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(March 23rd, 2015, 09:18)Mardoc Wrote: Glad to have you, Khan. Have you noticed the Hearthstone subforum? I don't think there's any Mount and Blade going on publicly, but I wouldn't be surprised if there were people who'd be happy to talk about it in the "the Gaming Table" forum. That's basically how the Hearthstone and LoL subforums came to be: started with a thread in the Gaming Table and once it became clear there was continuing interest, they got their own subforum.
I'm sure if you poke around, you'll find something else worth your time. I really trust the recommendations people give around here.
Of course you've already noticed the civ games, probably our biggest crowd  . (although maybe I'm biased, since that's where I spend my time mostly)
Thank you for the link. I will have a look through that this evening. It is nice to be here. The more I read, the more I think I have found some similar souls!
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Hello to All!
I found RB last year while running a PitBoss game with some friends. I've been lurking the PB fora since then, silently dedlurking 'The Network' since I was late to the PB23 greens and mentors game, and eagerly watching everyone in PB25. I've been occasionally posting in some of the less-loved threads, and I thought it a good time to introduce myself in advance of vying for a spot (and hopefully a teammate) in the next PB game to launch.
I'm a solid Monarch level player, with what I hope is a pretty good grasp of early- to mid-game micro and macro, but rely on taking an early lead to make up for lack of direction after that point. I've been playing civ4 for a few years, and dabbled with the others before that, but am only taking the opportunity to try to get good at it - if work/school don't make that impossible after my upcoming move to the USA, that is.
I'm looking forward to learning from and playing with all of you!
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Hi all!
I got Civ 4 in the recent Humble Firaxis Bundle, which I was buying pretty much entirely for X-COM. However, I played Civ 2 and Alpha Centauri as a wee youngster (had no real idea what I was doing), so I decided to mess around with Civ 4 after a friend of mine told me it was the best one. It's been a whole lot of fun, and after finding Sullla's first 100 turns with the Holy Roman Empire on YouTube, I found my way to his site and then here .
One question, though: it seems like this community used to be centered around single-player in the form of the Adventures and Epics, but now has a decidedly MP focus. As a rank newbie to a ten-year-old game and even older community, I am kind of leery about getting involved in multiplayer -- are there other ways to play in community, or should I just lurk the current games until I feel my loins sufficiently girded to be slaughtered ignominiously challenge y'all to honorable combat?
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I haven't tried it since the Steam revamp but there are probably still people playing MP games using the updated lobby functionality (Gamespy replacement). That's a different style game than the MP games we play here though. As to what you should do, you should do whatever is fun for you. There's probably less of a time investment in trying MP using the lobby, as you can get a feel for (ruthless) MP play more quickly than playing in a slower paced PBEM or pitboss format game. The main thing is to get used to playing against opponents who are calculating, devious, and are playing to win. If you find you can reliably handle the AI at higher difficulty levels that mostly just shows you have a good enough mechanical grasp of the game to be able to compete with human opponents. Whether or not they slaughter you ignominiously your first time out, that'll depend on how well you can adapt to competing with better thinking opposition. Lurking and learning is a good path to getting better, but playing the game is a better instructor. Build up that experience base! Anyway, it's more fun playing with/against human opponents, so give it a whirl whenever you feel like you're ready. And welcome to RB!
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I wonder if there's enough room for another greens game...
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I'm sure you could at least get a 4 player greens PBEM going.
One other good way to get into the swing of things would be playing a duel with someone. You can either play with another new player to start to both get comfortable with Multiplayer, or play with an established player to see how good you'll do, and most of the players here would be help give you tips and feedback on your game.
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(March 7th, 2016, 18:48)spacetyrantxenu Wrote: I haven't tried it since the Steam revamp but there are probably still people playing MP games using the updated lobby functionality (Gamespy replacement). That's a different style game than the MP games we play here though. As to what you should do, you should do whatever is fun for you. There's probably less of a time investment in trying MP using the lobby, as you can get a feel for (ruthless) MP play more quickly than playing in a slower paced PBEM or pitboss format game. The main thing is to get used to playing against opponents who are calculating, devious, and are playing to win. If you find you can reliably handle the AI at higher difficulty levels that mostly just shows you have a good enough mechanical grasp of the game to be able to compete with human opponents. Whether or not they slaughter you ignominiously your first time out, that'll depend on how well you can adapt to competing with better thinking opposition. Lurking and learning is a good path to getting better, but playing the game is a better instructor. Build up that experience base! Anyway, it's more fun playing with/against human opponents, so give it a whirl whenever you feel like you're ready. And welcome to RB!
It's pretty dead in the steam lobby. Better through evolve actually. Haven't checked in a month or so but fairly busy. However they are rather reticent to allow new players through.
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Play old adventures and epics, if that's what you're into. You can write a report if you want - I know some who have.
You can also always propose an epic or succession game of your own. For an epic you can either do so with a public thread, or seek out T-hawk or someone who has sponsored before to help get the ball rolling. I definitely recommend you discuss it with someone/everyone before putting too much work into a contest/map, because there's often important things you can miss that will be critical to the gameplay.
Erebus in the Balance - a FFH Modmod based around balancing and polishing FFH for streamlined competitive play.
March 8th, 2016, 05:33
(This post was last modified: March 8th, 2016, 05:35 by Jowy.)
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We often run "greens" or "casual" games where lack of skill or experience shouldn't be an issue. The only word of warning I'd give is that playing in a PBEM or a PB is a consistent time commitment. It can be only a few minutes every day, but if you have days where you can't be online then it's a problem.
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(March 8th, 2016, 03:49)Qgqqqqq Wrote: Play old adventures and epics, if that's what you're into. You can write a report if you want - I know some who have. Seconded. You might not be official and can't rank on the leaderboard, since you have access to spoilers - but that's not the point. The point is to have fun and challenge yourself, and compare yourself to other peoples' approaches. The starting saves and rulesets are still generally available, and so are peoples' reports.
Generally if you post a nice report on a shadow game you'll prompt discussion, even if the adventure itself was a long time ago.
Besides, the only reason we stopped running adventures was lack of interest. If that interest has returned, we can revive them.
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Another possibility is to sign on with someone as a dedicated lurker. All that's required is to read only their thread, not any of their competitors' threads. If you haven't read any spoilers, you're allowed to discuss strategy and tactics with the primary player. At first your involvement may be just asking questions, which is still often much appreciated by a player. It's nice to know that someone cares about your reports, and also explaining yourself often helps clarify your thinking. As you get better, you could transition to giving advice or substituting for the turnplayer when they are vacationing, etc. Some of the best players on this site are really basically teams, although one player is officially the actual turnplayer with others as dedlurkers.
It's generally considered good form to ask if the player would accept you as a dedlurker - but I don't think I've ever seen anyone decline 
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Yet a third option is to sign up to take over someone's civ in a Pitboss or PBEM when they post a 'looking for replacement' thread. That's a low-pressure way to play, because most of the time people don't look for a replacement until it's obvious they're not doing the game justice. First they start to get tired of civ (or MP). They get busy and rush turns, then they miss a couple turns. Generally by the time you can substitute for a player, there's no way their civ can win anymore, and the only expectation is that you can play better than the AI would. Not exactly a high bar  .
The advantage to this approach is that you can get experience in later eras, see what other people have done, and just need to be a good sport. And it's a smaller commitment since you're coming in closer to the end of the game.
EitB 25 - Perpentach
Occasional mapmaker
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