Ah, now it finally allowed me to join. Thanks again. I've been playing GalCiv almost since the game was released. I started an Empire immediately, but alas, no other hockey fans out there would join me. So I played and enjoyed the game while i waited for the MOO3 patch to come out and found that this game was quite addicting.

I found that I had to turn off cultural victory. It just shorted the game considerable when I won that way. I've continued to bump up the difficulty level and enjoyed searching for those weak spots in the AI (like its starbase building). I have yet to try maso and my latest game is on a lower level, but larger map than my norm.

Depending on my starting location, my basic strategy consists on getting the grav accel researched as soon as possible and build that and diplomatic translators ASAP. If I get those two things, things go much easier the rest of the way, but if I don't, the game does get much more interesting.

By far my favorite battle took place on my first challenging level game. I barely won that one and only did since I allied myself with the strongest AI. That's the danger of a war early in the game, but it make a heck of a battle (pretty much the hundred years war between the forces of good and evil).

Lastly, I do check my score in the metaverse, but just out of curiousity more than anything else. Mostly it's to compare against the top players and see what type of games and styles are being played.

And if you're interested in other ways to fight for the forces of good, I do belong to a clan in progress quest (Bendrig and the White Robes) LOL

I'll be a little more in character next time. Just wanted to give a quick intro and a little info about myself.

I just kicked out a little short story on "The Summoning" thread.

Please note that I'm not a good writer
[Message Edited]

I liked it very much.

I'd say welcome aboard, but I just got here myself.

~SDC~

Welcome to the Council, Bruinb77 and Uileat!
Feel free to avail yourselves to the hospitality of the White Tower.

Just some history on Council alignment for newcomers. I specifically did not want to restrict the Council to only those of a good alignment because that would restrict our freedom in Galciving (ie not been able to play evil for the fun of it because of the Council).

The council's roleplaying alignment is Lawful Neutral. We seek to bring order to the Metaverse and the methods we choose are to be honourable. That's the Lawful part. The Neutral portion relates to the various types of personalities and alignments that individual Wizards may choose to adopt so long as they are not disruptive to the Council.

For roleplaying, I would try to add a short story segment to the Summoning everytime we pass an Empire (BTW, that was a very good attempt, Philo). One is actually due now as we have passed Apolyton, achieving the target that I have set for the Council just yesterday.

I would like to script you guys into the story, but I need you to tell me more about your chosen character (eg. HawaiiFive-O is an alchemist).

Finally, I need to warn the Council about the One-Ring.

Notice that we have chosen a most dangerous path of trying to harness the power of the One-Ring to bring order to the Metaverse. However, never ever heed its call to put it on (ie. excessively milk your games to get the highest possible scores). By doing so, you will slowly but certainly be consumed by its power. It is most important to have fun with the game and treat scoring with the right attitude. Be forewarned!

The Summoning continues and our numbers grow. We welcome Patman3 into the White Council.

Patman3's magicks combined with ours has enabled the Council to pass the ANZACs.
[Message Edited]

By the way, I would also wish to make it clear to all that there will be no "Senators" in this Empire. All Council members are equal in authority and voice on Council matters.

Of course, I am slightly more equal in that I'm the empire admin and retain veto powers on all key issues but hey, you guys won't deny me a few perks, right?

Of course not. RHIP.



Rank
Has
Its
Privileges

~SDC~

Hey boss,

Start thinking up a new bit, I just posted my second victory and we passed ANZAC
[Message Edited]
[Message Edited]

Sorry, I've been gone a few days I take it I am in and its all out war? Anyway I just like the pretty ribbons and metals...

Welcome back smok-n-joe and congratulations on making Fleet Captain.

Just for fun, I've tabulated our ranks.

Commodore - 1
Fleet Captains - 4
Captain - 1
Commanders - 3
LTs - 3
Ensigns - 4

Lawful-neutral eh.


HEHE Chaotic Neutral is the only way to go mateys... Arrrrgh!!!!!!! Looks like we better prepare for another land raid. Now you get that sacramental wine ready for us. And this time, get something better than Mogen David.

Translated. The White Council is an evil dictatorship bent on finding the one ring (still in my possession) and returning it to Sauron. I see that the hearts of wizards, much like mortal men....Are easily corrupted.

I'm glad to see my wall of illusion is working well.

To you The White Council may seem a dictatorship, however I see Ray's rule as more of spiritual guardian then an emperor. In my experience an emperor has more of a tongue to send his troops into battle blindly where-as Ray supplies past knowledge and advice.

I should also point out that when we do find the rings (and take yours from you ) we will be sitting atop of the Metaverse with smile.

Don't worry about the ole Pirate King, philopoemen. He likes to make a nuisance of himself here in our thread but he is a honourable and civil opponent, unlike some of the other empire folks.

Missed out on recruiting Zoshan to the Council as he had the misconception that the Council is disbanding. Unfortunately, I was asleep and failed to clarify with him before he decided to join the MWC. We wish him all the best.

Welcome to the Council, Eldin. Your contribution has allowed us to power past the Canadians

Keep on Galciving and have fun. Feel free to raise questions or post strategies here on the Council thread. There is no need to be involved in the role-playing (eg. on our Summoning thread) if that is not your thing.

hmmmmm the G R O S S empire still take the lead

I didn't pay close enough attention during the Time Of Troubles (the Metaverse scoring hullabaloo from a week ago), so could someone confirm my observations as far as scoring goes. I skimmed those threads so I'm pretty sure I've got this stuff right:

a) Time to completion doesn't matter.
Type of wins matters a great deal, in order of strength: Military, Alliance, Cultural, Tech.
c) Pop + TGs + Wonders count, but not that much in the scheme of things.
d) Final Score = (Sum of Game Points) / (Sqrt of Number Of Games Played).

I was surprised at how lousy the Tech victory scores, considering it's about 'Transcending' this reality and all. My latest victory scored in the 5000s for Tech and in the 11000s for Alliance- with the exact same everything else.

I'm also a little surprised at the Final Score system, it means you can actually lose points after posting a game- that's a little counterintuitive.

Anyways, not trying to stir up the controversy again, just getting things straight in my head. Knowledge is Power. Good luck in your battles, fellow Wizards.

~SDC~

Here's the final scoring outcome from the Time of Troubles.
-------------
Here is how the system generally works now:

Difficulty Level:
The base score is based on the intelligence of the various computer players. This makes up the vast majority of the score. There is a slight bonus for playing as the opposite alignment as most of the players for most of the game. It looks at each turn and then looks at how much you are different each turn. But it's a relatively small adustment.

Galaxy Size:
There is a moderate adjustment based on galaxy size. But not much. Gigantic galaxy vs. tiny will be about a 3 to 1 difference in scores if all variables are the same.

Population:
Population is looked at but its value decreases as the game progresses. It is Population P / Turns N ^2. You're actually better off having a pretty good population earlier than having a huge population later and sitting on it. You're not penalized for having long games though, you simply don't get additional points at a certain point. That said, population is a relatively minor part of the scoring. It also takes into account what percentage of the total galactic population you have that turn. That is, your score is then modified by 100% - your percent of the population. So if you have 90% of the galactic population, you're only going to get 10% of the population score that turn.

Technology:
What percentage of the technology tree you have acheived and how fast you get it are added in. A fairly modest bonus but it's still lookeda t.

Economics, Trade Goods, Wonders, etc.
These other things are looked at and a few points added. They won't make that big of a difference (on a 15,000 point score they may add a few hundred points total).

Victory Condition:
Then the victory condition is looked at. The score is multiplied by it. Conquest = 10. Alliance =9. Culture = 8. Technology Victory = 7 (bear in mind that this is partially made up for by having a higher percent of the tech tree completed bonus).

Notes:
You're best scoring scenario is to win but not win too quickly. The system is designed to appeal to the mass majority of players, not the top 10 players. As a result, we want to create a system that rewards people for playing the game as it was designed to be played. That means your best bang for the buck will be games that are medium in length. You get serious diminishing returns. Sitting on 90% of the galaxy for turn after turn is not going to net you more points. You're not penalized either but you're not rewarded for having a huge population if you've got the game wrapped up. On the other hand, win the game in say year 3 due to some specific strategy won't net very good scores because you haven't had time to build up other parts to get multiplied by.



Yes, that's was a complaint by some as well but as you said, let's not go back there.

Thank you very much for reposting that, answers all of my questions.

The Time Of Troubles, there were giants back then, with names like Staffa, Sergey, and RayChua the Grey. 'Course you've returned to us as RayChua the White to lead us into battle.

I don't know how much use I'll be in helping us overtake the Canuckistanian Hordes, and of course we've got the ANZACs hot on our heels, but I'll try to get another game in this week.

That one ANZAC, Space Wombat, has an unhealthy fascination with drop bear arses, have you noticed? Good thing you had a Chain Contingency-Delayed Blast Fireball-Teleport ready to go.

~SDC~

Ahh Five-O, been reading your Dungeons and Dragons Manual again? Forget your foolish magics...our drop bears are now equipped with trans-warp capability. YOU will soon be the one concerned with drop bear arses...nothing escapes a drop bear at Warp 6......watch the skies......

"That one ANZAC, Space Wombat, has an unhealthy fascination with drop bear arses, have you noticed? Good thing you had a Chain Contingency-Delayed Blast Fireball-Teleport ready to go."

Aye, and we certainly did not help his mental condition by tramatising him with that polymorph spell. He was only saved from a fatal encounter with the Mother of all Detonators by doing an excellent imitation of Fatso the Fat-Arsed Wombat (no, I'm not joking, that's a real aussie invention http://www.strategicresources.com.au/fatso.html).

Seems like the Time of Troubles (are you a EU2 player?) did not do too much after all. Staffa's back posting on the board.

Oh come now! Who do you think you are dealing with? I am the Creator of the Writer, the Keeper of the Data Files. You think I fear a couple of drop bears?

Give me a sec... *loads up Drop Bear entry* ... ahh, I see. No, no, this will never do. *makes a few hand gestures, the sound of keys, a couple of clicks of a mouse* ... There much better!

I've lowered Drop Bear speed from Transwarp 6 to 1 km/hour. Oh, and I've changed their names from Drop Bears to Care Bears. They've got new powers now, they can shoot happy rainbows from their bellys and sing children's songs- but as far as dropping their smelly arses upon unsuspecting wizards, well, they just don't *want* to do *that* any more.

You'll have to try a little harder than that, my Space Wombat friend. LOL

Love the picture Ray posted of you by the way...

~SDC~

EU2 fan, of course. I loved playing Mother Russia.

Yes, I see Staffa's returned to us as well. Looks like the Titans needed a little time off, but they are now returning to the fold.

~SDC~

LMAO!! Fatso is, in fact, something of an Australian icon these days...I would never presume to compare myself....

Five-O, your pseudo-masonic hand gestures failed to penetrate the Force 10 Containment field surrounding the BattleCruiser Waltzing Matilda, and your moves were rendered impotent, although these is a fellow wearing a funny costume standing over there who wants you to sign up for something....

The Care Bears are the deepest wishes of your subconscious coming to the surface under the influence of whatever you smoke in that White Council meeting room...in fact, you're more likely to need care PACKAGES after the smoke clears....

Thankfully I've thrown off the remnants of that blasted ploymorph spell, although I still have an odd desire to be shorn....and I'm having nightmares about sheepdogs....and I want to live in a greener paddock....

I also played EU2 - but I suck at that even more than I do at GalCiv (:(

We shall see, Wombat, we shall see.

Mayhap you still aren't thinking too clearly yet, what with all the morphing back and forth you've been doing.

Enjoy the company of your Care Bears. Hey look! A pretty rainbow...

~SDC~

I wouldn't be surprised if most of us Galcivers share lots of common interest. I played EU2 alot but had to play with quite a bit of house rules so as to make it challenging. You have to love the AARs in that board (esp Prof Ebbesen's).

Sometime back, folks were talking about Risk in another thread. As a child I was frustrated that there was noone who wants to play Risk with me. Couldn't understand why everyone wants to play with toy soldiers when they can play such a strategic and thought provoking game That's a pretty nice mental image of me ay? A dejected-looking ten year old with his chin in his hands, sitting alone with a board game.

Then it was D&D/AD&D, fantasy books and obviously all kinds of RPG and Stategy computer games in my youth.

Boy, I feel old now.