Teamgame # 3 - Turn Reporting Thread

[Googlie]

This is a smac game

Players, in turn order, are:

Gaians - Waab ( robert.johansson@swirve.com )
Hive - smhfan96 ( callistosdarkside@rogers.com )
UoP - Archaic ( archaiceternal@hotmail.com )
Morgan - Googlie ( linfrew@aol.com )
Sparta - EnsRegis ( EnsRegis@aol.com )
Peacekeepers - RedFred ( rshypitka@hotmail.com )

Believers - Regrettably the unity escape pod containing Sister Miriam and her acolytes was destroyed upon entering Chiron's atmosphere due to a malfunctioning ablative heat shield. It is believed that Sister Miriam was carrying the blueprints and plans for an entity to be known as The Empath Guild, rendering it impossible for the colonists to build that on Chiron.

Sabotage is suspected


Large map, Transcend level, average everything, all five winning conditions activated, plus look first, spoils of war, no Unity survey and no random events.

Seed pods do not produce technologies nor AA's

The Empath Guild has been disabled

T E A M S

Team # 1

University - Archaic
Hive - smhfan86

Team # 2

Sparta - EnsRegis
Gaians - Waab

Team # 3

Peacekeepers - RedFred
Morgan - Googlie

STANDARD APOLYTON RULES

Apolyton Tourney Rules (amended for teamplay games)

PBEM specific rules/restrictions on exploiting bugs:

> Multiple reloading of the game to try for different effects is forbidden. If a reload is necessary because of a game crash etc., an explanation should be posted to the turn administration thread.

> Multiple drops or orbital insertions using the right-click menu is forbidden. So is airdropping from outside a base/airbase, or after having moved (except on a magtube) using the same method. Using the 'i' key when you want an airdrop means you will automatically comply with these restrictions.

> Inserting Stockpile Energy into the build queue after a military unit is forbidden.

> If a player employs a tactic that causes a state of vendetta, they are not allowed to "accept" a pending diplomatic agreement with that faction in the same turn, causing a change in diplomatic status or the transfer of energy or knowledge.

> If an aggressive probe action (anything except infiltration) is used on a faction with whom you have a truce, treaty or pact, you must select 'Declare Vendetta' in the dialog box that appears afterwards, and notify the victim of your transgression, unless you have received permission in advance. No notification is required in other cases.

> Upgrading units with the design workshop is allowed at end of turn only. However, supply crawlers upgraded in this fashion can still be used to advance Secret Projects in the same turn.

> Teamgames: Communications between pacted factions or team-mates is allowed from the start. No restrictions.

> Social engineering choice limited to one switch per line per turn. (no flip-flop within turn!)

> Psi units cannot be assigned multiple point patrol routes (avoid instant demon boil bug!)

> Whenever the planetary council is called, the caller (or the first player to vote if the AI calls it) should post a notification to the thread, including vote totals (if applicable) and who has already voted for what. The other players should post how they vote.

> Each game is initiated by a CMN who is not participating in that particular game. The CMN assigns a unique password to each player, emails it to them and sends out the first turn to the first player. If a player is away/offline/unable to play for over 72 hours, he/she must notify the CMN and the other players of the game about this and request the game to be postponed for a fixed time period. Otherwise, if a player does not respond to the game turn within 48 hours (without prior notification and postponing of the game), then the CMN will enter the game in place of the player, and at the option of the other players, either obliterate all bases and disband all units or turn the faction over to the AI. Alternatively, a replacement player may be found. If more players drop out similarly, then the last player is automatically declared to be the winner of the game.

> No base trading with the AI. Extortion is allowed.

*******************************************

[smhfan86]

I think the probe rule should be slightly reworded, to say that you must inform the person u probed in all cases except for vendetta or you had prior permission.

Because, in a game I played, I did not recieve a declare vendetta option when I probed a player that I was not at vendetta with. The case was that In the trade screen it said no truce, in the commlink it said nothing beside his name, but if u right clicked on his name, it said truce.

This has to do with the fact that everyone starts out with all human commlinks. So I suggest, if we want to avoid this problem, everyone accept a truce with all non-teammates at the start. This should give everyone a declare vendetta pop-up when they probe.

[Googlie]

If you were simply infiltrating his datalinks, then no message pops up. All other actions, AFAIK, will give the Vendetta choice message regardless of status.

Might you have just been infiltrating (in which case the rules do not require you to notify the probed party)

G.

[smhfan86]

buster helped confirm the problem. first i went probe v probe at one of my opponenet's bases. after two times, i destroyed the probe, then stole a tech. however, there was no vendetta pop-up.

we had not accepted a truce, treaty or pact previously. the trade screen said no truce. the comlink said nothing, but if u right click on the name, it'll say truce. therefore, i believe the inconsistency caused the problem.

a simple solution to avoid this, would have everyone accept a truce with everyone before we meet. then, i'm almost certain u will have no problem with getting the popup. of course, the no communications rule until u meet would still apply, except for your teammate.

[waab]

When do you send out the save file?

And can I get the email adress to smhfan96?

[Googlie]

It won't be me who sends out the file, as I'll be a player. I haven't heard from Dilithium Dad, but have heard that he was out of town until the 12th, so is prolly in "catch-up" mode right now. I'll prod him with another e-mail.

I've gone back and edited the first post to incorporate e-mail addresses.

EnsRegis - we still need your e-mail address

G.

[EnsRegis]

As I said in the previous thread (the one we started the game in), my e-mail address is EnsRegis@aol.com.

[Googlie]

EnsRegis - sorry, it didn't register with me when I flipped through looking for it

Anyway - thanks and good news, DD has respondced and will CMN the game for us

G.

[EnsRegis]

As a complete newbie, I feel compelled to ask: What does CMN stand for?

Also, how does this work? Does the first player get the game file from DD, play his turn, save it, and email it to the next player? Is that right?

[smhfan86]

i forget what cmn stands for, they're the person that creates the game, holds the passwords, and settles disputes.

you will recieve an email from the player before u with an attached zip file. unzip the file and start smac. clik on multiplayer, load hotseat/pbem game. select the save file.

you might get a popup stating you are the spartans, however it doesn't always come up.

next, you will enter your password, given to you by the cmn via email.

play the turn until it says end of turn, and hit the turn done button on the far right, it'll be flashing, like usual.

when u do that, it'll bring up another screen. don't enter ur password, as it's the next person's turn. it'll say who's turn it is.

click save and exit. when saving, it is important to rename the file, by deleting your name, and adding the next player's name.

e.g. you get 'teamgame3-ensregis, 2102.sav'
when u save it, rename it to 'teamgame-redfred, 2102.sav'

click ok.

now zip the file and email it to redfred.

*important* the reason why i said u should rename the file when you're saving, is that when you save the file, it oftens saves to the main smac directory as opposed to the save directory. if u don't rename the file, it's easy to send the wrong save file, and this usually ends up causing major delays, as we might have to replay some turns. not fun.

hope this helps.

[EnsRegis]

OK, I get it now. :-) Look forward to playing!

[Googlie]

When you get more comfortable with playing you'll adopt some shortcuts.

I have a desktop folder called "PBEM saves" and another called "Zipped PBEMs"

I unzip my turns into my first folder, and then go to that when loading the game, deleting the previous turn when i do so (right clicking on, for example, TG-3 - Googlie, 2111, selecting "delete" and then left clicking on TG-3 - Googlie, 2112 to load that one.

When saving and exiting the turn I do the same thing. When the save PBEM directory comes up I'll right click on TG-3 - Sparta, 2111 and delete it, then as that file name is still in my window (see below) I just change the year from 2111 to 2112, and save.

Zipping is easier too, with the desktop folder, as it saves time instead of clicking on my computer, program files, firaxis games, etc etc.

If you don't use the classic windows file box for smac, it's worth doing (bring up alphacentauri.ini and add the line:

WindowsFileBox=1

somewhere in the list of items)

(and smhfan86, that was a good primer for playing a PBEM turn - why not make it as a separate thread for the newer players who are just getting into PBEMs, and maybe 'Poly can op-ed it - or whatever they call that feature that puts a thread permanently at the top of the threads)

G.

[smhfan86]

Thanks G, I just thought I'd be thorough so there were no mistakes made. I've been through games where people keep sending the wrong turn, cuz they don't feel like renaming it. Heck, I used to be that person.

I think my first ever pbem ended cuz we were all getting the wrong turns.

As for making it a permanent thread, I'd have to edit it a bit, before doing that. After all, we wouldn't want everyone newbie to send their turn to redfred.

p.s. I suggest that we make it a rule for everyone to post here after they send their turn. To often, the turn is actually not sent, or it never arrives, and we are left hanging, wondering who has it.

And with 6 players in this game, it's got the possiblity of being a nightmare.

[Archaic]

Soo....when will we be starting?

[smhfan86]

G, have u heard from DD yet? I know he's volunteered to be a replacement in one of my game's so, he should be back from his trip.

[Googlie]

Yup - I did hear, and he's working on it. Shouldn't be too long now

G.

[waab]

May take some time before I can send it to next player (I haven't got it yet) I will go away for 2 days. But on sunday I promise that it will be sent to the next player...

[smhfan86]

I guess G can tell DD to take his time, as he'll have till sunday before the first player can even play the game.

[DilithiumDad]

This is good to know. I am play-testing the random map (you know I am map-obsessed). Had trouble getting a decent spread of start sites. I hate when factions start on top of each other.

[DilithiumDad]

The game has begun. I know this was supposed to be "look first" but it is much easier for me for checking purposes to found each factions' HQ. I set builds according to widely accepted strategies among Apolyton experts.

In addition to what's specified in the header, each of you have a monolith at your HQ and a geographic feature named for your faction.

P.S. You should know that I am fond of rivers!

[RedFred]

Thanks again for your unpaid but not unwelcome work on setting up the game DD.

Googlie gave me a lesson on scenario building, so I hope that I can do a little CMNing in the future. Whatever the heck 'CMN' is.

[smhfan86]

Thank you DD, can't wait to play the game.

[Archaic]

Err...DD, what's happening with the Uni's free tech? Should I email/pm you with my choice, or will I be able to do it myself at the start of the game?

[Googlie]

Creator, Moderator, Narrator

Creates the game, moderates any rules disputes and (used to) provide narration to the thread by way of a story line of headline news events (now defunct - that was in the early days when every turn got sent to the CMN)

G.

[waab]

Game sent to smhfan86

[smhfan86]

I never got the turn, please resend!

[smhfan86]

Now I see the problem, my email address listed at the top is wrong. It's not @home.com, it's @rogers.com

Could u correct it G?

Here it is in full: callistosdarkside@rogers.com

I suggest everyone else check to make sure their email is listed correctly as well.

[Googlie]

Originally posted by smhfan86
Could u correct it G?

Opening post edited with correct e-mail addy (and my personal e-mail addy book updated too)

G.

[smhfan86]

has waab mysteriously dissapeared? i still haven't heard from him, can someone else try to email him?

[waab]

Sorry me, met my girlfriend yesterday...she has been away for a week so smac wasn't the first thing in my mind.

I will send it now.