| Re: Game ideas for Newbies / returning Oldtimers |
Thu, 04 January 2007 14:31  |
|
 Skaffen |
 | Senior Chief Petty Officer |
Messages: 90
Registered: December 2006
Location: Germany | |
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| Altruist wrote on Thu, 04 January 2007 04:46 |
Greets Skaffen,
don't be irritated that so far Itzoks post is the only one really answering your initial post but he has just summed it up nicely.
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Donīt worry, Iīm used to the dynamics of such discussion groups... 
Actually that wouldnīt be a problem, I bought 4 licenses and my collegue has 5 as we wanted to recruit people even back then. I remember that I got a *huge* envelope back then (at least A3) with nothing but 3 CDs and three license stickers in it.
So in case anyone is interested in playing and doesnīt have a license we can get started immediately, Iīd only request that the number isnīt used in other games without prior approval to avoid potential conflicts.
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In my experience you don't frighten beginners off because they get beaten. A bigger threat is to bore them off. So the main task is to get them hooked by a thrilling game with much action. And since every beginner makes horrible mistakes, it doesn't make sense to have a game where they are stuck with those mistakes for 6 month or even longer.
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Probably a valid point, I hadnīt really considered the time factor and now that you mention it I think thatīs one of the reasons the only real large game I ever played in stopped, people were saddled with really bad race designs and as soon as scores became public my pretty standard IT stuck out like the plague.
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Depending on what you judge "immediate wars", stress the points which make it so much more interesting to play with humans than against AIs.
That's diplomacy, alliances and humans being much nastier enemies than AIs and not so easily to predict.
I would go for a game in which first skirmishes should be expected rather soon (adds to the thrill), in a ACC BBS game let's say skirmishes as early as 2420 or even before, first real battles around 2430, game should be decided around 2450-60. If you go for a usual turn schedule of 5 turns per week until 2430 and then 3 turns per week... a game decided at 2460 will have lasted for 16 weeks, almost 4 month. Anything longer and you get into the summer (if you aren't one of those weird Aussies) and many will be away for holidays. 4 month is also the maximum a beginner should be expected to stick to a game when he already knows what a multitude of things he wants to do better in the next game (hooked).
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Again a valid point, I still maintain people shouldnīt get wiped out after 20 turns but waiting too long for the conflicts to start is probably also boring.
Thanks for the input,
Andreas / Skaffen
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