Any interest in a SMACX Democracy Game?

[Buster's Uncle]

Some people have been doing some good things to try to revive MP, but it's going slowly.  Wanna do a demogame in the meanwhile?  A member I was talking to last night expressed enthusiastic interest in such a thing, if it happens.

Somebody post and explain what a demogame is, just in case...

[Buster's Uncle]

Whoa boys, one at a time, one at a time; there's room for everyone. 

I've seen at least one person I know for a fact is interested have a look and then not post.  COUGHImpalerCOUGH.

I can't believe there's no other interest - but people have to actually speak up, or nothing happens.

See also this Mart thread from November, where people actually spoke up: http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?topic=5936.msg40135#msg40135  I have no idea why it petered out.

[Impaler]

Oh sorry Buster, had not realized you were starting a thread.  As I said I think an SMAC democracy game would be quite refreshing.  I'm more more of the 'strategy' style of player (I don't tend to get into the role-playing, but love reading it).

I'm thinking we may want to do a small map and a modest number of teams say 2-4, I prefer PK's obviously.

[Buster's Uncle]

I  just pinged Dolgorukov -he says in his MP profile that he craves demogame action- and am about to ping Mart to make sure he sees this soon.  Everyone else from that last thread comes around plenty, so I hope I won't need to.

Needs some MPlayers, though...

[Yitzi]

I still don't know exactly what a Demo game is (I have some idea, but nothing clear.)

[DrazharLn]

It's a game where one or more players play the game and post reports, screen shots and sometimes save games to a thread along with a report (like an AAR) every so often.

After each post, there's discussion about what to do next. Often there's light roleplay, too. Once some decision has been made, goto 1.

[Kirov]

I can help with the game, although I'd prefer if somebody else actually run it. Demo needs a lot of screenshots and polls, at least that's what I remember.

@Impaler - I think we can't count on more than a couple of players doing this, so one team with one faction would be preferable in my opinion. We can later split into like city governors so everyone manages their own part of the field, but it must be reasonably coordinated at the central level somehow.

[Mart]

One German site was running 2-faction demogames, at least 2 games, as I recall.
After ACDG 3 on Apolyton we had several attempts to make SMACX singleplayer games. None of them were very successful, too few players.
The best game would be multiplayer, as it makes more competitive game and I think more people would find it interesting.

Both for singleplayer and 2-player multiplayer, I think AI could be considerably enhanced to make decent challenge.

We might have like 10 players, if we are lucky

[Kirov]

I remember ACDG 1 for one faction (PK) and it was quite enjoyable, the main problem was the Thinker difficulty, too low for most of us. I didn't join later Demo games. I'm not sure we can get 10 players around, but if you say multi is so much better, we can try it.

[Buster's Uncle]

The one at WPC was killed by Civ5 - we'll need to watch out for that when BE releases in six months, but the BE excitement is an opportunity, too.  We need a lot of content and activity in place when the flood comes, so we can skim off the cream for SMACX.

If we start as simply and modestly as possible and play it through, there ought to be a lot more people interested the next time; think of it as a building step.

[Buster's Uncle]

It goes without saying that subforums and any empowerment needed to make this work will be extended with enthusiasm and gratitude, but I say it, nonetheless.

Help me come up with a new-style blurb, and I can promote this at the other Civ sites, starting today or any point in the future...  A lot of old-time CIVilians have been dusting off their SMACX CDs in the last week.  Soon is the time to strike.

[Vishniac]

I don't have much time, wouldn't run it but I can surely help, particularly with the use of nerve gas/genetic warfare/nuclear weapons (see my sig for more details!). 

[Buster's Uncle]

Hmmm.  If I got enough input, I never finished They Also Serve Who Stand to Sweep, and it wasn't far along enough to commit it to another DG...

[Yitzi]

It goes without saying that subforums and any empowerment needed to make this work will be extended with enthusiasm and gratitude, but I say it, nonetheless.

Help me come up with a new-style blurb

I don't think we can have a good blurb until we decide on faction and general style (probably also what victory we're heading for.)

[Buster's Uncle]

Yes.

On one hand, early "DemoGame Organizing" promo-ing could pull more input - but on the other, it wouldn't be a lot to say and wouldn't be much of a draw.  Also, my time is finite and so is my nerves for doing promos.

Too many typpos are getting past me lately.  It was supposed to be "news-style blurb".