OK Everybody!

Here are the rules for Primitive ONE. The game will be played with anything over 4 players. Granted, with only 4 or 5 players it will be a small universe. 6 players+ will be a medium universe. Medium universe is the maximum size. All universes will be normal density. In order to get a more balanced game with regards to PRT's, EVERY PRT MUST BE DIFFERENT unless the game goes over over 6 players!

I do like the way that Matt came up with for handicapping PRT's so, I am using that method with modifications - However, I am not going to hurt any race with lower pop start. (Acc BBS is checked)

ALL PRT's are allowed. See the specific restrictions and exceptions section for the PRT's

This game will generate 5 days a week PERIOD. Don't ask for slowdowns they won't happen. There will be no votes for turn generation changes. There WILL be breaks for Christmas and Easter, Ramadan and Hanukkah and for other significant religious holidays of any faith - just notify me in advance. So, 5 days per week with holiday breaks - maximum of 5 days. Get someone to do your turns if you will be away.
{UPDATE}: There will NOT be any multi-generation of turns at the start.

Here is a link showing all the religious holidays.
http://www3.kumc.edu/diversity/ethnic_relig/ethnic.html

Under special individual circumstances a turn generation may be postponed by a day. Any race missing 4 turns WILL AUTOMATICALLY be set to inactive.

Now, for the Game Parameters and PRT restrictions:

Primitive One - Basic rules

Max growth rate is 8%

The tech zero fuel pod is banned - all races with this part in ships at start must scrap the ships on the first turn.

The Fuel Mizer is banned. All races with this engine in ships at start must scrap the ships on the first turn.

Weapons and Construction MUST be set to expensive.

The ONLY Stargate allowed is the 150/600 stargate. See special dispensation for IT.

No race may have anybody set to freind - EVER. Neutral settings are allowed. Make whatever agreements you want with neighbors. However, ONLY ONE race may ever be set to neutral status at any time.

Tech trading is banned - if you want something, research it. If you get lucky, you'll get a level of something via combat. {UPDATE}:With tech trading banned, so is the transfer of ships to any other player.

Random events will be ON - HOWEVER , in the event of a comet strike that hits a HomeWorld or a major populated world, an immediate regen will be done up to year 2450. OK Everyone - you get a chance at MT stuff!

Start at level 3 box checked for expensive techs is allowed.

All shields are capped at Energy level 10 (Bear shields)
AR exception - AR races may use ANY shields on UNARMED transports (i.e. medium freighters and large freighters). AR may use ANY shields on orbitals.

Capital Missiles are ONLY allowed on Starbases (clarified as Starbase, Ultra Station and Death Star orbitals) Space Docks may NEVER have capital missiles - Except for AR (they can have capital missiles on any orbital). Only AR may use shields above energy level 10 on any orbital.

Primitive One - PRT Specific rules

IT - is allowed BUT, the 100/250 stargate is ONLY allowed on the two starting planets. Propulsion MUST be set to expensive. IT races MUST have Cheap Engines selected.

CA - Total Terraforming is NOT allowed. Bio MUST be expensive. Mineral Alchemy MUST be selected.

HE - HE racs may have a MAXIMUM growth rate of 5%.

AR MUST select Generalized Research.

SS MUST have Generalized Research selected.

JOAT must NOT have NAS, and MUST take Generalized Research

PP must NOT have energy cheap

WM - no restrictions other than the basic game restrictions

IS - MUST have Ultimate Recycling - the IS specific Fuel transport is BANNED.

SD - the Mini Minelayer is BANNED Any starting mini-minelayers MUST be scrapped on the first turn. Bio may NOT be cheap.

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These are the terms of Primitive One - no changes will be made - do your testing, let me know you want to play and the game will start ASAP. I will only host the game so, do NOT password protect your race files.

I caution all players - this will be a slow going game. Every early weapon is valuable, (10 beta DD's can kill pretty much all early space docks), as is every resource spent building ships. Turns over the first 75 years take little real time to make. If you miss a turn or 2 it is very probable that it will have no significant effect on the outcome of the game or your realm.

Ignore your 'player score' as a measure of how well your race is doing. In one turn, if you achieve 2 tech levels and build 2 space docks you can easíly jump from 5th to 1st place in the score table. i.e. you can be shown on the score table in last place and it may very well be by only 1 point. Not only that, but your difference to first place may only be by 15 points or less. Test your race designs for the maximum you can get in resources over 50 years and use that race. Create a game plan and stick to it. The most common error in primitive games is spending too much on ships that you don't actually need.

Contact me at ptolemy (dot) stars (at) gmail (dot com) to send your race files.

Welcome to All, the game starts ASAP

Regards,
Ptolemy

[Updated on: Fri, 28 September 2007 11:00]

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[Updated on: Sun, 16 September 2007 02:38]

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Ptolemy wrote on Sat, 15 September 2007 10:34

Update One for the game - HE has already been taken (the first payer was very fast - about 10 minutes for the post!) So, the rest of you potential players - unless we get over 6 players, nobody else can be HE. Ptolemy

Well, if Matt is the HE everyone is in trouble already

If there is room for another HE, sign me up!

[Updated on: Sun, 16 September 2007 16:56]

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Steve wrote on Sun, 16 September 2007 15:56

Ptolemy wrote on Sat, 15 September 2007 10:34 Update One for the game - HE has already been taken (the first payer was very fast - about 10 minutes for the post!) So, the rest of you potential players - unless we get over 6 players, nobody else can be HE. Ptolemy Well, if Matt is the HE everyone is in trouble already

You are safe. I won't play in this game.

-Matt

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Quote:

That leaves PP, IT, WM and AR still open. If nobody wants to take them, I'll consider allowing doublig up of PRT's.

I would really like to play this game, but the remaining races are very poor in my opinion (not testbeded, just thoughts)

AR: you have to research 3 fields to get this race going: en, weapons, construction. Quite an impossible task in this primitive game. Generalized research means, that you will be left with very poor weapons.
WM: no allies = no mines, expensive construction = no WM specific ship hulls in early battles.
IT: no early gates = no advantage, cheap engines = huh?
PP: playable, but not so interesting in my opinion.

Other PRTs seem to be of a very big advantage:

CA: no disadvantages what so ever, who needs TT anyway (why bio needs to be expensive if CA can't take TT anyway)? Biimune CA is guaranteed to get all worlds to 100% (a chance to terraform planet value).
HE: a very dangerous race with 15% growth and all the best settings.
SS: Generalized research is usable not only in primitive games, but in this game it is really an advantage, no other disadvantages.
IS: no real disadvantages.

So I would really like to play in this game, but given the PRT choices, it doesn't look so good.

Regards,
Matas

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[Updated on: Mon, 17 September 2007 11:28]

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Quote:

AR will have the biggest economy by far until 2450s. That should help with the research.

It is a primitive game, so the game is slow, biggest economy at the start doesn't help anyway. As far as I can see - AR will be the first to die, because of poor minerals, death rate while moving pop, etc. no way one can survive long enough, especialy in small universe.

Quote:

(WM) Starts with weapons 6 and everyone has weapons expensive. That combined with the 8% growth gives them an edge for much of the early game. By the time that is lost, they should get battle cruisers deployed. No mines is too true though.

Well if a non-WM fella takes start at 3 for expensive, he is 3 levels away - which is around 3000 resources. I must agree it's a lot in primitive game. Battle Cruisers are 20000 resources away (from const level 3), so one can expect them in late game, but not early on.

Quote:

They (IT) get to keep the two starting gates. They will be the only ones able to gate heavy ships ever. With prop cheap (and everyone will have that in this game), the 150/600 gates won't take that long to get and then they can transport pop as usual.

With propulsion expensive - you can't even think about 11th level early on. While the biggest early advantage for IT - gate any/300 (prop 6, const 10) is banned according to the rules, it means that no heavy ship is going to fly anywhere, esp. with cheap engines.

Quote:

Growth is capped at 10% for HE. Still plenty when everyone else is at 8%.

Indeed, 10% mistakenly multiplied 5x3

To Host: Maybe add 'Slow Tech advances' to make a game more primitive ?

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Ptolemy wrote on Mon, 17 September 2007 12:24

Anybody with much sense will be dropping on tiny HE colonies ASAP - or if the PP is anywhere near them, he'll be hitting them with packets.

Ok...I have got to say something. Can't contain it any longer.

Good luck on pop dropping a race that will be growing 2% faster than you, at worst! And, if you design your normal race right, you will probably have 7% growth... 3% lower growth may not seem like much, but it is. Plus, the 5% HE starts with 75,000 vs 60,000 for a 7% race.

I predict an overwhelming victory for the HE.

The only race that can deal with an HE this early, is ironically, the AR. Better tech, strong bases, and colonizers that bomb. The problem is metal. AR's don't have enough in the early game. So, the only race capable, falls short.

Quote:

The AR's have survived but did lose some worlds early on. Basically, the distances involved have kept the AR's alive. However, now their tech advances are being caught up. The one thing that makes it more difficult to shoot down later orbitals is the restriction against having capital missiles on ships.

Well, I tested 3 duels wth an AR. I balanced them as well as I could, factored in that I am *not* an AR authority, and made the rules. I feel I did a good job, as one AR is still alive, even though it is getting attacked. The other AR is dominating, but mainly because he was able to grab lots of planets, more than I thought possible in my tests. Of course, we did have a player that wasn't doing his turns, and that might have contributed...

Either way, I will be tweaking the rules on the results of this game, in particular the AR. So, if the AR can pull off a victory then I might eliminate one of the advantages, shields or missiles. If he loses, I might try to give them another advantage.

I might pull the disadvantage off a couple other races as well.

-Matt

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[Updated on: Mon, 17 September 2007 16:14]

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Ptolemy wrote on Tue, 18 September 2007 04:32

I've been discussing this with the HE player - it may very well be that the HE needs to be reduced to 4% giving it the same maximum of 8% that the other races have.

I think you'll need to do a lot more than that to slow it down... Just look at this 4%(8%) HE race and try to convince me that any 7% or 8% PGR race of any other PRT even stands a small chance:

HE
IFE, OBRM, ISB, RS
3 immune, 4% (8%) PGR
1/1000 colonists
15/5/25/3g factories
25/2/25 mines
En, Prop, El all cheap. Rest expensive @ 3.
64 points to mineral concs (or 20pts to concs and bio normal)

If another HE spot comes up, I want it, it'd be so relaxing to play, you would barely have to think

I think in the other primitive games I've seen HE has been forced to leave several thousand points left over. Making it design in the race wizard with a max of 7% in the wizard, then turning the PGR down by two clicks before saving the race might be something close to balanced, and would let it experiment with a slightly higher effective growth than the other races.

Disclaimer - I'm not in this game, so not trying to soften up the opposition or anything, just offering a little advice as it looks a little too imbalanced for the other races to be able to cope with even with diplomacy.

[Updated on: Tue, 18 September 2007 02:51]

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Dogthinkers wrote on Tue, 18 September 2007 02:40

I think you'll need to do a lot more than that to slow it down... Just look at this 4%(8%) HE race and try to convince me that any 7% or 8% PGR race of any other PRT even stands a small chance: HE IFE, OBRM, ISB, RS 3 immune, 4% (8%) PGR 1/1000 colonists 15/5/25/3g factories 25/2/25 mines En, Prop, El all cheap. Rest expensive @ 3. 64 points to mineral concs (or 20pts to concs and bio normal) If another HE spot comes up, I want it, it'd be so relaxing to play, you would barely have to think

I agree. HE is the only race with a decent chance. I know it's not an auction but I'd take a 4% max. HE with a 200 point penalty without a second thought.

I'm not sure how a SD without the mini minelayer (the main SD tool) will compete. I realise exclusion of the MML is so as to deny it's use as a fuel pod but why not allow it provided that it is not used for that purpose - maybe only allow it if ML slots are filled?

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Sorry, got "ERROR: flood gate triggered" - didn't think it made it first time.

Dogthinkers wrote on Tue, 18 September 2007 02:40

I think you'll need to do a lot more than that to slow it down... Just look at this 4%(8%) HE race and try to convince me that any 7% or 8% PGR race of any other PRT even stands a small chance: HE IFE, OBRM, ISB, RS 3 immune, 4% (8%) PGR 1/1000 colonists 15/5/25/3g factories 25/2/25 mines En, Prop, El all cheap. Rest expensive @ 3. 64 points to mineral concs (or 20pts to concs and bio normal) If another HE spot comes up, I want it, it'd be so relaxing to play, you would barely have to think

I agree. HE is the only race with a decent chance. I know it's not an auction but I'd take a 4% max. HE with a 200 point penalty without a second thought.

I'm not sure how a SD without the mini minelayer (the main SD tool) will compete. I realise exclusion of the MML is so as to deny it's use as a fuel pod but why not allow it provided that it is not used for that purpose - maybe only allow it if ML slots are filled?

[Updated on: Tue, 18 September 2007 08:40]

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Dogthinkers wrote on Tue, 18 September 2007 01:40

HE IFE, OBRM, ISB, RS 3 immune, 4% (8%) PGR 1/1000 colonists 15/5/25/3g factories 25/2/25 mines En, Prop, El all cheap. Rest expensive @ 3. 64 points to mineral concs (or 20pts to concs and bio normal)

Hey! Don't post my race!

Quote:

If another HE spot comes up, I want it, it'd be so relaxing to play, you would barely have to think

Oh no, lots of thinking. Should I kill these three races before Y2430...or those 3 races...decisions decisions.

-Matt

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Dibs on neutral with HE.

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[Updated on: Tue, 18 September 2007 14:51]

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My apologies, I read "those leftover points" as "those with leftover points" which in my head broadened the meaning from the HE specific discussion to everybody. In retrospect a completely silly misreading, but I'm under (non-Stars) stress so ... mistakes are made.

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