Take your time. No rush.

I'm there, but like Kryo said, not showing due to no games posted. I'm getting there guys, I know that's a sad excuse and seems to be my mantra as of late, but I'll be posting soon.
I actually got to sit down and play DA Wednesday, due to the snow/ice that hit Pittsburgh and left me stranded at home (aw damn huh? ). Since I'm a little rusty (I don't think I've played for about five weeks now)and DA is 'all new' I was just dabbling with the game on cakewalk with a gigantic galaxy and all nine majors in tow. I'm not too hip on the 'extended' tech research (I'm one who likes to research it all and not give anything away on trade unless absolutely necessary)because of the time it takes, but I'll have to work around that one. Some things are the same, some things are new, but it still pretty much plays like DL for the most part. Overall I like it and the tweaks I've done with my PC make the game run that much smoother and visually it is superb.
So I thought I would post this just to let you guys know I'm still around, just getting swamped at work and finally, FINALLY getting to play this game again. It's just too bad that my work PC can't handle this game or I would be set with all kinds of game time at my disposal. I've tried the Mumblefratz 'wake up at two a.m. to play' and all I can say is, it is not happening. I need my beauty sleep.

10-4 on the beauty sleep. Letting this game violate such a fundamental principle would be going against the fabric of our empire.

Mumble and his cohorts in the Galactic Diplomats are... OCD. If you're found attempting to overwhelm computer opponents with 5000 ships per sector, I'd have to question why you'd want to be in EoS.

If you play the game straight up, I don't care if you log a loss. Play it for fun. That's why you bought it.

Glad to see I managed to get an honourable mention. Happy to inflame anyone's gastrointestinal peristaltic movements.

Just a little confused about the ethos of your Empire. You scoff at the score mongers by not caring about the metaverse? Or by posting games careless (and regardless) of score? - i.e. I had fun playing this medium map, but didn't bother about waiting until Year X or Population X or Spaceship Count X to maximise my score.

Should your answer be my latter explanation, do you then care about metaverse rank, for both empire and individual? Or is it all about the game and the fun and thus you're posting to the metaverse because...???

Putting what I have mentioned (above) aside I do think your empire would prefer the concepts and ideas being proposed by the MVC over at the galactic core, mainly because it looks at keeping the whole scoring system dynamic, rather than being choked with exploiting fatties (such as it is now). Head on over and drop your thoughts down in a post or two - to streamline things I suggest you stick to the threads concerning 'Metaverse Brackets' or 'Altmeta Bracket Changes'.

Ciao

In my view, posting to the Metaverse at least once is important for proving to your peers that you can play the game fair and square. I know Evil S gets really annoyed when anybody suggests that posting a Meta score indicates skill. That's understandable. My position isn't about skill. It's about honesty.

If I'm going to help anybody on the forum, I want to see a medal set. After that, I'm checking for cheat flags and difficulty levels.

There are too many terminal fraktards playing this game to help every one of them. If they rise above a very low bar of expectation, as outlined above, I'm not going to get on their case about their lack of effort at literacy or their general demonstration of being completely crippled when it comes to logic. If you can get through one game at normal/challenging or higher, you've established honesty and attention to detail.

After that, it's about fun. I doubt anyone will be posting losses but if they do, it's ok. I hope it's for attempting suicidal difficulty or something similar.

The OCD players are as bad as the n00bs when it comes to doing the right thing in the game. Hundreds of ships per sector. Hundreds of economy bases. It's the wrong way to play. It's obsessive. It sends the wrong message to new players and turns off experienced ones.

I hope that answers your question. I'll try to stop by the Galactic Core.

Wow Wheeloffire, your words were pretty much the sum of things and I know I couldn't have put it better myself. As everyone around here might have surmised by now I really don't offer much 'in depth' help, not because I want to be a jagoff (which I can be) but because I am not a 'teacher' ("those who can't do, teach", anyone remember that one... hee, hee, just kidding). I can't explain this game as thoroughly as most of you because I just don't care. I play to win, I play for fun, and yes, I do like to think that I 'know' a game that I am playing... but not at the expense of the 'fun factor'.
I give players like Mumblefratz (sorry buddy, I don't mean to pick on you by using you in my examples, but you REALLY get into this game)props for playing the way they do. When I saw that screenshot with all of the starbases, well, I was awed I guess, but that is definitely not my style. Strategic placement of a few, yes, but not overwhelming the map with dozens upon dozens.
As far as medals, sure, I'd love to have row upon row of bling to 'wear on my chest', but then what? What does it ultimately mean? Is there a cash prize? Does it mean that my name will go down in history? Do you see what I'm getting at?
I stay with this community because I enjoy it. It breaks the monotony of work and is actually quite entertaining... almost as much as the radio sometimes. There's not much that I can say anymore regarding this game except I think it's great for it's genre and what it is. Tips and pointers, it isn't that I don't know, I'd rather leave it to the 'pros'. Trolling, as some have accused me of, I don't think so. Never have and never will. If I read something amusing, you better believe I'm going to say something. Sorry for another long rant but I couldn't let Wheel have all of the fun.

I've never played a game that hasn't been fun for me. I've never encouraged anyone to play any kind of game that isn't fun for them. Regardless of appearances, I don't believe that the score is everything nor even the primary thing. Having fun is the primary thing. I hope that we can agree on that much. How one has fun in this game is infinitely variable.

From what you're saying I'd think you'd be supportive (I'm not necessarily suggesting that you aren't) of what we're trying to do on the Metaverse Council. The initial primary goal of the council is the development of a set of brackets that will emphasize games other than the gigantic military victory that is skewed in importance because of scoring.

I support the EoS, even with it's somewhat offensive motto. I support folks that prefer different game styles and strategies than ones that I prefer. I'd like to think that the Metaverse Council represents the EoS as much as it represents either myself or the Diplomats, despite your low opinion of both the Diplomats and me. After all, the EoS does have a representative on the council and no one fought harder to get him there than I did.

Our differences (at least in my mind) have been in our general philosophy of how other people should be treated. Whatever. I'd like to assume that we both share a love of the game. Perhaps it's better for all to concentrate on what we agree on than on what we don't.

WoF - thanks for clarifying those bits and pieces. If I may just drop some constructive criticism on yo' a$$. The entry point to this thread can be a little intimidating and perhaps be construed as being potentially offensive (thus turning people off), now I know not every empire should be a 'Diplomatic, Whale Loving, Stay Puff Marshmellow institution of PC' but I guess what I am is saying is perhaps less punch and more scratch (nails down your back are nicer than a punch to the face ), I know you are looking for 'people with spirit' but it shouldn't be at the expense of a little courtesy.

Having said that, I do agree with much of what you have said re: having fun with the game, although I must say, personally, acquiring the associated bling - although not really making much logical sense can easily develop into some form of possession - i.e. Why the hell should a stack of internet based props matter to me and my RL? logically it shouldn't, but that's the wierd thing about internet communities, peoples ego's come online and suddently 'making the top 25' becomes important! I think it is good that an empire exists that turns their nose to this to some degree - but getting the balance between participation and arrogance will be tricky. Goodluck, and I mean that genuinely.

Personally offensive? No way! How could that be?

There's nothing better than wrasslin'. It's the people that don't understand the cheesy, over-the-top nature of "professional" wrestling who get upset with me. I could really care less if necessary. It's amusing to watch people get their panties in a bunch from my alleged lack of courtesy.

(and I just managed to get those knots out of my silky panties... )

Fair enuff.

Silk panties? That just proves that on the internet...

The men are men. The women are men. And the children are FBI agents.

Im not FBI agent

I prefer the KGB   

Second, and how. I've only had one serious "straight job," and one of the reasons I could hack it for a few years was that TPTB understood that if you let the talent put a sign on their door and take a midafternoon nap, they're more likely to put in the OT in the early evening. Plus some recent research suggests you cut down on your heart attack risks if you take naps regularly.

Hey guys, thought I'd drop a line and let you know (in case you already didn't) that I managed six Meta games over the weekend. Got my ass kicked on Normal diff of all things and I'm still scratching my head over that. It seems my old strats are pretty much useless, or at least they need modified a bit. Time will tell. Regardless, sorry if my posting losing games fudges the numbers (or am I?)for us but what will be will be.
My main thing now, since I won't admit defeat, is to keep at it with the custom race I made and find the right way to go about things. However, if I didn't know any better I would say that maybe Meta games are purposely 'tougher' in some way... but then that would be the easy way to excuse my losses. All I know is all the civs gang up on me from the start and just relentlessly pummel me into oblivion. I'll get them though!

Wouldn't that be a good thing for an empire dedicated to playing for fun before scores? I mean depending on how it happens, getting knocked over by a buddy in a play fight can be, well, fun (if maybe not so good for long-term brain health). As long as nobody loses an eye or anything...

GW is right. As long as you're having fun, post what you want. Glad to see that losses don't affect moving up in rank. Peter principle at its finest.

I like that purple heart. I might have to post 5 losses of my own to get one.

Are you looking somewhere other than Evil's new bling? He's just got the 5-games medal, which doesn't say anything about whether they were wins or losses.

On a related note, can someone point us Meta-newbies to a page or thread that explains the offical medals? I'm curious about ones like the oddly-named "Racial Victory."

Just looked over your scorecard, Evil. How could you log 6 gigantic map games in one weekend? Large takes me a month. I know Mumble plays gigantic maps and has reported as long as 8 weeks. Do you need/want help with strategy? We are about having fun. I don't mind you posting losses. I'm just concerned that you might not be having fun.

For the metan00bs:

Medal Definitions

As far as I know, my 'medal' only shows up on the Meta page listing my character. I asked Kryo this morning about that and he figured it should show up but since they are updating for DA, who knows for sure, but I'd love the 'wounded in action' medal to show up on here!
Wheeloffire, not to sound like an ass, but you honestly don't believe that I'm not having fun with this do you? As far as getting in six games, well, I played pretty much all day Saturday and Sunday (wifey poo was working/shopping) and didn't fudge a thing. I made an honest effort using my 'patented' playing style and then realized that it just doesn't work. Maybe it's due to DA, maybe the diff (although I've romped quite a few times on the normal diff in the sandbox on DL), or just a combo of both. I believe my strategy is fine, it just needs tweaked a bit. Besides, I love using a custom race even if they aren't 'as good' as the in game civs. Since I read in another post how some people felt the custom races got short changed when it comes to points to spread for abilities, it just increased my urge to play with the customs until I can find the right formula for attributes/abilities.
Who knows though, if I continue to rack up losses I may have to break down and give a shout out for some help, but not yet. I never claimed to be the uber player of this game, but to get my butt kicked like I did this weekend was quite surprising to say the least.
To get back to the timeframe question Wheel, I made an honest effort and wasn't lying when I said that the rest of the civs pretty much jumped me from the start... I mean within 10 to 15 turns, or at least very near that. I didn't have time to do anything really and the colony rush phase was just a joke. Just about every planet around me was toxic in one way or another and I had no colonization techs in all but my first game (gave myself the super adapter ability). Not to mention lack of any real bonus tiles and the AI's swift extermination of any starbase I built, on a resource or not (it really seems like the AI is coded to look at these first for some reason). You know it's bad when your enemies enemies attack you instead of coming to the rescue, although in the last game I played the Drengin did gift me a quite a few ships but by then, the damage was done, and my economy was tanked enough that I couldn't handle the maintenance on those gifted ships (I'm still wondering if this wasn't an AI ploy, done purposefully to sink me because the Drengins 'seemed' to be getting along with all the other civs.
edit: okay, it may have been a little longer than 10 turns but how about this... one turn I run into the akilian scout ship and they say "it'll be a pleasure working with you" and then roughly twenty minutes to a half an hour more of playing and they're knocking on my door with guns drawn. To me this is way to short a time period to meet a civ, have decent exchanges, and then have them declare war.

Ok. No problem. Rock on.

I'm just waiting for someone to come along and say I fudged this... you know you want to, so come on.
Maybe if I was winning the games would have lasted longer? Hee, hee, hee. That's probably how I was able to get in six games, but I did play my little heart out and tried like mad. You all know damn well I didn't want my first (or next FIVE!) Metaverse game to be a loser, regardless of the scoring.

One more reply before I go on my way... since our EoS statement is regarding scores and the 'inherent knowledge of the game', did I lose to lose? Did I try to win? Am I a DA god, or just a myth. My posted games should have been an instant reflection on our mission statement and all that it implies. Honestly Wheeloffire, how did you miss such a thing?
Honestly, I played to win and made every hair pulling effort to stave off defeat, but my opening paragraph in this reply should go miles as far as demonstrating what our empire is trying to prove. Don't you think so?

And you know I have no qualms whatsoever about saying exactly what I think.

What do you think about going to the Galactic Core?

I know GW wants an EoS presence there. You or Mistralok will make it empire-wide law. I've already discussed it with Mumble. We're clear when ready.

I have no problems with that! Let me know what you need from me, my liege.
Although you will probably have to verse me a little bit because I am having a tough time navigating over at the core and read something regarding PMing my Emperor to gain access... access to what? Are we already set up over there with our own area or what?