Alpha Centauri 2

Community => Recreation Commons => Topic started by: Buster's Uncle on July 10, 2016, 04:03:36 AM

Title: Community history and war stories
Post by: Buster's Uncle on July 10, 2016, 04:03:36 AM
I'm told that I'm surprisingly well-informed for a community member of my recent vintage, but y'know, no substitute for being there, even though I know what Nine Heads of Ming was.  So I thought I'd just ask, and see if anyone could edumacate me.

Two off the top of my head in case anyone knows, both related to DLs:


What's the deal with Wiglaf?  I see hints sometimes that he's a DL and it feels like everyone but me knows who.  I asked Solver a month or two ago, and he said he'd always had the same feeling, that he was missing out on a joke, other than the obvious comedy rage stylings,  others were in on, but that whomever Wiggy is has been doing it a VERY long time...


What's the deal with gribbler being a different person at least once a year, if anyone besides gribbler knows?  Seems to be the worst tubbie of them all at keeping it on the QT...
Title: Re: Poly questions
Post by: ColdWizard on July 10, 2016, 04:44:24 AM
I never paid much attention but I think I once read that multiple people had access to the Wiglaf account.
Title: Re: Poly questions
Post by: Buster's Uncle on July 10, 2016, 04:52:12 AM
Someone signed up as Wiggy here a few years ago - no rage stylings, but bailed on an MP game...
Title: Re: Poly questions
Post by: ColdWizard on July 10, 2016, 05:02:50 AM
Suddenly I remember HARDMAN and feel nostalgic. Clearly another sign that I'm spending too much time on the internet.
Title: Re: Poly questions
Post by: Lorizael on July 10, 2016, 06:02:31 AM
If you go back to the archives, Wiglaf used to be very different. Conservative, but not a bizarre surrealist caricature. As someone who may or may not have access to super special ancient hidden moderator forums on Apolyton, I can neither confirm nor deny that Wiglaf is, has ever been, or will be an extraterrestrial.
Title: Re: Poly questions
Post by: Dale on July 10, 2016, 07:55:06 AM
The important question is not what you asked BUncle. It's why does anyone care? Polys a [poop]hole. That's all that matters.
Title: Re: Poly questions
Post by: Buster's Uncle on July 10, 2016, 01:15:58 PM
I already know why I care.
Title: Re: Poly questions
Post by: Elok on July 11, 2016, 04:48:21 AM
I have a hard time believing multiple people have the Wiglaf "voice" down well enough to do it.
Title: Re: Poly questions
Post by: ColdWizard on July 11, 2016, 05:20:45 PM
As Lori said, there were two "voices". I think I remember them both posting in a relatively short time frame but I do have a tendency to blur things together.
Title: Re: Poly questions
Post by: Buster's Uncle on July 11, 2016, 06:04:53 PM
...I imagine that it's doable, given fairly cursory research, and we're not talking about a lot of stupid people in the room...
Title: Re: Poly questions
Post by: Elok on July 12, 2016, 02:49:07 AM
Have you tried?  I have.  It's harder than it looks.
Title: Re: Poly questions
Post by: Buster's Uncle on July 12, 2016, 02:55:12 AM
I have not tried - and I'd want to do some reading first.  My biggest problem would be not going back far enough - he drops in a fair number of references to old timer community people/stuff up to a decade before my time.  -On the other hand, I speak reasonably fluent conservative and am a bottomless pit of hate and invective that I hope I manage to conceal normally.

Shall we have a Wiglaf-it-up challenge?

(http://alphacentauri2.info/MGalleryItem.php?id=951)
Title: Re: Poly questions
Post by: Dale on July 12, 2016, 10:15:32 AM
No.

It's people like him that make poly the verb I previously used.
Title: Re: Poly questions
Post by: Lorizael on July 12, 2016, 01:47:41 PM
Wiglaf doesn't bother me. He's a piece of performance art as far as I'm concerned. There are others on the forum who are sincerely mean-spirited.
Title: Re: Poly questions
Post by: Unorthodox on July 12, 2016, 01:55:52 PM
Never did OT there, so don't know/care. 

That said, there was a timeframe I was 4 different people there...made me look more unhinged than I really am. 
Title: Re: Poly questions
Post by: Buster's Uncle on July 12, 2016, 02:48:44 PM
Aeson/Ming doesn't even bother to step on DLs these days unless they get unbearably annoying - and I wish the unbearable bar was a little lower.  That rash of unfunny comedy DLs last year was seriously hurting the low quality of the place.
Title: Re: Poly questions
Post by: E_T on July 15, 2016, 01:05:59 AM
I did not like the flame fests and trolling that was the highlight of the OT (or even the main threads).  I was very glad that the great outage and subsequent split/migration to MZO and later, WPC had happened.
Title: Re: Poly questions
Post by: Buster's Uncle on July 15, 2016, 01:23:26 AM
WHICH great outage?
Title: Re: Poly questions
Post by: E_T on July 15, 2016, 03:06:59 AM
 The first big one, that happened near the end of the first SPDG (Civ 3 vanilla) and the PTW ISDG (was intrasite...  I was on the Roleplay/Spain Team with Togas and Arnie...  Rhoth was a Blockhead (Lego team) and Trip was with Invictus...  and the Gathering Storm famous Inchon/Inchoff manouvor that cut deep into the Invictus territory/supply lines.  Also had the Blood Horde...

Poly had gone dark while we were attempting to coordinate the teamplay, some via IRC, but we ended up setting up temporary lodgings at MZO, when MasterZen had offered to set up the private forums.  And a lot of people stayed and MZO was a team in the first ISDG between different sites using the last version of Civ3 (conquest or C2C, IIRC). 

And most of the MZO crowd had gone to WPC when MZ had to shut it down.
Title: Re: Poly questions
Post by: Buster's Uncle on July 15, 2016, 03:50:16 AM
Okay, thanks - I'm always interested in community history, Dale like it or not, and AC2 is a direct descendant of Grampa Poly, who swears so much in his sunset years the nurses at the rest home fight over who has to change his nappies and only the most thick-skinned or deaf descendants can stand to visit...

However, yer talking to a n00b from 12 March 2009, who has no notion what timeframe those things you mention happened in...  -Well, 3 makes it what?  More than ten years ago, less than 15, doesn't it?  I didn't really pay attention besides SMACX, and came to II later...
Title: Re: Poly questions
Post by: Lorizael on July 15, 2016, 04:17:10 AM
Civ3 came out in 2001.
Title: Re: Poly questions
Post by: Dale on July 15, 2016, 05:34:03 AM
I found Poly in 1999 thanks to CtP.  And then CtP2 in 2000 drew me back in.
Title: Re: Poly questions
Post by: ColdWizard on July 15, 2016, 04:07:10 PM
When was MZO? I know it existed but not when.
Title: Re: Poly questions
Post by: Unorthodox on July 15, 2016, 04:30:46 PM
The first big one, that happened near the end of the first SPDG (Civ 3 vanilla) and the PTW ISDG (was intrasite...  I was on the Roleplay/Spain Team with Togas and Arnie...  Rhoth was a Blockhead (Lego team) and Trip was with Invictus...  and the Gathering Storm famous Inchon/Inchoff manouvor that cut deep into the Invictus territory/supply lines.  Also had the Blood Horde...


It was Glory of War, not Blood Horde...

Myself, GhengisFarb, Master Zen, Uber, Aro, Donegeal, Panzer, Aggie.  I'm sure some others I don't recall. 


Best thing of that team is lost...we ran weakly internal games, both SP and PBEM "Dtrategy games" (originally a typo we just ran with).  Specifically to test random scenarios and how playing vs people differed than playing vs computers.  The original, original team Merc was an ENTIRE GAME we played, where YOU COULDN'T ATTACK ANYONE, but had to hire another to do it for you.  OH, THAT was one of the backstabbiest clusters of joy I've ever experienced. 

We also invented the RPDG concept, which we tried to bring to life larger scale several times to no success.  (individuals controlled specific tiles and cities)


Blood Oath Horde was for PTWDGII, of which I was not affiliated. 


Quote
Poly had gone dark while we were attempting to coordinate the teamplay, some via IRC, but we ended up setting up temporary lodgings at MZO, when MasterZen had offered to set up the private forums.  And a lot of people stayed and MZO was a team in the first ISDG between different sites using the last version of Civ3 (conquest or C2C, IIRC). 

And most of the MZO crowd had gone to WPC when MZ had to shut it down.


I salvaged my writings if you want some nostalgia:  http://www.weplayciv.com/forums/showthread.php?2703-The-Trappings-of-War (http://www.weplayciv.com/forums/showthread.php?2703-The-Trappings-of-War)

When was MZO? I know it existed but not when.


Judging by my salvage above, it lasted TILL 2010.  PTW came out in 2002, so would have been 2002-2003 when it started. 




Title: Re: Poly questions
Post by: E_T on July 15, 2016, 05:36:37 PM
I have done some spelunking at the way back machine...  found a few pages. ..

Yeah, after going to look at poly, I was going to correct it...   even looked at a few of the old Jungle Gazettes, too...

Whatever DID happen to mad king Donnigal and did you ever get your revenge on MrWIA?? 

Title: Re: Poly questions
Post by: Buster's Uncle on July 15, 2016, 05:39:29 PM
...I wonder if there's some archiving doable w/ MZO material, since I'm on a tear of that lately - we'd need a substantial SMACX presence to justify it, though...
Title: Re: Poly questions
Post by: Unorthodox on July 15, 2016, 06:49:26 PM
I have done some spelunking at the way back machine...  found a few pages. ..

Yeah, after going to look at poly, I was going to correct it...   even looked at a few of the old Jungle Gazettes, too...

Whatever DID happen to mad king Donnigal and did you ever get your revenge on MrWIA?? 



I don't specifically remember what I did with Donegeal, if anything.  Aggie took over for him at some point, being the most builderishly skilled among us, followed by a short stint with Panzer, and Master Zen for the large remainder.  I served as backup through the duration. 

If you read the end of the trappings link above, MrWIA kills me in the final chapter, and turns out to be a pawn of Master Zen to get me to go along with all the wars in the first place.  It was intended to be a rather short story with me dying quickly. 

Ironically, I was more or less writing the adventures of AN IN GAME NAMED UNIT.  One we had on the initial RP assault, which we considered a suicide mission for the units involved.  I specifically asked for the riskiest tasks on that assault too. 

THE DAMN THING WOULDN'T DIE. 

To the point I even took over a turn later, and attempted to suicide it on a full strength infantry/rifle?(can't recall which) in the Lego war, and the damn thing won.  Same on a Tank vs GS.  Running around with this Chinese rider that just refused to die. 

There's a lot that got lost, because I was banned and harassed by certain members, despite me always getting whoever I wrote about's permission.  Other members on the offended teams launched a campaign of coordinated complaints.  I moved it off site to MZO for a time, but was asked to stop by Poly leadership at the time.  There were, iirc 20 further chapters that needed editing but never got 'published' as a result.  They is gone. 
Title: Re: Poly questions
Post by: Buster's Uncle on July 15, 2016, 06:57:58 PM
War stories!  More of this, folks, no need for a 'Poly connection.
Title: Re: Poly questions
Post by: E_T on July 15, 2016, 07:59:55 PM
And a lot of the people who were outraged at the BS had made the final migration to MZO and later to WPC.




Title: Community history and war stories
Post by: Buster's Uncle on July 15, 2016, 08:04:43 PM
Changed the title of the thread...

What's the deal with gribbler being a different person at least once a year, if anyone besides gribbler knows?  Seems to be the worst tubbie of them all at keeping it on the QT...

There's more story to the rise and fall of CGN than I've ever heard, surely...
Title: Re: Community history and war stories
Post by: Unorthodox on July 15, 2016, 08:40:47 PM
War stories!  More of this, folks, no need for a 'Poly connection.

Well, lets see...

My bad above.  PTWDGII was the one everyone tried to be lighthearted with. 

I joined team Tabemono, a team dedicated to owning all food resources.  Mostly because Zargon X headed it, and seeing how he had handled team Lego in the first game, I figured he could teach me a thing or two about buildering. 

That's where Kloreep and I became attached at the hip through the rest of the games.  Kloreep was a HELL of a builder, and I had a tendency to be a bit foxy on the military side of things.  We learned quite a bit from each other, actually. 

It was the Conquests game I stayed out of, helped set up and edit the map.  It laid the ground work for the major cliques.  One team got caught placing a DL in another team, adamantly denied it/claimed it was legitly a member of their household that never shared info, iirc.  Team Babylon from that game pretty much stuck together after that, and actively sought revenge on team Blood Oath Horde that had wronged them, through the other demogames.  This actually poisoned the games...up till the original C4DG....

When I, knowing their history, played those two groups against each other to the benefit of Team Mercenary, and they found common ground in all hating me.  I know several of Babylon would still actively deny me a chance to form an oddball team today, if we started a game. 

Ironically, one of the two groups planted a DL in Team Merc (confirmed with admins, but didn't make a public stink that would have totally destroyed all demogaming) at the time.  One that actually sabotaged a game turn, playing and passing, emptying defenses and pop rushing everywhere against the standing orders.  We dealt with it via taking everyone we trusted to PM, and posting false information for the DL to lead the offenders into a trap.  That removed our DL problem more effectively than public shaming. 
Title: Re: Community history and war stories
Post by: Buster's Uncle on July 15, 2016, 08:56:28 PM
Kloreep is a HELL of a lot of good things - sensible head on those shoulders...
Title: Re: Community history and war stories
Post by: E_T on July 15, 2016, 08:58:41 PM
I always liked the idea, just that it was very difficult to do when others would not really accept it or worse, gang up and remove them before they changed the power balances towards one team.

Now the idea of everyone needing to have someone else do the acts is a great idea and I think that should be the makings of the next small team game...
Title: Re: Community history and war stories
Post by: Buster's Uncle on July 15, 2016, 09:14:05 PM
...I definitely think that as war stories are shared, related talk about future possibilities is to be encouraged, AC2 being Officially Gay for stuff like DGs and team play and fun in general...
Title: Re: Community history and war stories
Post by: Dale on July 16, 2016, 01:05:41 AM
Officially Gay

Please use a different term. That ones offensive.
Title: Re: Community history and war stories
Post by: Buster's Uncle on July 16, 2016, 02:14:55 AM
[blinks]  Grounds?  I hardly expect PC from you.

No; come to think of it, please don't tell me.  I won't frame it that way again.
Title: Re: Community history and war stories
Post by: ColdWizard on July 16, 2016, 04:21:30 AM
There's more story to the rise and fall of CGN than I've ever heard, surely...


Rise (http://www.civgaming.net/forums/showthread.php?t=65), Fall (http://www.civgaming.net/forums/showthread.php?p=161271#post161271)
Title: Re: Community history and war stories
Post by: Buster's Uncle on July 16, 2016, 04:47:13 AM
Dark Cloud; but of course.

-Actually, I've read all that before.  Brother Marvin is my CGN DL.  buster (no relation) knows, and now several people will.  I still don't know what happened except everybody got bored and wandered off.

Ooh; outed myself.
Title: Re: Community history and war stories
Post by: ColdWizard on July 16, 2016, 05:09:08 AM
Well, from what I remember, some of the people graduated uni and found jobs and such, others went off to uni, and still others found other interests and wandered off.
Title: Re: Community history and war stories
Post by: Unorthodox on July 16, 2016, 05:15:07 AM
I always liked the idea, just that it was very difficult to do when others would not really accept it or worse, gang up and remove them before they changed the power balances towards one team.

Actually, the idea is to play planning on that reaction.  A team that plays from turn one with the mindset they will be going to war early and often makes them a tough nut to crack for teams playing to win the long game.  Team Merc would WELCOME an early dogpile against them.  (survived being attacked by a team we "had no chance to win against" in 3, and won.  Survived a 2 team dogpile who hired our standing army, to suicide them and gain experience then coordinated an invasion with a side of sabotage from a planted DL in 4)

civ 3 - 4, given at least one strategic resource, Team Merc could withstand up to 3 teams dogpiling to the point of ensuring THEY would lose the game by taking us out. 

V, I'm so inadequately equipped to say it's funny. 

Title: Re: Community history and war stories
Post by: Spacy on July 16, 2016, 09:24:42 PM
I stopped caring after all the drama started. 

First, there was the time sink, and I really just couldn't put in the time required to really do much demo gaming... so I was already playing much less, then the drama started.... DL of so and so.... hacking this private forum.... aggg.  Game folks, just a game.  Play it for fun.

When I got approached by someone I respected on the forums to basically throw my own team away (them thinking I was more active than I was) in Tabemono I think it was, I basically dropped all out of demo games.

Then, when 5 game out I was thinking I might get back into one, help rebuild the community, but the flaws in the game itself made it such that multi-team demo games were basically a no go from day 1, and that all died.


I have hopes for 6.  Cannot now (with a 1 year old) be a very active player, but can offer support for either a specific team or as a part time admin type. 
Title: Re: Community history and war stories
Post by: E_T on July 17, 2016, 03:24:53 AM
Yes, is definitely only a game...

[SHAMELESS PLUG]
WePlayCiv is currently in the early discussion phases for a CiVI SPDG, so y'all come over and join the fun...

[/PLUG]

Title: Re: Community history and war stories
Post by: Buster's Uncle on July 23, 2016, 04:15:00 AM
What's the deal with gribbler being a different person at least once a year, if anyone besides gribbler knows?  Seems to be the worst tubbie of them all at keeping it on the QT...
Anyone have any light to shed?
Templates: 1: Printpage (default).
Sub templates: 4: init, print_above, main, print_below.
Language files: 4: index+Modifications.english (default), TopicRating/.english (default), PortaMx/PortaMx.english (default), OharaYTEmbed.english (default).
Style sheets: 0: .
Files included: 31 - 840KB. (show)
Queries used: 14.

[Show Queries]