Peasants PBEM

[Khan]

Are there any folks that might be interested in playing a PBEM. I've noticed a few games starting with a higher skill cap. I was thinking about a PBEM for the guys that don't qualify for those.

Apart from that stipulation, I would like to play without any mods and minimal restrictions; possibly even allowing duplicates if that can be achieved without mods? That is merely an idea and if you would like to play otherwise, don't let it put you off.

Maybe maximum of 5 players. I would really prefer if the speed was 1 turn per day so I guess that means I prefer 4 or 5 players depending on timezones and people's availability and so on.

Turn Order:

Khan
Bobchillingworth
GE
Sian

Bob is Pacal.
Sian is Darius.
Khan is Asoka.
GE is Willem.

Difficulty: Emperor with Toroidal map
Barbarians: Off
Diplomacy: as limited as practically possible, and a caveat of no secret rebus diplomacy by city or unit naming. I assume this is basically AI diplomacy, you can offer trades ingame etc but no words or attempts at proper diplomacy.
Bans: default bans (War 'Phants, Espionage, etc) I assume this includes SoZ and Great Lighthouse. Please say so now if this is not amenable to you.
Starting Units: Standard
Map Size: Standard'ish ... some 8-12 cities per player
Mapmaker Guidelines: I would prefer the map not to be mirrored. I suppose, my vision is for you to randomly roll a few maps until you find out with some interesting geography then amend it to make sure the capitals and some surrounding land is suitable. If in doubt, make it more lush. More lush is more options which is good. I would suggest basing the map off Totestra, which was used in PBEM68 ... no mirroring and with naval units not being totally irrelevant.
Picks: Restricted. Inca banned.

[gingereagle1969]

just popped on and saw this .. my level of skill is probably low enough to qualify

time to dig out my list of palace players & managers again

[Sian]

Eh, sure, i'll join ... with the hope that the playorder actually makes me get the saves close to my preferred and listed playtime and not half an hour after me shutting down for the right

[Bobchillingworth]

Tempted to join this as well. Put me as a backup- if you find yourselves short a player to make this game viable, I'm in. Otherwise someone else is free to take my slot.

[Khan]

Provisional player list then of:

Khan
gingereagle1969
Sian
Bobchillingworth

In my view, four is a good number so if Bob confirms, I would be happy with this. We do require a mapmaker though, which I suppose brings us nicely to the discussion of settings. My preferences are below:

Difficulty: Mapmaker discretion. Not too high.
Barbarians: Off
Diplomacy: I am happy, and would even prefer, this to be on. Unfortunately, I am well aware that this is likely a deal breaker for some and would rather play with it off than not at all.
Bans: Standard Bans (Soz, Phants, etc.)
Starting Units: All start with a scout?
Map size: A good size. I want to rule a country rather than a city state, let's put it that way.
Mapmaker Guidelines: I would prefer the map not to be mirrored. I suppose, my vision is for you to randomly roll a few maps until you find out with some interesting geography then amend it to make sure the capitals and some surrounding land is suitable. If in doubt, make it more lush. More lush is more options which is good.
Picks: Happy with anything really. As originally stated, I would even be happy to let everyone pick whatever they want and allow duplicates (if this is possible without a mod, I have no idea).

with the hope that the playorder actually makes me get the saves close to my preferred and listed playtime and not half an hour after me shutting down for the right

Let's put the time and effort in now to make sure we have total clarity with playing times and so on. What is your preferred playing time? I am lucky in that I can play almost 100% of the time between 19:00 and 00:00 GMT but I also am very likely to have few available play windows between 09:00 and 17:00. In previous games I was often able to play my turn earlier when it turned up early which in one of the games resulting in 2-3 turn days for most of it.

[Bobchillingworth]

Sure, I'm in.


Difficulty: Mapmaker discretion.
Barbarians: Standard
Diplomacy: AI Only
Bans (not including leaders): WE, espionage missions.
Starting Units: Standard
Map size: Not huge.
Mapmaker Guidelines: See above.
Picks: No duplicates. Otherwise not too particular. Perhaps restricted picks only (meaning default pairings)? Makes the picking phase faster as well, everyone just emails their top four to the mapmaker.

[Sian]

Difficulty: eh whatever ... depends on map i guess.
Barbarians: would honestly prefer off as its potentially to RNGish who's hit hardest.
Diplomacy: as limited as practically possible, and a caveat of no secret rebus diplomacy by city or unit naming.
Bans: default bans (War 'Phants, Espionage etc)
Starting Units: Standard
Map Size: Standard'ish ... some 8-12 cities per player
Mapmaker guidelines: I would suggest basing the map off Totestra, which was used in PBEM68 ... no mirroring and with naval units not being totally irrelevant.
Picks: eh ... no preference in any way ... wouldn't mind duplicates either.

Let's put the time and effort in now to make sure we have total clarity with playing times and so on. What is your preferred playing time? I am lucky in that I can play almost 100% of the time between 19:00 and 00:00 GMT but I also am very likely to have few available play windows between 09:00 and 17:00. In previous games I was often able to play my turn earlier when it turned up early which in one of the games resulting in 2-3 turn days for most of it.

The problem is that the last handful of times I've fairly consistently said that my playing window was most ideally between 14:00-22:00 GMT, but just as consistently my saves tended to shift to first arriving at ~22:30-00:00, at which point I'm fast asleep

[gingereagle1969]

Difficulty: Mapmaker discretion.
Barbarians: Standard or off
Diplomacy: limited
Bans: default
Starting Units: Standard
Map size: Not huge.
Mapmaker Guidelines: See above.
Picks: if we go for duplicates, without a mod, how about we all have the same? or 2 leaders & 2 civs gives 4 combos - mapmakers allocation

[Khan]

It bodes well that you have all replied so promptly. I've attempted to collate the results below. If anyone felt strongly about a particular issue (for example, Bob in relation to no duplicates, I have taken this stance).

The items in green I believe we have reached a consensus on.


Difficulty: Mapmaker discretion.
Barbarians: Two votes for off, one for on and one for either. Is this a dealbreaker for anyone? I do have a mild preference for off but if someone feels more strongly I will relent.
Diplomacy: as limited as practically possible, and a caveat of no secret rebus diplomacy by city or unit naming.
Bans: default bans (War 'Phants, Espionage, etc) I assume this includes SoZ and Great Lighthouse. Please say so now if this is not amenable to you.
Starting Units: Standard
Map Size: Standard'ish ... some 8-12 cities per player
Mapmaker Guidelines: I would prefer the map not to be mirrored. I suppose, my vision is for you to randomly roll a few maps until you find out with some interesting geography then amend it to make sure the capitals and some surrounding land is suitable. If in doubt, make it more lush. More lush is more options which is good. I would suggest basing the map off Totestra, which was used in PBEM68 ... no mirroring and with naval units not being totally irrelevant.
Picks: No duplicates. I think Bob's idea of restricted picks has merit. I'm personally not fond of ginger's suggestion.

[Khan]

The problem is that the last handful of times I've fairly consistently said that my playing window was most ideally between 14:00-22:00 GMT, but just as consistently my saves tended to shift to first arriving at ~22:30-00:00, at which point I'm fast asleep

I can understand why that must be frustrating. Having acknowledged this early, let's strive to ensure that this game does not follow that unfortunate trend.

gingereagle1969 and Bobchillingworth, what are your preferred time slots?