Rise Of Nations game

[Arditi]

All right gents. Here is the Rise of Nations thread.

Turn Order:

1)Giacomo
2)Tom
3)Seille
4)George
5)Arditi(Russ)

Copied House Rules from the other thread..

1) Each player will play his two nations one after another. I would like a turn around of a day or two. No initial tech, islands and continents(random) and one winner declared by the other players..or to the end if need be. Factories included as well as diplomacy. I will provide a prize for second and first place. It will be a nice piece of militaria mailed to you at my expense. If the turn is delayed too long I will give the side to another or pass over that player. This might be a long game with a lot of diplomacy involved, so it is not for the faint of heart. All the passwords must be given to me in case of drops. I am the moderator, so all final decisions are mine if need arises. We have played this format in the past and it has been a lot of fun. Experienced, mature players preferred. I reserve the right to accept or deny the players. I want to finish this game and a have a 1st and 2nd place winner. Let me know by email, pm or post here.
2) I envision this as a game with some important initial diplomacy. It will be a "cut throat" game that showcases diplomatic skill as well as military skill. I encourage a lot of behind the scenes talk and deal making. Sending pp's to one another, perhaps giving up a city to another player or other diplomatic overtures I can't think of. The end result, after the smiles, dickering and "backstabbing"(?) is that there should be one clear winner and another second place winner. It is ok to change sides if fortunes wane, etc. I am hoping the prizes will encourage some interesting(lies and or honesty) to bring one player to the top. If one player is feeling beleagured he must work his diplomatic skills(give up a city, send pp's or change allies...?) to survive to become 1st or 2nd.
3) We must all give me or the volunteer map maker the passwords in case some one wants to drop. It is ok to drop(we will find another player), but not surrender all the cities...so as to not give the bordering player all one's cities. If a player wants to give a city or cities away, but continue to play; that is their choice and hopefully beneficial to them diplomatically to survive the game. Factories, weather and diplomacy will be toggled. Sharing of maps encouraged with allies or for other nepharious reasons?
4) One player could possibly win both 1st and 2nd place due to each player having control over two nations. A player can give/relinquish one of his nations' cities to his other controlled nation, but there has to be a least "1" city left to the relinquishing nation...you can't give all of your cities to your other controlled nation. I suppose a player would only do this as a measure of last resort to bolster up their flagging nation? As Seille indicated, in cause of a bad starting position we will have two nations; a player can ally with his other nation or perhaps he wishes to ally with another player with one nation, but be at war with him with the other? Something to think about.
5)Ok, no expansion by para-drop. That's fair. I don't want to reduce too many options as the more tactical decisions the better for all.
6)The faster turnaround, with turns, the better, but we all have lives. Let's stay in touch. Post that you have sent the turn here.
7) Have fun!
8)My mapmaker has made a random map. There is one level 5 city and one level 4 city within 5-8 hexes of each regime's capitol. He left the cities at random/level two for the rest of the map. All regimes are connected by sea with their capitol. Many islands and continents. He has added and subtracted terrain to make the map fairly accessible to all regimes and a bit more interesting and realistic. Sea travel is important. Factories, weather, full shroud, diplomacy, map pics are toggled on. No roads, so you have to build your own. No initial tech. We all start in the modern "Dark Ages" I suppose.

[Arditi]

Turn sent to Giacomo.[:)]

[03_walk_alot]

Turn to Tom.

[Arditi]

  George, Tom is needing your email address.  You will send to Seille.
     Thanks, Arditi[:)]

[seille]

Ok, turn to George.
 
Two questions.
 
Who is the mapmaker ?
Ar the locations of the regime pairs random ?
 
 

[Arditi]

The mapmaker is my friend Rich.  He and I play various boardgames and AT hot seat within my house.  I have not seen the map, but I did tell him what I wanted within the map.  The location of the regime pairs are totally random.  I will tell you my regime pair are not together.  I may have told you too much about my regime already.[;)]  I want you guys to be totally comfortable with the game. All ok?

[seille]

Yes, it´s ok Russ.
 
Seems we both had bad luck then with our regime pairs [;)].
But ok, i need only one regime to survive.

[Arditi]

  I'll post some pics of the prizes after I get them up on Photobucket. The turn still has not come up in Suddenlink for me.  Must be moving slow today.  Catch you guys in a bit.[:)]

[Arditi]

French bayonet of the 1800's. Winner can choose between this and...

[Arditi]

..second place can take these...mannequins!...I'm teasing...I'll post the other in a second.

[Arditi]

2nd prize is this WWI or WWII Italian bayonet. I will go ahead and post a third place prize, since there are 10 regimes.

[Arditi]

3rd prize will be this Spanish Civil War period helmet.[:)] Again, 1st and 2nd place have first pick.

[Arditi]

Turn two sent to Giacomo. Guys, I am having a problem. I captured one city, but it will not allow me to produce in it. I went ahead and sent though. Any thoughts?
Regards, Arditi[:)]

[Grymme]

Hmm.. Arditi. Just wondering. Prices look really fun. Will there not be a customs issue with shipping weapons all over the world?

[Arditi]

Thanks Grymme. I know there is no problem here and I think Germany is ok for bayonets(I think). I'm not sure about the Netherlands. You actually bring up a good point; if any of these items cannot be mailed to the winners I will find you something acceptable. Thanks Grymme.

Guys, in addition, it appears that Rich has added cities, for balance purposes, but did not give a people nor a name for the city..soooo...that means nothing can be built in them. The map current map is not usable as it stands. He will make another, with corrections, tonight and I will send tonight, but it's safer to say tommorrow. Sorry for the holdup. Better now than later I suppose. Keep the spirits up..we will restart soon.
Best Regards, Arditi[:)]

[03_walk_alot]

Turn to Tom

[tweber]

Hi guys,
 
A couple of thoughts:
 
- Can we play without explore since someone is making the map and knows the structure.  It should level the playing field
- If we redo the set up, can we name the regime's after the players?  (e.g., Russ1, Russ2).  Otherwise, it makes it very confusing to understand which regime is which
- I like faster ships.  A modern ship can do 20 knots indefinitely which is about 500 miles per day.  Any chance to bump up ship speed by 4x?
 
Best regards, Tom

[tweber]

It looks like the city hexes that were added were added as urban terrain only, not as a city location. 

[tweber]

I will hold off sending until the new game is launched.

[Arditi]

   If everyone is ok with Tom's suggestion they can certainly be implemented.  Any additional thoughts?