FoG:Emp team multiplayer ALPINE WALL vers 3: running!

[Tuna]

Oof, trial by fire then! I had hoped to at least finish reading the manual before we started and ideally played one or two intro games. :D

I'll be depending on trustworthy allies for the first turns until I know what I am doing. Go easy on me please. :)

In the beginning you want to build as many 'food' building's as possible, get that population up.. then once you start having some 'peeps' move them into culture.  This will help you upgrade your Civilization to tier III, this is almost more important than 'expanding' too far in the beginning.

Also.. Look at your regions and try to 'complete' your province. when ever you 'do' expand, always try to plan on taking the province, you need 50% of the regions to do so. There is a 'province' map filter that will show you which regions make up each province.

[JasonPratt]

You can arrange that with your teammates, too.

The game assigns a pretty standard set of conquer-goals to each faction, in what is usually or always the same order. Gaining those will provide automatic progress tokens usually (only 50% chance or gaining or losing progress for gaining or losing goals in the reduced prog/dec.) Gaining one will also avoid earning decadence points from conquest. You should negotiate with your nearby allies about making sure you all get as many as possible, perhaps trading off goal areas by going to war temporarily. (No way to do so peacefully in this game.)

Tuna is correct about the larger factions having decadence problems leading to civil war, and that's a big argument in favor of doing the usual decadence. On the other hand, we're often starting out in positions where we nurse decadence like Makers' Mark, and that makes it difficult to get to Civ level 3 even with devoted culture production -- but Tuna's correct about not neglecting that! So slowing our own decadence down in the early game can keep us from being crippled early (even though that also makes it harder for us and the NPC factions to progress.)

[Tuna]

You can arrange that with your teammates, too.

The game assigns a pretty standard set of conquer-goals to each faction, in what is usually or always the same order. Gaining those will provide automatic progress tokens usually (only 50% chance or gaining or losing progress for gaining or losing goals in the reduced prog/dec.) Gaining one will also avoid earning decadence points from conquest. You should negotiate with your nearby allies about making sure you all get as many as possible, perhaps trading off goal areas by going to war temporarily. (No way to do so peacefully in this game.)

Tuna is correct about the larger factions having decadence problems leading to civil war, and that's a big argument in favor of doing the usual decadence. On the other hand, we're often starting out in positions where we nurse decadence like Makers' Mark, and that makes it difficult to get to Civ level 3 even with devoted culture production -- but Tuna's correct about not neglecting that! So slowing our own decadence down in the early game can keep us from being crippled early (even though that also makes it harder for us and the NPC factions to progress.)

I think the better way is to settle down and crank that Culture early. Once you reach Tier III I think on decadence,  you kill the culture enough to stay 'young' as long as possible. In my current game with MD and W8t.. I'm trying to dive from Glorious to 'old', so I can then attempt to get to 'Stable'.. I think Young is out of reach once you leave it in Tier III.. Unless you want to go through a collapse of your Civ.

I vote for a restart of normal settings, I don't think I'm interested in the change, were I've tried so hard to learn the normal game.

[JasonPratt]

1 vote to change!

Servers are janky tonight -- I couldn't log in a few minutes ago -- so anyone new trying to log in, if you're having problems, it may not be you.

[Yskonyn]

I have too little experience so I abstain. I'll go with whatever is decided.
I did enroll as Marco in the mean time however.

[Tuna]

I dropped, if you decide 'regular', I'm in, but if not, I'm not interested.

[JasonPratt]

Well, you're the only other player currently signed up aside from Ysk and myself; and Ysk has no experience for an opinion one way or another; and I'm good either way; so I've restarted with normal prog/dec levels.  O:-)

Same password: Grogs

[Tuna]

K will join again after work. If Ysk wants to do a session on tips early on, I'm open. We're all allies anyways right?

[JasonPratt]

Yep! -- though you know how this game goes, we have to manually "ally" with each other (send alliance proposals or accept them).

That's another big reason for going back to normal prog/dec, because you've got your system for managing it, and we want our allies to be as strong as possible!

[Tuna]

Other thing I do early game, is make Friends with the nearby Giants, be it Rome or Carthage, Macedonia etc..That way they wont DOW you and Steam Roll. Later when we're stronger we can rebel.

That means when you have extra cash, send them gifts.

[JasonPratt]

I'm thinking of waiting until Sunday night sometime to start the game, to give Speedy and possibly MD decision time to jump in. Strictly speaking no one has taken the Aedui yet after all. (I think.)

[MetalDog]

Anyone looking to jump in as Aedui is certainly welcome.  I'm just a space filler right now.

[JasonPratt]

Okay, MD, if you're going to jump in as the Aedui, now's the time! -- I plan to start the game today, probably this afternoon (and/or the next time the overwhelmed Matrixlitherine servers allow me to log in. ;) )

[JasonPratt]

MD is in as the Aedui, and the Alpine Wall game is running!

First up, as one of the two guys already on the wall: I've sent alliance requests to the rest of you.

Second, since Rhaeti starts pretty dirt poor (only three bldgs in my capital territory, one of which needs to be torn down asap, and very difficult to get more properties developed; with no properties at all in the other two areas), I'm running a task force to Rhaetia's only other downhill region pronto, Isarus (but splitting off a warrior and two skirms to camp in my alpine capital and fend off raids.) This will allow me to provincialize immediately, and then I can spread some of the infrastructure and food I pick up elsewhere to help bootstrap the capital area.

I won't need to worry about protecting my downland regions yet, because we've teamed up! -- and the same is true for the rest of us, too, we don't have to worry about each of us even launching raids on each other. (The raids in this part of the world badly hamstring development of each other, which is admittedly historical. ;) ) We'll still need to watch out for AI raids from elsewhere.

Once I've got Isarus, and I provincialize, I'll concentrate on bootstrapping up for a while, and on picking up my other two Rhaeti areas (which are in the Alps flanking my capital, not great areas to grab when not a province yet.) So I shouldn't be in anyone's way.  O:-)

[MetalDog]

I went to accept the challenge last night and the game was not there.  So, no, I am not in.