Cantr FreeCiv

[Savanik]

People have been talking about playing some FreeCiv on the IRC channel, so I thought I'd mention it to people who would be interested in such things on here.

What is FreeCiv, you say? FreeCiv is a free, open-source version of the popular game Civilization, which has rulesets that extend the game to allow play of Civ 2 and even (I believe) Civ 3. It can even be played online against other players.

We have yet to set down a solid time for games (or to even figure out how exactly the server works completely ) but that's work in progress. If you're interested, drop a line here or hop on the IRC channel and ask about it.

There is also talk about having some kind of 'Tourney', but right now it is merely talk, while we learn how it all works.

Oh, and sorry for not having a comic yesterday - today is my brother's thanksgiving feast-ival, and I've been cooking.

Sav

[Edit: Just realized this might belong in the Non-Cantr discussion group - not sure. If so, could a moderator pop it over that way?]

[Pie]

Ja, but of cours NO ONE WILL TELL ME WERE TO FIND IT!!!

[Sunni Daez]

Moved to non-cantr related !!

[Chris Johnson]

There is a link to the FreeCiv site mentioned in the following thread

http://www.cantr.net/forum/viewtopic.ph ... 796#125796

It doesn't seem to be currently responding but give it time

[Russell of Los Angeles]

I've played a little FreeCiv, but I've never used the IRC channel.

Anyway, I'm kinda burnt out on competative games in general, but competative civilization games especially. It doesn't make any sense to me. Civilizations are not competing to win.

So, I might be down for FreeCiv if we roleplayed as the leaders and didn't play to "win".

[BladeofGrass]

That would be cool...but could you do that? also I found the game very hard....I couldnt figure out how to attack and archers took out my charoit archers. Also alot of the optains mistafied. If some one would teach me how to play then I might consider it.

I know how the genral game works but I lack the understanding of it.

[Nick]

Anyway, I'm kinda burnt out on competative games in general, but competative civilization games especially. It doesn't make any sense to me. Civilizations are not competing to win.

It's upon that realisation I went on a quest looking for a game with no "winners", and eventually found Cantr.

[Savanik]

Freeciv.org is down right now. You can get the files you need from the SourceForce project, over at:

http://sourceforge.net/projects/freeciv

I'm not particularly fond of zero-sum games myself. They can cause hard feelings among the players. But most Cantr players (at least the ones that stick around ) are a lot more mature than your average gamer, so I think we could have a lot of fun playing.

Sure beats playing the AI, at least, who constantly violates your borders with their settlers, sets up shop between your own cities, and declares war for no good reason.

Sav

[Russell of Los Angeles]

The thing is, every time I violently eliminate a smaller civilization I feel like a mad dictator bent on world domination. But that's no surprise. FreeCiv sets up every player in this position with the win conditions: there is only one winner. Perhaps we could all agree ahead of time to just play for the spacerace. But even that is zero-sum. And takes a long time, too.

So that's why I think it might be fun to try it as a roleplaying game. A friend of mine and I used to roleplay using the arcade game Gauntlet when we were teenagers.


P.S. Yay for game theory!

P.P.S. I've also heard of people using single-player computer RPGs (e.g., Ultima VI) as the game "engine" for a roleplaying game. You'd have to all be at the same computer for that, though.

[Nick]

Personally I just defend my own cities, try to make friends with everybody and scramble as quickly as possible towards the space race.

The fun lies in getting there.

[Russell of Los Angeles]

Personally I just defend my own cities, try to make friends with everybody and scramble as quickly as possible towards the space race.

Have you done this with human players? How long does it take?

I once played to win the spacerace against the AI and I think it took me over 10 hours of playing, spread out over a week.

[creepyguyinblack]

Is there a game option to cap the end research limit? I know you can turn space race off. It's open source so if someone took the time, they could probably make a cantr freeciv edit, such as custom units too.
Eg. Battleaxe, sword troops, crossbowman, maybe a motorbike troop that moves 3 and a car unit type that moves fast and attacks well. but that'd be the tech limit.
I'd be down if I ever have the free time.

[Savanik]

The biggest problem I've had in FreeCiv is the AI. It's VICIOUS. Even on 'easy', it populates like mad using ICS and can easily overwhelm you if you don't have a lot of cities - even if you have the technological edge, they tend to throw a mountain of troops at you.

Sav

[Pie]

Um, The tric to beating Civilisation was always

(1: if you still have room to expand, whenever you can, build a settler

(2: ALWAYS, AND I MEAN ALWAYS, when you think somone is going to war with you, MOVE YOUR TROOPS TO THAT BOARDER!!! AND, Make shure that you can ALWAYS attack ANY OF THEIR TROOPS, ANYWERE On the boarder if they get inside.

(3: GET RECOURCES!!! Even if you have to war for them, GET THEM.

[formerly known as hf]

I would love a game of FreeCiv with Cantr players

and thanks for the link Sav - I haven't played it for ages as my version was outdated, and I couldn't find the new download.

Hooray for Linux-friendly games!