once order of play is established, I will roll a die for everyone to determine speaker.
Welcome to the thread, thepoz.
Could you be more specific about what you don’t know about Vassal? Have you tried looking at the help files in Vassal’s help menu? (The new shards module has its own help file even.) Since we are getting close to starting, all players must of course be able to use Vassal.
By the way, our GM has just offered to be our 6th and final player, which means you are now our 7th. However, a second TI3 game has just been created here: viewtopic.php?f=7&t=4430. I think everybody is now deciding which one they will be playing, or maybe playing both!
wouldnt it be better if thepoz wants to play, he takes over the 6th’s place?
I mean, the GM will have a lot of knowledge about what we will do, and people might not tell him everything now, since he is playing…
Absolutely. However, it all hinges on thepoz being able to use vassal. (Also, I didn’t want to suggest that our GM give up his spot after welcoming him as a player!)
I’m ok with it, it would cause less problems in the future anyway.
Well, since he IS the GM he should understand why we would ask him to step back as player for the sake of neutrality and fairness. So I aint got no problem asking him that , peace man
Oh yeah for me playtime usually about 7-12pm GMT 0
So 8pm-1am GMT +1
Ok, so this means that thepoz, you are welcome to join the game on this thread as a 6th player (or the other game: viewtopic.php?f=7&t=4430). We’re just about ready to start, so currently we are waiting for you to confirm that you can use vassal and in general accept all our other rules listed earlier in this forum.
So are we playing 6 players with the GM included or just 5?
At this point we are waiting for thepoz to “sign off” on the rules, such as ability to use vassal, 24-hour limit, etc. I’ll ping him by email. If he accepts, he will be our 6th player.
If he declines, I say we go ahead and start with the GM as a player!
Alternatively, please feel free to try to recruit other people. I noticed there is a new potential player on Shaunm’s thread, for example
rbelikov, jpsuchecki, AbsoluteZero: I’m still waiting for you to confirm “my” asymmetric game. Then we’re ready to go.
Here I’d say we wait another 24h for players, then we go ahead. I’d suggest opening a new thread and posting all rules again to keep things organized.
One thing I got pointed to yesterday is a rule on player interaction: What are we allowed to do? Communicate via PM without others knowing? Or does all communication have to happen via the forum thread? I added a rule on that to my game.
I agree. Jpsuchecki, I’ll leave the start time to your discretion (as well as whether to start a new thread or continue this one).
As far as player interaction, we can do a vote (with ties to be decided by the GM).
Player interaction type:
- Secret communications are allowed
- Secret communications are allowed, but you must announce that you are sending a secret message and its recipient.
- All communications must be public.
My vote is for #2 (and I’m happy to abide by the majority vote on this, and in general on everything except house rules).
I don’t really see the point in needing to vote on this, it doesn’t matter what is decided in secret, only what is made public. So no point in announcing secret communication. If however any form of “trade” such as Trade goods or promissory notes are made, those will be made public and the people who are doing them.
Ok i’m going to start setting up the board. you will be sitting in this order
Absoulte Zero PDT 2am GMT
Rebelikov PDT 4 AM GMT
Tuna Dude GMT +10
Shaun GMT 2
Zilfaon GMT 2
Thepoz
I don’t know where thepoz is from, but if we don’t hear from him soon, we might want to consider someone else. The next time I post, I will have the races on the board and the speaker chosen with the player ready to place their first tile.
What about you, Jpsuchecki? If we don’t have a 6th player, will you still be our 6th?
Yeah, if we don’t get someone by the time its thepoz turn or if we don’t get a response from him, I’ll take his place.
Ok we are ready to start the game I think.
Please before you start, take some time to read the SHARDS MODULE HELP. It is under the help menu. It will explain where everything is.
I’m a little new with logfiles, but we can try it. I’m a little concerned about uploading the logfile every time a player makes a move.
Every time a move is played, a new log file will have to be created. For now we can just go with it. I think we will just delete older log files.
Ok when you open the log file, you will have to retire the GM player and access your own player.(I’m not sure if this is necessary because you won’t be logged on to the same account, it may ask you to choose sides right away.) There is a button at the top that says retire.
Your player is this number:
Absoulte Zero P1
Rebelikov P4
Tuna Dude P5
Shaun P6
Zilfaon P3
Thepoz P2
(It is done this way because of the way you are seated around the board.)
Select your player. After you do that look for a button on the tool bar that looks like a play button. This will recap a player’s turn. Once you are done with the recap, it will ask you to begin a new logfile. Now you can start your turn.
Put your plastic on your Home planets, your command counters in the correct spots. Draw your planet cards and put them somewhere below your race sheet on the in game map.
After that, close the map and open setup and your player area. It will say P1, P2, P3 etc, just choose your player. Place your flagship card, your trade good cards, representatives, your tech cards here. Open the map area back up and draw your starting action cards/political cards in the same area.
Put a flag on the score sheet.
Then place the top tile of the tiles starting with the ring around mecatol rex. We will go in this player order:
Absoulte Zero Naalu (Speaker)
Rebelikov Saar
Tuna Dude N’orr
Shaun Creuss
Zilfaon Arborec
Thepoz Mentak
After you have done all that, you should have no more actions, at least for now. Always remember to push the end action button on the map before you end your log file.
Go to menu and end the log file. Post it on the forum. Then in BIG LETTERS write the name of the person who’s next turn it is. Everyone can download the the file to who did what, but don’t do anything until it is your turn. You can send me PM orders if you would like things done in advance. Always try to use the latest file that is out. I hope there is not many questions on this.
[size=200]NAALU UP[/size]
Thanks, Jpsuchecki!!
Just to confirm, we are setting up the map by the official rules, correct?
(I.e.
- Shuffle together 4 Special Systems, 8 empty
systems, and 20 Regular Systems. Randomly remove 2. - Deal 5 systems to each player
- etc.
Did you already to #1? Will you also do #2, or should all the players take 5 systems from the draw pile themselves?)
Also, before we start creating the map, players should (a) get a preliminary objective and (b) the first public objective should be revealed. Will you take care of (b)? Should the players do (a) themselves, or will you deal out the preliminary objectives?
No, sorry I thought we voted against dealing random systems out. I can redo tiles, and move tiles to each players private area. (I think) I’ll put out a new download in a second.
Ok here is the new file with the tiles divided up into each players starting system. You will have to press the shift key and click on the tile with your mouse to be able to move the tile once you declared your player. Everything else is up to you, the players at this point.
Looks great, jpsuchecki!
What about getting the preliminary objective and revealing the first public objective? Both happen before the map creation step, right? Should the players draw a preliminary objective themselves or will you deal those out? Will you reveal the first public objective?
(Also, just out of curiosity, how did you create the system deck? Is there a way to move them to some stack without revealing them?)
Edit: By the way, I’m curious what everybody’s experience is. I’m at 4 completed games so far, all face-to-face. The last two games were with Shards, though we didn’t yet use any Shards options.
Players can draw their own preliminary card and put it in their private area. I have not answered the one about the public objective, because I could not find where in the rules it says that one must be revealed before the map is built. I did see something about it in early turns (though were not doing that). I have looked through my rule books and through the online ones by using control F. If its not in the rule book, I don’t suggest using it (i highly doubt someone can claim one first turn anyway.). If it is, I can reveal it publically on the forums and later add it when i add the Distant suns and frontier counters.