15-01-2003 22:16									#1
	MP Variant Games Support Apolyton buy from Amazon

Over at the Civ3PTW ladder, we've come up with a few variants and themes for games that are relatively quick, but still enjoyable, in the MP environment. I thought I might share a few of them, and ask if anyone else has any of their own that I might take back to the ladder community.

Anything not mentioned is generally can be left on random, or changed as you see fit for your own uses.

Expand, or Die! 1-2 Hour Game

Players: 2 (standard map), 3 (Large Map), 4-5 (Huge Map)
Landmass: Pangea
Barbarians: Sedentary/None
Newly Edited: Egypt is considered "banned" in this format due to being overpowered under these rule conditions.

In this setting, you simply expand as quickly as possible to reach a total of between 500-1000 points, depending on how long a game you want to play. The overgrown map size is used to make it unlikely that you will expand into another player before reaching the point goal. War in this game is strictly forbidden, as are all acts of war (as the computer would define them.) Alternatively, you may allow war with conscripts only- meaning only the units you find in huts. You can defend your Civ with any unit you choose to build, however.

Countdown to the Apocalypse 3-4 Hour Game

Players: 3 (Small Map) 4 (Standard Map) 5 (Large Map) 6-8 (Huge Map)
Landmass: Pangea
Time Limit: 180 or 240 minutes.

This game is an alternative for "Builder" players tired of seeing Aztecs show up on their doorstep 10 turns after the game begins. Until 1500 BC (3 hour game) or 1000 BC (4 hour game) war and all acts of war (see above) are absolutely forbidden. After that, the game may be played as normal. Victory is determined by point totals at the end of 3 or 4 hours. Basically, the first half of the game favors a builder, and the second half favors a warmonger, but only after giving the builder an initial chance to prepare for the coming storm.

"From Ancient Grudge Break to New Mutiny" 3-5 Hour Game

Players: 5-6 (Tiny Map) 7-8 (Small Map)
Landmass: Pangea
Barbarians: Raging
Civs Restricted to: Aztec, Iroquois, Egypt, Persia, Rome, Zulu, Babylon, Celts
Victory Condition: Elimination.

This game is, in a word: Bloody. Using only the Ancient-Era Civs listed above (Carthage and Greece were excluded for having units inappropriate to the game type) your objective is less to win and more to be the last person standing when the smoke clears. Because there is almost no elbow room at all, you can expect alliances to shift very quickly, and resources to become big targets. Playing a 7-8 player game may require some patience on the part of the connection, but it IS possible- I've done it three times. It's also, according to every player in those games, entirely worth it. Here's the final kicker: The host, preferably by using an 8-sided die, determines RANDOMLY who gets which of the Civs for the game. (If you don't trust your host, I dunno what to tell you.)

Give Peace a Chance ? Hour Game

Players:6-8 (Huge Map)
Landmass: Continents/Pangea
Barbarians: None
Victory Conditions: 1000/2000 points.
Civs Restricted to: Korea, India, Spain, Babylon, France, Ottomans, Greece, Egypt.

I haven't tried this one yet beyond a betatest, but this is essentially exactly the opposite of the game above. War is completely banned, *and so is the production of any and all military units.* All you get are settlers, workers, and explorers. Yes, this may mean you leave cities producing wealth early on at times. This game is pretty much "Clash of the Builders" with a restriction on who you can use. Again, the host RANDOMLY determines who gets which Civ from the list above.

Land Power vs Sea Power ? Hour Game

Players: 4
Landmass: Archipelago
Victory Conditions: Team Eliminated (See Below)
Civs Restricted To: England, Vikings (Team A) Japan, China (Team B)
Culturally Linked Starting Locations: ON
Allow Culture Flips: OFF

This game effectively pits Team A - two cultures with likely naval superiority, against Team B- two cultures with likely land superiority, in an environment where exactly where land and ocean regions are plays a big factor. Can England and the Vikings invade the Orient, where quick, strong units stride the lands? Can the Orient force enough boats through the waters to land on English and Viking shores? In this game, the two players work together to defeat the other team, and no victor is declared until one team is completely wiped out. Optionally, a Medieval Start might be used for this game.

Last edited by Fried-Psitalon on 24-01-2003 at 07:53

	18-01-2003 02:30									#2
	Give Peace a Chance Support Apolyton, buy Civilization: The Boardgame

Not allowing any units still leaves all civs vulnerable to the barbs. If you set it on sedentary that will help of course, but you may still want to consider limiting units to warriors. (then again the rare unchecked barbarian does give a little spice to the scenario)


A definate for "From Ancient Grudge Break to New Mutiny"

	18-01-2003 03:40									#3
	Support Apolyton buy from Amazon

One suggestion after playing countdown to the Apocalypse is that rather than having an end time (3 hours) have an end date say 0 BC.

That way a player can't just stall out the clock if they happen to be in the lead.

	18-01-2003 04:47									#4
	Enter the AD-FREE zone

Wow... I really am liking these game types...
They seem best for a lan party setting where everyone is close together, and there is no question of cheating. It's _so_ hard to find anyone trustworthy these days...

	23-01-2003 18:29									#5
	Get a bigger avatar today!

Wanted to toss this in and give credit to a Ladder TD called "Leviathan" for this...

Can You Say "Archer Rush?" I Knew You Could 1 hour game

Players: 2 (tiny map)
Landmass: Pangea
Barbarians: Restless
Other Settings: Civ-Specific Traits OFF

Sounds like an interesting way to have it out and see who really has skills and who relies heavily on their favorite Civ. In any case, we'll be playing a tourney of this on the ladder this Saturday at 1pm EST. If you'd like to try this one out in large numbers, join up and check it out.

	24-01-2003 00:28									#6
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Handicapping for Civs

It seems that there is a general consensus on what the best civs for multiplayer are both on the message board threads as well as when actually playing ladder players. I keep playing against Carthage, Egypt, Aztecs, Iroquois over and over again.

I think that it would be interesting to handicap the civs by tier to encourage a greater diversity of civs in the game and to ensure that one person doesn't get stuck with a "bad civ".

My proposal would be that if there is a mix of civs between tier 1 and tier 4 that the player using a higher powered civ should have to wait before building a city with their settler.

Turn delay would be based on the difference in tiers.

So if you have a tier 1 civ vs. a tier 4 civ then the tier 4 civ gets to put their city down right away and the tier 1 civ needs to wait 3 turns before building a city.

If you have multiple civs in different tiers then the lowest tier places first and the rest go in order.

Example:
two tier 1, one tier 3, and one tier 4 players in a game

Turn 1 - tier 4 player is allowed to place city
Turn 2 - tier 3 player is allowed to place city
Turn 4 - tier 1 players are allowed to place city

The nice thing about this system is that it is very enforceable. You can see by people's scores as soon as they put their city down.

Another alternative may be to allow people to bid a certain number of turns delay before placing their city in order to choose civs. I think this will become a bigger issue as people start to play ladder games more and the competition intensifies.