Civilization IV PBEM Game

[Kizyr]

Ok, is anyone interested in a play-by-email game for Civ4?

I know Sonic# has it, I'm not sure who else. But you can play with as few as two people (if there are too few, you can populate the rest of the world with the AI). The more human players the more interesting, but also the longer each individual turn takes.

I'm playing one PBEM game on the XKCD boards, but it's really slow (it has 6 players now and is literally across the world--South Africa, USA, New Zealand, England, and France). I was wondering if we could start one up here as well--and maybe go a bit quicker.

If there's any interest, we can figure out parameters (map type, game rules) from there. KF

[Ruby]

Civ Rev has spoiled me from playing Civ 4 anymore. Maybe we can play VGAplanets instead? XD

[phyco126]

If I ever get my copy of the game back, I'm game!

[Sonix]

What exactly is this PBEM game or rather, how does it work?

I only have Civilization II and III though.

[phyco126]

PBEM = Play By E-Mail. It means someone takes their turn, saves it, then sends that save file to another person (typically player 2 or whoever is after you). They take their turn, send it to another, so on and so forth. Some of the mechanics may have changed, I don't know, but that is how it used to be back in the 90s.

[Sonic#]

Heh, I just started playing again after a very long (1.5 years) hiatus. I had played Revolution in the meantime, and it has spoiled me a bit, but after losing my first AI game and winning one against my brother, I'm starting to get back into the swing of it.

I'd love to do PBEM.

[Kizyr]

Phyco, what's the likelihood of you getting your game back? A 3-player game is 10 times better than a 2-player game, after all.

What exactly is this PBEM game or rather, how does it work?

Yeah, it's play-by-email. So, I'd play a turn then email the save to Sonic#, then he'd play the turn then email the save to Phyco, then he'd play the turn and email it to the next one in the list, etc., until the cycle repeats. I still haven't figured out how diplomacy works, though.

You would need Civ4 to play, I'm afraid. KF

[Ardent Fox]

Ah Civ 4. So refreshing. If I can find my old copies of Civ 4 with Warlords and Beyond the Sword then yes, I will play.

[Jenner]

Phyco, what's the likelihood of you getting your game back? A 3-player game is 10 times better than a 2-player game, after all.

What exactly is this PBEM game or rather, how does it work?

Yeah, it's play-by-email. So, I'd play a turn then email the save to Sonic#, then he'd play the turn then email the save to Phyco, then he'd play the turn and email it to the next one in the list, etc., until the cycle repeats. I still haven't figured out how diplomacy works, though.

You would need Civ4 to play, I'm afraid. KF

It may be easier to play by post. You could start a thread about it here and just let people know when it was their turn and also talk trash.

If I had the game, I'd join. But, I'd also lose so hard.

[Kizyr]

Play-by-post would require attaching a save file to each message. It's much easier just to send it around by email.

Ah Civ 4. So refreshing. If I can find my old copies of Civ 4 with Warlords and Beyond the Sword then yes, I will play.

Great! The expansions won't be necessary since we'll probably be going with regular Civ4. However, I do have both of them and if everyone else who wants to join in eventually (once we get this underway) has Beyond the Sword, then I'd actually rather try a multiplayer game using that. KF

[phyco126]

Kiz, unfortunately one of my friends is holding the game hostage. I refuse to go and visit him at his house, but he kind of refuses to come to my house since the last time we hung out, it was at my place. His reasoning is, I dunno. Mine is that I don't want to have to deal with his psycotically abusive mother, something I keep telling him and something he just doesn't seem to understand.

[Ardent Fox]

Well, regular Civ it is. Would play by post work? Could we, in fact, attach the files by post?

[Sonix]

Hmm, I might pick up Civilization IV for this if I can find it cheap. There shouldn't be problems with US/EU copies, or?

edit: Ok, unless I somehow can't play with European copy, I'm going to buy it. I can get it for like 5-10€.

[Sonic#]

Hmm, I might pick up Civilization IV for this if I can find it cheap. There shouldn't be problems with US/EU copies, or?

edit: Ok, unless I somehow can't play with European copy, I'm going to buy it. I can get it for like 5-10€.

Yeah, it's pretty cheap, and they now have the complete edition (with the expansions and Colonization) for $30 US, which is what I got. (It was cheaper to buy it for the expansions.)

[Kizyr]

Well, regular Civ it is. Would play by post work? Could we, in fact, attach the files by post?

The problem there is that the save files range from 100KB to 1MB (such as late in the game and with large maps). With having 3-5 save files per turn, that really adds up, and I'm not sure about burdening the lunarthreads storage like that...

Kiz, unfortunately one of my friends is holding the game hostage. I refuse to go and visit him at his house, but he kind of refuses to come to my house since the last time we hung out, it was at my place. His reasoning is, I dunno. Mine is that I don't want to have to deal with his psycotically abusive mother, something I keep telling him and something he just doesn't seem to understand.

Man, everything turns into a soap opera with you! Maybe you should switch your timeslot...

Hmm, I might pick up Civilization IV for this if I can find it cheap. There shouldn't be problems with US/EU copies, or?

Oh no, there shouldn't be. The other game I'm in spans 6 countries in 3 continents (US, UK, France, South Africa, Canada, and New Zealand). The only problem there is time zones. KF

[GhaleonOne]

You ever set up a game of online Risk somehow, I'm totally in.

[Ardent Fox]

Well then, e-mail ho I suppose.

[Jenner]

I really want you guys to play by post, or at least start a thread, so you can post screen shots and talk smack and amuse me.

[Kizyr]

We can easily do that without having to attach saves to each post. Using email doesn't preclude having a thread about it. KF

[phyco126]

I don't think my life is like a soap opera at all. I don't have some long lost brother/sister/father/mother/uncle/all the above at once for the redneck operas, nor do I date anyone, so that takes care of any romance arks. =P