Sword of the Stars 1 - another attempt at multiplayer

So, last year 5 of us started a game of SotS. It was a fairly laid back, slow moving affair. But sadly, (and probably inevitably) the game came to a halt when one of the players had to pull out (birth of baby is a good excuse though!).

Now that the evenings are starting to draw in, I fancy having another go at playing a long game of SotS over the course of several months. Anybody interested?

Ideally, I'd like five players again, all as unique races.
Aim to play around 1 hour per week, UK time evenings.
Somewhere around 100 stars, and default-ish settings. As I was enjoying the glacial pace of the last game. Sure, we may never play the game to completion, but the fun is in the journey.

I think Heliocentric and Karandraz are interested (two of the players from the previous game) are interested in giving it another shot. So might only have two places to fill :)

The yellow menace would love to join but I'd probably only slow you guys down as I have a lot of stuff going on right now (that and of course the time difference).

I hope I get to read lots of diaries.

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Originally Posted by Tikey

(that and of course the time difference).

I hope I get to read lots of diaries.

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Yeah, the time difference was almost workable, but not quite. We should try and find a good TBS which supports async play!

I would suggest something small scale balanced for small fleets (low economy high research) so things advance nicely but engagements remain significant. Random events should remain proportionately rare to keep things ticking over.

I will also never play human ever again!

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Originally Posted by Heliocentric

I would suggest something small scale balanced for small fleets (low economy high research) so things advance nicely but engagements remain significant. Random events should remain proportionately rare to keep things ticking over.

I will also never play human ever again!

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I was going to suggest random assignment of races...

I'd be up for a game of sots. I usually play as Hiver, although I could also manage Liir or Morrigi. Hiver are particularly good for avoiding random events with strategically placed gates.

I'm away from my computer at the moment, so I wouldn't be able start until the weekend.

Edit: Random assignment? That might be interesting although I find the Zuul some what frustrating.

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Originally Posted by Rotekian

Edit: Random assignment? That might be interesting although I find the Zuul some what frustrating.

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Well, I'm hoping everybody would be happy with random assignment. I myself haven't really played the game enough to get a good feel for the strengths and weaknesses of different races. But I did find Helio's frustration playing as the humans a lot of fun (partly it was his own fault, and partly it was bad luck, ending up bottled up in a galatic dead end and having to wage war on the Liir to get out).

Zuul require effort but are not that frustrating. You are the Lord of your own destiny. By click dragging you can plan routes a few jumps ahead easily, u suggest using notes.

Okay, I can deal with random.

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Originally Posted by riadsala

(partly it was his own fault

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You always insisted that but I don't think you saw quite how screwed I was. Depending on peace with the liir would have been like letting a hiver keep gates on you worlds, I was quickly 5th in all of the rankings despite pouring my entire economy into research.

I could have sat on my HQ and bio boomed but that would be mega dull for 50 turns which would take 2 real life months :p

Anyway, these grapes are sour!

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Originally Posted by Heliocentric

You always insisted that but I don't think you saw quite how screwed I was. Depending on peace with the liir would have been like letting a hiver keep gates on you worlds.

I could have sat on my HQ and bio boomed but that would be mega dull for 50 turns which would take 2 real life months :p

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I'm sure an inbetween strategy would of worked... at least using the element of surprise... try and get some ships out past Sorb before he realised your situation, etc. Instead, you warned him a lot and he effectively crippled his empire trying to keep you contained.

Shame we didn't get to play another 50 turns, as I tihnk that the Liir were close to falling, allowing you to escape

I assume we'd be assigning randomly outside the game to avoid people being given the same race.

Zuul are the race who rush across the map consuming all the habbitable worlds in their path. Before overwhelming people with wave after wave of low tech ships. They require a little more micromanagement than most races though.

Yeah, my militarisation never really closed it's chapter. Could have worked, playing a game with completely exposed Intel is kinda unworkable though.

One compromise option would be to each nominate one race we didn't want to play and choose randomly from the remainder. Mainly I'm suggesting this because this is intended to be slow game and it not be fun if everyone hates the race they get.

I only want the game to not be overly bloated in scale. People with slower transit(Hivers, early Tarka, Zuul bores) will forget what they were doing. It's fine for the likes of humans and crows who can zip about with modular fleets.

Yes, bloat could be a problem. Although Hiver slow movement is wave based, so there isn't much to remember between each wave.

How about I get a 3rd party to assign races, and then people can swap with each other if they want? Me, I'm not too bothered... I expect to do equally badly with each race.

Is there a setting to speed up the tactical battles? That was the main time sink last time we played?

And, I think we're looking for one more person.

I think there is a way. I can't remember if the default is page up and page down or something else.

In any case, the battles can be be ended early if all sides set the peace flags. Asteroid monitors and ancient ship sections can be skipped this way once all ships are out of range.

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Originally Posted by Rotekian

I think there is a way. I can't remember if the default is page up and page down or something else.

In any case, the battles can be be ended early if all sides set the peace flags. Asteroid monitors and ancient ship sections can be skipped this way once all ships are out of range.

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I know you can accelerate time while in a battle... so hopefully I can set the slowest time to be pretty fast :)

If anybody spots Karandraz online, let him know this thread is here :)

Short battle length screws up the balance utterly. Makes assaulting planets nearly impossible.

We are best just getting familiar with the fast forward controls.

Ah, now that I have access to my computer again. Control+PageUp/PageDown is the time control. The maximum is x8.

My schedule is a little bit shaky at the moment but you guys know iam always up for some sots action!

Shame we couldnt keep our old game going, my trading was starting to boom, so things could have got amazeballs for me, atleast ;)