The beginning is a very delicate
time. Know then that it is the year 2302. The Known Universe is ruled by the
People's Democracy of Earth. The most precious knowledge in the galaxy are
faster than light travel and stellar cartography both are greedily guarded by
the monopolistic planet of Earth also known as the Ocean Planet.
Or so we had believed, it has been months since the last hyperspace currier
from Earth has arrived and our the local PDE authorities have sent their own
but they have heard nothing of them since. They have wasted all their ships in vain efforts
to contact Earth, they are little more than an undstaffed outpost doomed to loose control. Sir, it is clear that
some great disaster has befallen the PDE, perhaps this is our chance for independence?
What societies will the severed worlds of Earth form? What dangers await us in
space? What of the other colonies? Have they survived the loss of contact and
cessation of supplies from Earth? For all we know we might be the last remnants
of humanity. And can what happened to Earth, happen to us as well?
Those of you who enjoy writing and
reading good stories, scheming vile plots and grand 4X strategy gaming are in
for a treat.
A few of us on the Apolyton
Civilization Site (a site dedicated to coverage of the civ-series and other
strategy games, including GalCiv) have started organizing a Diplomacy Game set
in the universe of the Final Fronter (space empire building) mod that shipped
with the Beyond the Sword expansion of Sid Meier’s Civlization 4.
A Diplomacy game, or Diplo Game for short, is an interesting way
to play a turn based strategy game. Once a week a three or so hour session is
played, after the session we post stories and conduct negotiations (hence
diplomacy 
) in the forums or via private messages or email. As this is a
form of role-playing players are encouraged to stay in character (the
current leader of their civilization or its foreign minister) when
negotiating and during play. Story posts range from fictional stories detailing
dozens of characters and how they affected their empire, “history books” to
brief summary posts where the “king” makes a three line speech of what great
accomplishments his people made in the last session.
It is the best way to learn to play
the strategy game in which it is set. Usually some of the best players attend.
But here is the nice bit, there is a code of etiquette, that eliminates
the fear of the proverbial “zerg rush”, and you can talk your way out of nearly
anything. Don’t be fooled wars are common but there is always a reason behind
the war and total elimination of players are discouraged. Now making
someone your vassal ... 
If you are interested follow the
link to the thread on apolyton. You need to have the Civ4: BtS installed
and patched to the latest version. The game is called History of the Universe
I. As when the game is to be played on a weekly basis; we shall have a vote on
that, the second best time slot will be reserved for HOTU2. The Final Frontier
map plays almost like an entire new game, it is set completley in space.
PS I do hope GalCiv3 will have
multiplayer so we can start the diplo game format there as well. There is a
real shortage of good multiplayer Sci Fi turn based strategy and the diplo
format is an insanely fun way to play. Be warned it is the strategy gamers
equivalent of WoW, meaning that if you aren't disciplined you will be
playing four or more diplo games a week. 
or should I say
