Are you hijacking this thread? Do you have anything to contribute to the subject?

And for your "voice of experience" remark, as a matter of fact, yes, winning a military victory on a huge map against an intelligent AI is the voice of experience.

Try something above cakewalk, asshat.

THAT'S the Wheel we all know and love! I hope you realize that I was just kidding around. You sounded a little down on the last post, so I wrote something guaranteed to get a rise. Would really hate to see you go. On the original topic: I agree wholeheartedly with your idea. They (scenarios) would really inject some life into the community. I haven't seen any real opposition to the idea, and it would be so (seemingly) easy to implement, that I am a little surprised that it hasn't already been done. If we aren't going to get that other, unmentionable feature, at least give us this.

Yeah, I was tired when I wrote #24. I read #25 early in the morning. I thought you were from Swicord's Gay Mafia.

The lull set in and I couldn't stand it. I completely fail at seeing how players can rack up monster scores and retain their sanity. OCD, methinks. Anyway... I executed a trade embargo to toss the Yor into poverty and then I stepped on N-1's throat and didn't let up until they surrendered.

I find the Technology Victory to be cheese so I'm not starting up another game to aim for it. Definitely not now with the taste of blood.

The map of 4 opponents took over a month. I love the fighting. I'm not ready to get into another full scale epic empire building session. I really want to the Battle of the Gods scenario but, since I'm a Metaverse Nazi, I won't touch it unless I can post the results.

I wonder if the devs even know that this thread exists.

Swicord's Gay Mafia

I so wish I had a gang treating me like Tony Soprano , and it wouldn't be the "Gay Mafia," it would be the Pseudo-FemiNazis. More than a few times lately I've amost started an off-topic thread with the title "The token queer boy wants more women around here." Some of my best friends are straight guys, but y'all can, well...

Silly stuff aside, I still don't know if I'd ever bother with a Metaverse game b/c for me it would need at least one email to support to try getting involved despite the fact taht I've been a Stardock supporter since GCI.

Re one of Wheel's other tangents, I must categorically scoff the notion of any particular "victory" being "cheese" b/c a game like this is complicated enough to make a fool of anyone trying to predict "the" reason any particular player would become obssessed.

I'm in the Green Party, GW. The gay dudes are great for finding good women. You're still welcome at the Empire of Standards.

Re one of Wheel's other tangents, I must categorically scoff the notion of any particular "victory" being "cheese" b/c a game like this is complicated enough to make a fool of anyone trying to predict "the" reason any particular player would become obssessed.

We'll have to disagree here. There comes a point in the game when victory takes about 2 to 3 months. I had a navy of 60 ships. 20 of them carried the load of attacking enemy fleets. The rest defended. The remaining part of the equation was producing constructors for resource bases and troop transports for planetary invasion.

My huge map of 70 planets definitely didn't require hundreds of vessels.

The gay dudes are great for finding good women.

True, but that still leaves 2 problems for this forum: 1) finding good men for the good women and 2) finding more women who will play these silly mega-boardgames with us testicle-impaired folks.

Say what? Women, aside from the powerful and magnificent CariElf, are not playing strategy games and, when they do, it's Civilization. Sci-Fi need not apply.

testicle-impaired folks.

huh?

Sci-Fi need not apply. testicle-impaired folks. huh?

My point exactly. Some of my favorite SF authors, e.g. Octavia Butler and Ursula K. Leguin, are women. At least some women must be playing these games. Why must we "suffer" the overwhelming eau d'testosterone?

I completely fail at seeing how players can rack up monster scores and retain their sanity

I'm with you on this one. The current scoring system doesn't accurately reflect skill of play, it just shows that the person posting the high score has learned the techniques to employ to gain said score. That being said; anyone posting a high score must necessarily be very experienced at the game to get up there. I suppose my biggest bitch with this system, (and the reason that I don't post to the Metaverse), is that in order to post a respectable score, I am forced out of the style(s) of gameplay that I enjoy.

I find the Technology Victory to be cheese

I always disable this now. I have never gone down this path to victory, and actually wonder why this feature was added in the first place. The real cheese for me, is the AI using it. Twice this has happened to me. Just when the game is getting really juicy- 5 or 6 years into the game, when I have all the techs I need to use, and have nursed the game situation along so that there are still 6 or so opponents in play, when I am ready to make the big move- along comes that damned announcement that civ so and so is about to get the tech victory. Nothing to do but go to war and stop them. No problem. I'll just do it, and get back to the real game. Then, next turn, same announcement, different civ. That's it. Game over. No way to defeat two powerful civs in the few turns remaining. This just drives me crazy.

Mistralok, do you have any sympathy for the idea that "cheese" is at least sometimes in the nose of the smeller?

To me, the military victory is closest to what I'd call "cheese" (although I don't actually like that term). That's because I *think* I understand what's necessary to dominate the AIs by force, perhaps even if I finally break down and start playing above Tough. I find destroying all other fleets and taking all other planets, well, kind of boring.

I admit I've had some tech wins that seemed too like a cakewalk even at Tough, but other times I've been hard-pressed to keep my empire safe & at the books. The AIs are much better now at seeing you start for a tech win and starting to frak with your plans.

There's nothing wrong with diplomatic or influence victories. I think the tech victory just makes no sense.

Mistralok, do you have any sympathy for the idea that "cheese" is at least sometimes in the nose of the smeller?

Certainly I do. All I can do is post my personal opinions on the matter. Cheese to me is a course of action that lacks honor; something that in my heart of hearts I know to be the wrong thing to do. I know that it's there, and I know that using it will give me an advantage, but I also know that if I do chose to go down that path, that I will be cheapened somehow. Gameplay example: Parking empty hulls in orbit in order to stop invasions. Sheesh, this is like saying that my uncle's house will never be burglarized because he has a '56 Pontiac rusting in the backyard. Real world example: What the Miami Dolphins did to the Patriots. Perfectly legal according to the rules of the game, but sneaky and underhanded all the same. I don't care for the term either, it is not very precise, and too easily misunderstood; but that's all we have now, so whatcha 'gonna do?

Mistralok, do you have any sympathy for the idea that "cheese" is at least sometimes in the nose of the smeller?

Certainly I do. All I can do is post my personal opinions on the matter. Cheese to me is a course of action that lacks honor; something that in my heart of hearts I know to be the wrong thing to do. I know that it's there, and I know that using it will give me an advantage, but I also know that if I do chose to go down that path, that I will be cheapened somehow. Gameplay example: Parking empty hulls in orbit in order to stop invasions. Sheesh, this is like saying that my uncle's house will never be burglarized because he has a '56 Pontiac rusting in the backyard. Real world example: What the Miami Dolphins did to the Patriots. Perfectly legal according to the rules of the game, but sneaky and underhanded all the same. I don't care for the term either, it is not very precise, and too easily misunderstood; but that's all we have now, so whatcha 'gonna do? I evidently didn't make myself clear when stating my opinion of the tech victory. I am not referring in any way to yourself, or any other human player. Use whatever strategy gives you the most enjoyment while you play the game; that is why it exists. I am referring to the extreme limitations that it imposes on the game. It acts, in effect, as a timer; when the tech tree has been researched, the game is over. I have always found the Diplomatic and Influence paths much more interesting, and only use military force as a last resort, or when forced into a corner. During the evolution of the game, these have become much more difficult to achieve, and I find that I need considerably more time to even have a chance to make them happen. Enabling Tech Victory takes that time away from me.

Sorry about this partial double post, I hit the 'post reply' button by mistake, and evidently didn't stop it in time. Kryo, please feel free to delete post #37, as well as this one.

Mistralok,

How's this empty hull stuff working. I'm playing an obscene difficulty game now and I noticed that the Yor transport coming at my planet has a 90 beam weapon offense, what difference is the empty hull going to make other than becoming an appetizer?

That is indeed an ominous sight, yukasika. More often than not, the AI doesn't arm it's transports, and they just sit there impotently. I am actually glad that the game is making better choices. Way to go Brad. Please post back and let me know how the AI handles the situation; i.e., whether it actually uses the weapon it has placed on the transport.

Darn, where's the edit button? Forgot to ask if this is DA or DL. In DL I have seen armed transports sit there just like their unarmed counterparts.

DL, transports did attack. Damn psionic beams, raise shields !!!

Thanks for the info, vukasika. I'll keep an eye out for those nasty buggers in the future.

class RhetoricalQuestion
{
public static void main (String [] args)
{
System.out.println ("Do we have metaverse scenarios yet?");
System.out.println ("\nNo. Would you like to learn how to write Hello World! in Java instead?);
}
}

Metaverse scenarios are certainly one of many things that the Metaverse Council wishes to consider. As the original proponent of these your input is highly desired. This currently isn't on our "front burner" but I don't think this is far behind. Our current top projects are AltMeta Brackets, the Email Outreach program (actually we could use some html assistance on this) and our AltMeta Times/Blog. Stop by the Core, we should probably open up a thread on this topic.

At last sense in a sea of bewilderment   

Good to see you Mumble