[SPOILERS] - PBEM27 Lurker thread

[Ruff_Hi]

And away we go ... almost.

[Ruff_Hi]

Here is the pick order ...

Ellimist
Serdoa
Pegasus
Nakor

[Ruff_Hi]

Map info - general over view:



Each civ has a corner and one captive Barb city (off shore, plenty of goodies, well defended with 2 longbows). There are 4 barb cities behind a firewall of mountains that are not accessible until paratroopers. I expect most of the barb teching to come from here. I am still playing with the barb set up so that they don't tech away too much (they were teching alphabet in 1900BC in one test game).

Some of the resources are mirrored and some are not. The hills, rivers and forests are not mirrored. There should be an equal number for each player. Initial count was 75 land tiles each so, assuming 21 land times per city, that is only just under 4 cities each. I am hoping to give them enough room to get a foot hold, but not enough so that they don't have to compete. They will all have a barb challenge and the player that cracks their barb city first will gain a jump on the others.

[Ruff_Hi]

NE



Map stats:
Player 2
Asoka of India
117 land tiles.
(71 grass, 21 plains, 5 deserts, 20 tundra, 0 snow. 23 forests, 0 jungles, 4 flood plains, 0 oasis. 21 hills.)
561 total food potential.
2.23 food per non-ocean tile.
130 total hammer potential.
0.52 hammers per non-ocean tile.
135 coastal tiles.
195 ocean tiles.

8 strategic resources (1 oil, 1 stone, 1 marble, 2 copper, 1 coal, 1 horse, 1 iron).
9 happy resources (1 fur, 1 dye, 1 sugar, 1 wine, 1 spices, 1 gold, 1 gems, 1 silver, 1 whale).
16 food resources (4 crab, 1 cow, 2 fish, 1 sheep, 1 pig, 1 sugar, 1 rice, 1 wheat, 1 deer, 2 corn, 1 whale).
17 health resources (4 crab, 1 cow, 2 fish, 1 sheep, 1 pig, 1 sugar, 1 rice, 1 wine, 1 wheat, 1 deer, 1 spices, 2 corn).

SE


Player 1
Zara_yaqob of Ethiopia
118 land tiles.
(71 grass, 20 plains, 5 deserts, 22 tundra, 0 snow. 23 forests, 0 jungles, 4 flood plains, 0 oasis. 21 hills.)
563 total food potential.
2.23 food per non-ocean tile.
130 total hammer potential.
0.51 hammers per non-ocean tile.
135 coastal tiles.
196 ocean tiles.

8 strategic resources (2 stone, 1 oil, 1 marble, 1 horse, 1 iron, 1 coal, 1 copper).
9 happy resources (1 fur, 1 sugar, 1 dye, 1 wine, 1 gold, 1 spices, 1 gems, 1 whale, 1 silver).
16 food resources (4 crab, 1 sheep, 1 sugar, 2 fish, 1 cow, 1 pig, 1 deer, 1 wheat, 2 corn, 1 rice, 1 whale).
17 health resources (4 crab, 1 sheep, 1 sugar, 2 fish, 1 cow, 1 pig, 1 deer, 1 wheat, 1 wine, 2 corn, 1 spices, 1 rice).

SW


Player 0
Hammurabi of Babylon
115 land tiles.
(71 grass, 17 plains, 5 deserts, 22 tundra, 0 snow. 23 forests, 0 jungles, 4 flood plains, 0 oasis. 21 hills.)
563 total food potential.
2.52 food per non-ocean tile.
126 total hammer potential.
0.57 hammers per non-ocean tile.
108 coastal tiles.
226 ocean tiles.

8 strategic resources (2 iron, 1 horse, 1 oil, 1 coal, 1 copper, 1 marble, 1 stone).
9 happy resources (1 whale, 1 silver, 1 gems, 1 spices, 1 gold, 1 dye, 1 sugar, 1 wine, 1 fur).
16 food resources (1 whale, 4 crab, 2 corn, 1 cow, 2 fish, 1 sugar, 1 rice, 1 pig, 1 sheep, 1 wheat, 1 deer).
17 health resources (4 crab, 2 corn, 1 spices, 1 cow, 2 fish, 1 sugar, 1 rice, 1 pig, 1 sheep, 1 wheat, 1 wine, 1 deer).

NW


Player 3
Gilgamesh of Sumeria
113 land tiles.
(71 grass, 17 plains, 5 deserts, 20 tundra, 0 snow. 23 forests, 0 jungles, 4 flood plains, 0 oasis. 21 hills.)
561 total food potential.
2.54 food per non-ocean tile.
126 total hammer potential.
0.57 hammers per non-ocean tile.
108 coastal tiles.
226 ocean tiles.

8 strategic resources (1 oil, 2 marble, 1 horse, 1 iron, 1 coal, 1 copper, 1 stone).
9 happy resources (1 silver, 1 whale, 1 gems, 1 gold, 1 spices, 1 wine, 1 dye, 1 sugar, 1 fur).
16 food resources (1 whale, 2 corn, 4 crab, 1 sheep, 2 fish, 1 rice, 1 wheat, 1 cow, 1 pig, 1 deer, 1 sugar).
17 health resources (2 corn, 4 crab, 1 sheep, 2 fish, 1 rice, 1 wheat, 1 cow, 1 pig, 1 deer, 1 spices, 1 wine, 1 sugar).

[SevenSpirits]

What's the purpose of the barbs? (What do they actually do?)

What's your justification for not having any contested land between players?

[Ruff_Hi]

What's the purpose of the barbs? (What do they actually do?)

The are there to challenge the players from behind. I am trying to force them to have initially face threats from all directions.

What's your justification for not having any contested land between players?

Its been done. And the person jumping into the middle ground gains a huge lead ... almost making the game a race to the centre. My hope is that with only just under 4 cities each, they will be forced into conflict.

[Gaspar]

The are there to challenge the players from behind. I am trying to force them to have initially face threats from all directions.

Its been done. And the person jumping into the middle ground gains a huge lead ... almost making the game a race to the centre. My hope is that with only just under 4 cities each, they will be forced into conflict.

My gut instinct on the barbs is that with the extra barbs unreachable, the barbs will have a relatively minor impact on the game. The land on the main continent will be settled incredibly quickly, probably totally full by T40. So there won't be any barbs appearing there. Unless you do something crazy like giving those barbs rifles those cities will fall as soon as someone hits maces and then the barbs behind the wall will serve no longer purpose. I don't have an alternate recommendation, but its really up to you what you want them to achieve. The likelihood that the barbs put together raiding parties and land them off galleys to harass the players is pretty slim. If you're not concerned about the barbs impacting the game past medieval why not just leaves them where they are but without the mountain wall and let the players attack them come Astronomy?

As far as the map itself - if someone chooses Agg Rome or WC rushes with Egypt this game could be over in a Conquest victory really early. I don't know if anything is unbalanced by I'd predict a quick game regardless. Not sure if that's what you're after.

[Commodore]

Moving aside with the barb shenanigans, each player I see can actually get 6-7 cities in a not-too-tight dotmap, which I think would be fine but just for an FYI. Have you considered making the center still bleak but marginally inhabitable, with lakes, clams, and deer? IE, not overwhelming, but still worth settling to glean some usefulness.

Also, SW can move 1SW and get a nuts-food capital site. Might need some balance there.

The small size of this place overall will make for a fairly short, tight game which can definitely be a lot of fun, I do like the looks of the map. Might make the barb bonus cities a little more strongly held, but I like the concept.

[SevenSpirits]

The are there to challenge the players from behind. I am trying to force them to have initially face threats from all directions.

Barbarians as an offensive threat are VERY random, and I'd be careful about using them for that. Barbarians as a tasty (though perhaps tough) potential conquest are cool, but the ones here are so small. (One city per player.) I just suspect this part of the game is going to be quite disappointing for the players after that cool intro.

Its been done. And the person jumping into the middle ground gains a huge lead ... almost making the game a race to the centre. My hope is that with only just under 4 cities each, they will be forced into conflict.

It looks like resourceless tundra to me. What am I missing?

[novice]

It looks like resourceless tundra to me. What am I missing?

It's tundra to AVOID Lush Centre Syndrome.