Are you tough enough to be the "King of the Hill"?

[DeKaye]

Hey Phoenix! Yeah, was a very strange game, we didnt meet each other till late in the game. LOL. I kept thinking I was playing by myself. Yes, you were very sneaky. I enjoyed the game.
Take care and good luck,
Til next time,
Fuzzie

[Thermodyne]

GozGUY has surrendered to the Thermolian’s. Can’t say it was much of a game, GozGUY was pinned into his home system the whole time. I did a little raiding early on. And he managed to break through the warp point once about mid way, but had little left after the battle to exploit his gain. I just moved another fleet to the warp point and re-mined it. His fighters did a little damage to my home system but were used up in a couple of turns. I just took it slow and played not to loose, which makes for a boring game. In the end it was economics that carried the day.

[Alneyan]

KOTH has been updated, at last. I blame my ISP for failing to give me access to the FTP for sixteen hours or so.

Did you realise we are the sixth thread view-wise on the boards? The thread was started quite a while longer before views started being counted, so I guess we lost a couple thousand more views (one or two of the threads that beat KOTH were started much more recently). I sure am popular. Kinda.

[geoschmo]

I have surendered to Glyn. He played a good game. I was a little unlucky as my half of the quadrant was severly mineral deficent. I had a lot of turns with planets sitting idle because I couldn't afford to keep them building. By the time I found a nice juicy mineral rich system (And oh what a system it was with 4 breathable worlds) it was on the border and I couldn't really take advantage of it. Spent too many turns building weapons platforms and not enough building mines.

But don't confuse my griping. Glyn probably would have won either way. He's a skileld player. But I would have given him a better game of it. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Alneyan, take me off the hill for a while. I need a break.

Geoschmo

[Glyn]

Good game Geo! My side of the map was mineral poor too! Half of my colony mineral production was in the system to the south of the border nebula system and it was five systems away from my home system.

From the final turn I estimate the production of our colonies to be nearly equal.
Geo: 169k min, 5.3k org, 11.3k rad
Glyn: 176k min, 1.1k org, 4.3k rad

But then when you add in my remote mining.
Remote: 131k min, 5.2k org, 56.6k rad.


I was worried there when we first meet, because you were ahead of me in research. You had fighters and an extra colony tech, but then you clamed only 1/3 of the map.

Thanks for the good game!

[Phoenix-D]

I can *recieve* email, but not *send* it at the moment, so let it be known I agree to the settings Dex Solo suggested in his email to the admin and myself. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[geoschmo]

Glyn said:
but then you clamed only 1/3 of the map.



I couldn't go any farther then that. By the time I got my economy straightened out to where I could expand again you had firmly established your defenses along the border.

[Alneyan]

KOTH has been updated. The last few days have been the busiest since I took over KOTH, with merely one game running at one point, even though there are now 19 players (that would've been 20 if not for you, Geoschmo!).

Please let me know if I've forgotten someone. For future reference, Parabolize gets dibs for moving up, as Tesco is not available for play at present.

[Dex_Solo]

Damn KOTH is amazing. I had more then one cardiac infarct during the game against Rathar. I guess for every ship I killed he shot down 4 of mine http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif. Well I won this because I dominated the map and he could never reach my home system. Was a hard and funny fight. Lol and I had in the last rounds around 20 planets rioting, I think I should keep an eye on happiness this time http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif.

[Slynky]

Congrats on a very precarious win. Not to mention, Rather's a rather good player... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif. Winning with planets rioting doesn't happen often.

[Renegade 13]

Alneyan, do you know why we haven't started our game yet? It seems both our .emp files are in, but the first turn hasn't been generated yet...

[Alneyan]

The game hasn't started because it was supposed to be your birthday present.

I don't know actually; for all other games, you know who is to blame, but in this particular case... Well, I'm a player just like you.

[Slynky]

Slynky -vs- Rand is over with the Trithians victorious. It was a game of experience versus inexperience and I salute Rand for his good sportsmanship. Hopefully, I passed along some good tips in a way to understand because we need to keep interestted players and help them become better.

Thanks for the game, Rand, and thanks for the good turnaround time in the turns. Good luck in your next game.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

So...Who was the Trithians?

[Slynky]

narf poit chez BOOM said:
So...Who was the Trithians?

Trithians... slumlords of the universe! (that would be me) http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/redface.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

[Alneyan]

Actually, that would be the 0,0,1 pixel on a 0,0,0 background that is supposed to represent you. That is, if you yourself are half as difficult to spot as the rest of your species. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

(Background information: the Trithians use the stock shipset whose name begins with P and that can be fairly difficult to spot, particularly their Escorts. You'd better have a keen eyesight or keep a check for every single vessel and check where it's headed.)

[Slynky]

And usually under the letters of the syystem or over an asteroid field (for added difficulty)... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Ah, thanks.

[Thermodyne]

Sleeper has defeated Thermodyne http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif The game could go another 20-30 turns but the outcome would be the same, so I won’t hold him back from his next game. Good game Sleeper.

[Slynky]

I wonder how Sleeper is doing in his other KOTH game (since he appears to be in 2 at the same time... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif).

[Alneyan]

Well, at least he managed to get games on two different levels, unlike Mwbard, whose two games are at the bottom. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

I guess I didn't proofread the update enough, so it should be overlooked for now. KOTH to be updated tomorrow.

[Slynky]

Alneyan said:
Well, at least he managed to get games on two different levels, unlike Mwbard, whose two games are at the bottom. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

I guess I didn't proofread the update enough, so it should be overlooked for now. KOTH to be updated tomorrow.

If only you would make such mistakes in our games... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif

[Alneyan]

Well, I spend so much time on my turns I cannot make mistakes really. I make screw-ups of epic proportions, though.

By the way, I'm betting three Stellar Destroyers on Glyn's slaying the king.

And KOTH has been updated. Update notices are too often at the top of my posts.

[Glyn]

Alneyan said:
By the way, I'm betting three Stellar Destroyers on Glyn's slaying the king.



I'll take that bet! ..... Oh.. wait ... ur .. That means to win I would have to lose???

Oh well, what would I do with three Stellar Destroyers anyway?


It's still anyone’s game. I think we both got randomly bad starts. I've won the three ship battles, lost two ships to mines and forced him to abandon one colony so far.

The funniest moment was the first ship battle. We both had a single long range missile ship. Both captains decided to attack toe to toe with missiles instead of using max range. Dooh … I could have sworn, I had set the correct strategy.

[Renegade 13]

Max range strategy doesn't always work with two missile ships for some odd reason.

[Asmala]

Alneyan said:
By the way, I'm betting three Stellar Destroyers on Glyn's slaying the king.



If you're betting three Stellar Destroyers against an old satellite it would be a fair bet since I can't remember when I've got a worse start. I guess the game won't be a long one.

Doh, the PBW server crashed in the middle of my RTC-turn...

[Slynky]

Asmala said:

Alneyan said:
By the way, I'm betting three Stellar Destroyers on Glyn's slaying the king.



If you're betting three Stellar Destroyers against an old satellite it would be a fair bet since I can't remember when I've got a worse start. I guess the game won't be a long one.

Doh, the PBW server crashed in the middle of my RTC-turn...

Assuming this is not news propaganda, I am thinking right about now you have more appreciation for the Balance Mod... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif.

[Alneyan]

If someone likes setting up games and doing the occasional hosting (chiefly when rolling back one turn), you might wish to let me know now, for the betterment of humankind and the like - or plain old KOTH, but it doesn't sound quite as grandiose.

As you may know, I'm running SEIV in a non-native environment, going through the Wine compatibility layer (SEIV is the only Windows program I still run here). Somehow, quite probably because I'm not exactly a master of that moby program, its functionality has gradually decreased with each system change, update, and so on. I have been unable to do any turn processing for a few weeks, and I'm having a very tough time playing the game in the first place now.

I'll try to reinstall Wine and SEIV from scratch, but that will probably wait for a few days after the bulk of my exams has come and gone. If it doesn't help, it will probably be best to find someone else to do the game creating/hosting (where needed). Even now, the inability to roll back games or reset passwords is quite annoying... though at least it isn't *that* frequent.

The corollary is, I'm also not going to do my turns unless I can kludge Wine into more or less working (not trying to crash my X server prior to the Empire Dialog screen would be a start). So Renegade, you should either hope for a quick resolution, or none at all; in the latter case, you could claim one of the quickest victories in the history of KOTH. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif (We are at turn 22 or so)

[Slynky]

Well, as most anyone should know, I'm always available to set up games. So, count me in whenever you need me.

[Renegade 13]

I can wait as long as needed Alneyan, until you get everything up and running nicely again. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Alneyan]

Two reinstalls of the Wine layer/SEIV and one sys upgrade later, it still isn't working any better. I don't have any better idea at present, and I doubt compiling the thing on my own would help much (the problem isn't on the game side either, as the game isn't started at all before Wine hangs up).

So, I do think someone else should step in as KOTH host (I can handle the game creating and HTML part, if you don't care about these), as I suspect my problem isn't straightforward, and reaching full functionality anytime soon is unlikely. I'm sorry for the short notice, but I'm not sure what made all hell break loose in the first place.

That also creates a problem with Renegade, since a decision would likely be made by the KOTH admin... but I'm the current one, perhaps not for long. Still, the letter of the rules says that you have the right to move onwards on the Hill, as your opponent is unable to continue play. If you would prefer staying on the same level, there is always Slynky who is itching for a fight.

[Renegade 13]

I'd much rather give you a week or two to sort things out Alneyan, rather than giving up on it. I absolutely hate winning by default, and our game is shaping up to be so interesting! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif I trust you'll sort it out eventually, so we can continue. I'm in no rush.

[Alneyan]

Well, you could have gone with Slynky instead; that wouldn't have been a win by default. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Wine works at present if I shut down my sound server and the like (the game shouldn't be calling on the sound to begin with). Of course, it might break anytime regardless.

[parabolize]

Alneyan turn off the se4 music and save/end your turn in a 1.94 game (this is a problem that started with 1.94 in wine/cedega). You can also replace some dlls with win98 dlls. If you got the $ buy cedega. If you got the time compile cedega.

[Alneyan]

Yeah, I eventually slaughtered all the music in Deluxe; it was only down for some of my mods, not the whole lot of them, hence the discrepancy. I also found out about the command line available since 1.39 in the meantime (thanks to the Wine AppHQ, where I should post about SEIV since the current information is bogus), but it won't help me for setting up games. Bleh.

It isn't a problem solely with the game, though, as 1.94 worked fine previously even on the mods that did have the CD music enabled. I suspect it could be a new bug introduced with Wine, since I was running 20050523 (if memory serves) previously. Debian Stable => Unstable replaces most packages though, so I cannot really pinpoint the problem.

I have no interest in using Cedega, and Wine itself isn't quite my cup of tea. Still, compiling them does not take too long (finding the Cedega stuff is almost the longer of the two)... but if I liked compiling programs left and right, I guess I would be using a different distro, and incidentally a better cooling system. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

[parabolize]

What version of wine and could you post some output?

[Alneyan]

I should clarify a bit: Wine is fine now, so any information is only going to be useful for future reference.

- Debian Sarge, running 20050310 and all relevant packages, could run 1.94 games without any significant trouble... unless my hosting problems were somehow linked to that. These produced exceptions from the game itself, but I don't have the actual error message stored anywhere.
- Ubuntu 5.10 (Badger, if I recall) and all relevant packages had no problem with the hosting part, including 1.94 games, and no music funny business. Current Wine on Ubuntu is 20050725, but I'm not sure about the one back then... they do have some packages from 20050524, but I only spent a couple of weeks on Ubuntu. No error message here.
- Debian Sid, running 0.9.12 and similarly recent packages, crashes before SEIV has got started with 1.94 games. Switching off music allows to work around the problem (hosting hasn't been tried out yet). I gather we both get the same sort of output from Wine itself when not editing the settings.

So, different system setups have ended up giving relatively different results, all of them put under the same play conditions, patches and the like. Was that your experience also? I haven't done much investigating though, as I retain Wine solely for SEIV.

[parabolize]

Thats odd. I had the music crash on me in Ubuntu's 20050725 build. I was pretty sure the problem is its looking for WiMP to play the mp3s and not finding it.

[Rathar]

I have slain Fuzzie.

I cannot take on another opponent at this time as I am off to Mexico for a month+ so stick me in a corner somewhere and give me weekly dustings till I return please!

Rathar

[DeKaye]

Oh how nice, someone has placed a fuzzie rug at the bottom of the KOTH hill.

Opps! That's not a rug, but Fuzzie, once again trompled by her opponent.


:}}}}}}}

[Slynky]

DeKaye said:
Oh how nice, someone has placed a fuzzie rug at the bottom of the KOTH hill.

Opps! That's not a rug, but Fuzzie, once again trompled by her opponent.


:}}}}}}}

Her opponent?

[Alneyan]

"In English grammar, the possessive pronoun "her" is used to denote something belonging to a female person, and is the counterpart to the masculine possessive pronoun "his". "Her" and "his" are also used as personal pronouns, when expressing the object complement of the action; when the pronoun is used to express the subject of the action, "she" and "he" are used, respectively.

Another use of "her" and "his" are for general sentences, when the identity and the gender of the person referred to are not known. While some argue that the masculine is not a delimiting pronoun, and is thus more generic than the feminine, others consider that there is no specific reason to favour one gender instead of the other."

Blah, I've never been fond of grammar, and didn't do much studying of English grammar... but you should get the idea anyhow. So, Fuzzie actually used "her" (or "she") in the past, if memory serves, so it shouldn't really come as a surprise. Granted, I do have an edge here, since I keep a lengthy booknote of all KOTH players... you know, intelligence gathering and the like. It's good to be a spook.

[Slynky]

Well, ONE thing I DID need today was a grammar lecture from a person who uses English as a second language. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif

Though not as witty, nor as verbose, I offer an explanation for my question:

Being so used to having NO females around playing this game, my question was rather rhetorical in meaning (about 90%) exhibiting shock more than ignorance. The other 10% was that "part of me" that was allowing for the possibility the poster had actually made a reference to a fictional character used in the game only and the poster was, in real life, a male.

So, THERE! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

[Renegade 13]

Slynky said:
Her opponent?

Women do play SEIV you know http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif I just wish I could find one and marry her!! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/cool.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif

[Slynky]

Renegade 13 said:

Slynky said:
Her opponent?

Women do play SEIV you know http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif I just wish I could find one and marry her!! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/cool.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif

Well, I suppose so BUT it's rare to find a female playing a detailed strategy game. I rely on my times at Origins and another East Coast gaming convention (in Pennsylvania) for my historical perspective.

Of course, those were the "good ole days" and thngs change. Ceertainly don't want to convey the idea I don't like it...just surprised, is all.

[Alneyan]

You are *so*, like, 2004 Slynky! I swear, it's like, you know... *Ducks* I'll have to work some more on my teenager speak.

I think it comes from the niche character of these games. Another game I play (that would be DROD) has an abnormally high proportion of mathematicians hanging around, with several people who participated in the international-math-contest-whose-name-escapes-me-at-the-moment (the forum is quite a bit smaller than Shrapnel, with perhaps two or three hundred active members). That tends to lead to some very complex problems.

I know all too well what you mean Renegade: the marrying part is *so* hard to pull out these days. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

[Phoenix-D]

My current KOTH game is trending toward the absurd. We keep blowing the stuffing out of each other but no one has landing a killing blow yet.

I think I'm on the loosing end here, but there's always that Murphy's law..

EDIT: To give a better idea, my ships have destroyed 1,496,380kT of enemy shipping. Just shipping- that doesn't count planets, weapons platforms, etc. Or the kills from my WPs. And it doesn't count the obselte ships which have been deleted..

[Captain Kwok]

I'd like to sign up for the next available game at the bottom. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif

[DeKaye]

LOL, You all are very amusing. I did not know that being a female statregic game player made me a rare thing. Intereting. I'm 36 years old, so not sure if you can say I am from a new generation of players. Depends on how old you all are. My father sorta taught me how to play chess. I do enjoy it, but don't play it often.

Well, take comfort Slynky, I'm not that good at playing KOTH games. I have lots of learning to do.

(I am only joking with ya, so please don't take me as being rude; I joke a lot.)

Some more intereting, maybe surprising facts about me. I enjoy science and math. I took math through Calculus III in college. Loved Calculus.. I started off as a genetics major, and took tons of science based classes. I enjoyed them and learned a lot of fascinating things. I had a change a heart in my Junior college yr, so I changed majors. Anyway, does this surprise you even more? Just curious. I really did not think I was that unique. You make me feel special :} Thanks! You made my day (even though I've made a perminate home down at the bottom of the hill http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/smirk.gif).

You all are so great. It's a pleasure to be bashed to smitherines by you all. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

Fuzzie

[Slynky]

Well, by no means did I mean (perhaps) to infer female players weren't welcome here (and I don't think you took it that way).

I think it's nice that we have a few (females)around...helps keep us guys from thinking it's a mens club and lighting too many cigars, if you get analagy.

Now, some guys like to flirt with the female players...and there were surely enough of both (flirts AND females) playing Mech Warrior 3 and 4...but I'm an old happily-married fart and just smile because we know we have to keep the language a bit more "clean".

And joke away...this is a good forum for it.

Cheers!
Slynky

[narf poit chez BOOM]

/me lights a cigar.
/me starts coughing violently.
/me drops the cigar.
/me lights the thread on fire.
/me sprays fire-retardent everywhere.

"Oops."

[Slynky]

Well, Khyron, looks like you and me. Any suggestions for settings? I'm always up for a fuul-tech start.. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

[Captain Kwok]

DeKaye/Fuzzie:

It looks like we're about to engage in battle. I'd like to do a game with 0 racial points, no intel. Feel free to post any stipulations you have...

[Dex_Solo]

Well I won the game vs Phoenix-D in round 153. This game was very hard. Around round 100 he dominated the galaxy and I lost many planets (~ 30-40) and had around 30 planets rioting. But then his fleets ran out of supply and I could rebuild http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif. While he killed one planet I rebuild 3. In round 130 my fleets killed his worlds, his fleets killed my worlds. We both run out of supply again, but I managed to kill his tankers with a modified strategy (no weapons ship only), while my ships had solar panels. He had very strong mining and construction settings, but Organic tech is so amazing, just build, build, build... Loose one sucking ship, rebuild 2 of them...This and phased poloron ships vs regular shield ships + resource converter (some rounds after round 100) saved my day. And now I had so funny organic baseships building ~ 20, but he resigned http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif. Very interesting game at all and I have had so much luck and fun. BTW, phoenix-d my race password was "beast", so you can take a look on my empire.
Koth is going on NNEEEXXXTTT please http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Slynky]

Wow, Dex, sounds like one heck of a game! 130 turns on a standard KotH map... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/shock.gif

[Phoenix-D]

153 turns. Turn 130 was the point we were running around blowing each other up. I figured that I couldn't stop his fleets if I waited for them, and couldn't take them on the offensive (too many) so I bypassed them and went for his core worlds.

Except for that sneakyness involving taking out my suply ships, it would have worked too. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Anyone ever read the Bolo short story involving Project Raganok? It went something like that.

Part of the reason for the length was the "underpowered" weapons platforms. There was a decent chunk of turns where we just sat there watching each other, every attack we tried getting blasted out of space by the WPs.

EDIT: 'twas a blast by the way Dex, well played.

[Glyn]

I’ve found Fuzzie to be a good opponent and I expect Fuzzie will be the first Queen of the hill!

She’s just protecting all us guys’ fragile egos by not stomping us yet.

[Alneyan]

Go back to slaying Asmala, you slacker! Note that I could easily make her Queen, Empress, or some such... all it takes is a wayward lil script, and voilà! I am so prone to making mistakes that nobody would complain.

Oh, KOTH has been updated, by the way (now that my ISP has allowed me to connect to the relevant FTP server).

[Glyn]

I'm trying to slay the king, but he not so easy to kill.

Currently Asmala has slipped into first place score wise. We've marked our territory with mines, but we still haven’t meet on the far side of the map yet. Asmala did manage to slip a ship in to poison a prime colony world on my side of the border with mines. Unfortunately, he mined the warppoint on my side too.

The game is still way to early to call.

[Slynky]

Glyn said:
I'm trying to slay the king, but he not so easy to kill.

Currently Asmala has slipped into first place score wise. We've marked our territory with mines, but we still haven’t meet on the far side of the map yet. Asmala did manage to slip a ship in to poison a prime colony world on my side of the border with mines. Unfortunately, he mined the warppoint on my side too.

The game is still way to early to call.

Hehe, he's tricksy, he is (in my best Gollum voice).

[DeKaye]

Thanks Glyn for your support lol. Shhhh, you gave away my underhanded plan of KOTH hill domination.

All Hail Queen Fuzzie!

*Uhummm, did I say that out loud.....?

[Slynky]

The game, in its infinite wisdom about spacing empires equally, started us side by side and I'm in Khryon's home system at the completion of the 2nd turn.

Given the possibility Khryon might not like the difficulty of playing such a game, AND the willingness of some help from the French in re-gening a game, I'll offer him a restart.

[Alneyan]

Like the French would help anyone. They do like to ask for help, though, and so shall I. Renegade has departed the fled, hunted by the wrath of his unhappy settlers (our fleets ensured the peaceful demonstration against Renegade). Shame, the tickling was about to fall on their homeworlds.

So, I gather you have decided to go along with your game, and I would need someone to create Dex Solo vs Alneyan.

[Khyron]

I haven't played a game where I have started this close to another player, much less in a one-on-one. It is quite educational, for instance I'll have to remember to negotiate the removal of mines. The indignity of having my side of my home system's WP mined with no sweepers.

[Slynky]

Khyron said:
I haven't played a game where I have started this close to another player, much less in a one-on-one. It is quite educational, for instance I'll have to remember to negotiate the removal of mines. The indignity of having my side of my home system's WP mined with no sweepers.

Starting beside each other is a tough game. One problem is there is, in my opinion, a chance for some sort of "rock, scissors, paper" thing where guessing wrong by one person loses the game. In a evenly-spaced game, that is less likely to occur.

I looked at the map and decided mines were an immediate necessity because the map was much smaller than usual. At most, having seen all the map but one system, you could have been no further than the 5th hop from me. Assuming we headed toward each other, we would have met in the 3rd hop. That mandates mines!

The game looks better now, for me, than the start. It was touch and go there for a while but I feel safer. In addition to the (somewhat) unlucky start for me--you have MUCH better planets in your home system than I did--I lost my only colony to your daring attack early on and had to deal with warships in my home system. Luckily, I had mined the hole the turn you attacked and that gave me time. To make matters worse, I sent a colony ship off to the north and had the bad luck of finding a single-fac planet as the only available one to start a secondary buiid-up since my home system was under attack. So, I went on to the next system...settled the planet and WHOA! I forgot to put pop on the darn thing and it couldn't build. So, I had to build a ship to run up there with pop... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif.

Anyway, to comment on your embarrassment of being mined, having the opponent move all the way around the map to block you in to two systems ranks right up there... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif I was really surprised to see you hadn't expanded around except for one system. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/shock.gif

[Renegade 13]

Ah, I apologize Alneyan, I should have mentioned earlier that I wish to be removed from the hill for a while. Thanks! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Khyron]

I play much better in larger games, where I have time to get some sort of economy going. I have been forcing myself to play smaller games to break myself of some habits that are detrimental in faster paced games.

I had forgotten about the ship you are blocking my other system with, though it is heavily damaged if I remember correctly. After the buildup to boot you off the warp point in my home system, then the buildup after that to prevent you (hopefully) from coming back I still haven't fully developed my home system (mainly the planet you colonized and I had to sterilize to remove you).

We shall see how it goes, if nothing else this will be a learning experience for me. Now I just have to stay alive long enough to learn some more.

[Slynky]

Well, Khyron, it has made the whole game exciting instead of the boring buildup that goes on for 20 turns in other games.

Yeah, that ship is damaged down there but more are on the way and you don't have anything moving south, so she'll be OK. She's still capable of moving...I'm just trying to watch a bit.

[Rathar]

Off to Mexico for a month+! See you folks in a while!

Rathar

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Bye for now!

[psimancer]

im curious how many people are on the hill

[Alneyan]

Renegade 13 said:
Ah, I apologize Alneyan, I should have mentioned earlier that I wish to be removed from the hill for a while. Thanks! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif



Actually, you shouldn't apologise: it makes my life easier if you drop off from the Hill. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

KOTH has been updated; it was a pretty boring update, bereft of any exciting stuff. I have removed myself from the Hill as well, so my request for a game with Dex Solo should be discarded.

[Slynky]

The game between Khyron and myself has been completed. Scary at certain points in the game, I have managed a win. Starting side-by-side is a tough game to play. I should like a manual placement, time permitting, in the next game as it's the one that decides who plays against the King.

Cheers!

[Thermodyne]

Please give Rand a win in the game vs. Thermodyne. And remove me from the hill for the time being.

[Alneyan]

Updated!

[Phoenix-D]

K.O.T.H. Landorl vs Phoenix-D: Landorl surrenders, turn 101.

Another brutal game, which I won only thanks to my minefields; they held Landorl at bay long enough for me to get first missile-armed LCs, then later PPB armed, Talisman equipped ships out.

The talisman plus PDCs is kind of ridiclous. Before I was losing fleets to his fighters; after a single BC gutted about 60 of them without them even firing a shot in return.

One thing I don't get, Landrol- you had an unexplored warp point right beneath your home system. Why didn't you check it out? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[parabolize]

Phoenix-D said:
One thing I don't get, Landrol- you had an unexplored warp point right beneath your home system. Why didn't you check it out? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif



Probably was scouted but the surrender didn't give you charts of it.

[Captain Kwok]

Captain Kwok's Juprups defeated Fuzzie's Dragons on turn 74. I was fortunate enough to grab most of the prime real estate early on. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif

[DeKaye]

Alneyan, Please can you place me on hold till next month? I have a 5 day conference at the end of this month, so I think I better not start any games till after the conference. Thanks.

Fuzzie

[Slynky]

Dex Solo -vs- Slynky has ended with me the victor.

[Rathar]

Greetings!

After 5201.8 miles or approx 8k kilometers of traveling the breadth and width of Mexico I have returned home and am simply dying to play some more koth! Please to give to me an opponent!

Rathar

[Dex_Solo]

Dex Solo -vs- Slynky - this was Meganoob vs Perfect Veteran. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif I had no chance, nice work Slynky. Letz go on I need a new opponent too.

[Slynky]

Dex_Solo said:
Dex Solo -vs- Slynky - this was Meganoob vs Perfect Veteran. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif I had no chance, nice work Slynky. Letz go on I need a new opponent too.

You're too kind with the praise, Dex. Truth is, you had a tough game to play successfuly. And a small map! At least you had only one "empty" system...LOL...I had SEVEN on my half.

Good luck in your next game!

[Alneyan]

KOTH has been updated yesterday, but it took a while for the Sub-Neutrino-Pulsing-Multiphased Antimatter-Quantic-Selenocommunication system to get back online (actually, just my ISP acting up).

[Rathar]

Nudge..! I have returned from a mighty journey and desire koth action!

Rathar

[Asmala]

K.O.T.H. Asmala vs Glyn, Turn 2410.6

I surrendered. Congratulations Glyn, you played a very good game. Even though my ships had a bit more advanced technology, your numbers overwhelmed me due to my poor resource income.

Had I started to research stellar manipulation earlier perhaps I would have get my warp point closer ship operational before your attack. Instead I researched other colonization techs before stellar manipulation and that was a mistake since I didn't had time to exploit enough the new planets.

Alneyan, please remove me from the Hill. I just don't have enough time to give decent turn times in summer.

[Glyn]

Asmala, It was a very good game. You did lead in technology for the whole game.

There were several points through out the game which I though you would win for sure. Like at the start, luckily we both had poor starting positions. The one system that had more planets and facility slots than probably the rest of my empire was on our border so I couldn’t develop it and you eventually took it away from me. You even captured one of my planets with population.

A few events that I recall is the first missile ship battle where we both forgot to set max range strategy. The time you captured a few of my ships including a cruiser that I’m sure you didn’t have the tech for yet, which I was able to sneak two ships in to destroy before you could get it back to a shipyard. There was also the time that I took the chance on attacking your fleet staging area hoping to kill a bunch of untrained half finished ships, unfortunately that was not the case your fleet wiped out mine without breaking a sweat.

It was a good game. Thanks!


Now for some gratuitous celebration.
::Doing the happy dance while singing “I’m the king, I’m the king!:: http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

[Slynky]

Congrats to Glyn! Looong game. I might add in here a pitch for one of Geo's Balanced Mods http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif.

[Glyn]

The Balance mod takes away an aspect of the game that I find very challenging. Namely exploring and exploiting the unknown terrain.

The fact that there were so few habitable planets in most of the system on my side of the border worked out well when Asmala did invade with a fleet he traveled through two system before looping back into his space probably for fuel and more upgrades. The only thing he got was one medium dome world and two moons.

On the far side of the map there was a sequence of four systems, first one had only one planet colonizable by Asmala, Then next had no planets colonizable by him, Then next was a nebula, and the forth was an asteroid field. Asmala had managed to beat me to the first system (having passed through the other three) and colonize that one world, stopping my expansions into the first two systems for probably 30 turns. Once I did break through, I had to build tankers to supply my ships and build a colony past the dead space to keep my ships supplied. If Asmala had placed a ship with the proper sensor in the orange nebula in the third system, he could have killed my re-supply ships.

You just don’t get those type of challenges with the Balance mod.

Granted, you may get the occasional game were you have a lot to overcome and your opponent is sitting pretty.

In all I think it’s a case for not playing the balance mod.

PS. If someone really feels that they got a bad start, I am open to a restart within the first ten turns. The game is suppose to be a fun challenge for all the players.

[Glyn]

The previous game was long 107 turns. Mostly only on week days and then we only on line once at the same time. So, we averaged about 10 turns a week.

I think Parabolize is listed as the next challenger to the K.O.T.H.

To get the ball rolling what settings would you like Parabolize?

My preference would be:
No Intel
Three Good starting planets
Start with 100k resources.

[Slynky]

Well, as long as you are willing to trade the "excitement of exploring" for the possibility of having "lady luck" poop on your parade and find yourself losing to someone of inferior ability because of a lopsided start, have at it. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

It's supposed to be a measure of skill, not a measure of who got screwed in positioning. In my latest game (I believe), by the time the lines had been drawn, I had 7 worthless systems on my half. At the end of the game, I saw that he had only 2 worthless systems. If that had been Asmala, I would have had NO chance of a win.

:shrug:

[Phoenix-D]

My latest game should be..interesting. Intel is off, and I accidentally boosted intel to 125%. Instead of dropping intel to 50% like I planned, I dropped RESEARCH to 50%.

That and the right-side flank is completely open. Four useless systems in a row- nebula, all ice/gas, nebula, nebula. We're both rock.

[Glyn]

Phoenix,
Research 50%? Now that hurts! I bet it making you be inventive in how you play?

[parabolize]

My preference would be:
No Intel
Three Good starting planets
Start with 100k resources.




Works for me.

[Phoenix-D]

Glyn said:
Phoenix,
Research 50%? Now that hurts! I bet it making you be inventive in how you play?



Would you belive I didn't even notice til last turn? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/redface.gif

[Alneyan]

KOTH has been updated. People cheer for Glyn, but nobody has a friendly thought for the friendless KOTH admin. *Huddles in a corner and cries*

[Renegade 13]

Who needs a kind thought for the admin when the admin gets....wait for it.... a FREE bottle of the finest vodka produced anywhere in the world! And it can be yours today, for the low low price of $20.98 shipping and handling...



...additional charges may apply.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Here, have some *cheese.

* Virtual

[Phoenix-D]

Annd that little oopsie was non-survivable. Rand vs Phoenix-D ends on turn 40, I surrendered.

[Alneyan]

KOTH has been updated. This update marks the beginning of the Era of Laziness.

As far as gifts go, just send me some calissons from Aix-en-Provence or something along these lines. Calissons *are* something the French do well; somehow, the place is better known for dull cheese and plain wine, though (I'm not overly fond of either). *Shrugs*

[Gozra]

Gozguy Has been defeated by Mwbard. His superior spacemanship defeated a much larger and technecially advanced foe. Hopefully I will one day learn the secret winning space battles. So I guess I will keep playing KOTH. Good game Mwbard
Goz

[Alneyan]

*Yawns* Your run-out-of-the-mill KOTH update.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Oh? The mill is going to collapse?

[Alneyan]

Mills aren't quite the pleasant place we often think they are. Why would you want to stay there when you can see the world?

Speaking of which, I'll be on holidays starting from next Saturday. ETA is September 2, if I recall correctly. So, no update in the meantime, and I won't be around to set up games and the like.

[Alneyan]

Could someone please create a game for Fire and murzic? I haven't created the game at PBW since I'm leaving in a few hours, so I won't be able to create that SEIV game. Thanks.

Broken tags at KOTH have been mended. I'm not quite sure how I managed to break them.

[Slynky]

Alneyan said:
Could someone please create a game for Fire and murzic? I haven't created the game at PBW since I'm leaving in a few hours, so I won't be able to create that SEIV game. Thanks.

Broken tags at KOTH have been mended. I'm not quite sure how I managed to break them.

I beleive I can handle it. I'll just need to have the players say it's OK and let me know any settings that ae different than KotH defaults. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Er...You should probably tell them that. Alneyan is probably gone by now and I can't recall seeing them on the forums.

[Slynky]

narf poit chez BOOM said:
Er...You should probably tell them that. Alneyan is probably gone by now and I can't recall seeing them on the forums.

Thanks, Narf. (here, have a piece of cheese... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif)

I created the game and sent out a news item. Hopefully, PBW sent it to them. Right now, the game has been created and players assigned. If they would rather wait on Frenchie, that's fine...I can delete the game.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Ooh, cheese.

[Glyn]

The KOTH game between Glyn and Parabolize is over. Parabolize surrendered after losing two of his three homeworlds.

We started two warp points away from each other, Parabolize did get an early attack in on one of my homeworlds, but I only lost two research facilities in the attack before my colony ship rammed into his escort.

Good game Parabolize!

[Rathar]

Kwok and I's game has ended with I being the victor.

An equally distanced start with I having propulsion tech and having the luck of reaching/utulizing? training tech was the difference for me I believe.

Rathar

[Captain Kwok]

I think you were able to grab the better systems and I started to lag behind in research, allowing you to get the training quicker. /threads/images/Graemlins/Cold.gif

[Rathar]

Bump! Methinks Alneyan is distracted or something. Would someone with the power to update/make games do so? Please?

Rathar

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Alneyan took a trip.

[Slynky]

I was going to set up some games if people asked. Even set one up between Fire and Mursic (or something like that), sent out email, and everything but only got a response from Fire on settings.

I would have been glad to set one up if you and your next opponent (Rand) had gotten together and discussed settings (like lots of people do when they know they're the next pairing) but, alas, I'm off to Dragon*Con for the weekend and won't be back till Monday afternoon.

I'd say go ahead and discuss settings with Rand and get ready for on of the following: (1) Alneyan returns from vacation; (2) someone else does the game setup during the weekend; or (3) I return and set it up on Monday (early) afternoon (EST). If you guys decide on settings, you can go ahead and prepare your empire files and the game will get off to a quick start.

On behalf of Alneyan, I apologize.

[Rathar]

No need for apologies. I'm just jonesing aleetle bit.

Rand you there? I prefer 3 planet no mines/stellar/intel games with low tech but am game for most anything.
0-5k points

Rathar

[Alneyan]

I'm back. I'll sort out KOTH as soon as possible.

[Alneyan]

KOTH has been updated. Slynky, please let me know should Murzic mail you back.

[Slynky]

Rathar said:
No need for apologies. I'm just jonesing aleetle bit.

Rand you there? I prefer 3 planet no mines/stellar/intel games with low tech but am game for most anything.
0-5k points

Rathar

Yeah, I understand the "jonesing"... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Slynky]

Alneyan said:
KOTH has been updated. Slynky, please let me know should Murzic mail you back.

Nope. 45 emails after returning form D*C and nothing.

At this point, one might consider "pulling" him because I know Fire is anxious to play. He emailed me several times during your vacation.

[Slynky]

For the KotH match, I would prefer the following settings:

Geo Balance Mod 2;
Manual placement that doesn't put us at the far ends of the galaxy but puts a bit of difference between us.

Secondary suggestions (because I like to make the game interesting):

0 racial points or 3,000 racial points;
(and/or) Full tech;
(and/or) No PPBs.

Response, Glyn?

[Glyn]

Slynky said:
For the KotH match, I would prefer the following settings:

Geo Balance Mod 2;
Manual placement that doesn't put us at the far ends of the galaxy but puts a bit of difference between us.

Secondary suggestions (because I like to make the game interesting):

0 racial points or 3,000 racial points;
(and/or) Full tech;
(and/or) No PPBs.

Response, Glyn?



Slynky,

For a regular game I’m ok with:
Geo Balance Mod 2
Manual Placement.
Three good worlds.
No Intel


Or for interesting, what do you think of:
Full tech
Geo Balance Mod 2
No Warp points connected.
One Good Planet.
Random Placement since there wouldn’t be any warp points.
No Ancient race or Religious.
[and/or] Intel

[Slynky]

Glyn said:

Slynky said:
For the KotH match, I would prefer the following settings:

Geo Balance Mod 2;
Manual placement that doesn't put us at the far ends of the galaxy but puts a bit of difference between us.

Secondary suggestions (because I like to make the game interesting):

0 racial points or 3,000 racial points;
(and/or) Full tech;
(and/or) No PPBs.

Response, Glyn?



Slynky,

For a regular game I’m ok with:
Geo Balance Mod 2
Manual Placement.
Three good worlds.
No Intel


Or for interesting, what do you think of:
Full tech
Geo Balance Mod 2
No Warp points connected.
One Good Planet.
Random Placement since there wouldn’t be any warp points.
No Ancient race or Religious.
[and/or] Intel



You offer some interesting choices fit for a king, methinks!

Hmmmmm....

I love your imagination and counter with a slight adjustment:

Full tech
Geo Balance Mod 2
No Warp points connected.
Three Good Planets.
Random Placement since there wouldn’t be any warp points.
No Ancient race or Religious.
ZERO racial points

AND, a twist that can be verified by game ending (if necessary but I don't think it necessary)...a gentleman's agreement that no system have more than 4 warpholes.

It could be quite an interesting game!

[Glyn]

Slynky said:
You offer some interesting choices fit for a king, methinks!

Hmmmmm....

I love your imagination and counter with a slight adjustment:

Full tech
Geo Balance Mod 2
No Warp points connected.
Three Good Planets.
Random Placement since there wouldn’t be any warp points.
No Ancient race or Religious.
ZERO racial points

AND, a twist that can be verified by game ending (if necessary but I don't think it necessary)...a gentleman's agreement that no system have more than 4 warpholes.

It could be quite an interesting game!



I hesitated to do the three-planet start because; it is imposable to tell how many systems each of us would start with. It would be unfair if one of us started with all three planets in one system and another with one planet in three different systems. I would agree to it only if we restart in the case of not having the same number of starting systems.


As for the 4 warpholes limit what do we do if we accidentally open a fifth one? Can we knowingly open a fifth one into an enemy system in order to attack? Perhaps if we each were allowed to have a maximum of 3 warp points total on any one turn that can violate the 4 warp points maximum per system rule?


Other than the above two concerns and to note that Intel is included. I would find the above game to be very interesting and agreeable.


Edited to add summary.

Full tech
Geo Balance Mod 2
No Warp points connected.
Three Good Planets. (Restart if we don’t have same number of systems)
Random Placement since there wouldn’t be any warp points.
No Ancient race or Religious.
ZERO racial points
(Note: Intel is active.)

A gentleman's agreement that no system have more than 4 warpholes except for each player allowed a total of 3 warpoint game wide on any turn that can violate the 4 maximum rule.

[Slynky]

Full tech
Geo Balance Mod 2
No Warp points connected
Three Good Planets. (Well, 2 thoughts: Alneyan COULD do a manual placement and, perhaps, specify 3 starting locations in a system for each player. Also, it might be that the game will NOT space a player's empire out to systems that don't have warp-lins but I'm just guessing)
Random Placement since there wouldn’t be any warp points (I would still prefer placement...I wouldn't want to start beside each other and have the game decided by the first person to build a warp opener and just happen to open the line into the other's home system)
No Ancient race or Religious
ZERO racial points
Intel is active

A gentleman's agreement that no system have more than 4 warpholes except for each player allowed a total of 3 warpoint game wide on any turn that can violate the 4 maximum rule. (Thinking things through a little better now that you brought it up, it seems like a bit of a headache so, perhaps it's easier to just forget it)

(We'll get these thing hammered out soon...) http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

[Glyn]

Full tech
Geo Balance Mod 2
No Warp points connected
Three Good Planets. (I thought you could only select one planet placement and the others were added auto-magically. I’m willing to take pot luck on starting systems if you are?)
Manual placement OK with me. (Not to self: foe intends to explore near systems first.)
No Ancient race or Religious
ZERO racial points
Intel is active
(OK scratch 4 warphole rule)
No turtle-ing (there has to always be some way in to any group of shielded systems.)[b]


[b]Also, spiral arm setting will cause most of the system to be clumped in the center of the map. Do we want Alneyan to use another setting that would have the system spread out over the entire map?



(We'll get these thing hammered out soon...) Just need a bigger hammer! Hold still now this won’t hurt much.

[Slynky]

I'll check this evening about putting 3 starting points in a single system and/or test to see if the game will put you in another system when there is no warp point to it. Addtionally, I'll check out a few sample "grid" layouts to see if I think it looks better than Spiral Arm. You may want to take a look, too.

<font color="purple">Otherwise:</font>
<font color="green"> Full tech
Geo Balance Mod 2
No Warp points connected
Three Good Planets (pending)
Manual placement
No Ancient race or Religious
ZERO racial points
Intel is active
No turtle-ing (there has to always be some way in to any group of shielded systems)</font>

[Glyn]

OK. I'll run a few test too.

[Slynky]

Glyn said:
OK. I'll run a few test too.

Well, as to map type, any medium to large "small map" will be fine as long as it's not Cluster or Spiral Arm. Grid looks best (after generating a bunch of test systems) but I suspect others will be fine, too, as long as we stay away from the two I mentioned.

[Slynky]

Glyn said:
OK. I'll run a few test too.

Well, not conclusive but promising.

I started 4 games. 3 games had my empire loaded to play against the computer. I said start with 5 homeworlds. All 3 times, all 5 started in the same system. For the 4th experiment, I said to start with 10 homeworlds. They all started in the same system.

So, unless I was unlucky, it appears it won't split the empire to planets without a warp connection.

[Glyn]

OK,
Out of ten test using 3 planets and no warp-points, all ten test placed the 3 home-worlds in a single system.

I was using the stock game to test with no mods. As for system dispersal on maps, I agree with you. Any map type but Cluster or Spiral seems to work well.

(looks like we have a game setting.)
Full tech
Geo Balance Mod 2 (Well dispersed systems on map. No spiral or cluster type. Suggest using Grid map type.)
No Warp points connected
Three Good Planets.
Manual placement
No Ancient race or Religious
ZERO racial points
Intel is active
No turtle-ing (there has to always be some way in to any group of shielded systems)

[Slynky]

KotH Match:

Well, there was a time when people cared but who knows what the deal is now. But, in case anyone is interested, we're at turn 25 in just 2 days!

Point lead has changed a bit back and forth with each of us in the lead about the same amount of turns.

If you weren't following, it's a full-blown full-tech game where the smallest mistake can mean the game.

So, NO warp points connected and a WHOLE map of systems to build connectors to and on the SECOND build, we have contact! What are the odds!?

And, BOTH organic! What are the odds? (Well, a bit less, LOL)

Glyn has had point lead now for about 10 turns or so. ME? I'm always in resource trouble! And I need a training site that's faster!

[Glyn]

Koth match reply

Actually I can understand the same race tech, I’ve been itching to play with some race tech, but with the standard KOTH game it takes too long to develop the race potential tech to even use them much less even make them an advantage. With a full tech game the race potential and advantage is there from the start. Organic just seemed to be the best choice. It’s My first time to use an organic race in a PBW game.

As for the contact on Second build [warppoint Opening?], it was more like the fifth for me and in retrospect we both were trying to clam systems in the corners. Go figure.

Resources will definitely be an issue in this game. I don’t think my resource converter has been idle since it was build.

I don’t recall seeing any sector with more than one planet and one moon. It could be the balance Mod has been set not to create any planet system with two moons. So, no triple ship training (I think, I find it preferable that way.)

[Slynky]

Glyn said:
Koth match reply

Actually I can understand the same race tech, I’ve been itching to play with some race tech, but with the standard KOTH game it takes too long to develop the race potential tech to even use them much less even make them an advantage. With a full tech game the race potential and advantage is there from the start. Organic just seemed to be the best choice. It’s My first time to use an organic race in a PBW game.

As for the contact on Second build [warppoint Opening?], it was more like the fifth for me and in retrospect we both were trying to clam systems in the corners. Go figure.

Resources will definitely be an issue in this game. I don’t think my resource converter has been idle since it was build.

I don’t recall seeing any sector with more than one planet and one moon. It could be the balance Mod has been set not to create any planet system with two moons. So, no triple ship training (I think, I find it preferable that way.)

Geo's second Mod to Balance allowed a chance for 2 planets being together. The original never had any moons. I think he added an extra asteroid field.

Resource converter? Mine came off late and I missed full building for 2 turns...the turns you moved into 1st place.

Also, as you can figure, built my stellar ships a bit later than you.

Regardless, it's an exciting game with fulltech. And, you've come a long way since we last played. (compliment) In fact, according to records, I'm the only one to ever beat you...I guess you learned a lot since then and vowed to never get beat again...LOL.

[Glyn]

Slynky said:

Regardless, it's an exciting game with fulltech. And, you've come a long way since we last played. (compliment) In fact, according to records, I'm the only one to ever beat you...I guess you learned a lot since then and vowed to never get beat again...LOL.



No, I’ve never made any such vow.

I would much prefer losing in a fun and challenging game, than wining in an uninspiring game. Also, I don’t mind wining a fun and challenging game.

From the person in the top slot of the KOTH standing, that is quite a complement! Do you realize I would have to win 24 more games just to tie your current record. That’s three time the number of KOTH games I’ve played to date.

Missed 2 turns of builds…. I wondered why I move into 1st place, I hadn’t done anything special on my side to account for it.

[Slynky]

Spank, vt, To defeat soundly (slang).

Or as they say in Georgia, "an ***-whoopin'".

After losing half my home system, I'm thnking I should tip my king over and resign, Glyn, so consider this a surrender so we can leave the game with a little bit of respect.

I hearby award you the "Master of Stellar Manipulation" certificate to post on the wall behind your throne http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif.

Oh, and in reference to me being on top, remember it's that way only because I've played more KotH games than anyone else. If you think about it, a better way to show the top people would be to have an arbitrary cutoff of, say, 5 games completed, and then post that person's win percentage instead of total wins. Then you get a better idea of who the toughest are.

I enjoyed the game a lot! Biting nails every turn. Not like I was expecting a warp hole to appear before turn 10 or something but managing resources and deciding what to build first (and so on). Much better than the usual, "OK, now let's research DUC 3." http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

One favor if I may ask. Could you redo your turn and move your fleet one sector north of the planet you just ravaged so I can send a compaparable fleet against it (to see if my ship/fleet design sucks as much as the rest of my efforts in that game)?

Let me know.

Later!

[Glyn]

Thank you Slynky for the very challenging and fun game. Deciding what to do in the later turn was taking much longer than the average game and causing me to stay up later that I should have.

Yes I’ve already resubmitted my next turn send the fleet one sector north to 9,4.

I had toyed with the idea of attacking your main warp point sector, but in the simulator you would win about 9 or ten times so I had to go after your main resource producing planets by closing one of your warp points and opening a new one. Your seeker armed ships were causing havoc with most of my ships, and your light curser with the ionic disperser was effective.

It was definitely interesting game playing with full tech and a race tech. Thanks!

[Slynky]

Glyn said:Yes I’ve already resubmitted my next turn send the fleet one sector north to 9,4.

Well, I'll submit when PBW is back up.

[Slynky]

Glyn said:I had toyed with the idea of attacking your main warp point sector, but in the simulator you would win about 9 or ten times so I had to go after your main resource producing planets by closing one of your warp points and opening a new one.

Would have been my preference but you did it the better way, of course. Besides the simulation you ran, there was the matter of 12 large platforms...all that the planet could take.

[Slynky]

Well, thanks for letting me see my fleet in action. I don't think I did too bad (considering). I mean, mostly an entire fleet of bats versus an entire fleet of dreads. I missed more often than I thought I would but it was from a distance, usually. All-in-all, at 19 ships versus 19 ships, I'm not displeased.

Of course, there's the game in total...LOL. But you earned that for sure.

I thought the LC's would help get ships out of the way, which they did, but then my ships decided to go after them and move away from close targets and THEN fire weapons after moving away...LOL. Stupid orders.

Watch out for Parabolize, he loves full-tech and he's good at it!

[parabolize]

Slynky said:
Watch out for Parabolize, he loves full-tech and he's good at it!



If only I had known Glyn was up for a full-tech game. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif

[Alneyan]

I believe Glyn is the best player for the win/loss ratio out here, actually... or close enough.

KOTH has been updated. I've also cleaned up the HTML source a bit, so please let me know if you find something suspicious.

On another note, I understand that SEV is getting near the corner. It might be worth giving KOTH to someone who is going to play SEV, if there is interest in KOTH for V (I will not move over to SEV myself).

Requirements are pretty mild: you merely need to be handsome and very cunning (like yours truly), know how to set up games on PBW, and understand the slightest bit of HTML for editing... though you can just do some copy-paste-modify and it will all work fine.

[Glyn]

I for one plan to stick with SEIV for a while longer.

SEV maybe shiny and new, but SEIV is polished and smooth like a comfortable old shoe.


Alneyan, you set the Requirements for a KOTH admin pretty high!

[Alneyan]

KOTH has been updated. This time, I actually uploaded the new file, instead of just modifying my local KOTH file.

[Slynky]

So, how long do we wait for an opponent to reply to game settings request?

[Rathar]

Heh I usually start getting itchy just about .0058 seconds after I send the E-mail!

Rathar

[Alneyan]

KOTH has been updated. I've managed to... bah, I've forgotten the relevant verb for "forcing a sailor into joining a crew while at port". Let's just say a new player joined KOTH, despite SEV coming over.

That aside, I am now officially better than Slynky in *every* aspect, having finally caught up with him in number of posts. Of course, neither of us posts much these days... well, unless he takes up SEV, or I go to Dom 3. Still.

[Slynky]

Alneyan said:
KOTH has been updated. I've managed to... bah, I've forgotten the relevant verb for "forcing a sailor into joining a crew while at port". Let's just say a new player joined KOTH, despite SEV coming over.

That aside, I am now officially better than Slynky in *every* aspect, having finally caught up with him in number of posts. Of course, neither of us posts much these days... well, unless he takes up SEV, or I go to Dom 3. Still.

HEY! I post! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Hmmm, not sure I can get past the demo UI on SE5.

Dom 3?

[Alneyan]

Granted, you do post more than I do... not that it's hard to beat my "thirty posts a semester" present average. Nothing to be proud of here, really.

Dom 3 is the highly exhalted Dominions 3. Pretty solid in my estimation, and can even be purchased fairly easily to boot... where "easily" is defined by "not requiring a credit card, understanding of postal regulations of several countries, a passage through customs, begging to get someone else to make you a present, sending money through a proxy for the actual purchase, and assorted hurdles".

That aside, I find Dominions to be more varied, with faster turns and a pretty solid gameplay... not to mention a much easier time running on my box, and tactical battles that don't send me tearing my hair apart (as in, "You know, I didn't put 300kt of weaponry on those bloody Light Carriers so that they could run away from battle!"). That, and my ego won't accept anything lower than full-fledged godhood.

[geoschmo]

Alneyan said:
I've managed to... bah, I've forgotten the relevant verb for "forcing a sailor into joining a crew while at port".

The technical term I believe is impressment. That's usually a quasi-legal version done by a governmental authority. The British Navy practice was one reason for the War of 1812. The less official version is often refered to as being "shanghaied".

Geoschmo

[Alneyan]

Thanks Geo. Shanghaied is the one I was looking for, but I didn't manage to stumble on its definition (I did have the "sh " part, but not the rest of the name).

[Slynky]

geoschmo said:

Alneyan said:
I've managed to... bah, I've forgotten the relevant verb for "forcing a sailor into joining a crew while at port".

The technical term I believe is impressment. That's usually a quasi-legal version done by a governmental authority. The British Navy practice was one reason for the War of 1812. The less official version is often refered to as being "shanghaied".

Geoschmo

I'm sure Alneyan will appreciate the effort in revealing that word. His grasp of the English language is very impressive as is but once in a while, he needs a bit of tweaking... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif.

Other more politically correct terms might be, the draft or, selective service... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Rathar]

Just for completeness sake..

A squad of navy folks on a mission of impressment is known as a pressgang. One can also belate the fact that you have been pressganged.

Rathar

[Ludd]

Rathar said:
Just for completeness sake..

A squad of navy folks on a mission of impressment is known as a pressgang. One can also belate the fact that you have been pressganged.

Rathar



Or even, 'pressed'.

Encouraged Enlistment is, perhaps, the New labour term.

[Alneyan]

Sometimes, I wonder whose colour you are flying, Slynky; I suspect you would make me walk the plank first chance you got... or that lovely French phrase, "pendre haut et court" (that one's tricky to translate... "hang somebody" is dullness incarnate).

Nah , I don't need no tweaking, but I be forgetting some names because of me broken memory. Then there's my embarrassing habit of thinking about one word but writing another onein French ("vulve" instead of "pulpe"; the translation is straightforward, but the two words aren't so similar in English).

I much prefer a press-gang myself, over the "pressgang" variant. Hyphens are always so kewl; the very name, hyphen, has a pretty good-sounding ring to it, especially compared to the so mundane "dash". Might be I'm biased since my own name has an hyphen... okay, let's go back to our standard "how to kill billions of people in half an hour" talks.

[Renegade 13]

Conscription would also work.

[parabolize]

Fire surrendered at turn 56.
Good game Fire.

parabolize

[Slynky]

Renegade 13 said:
Conscription would also work.

Yep! Sure does!

Then again, the more subtle, "Uncle Sam Wants You", poster does the same thing except with propaganda.

[Slynky]

The game between me and Landorl has completed with a surrender by Landorl.

In all fairness, the game positioned him to the south of me putting me near the inside ring of the spiral where I was able to block him in to 3 systems with mines while I had the rest of the systems to explore and settle. It just wasn't a fair start for him and a component of the game I wish they had spent time fixing...placing players.

[Slynky]

So, has PBW come to an end?

[Glyn]

Slynky said:
So, has PBW come to an end?



At Slynky echoing words, Glyn stirs on the cobweb draped throne, “What their still someone here? I’ve thought everyone has left.” Glyn brushes away some of the cobwebs and settled dust.

[Rathar]

We fight a slower than light battle Rand and I due to the fact he can only play on weekends atm.. heh

Have folks messed around with MP stuff in seV yet? Haven't read anything about success in such endeavors..

Rathar

[Suicide Junkie]

Me and SE5a have been playing multiplayer games for the last month or two. There is always something to send to Aaron, but it is getting close.

[Alneyan]

Slynky said:
So, has PBW come to an end?



Nah, I just was a bit on the procrastination side of things, and took a little while before doing the update.

We still have no fewer than eleven players. Rock bottom was seven players, I think. So, we have more than 50% players than back in the days! Things are looking awesome. Trust me.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have some more stones to flip. Oh, and KOTH has been updated.

[Slynky]

Stones to flip? Inquiring minds want to know. (a reference to the ****ty taploid advertising we have in the US that you wouldn't be privy to, my friend) http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Alneyan]

I've used IMWTK (I'm feeling lazy) a couple of times, but I wouldn't recognise any of your tabloids... or ours, for that matter. They just are too verbose.

I shall not make any awful pun with that "privy" word. Instead... "You won't get [information]. "By hook or by crook, we will."

Flipping stones would be Reversi, though I'm kind of rusty now... I'm sure you can hear the sound of my creaking bones right in Savannah.

[Slynky]

Heard of Reversi (sp?). I'm pretty good at Go, though. Played a lot of people giving them 1, 2 and 3 stone handicaps...and whipped their ***!

Too bad I'm not as good in SE4.

[Alneyan]

Slynky said:
Heard of Reversi (sp?).



Dont you say I dunno no spelling! Of course the spelling is Reversi! How can you even *think* I would lie to you!

The game is sometimes called Othello, though. I'm not quite sure what is the link between that Othello chap and the game... might just be a "black and white" thing.

My skill at Go is pretty close to Charybdis. That is, I suck. I can't even begin to understand basic strategies, and the whole spatial thing goes down crashing. My puny brain can manage Reversi a lot better... and then I have no trouble getting trashed at the game, since any computer can play a wicked game of Reversi.

Well, at least Reversi sounds cooler as a boast than, say, Tetrinet. Shame SEIV isn't that well known, though... I *am* the best player of SEIV in the world, after all, following you-know-what shenanigans in the Ratings.

(Notice the subtle attempt at getting back on topic.)

[Slynky]

Alneyan said:

Slynky said:
Heard of Reversi (sp?).



Dont you say I dunno no spelling! Of course the spelling is Reversi! How can you even *think* I would lie to you!

The game is sometimes called Othello, though. I'm not quite sure what is the link between that Othello chap and the game... might just be a "black and white" thing.

My skill at Go is pretty close to Charybdis. That is, I suck. I can't even begin to understand basic strategies, and the whole spatial thing goes down crashing. My puny brain can manage Reversi a lot better... and then I have no trouble getting trashed at the game, since any computer can play a wicked game of Reversi.

Well, at least Reversi sounds cooler as a boast than, say, Tetrinet. Shame SEIV isn't that well known, though... I *am* the best player of SEIV in the world, after all, following you-know-what shenanigans in the Ratings.

(Notice the subtle attempt at getting back on topic.)

LOL...no, I was typing without looking at your spelling, so, though I'm sure your spelling was spot on, I was going on memory (which is sometimes faulty)...LOL.

Oh, yeah, I've played a few games of Othello. GO, slightly similar, is a much better game, riveling chess in the Asian world where people are ranked and given stone handicaps based on their ranking.

Best player in the whole world at SE4? I shall have to find Primitive, no doubt at the nearest online gambling table demanding respect.

[Slynky]

Khryon and I have our settings ready when you are, Alneyan. And, of course we made it peculiar.

Full Tech
No Stellar Manipulation
No Intel
3 Good Planets
3000 Racial Points
Can only colonize own atmosphere type
No Religious tech
No Ancient trait
Warp Points anywhere
Medium Grid Map
Manual placement on a grid map so that one of us is on the eastern edge (anywhere) and the other is on the western edge (anywhere on that line as well)

Thanks, Alneyan. I'm sure you are much happier about setting up games for Americans now that we have voted out a lot of Republicans *thumbs nose at Bush*

[Alneyan]

Bah. You know I don't have anything against Republicans: I just bear a bunch of grudges against some very specific SEIV players, say the kind that hails from the Peach State. Granted, I do have the national skill "Mock the Americanus", but it gets kind of dull after a while.

Foreign elections are somehow a good deal funner than national ones, though. If your side wins, you can still revel in glory and triumph, and if you happen to be on the losing side... well, it's easy to rationalise as "ain't happening right there right now, so what?". I guess the French 2002 was hilarious outside our borders.

Why am I talking politics to one of them browncoats anyhow? You lost, the game is over, and that's tough luck for ya. KOTH will is to have been updated tomorrow.

[Rathar]

Rand and I have played a tough game and I have narrowly emerged victorious.

I pull upon the ceremonial bell at the base of the throne and challenge thee Glyn..

I really liked the imagination you used setting up your last game with Slynky. Would you by chance use said imagination again for this challenge?

Rathar

P.S. I will purchase SEV the instant the multi-player aspect becomes truly functional but until then..

[Glyn]

Glyn jerks awake when the sound of the ceremonial bell ringing. “Enough already I’m awake now.”

Congratulations Rathar on your victory!


Imagination? Does that mean you want something similar to the game with Slynky or something else off the wall?


(Similar to the game with Slynky)
Full tech
No Warp points connected
Three Good Planets.
Well dispersed systems on map suggest using Galactic edge
Manual placement on opposite sides of the map (left / Right)
2000 racial points
No Intel



(Different off the wall)
2000 racial points
Must take at least one racial trait of Psychic, Religious, Organic, Temporal and/or Crystallization.
No Intel
Starting Tech Level Medium
Tech Cost High
Starting Resources High 100000
Warp Points anywhere


(Radical)
Three Good Planets
No Intel
No Point Defense (or agreement to use only level one PD)
Manual placement opposite sides of map.

[Rathar]

As I issue the challenge I allow you to choose the settings. I do feel that single planet starts are slow and prefer 3 but am game for whatever! ( 1 million people on a moon with only a shipyard! Not possible I think but an example of what I mean by game for whatever)

Rathar

[Glyn]

Rathar,

I prefer the 3 good planet start too. It reduces the impact of a good/bad start position. It does make for a faster game too.


How about this setup. (I’ve never played without PD, but it could be fun?)

Three Good Planets
Manual placement on mostly opposite sides of the map.
No Intel
No Mines
No Point Defense weapons

[Rathar]

No PD sounds weird. Not that that is a bad thing! But weird nonetheless.

Think it has a chance of being a lasting pain in the rear or would it be something largely bypassed in the midgame by shields/armor?

Umm How many pts?

Have both "Different off the wall" and "radical" simultaneously?

Rathar

[Suicide Junkie]

No PD is a bit extreme... leaky PD is nice tho http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

All you really have to do is remove the autofire ability from the PDCs to accomplish this (See SE3-ism mod)
Then it is simply a matter of designs and strategies to make use of them.

[Glyn]

Combine the Different and radical? Might be a short game. Feel free to counter offer a setup.

Three Good Planets
Manual placement on mostly opposite sides of the map.
No Intel
No Mines
No Point Defense weapons (might be better to use limited PD to level one rather than to band it completely?)
2000 racial points
must take at least one racial trait of Psychic, Religious, Organic, Temporal and/or Crystallization.
Starting Tech Level Medium (So that it will be a viable option to start researching racial tech)
Tech Cost High
Warp Points anywhere.


SJ:
It seem to me that no PD would chew through the ships. Primary weapons would be missiles and then fighters. Once fighters come out there would be a shift to add beam weapons. Beam weapons might be more effect than missiles when the ships start close to each other.

[Alneyan]

KOTH has been updated, a week late... and I kind of doubt it'll improve much.

[Rathar]

Ok I am game. I think no PD better than lvl 1 but it'll be strange..

Tech cost high also seems a bit overdoing it but sure if you are still into it.

I'll upload an empire when I see you agreeing that we agree that we agree.

Rathar

[Slynky]

I think (well, I don't matter...LOL) that LVL 1 PD is better than nothing at all, especially if tech is high and a requirement to take a racial tech. It might lead to everyone researching missiles because there are no PD. High tech cost will be a bit of a damper, too, in this kind of game.

Just my 2 cents. But it sounds like an interesting game!

[Glyn]

I'm flexible on the Tech Cost High. The main reason is to make the Talisman hard to get. At normal cost it would only take about 30 turns to get if that's all one researched where as it would take twice that at high tech cost.

I'm agreeable to the setup with or without the Tech Cost High. Your choice.

Three Good Planets
Manual placement on mostly opposite sides of the map.
No Intel
No Mines
No Point Defense weapons
2000 racial points
must take at least one racial trait of Psychic, Religious, Organic, Temporal and/or Crystallization.
Starting Tech Level Medium
Tech Cost High or Med.
Warp Points anywhere.

[Rathar]

ok lets go for tech cost medium then. I would never go for the talisman anyways, costs too much, benefit is debateable!

I'll shoot up an empire later tonight as tis pen and paper gaming night for me!

Rathar

[Glyn]

Medium tech Cost it is then. Agreed!
I'll upload my empire shortly. Have fun with your pen and paper gaming!

Three Good Planets
Manual placement on mostly opposite sides of the map.
No Intel
No Mines
No Point Defense weapons
2000 racial points
must take at least one racial trait of Psychic, Religious, Organic, Temporal and/or Crystallization.
Starting Tech Level Medium
Tech Cost Med.
Warp Points anywhere.

[geoschmo]

So, now that PBW supports SE5 are we going to allow SE5 games on the hill, or would that require a new hill? Perhaps allow it as an alternative if both players have it and are willing to use it, but keep SE4 as the default?

Geoschmo

[parabolize]

Alneyan said:
On another note, I understand that SEV is getting near the corner. It might be worth giving KOTH to someone who is going to play SEV, if there is interest in KOTH for V (I will not move over to SEV myself).

Requirements are pretty mild: you merely need to be handsome and very cunning (like yours truly), know how to set up games on PBW, and understand the slightest bit of HTML for editing... though you can just do some copy-paste-modify and it will all work fine.



I don't know what we want to do but it sounds like we need somebody else to do the se5 games at least. I probably could do it if no one else wants to.

If we are starting a se5 koth or adding se5 to the one we have I would like the default mod to be kwok's balance mod (maybe GG latter).

[Rathar]

I think we ought to leave the settings of the hill to be decided between the contestants.

If both have se5 and want to play with it go for it. If not it's all good anyways.

I feel that the settings will naturally move over to se5 as a base as bugs and the like become solved.

Personally, I shan't purchase se5 till the bugs are a bit more worked out. Fleet problems and whatnot.

Rathar

[parabolize]

Yeah but we do have koth default settings in se4 and we need to decide what they should be for se5. We also need someone to setup the se5 games; it doesn't need to always be the same person but it should be someone not in the game.

[Alneyan]

Yeah, you'd need someone else to set up games for SEV, as I don't have any interest whatsoever in playing that game... or picking it up, for that matter. I also won't keep up doing HTML maintainance for the Hill if it goes SEV (simply because I don't plan to do that sort of thing until the end of times). http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

I would suggest doing a separate SEV KOTH myself. People who want to play both SEIV and SEV KOTH shouldn't have a hard time doing both at the same time, and SEIV players won't do SEV anyway, so SEV games would probably be somewhat uncommon.

On another note, if all goes according to plan, I'll get out of France next summer. By then, I'll leave KOTH (and my two SEIV games) into someone's else hands, since I'm not sure if I'll have a nice DSL *there*.

[geoschmo]

The more I think about it we had a separate hill for non-Gold SEIV a while back. This was back before Malfador put out the Deluxe patch that upgraded non-Gold Se4 to the current version. There were a few people at the time still playing SEIV classic that didn't want to shell out for the Gold version. The games were similer but incompatible for Multiplayer play. This is kind of the same situation I guess.

It didn't generate a lot of interest though. I think the most we ever had was 3 players and maybe got 2 games in before it died out completely.

[Baron Grazic]

Yes, I was one who wasn't going to pay for the same game twice. But because of the limited number of Non-Gold KOTH players, I caved. It did keep my interest in the game for another 18 months, so it was well worth it. I still haven't checked out the Deluxe patch however.
I would suggest a separate SE V Koth &amp; Rating system, assuming someone would be willing to manage them.
Baron Grazic

[Slynky]

As the most avid KotH player (smile), I guess I should comment:

The next time I fall to the bottom of the hill, I'll quit playing altogether. I've tinkered with the demo of SE5 and, though I might be able to whip around the UI as quickly as I do SE4, I kind of doubt it. I can whip out a ship design in "4" very easily but working on the layered "5" decks, though interesting in itself, is quite tedious. And other things as well.

I'm not here to disparage SE5 because I might not have given it enough time and effort but it's too much like SE4 to give it the time it needs. Those starting out with SE5 might really like it.

So, I'll retire the next time I hit bottom.

[parabolize]

I'm not quiting se4 koth anytime soon. As long as someone else wants to play se4 I will though I am really tired of stock.

[Slynky]

Well, the game between me and Khryon is over with a win for me. I gotta tell ya tho' (in my best southern accent), it was a hard game to play. I was 2nd in points nearly the entire game. Playing a fulltech game on a grid map is a real heart stopper. My hat off to Khryon who (1) was a good sport throughout, (2) did turns with good regularity, and (3) had the courage to play a fulltech game...because a fulltech game is much tougher than playing the "who gets DUC V's first" game.

It was a lot of fun and each turn was exciting (different from the expansion sort of game in a standard KotH game). By turn 20, I think turns were taking a half hour or so for me.

[Slynky]

So, it looks like it's mwbard and me.

[Slynky]

Just fiddling around. Since I don't like the listing of most wins at the top (despite how many games have been played...which can lead to having the most wins if one just keeps playing forever), I thought I'd do a better representation of the Hill. So the list wasn't swayed too much, I removed anyone who hadn't completed at least 5 games.

[se5a]

I'm interested in an SEV Balance mod KOTH game.
don't think there is any point using stock for KOTH...

[Slynky]

MWBard and I have agreed on the following settings for our game. So, Alneyan, when you have time:

Good planet
No intel
ZERO points racial

The rest KotH standard.

Hey! How about that?! Not a whole lot of settings to mess with http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Glyn]

Interesting ranking Slynky.

So if I lose my tenth game, I will drop to fifth place (losing 8.89% off my score.) If I win then I only gain 1.11% on my score.

Hummm…

I wonder if the data is there to do a ladder ranking?

[Gusset]

I've only participated in ladder style rankings as far as online competition goes (MOO2), which was automated and didn't need to be babysat. A ladder certainly has its advantages and its disadvantages, though it's difficult for me to judge against the KOTH format simply because I have not participated in one.

What are some of the comparative advantages/disadvantages between the two? Why did the SEIV crowd choose KOTH over a normal ladder?

Thanks for any insight.

[Glyn]

Gusset, actually at one time the SEIV community had both. ladder scoring and the KOTH.

In the ladder scoring system any game could be counted as a ladder challenge as long as all players were on the ladder.

[Slynky]

Geo had set up a ladder system on some website at one time. Unfortunately, it was about the same time I decided I should do something for the gaming community and started a website that had rankings based on the same formula that the Chess Federation uses. It ran for about 2 years and interest died out, so I dropped it. As you might guess, the rankings on that site were fairly close to the listings I just posted on this thread.

[parabolize]

Seeing as not all copies of se5 come with se4 I think its best we have two hills. Here is what I have setup: SE5 KOTH (http://users.adelphia.net/~phann8/se5koth.html).
If enough people agree with the settings I will see if we can get this on se.net. If you want to be the league administrator don't let me get in your way.

[se5a]

should start annother thread for KOTH V?

[parabolize]

That would probably remove some confusion between the two hills.

[parabolize]

Slynky said:
Just fiddling around. Since I don't like the listing of most wins at the top (despite how many games have been played...which can lead to having the most wins if one just keeps playing forever), I thought I'd do a better representation of the Hill. So the list wasn't swayed too much, I removed anyone who hadn't completed at least 5 games.


This look good? koth ratios prototype (http://users.adelphia.net/~phann8/se4koth.html)

[Slynky]

parabolize said:

Slynky said:
Just fiddling around. Since I don't like the listing of most wins at the top (despite how many games have been played...which can lead to having the most wins if one just keeps playing forever), I thought I'd do a better representation of the Hill. So the list wasn't swayed too much, I removed anyone who hadn't completed at least 5 games.


This look good? koth ratios prototype (http://users.adelphia.net/~phann8/se4koth.html)

Yeah, I think so. I think a better representation of ability. Otherwise, you're like me, playing a bunch of games and then by virtue of that, get enough wins to be listed on top.

[Glyn]

As much as I like seeing my name at the top. There is a problem with using ratios. While it would only take me losing two games to be ranked near Slynky, he would have to win nearly 55 games strait to get to the top. It would be far easer for Slynky to get to the top by simply playing under an new name.

The ratio shows ones average ratio over there entire career. Where as they may have improved substantially over time.

Perhaps if the ratio for the last 5 to 10 games were shown beside the overall ratio???

[geoschmo]

This is why I never botherd with the order on the rankings when I was running the hill. There lots of different ways you can come up with to order it and they all will put someone different at the top. And in the end it doesn't really matter because the only thing that matters is who is the King of the Hill and that's not reflected in the historical rankings. Slynky is just trying to find a way so his name isn't at the top, so just sort it alphabetically. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Glyn]

Number of wins in the Last 10 games for those with more than 10.

RexTorres 9
Asmala 8
Slynky 8
Primitive 8
Joachim 8
Alneyan 8
Master Belisarius 7
Gecko 7
Grazic 6
Parabolize 6
Geoschmo 6
Stone Mill 6
Lord Chane 5
Kazarp 5
VadimBey 4
Renegade13 4
Cheeze 4
GozGUY 4
Ragnarok 4
Gandalph 3
Phoenix-D 3
Rand 2
Tescosamoa 2
Thermodyne 2
Rambie 1
Nodachi 1

[parabolize]

Yeah it would take 77 for me. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif
Hopefully I can setup a nice database with lots of options sometime when I know how. For now I think I may do the last 10 games idea. It doesn't take into account who was in those 10 games though. Having Slynky beat the crap out of me repeatedly is no showing of his skills (not to say he isn't skilled).

Actually I really want to get the database going so I can organize the games a bit better. That games list has become huge.

BTW Alneyan: Do you even want to use my page for se4 koth or should I just be setting this up for se5 koth?

[Slynky]

The game between myself and MWBard is over with me prevailing. Once again, the game placed me side-by-side with my opponent. Those games tend to TEST the skill of players but too often, someone gets the "jump" on the other person and it's hard to recover.

At 27 colonies to about 8, he decided it was hopeless.

MWBard is good at playing turns on time and many days, multiple turns. A pleasure to have a game like that.

[Alneyan]

KOTH has been updated. I wasn't too keen on doing that update since it was only about adding Slynky's latest wins. I know he'll complain if he ends up toping the "last ten games" list.

On a related matter Slynky, could I interest you into a wee little full-tech game? I can't promise to play more than two turns a day, but I should be able to sustain that rate of play. Perhaps I will achieve a win without putting all my marbles on a bluff, this time.

Parabolize, I'll be interested in a sturdier SEIV KOTH website, but I won't work on that one myself. I handle the HTML pages in a semi-automatic way, as I didn't get the urge to add the remaining pieces I'm lacking (namely sorting all those tables).

So, if you can get a database-driven KOTH, and can convert SEIV to that format easily, feel free to do so. That might even ensure timely updates of the KOTH website.

[Slynky]

Alneyan said:
KOTH has been updated. I wasn't too keen on doing that update since it was only about adding Slynky's latest wins. I know he'll complain if he ends up toping the "last ten games" list.

On a related matter Slynky, could I interest you into a wee little full-tech game? I can't promise to play more than two turns a day, but I should be able to sustain that rate of play. Perhaps I will achieve a win without putting all my marbles on a bluff, this time.

Parabolize, I'll be interested in a sturdier SEIV KOTH website, but I won't work on that one myself. I handle the HTML pages in a semi-automatic way, as I didn't get the urge to add the remaining pieces I'm lacking (namely sorting all those tables).

So, if you can get a database-driven KOTH, and can convert SEIV to that format easily, feel free to do so. That might even ensure timely updates of the KOTH website.


Well, thanks for the update.

As to a game, with you, as always, a big treat. You're one of top 5 and always dangerous and fun.

So...

I owe MWBard a game he asked for (for some experience).

So...

I have two game I'm interested in. One with you and one with MWBard.

For our game, Alneyan, 8 settings suggestions (for our full-tech game)...I go first:

No Intel

Next, your choice of a setting.

For MWBard:

We agreed to play your game choices, so let me know.

FGor both of you....

I'd rather get the games set up and start playing after Christmas.

Let me know.

[Glyn]

Why not start a multi-player (more than 2) game open to anyone ever played a game in KOTH?

[Alneyan]

I'm not interested in a multiplayer game myself, mostly because of the diplomacy (i can see some ganging-up already) and the dull settings/mods. It could be nice, but not my sort of fun these days.

Let's get back to the Georgian whippersnapper (taunt *is* the key to victory). I like the sound of picking settings that way. Seems like a game inside the game proper... I guess I can see the reasoning behind "No Intel".

I'll suggest a mod as part of the settings, since you like them so much. What about the Proportions mod? I heard you quite liked that one. *Ducks*

More on topic, given your lack of fondness for mods, I'll ask for "No APB"... might make weapon choice a bit harder, now that the usual suspect is out. Your turn.

[Slynky]

Glyn said:
Why not start a multi-player (more than 2) game open to anyone ever played a game in KOTH?

That might be an interesting concept. I'm in a multi now (getting my *** sliced and served to me). And Alneyan is right about diplomacy and ganging up. Now, GEO loves diplomacy and is good at it. Meanwhile, it's not quite my cup of tea.

But the idea might generate some interest. For my own part, I'm promised MWBard a game so he can try a few things out and then there's this one proposed by the guy working for the CIA in France I must respond to. I try to keep my number of games low.

[Slynky]

Fulltech:

No intel
No APB

2 down, 6 to go:

I'll see your "no APB" and raise you a "no ship size above 600 Kt"

[Alneyan]

What? How do you expect *me* to play a game with no Light Carriers? Tsk, tsk, tsk.

No weapons whatsoever are allowed. Erh... I'll be dull instead, and just ask for no racial points (or ethnic points, if you are so inclined).

Looks like you're getting nervous. I'll suggest you stop bluffing now. Trust me, you want to play it safe. Don't try to flabbergast me with your barmy settings.

[Slynky]

Alneyan said:
Looks like you're getting nervous. I'll suggest you stop bluffing now. Trust me, you want to play it safe. Don't try to flabbergast me with your barmy settings.

I'm not bluffing...I'm just making sure it's a strange game http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/eek.gif And it will get stranger.

Fulltech:

No intel
No APB
No ship/base size above 600 Kt
No racial points

4 down, to go:

No fleet of ships can exceed 10 ships (explain later if questions)

[Alneyan]

If you so insist. I'm afraid at least one of us has lost more than a few marbles, though, and I certainly can't gork the current settings.

Since we are acting silly and will slash our respective intelligence scores, let's ban all training whatsoever. No ship training, and no fleet training either. What a relief!

I'm not sure I understand the point of your last turn. Care to elaborate, explain or otherwise expound on that peculiar setting?

[Slynky]

Alneyan said:

Since we are acting silly and will slash our respective intelligence scores, let's ban all training whatsoever. No ship training, and no fleet training either. What a relief!

I'm not sure I understand the point of your last turn. Care to elaborate, explain or otherwise expound on that peculiar setting?

Acting silly? Nay, I say. Interesting is the key word.

Why? Well, I hate games where people pour all their energy into making the biggest fleet, whomp the opponent, and the game is pretty much over. The way I see it, if you lose a fleet of 10 ships (and you have 70 ships), it's quite different from losing all 70 ships in one deciding battle. Secondly, having a fleet limit of 10 ships makes platforms a possible alternative (as it's quite a joke to have 10 platforms try to hold off 50 ships).

So, that's my thinking.

BUT, it got complicated with your submittal of no training. With training, I figured it didn't matter if someone entered a warppoint defended by a fleet of 10 ships, 10 bases, and 100 fighters because bases wouldn't be able to hit much and same goes for fighters (though not as bad). NOW, bases would be quite viable and a limit of 10 ships in a fleet would make it impossible to get by a warppoint defended as I mentioned above. Also, there doesn't seem to be any setting to turn training off unless one turned off Advanced Military Science (gulp!). And, having training turned off would raise the aroma of Religious trait quite a bit.

Though I hate the boring training sessions as well, do you want to re-think that last option?

Fulltech:

No intel
No APB
No ship/base size above 600 Kt
No racial points
No fleet of ships can exceed 10 ships (explain later if questions)

5 down, 5 to go:

[Alneyan]

Yeah, I didn't get the gist of your rule the first time around. I would suggest a rewording, on the lines of "no more than ten ships per sector at any given time". We might have to prepare for reloads, though: I can see some problems when trying to launch multiple attacks at a position in the same turn (I'd want to initiate several attacks in the same round against a wormhole, myself). Given how complicated move orders are, such plans could result in getting more than ten ships in a battle.

Turning off Advanced Military Science is not a problem. The trait only gives training facilities and sensors, but the latter is utterly useless in a full tech game. Hyperoptic Sensors are "only" good because they aren't too hard to research, but Gravitational Sensors will work just as well here. If you are feeling silly, just use the more expensive Tachyon Sensors. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

So, turning off training shouldn't be a problem, in technical terms. Now we should decide whether it's a wise thing. I'm not sure training is that useful, as getting through a wormhole is going to be tough no matter what, with only ten ships around against a mighty number of units on the other side (plus ten ships). There's always Warp Manipulation, of course, but then training doesn't matter one bit.

So, I'll make the following bold suggestion over the "no training" thing. There may only be one hull deployed (a ship, a base or one unit) over a wormhole at any one time. Planets over a wormhole cannot have any extra cargo. How does that sound?

[Slynky]

Alneyan said:
Yeah, I didn't get the gist of your rule the first time around. I would suggest a rewording, on the lines of "no more than ten ships per sector at any given time". We might have to prepare for reloads, though: I can see some problems when trying to launch multiple attacks at a position in the same turn (I'd want to initiate several attacks in the same round against a wormhole, myself). Given how complicated move orders are, such plans could result in getting more than ten ships in a battle.

Turning off Advanced Military Science is not a problem. The trait only gives training facilities and sensors, but the latter is utterly useless in a full tech game. Hyperoptic Sensors are "only" good because they aren't too hard to research, but Gravitational Sensors will work just as well here. If you are feeling silly, just use the more expensive Tachyon Sensors. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

So, turning off training shouldn't be a problem, in technical terms. Now we should decide whether it's a wise thing. I'm not sure training is that useful, as getting through a wormhole is going to be tough no matter what, with only ten ships around against a mighty number of units on the other side (plus ten ships). There's always Warp Manipulation, of course, but then training doesn't matter one bit.

So, I'll make the following bold suggestion over the "no training" thing. There may only be one hull deployed (a ship, a base or one unit) over a wormhole at any one time. Planets over a wormhole cannot have any extra cargo. How does that sound?

OK, how about this mod to the mod:

No more than 10 items at a warphole. Examples: 1 fighter, 1 sat, 2 bases, and 6 ships. Or, 10 fighters. Or 10 sats. Or 10 bases. Or 5 bases and 5 ships. (you get the idea) Wouldn't be any worse trying to come through a hole and letting 70 ships have first shot at you to go against a max of 10 things with a fleet of 10 ships. OF course, the dilemma is complicated by the possibility of bases or ships that launch fighters. Granted, anything sporting fighter bays doesn't have weapons. And might NOT get a chance to launch any/all of the fighters.

As to planets and warpholes together...don't worry. My last setting takes care of that:

Fulltech:

No intel (S)
No APB (A)
No ship/base size above 600 Kt (S)
No racial points (A)
No more than 10 vessels per sector (mines exempt) (S)
No Advanced Military tech (A)
No openers or closers (S)

[Alneyan]

Well, let's see:

- Should we agree on some sort of procedure if one of the "no more than" rule is violated? I suspect it could also be a problem with, say, fleets that lose some movement after a battle.

- I'm fine with your modification to the modified modification (the rule of Ten Defenders).

- Looks like you didn't trust me to ban Warp Manipulation (like you would trust *me* with anything). So, I'll do something nice and simple: No Mines. You know, "Damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead!" and all that.

I know I really want to yell "Manual placement", but. You're flying without the Balance Mod, so let's live on the edge. In case it gets ugly... well, I'll stay in France for eight months still, so that's plenty of time for a rematch.

- Do we have a volunteer for game setup and all the dull, boring, run-of-the-mill, commonplace administrative stuff? I guess either of us could do the setup, since we are doing a random map, and we are both respectable folks. Then again, I always screw up when setting up your games, so perhaps someone else should do it.

[Slynky]

Alneyan said:
Well, let's see:

- Should we agree on some sort of procedure if one of the "no more than" rule is violated? I suspect it could also be a problem with, say, fleets that lose some movement after a battle.

- I'm fine with your modification to the modified modification (the rule of Ten Defenders).

- Looks like you didn't trust me to ban Warp Manipulation (like you would trust *me* with anything). So, I'll do something nice and simple: No Mines. You know, "Damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead!" and all that.

I know I really want to yell "Manual placement", but. You're flying without the Balance Mod, so let's live on the edge. In case it gets ugly... well, I'll stay in France for eight months still, so that's plenty of time for a rematch.

- Do we have a volunteer for game setup and all the dull, boring, run-of-the-mill, commonplace administrative stuff? I guess either of us could do the setup, since we are doing a random map, and we are both respectable folks. Then again, I always screw up when setting up your games, so perhaps someone else should do it.



Fulltech:

No intel (S)
No APB (A)
No ship/base size above 600 Kt (S)
No racial points (A)
No more than 10 vessels per sector (mines exempt) (S)
No Advanced Military tech (A)
No openers or closers (S)
No mines (A)

-------------------------------------------------

Well, we still need to agree on other things. For instance, I kind of like the horror of the grid map. Enjoyed a game on it with Khryon. But it's really scary. And how many starting planets? And what size? And what size galaxy?

As to a volunteer, we can wait a bit, I suspect, and see if anyone hops up to the plate. I'm just kind of busy at Christmas time and to add to it, I'm sponsoring a photo contest on an auto website and filling the last item for a wedding I shot last month (a ProSho slideshow...have been waiting for version 3 to come out which happened yesterday).

If no one else volunteers, I trust you to set up the game because I suspect you enjoy the challenge instead of a cheated win.

So, 8 months? Did I miss something somewhere?

[Alneyan]

As I understand it, map settings and the like should have been picked during the "pick a setting" phase, like your other zany proposals.

If you do want those settings, I guess I'm for three homeworlds (though that'll make contact quicker, it should reduce the random factor of starting positions), good quality, and I have no opinion whatsoever about maps (I'm not overly fond of your little "Wormholes closer to the centre of system" quirk, though).

That aside, I guess our game is ready to blast off. Well, except we'll both be busy for the next few days, and I still need to compute my Empire. And then my exams will come in crashing, but it shouldn't interfere much this year.

I've warned that I will have to bail out of SEIV in one of my last posts (on 29/11, 1847 UTC). I should be somewhere in the UK either as a student or a teacher in September, though the specifics aren't particularly clear yet. I'm currently writing a silly "write a letter telling us how good you are for the job" thing... I'd say it's boring as hell, but that would be disparaging. I've been told hell is actually a pretty swell place.

[Slynky]

Alneyan said:
As I understand it, map settings and the like should have been picked during the "pick a setting" phase, like your other zany proposals.

If you do want those settings, I guess I'm for three homeworlds (though that'll make contact quicker, it should reduce the random factor of starting positions), good quality, and I have no opinion whatsoever about maps (I'm not overly fond of your little "Wormholes closer to the centre of system" quirk, though).

That aside, I guess our game is ready to blast off. Well, except we'll both be busy for the next few days, and I still need to compute my Empire. And then my exams will come in crashing, but it shouldn't interfere much this year.

I've warned that I will have to bail out of SEIV in one of my last posts (on 29/11, 1847 UTC). I should be somewhere in the UK either as a student or a teacher in September, though the specifics aren't particularly clear yet. I'm currently writing a silly "write a letter telling us how good you are for the job" thing... I'd say it's boring as hell, but that would be disparaging. I've been told hell is actually a pretty swell place.

Actually, I was thinking the setting choices were for the "strange" items and that maps, etc., were a bit mundane.

So, we can forget the "Wormholes closer to the centre of system" thing you hate. (mental note: looks like Alneyan is already warming up to the English version of English)

So, did I hear (read) Balance mod? And no objection to a grid map? 3 good homeworlds? And if we get someone to set things up, do you think we should press for a nice manual placement?

And, in the OT arena, I must have missed the post concerning your future out of France. So, am I to guess you will be teaching French to the English?

PS: Work has blocked the forum and PBW. Grrrrr! So, I have to wait till I get home to post.

[Alneyan]

I swear I'm innocent, and didn't ask any of my contacts in GA to shut down your Internet access. Honest.

I wouldn't really mind the Balance mod here, as the game will be interesting enough anyway (in a regular game, I find that the Balance mod kills the one remaining part of novelty). Still, I'd much rather have more varied systems than in Balance mod. In full-tech, more systems should be directly useful, or at least not so bad (black holes are a speedbump, if that much).

So, perhaps it should be Balanced planets but with some extra systems... at least the pretty good ones (Binary/Trinary/Asteroids, and maybe Nebulaes too). I'm Neutral about the other settings, so I won't go off rioting.

I don't actually speak English, you know. What I use is eighteenth-century French with funny vowels, and a few thousand words ripped off from German. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif I've always used English English, not because I like them in Albion, but simply because it's closer to French. So much easier to always write "centre" instead of using "center" in English, or to stick "-ise" no matter what.

I'll be shipped out of France as either a language assistant or a lazy student, actually (might even be a lecturer in university, though that's pretty unlikely). The next stage in my studies involves research, though, and I'm having a hard time finding *one* project that could be even remotely interesting (doing research in humanities isn't exactly my cup of tea... I suppose it would have a wee bit more exciting in CS).

So (*), I'll almost certainly sneak through the border next year, though *how* exactly isn't particularly clear yet. I might also end up in Wales or Scotland, and not in that small piece of land known as England.

(* : Notice the use of "So" in every other sentence or so. I'm not sure where I picked up that annoying habit, though. I've heard a couple people put the "So-sayers" around Seattle, but I'm not going to discuss the various flavours of American accents. No, really.)

[Slynky]

Alneyan said:
I swear I'm innocent, and didn't ask any of my contacts in GA to shut down your Internet access. Honest.

I wouldn't really mind the Balance mod here, as the game will be interesting enough anyway (in a regular game, I find that the Balance mod kills the one remaining part of novelty). Still, I'd much rather have more varied systems than in Balance mod. In full-tech, more systems should be directly useful, or at least not so bad (black holes are a speedbump, if that much).

So, perhaps it should be Balanced planets but with some extra systems... at least the pretty good ones (Binary/Trinary/Asteroids, and maybe Nebulaes too). I'm Neutral about the other settings, so I won't go off rioting.

I don't actually speak English, you know. What I use is eighteenth-century French with funny vowels, and a few thousand words ripped off from German. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif I've always used English English, not because I like them in Albion, but simply because it's closer to French. So much easier to always write "centre" instead of using "center" in English, or to stick "-ise" no matter what.

I'll be shipped out of France as either a language assistant or a lazy student, actually (might even be a lecturer in university, though that's pretty unlikely). The next stage in my studies involves research, though, and I'm having a hard time finding *one* project that could be even remotely interesting (doing research in humanities isn't exactly my cup of tea... I suppose it would have a wee bit more exciting in CS).

So (*), I'll almost certainly sneak through the border next year, though *how* exactly isn't particularly clear yet. I might also end up in Wales or Scotland, and not in that small piece of land known as England.

(* : Notice the use of "So" in every other sentence or so. I'm not sure where I picked up that annoying habit, though. I've heard a couple people put the "So-sayers" around Seattle, but I'm not going to discuss the various flavours of American accents. No, really.)

Well, we can just play on a game-generated map for those "weird" systems you want, I guess. I'd hate to ask someone to go to that kind of trouble--making a Balanced Mod map and then modifying it.

But, you never responded to my other game suggestions.

As to language, "centre" might be as easy to type as, center, BUT, "colour" takes extra time over, color. As does, flavour (instead of flavor). http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/smirk.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

And then there are those other mind-numbing word they use like, queue (instead of the shorter, line). Or, rubbish bin instead of trash can. Or bonnet instead of hood.

[Slynky]

Alneyan -vs- Slynky

Fulltech:

Map type: Small grid
Homeworlds: 3 Good
Manual placement if we can get someone to set up the game
KotH settings where not specified

No intel (S)
No APB (A)
No ship/base size above 600 Kt (S)
No racial points (A)
No more than 10 vessels per sector (mines exempt) (S)
No Advanced Military tech (A)
No openers or closers (S)
No mines (A)

I realize there may be times when an accident occurs and more than 10 vessels occupy a sector, like when sending 3 fleets through a hole in sequence and the first fleet has combat that knocks it to a movement of zero, for instance. If that happens, the "overpacked" sector needs to be "un-overpacked" on the next turn.

[Alneyan]

3,500 ! And I got there well in advance of you browncoats.

Having balanced planets but weird systems is straightforward, actually (I wouldn't ask for that if it took hours). I don't have the mod files right in front of me at the moment, but I'm pretty sure it would be a straight matter of cut-and-paste. All you have to do is specify which systems should be put back in Balance (all of them, including slimy blackholes, or just asteroids and nebulaes?).

I haven't seen any other setting proposal, except for the map, where I'm basically Neutral. As in, I really don't have any preference for quadrant type and the like. So long as the map itself is pretty much funky, I'm fine. Same goes for the homeworlds (well, up to three homeworlds, anyway, as ten just doesn't sound so good).

Some nasty English words have a spelling fairly similar to the one found in French, but not quite. These words cause no small amount of confusion and can still bit me if I'm not watching. Let's take a few examples of this pattern:

English -&gt; Broken French \ Proper French :
- Appearance -&gt; Apparance \ Apparence
- Conflict -&gt; Conflict \ Conflit
- Independence -&gt; Indépendence \ Indépendance.
- Reasonable -&gt; Raisonable \ Raisonnable


Oh, and you should remove that line about "mines exempt". There ain't be no mines in our universe.

[Slynky]

Alneyan said:
3,500 ! And I got there well in advance of you browncoats.

Ahhh, I hadn't even looked. There must be some sort of award for that, I'm sure http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

[Slynky]

Alneyan said:Having balanced planets but weird systems is straightforward, actually (I wouldn't ask for that if it took hours). I don't have the mod files right in front of me at the moment, but I'm pretty sure it would be a straight matter of cut-and-paste. All you have to do is specify which systems should be put back in Balance (all of them, including slimy blackholes, or just asteroids and nebulaes?).

I haven't seen any other setting proposal, except for the map, where I'm basically Neutral. As in, I really don't have any preference for quadrant type and the like. So long as the map itself is pretty much funky, I'm fine. Same goes for the homeworlds (well, up to three homeworlds, anyway, as ten just doesn't sound so good).

Oh, and you should remove that line about "mines exempt". There ain't be no mines in our universe.

If you can manage a mod to the mod, then go for it. Might be just changing a 0% to 10% somewhere...I know hardly anything about mods.

[Slynky]

Alneyan said:
Some nasty English words have a spelling fairly similar to the one found in French, but not quite. These words cause no small amount of confusion and can still bit me if I'm not watching. Let's take a few examples of this pattern:

English -&gt; Broken French \ Proper French :
- Appearance -&gt; Apparance \ Apparence
- Conflict -&gt; Conflict \ Conflit
- Independence -&gt; Indépendence \ Indépendance.
- Reasonable -&gt; Raisonable \ Raisonnable


Confusing as that example might be, it doesn't hold a candle to the confusion I have with nouns being male/female and needing the appropriate article to go with it. As difficult as English is, there's at least one worry I don't have to worry about. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

[Alneyan]

Nah, I didn't get promoted at 3,500. I'm still a lowly General Fault. You hear that, Colonel Panic?

In the examples above, I guess both languages broke backwards-compatibility, yeah. That aside, it's funny how the English version of French is still very close to French French. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif I can't say I miss all the silly personal pronouns of French in English (informal "you" vs polite "you"), or our convulated conjugations. And who needs gender for items anyway? I'm not sure a lot of meaning is conveyed by the masculinity of the word "lipstick".

Still, gender is even more confusing in English, though for different reasons. Say, that silly word "fiancé" sometimes has a feminine form in English too, "fiancée", but not everybody uses it. So how are you to interpret "fiancé" when a male writer uses the word?

Of course, we are still looking for a Guinea pig... erh, a volunteer, to set up our game. The earlier someone signs up, the faster we'll stop comparing Webster to Larousse.

[Gozra]

I Gozra have been defeated by pair of bowl eyes. When do we start a chapter of KOTH anaoymous(sic)?

[Alneyan]

I must be denser than usual, but I can't parse your message, Gozra. If it is directly related to KOTH administration, could you please clarify? Thanks. (Must be a side effect of gaining one year)

My guess would be that your game with Parabolize ended with him being the winner, but I'd rather not break KOTH until things are clearer. By the way, KOTH is now using a Parabolize-powered style sheet. So, don't blame me for that one.

[se5a]

Para - bol - ize
pair(of)- bowl - eyes
ahahaha I get it!

[parabolize]

Gozra surrendered after he lost all his planets.

[parabolize]

Alneyan said:
Of course, we are still looking for a Guinea pig... erh, a volunteer, to set up our game. The earlier someone signs up, the faster we'll stop comparing Webster to Larousse.


I can if no one else has.

[Slynky]

parabolize said:

Alneyan said:
Of course, we are still looking for a Guinea pig... erh, a volunteer, to set up our game. The earlier someone signs up, the faster we'll stop comparing Webster to Larousse.


I can if no one else has.

That would be très cool in my book, PB. We'll need one to look over the settings carefully, etc.

Of course, Alneyan will need to sign off on this. AND, there's that little suggestion he had about modifying the Bal mod he'll need to address.

[Alneyan]

1) Yeah, I absolutely didn't get the Parabolize reference. My current excuse kind of works, actually: in my book, this word ought to be pronounced like "parabola", and that word cannot make me think of "pair". So, I'd like my intelligence level to be raised back up to "Dull as a stone".

2) My Xtreme skilz in English warn me of at least three different meanings for "to sign off". That would give "to withdraw", "to stop transmitting" and by extension "to become silent", and finally "to agree". So, I'm sensing a trap here. I'm *sure* Slynky tried to trick me in agreeing to my own defeat before the game even started.

Tsk, tsk, tsk. So, I'm fine with having Parabolize as our host. Besides, he *is* a KOTH Admin, so it should be easy to bribe him. Hey Parabolize, I sure hope Slynky will be stuck between a couple high-powered blackholes, or else.

3) I withdraw the suggestion about system types, since it'll be nastier than I thought. Basically, Balance 2.0 has created a swarm of Balanced systems, so a new quadrant type using all those systems plus the non-Balanced ones would be a pain in the neck to set up. Well, it probably wouldn't take more than a few minutes, but still.

So, I'm throwing that one back to Slynky: Balanced, with no nice system to play with, or vanilla, with random planets all over the place? I don't think it matters quite as much as in a standard game either way (full tech makes economy quite a bit different, and full tech makes for an interesting game no matter what, so my biggest objection to Balance does not apply here).

[Rathar]

/Grumbles something about falling for old tricks which are so old that no one ever uses them anymore so no one prepares for them so...

/shuffles down the hill poutingly!

Rathar

[Glyn]

Some time the old tricks are the best. Your godlike research ratting had me worried for a while.

Rathar, what did you think of playing without point defense?

I found it didn’t extend missile usefulness as much as I though it would. Fighters pretty much made missiles obsolete. I was starting to make the switch to beam weapons from fighters when the game ended about turn 43. Rathar already had a good start on switching to beam based ships.

[Glyn]

Glyn looks around from the top of the hill and see Slynky has clawed his way back to battle once more for the crown.

What game settings would you like?

[Rathar]

I think that no PD created a tiny window in which missiles ruled the galaxy but were then superseded permanently by fighters.

Rathar

[Slynky]

Glyn said:
Glyn looks around from the top of the hill and see Slynky has clawed his way back to battle once more for the crown.

What game settings would you like?

Sorry for slowness...that time of year.

What kind of game does the King have in mind?

[Glyn]

Slynky said:

Glyn said:
Glyn looks around from the top of the hill and see Slynky has clawed his way back to battle once more for the crown.

What game settings would you like?

Sorry for slowness...that time of year.

What kind of game does the King have in mind?



Checkers? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif




I couldn't resist. I'm open to suggestions. Anything between a plan Vanilla to something like our last match.

[Slynky]

Glyn said:

Slynky said:

Glyn said:
Glyn looks around from the top of the hill and see Slynky has clawed his way back to battle once more for the crown.

What game settings would you like?

Sorry for slowness...that time of year.

What kind of game does the King have in mind?



Checkers? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif




I couldn't resist. I'm open to suggestions. Anything between a plan Vanilla to something like our last match.

Well, some sort of manual placement would be nice...just to start off with. Then.... hmmmm....

ZERO racial points;
Full tech;
When constructing race, can't pick anything off the Advanced Traits screen;

OK...that's my "non-vanilla" suggestions...comments/suggestions?

PS: OH, did you make a "funny"? I just got it. Checkers! As in, "Crown me!".