New Anonymous Game

[IMPERIAL_TARK]

It appears to be a Standard Anonymous (12 player), Draft B but with one kingdom per zone (like usual).

Diws
Oman the heartless
IMP_TARK
Greyhawk
Netstrider
DuPont
JonDoe
RELLGAR

[JonDoe]

Draft B from reading the game queue thread does not sound like it is the "normal" choosing way. From what I read all kingdoms are available and it is possible to end up with two or more capitals in the same region. R8 could have RA IL RD and TY all starting in it.
I am actually rather confused about this process we are using. Sign up in the thread then sign up on the game queue? Seem like extra work for the player.

[Ry Vor]

We were trying to provide all sorts of options on the game creation utility, but its causing confusion. 

So for now, don't worry about draft B or draft F, just post here on the forum if you are in a particular game, or if you want to start a thread for a new one.  Then when all the players needed (10 or 12 or 4 for Warlords) have signed up, one person will do what is needed in the game creator software. 

Again, I'm not particularly in favor of players having to choose 10 or 12 kingdoms, I think players want to choose their kingdoms so I favor the first come first served method here on the forum where you claim your kingdom, then everyone else knows what's available.  That would be either the Full On diplomacy which is what Alamaze was designed for, or the Silent form of no diplomacy.  But, since players seem to favor anonymous, we could still have a draft conducted by a draft master.  I just don't expect all players to understand all the workings of the game creator.  They just want to sign up for a game.  So again, start a Duel on the game creator at a moment's notice, but for the full Alamaze game, keep posting and starting new threads here on the forum.

[IMPERIAL_TARK]

Draft B from reading the game queue thread does not sound like it is the "normal" choosing way.   From what I read all kingdoms are available and it is possible to end up with two or more capitals in the same region.  R8 could have RA IL RD and TY all starting in it.  
I am actually rather confused about this process we are using.  Sign up in the thread then sign up on the game queue? Seem like extra work for the player.

One kingdom per zone... SO or AM in R4, RD or TY in Dispersed 1, GN or HA in R7, WA or DW in R3, etc. That's the normal way.

[RELLGAR]

I'm out of this one. Another order change without notification in my other game, messed up an entire turn. I'm taking a break.

[JonDoe]

Draft B from reading the game queue thread does not sound like it is the "normal" choosing way.   From what I read all kingdoms are available and it is possible to end up with two or more capitals in the same region.  R8 could have RA IL RD and TY all starting in it.  
I am actually rather confused about this process we are using.  Sign up in the thread then sign up on the game queue? Seem like extra work for the player.

One kingdom per zone...  SO or AM in R4, RD or TY in Dispersed 1, GN or HA in R7, WA or DW in R3, etc. That's the normal way.

Ok if that is the expectation then I am in.

[IMPERIAL_TARK]

I'm out of this one. Another order change without notification in my other game, messed up an entire turn. I'm taking a break.

Out of curiosity, what order change?

[unclemike]

Draft B from reading the game queue thread does not sound like it is the "normal" choosing way.   From what I read all kingdoms are available and it is possible to end up with two or more capitals in the same region.  R8 could have RA IL RD and TY all starting in it.  
I am actually rather confused about this process we are using.  Sign up in the thread then sign up on the game queue? Seem like extra work for the player.

Is this really extra work for the player?

If someone wants to startup a new game, just post a note about the proposed game on the forum. That way, people know something is brewing and can sign up for it on the game queue. The forum should be used to advertise the new game. With Fall of Rome, there wasn't a need to advertise on the forum because I guess it had more players around. With Alamaze, it's a good idea to advertise your pending game to get things moving.

For example, the Warlord game called "Wild Warlords" by DuPont was created on Wed June 7th but I didn't see an advertisement for it on the forum so he's been waiting for it to fill up. Alamaze's small player base may not know its there so please advertise your pending game on the forum or you may be waiting for a while.

I think some of the confusion with the current requests is that a lot of games are now being drafted instead of players just picking a kingdom and going with it as we have done before. In the past, games were initiated by Ry Vor or another who advertised it on the forum and people signed up for it with their specific kingdom selection. Drafting was somewhat unusual over the years but for some reason, it seems to be the thing to do now.

If you remove the drafting aspect of all of this, things would return to how we've always done it before where people would select a particular kingdom/zone and things would move along much smoother. The queue will display what choices/zones were selected by the players and others could sign up based on what kingdoms/zones that were not selected. If we do that, games would be started within a short time without any issues or confusion for anyone.

So how about creating a game that's not anonymous and doesn't have drafting involved. People can sign up with their kingdom/zone choice and it'll show up on the game queue. If anonymous is a must then the player's kingdom/zone choice won't be displayed on the queue so if you forgot your selection, just click on the queue's Join button again and it'll show you your kingdom/zone choice.

If you want to guarantee one player per region, it'll have to be a 10-player Steel game (anonymous or not) with the Draft F option or we'll have to create a customized game with another player handling the draft. Customized games may also have a higher setup fee because they have to be manually created. Keep in mind that not all the options available on the game queue may be manually created because the server's utility program is the same as it was before the game queue (e.g., it doesn't know about different maps like Classic from Resurgent, or random cities, or other such options). So if you want a customized, manually created game, it'll have to be fairly basic in nature without a lot of options.

If we returned back to how games were conducted as before (i.e. players choose what kingdom/zone they want to play but sign up for the selection on the game queue instead of stating their choice on the forum) with personas and kingdom/zone choices displaying in the queue, there wouldn't be any confusion on what's going on. If you involve drafting, it seems to be throwing people off...

[unclemike]

I'm out of this one. Another order change without notification in my other game, messed up an entire turn. I'm taking a break.

Out of curiosity, what order change?

There isn't an order change other than what I post under UM's Corner. Typically, when players mess up their turn, they blame the game or something else to blow off steam.

[Diws]

Not to derail the thread, but if it is suspected that an order was not processed correctly, wouldn't the best solution be to contact support@alamaze.co ?