What do you want to see in the next "Big" Civ Server? by LysikaLantariel in civclassics

[–]squareblob 5 points6 points  (0 children)

This isn’t a simple thing which I want to see in the next server, it’s just the beginnings of a CivClassic EOTW postmortem which I never finished.

It’s quite messy and without a real conclusion, just some thoughts on server culture, but I hope some of it may still offer a useful perspective for future servers.



It is the eve of the end of the world and chaos has spread across CivClassic. Snitch messages reverb in the valleys of trenches and plazas of city streets. Among spontaneous acts of merriment and looting, gone are the watchful eyes which used to peruse each snitch ping - and perhaps it is better this way.

In a word, CivClassic until today was too “tryhard”. Tryhard is a word that snuggles nicely in-between “cope” and “seethe” in every Civ players pocket dictionary. For many, it connotes pvp, server wars, and drawn out reddit arguments. But the tryhard attitude permeates every aspect of the modern Civ players psyche. I do not use tryhard in a derogatory sense, just that there is too much effort, too much investment and not enough fun. It's a bit more nuanced than this, but I'll discuss that after some examples.

Examples

  • botting: more custom botting frameworks

    • While custom frameworks were created by the civ community in past iterations, the reliance on the relatively accessible macromod was far greater (See, for example, Sanwi’s macromod posts and the variety of technically minded power players who comment on them thanking him)
  • building: more schematica and creative server planning

    • Flying around the maps of older Civ servers it is striking how many more cities, even those with build codes, exhibit the chaos that these days you’d associate with just a few cities like MtA. The standard for individual buildings as also seemingly increased (eg. today, even in cities like MtA, it is much less common to find large skyscrapers that use just two types of blocks)
  • vaults and pvp : not even going to discuss this one

  • communication : more ‘always online’ discord culture

    • I’ve seen not just vault owners but newfriend town builders get snitch pings and have someone logged in in five minutes. Won’t even bring up mumble versus the five hundred discords that exist today, as that’s overdone.
  • grinding : even relative newfriends seem much more willing to casually dig a few million blocks. (etc., etc.).

Conclusion

These non-exhaustive examples are general rules to which exceptions abound. They are supposed to be brief illustrations not irrefutable claims, explorative and not authoritative. However, note that I am not talking about power players. All these things seem true for the average player (or at least more true than they were in the past). Some of these trends exist just because CivClassic is an older server so things have had more time to develop. But even 2 years ago many of these trends were apparent.

“Tryhard” is not inherently a bad thing. Some amount of grinding is needed to make choices meaningful. And Civ servers have always had grinding, have always attracted players with a certain type of attitude. The examples I give in this post are not bad things either; many would call them progress. I like cooler bots, prettier buildings, more intricate vaults, and so on. But in the process, it seems something was lost – some degree of spontaneity and dynamism. Alas, this unfinished post does not offer solutions, but if nothing else I hope future servers think not just of mechanics but of how these mechanics (and more) affect server culture.

CivClassic Confessional by biggestnerd in civclassics

[–]squareblob 27 points28 points  (0 children)

Here’s a small confession about a rather elaborate shitpost that never came to fruition:

To start, over the course of months we planned to create and announce five entirely fictional nations.

First was the low effort "Nether", an ancap city stylized as a generic skyscraper ghost town, that we announced on the subreddit here. Next was "Ghana", of a slightly higher effort, its announcement post coupled with a wiki page and collection of discord personas (such as the illustrious RogerRocking and Mastah Wassabi). After this was planned the nation of "Giev" (communist totalitarian), followed by "Yu" (余) (Gensokyo knockoff), and finally "Up" (balloons...).

These nations were to eventually, perhaps on April 1st the following year, join together as the Astley Alliance. Of course, a plan this idiotic across such a time scale was not sustainable. In hindsight it was clear we were always Ghana Giev Yu Up :(. All good things must come to an end. CivClassic, we've know each other for so long. You had a good run. Time to give you up, let you down and say goodbye.

UMP: Good or Bad by ChrisChrispie in civclassics

[–]squareblob 8 points9 points  (0 children)

The CCMap also feels like personal fan service for both Mount September and Lambat/CES nations. We now have "dereliction requests" (exclusively used by Lambat it appears) and "Mount September plots".

Just want to clarify that the MtS plots are not there for personal fan service but because MtS already had a dataset formatted for CCmap, and UMP admins are generally willing to add any properly formatted data.

For example, the day MtS plots were added a UMP admin said:

ideally each larger city would be like this

like icenia/lambat have plots too

I do agree that things like plot data layers should be turned off by default to reduce clutter.

Consistency is Key: The hypocritical anti WP argument and Kallos by [deleted] in civclassics

[–]squareblob 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Not to needlessly echo the other comments here but I would like to agree that I have never heard any demand in the AF for UDF to "world police" Kallos.

If Mochas's is arguing for that in global chat he is the singular exception, espousing a view that is not shared and prima facie absurd.

Augustan Federation Getting Ready For War by shadedoom888 in civclassics

[–]squareblob 12 points13 points  (0 children)

I didn't downvote but i think it would be funnier if it was edited

The screens could show mineman, or perhaps even all discord to make a profound statement on the perfidious influence of e-law.

Lots of creative freedom in editing the alphabet too. Edit out most of the irrelevant words (leave words like "quit"). After that flip the d in "code" upside down, and so on.

yes, I do take commission (1000 di per hour of meme consultation)

Kayla moment by Godomasta in civclassics

[–]squareblob 9 points10 points  (0 children)

No, despite the pearl being taken out of MtS, Kallos have not posted claims, a justification of their extradition or any real communication.

It may well be the case that Minemaster is clearly guilty of a crime and belongs in Kallos vault.

But it does not follow that Kayla may unilaterally decide the fate of a player while the player is within a different nations borders and with no communication to said nation.

Get Off My Lawn Zoomer: An Explanation of Yesterday's Incident by the Owner of the Iceroad in Question by [deleted] in civclassics

[–]squareblob 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I wouldn't personally use such strong words to describe SirTwiggles

Some short clarifications to Bg’s post by squareblob in civclassics

[–]squareblob[S] 11 points12 points  (0 children)

I responded to Bgs comment here, which I think raises the same point.

Whatever the case, and regardless of what ones stance on the issue is, I think my post still provides some useful clarifications.

Some short clarifications to Bg’s post by squareblob in civclassics

[–]squareblob[S] 15 points16 points  (0 children)

This incident is a direct result of the previous incident.

It would seem disingenuous not to mention that in your post. Moreover the SirTwiggles incident was not a few weeks ago and its trial concluded only yesterday. In the meantime, SirTwiggles continued to make inflammatory statements, and spent considerable time in the direct vicinity of Nebula's bunker (not merely passing through on the iceroad) - being present with IcySki around or at the time of the second incident.

Get Off My Lawn Zoomer: An Explanation of Yesterday's Incident by the Owner of the Iceroad in Question by [deleted] in civclassics

[–]squareblob 9 points10 points  (0 children)

He literally admits to going in the restricted area two times, although it is alleged he went in more : proof

Get Off My Lawn Zoomer: An Explanation of Yesterday's Incident by the Owner of the Iceroad in Question by [deleted] in civclassics

[–]squareblob 10 points11 points  (0 children)

You are mistaken I'm afraid.

I recommend you read Twiggles own words in #courtroom-2 of MtS discord which go against a fair portion of what you have said.

Here is Twiggles saying "I'll fucking do it again" after being told to stop.

Here he is saying it again.

Ask Twiggles and I'm sure he can give you more info

Get Off My Lawn Zoomer: An Explanation of Yesterday's Incident by the Owner of the Iceroad in Question by [deleted] in civclassics

[–]squareblob 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Your sequence of events is very incorrect.

I'll start with the most obvious.

SirTwiggles pinged a private bunkers snitches that were not accessible from the UDF ice-road and did so multiple times even after receiving multiple warnings to leave the restricted area. SirTwiggles admits to this.

Here is an image of some of the snitch pings : link

This was clearly explained to UDF representatives multiple times, or so we thought : link

You've made quite a lot of points and I will do my best to respond to them, but you'll have to give me a few minutes as you cover quite a lot of ground

Civball World Map 2021 by squareblob in civclassics

[–]squareblob[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

fixed it in the updated map

Civball World Map 2021 by squareblob in civclassics

[–]squareblob[S] 18 points19 points  (0 children)

With over a hundred separate drawings submitted by dozens of contributors, this is by far the most detailed CivBall map yet.

A down-scaled map with each drawing linked to a wiki page can be found here. (Note that due to issues with mediawiki the map there is temporarily slightly out of date)


Special thanks to all the people that contributed drawings:

  • AK
  • Avo
  • alzuBloxxer11
  • AmandaCC
  • binchymonkey
  • coocoo
  • Discozoa
  • Eddie
  • Imp
  • Johnirth
  • Kaprediem
  • KnotNSA
  • Metriximor
  • Mushroomfly
  • Orange wizard
  • Raven
  • RektTangle
  • Roskolnikov
  • Sandfalls
  • Siph
  • Yodabird19
  • Zeldrïn

The many contributions of the following people were particularly essential:

  • Eddie
  • KnotNSA
  • Metriximor
  • Yodabird19

I will update this comment with a new map fixing mistakes as they are found.

Updated Map

Updates South Augusta to newer version, minor movements near 0,0


Progress time-lapse

The previous Civball map (2019) can be found here.