MSN - Transfer of decision making

[Kody]

Kody says:
anything need doing?
Voltaire says:
In general?
Kody says:
not sure
Voltaire says:
Ah
Voltaire says:
Good news on the CyCon end
Kody says:
how did we manage to contact the cycon?
Voltaire says:
Corellion congratulated me on our acheivements of getting 3 SPs in such a short period of time
Voltaire says:
Googlie told them
Kody says:
contact them?
Voltaire says:
No
Voltaire says:
We have not
Voltaire says:
It was more informal
Kody says:
oh
Kody says:
we could have gotten a fourth next turn
Voltaire says:
our relations with them are not as sour as we might think
Kody says:
but we're pumping up our tech rate
Voltaire says:
when was it pushed back to again?
Kody says:
converting industry -> tech
Kody says:
hopefully
Kody says:
yeah
Kody says:
I was thinking of pushing it back a bit further
Kody says:
it seems nobody has loyalty
Kody says:
and I don't see any reason why people would want loyalty this early in the game
Kody says:
also I think we could play with people's minds
Kody says:
and have the CN building in the background
Kody says:
also remember how I gave a warning about having to seriously cut back on the time I was spending?
Kody says:
well it's starting to get to that
Voltaire says:
Ah
Voltaire says:
Indeed
Voltaire says:
Not to worry, we have enough people who are familiar with your aproach, at least I hope
Voltaire says:
We will all pitch in more
Voltaire says:
we have grown complacent
Voltaire says:
with you around
Kody says:
*nod*
Voltaire says:
it will be good to get some exercise
Kody says:
I can do the next turn, but maybe in another 2 turns...
Kody says:
I'm not sure, but I think I can start leaving instructions
Kody says:
and with the simulator it should be fairly easy to practise
Kody says:
the main part is checking the boards constantly and talking to people
Kody says:
so no more foreign faction observations from me
Voltaire says:
I will do my best to coordinate
Voltaire says:
we're all in different timezones so it's hard to catch everyone online at once
Voltaire says:
Jamski is usualy on earlier in the day (for me anyway)
Voltaire says:
you're on later at night, again from my perspective
Kody says:
first part will be just organising which tasks should be done
Voltaire says:
Vev is ALWAYS on
Voltaire says:
so he can help
Voltaire says:
Micha and Octavian are on frequently as well
Kody says:
like on a day to day basis
Kody says:
it's pretty quiet at the moment
Kody says:
no diplomancy being worked
Kody says:
and all the roleplay stuff is pretty dead
Voltaire says:
Indeed, a sad state really
Voltaire says:
Though
Voltaire says:
Well we do a lot of RP on MSN
Kody says:
I should be able to continue to write preturns for a while
Kody says:
in fact I'm bringing this up now, because I want to slowly phase out
Kody says:
that way it's not a sudden and unexpected burden
Kody says:
for the last 2 weeks I've been attempting to slowly get other people to organise many of the things
Kody says:
but the thing is people still talk to me first when they want to know something.
Kody says:
or do something
Voltaire says:
Again, complacincy has a lot to do with it
Voltaire says:
It would be good if you got them out of the habit
Voltaire says:
In reality you make all the important decisions
Voltaire says:
The system works so well no one needs to do anything, at least they feel that way
Kody says:
yeah but that means someone else needs to start doing it, or they have to see the system dramatically fail
Voltaire says:
Indeed
Voltaire says:
A return to the old system seems imporbable
Voltaire says:
Given the low number of people
Voltaire says:
Then again
Voltaire says:
If enough are online
Voltaire says:
it can be done
Kody says:
what was the old system?
Voltaire says:
Essentialy we would run turnchats where all the decisions would be made
Voltaire says:
Similar to now
Voltaire says:
But the preturn planning was minimal
Voltaire says:
generaly restructed to strategies
Voltaire says:
rather than specific tactics
Kody says:
oh okay
Kody says:
I estimate I have about another 1 month
Kody says:
as long as I stop reading all the spam regularly, and don't try to run anything time consuming (aside from the turns).
Voltaire says:
1 month before?
Kody says:
yeah I plan ahead
Kody says:
I've been thinking about making myself less essential for the last 2 months, and have been dropping hints to everyone for that long
Voltaire says:
Ah
Voltaire says:
Indeed it would be a good idea, you should take the role of more an observer
Kody says:
well I mean last month rather
Voltaire says:
where you simply give small hints
Voltaire says:
when people go off track
Kody says:
after next turn I'm hoping to write a comprehensive turn update and then get people to play the moves in the simulator.
Voltaire says:
good idea
Voltaire says:
the simulator will make things very easy
Voltaire says:
or at least easier
Kody says:
maybe Jamski, or vev (vev is actually good at exact work)
Voltaire says:
Indeed, just tell me how do you get him to actualy do it?
Kody says:
well vev was smarter than me
Kody says:
and realised how time comsuming the job was
Voltaire says:
was, as in past tense?
Voltaire says:
ah
Voltaire says:
i see
Voltaire says:
i will let you finish before jumping to conclusions
Kody says:
so he's been steering well clear
Kody says:
but I'm sure he would be willing to help now and again.
Kody says:
the trick would be getting a few people to practise
Kody says:
then it wouldn't matter who runs the turn
Kody says:
just as long as the turn update is done well
Kody says:
and the simulator is kept updated as well as it can
Kody says:
I can probably come in and adjust the turn simulator now and again.
Voltaire says:
alright
Kody says:
the main thing is I really need to stop thinking about the game 24/7
Voltaire says:
LOL
Voltaire says:
Indeed
Voltaire says:
Well
Voltaire says:
I will do my share
Voltaire says:
I will take it upon myself to organize all these efforts
Kody says:
one of the bad things about the ACDG
Kody says:
is we don't have set times for doing the turns
Kody says:
so I can't say "I'm going to always set aside these days, and not think about the ACDG"
Voltaire says:
well
Voltaire says:
i know of a way we can solve the problem
Voltaire says:
we have 5 human faction
Voltaire says:
assign them each a day of the week the turn must be in
Kody says:
it wouldn't really work
Voltaire says:
how so?
Kody says:
well if you could organise that
Kody says:
that would be great
Kody says:
although it would slow down the turn rate by by maybe 30%
Voltaire says:
true, since saturday's/sunday's would be left out
Voltaire says:
but it would make them predictable
Kody says:
at the moment it's hard enough for them to enforce the 48 hour rule
Voltaire says:
Google needs to get stricter
Voltaire says:
if he were to do that
Voltaire says:
more people would fall in line
Kody says:
googlie doesn't want to be a nazi
Kody says:
that's understandable
Voltaire says:
True, but it is becoming a problem.
Kody says:
tassadar would be willing, but that requires popular opinion to allow him to be the nazi
Kody says:
anyway the way I figure it
Kody says:
If preturns are done
Kody says:
and several hive members know how to run the game from the preturn
Kody says:
then it means anyone that's around can play the turn
Kody says:
and all the organisation can be at certain times of the week
Kody says:
maybe reduced to 2 days people need to help organise per week.
Voltaire says:
Hmm
Voltaire says:
That would work.
Voltaire says:
Set the pre-turn chats to the weekend, since more people are likely to be avalibale then
Voltaire says:
I will inquire with people as to when they are free
Kody says:
we really need two days
Kody says:
since the turn rate is about every 5 days
Voltaire says:
Sat/Sun
Voltaire says:
oh
Voltaire says:
right
Voltaire says:
i see what you're getting at
Kody says:
unless we organise 2 turns at a time
Kody says:
but that's difficult
Kody says:
because of random effects
Voltaire says:
indeed
Kody says:
like a unit doesn't quite make it
Kody says:
or a forest grows
Voltaire says:
well i must be going to bed at the moment, a shame i don't have more time... what is the time difference between here and australia?
Kody says:
or a fungual bloom
Voltaire says:
I'm in GMT -7
Kody says:
it's 4:00pm here
Kody says:
GMT +10
Voltaire says:
12 AM here
Kody says:
so 8 hours difference
Kody says:
actually 16 hours difference
Voltaire says:
Are you on around noonish your time?
Kody says:
depends if I'm working or not
Kody says:
2pm wednesdays are usually fine
Kody says:
I have a meeting around noon on wednesday
Voltaire says:
alright we will have to work this scheduel out sometime, i will collect everyone's information, and plan the turnchats around that
Voltaire says:
in order to optimize the number of people present
Voltaire says:
but i really must be off to bed now
Voltaire says:
good night
Kody says:
okay goodnight

[Vev]

Ooh my colour idea seems to work. Instant identification. Just need to be careful what background people has.

[Nubclear]

When does the Chairman come online? I've been meaning to speak with him...

[Jamski]

It looks good on my background Vev. Continue in this manner and you can expect a reward

-Jam

[Micha]

YAY!

As for the online times:
I am usually available from 7pm to 1am my time, which is GMT+1.

[Googlie]

Kody says:
at the moment it's hard enough for them to enforce the 48 hour rule
Voltaire says:
Google needs to get stricter
Voltaire says:
if he were to do that
Voltaire says:
more people would fall in line
Kody says:
googlie doesn't want to be a nazi
Kody says:
that's understandable
Voltaire says:
True, but it is becoming a problem.

The delays are mainly due to inter-faction negotiations where factions, being democratic, run internal polls to accept/modify/reject trade offers.

Without destroying the nature of a "democracy game" I don't see how I can enforce a rush on these decisions. Not everyone has the luxury of a Hive-Drone unique forum to discuss things in advance

G.

[Kody]

There's not a turn that goes by where at least 1 faction doesn't hold the turn. I used to think they were trading every time they held the turn, but it's getting to the point of ridiculous.

[Voltaire]

I'm online now Comrade Tass. But indeed lately I have been offline longer than usual, papers to write, tests to study for, and the like.