Travel to Realms Beyond Your Ordinary Gaming Experience

This thread is intended to recruit new players to the Realms Beyond community through our Metaverse Empire. We don't exactly need a thread for discussion, as we have our own GalCiv forum attached to the RB website. (Realms Beyond is a veteran community of gamers with an established presence in several strategy and role playing games). However, some have suggested that our "meteoric rise" in the galactic standings represents a "mystery" and a possible threat to other empires. Surely not, says we. :)

Why not wait for interested parties to find their way to the RBGC forum, if they wish to communicate with us? That seemed wise at first, but the suggestion has been floated amongst our own that we should research "communication theory" and create a device called a "univeral translator" and seek to open communications with other empires on terms they are used to operating, through channels they are used to using. The ultimate wisdom of this idea, and this so-called translation device, remains in doubt among RB leadership, as the first attempt to use the wicked thing resulted in misunderstanding leading to combat and nearly kicked off a minor war, but we are an adventurous people and will give almost any idea a try, so here we go. :D

Our Empire Motto: WE SEEK CHALLENGE THROUGH VARIETY!

http://www.galciv.com/metaverse/empires.asp?id=555


We seek mastery over the game. The ideal at RB is to be able to beat the game on any map size, without choosing to abuse the AI's various inanities, without having to have perfect terrain conditions. Any alignment, any victory condition, any habitability range, any political party, any combination of bonus picks. If a challenge lies before us, we will embrace it. Mistakes, setbacks and losses do not represent failure, merely a chance to learn, from which greater success can sprout and flourish.

No skill level is too high or too low for RB. All we ask is that you play your best and have a good time.

RB players venture beyond the ordinary. If you are like unto our brother in the spirit in which you play, you would be welcome to join our empire. All you need is interest, an RB-style gaming attitude, and the desire to participate. Our mission is to have fun, to pursue excellence, to play fairly, to uphold the integrity of the game, to embrace variety and challenge, push the boundaries of the game and gameplay, experiment, learn, grow, and do it together.

Our passion is the AAR. We live to read a good AAR and to write our own. Fun shared is fun doubled. The RB Epics tournament for Civ3 sees every participant post their own AAR after each tournament game, with the chief entertainment value being sharing insights, experiences, and laughs. Whether we will hold a GalCiv tournament remains to be seen, but the possibility is out there.

We keep a list of rules for our GalCiv gaming. This list will grow and evolve as the game evolves and our understanding of it matures. We voluntarily refrain from (in our opinions) game-breaking tactics that unbalance a game or pigeonhole it into one "best" path to victory. Some game elements may be broken or have loopholes. Some moves may just be "too strong" and kill variety. We do not use these moves. We do not have to use them. Mastery over a game is established by taking the high road, by trudging uphill and building our strength and endurance. Our interests lie in seeing the game refined to where the game balance provides extended replay value and neverending strategic challenge. However, unless and until that state of polish is reached, we will set our own boundaries to create this effect for ourselves, whether or not it can be found in the game as currently programmed.

If this sounds like your kind of gaming community, we invite you to travel to Realms Beyond.

Our forum for Galactic Civilizations:

http://www.network54.com/Hide/Forum/237344

Players interested in joining Realms Beyond should venture to our forum, read the lastest version of our rules, and confirm their assent to abide by the rules we have set. We place the quality of our gaming experience ahead of our standing in the competition. Excellence brings its own rewards, its own forms of recognition and respect from peers. That is something no measurement or score could ever fully depict.

Anyone who agrees to our playing philisophy and signs their John Hancock pledging their allegiance to our posted rule set will be confirmed onto our roster. Come one, come all, for the time of your life. LOL Our star is rising. Our destiny is written in the heavens. :HOT:

We are also hoping to generate enough excitement to lure out some of the other RB players who have yet to pick up GalCiv. Surely when they see the grand party we are staging at our best starbase, some will be compelled to join in. And as far as "threat to other empires", that's purely propaganda. We have no hostile intentions. Now if some players are impressed with our culture and decide to emigrate to our worlds, that would not constitute hostile action against other cultures on our behalf. ;) We cannot help but to be ourselves. :D


- Sirian

[Message Edited]
16,218 views 354 replies
Reply #1 Top
good luck RB!

:)
Reply #2 Top
Sirian,

Thanks for the invite. By the way, being a 'threat' is a good thing in our community - I think we'd all love to see a new competitive empire shake things up again... particularly one that brings in expert players.

Your website is great... and I'd keep plugging it in this thread so that this stays on the front page.

Welcome,
Cypher Pax

~SDC~
Reply #3 Top
Gerakken's customary empire thread crash is now under way! Nothing like a younger empire busting up through the ranks. Being #12 at the moment isn't too bad at all. I am in agreement with your statement of gaming principles. While it seems to be the vogue thing these days to cheese the game any way it allows, there is a minority willing to draw the line and not resort to what "everyone else" is doing. So good luck on your quest.
Reply #4 Top
The Metaverse Review has been updated!

http://metaversereview.joeuser.com

Headlines Include:

~ ANZAC Republic to Third
~ Jedi Continue to Grow
~ Metaverse Still Awaits ver 1.11

And More!
Reply #5 Top
Tap..TapTap.. Is this thing on? Yes? Oh..

Ahem. Hello everyone. I'm President Alverin Meritol. I just wanted to go on record saying that I really enjoy being in RB, and I enjoy the challenge proposed by the rules that are set down. I have never found it to be very enjoyable to take advantage of the blind spots of the simpler life forms in this universe (no offense to the Torians intended.) I find it much more exciting to have them bow before - ahem - I mean follow my enlightened ruling methods through straight forward actions and McDonalds French Fries.

Anyways, I have been told by my head researcher that we have just acquired the ability to do some intergalactic "Trade", so I thought I would submit one of my more interesting conquests of the universe in hopes of receiving some similar stories in return.

We at the Earth Federation had just started our colonization of the universe and we were astounded as to the numbers of very habitable worlds that were available to us. We continued to expand further and further to the North and West, and we still hadn't encountered more than a brief contact with the Drengin. Amazingly, once the rush to colonize worlds was over we discovered that we had control of 35% of the space in the universe. Astounded by our success in claiming so many worlds we expected that the rest of the races in the universe would soon be looking to us for leadership. Little did we expect what was coming.

We sent our scouts out exploring, and they quickly found that the Arceans were trapped in a single sector of space! Even the Carinoids had more worlds than them. A feeling of trepidation came over me, but I explored on none the less.

Next we found the Altarians, and I breathed a sigh of relief as I saw that they controlled a goodly ten sectors of space. A little balance in the universe after all. But there is still half of the universe to explore.

I discover the Torians next, and am shocked to see that they too have just one sector, and not only that, but only 1 planet! The Yor are no better off - they have 2 planets to rule. This means that the Drengin that I met early on had managed to take control of over 40% of the universe during the colonization spurt!

Knowing their tendancy for violence I immediately start improving my defences, and it is a good thing. The Drengin decide to go after the much weaker Torians. They quickly surrendered, and their civilization merged in with the Altarians.

This is when the Drengin made their mistake. Seeing that I would be a little tough to chew on they decided to try to conquer the rest of the universe first, and they went after the (admittedly struggling) Yor and the Altarians at the same time! This kept them in a deadlock of power for quite some time, and the Drengin had little to withstand my assault once my deathknights started coming out of the shipyards faster than they could ever hope to match. The Drengin fought valiantly for a few years, but the only real obsticle that was in my way was distance, as I had to cover the entire galaxy to reach some of their furthest planets.

A few years later the Drengin finally submitted to my rule, and seeing that I controlled the vast majority of the galaxy the rest of the races in the galaxy quickly bowed to me - with my defense forces protecting versus any planetary invasions of their planets of course they had no choice! :)

Well, hopefully you found my first AAR at least of some interest, and hopefully more will follow, both from me and other members of RB. Of course others are quite welcome to post theirs as well.
Reply #6 Top
While it seems to be the vogue thing these days to cheese the game any way it allows, there is a minority willing to draw the line and not resort to what "everyone else" is doing.
End of quote


Excellent. :D Always nice to know there are folks of similar alignment floating around. Perhaps together, our starbases can spread the word and we can woo some fellow sentients back from the dark side. ;)


- Sirian
Reply #7 Top
Alverin,

Thanks for the AAR. Sounds like an interesting game. I rarely have trouble with the Drendin unless then get into the position you describe in which case they seem very tough to beat. The Torians usually get a better start, but the Yor are generally pathetic.

In the interest of 'fair play' I generally boost the Yor up a difficulty level from the rest of the AIs. Unless they get an 'incredible' rating, they tend not to do well...

Happy Raiding,
Cypher
Reply #8 Top
I like your sentiments Sirian and your logo.

I have found Crippling to be my most enjoyable level.

Good luck.
Reply #9 Top
Yeah, you are right Cypher, I don't think the Yor are usually one of my biggest concerns. Unfortunately I'm getting ready to move up to crippling, and I'm not willing to give the Yor that big of an advantage at Incredible. Who knows, once I get a few crippling games in I just might do that. Thanks for the suggestion.
Reply #10 Top
Welcome to the Metaverse, Realms Beyond. :)

I like your house rules which are basically,

1) No unnecssary reloading
2) No alpha strikes
3) No exploiting of 1IP bug
4) No excessive Ctl-Ning

I was recently also thinking about house rules so here's a few you can consider:

1) No multiple cultural SBs in a single sector
2) No purchasing of starbases from AIs
3) No purchasing of orbiting military ships from AIs
4) No gifting/selling of ships to AIs next to starbases

~SDC~
Reply #11 Top
Ray, yes, I like your suggestions. Those are all on the table. We try to be careful about restricting options, though. We do not rush to judgement.

There have been some issues in Civ3 that have both legitimate and exploitive uses, and writing rules to cover those for our Civ3 tournament is never easy. In some cases, we've concluded that it is necessary, but for some others, we have developed traditions where the items are not expressly forbidden, yet abuses are heavily frowned upon. If most of your peers lack respect for a certain move, there isn't much incentive to use it, when part of the appeal of participation is gaining recognition for your efforts and achievements. That kind of dynamic doesn't work at the Metaverse, at least not on a wide scale, but there is more to good gaming than racking up numbers.

The 1 IP issue is supposedly fixed. Some of these other items may be due for similar attention. Yet even good rules may warrant exceptions. I know that I've faced opponents with multiple influence resources, and resorted to building a second cultural starbase in one of my own sectors to help with the overwhelming pressure on one of my colonies. That is not quite the same thing as spamming party palaces to try to flip the opposition.

I do not believe the AI should ever sell a starbase, freighter, colony ship or transport, but I don't believe I know enough yet to say that there are no reasonable instances of such things. One thing for sure, as many colony ships as the AI keeps around, the game has got to stop killing off population when they are destroyed while docked. Even without alpha strike, that is making invasions too easy, and it is just plain buggy. :)


- Sirian
Reply #12 Top
Personally Ray I already follow all of the rules addendums that you posted (with the possible exception of alpha strikes. I will position myself to attack several colonies at once if I am going to war with someone, but I won't bribe them or others to start fighting first, which is where I feel the exploit is. Even then I rarely strike more than 3 planets when I declare war, and I always play large, common, so that isn't that much over all.)

I actually play by slightly tougher rules than RB requires, but it is close and I really like the concept behind RB. Personally I only allow 1 SB per sector aside from resource SB's, and if I have the resource SB first I don't build another (aside from potentially another resource SB!) :) I refuse to trade influence at all from me, although I will take some from the AI if they don't have any money available. I also don't either buy or sell ships or starbases.

Still, I don't expect people to play the same way I do. I'm a big believer in that people should play however they most enjoy the game, and that is another big rule of RB - points don't matter. If you prefer playing one type of game, then play it that way and don't worry about the score! We actually encourage people to submit losing games, as it is the game itself and the learning experience that you gain from it that matters, and not your overall score.

Edit - spelling and grammer.
[Message Edited]
Reply #13 Top

Your way of playing actually fits my kind of play a lot:

1) No unnecssary reloading
End of quote

I play ironman :D
2) No alpha strikes
End of quote

Too tedious for me to plan an alpha strike on more than one world.
3) No exploiting of 1IP bug
End of quote

I used this a few times but stopped. It's far too cheesy. I do wish that giving 100BC had more impact than giving 1 IP.
4) No excessive Ctl-Ning
End of quote

I almost never Ctrl-N. Probably once every 5 games.
1) No multiple cultural SBs in a single sector
End of quote

I don't use that trick. Occasionnally, when I have put 1 starbase in every sector surrounding an enemy star, I may put a second one, but landing on a planet is usualy better and cheaper.
2) No purchasing of starbases from AIs
End of quote

I will sometimes do this, but the price is high enough for me. I usually play medium maps, where the price is mostly okay, and only get starbases from allies.
3) No purchasing of orbiting military ships from AIs
End of quote

Never did that.
4) No gifting/selling of ships to AIs next to starbases
End of quote

I quit doing that too. The ai is far too clumsy using an AMM right next to a starbase anyway. I think this is a legitimate tactic however, but the ai should be coded to realize that the Terrans sold a ship to their enemy and thus declare war or something, maybe based on spying.
Reply #14 Top
Breaking News! RB scientists have developed new technology: color television! To capitalize on this innovation, our logo has undergone minor revision. Now all we need is to invent some way to control the darn thing that does not require me to get up off the couch over and over again. LOL

PS: We have exclusive trading rights to this new luxury item. The benefits would appromimate out to +10% morale, +15% star influence, -10% productivity. HBO upgrade module costs extra. See your local RB technology outlet at a starbase near you. Mention this advertisement, save an addition 5%. LOL

- Sirian
Reply #15 Top
Sounds like you play pretty much the same way I do LDiCesare! I once suffered through a 1700 BC debt just because I accidentally clicked on the accept button instead of the cancel button!) :) (That is primarily what our reloading is supposed to cover - accidental mis-clicks.) You would probably fit in well with us. Not that I'm trying to steal you away from your current home (ok, maybe I am a little!) :) You are welcome to come visit our message boards and see if we might be a good match for you.
Reply #16 Top
You know, Realms Beyond might recruit better if the empire weren't Invite Only. Of course, you might want to try to keep undesirables out...
Reply #17 Top
I think we were looking for people that were serious in joining us, not having fun with the Metaverse! :) I have to admit I was stunned to see that The Kingdom of Aldar had jumped to 8th place for a bit! :) Seriously, it isn't terribly hard to join - they took me after all, didn't they? ;)
Reply #18 Top
I think we were looking for people that were serious in joining us, not having fun with the Metaverse
End of quote


Fair enough. :D

LOL
Reply #19 Top
There is nothing wrogn with pulling one of the 6 legs that the Altarians have. Don't you think?? LOL ;)
Reply #20 Top
Nothing at all - I got a chuckle from it, that is for sure. I wasn't complaining about it at all - whatever makes you happy.
Reply #21 Top
Yeah! It is finally Friday - I'll have time to play the game again! :) Sometimes I hate having an active weekday schedule between work and activities with friends - now is one of those times! :)
Reply #22 Top
Two more RB players have arrived. Our empire score now tops 200k points. The new patch certainly feels different with the minors now stretching their legs a bit more.

- Sirian