Your changes look fine to me. I am not partial to blind research, i'm just not experienced enough to use directed to its full potential yet (ironically, i actually play a builder game on blind, so i am looking forward to seeing what i was missing).
It is the progenitors who always kill me on transcend, so if we have other AI it should be fine.
Also, out of interest, why would you ban the Empath Guild? It seems pretty benign to me, commlinks, vote bonus and infiltrators are nice, but don't seem to impact my games horribly much.
And a kind of newb question, but copters can attack multiple times per turn? I had no idea.”
;zak; is my favorite faction if that is all right, but since you don't even want him as an AI i am also willing to play ;deidre;.
Yabcok, thanks for that file, it's good to have the rules in one place, although to be honest, most of the boil down to "don't exploit the bugs", which is one general rule I'd like all of us to follow.
Hence, I'm rather against upgrading crawlers and then cashing them for instabuild - I'm quite sure it's not the way they are designed. Similarly, I shun retro-engineering - building exactly the same kind of unit is fine in my book, but using specific modules for other designs doesn't sit well with me - as the probe-to-rover bug shows, it was probably a hole in design.
Also, I'm quite sure the part about +4 PROBE is irrelevant, as the bug is fixed in patch v.2. Or am I wrong? I'm not sure, but something about Data Angels definitely got fixed.
I'm not really comfortable with the idea of tech stagnation as I'd like to finally bring one game to a conclusion, and tech stag is the last thing to help with that.
Question - why no Morgan, Pirates or Uni as AI?
Patch - the latest patch by scient is the minimum, we can also (and I'd appreciate that) try out the new patch by kyrub, which enhances AI behaviour.
As to game copies - I did that for kyrub's patch, but GOG version works funny when copied just like that, I don't want to have an unstable version for MP. As far as I know, alphax.txt doesn't need any changes if we don't play with more serious modification (increased price of CBA, chopper movement cut in half, etc.).
Wiglaf: Empath Guild is banned quite common and I'm also in favour of that. It's all about infiltration, really - you'd better do your best to prevent others from infiltrating you (protective probe teams, sensor networks, scouts and the like) and EG gives free intel you don't have a single chance to avert. CBA is also OP.
My factions - I still don't know, let us wait for a fourth one first.
Copters - another idea to bring them wee down is to ban attacking base tiles with choppers. Let me know which one you prefer.
1) Upgrading crawlers and retro-engineering.
We can ban them both if you wish – for me it’s doesn’t matter – I only want to be sure that we all play using the same guidelines.
2) "Don't exploit the bugs" approach.
It’s really rational, but from my own experience not always enough – see upgrading crawlers and retro-engineering for example... :)
Did we ever get around to deciding between a large or standard map?
2) AI & map size.
For me it’s fine to play with or without AI on any map. What do you think about such a plan:
• wait for one more human to join;
• play with AI (but no Morgan, Pirates or Uni as AI);
• with 7 players onboard (4HP + 3AI) choose Large map.
?
...but it's only a proposal, not a permanent choice. If you prefer standard map, we can discuss it further - for me both options are OK, but if I have to decide, it's a Standard map which is a bit too small for 7 players, not the Large one which is a bit too big... :) Therefore my vote is for Large, but it's just a vote, not any kind of decision.
For me it's either way, tho I prefer standard to large just a bit (earlier contact and interaction). But I don't really understand you here, Yabcok - if standard's too small and large too big, do you want to make it custom size?
Maybe we will wait for 4-th player and then we will decide about all the details that need final decision?
My own games are stalling right now. I could be interested in joining.
I agree with all game conditions and I vote for:
1. Blind research
2. No tech stag
My choices: 1. Choice: Svensgaard; 2. Choice: Morgan