Gamestart?

[Ironwood]

Hello. I've perused this forum a bit, and noticed nothing but game turn threads, which I don't totally understand. I am interested in geting into a game, but don't know exactly how people propse them, or what those threads are for. Could somebody explain the standard operating procedurs?

My preference for play would be of the "Role Playing" style advocated by another poster, plain vanilla SMAC, Thinker level of difficulty, random standard map (to keep things geographically interesting, but not have the game draw out forever).

I would also like to play a game of "plain vanilla" SMAX, largely the same settings, also roleplaying style (no alien cooperation!!!), etc.

It would also be fun to play a game of SMAX in which each player got to play any faction they wished, possibly even including custom factions the group can unanimously agree are fair (though this would slow the gamestart process. Once again, roleplaying style, but because everybody gets to pick their factions, this shouldn't be too odious.

Could someone explain how this works? I know how to play PBEM, but don't know what the procedure is for starting one.

[Flubber]

Really you have a couple of options. You can post a thread here and get interest and then either a) start the game up yourself using the in-game features or b) ask someone else to start up the game. The second option is to search for a thread in this section called Tournament sign-up and provide your info. Depending on the business of the organizers, games could start at any time.

If you want a game sooner rather than later, I would attempt to create one myself. In fact the "Sealurk Alert" game was one where I set simply set out the game parameters I was seeking and called for opponents. It filled up in a day and then we had a neutral party create a map and set passwords (Some players prefer this since the games map generator is not famous for its fair starts).

I would advise that you always have a moderator, even if all the moderator does is hold the passwords-- there would be nothing more frustrating than having a game stop just because a player disappeared.

[knowhow2]

Ironwood,

A few advice from a fairly newbie guy when it comes to MP to a totally newbie guy. Unless you are REALLY determined to play and finish a MP game you shouldn't just join some 4-player MP (any more than that is almost suicide since the time it takes to finish, years) as the first MP (PBEM) experience because if you are unlucky you could end up with some slow players and a PBEM may take longer time than you have patience. You might get sick of it before actually getting the joys from it. I was lucky, the first one I joined had good people who wanted a swift game but unfortunetly I had to leave for summer break and had to turn my part over to someone else (which brought the game into halt for the others but it was never my intension). Anyway I am currently in SIX PBEM games and as much as I wish to challenge you into a duell (=two player PBEM) I don't think I have the time but I am avaible for moderating (which would be my first time) and I am here often so in case there would be any drop outs I could jump in and keep the turns running till a replacement can be found (actually inspired by Avenoct/Smack ). So this is what you should do if you want to play a PBEM game soon:

You open a new thread (or you use this one) and a new PBEM game. Decide how many players you want (I recommend 4 or less), advertise for players and find a moderator when all slot are filled. You (and the other players) should decide how the settings should be and put all your emails at that (this) thread so that the moderator can set up a game.

If you have more question you can post them here and I (or any other players) will try to answer them for you.

-knowhow2