Re: Strategy games with a roleplaying twist

Well, I will join, if I have time, but I have to get Alpha Centauri first smile

Re: Strategy games with a roleplaying twist

Yeah I have to get my hands on it first as well

28

Re: Strategy games with a roleplaying twist

What!!! Dibs on Lord's Believers!

Also if anyone wants to play MoO2 I'm game for that too.

SWG: CL90 Smuggler, Crimson Phoenix Ace, CL90 Engineer, Europe-Chimaera
AoC: L70 Guardian

Re: Strategy games with a roleplaying twist

Lord Believers! Yes of course Mir. You and I will get along _exceptionally_ fine. Uh huh.

Re: Strategy games with a roleplaying twist

I'd be up for Master of Orion II if I had a copy that worked. Mine was literally played to death- over the years, the slow accumulation of tiny scratches rendered it unusable, and I've never been able to find a another copy for sale. I tried downloading a pirate replacement, but that just never worked. if anyone can help me find another to play, then I'd definately be up for a multiplayer game. Though the only hope for other players would be that I've become rusty since I last played the game- I regularly won on "impossible" difficulty near the end.

And the Lord's Believers slot gets filled? As a first choice?

There really are people with vastly different RP preferences to me. That's the one faction I've never seen any redeeming features in, either in terms of background or gameplay. But then, I'm a scientifically-minded atheist who feels that religion is something that intelligent individuals and mature societies would grow out of. It might be interesting to RP with somebody who is extolling a different point of view, though.

Re: Strategy games with a roleplaying twist

Humans don't grow out of their spirituality, their fear of the unknown, their need for safety, nor their need for explaining the unexplainable (which will always be there to some point, science or not - there are final paradoxes that will stand as unexplainable - fortunately). I often play religious people, because those are the most interesting and satisfying to RP. But Lords Believers just suck and Miriam is an evil old crone. No offense Mir of course, maybe we'll get along well RP-wise ingame. Yes.. Trust me wink

And Tantavalist, I can 'save' you, in regards to MMO2 *wink wink, nudge nudge*. And I also played on impossible and won regularly. If my strategy was allowed to work. I find I lose against human players though, or can get close to losing at least *shudders*

MMO2 is of course the best 4X ever. No argument. I think Alpha Centauri would be better suited for RP though.

Re: Strategy games with a roleplaying twist

I think my email is enabled, so email or PM me about the MOO2  issue if you would, Darkhawk, and earn my eternal gratitude. I'd been lamenting it's loss ever since my copy stopped working.

As for the religion issue- whilst it's true that humans may well never grow out of the things you mentioned, I disagree that only religion can fill those needs. And note that I said "humans" here. One of the things that I like best about Alpha Centauri is the Transhumanist themes that run through it- "Man is something to be surpassed". Homo Sapiens may never grow out of those needs, but what if we grow out of being Homo Sapiens?

I'm the sort of person who always appends statements like "There are things that scence has no answer for" with the word "Yet." And I very rarely play religious types- I just can't see things from that point of view. Blind faith is not a virtue to me, and in the end, some degree of this is required in order to believe in something which cannot be proved.

Re: Strategy games with a roleplaying twist

That's a huge topic for sure Tantavalist. And I'm one of the persons who think that 'yet' added to the sentence is just wrong on several levels. You can't understand why things exist, as opposed to not exist no matter what you do with science. The same applies to religion of course. The existence of any god or gods can't explain why things exist. How does something come from nothingness into being? That's impossible to explain in science or religion. Sure 'yet', but I believe and hope 'always'. The answer to that question, if it exists, is more about spiritual insight than scientific research though. And yet not. Because spirituality and deep physics have a wonderful tendency to merge and become one out there where the really heavy physics and metaphysics reside. I can recommend reading Roger Penrose for a physicist/mathematician view into that understanding.

Anyway, I just wanted to say, I don't think things are all that simple. Luckily. And I don't think religion is the cause of all problems and science is the opposite. The cause of all problems are humans. No matter whether physicist or faithful. Of course, it's a huge topic.

Oh, and blind faith, the need to accept a truth to believe in that you cannot verify before you have given yourself to it, that might the biggest challenge, with the biggest possible reward. Our Danish philosopher Kierkegaard likened it to taking a voluntary jump into deep waters, meaning you cannot gain insight without a fully voluntary act of death or transcension. It might possibly show you the universe you cannot grasp by science alone. Imo of course wink

And I'm agnostic myself and greatly dislike views that negatively impact humanism. Many so-called religious views do that, though it's more about the people behind a religion and their traditions and mindset, than about the religion. The framework of the religion can be altered to fit in with the views that some people want to advocate. And if this was not done in the name of religion, humans would invent a new name to be able to do the same.
It's just not all black and white. Religion bad, science good. If you view it like that, the truth will elude you I think.

And apart from that, it's still much more fun RP'ing religious or fundamentalistic people with certain absolute and unyielding truths. Otherwise, it's a bit too 'flexible', i.e. nothing matters, everything goes. More fun RP when your characters and those you interact with have a certain 'bite' to them. Which they certainly have with those views smile

Re: Strategy games with a roleplaying twist

i only read your post real fast darkhawk but just wanna point out one thing, you said: You can't understand why things exist, as opposed to not exist no matter what you do with science.

Well... none of us knows. science is missing some important things imo... for example science is almost as fanatic as some religions which is a big mistake imo.

Some would even claim that science is simply an other form of religion...

Re: Strategy games with a roleplaying twist

The thing in common with science and religion is that they're both most likely wrong. The difference between them is that science accknowledges this and tries to be less so.

Individual scientists can grow fond of their pet theories and become sort of fundamentalistic, of course, but as a whole science tends to move forward instead of clinging to ancient theorems just for the sake of it.

As for playing religious/fundamentalistic characters, I do like it, even though it's often difficult to dodge the barrages of undeniable arguments about how wrong you are.

Last edited by Kryigerof (2006-12-08 01:07:00)

Re: Strategy games with a roleplaying twist

That would be my whole problem with playing religious types, Kryigerof- I myself find it impossible to defend an argument as forcefully as I should if, deep down inside, I don't believe it myself. I can MAKE a religious argument- I just can't roleplay one in character.

Re: Strategy games with a roleplaying twist

I'm still up for this, if there's more than 2-3 players. But I won't be the one pushing for it, as there's a lot to occupy my time currently, and URU coming up too. So please someone push for it and I'm there wink

And Tantavalist, sent you a PM about MOO some days ago smile

Re: Strategy games with a roleplaying twist

As far as the potential Alpha Centauri RP goes, Darkhawk, Mir and myself already possess the game and are up for playing it. From the sounds of it, Dustman and Oluf are both interested but need to get the game.

All seven factions being RPed would be the ideal, but is very unlikely. If we can get four or five, though, we should have the minimums required to get the game rolling. So, if someone other than the current three has the game and is wanting to play, then shout out. One or two more and we're away.

Thinking about it, if we can get five players, and Darkhawk can pass around the Alien Crossfire expansion, then we could have the two Alien factions from the extras seven as the NPCs- it would make it reasonable that they are almost impossible to negotiate and communicate with compared to the player-run ones.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sold-Out-Softwa … videogames

For those who are looking to buy the game. Come on, £5 for the best computer strategy game ever made- even if you don't want to takie part, you have to try it!

Last edited by Tantavalist (2006-12-17 03:39:26)

Re: Strategy games with a roleplaying twist

yes... £5 + taxes + the cost of sending it... tongue

After christmas I will be ordering some books from amazon so I will most likely be ordering it then smile

Re: Strategy games with a roleplaying twist

Sorry to resurrect an old thread like this, just curious how it worked out.

Have any of you played any boardgame by e-mail, like Diplomacy or (one of my favourites) Twilight Imperium 3. I've never had so much fun stabbing my allies in the back like when my buddies and me played TI3 last winter. Looks like people enjoy playing it over e-mail and forums. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twilight_Imperium

Re: Strategy games with a roleplaying twist

Twilight Imperium 3?

That seems like a rather difficult one to play by email without a program for doing it... But if there's a good way to pull it off, count me in. I love that game!

Re: Strategy games with a roleplaying twist

Hrm, it died with the thread sadly. Seems we couldn't all agree on a game to play, although Alpha Centauri (greeeat game) came close, and maybe the enthusiasm died down along the way. I still think it could be cool though wink

I'm playing boardgames in physical reality, so I know both of the games you mention, though I've never tried them via email. How would you play TI3 over email for example?

Re: Strategy games with a roleplaying twist

I think most use a WikiMap for the board, and forum posts. http://www.ti3wiki.org/index.php?title=PBeM
Looks pretty complex to me!

Re: Strategy games with a roleplaying twist

Uff yes smile I'd vastly prefer playing that physically with the cozy gaming board and a seperate room for diplomacy and backstabbing.

Re: Strategy games with a roleplaying twist

I'd totally be interested in playing something like the topic says.. I've always been a fan of strategy games and if we could agree on a game it would be great! Specially if the game has linux support I could run it on my linux box.. some sort of pbem or similar would be the best case with a 24h turn so everyone might squeeze the required minutes to make a turn each day. I remember we tried to play VGA planets in when I was a kid in school and it was pretty interesting.. but that was like 15 years ago..

Re: Strategy games with a roleplaying twist

PBEM ruins the RP aspect some although you could always send emails and talk behind the backs of the others I guess.

I'm in either way though. MOO2 and AC support PBEM I think. So does the Civ series.