Civ 4- CAG PitBoss Game! Game is over, victory to Jesse Dylan!

Logain8955

Logain8955

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Civ 5 Info:

I'd like to run a "OH GOD HOW DO YOU PLAY THIS NOW" style Civ 5 game when it comes out, starting the Friday of launch week.

Here's the thing though, I don't know if my server can handle a Civ 5 pitboss, or if Civ 5 even supports it.

We'll open up signups now, if it turns out my server can't handle it/it's not available, then we'll just have to cancel it.

Civ 5 Signups


1. Logain8955

2. Jesse_Dylan (Possible)

3. keithp

4. halfbent



Civ 4 Info:

With a bunch of us picking up Civ4 Complete from the Steam sale, I was wondering if there was enough interest to get a PitBoss game started.

PitBoss is basically a Play-By-Email style server. You login to the game, take your turn and logout. Once everyone's taken their turn, it calculates everything and the next game turn begins. It lets us play a full game without everyone being online at the same time.

We can set it up so that after a certain amount of time (probably 24 hours), people who haven't logged in have their turn calculated like they did nothing.

We could have a huge amount of people playing, up to 18. Would there be any interest to getting this going?



Keep track of the game on PlayYourTurn.com! http://www.playyourturn.com/?page_id=17&gameID=49[/color]

F.A.Q.
1. What exactly is PitBoss?

PitBoss is an online server that allows you to login, take your turn and log back out. The game persists even when no one's online so it's available whenever's conveinient for you. The only thing that it requires is for the host to run the PitBoss client 24/7. Whenever there's going to be planned downtime, it'll be posted in this thread. Otherwise, if the game's not available, try back in a few minutes, my internet's probably just acting up.

Turns last for a determined amount of time (Probably 24 hours), after which if someone's not taken their turn, it's treated as if they didn't do anything. The game auto-saves after each player's taken their turn.

2. How customizable is PitBoss?

It has all of the same features that a normal game of Civ4 has. Advanced Start, Raging Barbarians, No Barbarians, unique maps, etc etc. We can even set specialized difficulty levels for each person playing, which will affect how much units cost, how much free stuff you can get from tribal villages and tons of other things. The Default is "Noble".

3. How do I access the PitBoss game? Do I need a Gamespy account?

You login to the game through the in-game browser. To access the browser, you'll need a Gamespy account.

The game name and password will be provided to players once the server is live.

4. Which version of Civ4 do I need? Does it need to be the Steam version?

You need Civilization 4: Beyond The Sword. It does NOT need to be the Steam version.

Current Players (CAG Name / Gamespy Name / Civilization / Leader / Difficulty)


1. Logain8955 / Logain8955 / Russia / Stalin / Chieftain

2. Jesse_Dylan / Gobez / Indians / Asoka / Settler

3. leahthevegan/ leahthevegan / France / LouisXIV / Settler

4. csazlman / csalzman19 / Germany / Roosevelt /Noble

5. keithp / Keefp / America, fuck Yeah / Lincoln / Chieftain

6. mikespit1 / mikespit1 / Romans / Caesar / Chieftain

7. Treymoney / Treymoney255 / Greece / Alexander the Great / unchosen (Defaulting to Chieftain)

8. humidore / humidore / ottoman / suleiman / chieftain

Alternate Players:

Ernie

Server status:

Maybe working!

Maybe!
 
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I'm definitely interested, and nothing would make me happier than if we could get 18 people!

And just an fyi, I'm not very good or anything, so don't let skill level or lack thereof be a deterrent. Everyone should join!! :D :D :D
 
Reformatted the opening post since this is beginning to gain traction in the Steam thread.

Start thinking of what you want to play :)
 
All right! :D

Hope I don't humiliate myself too hard. :p I'd better play the tutorial and read the manual. haha, totally excited about this.

Edit: I'm like irrationally excited about this. Somehow I think it reminds me of the good old days of gaming, playing Warlords (the very first one!) on a Mac with a bunch of other kids and adults at a friend's house for Thanksgiving.

Do I need to set up a GameSpy account? I wonder if I already have one?
 
[quote name='Jesse_Dylan']All right! :D

Hope I don't humiliate myself too hard. :p I'd better play the tutorial and read the manual. haha, totally excited about this.

Edit: I'm like irrationally excited about this. Somehow I think it reminds me of the good old days of gaming, playing Warlords (the very first one!) on a Mac with a bunch of other kids and adults at a friend's house for Thanksgiving.[/quote]

Awesome. MP Civ has always been a ton of fun since you get all kinds of different strategies going on. It's always been a PITA to play before now though, since they either take forever or someone loses the turn 50 turns in. PitBoss fixes both of those :)

Do I need to set up a GameSpy account? I wonder if I already have one?
Click to expand...

Yeah, you'll need a Gamespy account. You login to the game through the basic in-game browser. Adding that to the FAQs.
 
I just figured out what PITA meant. PitA. I was thinking the fine Greek (?) sandwich-like edible that I enjoy filling with spinach and whatnot.

Well, I've got a login and all for www.gamespy.com the editorial site. Is that the same thing? It's just my e-mail address. I think my name on there is Gobez. ha. I wish it was Jesse_Dylan, but I'm pretty sure it's Gobez. Dorkehhh! From seriously like the dawn of the internet as a consumer technology.
 
I'd be interested in playing this, I mainly only have played multiplayer civ in a co-op fashion, so this should be interesting. My gamespy name is the same as it is on cag.

Might I suggest turning off random events (this probably isn't an issue in pitboss games, but just to be safe, it makes regular multiplayer games go out of sync since the last patch.) Also, no tech brokering is a must (so you can't resell tech you've traded for), and I'd also suggest some sort of fast start option.
 
Darn, I'd be all over this but I only have plain-vanilla Civ 4. If I can get a cheap copy of Beyond the Sword I'll gladly play.
 
Gamespy id: Leahthevegan
I've been playing English/Elizabeth, but if one of you boys had your hearts set on that one, I don't mind. ;)
 
[quote name='keithp']Darn, I'd be all over this but I only have plain-vanilla Civ 4. If I can get a cheap copy of Beyond the Sword I'll gladly play.[/QUOTE]

Can we just play vanilla then, maybe?

[quote name='leahthevegan']Have either of you tried to set up a multiplayer game? I'm not sure how to do it if we aren't online at the same time.[/QUOTE]

Nope, I'm a total newb to Civ IV and somewhat new to on-line gaming, at least in this style; I'm not new to the series or gaming in general, tho.

I think we're in good hands with Log.
 
[quote name='Jesse_Dylan']Can we just play vanilla then, maybe?[/QUOTE]

I'm down. The spies in BtS are pretty sweet though. It's definitely more complicated than vanilla.

______________

Gamespy id: Leahthevegan
I've been playing English/Elizabeth, but if one of you boys had your hearts set on that one, I don't mind. ;)
 
[quote name='leahthevegan']I'm down. The spies in BtS are pretty sweet though. It's definitely more complicated than vanilla.[/QUOTE]

I'll totally bend to the whims of the group. That said, I'd almost prefer to start with vanilla, being a noober, and then we could include that fella up there.

I'm so happy this is actually going to happen!

Nerdy gleeeeeeeee.

I truly do not get excited for much in life, at least not this blissfully dorkily. Just saying, in case it was assumed I was always this affective. :) I ain't.

[quote name='leahthevegan']
Gamespy id: Leahthevegan
I've been playing English/Elizabeth, but if one of you boys had your hearts set on that one, I don't mind. ;)[/QUOTE]

Can we create Civs or anything in multi? I want to make up a really dorky one.
 
[quote name='keithp']I can see about getting a copy of Beyond the Sword. I wouldn't need Warlords though, right?[/QUOTE]


Not sure, but I think we're all cool with playing without the expansions.
 
[quote name='Jesse_Dylan'][quote name='keithp']Darn, I'd be all over this but I only have plain-vanilla Civ 4. If I can get a cheap copy of Beyond the Sword I'll gladly play.[/QUOTE]Can we just play vanilla then, maybe?[/quote]

That sounds fine by me. As long as everyone's cool w/ it, sounds good. I'll d/l reg Civ 4 and take a look at its PitBoss, make sure it can do it.



[quote name='Leahthevegan']Have either of you tried to set up a multiplayer game? I'm not sure how to do it if we aren't online at the same time.[/quote]

Basically, the server's gonna run on an old 800mhz clunker POS that's going to be on 24/7, you just login whenever you damn well want :)
 
[quote name='keithp']Ok, cool. I'm in then![/QUOTE]

Cool. Let us know if you get BTS, if so we'll just do that style. Moving you up to current.
 
Thanks guys, I'll keep on the lookout for a cheapass copy of Beyond the Sword in case we want to switch to it a few games in. And my Gamespy name is Keefp. I'm looking forward to this- PitBoss sounds like fun!!!
 
Playing the tutorial and feeling excited. :) I think what I like about this most is we can take our time with our daily turn. I always feel so rushed in multiplayer games.
 
Ok, I took at look at vanilla Civ 4, it supports PitBoss. Over the next couple of days I'll get my beater comp running and make sure its good to go.
 
Any advice for how to effectively play this game?

My best advice to myself is just to read the descriptions as I'm going and have fun, because it's really overwhelming!

I've played a few games now and haven't used a military unit once. Ha. I'm still on settler difficulty. :p
 
[quote name='Jesse_Dylan']

I've played a few games now and haven't used a military unit once. Ha. I'm still on settler difficulty. :p[/QUOTE]

Be careful what you wish for. Last night I played my first game on the setting after settler. Ghengis Kahn is such a dick! Right away I pissed him off and he declared war on me. All I did was build military units and try to protect my cities.

I got so into it, I lost track of time and it was 4:30am.
 
Haha, good memories leahthevegan! So what kind of victory do you guys usually like to get? Diplomatic? All out war military domination? I usually strive to win the space race myself.
 
[quote name='leahthevegan']Be careful what you wish for. Last night I played my first game on the setting after settler. Ghengis Kahn is such a dick! Right away I pissed him off and he declared war on me. All I did was build military units and try to protect my cities.

I got so into it, I lost track of time and it was 4:30am.[/QUOTE]

Ha! I will stick to settler! I'm reactionary like that, too. I was playing with Ghandi as my main rival, so I guess that's one reason I didn't have to worry too much about military.

I tend to enjoy winning via culture ("domination"? where you control 70% of the land and people), space race, or wonders (I think you can win with wonders, right?). One thing that's cool is how many ways there are to win, but you almost have to pick one and go with it.

I haven't won a diplomatic victory, but I think that would be pretty darn cool. I'm not excited to suck at higher difficulty levels, tho.
 
[quote name='keithp']So what kind of victory do you guys usually like to get? [/QUOTE]

I've only played three games, so I don't have a usual.
 
How does a multiplayer game work if you just join a random game? Do you have to sit there for four hours and play the game all at once?

I poked around in the multiplayer screen, but learned nothing. There was some idiot screaming the same question over and over again and I felt very disenchanted by the thought of picking up a game with a bunch of idiots.
 
Hee hee, yeah, my impression is pick-ups are kinda icky. Even with the simultaneous turn thing turned on, it seems like it would take a long time and have a lot of potential for either being annoyed at the other players or getting yelled at for being annoying myself!

Also, glad I'm not the only noober at this game.
 
I played a game on Settler with totally random variables and ended up winning via cultural victory. I guess I don't understand the difference between cultural and domination. Either way you control all the land.

And after that 3 1/2 hour game was over, without a single military manuever by anyone, I kept playing it and began making military units and obliterating everyone (they were way behind me technologically). Meanwhile I voted for someone else to be UN Secretary yet somehow managed to still get the diplomatic victory. I think I had all the space ship parts, too.

But even after taking all the cities, there were still straggler boats sailing around, there was a continent with one last (way backward) civ on it, and holy crap, it's like 4:30 am. :(

Stupid game. I had fun, even though I still don't feel like I know what I'm doing at all!

I think Civ IV is a game best played in smaller doses (maybe an hour at a time), but by its very nature you just want to marathon the heck out of it and FINISH. I always feel this drive to finish the game. My ass hurts from sitting so long.

Time to pass out. Why'm I still awake? :(
 
Haha, welcome to the addiction.

There's a big difference between cultural and domination.

Domination requires you to own 70% of the population and 70% of the land.

Cultural requires you to have 3 cities listed at maximum culture.


Anyway, I should be able to kitbash together that server Monday or so, depending on how insane the weekend is.
 
Ah, okay, got it. I'm having a go trying to win with each method. Not that it'll help me suck any less necessarily. :)

Looking forward to getting it started Monday! I suppose we'll have to bicker a little over the settings.

If no one minds, I think I'll be the Indians (whatever the other guy who isn't Gandhi's name is), leader named Jesse Dylan.
 
I'm not sure who I want to be. I played as Suryavarman II, and that was cool. Maybe I'll be Ghengis and attack everything. :)

I'll decide before Monday.
 
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I'm definitely in for this. If I have the Civ4 pack with BTS installed do I need to install vanilla? Name is mikespit12000 / Romans
 
Alright, I bought a copy of BTS but it won't get here until next week. Hopefully early next week! I'm going to have to get a game or two in this weekend and bone up for you guys! Err, that doesn't sound right...
 
[quote name='mikespit1']I'm definitely in for this. If I have the Civ4 pack with BTS installed do I need to install vanilla? Name is mikespit12000 / Romans[/QUOTE]

I don't know, but it doesn't really matter now that Keith got BtS.

And you better look out, 'cause he's boning up. :hot:
 
So, I had some time I wasn't counting on and was able to get the server together. It's an old computer that's been sitting on my den floor for 2 years, but it'll get the job done :)

It's going through windows update, AV updates, firewall updates and then finally d/ling BTS. This thing does have a busted vid card fan, but since there's no graphics, it should hold up perfectly fine. There'll be a test before we go.

[quote name='keithp']Alright, I bought a copy of BTS but it won't get here until next week. Hopefully early next week![/QUOTE]

Ok, cool. Our official start date will be The Day After You Get It.

Unless that day is a Wednesday, at which point I will have no chance to get anything moving.

[quote name='mikespit1']I'm definitely in for this. If I have the Civ4 pack with BTS installed do I need to install vanilla? Name is mikespit12000 / Romans[/QUOTE]

Nah, since Keith's getting BTS, we'll go back to BTS style. Adding you to the confirmed player list. What Leader would you like?
 
[quote name='Treymoney']Are you guys still looking for players? If so, I'm in.

My Gamespy ID is Treymoney255.[/QUOTE]

Sure thing. We'll be taking players till we hit 18 or the game starts. I'll add you to the Current Players list.

[quote name='leahthevegan']I want to be Louis XIV
Leader name: Leah
Gamespy name: Leahthevegan[/QUOTE]

Adding information to main post. I assume you want to play France, BTS lets you break the Civilization/Leader bond so if you want to play Germany led by Gandhi, you can. They don't let you do this in MP. I have no idea why.

Moving right along, there are a few things we need to settle before we kick off.

First off, everyone needs to choose their Difficulty Setting. Works exactly the same as in Singleplayer, how many free units you get, changes how many hammers are needed for some units, etc etc.

Second, we need to come up with the Game Settings. Here are my suggestions:

Map: Continents
Size: Large or Huge
Climate: Temperate
Sea Level: Medium
Era: Ancient
Speed: Normal
World Wrap: Cylindrical
Resources: Standard

Multiplayer Options:

Simultanious Turns
Turn Timer: 24 Hours

Game Options:

Advanced Start- 1000 Points (Gives you a couple of cities and a decent amount of tech)
Unrestricted Leaders
No Technology Brokering
No Random Events (Apparently breaks MP)

Victories: All but Time
 
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Sounds good to me! I trust you guys!

I'm not sure what we should do about difficulty levels..... Unless someone is... you know... good at this game (I sure as hell am not), it seems like we'd be best served by everyone sticking to the same difficulty level...... I'm scared!
 
Those setting look good to me. I just found out my gamespy id is actually csalzman19 (don't think it matters too much). If they are available, I'll take Roosevelt and Germany.
 
[quote name='Logain8955']I assume you want to play France, BTS lets you break the Civilization/Leader bond so if you want to play Germany led by Gandhi, you can. [/QUOTE]

Oh. I didn't know that. I'll just stick with France.

Unless it effects gameplay. In that case I want whatever is awesomest. :)

____________

I'll want the same difficulty setting as the other newbs. Settlers? Heh. That sounds defeatist, like we're Civ underachievers who have "settled" on being lame.
 
Got this game in last year's Steam sale, and only just now played anything passed the tutorial! Really fun, but I still have no idea what i'm doing...
 
Me neither, but we'll get it. :) The PitBoss game will last a long time, so we can play and improve in the meantime. I'm trying to come to grips with Warlords now and try to figure out BtS before we start.
 
[quote name='humidore']Got this game in last year's Steam sale, and only just now played anything passed the tutorial! Really fun, but I still have no idea what i'm doing...[/QUOTE]

Sall good, most players seem to be pretty new to the series. Jump on in :) I'll add you to the potential players.

Just make sure you have Beyond the Sword installed.
 
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