Epic Forty-one: Balance of Power

[Charis]

Spearman,

> Hm. Why not version 1.22 ? It fixes some bad flaws in 1.15. Is there some specific reason not to
> use the latest 'offical' version, but to refer to beta version instead ?

Many folks have not upgraded from v1.15 and have no short-term intention of doing so.
It fixed almost nothing over 1.15 (which was a definite improvement over early versions)
but did a few extreme things like remove the Radio tech - which broke save compatibility.
In most cases you can't load a 1.15 game in v1.22. They're working on another patch which will
include (if indications are correct) some of the TOP BUGS that have been around for a while. There is
no estimate release for this patch yet, and it will take a while. At that point I expect everyone to
upgrade, but for now, there is no compelling reason to upgrade and good reasons not to.

Charis

[Griselda]

Well, we've got a final set of rules ready. There have been some changes, other than the ones we've discussed here, so please do check out the Epic 41 Page before you start playing.



We will open tomorrow, Monday, May 24 (well, actually, very late tonight).

Enjoy! :chef:

-Griselda

[Griselda]

Enjoy!

[T-hawk]

So gifting cities and intentional starving are prohibited; good, that pretty much addresses my concerns.

There's still at least one way to drop your own score: repeatedly go in and out of Fascism to eat the population-loss penalty. :D I guess that'd be covered in general by the "no self-destruct" clause, though. :P

Edit: No unit disbanding is pretty harsh. Can we at least disband units more than an age obsolete? (Warriors once muskets are around, pikemen after rifles arrive, etc.) Would be insignificant for dropping your power/score but is a normal part of modernizing your empire if you don't want to pay for maintenance or upgrade on a unit.

[Kylearan]

Hi,

I have a question about the honorable ruleset, more specifically about honorable declaration of war. Let's say civ A declares war on civ B. I know it's honorable to come to the aid of civ B as long as I only fight inside my and civ B's borders. But if I see civ A losing the war, can I honorably declare war on civ B and come to the aid of civ A?

-Kylearan

[Griselda]

The move you describe doesn't quite measure up to the dastardly standard of

If you form alliances against a civ that has not provoked you, [b]then take aggressive action against them on their lands or in neutral territories, this is dastardly.[/b]

so, I'd have to say that it's honorable as long as you don't violate any trade agreements and you stay within your lands and Civ A's lands. This makes sense because it's possible that a player might not know who the original aggressor was, if the war started when they didn't have embassies yet.

-Griselda

[T-hawk]

Suppose I capture a city that I don't really want to keep. Giving it away is disallowed, of course. Is the Abandon City option totally disallowed under the "no self-destruction" clause, or can it be used when abandoning the city really is a good strategic move? If it's out, can I disband it by building a settler or worker? Would the latter be considered honorable (the first isn't, of course)?

[Griselda]

I hope the coalition will set an example by making clear that they intend to act strictly within the rules governing the occupation of conquered nations.

It's in the grey area. It's not technically forbidden by the rules, but there is a point where it clearly becomes self-destruction.

I don't think that any variation on "attacking a city you don't really want to keep" sounds honorable. You'd have Kofi Annan on your case!

-Griselda

[bihary]

A question:

If I declare war against a civ, make an alliance with its enemy, then fight the agressor on neutral land lying in between the lands of the agressor and the victim: Is it still honorable?

I did not find this situation defined in the rules.

Bihary

[bihary]

A question: So how exactly do we get the end of game scores of civs, without the bonus added? You just have to record the scores one turn before the end, or there is a way to check the scores without the bonus after the game ended?

Random thoughts:

Please remember to record the scores of each civ at the end of each era (and save the game at those instances). If you forget, you can go back a couple of turns with auto-save and just check it, no need to replay. If you forget for longer, go back as close to the turning of the era as possible, and record those scores. The relative game-scores do not change very fast, so it will be a good approximation as far as the balance ratio is concerned.

I will prepare a nice worksheet for the scoring, maybe even an excel worksheet that automatically calculates the scenario points.

I am kind of a statistics-jerk, so I will probably give a detailed statistical analysis of the results from the group (assuming we will have enough players to constitute a statistical ensemble...)

Play with us, join the ensemble!

Bihary