Depends on where you set the baseline. Since I didn't even try Maso with diplomacy bonuses until I had more than ten Maso wins posted, my perspective on the same point, even though we essentially agree, is different. From my baseline, I read it as "Maso with high diplomacy is very very easy". I learned how to play on Maso without the benefits of high diplomacy, so I got used to higher levels of resistance in my strength training than those who parked on the diplomacy advantage and built their strategy around it.

We're seeing the same thing, but looking at it from different angles. Still, if you are varying your game, and now mostly playing without diplo bonuses, then you will build up more "strength" as you go, and eventually arrive at the point where you also see it from the angle of low diplo equals "normal" and high diplo equals "easy".


- Sirian

Although games allow reloading, there are no do-overs in real space-time. If you play a loss all the way out to the end, or play through a series of mistakes and eventually reload, then yeah, your statement holds up.

Those who reload after each mistake are the ones who suffer most. Laziness is not actually the most acute term to apply to it. Better is to look at the game from the perspective of the player's real life timeline, rather than the game's timeline, which can be paused, backed up, changed to pursue a different path of choices and outcomes, etc. For the player, there is one continuous timeline.

Constant reloads keep the player in an advantaged or privileged position. At the first sign of trouble, player backs up and chooses another path. This leaves the poor player with his or her personal timeline comprising one long line of privileged experiences. The player who plays through mistakes and problems will have a portion of their gaming happening from a disadvantaged or weaker position. This increases the "strength training resistance". There's no two ways around it. More resistance provides faster gains, so long as the resistance isn't too much to handle.

Players can reload and learn from their mistakes, but there's no way they learn as much as if playing through them. Yet even this has exceptions, as my reload in the OPC shows. That wasn't a "mistake", so much as it was not yet knowing the rules completely, due to recent patch changes. Playing through it could have taught me something, but it would have killed my chance to win out what was already a stretched situation. In this one instance, I would have lost more than I could have gained, since the anomaly wrecked a carefully balanced situation that was already all the "resistance" I could handle.


- Sirian

yes vincible.. i was chatting to her online last night.. still no luck

and those darn SF's are right behind us again.. I hope they hold off till this problem gets sorted out.. LOL (yeahhh right... i know... in my dreams.... LOL )

I'm actually finding that without diplo starting picks, there is an extreme dependence on diplo tech and bribes! LOL

Smeagol. I thought you had one game that failed to show. I didn't realize you had lost all of your scores and it now says you have submitted one game with a total score of 700 or so. How did this happen? Did you join drengin.net or something and the registration numbers get messed up? I am really sorry. This would annoy me greatly. Good luck and keep us informed.

Not only that...look at this!!!!

http://fotr.galciv.org/whatthe.htm

What the heck is going on in the Metaverse?????

I just noticed that my ranking was at zero again. It happened to me a couple of days ago too! (:(
[Message Edited]

I enjoy the banter about "how the game *should* be played" but consider it rather silly. Life is challenging (and sometimes painful) but games should be fun.

If you want to reload because the fundamentalists event makes the game too easy or makes it too hard, go right ahead. Just have fun and keep playing and stick around long enough to buy the new expansion pack so we can keep having cool games to play.

We all know the metaverse is more of an indication of dedication than an academic "honor roll" particularly if you can win a 50 or 60k game. People as dedicated as Ray, Cotal, Jaws, or Maxti deserve their place in the sun. Just have fun, don't fret how others play, and be happy for nuggets of advice that might make your game more fun.

Rick, the happy hobbit

Looks like only the top 15 get numbers.

Maybe they did this so that newbies wouldn't be totally demoralized upon finding out that they're 7000th place.
[Message Edited]

Oh, sure Rick...we've got to do something about that common sense you have! LOL

Well, it sure surprised me to see that I was ranked 0th. Boy, that's a real motivator! LOL

Sirian, do you actually play all the way to the bitter end?

My general policy is to play until I'm quite sure that I've lost, then quit.

Whoa, cool pic, Greldon. Is that from Escaflowne? I don't remember anything like that but I can't think of anything else with robots carrying swords.

Could be the resurgent Transformers...

By the way, it's great to see all the recent activity in the empire! Noticed a couple of people have started playing again! Welcome back and don't worry...all the 1.12 bugs are going to be fixed soon (hopefully!!!)


[Message Edited]

I think that the site is being update it, for that reason the mess with the scorres, the "zeros" thing I have seen before many times. I think that the new server is having problems with time out, specially for those with dial-up, but here at work I have cable and still the service is very slowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

I honestly don't remember where I got it. When I found out I could put a picture with my profile I started browsing the fantasy and scifi art/pictures sites. I probably visited 25 or 30 sites before I found this picture. But as soon as I found it I quit looking.

I think Theoden is right about it being transformers.

It is a time of war in the Metaverse. The Jedi and their allies in the Evil Empire have launched an attack upon the European Alliance. So far, the Fellowship has not deigned to involve itself in the petty squabbles of lesser empires. Is it the will of the Fellowship that this continue?

Until now, the Fellowship has tried to maintain good relations with all other Empires, as befitting its role as benevolent Galactic hegemon. However, the galaxy is changing. We face a new challenge from the rise of the Special Forces, and new challenges demand new policies. And a crime has been committed, a crime which has gone unremarked so far, but a crime which the Fellowship cannot ignore.

I refer, of course, to the abduction of the innocent hobbit gardener Samwise Gamgee from the Tolkien system. The details are unknown, but he was taken from Tolkien system but a few days ago and transformed into an enormous, raving alien--a Psychlo calling himself Terl. In this state, he was seen in the company of the Jedi before he left to join the Evil Empire.

Reports are conflicting as to the details of his transformation. Some say that it was a plot by the Jedi, who needed allies in their losing war against the Euros. Other reports claim that it was a plot by the Evil Empire, and still others claim that Gamgee, tired of hearing his master's complaints about a certain ring, initiated this transformation himself. A minority view is that the Special Forces are attempting to weaken our membership in preparation for a surprise assault, but this does not meet their standard procedure of using alcohol in the recruitment process.

What is the will of the Council in this matter?
[Message Edited]

If I may speak....

I was doing quite well, a-minding me own business when all this started, errmm, befell upon me, it did. I was travelling with my master and he dropped this odd bit of a ring. I tried it on and well next thing you know, I was in the company of the Siths. I enjoyed their company but found them still a bit too nice for me, at this stage of me life an' all, and, well, a wandering man clad in black stopped and chatted with me a while.

I found his plans to be enjoyable and the rewards quite great. Then *BAM* I be whisked away to another place, sure I was, I say. Anyway, next you know, I'd looked in a mirror and I resembled a Klingon in dreadlocks. Hmmm, a Psychlo I says....

Well, then the circle being complete I was whisked away by the nice chap in black and next you know I'm with a great lot swillin' down some good ale and being waited upon by 5000 Torian slaves, all me own. So, I figger at this point, I ain't gardening n'more, nope not me.
[Message Edited]

It would appear as though Tarl has reached the end of his twisted journey, at least for the present :notsure:

Well, y'see, it's like this...I mean me and Mr Frodo, we was doin' most of the hard bits and it just wasn't fair. We stops at one place an' them elves just be a prancin' and dancin' about and here we was headin' off to meet the Dark Lord. Once all the above stuff happened, I was kinda relieved an such like.

Now, I am nine feet tall and no more prattlin' about in some guy's garden. Yessir this is a better life, yessir it is. Maybe I'll drop by the Prancing Pony some eve and buy a round.:)

[work is quite boring today...sigh]
[Message Edited]

Terl, you seem sensible so there's probably no need for this post. But there have been misunderstandings in the past.

I wanted to make it absolutely clear that there's no real hostility between players and empires, and certainly not toward you. You should go where you think you fit in best.

I hope you (in real life) don't mind me writing this. I was just thinking that we needed some event to stir up some more story-writing in this thread, and your departure was a convenient excuse--nothing more. If you're uncomfortable with it, the Fellowship can always find another causus belli

When I first read the books, I kept waiting for Sam to crack and scream bloody murder at Frodo for insisting on dragging him to hell's doorstep. And then trot off to the nearest pub for a pint or three.

Nah, me mum said ne'er to worry 'bout what the other hobbits said. Makes me no nevermind. I was just explainin' why I left, what with all the stuff happening an' all. The Valar, well, they just don't intercede for you anymore. That's why I had become such an existential hobbit, if you knows what I am talking about.

Seems like you can't count on anyone. Look at Saruman. Nice guy one day, just plain evil another. Darned palantirs.

I just got to thinking one day how much easier it'd be to just join up with the Dark Lord. Then, I tried on that pretty little ring and my ideas just came to be.

[I am just playing along, satirically to an extent, but just playing. I enjoy it actually; long time rpg'er and author wannabe. Thanks for the concern though. I'll quit if you want me to]
[Message Edited]

I was always amazed at Sam. He is such a picture of duty and honor. If I were headed for "hell's doorstep" I would certainly want a friend as staunch and loyal as Sam was portrayed to be.