[Septimius Severus]

By the gods, i've had an epiphany! It is nothing short of divine inspiration I tell you.

In the aftermath of the great Noobs vs. Vets series, I had some ideas for possible follow up games. One of these ideas was a Noobs vs. AI concept where a small team of noobs would face off against twice their number of computer players.

Another of these ideas (not completely mine in origin) was having multiple small mixed teams of noobs and vets compete with one another.

While I think either one of these ideas has merit individually and could prove to be valuable learning experiences, combining these two ideas of mine, seems to make even greater sense and with twice the benefits:

1. It makes sense thematically: With the defeat of the vets, noobs and vets now co-exist peacefully. This explains why they can be on the same teams together.

2. The rise of a new menace (this time led by the AI) brings noob and vet alike together to confront this new threat. But the new teams are quarrelsome and can't get along so after dealing with the AI threat they vie for dominance.

3. 4 teams composed of 1 vet champion or hall of famer (acting as captain), 1 intermediate level player and 2 noobs allows for players of all skill levels to join in on the action.

4. The fifth team of AI players allows for some compstomping action, provides an interesting twist, and can be placed in between the competing teams forcing the teams to deal with the AI menace first.

5. At 20 nations (5X4) a series of games could be played in each of the era's without having to worry about water nations. Beginning in EA and proceeding to LA, the AI menace could be made increasingly more difficult.

6. A complete custom made map would not be neccessary, this could be done with either a random map or a suitable pre-existing map.

7. Noobs would gain greater experience vs. the AI and would benefit from learning directly from the more experienced players on each of their teams.

Feel free to post suggestions and to join in on the discussion. This post is a work in progress and will be updated to reflect game settings as they are formalized.

Thanks.

IMPERATOR.CAESAR.LVCIVS.SEPTIMIVS.SEVERVS.PERTINAX .AVGVSTV.SPIVS