Hi all --

This is my first post here on the forums, so I'll try to keep it succinct.  I've been playing DG for about 3 weeks now and really enjoy it.  Yes, there still are some frustrating technical issues, but the actual design of the game shines for me.  I love the pace, the strategic and tactical decisions, the graphics, etc.

Probably the most frustrating things for me right now is joining an online game where my teammates and I get soundly trounced.  It's not particularly fun.  The match-making function in DG is sorely lacking.  I am aware that Stardock are planning on enhancing the multiplayer interface - in particular, to allow players to see the stats of other players in a game lobby - and I'm sure that will improve things for us casual players.  

To the point:  are there some other casual players out there interested in getting together regularly to play for fun and practice?  I have no interest in rankings and all that, I just want a better online experience.  If there were around 6 of us, we could just play against each other without having to deal with a lot of the idiots out there in online DG land.

By casual, I mean that you play DG a few times a week.  You're not obsessed, you're probably not interested in being a "pro" (whatever that means") but you like the game and maybe want to get more out of it.  If you look at my stats, you'll see that I've played around 25 times online.  You could be a total noob, I really don't care. 

We could schedule a time (maybe every night, or every other night, or just on weekends) to play some games.  We could set up a password-game so we don't need to deal with the possibility of "pro's" invading the game.  I have Skype on my computer and would be willing to try VOIP, but that's not a necessity.  I bet if we got a good crew together that just wanted to have fun, we could get away with the chat system as it is.

I live in NY, so an all east-coast US crew would be optimal.

If interested, please respond to this thread, PM me, email me, or chat with me via Impulse when you're online.  We could work out some kind of regular meeting time.

Hope to hear from some good folk who are just interested in enjoying the game.

-- NAc