PBeM For PBeM Noobs

[Gaulgath]

Good to see you econ21! This thread hasn't been that active, but it would be great if you could continue it, I suppose. Seleuicids211 in the filespace.

[econ21]

I don't like to see PBMs go unfinished, but I've just noticed Glaucus expressed interest recently. I've PMd him and if he is willing to step up, that would be ideal.

[Gaulgath]

Yes, good idea.

[Glaucus]

I got it downloaded and am comencing playing ASAP. Locked and loaded, lets kick some roman _____(insert favorite body part to kick here)

[Gaulgath]

Excellent! Glad you could continue this for us. I wish you best of luck against those arrogant romans!

[econ21]

Any progress to report, Glaucus?

[Glaucus]

I'm halfway done, though I must say my conservative nature is getting the better of me. I will try and finish soon, I am just very busy at the moment with school and lacrosse season. I am making steady progress though, and may I ask who is to take the throne after me?

[Gaulgath]

I am thinking econ21 should go next, unless he has someone else in mind, of course.

[econ21]

I'm happy to take the next reign, but will defer to anyone else who wants the job. The calls for new PBMers for the RTR game might have brought some new faces to the Throne Room who want to jump in quickly. They can post here and be put on the play list. Hopefully we will only need another one or two reigns to conclude this campaign.

[Glaucus]

EDIT: write up moved to write up thread

[econ21]

Good work, Glaucus! But can you post it in the write-ups thread, "Heirs of Alexander":

https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=60359

(As it has had no new posts in the last 2 weeks, you won't see it just looking at this forum. You'd need to you select the "from the beginning" option for "show threads" at the bottom of this forum page).

You should be able to edit your post above, cut it and then paste into the appropriate thread. If you run into problems, I can do it for you tomorrow.

Also, it would help if you resize your screenshots to 75%, so they don't disrupt the thread formatting.

[Severous]

Ive been on these forums a while but dont look in on this part. I didnt know this game was going on.

There was an invite for new players on the main forum ...so here I am. Im up for a go if you want another player. I play real slow, micromanage, and do lots of pictures. Happy to fit in where needed.

(Currently playing Egypt on RTW V1.5 Vanilla vh/vh)

[econ21]

Welcome, Severous! It would be great if you were next in line for this campaign. I am not quite sure where Glaucus is with his reign, but keep checking back here and when he's done, he will post the name of the save game that you can download. I have a feeling yours might be the last reign in the campaign - we are quite close to our victory conditions.

[Braden]

Severous, Although the campaign I started a little while back for Carthage is still very much underway you are welcome to join the list for playing that.

I am also planning on starting a PBM specifically aimed at the player who's a "virgin" to PBM games. I'm currently in the "play testing" stage of this one but it will be aimed to be as accessable as possible to the majority of players.

I hope to get this starting within the next two weeks or so as I'm moving house in June and I won't have full net comminication until I've set up my ISP at my new house.

Looks like the game will be Rome 1.5 though. Perhaps the one after this will be a BI game.

[Severous]

Thanks for the welcome guys.

Im up for any RTW V1.5 events. Have only done one of these before...Carthage sucession game (on another forum).

I have ran several games and competitions before (another game completely) and my suggestion on the planning is try something that all can play at the same time. Like all play the same map/turns and submit their position after 1 week. All ranked and scored according to objective for that week. We then all play on the winners save for another week with different objective for week two. Scored and ranked again and player accumulates scores from first round. Players can opt in or out of each round..but opting out obviously means missing out on a scoring opportunity. This way lots play at the same time.

[Braden]

As I get deeper into the new Senate based RTR PBM game that econ21 has started the more I’m edging towards doing a simplified version of that.

More players are involved by being members of the Senate, whilst they are not directly involved in the day-to-day running of the game, Senators who’s given Avatars are involved in a battle actually play that battle! And the Senate votes on what is to occur next.

Obviously, such a game is impossible on vanilla 1.5 due to the different Romano factions – which is a shame, but it bares investigation by me for a potential future RTR PBM. I have to say that whilst econ21’s game is very enjoyable (having great fun even as a non-playing Senator!), the rules and myriad of mods required is confusing even for me. It may be that I will propose a RTR based game in some sort shortly….

…but that’s the future (and for when I’ve upgraded my PC!).

As to your suggestion of play. The immediate drawback to that is that players of a lower skill level are likely to never feature greatly, the other aspect lost will be the Role Play value. I personally greatly value the level of Role Play I can do knowing that it is me playing that particular character in the game – without any influence from elsewhere – and that what the next player inherits is entirely in my control.

If I am a poor player or RP due to my characters traits list poorly, then it’s kinda fun to leave an Empire in a pretty worrying state for the next player to take over…..evil I know but none the less, fun.

The PBM’s I like to run are not a PvP competition but rather a PvAi game. Rome can be manipulated in such a way as to make a really challenging game just against the Ai, players work as a team rather than in competition. Whilst your idea has merits – obviously the ability for lots of players to play simultaneously – it’s not a method I will take up for my foreseeable PBM’s.

Do you want adding to my current Carthage campaign by the way?

[Severous]

Count me in the Carthage game. PM me when (if) my turn comes around.

Here is a link to the Carthage game we played on another forum.
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...4&page=6&pp=10
A problem there that I hope we can avoid here on this forum..is the game must move along. There needs to be a real prospect of participating. Otherwise the players waiting weeks/months, high or low skill, could move away and loose interest.

[Braden]

Certainly, most (if not all) PBM's now have a time limit within their rules that mean failure to update from the current "player" means they lose their turn and the last save file is passed to the next player on the list.

I'm currently chasing mine up today actually.

[Glaucus]

Hey guys I have some good news and some bad news.

This was my first PBeM, and I think I took longer then most players, so I apologize. The good news so far I've had a blast with the whole PBeM thing. The bad news is I was planning to finish off my reign this weekend, but alas I cannot load the save game. I copied my RTW folder and made one of them into RTR for the Will of the Senate, and now when I'm going back to my old one it won't work. Any advice would be much appreciated, I cannot load any savegames for Vanilla right now. If you'd rather me just pass on the PBeM, I have the save game and can give it away whenever you like.

[econ21]

Glaucus these things happen when you start playing around with mods. But I can't see why just coping RTW would stop you loading a save, unless you've applied RTR or some patch to the original RTW, rather than the copy. When you install RTR etc, you can change the directory you install into but by default it is like to be your original RTW. Can you load the save on your copy?

If not, I think you have two choices. First, just uninstall everything and start again. Tedious, but reliable and probably necessary in the long run. Second, pass on the savegame, if you can't face playing around with installing etc. Personally, I'd recommend option (1), bur make sure you find a good book or something during the wait.

[Braden]

Glaucus, I suggest you upload the .sav to the .org as normal and get the next player on the list to take it as a test (at this point I’ll point out that I’m willing to take that turn but then again I haven’t checked the game roster yet).

If it doesn’t work on their version then the .sav file has become corrupted and we’ve got a problem. If it does work then at least we have a copy in a “remote” location for you to reuse once you’ve sorted your current installs out or decided its too much to deal with and need to pass it on to the next player.

[Glaucus]

I got it to work again. Only 4 or so more turns so I'll try to finish tonight or tomrrow.

[Braden]

Yay for you!

[Glaucus]

My write up is in the write up thread and the sace file is in the directory as Seleucids201.sav Whose next?

[econ21]

My write up is in the write up thread and the sace file is in the directory as Seleucids201.sav Whose next?

Excellent! Well done!

I think Severous is next, although given that he is still doing the Carthage PBM, I'm not sure how he feels about that.

Anyone else wanting to join this PBM can sign up here.

How much more do we need to do in order to claim victory, Glaucus? It can't be much more than another reign (20 turns), can it?

[Severous]

Im fully committed to Carthage at the moment. My play style is very slow...part of one turn only yesterday for instance. So please move someone else onto the front line in this campaign. Ta.

[Braden]

Severous, your commitment to my PBM is comendable....please don't stop you're doing a great job.

econ21, I'm willing to take this one on again if you don't get a fresh player available by the weekend. I should be able to complete a 10 year stint before I have to pack the PC away.

Edit: I’ve realised how stupid I am to think I could cover the next stage of this in one week and whilst I’m busy packing……sorry, sudden rush of blood to my head there.

[Severous]

Unless someone wants to take over Carthage campaign and I take over on this one. Perhaps the guy with broken PC who had the Carthage campaign before me ?

[econ21]

Unless someone wants to take over Carthage campaign and I take over on this one. Perhaps the guy with broken PC who had the Carthage campaign before me ?

Personally, I think it would be better to finish off your stint in the Carthage campaign. We can wait a while for any volunteers here (maybe a loser in tomorrow's Will of the Senate PBM elections?).

[Glaucus]

@ Simon: about half of Italia is ours, so it shouldn't be long before Rome is also. The senate does have 2 full stacks sitting around though, so it may be harder then it seems.