Mayors Wanted

[Tonygee]

I have been thinking of doing this for a while, my one frustration with the game, or to be specific my play style is that no matter how many cities i build, they all end up feeling the same. I think im too structured in the way i approach the game.

So solution may be for me to run a MP game where other players get to dictate how my city develops. And the way i intend to do that is to start a map with 3 - 4 small developed villages ( and i mean small ) and then assign a Mayor to each village. They will then apply for Budgets to improve their Village, This will come in the Form of Applications for New Housing Areas, Commercial Areas etc. Also all the Major Budget Decisions will be taken via vote, from what kind of Power station to use, to where we place the schools.

It will be a slow paced game, which will mainly take place in the forum, then i will update the game, let it play a while and then show the results before entering the next phase of Expansion.

The game may well change as things advance and i get used to the Dynamics. But each round should look like this

Phase 1, Pictures of each District with a Short piece on what has occurred in this area Will appear.

Phase 2, Budget Report, and an outline for what is required for building in the next turn.

Phase 3, Each Mayor Writes an application to have the proposed expansion take place in their District, Or even apply to Not have the Proposed Building in their District, the more information you provide, the more chance of you gaining the expansion. Mayors are also allowed one request for specific changes to their District each turn, be it a change of Road type, new road layout etc, while also applying for some Budget to Finance it, if the financing is not reasonable, it will be rejected however. One such request will be granted each Turn across the entire city.

Phase 4, Mayors get to Vote on who Wins the Expansion, each Mayor Counts as 4 Votes. Any other interested Parties can also vote, with each Vote counting for 1 Vote. you can NOT vote for your own District, failure to vote Excludes you from winning.

Phase 5, tally votes, announce the Winners or Losers. Load up the game, put it all into action, allow the game to run. Then return to Phase 1

Before i go Crazy setting this up, would anyone be interested in playing along?

Also i hope this thread is in the correct Section, if not, apologies

 

[stiiknafuulia]

From my personal experience, your rule system is *much* too elaborate and restrictive (perhaps that's why there hasn't been any participants so far). I've participated in two such games ('Succession Games', as we termed them), and due to rl issues and the varying interest of the players, the rule system that you devise for such a game should be *very* light, or people will quickly drift away and/or lose interest.

Also, as I understand it, under your system, you'd be the only one playing the actual turns, while other people only get to vote and post proposals. While this has the advantage of not having to keep everyone on the same page regarding active mods, I doubt many players would enjoy such purely 'bureaucratic' roles. In our succession games, all participants got to play in turn. We had anywhere from 4-7 people in the various stages of the two games. In a quick game with few rules, 5 or 6 players is a good amount (imo). While with some more rules, it's better to have 4 very dedicated players. Even then, there might be some drop-outs (and a need for replacement, which could be hard to obtain at that point). Imo, a more relaxed game is a safer bet, and more fun to boot (since there's more actual building and less negotiating about it). As long as you don't have any deliberate 'terrorists' on your team, things should flow along smoothly, as generally people will understand that this is a game and everyone's there to have fun, so any disputes can normally be settled very quickly and informally.

Anyway, if you want to get people interested, I'd propose something like this:

1) Trying out a snow map in the new expansion (if you have it; the novelty value should draw in some people).

2) You'd post a list of mods to use; there could be some negotiation, but after it's 'locked in', the players should stick to it for the duration of the game, to ensure save compatibility between all players. I suggest keeping the list fairly short; custom assets can be a problem if you have a ton of them, but you could pick out maybe 20-50 that fit a snowy town somehow.

3) 6 players, each playing their turn in succession.

4) Before each 'turn cycle', a 'city plan' is agreed upon as a loose outline for future development (this process should be kept very informal, as otherwise various 'votes' will bog down the game something fierce. I know you said you wanted a 'slow' game, but think *glacial* if the bureacracy is increased any further).

5) Players may have a 'personal district' where anything goes, while the 'general city' must adhere to the 'city plan' in most aspects (disputes could be settled by the Metropolitan Mayor, i.e. game creator).

6) The 'end' of the game could come naturally as players lose interest or no longer have time to participate (it will happen sooner or later). Ofc some general outline could be agreed upon to direct planning and development ('this is a resort town in the Alps', for example ).

--I hope you won't be discouraged or offended by my rather drastic modification of your proposed ruleset. I speak from experience, but ofc you don't have to follow my advice. Just something to consider, since people don't seem to have shown any interest so far.

As for my participation, for the moment I'm too busy irl (and I also don't have Snowfall, since I'm waiting for a sale before I buy it). I could perhaps jump in a little further down the line though, if an extra player is needed.