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| Game Manual |
| Multiplayer II Dragoon |
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MANUAL VERSION: Multiplayer II Evolution, "Dragoon" v2.4
Other MP2 Resources:[]
NOTE: This manual is for version 2.4 of the Multiplayer branch of rulesets, "MP2 Dragoon." It can be played via console command: /rules mp2-dragoon
Games using Multiplayer II Rulesets are available at freecivweb.org.
Overview[]
In Multiplayer games your nation competes against AI or human opponents. You build cities and use them to grow your military and economy. You try to create an empire that emerges victorious. All players begin in 4000 BC with a handful of units - typically: 3 Workers, 1 Founder, 2 Settlers, 3 Tribesmen, and 1 Caravan
At the start your map is dark, representing the unexplored unknown world. Your units will travel and discover the continents and oceans of the world. Players may share their maps through diplomatic pacts. Your map is only a record of what your units have recently seen — you will not learn about changes to an area until you visit there again. You can't see what happens outside the vision range of your units and cities.
Game play is divided into turns. During a turn, players do actions before, simultaneous to, and after each other. That is, any player may make some or all of their moves at any time during the turn. Units' movement points are reset at the start of each turn. Move points are spent as units move and act. Units do not carry extra movement points into the next turn. Using up move points early in the turn has pros and cons. It can take the advantage of first initiative, or it may leave a unit without the ability to react to what happens later in the turn.
Success requires a balance of population expansion, economic expansion, military strength, and technology development. Each of the four assists the other three in an interconnected fashion. For example, economy and technology assist in improving the quantity and quality of the military. Population assists a larger economy, and military conquest can lead to higher population under your control. A better economy can help build more libraries and universities, which gives better technology for Aqueducts and Sewers to make a higher population. And so on.
Massive Multiplayer Games[]
A Massive Multiplayer game has 20 or more players. When the game ends, 19 out of 20 players will not be the leading nation. The goal of conquering the world is possible and a worthy one, but seems to have the odds against you. This type of game should probably be thought of more like an Olympic event: that is, you may think less in terms of a "sole winner." Surviving is the main goal, and ranking high among the survivors will bring you fame, glory, and notoriety within the global community. Surviving is an achievement. Finishing in the winning alliance, or in the top ranks of survivors is illustrious. Indeed, even being one of the last survivors and putting up a glorious fight in the end times can bring you notoriety, as well as increase your rating and ranking within the community.
👉🏻 Because there are so many nations, those who invest in diplomatic affairs almost always excel over isolationists.
Criteria for Victory[]
- You or your alliance immediately win once the last city and unit of every non-allied civilization is destroyed.
- You or your alliance are declared winners if all non-allied nations surrender or concede.
- If Space Race is enabled, you may launch a spacecraft destined for Alpha Centauri. The first civilization who reaches the star is the sole winner, if their capital doesn't fall first. In such a case, former allies are not victors but have the same status as all other surviving nations.
- In the absence of any way to determine victory, the Gamemaster may rank surviving civilizations by score. Higher scores are the winners by ranking.
Variations and Game Settings[]
In Freeciv there are four separate layers of rules:
- Hard-coded rules - these are the uniform mechanics and rules programmed into the game software.
- Rules from the ruleset - these are defined by the ruleset chosen at game start.
- Rules from server options - these are adjustments to various settings like map size, diplomacy, starting units, space race, etc.
- Human rules [optional] - Rules set in place by the Gamemaster or participants, which are agreed to be followed by "gentleman's agreement."
- In Longturn games, this fourth kind of rule is common. Please see Freeciv-Web Game Formats for more information.
Longturn Games[]
Longturn games are massive multiplayer online games (MMO) where one turn lasts 23 hours*. To someone used to singleplayer, this might seem slow at first. But after some experience with massive multiplayer, one learns that this format gives you just enough time to strategize, plan the right steps, and communicate with others, given that the game is a huge world with many other nations. Far from slow, towards the end you'll be putting in significant game time every day. After the first few weeks of settling and founding your nation, each day becomes an exciting little "game within a game" that you will play for 20 minutes to an hour. (Or more!)
* Turns typically extend to 25 hours on turn 60, and 35 hours on turn 100.
Idler Nations[]
Over the course of history, leaders sometimes die, or are deposed, or they abdicate. In longturn games lasting 100 or more days, this will occasionally happen to some nations, though not the majority. In such cases where a nation has no leader controlling it, the nation is said to be an idler nation. Being leaderless can damage a nation's interests, and those of its allies. But within a few turns, often a new leader (player) may take over an idler nation. In such cases it's customary to be moderately respectful of that nation's prior relationships, though each new leader may certainly decide a new agenda as they see fit.
👉🏻 For fairness and game balance, the rules for when an idler nation can be taken by a new leader/player are fine-tuned. Earlier in a game, an idler nation can be taken over quickly. As the game progresses, the number of turns which it must be idle before a new leader can take it, are increased.
| game turn: | turn 1-5 | 6-19 | 20 | 25 | 30 | 35 |
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| leader replaced when idle for: | 2 turns | 3 turns | 4 turns | 5 turns | 6 turns | 7 turns |
| Next: Terrain |