive battles!
Dinglehopper- Welcome home, Whatsit. Great work, partner! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif
Gandalph- Good sparring against Whatsit.
Hiruu- Haradun kept our treaty until very late, when unfortunately we had to break all relations.
Ironchickens- I really like your shipset!! Unfortunately, your partner was the Poo and they were putting heat on me big-time. I am sorry to have attacked you early because of this. Your race was Organic/Religious, which would have been a nightmare had you expanded and grown with your partner's help.

Good Game!
Stone Mill- Mercator Orbis

[sparhawk]

Yes, It was a great game.
I don't know if it was a close one (well me and my partner were not even close to our homesystem), but it was certainly a great victory for stonemill and dinglehopper.

about the game: Early in the game everyone was just friendly to each other, untill I had contact with whatsit (stonemill). He was really starting to play hard game just from the beginning(I like that! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif ) and I had no time to prepair myself for his forces http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon8.gif .
For me it went down from that point, got first beaten by 1fstcat and had to wait for 20 turns before I got some planets running.
During that time I also was allied to hiruu (because two players quit), and because we were first enemies (turn1-20) and now allies, we layed somewhat behind with the other teams.

For me it was fun to play, first knowing that you have to coordinate the colonization and exploration to find your homeworld and partner.
And secondly that the game can be won, even if your are not winning (well, stonemill and dinglehopper were winning on both terrains) the game by force, but also if you colonize your homeplanet.

Thanks to all the players and Geoschmo for making this game a great experience.

So who is ready for Homecoming 2 (Version SEIV 1.78) http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Sparhawk

[1FSTCAT]

That was definitely a good game. I feel sorry for people like Sparhawk, that were locked away in corner, for the most part, with no room to expand (He was to the Poo's northwest).

I made the decision early-on to go after Mercator, just because of his position. He was where I wanted to expand. I was able to seize a few worlds and stop him from creating a few new colonies, but I didn't fully understand the scope of his expansion until I started exploring some more. Then I found he'd been pretty much moving EVERYWHERE and colonizing everything in his path.

About mid-game, after he pushed me out of the sector we were fighting over, I decided that he definitely had the edge, with more planets in his possession, so I built large fleets, blocked my borders, and focused on the research necessary to open warp points. I didn't find my partner (Iron chicken) until about this point. He was in a fairly bad position, fighting with the Whatsits AND the Mercator. Unfortunately, he had less research than I did, and I asked him to focus on Spaceyard research while I was working on Stellar Manip. He did, but I still only had Space Yards 1, when I began production of the warp point creator. After about 5 turns, I noticed new warp points appearing in Whatsit territory, so I gathered all of my fleets together and began my raid! I was able to destroy all of Whatsits colonies in 1 sector, and a few in the next. I split my fleet up, and sent several ships to another sector, who were all successful, until I ran out of supplies. This caused a "raiding delay" of about 5 turns, and by that time, the Mercator had assembled a defense fleet for the Whatsits, and they were easily able to destroy my fleets. (My ships were only equipped with level 2 ECM and level 2 sensors -- never researched shields or Phased Weapons)

At some point after I sent out my fleets, Sparhawk's substitute player decided "now" was a good time to take back the planets I took from him, earlier in the game. I only had 4 systems, but this, of course, shut down the entire system with rioting, which really put a dent in my capability. Early-on I made the decision to go after him after I looked at my scoreboard, and after the Mercator repelled me out from his territory, and saw that Sparhawk's empire was REALLY poor, with only a few planets, and no "units". Unfortunately, I didn't know it was Sparhawk's empire, or I probably wouldn't have attacked him, as we've played well together in other games!

Anyway, this was fairly near the end, as I discovered the Whatsits and the Mercator, purely by accident, at their soon-to-be home planet. My ship wasn't equipped with weapons, but it did have cloaking detection, stealth armor, and the ability to deploy fighters, mines and satellites. (Unfortunately, it had none on board!)

As the message I sent out indicated, I rammed the Whatsit ship, but it was 600kt, and mine was only 400, so I didn't expect a whole lot. Unfortunately, the ram only did 47% damage, and his ship was at least 70% cargo containers. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon9.gif

This was pretty much the mid-point of my downhill slide. After The Mercator defeated my fleet in Whatsit territory, they sent another fleet into my northernmost sector, which broke through after a fairly large scuffle. Only 20% of his fleet made it, but that was enough to multiply the rioting that I was fighting off with Sparhawk's attack, and basically the end of an empire.

I made peace with Sparhawk but it was just too late. I built a small repulsion fleet to try to keep Mercator out of my next sector, but they failed too, since he had spent a little time to allow new ships to rendezvous with his attack fleet.

The End

Overall, I was really impressed with Mercator's play. He was shifty, he was slick, and most of all, hard to kill!

I didn't really run into anyone else, but from my perspective, the Whatsits had a ton of room for improvement. For the most part, they didn't use mines, and didn't have any planetary defenses. I saw fleets that looked like they were coming at me for an attack, and then they'd turn away because he would miss a turn or two. Then they'd come back, he'd miss, and then they'd go away. It was hella-confusing. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

How'd it go for everyone else?

[geoschmo]

Originally posted by 1FSTCAT:
That was definitely a good game. I feel sorry for people like Sparhawk, that were locked away in corner, for the most part, with no room to expand (He was to the Poo's northwest).
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Hmmm, really? I spent a lot of time setting the map up to prevent anybody from being locked in anywhere. I would hope his lack of expansion was due to the superior play of Poo rather than some screw up on the map on my part. I tried to make everyone more or less equidistant from their partner (Unknown at the beging of the game) and there home system (unconnected to the rest of the systems. It was a lot more complex than anything I had tried before. I hope everybody feels they had a fair shot at finding both.

Geoschmo

[ November 27, 2002, 14:24: Message edited by: geoschmo ]

[1FSTCAT]

I definitely had a part in "locking him in". He had an escape to the west and south, but I believe there was another empire on his borders that way. We'll have to hear from him, on how that went.

--Ed

[1FSTCAT]

I'd like to make another suggestion:

I think if we do a Homecoming 2, we should make the galaxy larger, and the player requirement larger.

The element of exploration was intense, as was the search for the partner. I can imagine that will only increase as the size of the universe and the amount of potential partners increase.

We should definitely look for players that will be there from beginning to end. Maybe we can get references, or players should be recommended by players of this game?

--Ed

[Stone Mill]

Excellent comments!

The most awesome part of this game is trying to hook up with your partner (who is unknown to you until you find them), while trying to keep other partners from meeting each other! So much political posturing early on, deciding whether to allow passage, share comm channels, etc... Let's just say that we tried to inhibit the other partners from finding each other for as long as possible.
Per Sparhawk:
Early in the game everyone was just friendly to each other, untill I had contact with whatsit (stonemill). He was really starting to play hard game just from the beginning (I like that! ) <font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">FYI: Whatsit was Dinglehopper... I was Mercator. He did a lot of fighting in the west from the beginning, especially against Gandalph (the Corrians). When we discovered they were partners with the Angora Fish, Dinglehopper made it his mission to try and contain them.

Per 1FSTCAT:
I didn't find my partner (Iron chicken) until about this point. He was in a fairly bad position, fighting with the Whatsits AND the Mercator. <font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">When I found out the Ironchickens were partnered with the Poo, I made it my mission to contain them. The Poo were giving me hell, and I could not afford them to get help. As soon as the Poo established a partnership with the IronChickens, I unfortunately had to roll through them. I really feel bad about that, because the Ironchickens were very likable and on good terms. But they were totally unprepared for war, and I snatched 3 systems from them before running out of gas. These systems proved valuable, as they were taken mostly in-tact via troop invasions.

As for the Poo- what can I say? He did some very crafty things. Excellent player. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif Of note: use of cloaking drove me nuts. Sniped colony ships and targets of opportunity behind the lines, eventually slipped through my tight defenses and found his partner. He matched me like a chess game, forcing me to fight an early war (which I hate!) so I had to come up with strats I had never attempted before. We mostly battled in a critical system which we both knew was a gateway at the center of the map. I had to pull out a combination of mines, Weapons platforms, and fighters to keep him from knocking out my planets (and he knew very well how to counter all of these). My early invasion fleets were obliterated when trying to pry into his systems. My partner Dinglehopper did not know how to protect his planets that well, and Poo absolutely ravaged several systems and caused paralyzing riots. I did arrive in time to secure his systems and secure our homeworld.

Dinglehopper played really well, although he lost email access early in the game (along with a few turns), which hurt planning and coordination. However, We were the first partnership in the game, which proved quite impactful. We shared tech immediately, and his acquisition of Fighters, Space Yards, and Warp tech helped save my position and got us opening hiddens systems before anyone else. He found our homeworld, held his position fairly well in the middle, and did a great job of waging a long war against the Corrians.

Angora Fish (Debate) were Organic. He expanded a massive empire and kept me out of the East. Very good player as well, although, he admitted this was his first time using Organics. His empire development was superb! However, his flaw was relying solely on Organic weaponry (which is quite limited) and experimenting on some ship designs that didn't really work. This resulted in several landslide battles. At the point when he attacked me, I was REALLY worried! His forces must have had a 4-1 advantage. I had to do some really hard work to limit damage until my better warships came on-line.

Wshew! that's all for now...

[sparhawk]

Yes, sorry Stone Mill: whatsit was offcourse Dinglehopper.

And for my placement: It was ok, but I took the wrong attitue: I was to friendly in the beginning.
And had to pay that price to 1fstcat (east), Dinglehopper (south-east) and Hiruu (south).
My placement was in the north west corner, so only three directions to go to..........
And because those guys (not 1fstcat in the beginning, but he got the idea some bit later)
were playing a what more aggresive attitue (to me): I lost a large amount of undefended colonies to them.

so that was my lesson: never trust you neighbour.
Offcourse this was cleared up, when hiruu and I became partners and 1fstcat was busy with whatsit.
But still, it was too late for me to mean something.

BUT THAT WON'T HAPPEN NEXT TIME!!!!

For homecoming2 we need some real Players: because we almost had trouble when two people left this game.
Luckly there where two people leaving, so it was easy to assign two new partner (me and hiruu)
But next time we really need players, who can stick to this game and won't leave because of a bad starting position (although there were no in this game---thanks geoschmo) or some other thinks.

So anyone who wants to play or knows someone who likes to play, just email me.
Because I think the best way to do this, is by invitation only.

Thanks

Sparhawk

[ November 27, 2002, 15:45: Message edited by: sparhawk ]

[Gandalph]

This was a fun game and I look forward to a new (>1.78) Homecoming.

No fault of Geo's, but the Corrian had 3 major problems. My corner position left me with only 2 exits, one through the north where the Bugs were (sorry for forgetting, but we didn't have much contact) and one to the northeast, straight through Whatsit territory. To the north was a hostile race and to the northeast was a hostile race. I chose to block access to the north, and head into Whatsit territory.

This leads to problem 2, I was unprepared for his fighters with rocket pods. This was only my second PBW game and I had never seen this strategy and it caught me totally off guard. He ripped through my initial fleets like a hot knife through butter. I quickly redesigned my ships and built up enough to push Whatsit back out of my system at great cost. During this time, he had developed PPB's and Intel and started fighting back with both. He was stealing 2 of my ships and resources every turn. It took no time to put my race in a state of turmoil I could not overcome.

Lastly was problem 3, I took on a religious race without making proper compensation to research, and then did not bother with early sensor research figuring I am going to end up with the Talisman so I don't need the sensor. Needless to say, I had a happy populace with a weak military, and on PBW this just won't work.
Despite all this, I still held out a possibility of winning anyway. The warp points that had opened exposed my Homeworld. As a Last effort, and 1 turn before losing my final planet to Whatsit intel, I built a new warship and a new colony ship and sent them towards the Homeworld, only to have them shot down by the Whatsit 2 systems away.

I learned alot in this game and will take these lessons back to PBW, and hopefully into a new game of HOMECOMING!!

[Ruatha]

Did this game end before 100 turns was reached?
It must have been a quick game then.

[Stone Mill]

Did this game end before 100 turns was reached?
It must have been a quick game then. <font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Just about 100 turns... 92 I think to be more accurate. It felt like a pretty solid amount of time for a game. What keeps it moving is a very definite end result... but a lot of variables affect how you get there.

I know in many ways I also had luck on my side, and made a few good guesses. That always helps...

This kind of game could take longer with some wild scenarios... like what happens when a foreign race has already found your homeworld and they are doing their best to keep you from recovering it.

I would love to try this again. I know the heat may be on me, and I may have to be really flexible and change my play style a little bit. Sounds like more good fun. I will try to recruit a few good players that I know.

[Stone Mill]

Oh and I agree- we should really run the next one with SEIV Gold. Hope that won't be too much of a problem.

Besides, I'm sure many good players who sat out on the first game would join if HOMECOMING 2 used Gold.

If we do expand the size of the game, I would like to propose that the victory condition be clarified with the following:
When your homeworld is colonized, you must make an announcement to every player in the game, and hold it for 2 years (20 turns). This will give players a clue that they need to mobilize against you (if they can) or lose the game.

[Gandalph]

Originally posted by Stone Mill:

If we do expand the size of the game, I would like to propose that the victory condition be clarified with the following:
When your homeworld is colonized, you must make an announcement to every player in the game, and hold it for 2 years (20 turns). This will give players a clue that they need to mobilize against you (if they can) or lose the game.<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I like this idea, not just find and quickly colonize, but actually be able to hold onto your prized possesion.

[sparhawk]

Ok, guys, here it is Home coming 2: shoot on it http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif



Home coming 2

Thousand of years have past since the Last galactic war. As a result of this war many races had to leave their home planet searching for new resources and peace.
Some found what they were looking for, other perished.
Those that found a new world mostly lost their high technology and were confined to their new home planet.

Now after hundred of years some races have invented new ways to travel and explore space…

This is a team-based game
To avoid prearranged teams and races this game is set as followed:

Starting resources: 20000
Starting planets: 1
Home planet value: good
Score display: allied
Technology level: Medium
Racial points: 3000
Quadrant type: Custom
Quadrant size: depending on number of player (>10 = large)
Event frequency: None
Technology cost: Medium
Victory conditions: Team that has 300% more points than second team or team that colonize their home planet (see description of your race) with a space yard, mining miner-, Organics Farm- and a Radioactive extraction facility, both after 8 years.
Furthermore, when you have colonized your home planet, you have to mention this to all other races. When you have manage to keep your home planet after again 2 years, then you have won the game.
Maximum units: 2000
Maximum ships: 500
Computer players: None
Neutral empires: No
Version: 1.78 (gold patch 2)

The game owner will start the game and will tune every race with one sentence that refers to the home planet where the race originated from.
Every race will have a partner race, which originated from the same planet: your team-mate (random) N.b. you can only win as a team!!
Because all races are scattered over the map, you have to find your partner.
The game owner will design a map and put all players somewhere on the map (taking in account the different team players), this will prevent random placement of each player/team-mates.

Further Rules:
- Maximum alignment with non-team mates: Trade Alliances!
- Intel is on
- No computer or neutral players
- No Ancient race Trait!!

Sparhawk

Note: Please reserve your place through a reply here on this forum, because we had some problem with players in homecoming 1.



[ December 02, 2002, 09:29: Message edited by: sparhawk ]