05-02-2003 05:06									#1
	Game Status and Countdown Lose 30 kilos (of popups)

Here's the latest.

Firaxis has entered a team.

Yup - that is the good news. The bad news is I will have to ban Soren Johnson Firaxis from the civgroup.

That gives 7 confirmed teams:

1BC
CDG
Apolyton
CFC
Grenouille (French team with Crousto, Spiffor, and Astrologix from our site)
Civilization Webring Forum (Borc's German team)
Firaxis (edited to add to list)

and one probable:

CGN (who say they will be in.)

Game parameters are to be finalized by Thursday. There is some discussion about civs by then as well, but I am holding firm to having the parameters set, and then giving teams a window to pick civs. Although the parameters, including the views of the other teams, are coming out so far as:

no AI's
no accel prod
regular victory conditions
regent or monarch
standard map size

With 8 teams in I am going to post another poll regarding standard vs large map.

So - parameters by the 6th, a civ choice by the 9th or 10th, and the game starting Sunday the 16th. That is ROUGHLY the schedule. Don't jump on me if it changes. I can only ride herd on one team here.

BTW - CFC is having a somewhat difficult time getting its act together, with some dispute over who represents the team. Goonie has taken charge recently.

Speaking of CFC, they siad they had found a spy. His name was Mark Phiser. They were going to provide his ip.

And another BTW - joncnunn and Apocalypse joined and were authorized today.

Questions??

Last edited by Beta on 05-02-2003 at 16:54

	05-02-2003 05:35									#2
	Support Apolyton, pre-order Civilization IV

And Soren has left the building....

Either he left on his own, or Mark deleted him from the civgroup.

So - any other Firaxis spies in here???

	05-02-2003 07:47									#3
	Support Apolyton, buy Civilization III: Complete

Firaxis has a team? Who is on it? Does it include play testers?

	05-02-2003 10:15									#4
	Re: Game Status and Countdown Support Apolyton buy from Amazon

quote: Originally posted by BetaHound Here's the latest. Firaxis has entered a team. 1BC CDG Apolyton CFC Grenouille (French team with Crousto, Spiffor, and Astrologix from our site) Civilization Webring Forum (Borc's German team) and one probable: CGN (who say they will be in.)

Which of the above is Fraxis?

--Togas

	05-02-2003 10:34									#5
	Support Apolyton buy from Amazon

My guess is, as he listed 6 'definites', while claiming there were 7, Firaxis is most likely the 7th (and unlisted) one.

	05-02-2003 14:36									#6
	Browse Apolyton AD-FREE

Just a question... how do we make the game Regent or Monarch? I thought a known bug was forcing PBEM games to Chieftain... or is it just our Poly PtWDG?

	05-02-2003 16:55									#7
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Edited to add Firaxis to the above list. Sorry.

	05-02-2003 17:01									#8
	Enter the AD-FREE zone

AHHH HA! I knew it , there are moles!

	06-02-2003 03:23									#9
	Put an end to popups!

Firaxis is playing? We won't be able to beat them!

	06-02-2003 04:06									#10
	Support Apolyton

Has the land shape been decided?
Is it going to be Random?

	06-02-2003 04:07									#11
	Support Apolyton, buy Civilization 2

Nah:

Those who can win games, play games.

Those that can't win games, teach others how to play games.

Those that can't win games nor teach others how to play, write them.

quote: Originally posted by oliverfa Firaxis is playing? We won't be able to beat them!

	06-02-2003 05:21									#12
	Remove this text

These are the polling results from one of our opponents, CGN. Nice of them to tell us their civ choices.

"We have finished our polling at CGN.

Our Civ choices:
1st choice Ottomans
2nd choice Carthage
3rd choice Persia

Our map preferences are:
World Size: Large
Barbarians: Restless
Land Type: Continents 2
Climate: Normal
Temperature: Temperate
Age: 4 Billion"

Will keep you posted as things develop.

	06-02-2003 08:16									#13
	Support Apolyton, buy Call to Power 2

quote: Originally posted by vondrack Just a question... how do we make the game Regent or Monarch? I thought a known bug was forcing PBEM games to Chieftain... or is it just our Poly PtWDG?

Took this point to the inter-team forum, and miccofl of CGN provided this response. Maybe we should make Firaxis load the game initially....


Quote:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It has been raised in our forums that difficulty level is a moot point, as a known bug in the PTW pbem game defaults all games to chieftain. This has been confirmed by play in our PTW-demo game which was supposed to start on monarch or regent. (BetaHound)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



There is a workaround for that. It is a monumental pain, but it can be done.

The person who loads the game initially must uninstall Civ3 and PTW, then re-install both. Install the 1.04 patch and then load, play and send the game. He or she can then install the 1.14 patch. The other players can keep their systems the way they are as games started in 1.04 play with 1.14.

Regarding the contact issue; at CGN all of our PBEM games have a rule that no communication (game related) may pass between players until contact has been made in the game. We have discovered no violations to that rule since we started PBEM in November.

Our private forum at CGN is now up and running. (That makes me the invisible mod of the invisible forum at CGN.)

	06-02-2003 08:21									#14
	Support Apolyton, pre-order Civilization IV

Also - please note from the above post by miccofl that the concensus is coming down to NO inter-team contact until civs actually meet in the game. So much of that stuff we engaged in prior to and soon after the start of the ptw-demo game will not be allowed in this game. And that definitely rules out any mini-map trading.

Personally - I think this is a good thing.

(I won't go on my 'spirit and intent of the game' rant. )

	06-02-2003 08:31									#15
	BTW... Support Apolyton, buy Galactic Civilizations

... has it occurred to anyone in the organising committee to hold up the start of the game for the next patch?

It seems to me that we are rushing headlong into the game to meet a date, while if we were to have a bit of patience we could begin the game with a patch which may fix some problems with PBEM.

	06-02-2003 10:51									#16
	Re: BTW... Support Apolyton, buy Civilization III: Complete

quote: Originally posted by notyoueither ... has it occurred to anyone in the organising committee to hold up the start of the game for the next patch? It seems to me that we are rushing headlong into the game to meet a date, while if we were to have a bit of patience we could begin the game with a patch which may fix some problems with PBEM.

Exactly, nye! Especially because the new patch should not be that far from its release now, I would also very much support waiting few weeks and playing only with the new patch.

The current patch suffers from bugs that make PBEM games not unplayable, but rather awkward to play (especially regarding save/load procedures, as those are known to be bugged quite a bit... the extra production load bug, the cheat load bug etc.).

I believe it would be well worth postponing the launch.

Perhaps asking Firaxis about "whether it is reasonable to postpone the I-SDG game because of the new patch" might even give us some sort of a hint regarding the planned patch release date...

	06-02-2003 11:49									#17
	Re: Re: BTW... Increase Your PM Length

quote: Originally posted by vondrack The current patch suffers from bugs that make PBEM games not unplayable, but rather awkward to play (especially regarding save/load procedures, as those are known to be bugged quite a bit... the extra production load bug, the cheat load bug etc.). I believe it would be well worth postponing the launch. Perhaps asking Firaxis about "whether it is reasonable to postpone the I-SDG game because of the new patch" might even give us some sort of a hint regarding the planned patch release date...

I agree wholeheartedly.

First we should ask Firaxis (I quote) "whether it is reasonable to postpone the I-SDG game because of the new patch" (they have a team in, they must answer to this question) and if they say yes, postpone the start with a few days/weeks. We can use this time anyway, to organize ourselves.

BetaHound, could you perhaps send them an (official) email or ask them in the next meeting (or whatever way you talk to them)?

	06-02-2003 12:35									#18
	Me Too! Support Apolyton, buy Civilization: The Boardgame

Yeah, we've heard rumors that another patch should be near, I agree that it is probably in our best interests to wait until it is released, otherwise there are going to be a bunch of us who want to play test it and render our versions of PTW incompatible with the save.

	06-02-2003 14:06									#19
	Support Apolyton, buy Call to Power 2

where are the main discussions between the teams?
i cant find much on cdg...

	06-02-2003 15:50									#20
	Re: BTW... Increase Your PM Length

quote: Originally posted by notyoueither ... has it occurred to anyone in the organising committee to hold up the start of the game for the next patch? It seems to me that we are rushing headlong into the game to meet a date, while if we were to have a bit of patience we could begin the game with a patch which may fix some problems with PBEM.

Great idea, but:

do not wait unless it is very clear how long you will be waiting

	06-02-2003 17:16									#21
	Support Apolyton, buy Galactic Civilizations

quote: Originally posted by MarkG where are the main discussions between the teams? i cant find much on cdg...

They are being held on 1BC, in their United Nations Forum.

http://civ3dg.1bigcommunity.com/com...A21%3A00+AM&iG=

No problem if people want to review the discussion.

	06-02-2003 17:17									#22
	Re: Re: BTW... Avatar Enlargement: We've got the solution

quote: Originally posted by vondrack Exactly, nye! Especially because the new patch should not be that far from its release now, I would also very much support waiting few weeks and playing only with the new patch. The current patch suffers from bugs that make PBEM games not unplayable, but rather awkward to play (especially regarding save/load procedures, as those are known to be bugged quite a bit... the extra production load bug, the cheat load bug etc.). I believe it would be well worth postponing the launch. Perhaps asking Firaxis about "whether it is reasonable to postpone the I-SDG game because of the new patch" might even give us some sort of a hint regarding the planned patch release date...

Will ask.

	07-02-2003 06:17									#23
	Get a bigger avatar today!

This is a post from the intersite discussion forum. It sort of sums up what we are thinking. It was posted by miccofl of CGN. Kentonio is going to contact Firaxis to see what's up and if they have any idea of timing. They have some incentive now that they are in the game.

Quote/

The workaround I suggested is only required to be done by the person who sets up the game and plays the first turn.

Regarding waiting to start; will these issues be addressed and repaired by the patch? Will the patch create other problems such as the above-mentioned workaround that 1.14 caused? Do we really think that at this level of play a team would stoop so low as to cheat or knowingly use exploits?
If we can get some kind of definitive answer from Firaxis as to whether the game issues will be addressed without causing more problems, and we can all get the patch by Friday, Feb 28 for a March 1 start date, than we should wait. Otherwise; we should go ahead and start, load the patch when it comes and hope that the fact Firaxis is playing in this will cause them to be extra diligent in getting things right with the new patch.

/Quote

	07-02-2003 08:33									#24
	RE: the next patch Support Apolyton buy from Amazon

If the release of the next patch follows the last one, there will be some time from when the US english Patch has been released to when the different Europian versions come out. If that happens this next time, we will likely have to wait to upgrade.

E_T

	07-02-2003 08:57									#25
	Increase Your PM Length

Are the Europeans willing to use the US English version?

	07-02-2003 09:29									#26
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A number of sites have yet to register with their game parameter votes - but the early returns indicate standard map size, continents 2, normal climate/age, and regent difficulty (having the first player go through the re-load process for getting around the difficulty bug).

I hope to be back here tomorrow with final results. CGN, the last site into the game, and ourselves are done. Firaxis will play with whatever the other 7 decide. And CDG has only decided upon difficulty and map size. Will keep you posted - pardon the pun.

nye - I will inquire. If the US version is going to be awhile, it becomes a moot question. ...Beta.

	07-02-2003 21:41									#27
	Inflate your Upload Space

Cross post from another thread

There is an easier workaround that having the first player uninstall PTW, install the version without the difficulty bug , play the turn, and then reinstall the current version:

Simply have the first player make a backup of their bic / bix files, and then mod all the levels to the desired standard level settings. Since the settings are stored along with the slave, no one else needs to do a thing, and the bug will have no effect other than the label.

	08-02-2003 00:25									#28
	Enter the AD-FREE zone

I wouldnt worry about cheating. True one person on a teams might tink about it, but once other people of their team found out, I'm sure they would kick him off. I have no problem with using 1.14 either. It has worked fine in the Apolyton MP demogame.

	08-02-2003 10:03									#29
	Support Apolyton, pre-order Civilization IV

hi ,

intresting to see that Firaxis is playing also , .... that can only benefit the game

, Mark as a point , maybe we need some embassy thread , ....

or special teams threads , ....

have a nice day

	08-02-2003 19:38									#30
	Put an end to popups!

It is now official that we are playing on a standard size map, with continents, and normal climate and age settings. No AcP, No AI's. Standard victory conditions.

Barbarians look like restless, but not finalized. Difficulty at regent or monarch.