It has been a long time I've seen a OWW game, so here it goes:

Game Name: Twin World Wonder
Host Name: Micha
Host e-mail: micha /at/ starsautohost /dot/ org (replace the obvious)

Game will be on Autohost.

Turn rate: Tue-Wed-Thu-Fri-Sat at 5.00am GMT

Number of Players: 8
Universe size: Tiny
Universe density: Packed
Player Starting Positions: Distant

Skill Level: intermediate and above, please no beginners

Game Options:
___ Beginner: Maximum Minerals
___ Slower Tech Advances
_x_ Accelerated BBS
_x_ No Random Events
___ Computer Players Form Alliances
___ Public Player Scores
___ Galaxy Clumping


Details:
Each race will be designed as a OWW, however the Gods are in a good mood and you're granted 2 HWs to start with.

A neutral party will gen the game and use each race twice (hence only 8 players). The Twin HWs will be moved so they are at about 81ly from eachother (could be less in some cases).
All pop will be removed from one world and it will be colonized by it's Twin race. Both HWs will be identical, they'll both have a base and the same number and design of starting ships.
The pop and minerals on the surface of both worlds will be brought back to the starting level of the year 2400. No factories, mines or defenses will be build, no research will be done. Only the mineral concentrations will be slighty different because there will be some mining.

IOW you will play with one race (not two) but will start with 2 HWs both with the same stats as your original HW(s) in 2400.


Rules:

• All races are One World Wonders, all 3 habs are as small as possible and shifted to the right edge.
  
• Race restrictions: SD is banned. JoaT can't take NAS.
  
• Packet attacks on HWs are not allowed. Other worlds are ok, PP needs something to target in order to use their packets for scanning. They can target unknown planets only once and with the smallest packet possible (since that could turn out to be a HW).
  
• No cheats allowed, except for chaff and split fleet dodge (keep it reasonable). You can find a good (but not complete!) bug list at http://www.starsfaq.com/bugs.htm or here at the forum in The Academy (this one is more complete and I'd like to suggest you read this one).
  
• One person playing more than one race is not allowed.
  
• Players missing more than 5 turns in a row will be set to inactive.

Victory Conditions:
The race owning 8 HWs wins. To "own" a HW you need 100.000 pop on the surface and a starbase in orbit (the starbase hull or above are valid, fort and dock are not). Or winner declared by player majority vote.


What to do:
Send your race files to donjon at btl dot net. WITHOUT password, this makes it easier for him to do the setup. You can tell him what you would like as a password and he'll change it once he's done with the setup and before he sends the files to AutoHost.


Edit:
- PP is now allowed.
- Packet attacks on HWs are banned.
- PPs using packets to scan can target unknown worlds only once (most likely it will a "known" planet after that) and with the smallest possible packet.

mch

[Updated on: Thu, 17 March 2005 17:44]

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Well bugger...I (briefly) enjoyed the last 1WW game I played in...but I'd rate myself as advanced beginner at most...less probably since I haven't had time for a real game in over a year

PS CA not banned? ...hmm now that I think of it...not much advantage to CA really.

....see...BA at most.

[Updated on: Tue, 15 March 2005 02:50]

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Hi!

Micha wrote on Mon, 14 March 2005 23:43

...[*]Race restrictions: PP and SD are banned. JoaT can't take NAS.

What PRTs could be used then? AR and HE are suicide, WM's not viable, IT can't use its advantages, JoaT without NAS is quite expensive, as is SS. What's left are IS and CA. But CA needs more planets to be really usefull. With this settings it only has OAs.

IMO what you will get will be mostly IS, with some JoaT and (maybee) single CA and SS. For more diversity I'd suggest leaving SD, but banning minefield detonation. And giving WM(s) few minelayers with a "cost 0" setup.

Regarding my experience I'd also suggest banning mineral packets for attack purposes. They give just too much advantage in such closed quarters.
My .
BR, Iztok

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Iztok, thanks for the input!

iztok wrote on Tue, 15 March 2005 09:22

What PRTs could be used then? AR and HE are suicide, WM's not viable, IT can't use its advantages, JoaT without NAS is quite expensive, as is SS. What's left are IS and CA. But CA needs more planets to be really usefull. With this settings it only has OAs.

Not all PRTs are suited for OWW games, true without the hab restrictions some other PRTs might be used. Though I'm not trying to create a game where all PRTs are viable.

IT could use some of their advantage if they capture more HWs across the universe ...
JoaT with his larger planets is strong for a OWW game, if allowed to take NAS almost everyone would be joining with it.
CA instaforming is useless but they can still use it's OAs to capture an enemy HW intact. Capturing another HW makes it's economy grow instantly with 50%. Other races need to rebuild installations again. In a normal game one world might be not that important, here it is.
So the usual strong races are downsized but maybe still worth it. Again: I'm not going to try for a perfectly PRT-balanced game.

SS, I played my last OWW as an SS, not the best choice because the host asked me to handicap myself, and an SS can't cloak his one planet. Still it was fun to play!

Quote:

IMO what you will get will be mostly IS, with some JoaT and (maybee) single CA and SS. For more diversity I'd suggest leaving SD, but banning minefield detonation. And giving WM(s) few minelayers with a "cost 0" setup.

IS would indeed be a good choice but you can always snipe it's orgies.
SD ... your SD in QAR is the reason why I'm banning them in this game. The game got so slooooooooow because of your skilled SD play. I don't want that to happen here. I want a game without too much MM. QAR was a pain to play and lasted longer than it should have. Maybe no detonations would help but still ...
WM will have to live with their disadvantages. Besides giving them minelayers won't help him much since they can get killed and he can't replace them. But he can still get them from any friends he can make ...

Quote:

Regarding my experience I'd also suggest banning mineral packets for attack purposes. They give just too much advantage in such closed quarters.

Mineral packets are a the same problem for everyone, not depending on PRT so it comes down to the player and everybody will have to learn to deal with them. But I could indeed ban packets for HW kills (I also banned comets ) and that brings PP back as a PRT. I'll think about that ...

mch

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PricklyPear wrote on Tue, 15 March 2005 11:50

What's QAR and what happened?

QAR = Quite All Right. That was an OWW game from some time ago. (game announcement and private forum) I expected the game to be low on MM but like I said Iztok played a strong SD in that one (and won) ... with all his minefields up the game was slowed down a lot and no winner before somewhere in the '70s. Actually we just might have given in to Iztok sooner but ...

mch

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Hi!

Micha wrote on Tue, 15 March 2005 10:33

Mineral packets are a the same problem for everyone, not depending on PRT so it comes down to the player and everybody will have to learn to deal with them. But I could indeed ban packets for HW kills (I also banned comets ) and that brings PP back as a PRT. I'll think about that ...

Remember, there will be TWO planets firing packets at single target. That means sooooo much more damage, especially with missile/laser defences, available at that time.

In QAR I did my first kill with single packet, all other kills with combined attack with bombers and packets from more planets. That had preserved a half (or more) installations on each of target planets, allowing me to ramp so rapidly. I'd say packets had given me too big an advantage, when comparing it to the "bombers-only" approach.

I need also to add that I had excellent early gained ally in that game: Ken Mitchell with his quickstart JoaT. Our races were really a nice complement: his race providing early tech and ships and quickly settling conquered border planets, mine providing walls of minefields, tech and minerals later.

Quote:

SD ... Maybe no detonations would help but still ...

Yeah, when considering also the big advantage SDs got with minefield travel you're likely right with bannig that PRT. If you'd get another MM freak playing SD in your game (and no other MM freak willing to attack it ), it would probably end the same way QAR had.

BR, Iztok

[Updated on: Tue, 15 March 2005 08:52]

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iztok wrote on Tue, 15 March 2005 14:10

Remember, there will be TWO planets firing packets at single target. That means sooooo much more damage, especially with missile/laser defences, available at that time.

Hm, 2 packets only mean more minerals, different would be 2 packets from 2 different races ....

Quote:

In QAR I did my first kill with single packet, all other kills with combined attack with bombers and packets from more planets. That had preserved a half (or more) installations on each of target planets, allowing me to ramp so rapidly. I'd say packets had given me too big an advantage, when comparing it to the "bombers-only" approach.

Ok, you convinced me, packets on HWs are banned, PP is back in!

mch

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I've sent Donjon my race file, CA w/TT, ISB,...uh, I guess I should tell you all that, eh?

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Just sent in my race file. I'm not a #&*!! CA and I guess I should tell you that. This game sounds like a nice bloody mess.

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Micha wrote on Tue, 15 March 2005 10:33

Remember, there will be TWO planets firing packets at single target.

Smart ass comment: 2 planets give 4 packets if done right!



Robert

[Updated on: Thu, 17 March 2005 01:11]

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PricklyPear wrote on Wed, 16 March 2005 17:22

One question... how do you know if a planet is a HW or not? Are you going to allow packet scans of unknown worlds?

Hm ... uhm ... yes ... At the start you wouldn't know which planet is a HW ... :-/

So: no targetting of unknown worlds. Any PP can scout with his first ships and use the non-HWs he finds as a target. Or he can also use his second HW as a target ...

mch

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[Updated on: Thu, 17 March 2005 05:35]

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wizard wrote on Thu, 17 March 2005 12:42

PricklyPear wrote on Thu, 17 March 2005 11:48 Maybe easier to specify that packets must have minimum mass when targetting unknown worlds. one hit from a small packet shouldn't matter. I second that. Forbidding targeting unknown planets would result in forbidding early packet scouting. One minimum mass packet should do much harm...

Ok, last change to the packet stuff! Only one minimum mass packets allowed to unknown planets.
Now you'll see nobody will play PP and all this for nothing.

mch

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[Updated on: Sat, 19 March 2005 08:45]

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-Update-

Currently 6 players (including me). I don't want this game to take forever to start, so donjon will be accepting race files till Friday, and hopefully find the time to create the universe in the weekend.
Though this might mean we won't get the full eight, the other option is no game at all ...

So come on! Join and fill up those last spots!

mch

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