On the main subforum page with all the threads, to the right of the "First Post" and "Last Post" columns, there is the number of Replies. That number is a link to everyone who has posted in a thread, their number of posts, and if you click on that number a list of every single post they've made in the thread.
This is your most powerful weapon. It may be common sense to some, but if you don't know about this neat little link you will be at a disadvantage. Use it to see who is staying under the radar with posts. Use it to take a closer look at every post a suspicious person has made. It's magical.
You bastard. I have to change my MO.
As a host, I use this to check on people posting in my game. But Nocturne hit the nail on the head. You can check every thing said by any play in the game once a minute. There is a time limit on it, so use it early and often.
Toxic Toys on
3DS code: 2938-6074-2306, Nintendo Network ID: ToxicToys, PSN: zutto
Yeah I was thinking about this myself for a little bit. But I figure that all of the good players already know about it, and that the more useful and proactive villagers we have, the better.
So, you're in a Phalla. Unlike Mafia, Phalla days last for 24 hours.
Unlike Mafia, it's not easy to see who's in the lead with the votes with just a glance.
This is where the spreadsheet comes in. There's a whole range of them.
Some people use a straightforward tally to get a rough idea of who's ahead in the votes. It can be pretty accurate if you can keep track of who's changed votes.
You can also go and create a somewhat more complex one (here's one using Google Spreadsheets for an earlier Phalla. Excel spreadsheets are also popular) which lists who voted for who on each day, which post they voted on, revealed faction when they died, etc... You can then mine all these records to try and figure out who the mafia are.
If you're thinking of starting one, just be warned that it does take a bit of time.
People also have a tendency to frown on killing spreadsheeters; a good thing from the point of view of keeping the information flowing, a bad thing if the spreadsheeter is also mafia.
!signup - 0 games. Participating in Phalla of the dead right now but only because I wanted to get some experience (1 day of seven... so I guess I have 1/7th of a game experience). I'd rather play the newbie Phalla if possible. I'm in.... ahh.... +3:00 GMT
With 19 players registered, I need to decide how to close signups. These are the options I have considered, please voice your opinion.
(1) As soon as I get the 20th player registered I could close signups, send out role PMs and put up the opening narration, with the first day to end tomorrow night.
(2) I could wait another day to see if we have any more stragglers and just tweak the setup to fit.
(3) I could further extend signups until we have 25 or 30 players and decide then.
(4) I could close signups at 10:00pm (Eastern) today regardless of the # of players, post the opening narration, and let you all loose.
Thanks.
Julius Caezure on
0
Dogbone33I bleed Red and Gold!State of ConfusionRegistered Userregular
edited September 2009
Its a mini and with only 20 players I think we'll learn more. I say go with it once we get number 20.
Dogbone33 on
Play Diablo 3 RoS with me. PSN-Dogbone19
Play Fanduel. One Day Fantasy Leagues use my referral
Be my friend on Magic Online! Dogbone19 is me.
0
GrobianWhat's on sale?Pliers!Registered Userregular
edited September 2009
So, as the game hasn't started yet, I can safely ask this question: How do you other Europeans deal with the vote closing time? If I'm right the time in this Phalla is 4:00 AM for me. So I won't even be online the last 4ish hours before the close most days. This is even more important when you have a role so you don't accidentally kill/seer/guard someone who dies to the vote anyway.
In the same vein: Should the Vig just not use his power on the first day because he'd probably hit an innocent anyway?
/edit for the question above: Start when you have 20 players, but leave at least 24h for the first day. So if you get the 20th guy after 10PM, the first day should end on saturday.
In the same vein: Should the Vig just not use his power on the first day because he'd probably hit an innocent anyway?
"Probably" is not the same as "definitely". Always use the vig kill on the first night, there is always a chance.
Beyond that, and I've had your same question and been corrected, you will always learn more by killing. It sounds harsh, but it's true. There are very few cases when you don't want to use a vig. Pick out someone who jumped on a bandwagon at a suspicious time, or someone who made a post that sounded like they were trying to hard to seem like a villager. Or pick someone at random. You don't always want to pick your grudge in case it's too obvious.
You need to know things like whether or not your vig ability is clarified in the narration, which means whether you can call your kills or not. This is very important for a vig.
So, as the game hasn't started yet, I can safely ask this question: How do you other Europeans deal with the vote closing time? If I'm right the time in this Phalla is 4:00 AM for me. So I won't even be online the last 4ish hours before the close most days. This is even more important when you have a role so you don't accidentally kill/seer/guard someone who dies to the vote anyway.
In the same vein: Should the Vig just not use his power on the first day because he'd probably hit an innocent anyway?
The vig should always use his power, even on Day 1. If he hits an innocent or other good special, that's unfortunate but it's fortunes of war.
As for the Euro time problem, in phallas where it is going to be important there is often sadly no way to deal with it except to get up at 3.30am and monitor the game for the last half hour as I sometimes do.
Wildcat on
0
GrobianWhat's on sale?Pliers!Registered Userregular
As for the Euro time problem, in phallas where it is going to be important there is often sadly no way to deal with it except to get up at 3.30am and monitor the game for the last half hour as I sometimes do.
Wow, this reminds of the time when I was playing browser games. There were nights when I had an alarm every two hours or so. I'm glad that i got bored eventually.
/again with the edits: Thanks for the answers to the "vig on day 1" situation, guys. I think I read something about IRC-conversations in one Phalla-thread, is there an "official" CF- or Phalla-channel somewhere?
With 19 players registered, I need to decide how to close signups. These are the options I have considered, please voice your opinion.
(1) As soon as I get the 20th player registered I could close signups, send out role PMs and put up the opening narration, with the first day to end tomorrow night.
(2) I could wait another day to see if we have any more stragglers and just tweak the setup to fit.
(3) I could further extend signups until we have 25 or 30 players and decide then.
(4) I could close signups at 10:00pm (Eastern) today regardless of the # of players, post the opening narration, and let you all loose.
Thanks.
imo, close signups immediately, assign mentors immediately, send out role PMs slightly before the time you want to close the vote tonight, have the day start at that time and end tomorrow night.
Dunadan019 on
0
GonmunHe keeps kickin' me inthe dickRegistered Userregular
edited September 2009
I'd say go with the 20 as someone else had suggested. If anything maybe after close allow for some reserves in case a few people go inactive or don't have as much time as they thought they might.
With 19 players registered, I need to decide how to close signups. These are the options I have considered, please voice your opinion.
(1) As soon as I get the 20th player registered I could close signups, send out role PMs and put up the opening narration, with the first day to end tomorrow night.
(2) I could wait another day to see if we have any more stragglers and just tweak the setup to fit.
(3) I could further extend signups until we have 25 or 30 players and decide then.
(4) I could close signups at 10:00pm (Eastern) today regardless of the # of players, post the opening narration, and let you all loose.
Thanks.
imo, close signups immediately, assign mentors immediately, send out role PMs slightly before the time you want to close the vote tonight, have the day start at that time and end tomorrow night.
With 19 players registered, I need to decide how to close signups. These are the options I have considered, please voice your opinion.
(1) As soon as I get the 20th player registered I could close signups, send out role PMs and put up the opening narration, with the first day to end tomorrow night.
(2) I could wait another day to see if we have any more stragglers and just tweak the setup to fit.
(3) I could further extend signups until we have 25 or 30 players and decide then.
(4) I could close signups at 10:00pm (Eastern) today regardless of the # of players, post the opening narration, and let you all loose.
Thanks.
imo, close signups immediately, assign mentors immediately, send out role PMs slightly before the time you want to close the vote tonight, have the day start at that time and end tomorrow night.
But, wouldn't it be a good idea to send out roles earlier so mentors could work a bit more with their mentees?
It would allow more time for basic tips on playing a certain role and answering more specific questions, and allow for a longer day 1 mingling time. That being said, when this happens we should cut off all of the DeepSkyBlue talk in the thread, to promote more talking among the players.
I suggest if a mentor thinks of something really useful to add they could PM JC about it?
Vets, I would like to thank you for all of your comments and words of wisdom. As promised I will incorporate them into the reserved post below the OP (hopefully for preservation for future games/the wiki).
Now, please kindly shut it.
As suggested by Nocturne and others, if any player not actively participating in this game has something that is general knowledge based that you believe is worth imparting to new players, please PM me and I will post it - with credit given, of course. This will hopefully cut down on the interruptions and allow the game to progress more smoothly (and will prevent any accidental interference caused by knee-jerk responses to posts/gambits made by the new players).
I will continue to take reserves from new players. Simply !reserve up, and I will be sure you are notified as needed.
New players, the thread is yours.
Julius Caezure on
0
GonmunHe keeps kickin' me inthe dickRegistered Userregular
edited September 2009
So, just to break the ice a bit, what is everyone hoping to gain from this phalla?
Personally I'm looking forward to learning a bit more about the interactions and more of the small particulars that can help keep one's self alive and effective in the game.
GrobianWhat's on sale?Pliers!Registered Userregular
edited September 2009
I want to see the differences between real life and forum based mafia. Almost the only situation where I play mafia is once a year on a camping trip with some friends where we do this in the night. There it devolves into "I heard xyz move when the mafia made their kill" and "I think the GM spoke in that direction, when he urged the mafia to decide on a kill" etc. As we only play with around 10 people the games tend to be fast (in terms of days/nights) and there's not much real deduction going on. It's hunches and killing people that talk too much.
Even though I won both of them, I made a few stupid mistakes in my first two phallas and am hoping this newbie phalla will make me a better player in the future.
Even though I won both of them, I made a few stupid mistakes in my first two phallas and am hoping this newbie phalla will make me a better player in the future.
This, except minus the winning part. I've made several stupid mistakes in some phallas, and I'm hoping that I'll be able to see exactly how I could of avoided them/catch some of my horrible mistakes before commiting them.
SimpsonsParadox on
0
Dogbone33I bleed Red and Gold!State of ConfusionRegistered Userregular
edited September 2009
I made a terrible mistake in the Phalla of the dead. It was my first ever special role and I pretty much dropped the ball.
I'm hoping to use this to learn how to spot the proper voting shenanigans and post histories. I tend to lock into one or two people and watch them and not the group as a whole.
Dogbone33 on
Play Diablo 3 RoS with me. PSN-Dogbone19
Play Fanduel. One Day Fantasy Leagues use my referral
Be my friend on Magic Online! Dogbone19 is me.
0
TL DRNot at all confident in his reflexive opinions of thingsRegistered Userregular
I've seen these phallas crop up, I'm totally unfamiliar with the game that they're based on. I'm hoping to be able to confidently sign up for phallas in the future.
LoserForHireX on
"The only way to get rid of a temptation is to give into it." - Oscar Wilde
"We believe in the people and their 'wisdom' as if there was some special secret entrance to knowledge that barred to anyone who had ever learned anything." - Friedrich Nietzsche
KayWhat we need...Is a little bit of PANIC.Registered Userregular
edited September 2009
Looks like you have 3 players near GMT, and 5 mentors. If you need more mentors in the Eastern/Pacific timezones and can find 'em, they can have my place.
(This is not because people in #mafia were all 'oh gawd don't let Kay near newbies it will be terrible. It is because if I'm, not going to be all that useful in the way Jules wants me to be, there's not much point in me helping out.)
Set your personal forum options to Invisible. Trust us.
The logic behind this (discussed in later posts there) is that us being able to see your activity will either not effect our opinions of you or make you seem more suspicious. The main relevant part about this is that not operating in invisible mode apparently allows others to view your PM activity, which can be very bad depending on your role (especially as a seer or other village special). A mentor can correct me if this has changed since the times of the old newbie phalla, though I'd assume it hasn't. I've seen quite a few yellow currently online lights, indicating that a few of you don't have invisible mode on.
Rawkking Goodguy on
0
RingoHe/Hima distinct lack of substanceRegistered Userregular
Posts
You bastard. I have to change my MO.
As a host, I use this to check on people posting in my game. But Nocturne hit the nail on the head. You can check every thing said by any play in the game once a minute. There is a time limit on it, so use it early and often.
Yeah I was thinking about this myself for a little bit. But I figure that all of the good players already know about it, and that the more useful and proactive villagers we have, the better.
Unlike Mafia, it's not easy to see who's in the lead with the votes with just a glance.
This is where the spreadsheet comes in. There's a whole range of them.
Some people use a straightforward tally to get a rough idea of who's ahead in the votes. It can be pretty accurate if you can keep track of who's changed votes.
You can also go and create a somewhat more complex one (here's one using Google Spreadsheets for an earlier Phalla. Excel spreadsheets are also popular) which lists who voted for who on each day, which post they voted on, revealed faction when they died, etc... You can then mine all these records to try and figure out who the mafia are.
If you're thinking of starting one, just be warned that it does take a bit of time.
PSN - sumowot
With 19 players registered, I need to decide how to close signups. These are the options I have considered, please voice your opinion.
(1) As soon as I get the 20th player registered I could close signups, send out role PMs and put up the opening narration, with the first day to end tomorrow night.
(2) I could wait another day to see if we have any more stragglers and just tweak the setup to fit.
(3) I could further extend signups until we have 25 or 30 players and decide then.
(4) I could close signups at 10:00pm (Eastern) today regardless of the # of players, post the opening narration, and let you all loose.
Thanks.
Play Fanduel. One Day Fantasy Leagues use my referral
Be my friend on Magic Online! Dogbone19 is me.
In the same vein: Should the Vig just not use his power on the first day because he'd probably hit an innocent anyway?
/edit for the question above: Start when you have 20 players, but leave at least 24h for the first day. So if you get the 20th guy after 10PM, the first day should end on saturday.
I've done two phallas and am involved in Arkham Asylum now.
https://twitter.com/Hooraydiation
"Probably" is not the same as "definitely". Always use the vig kill on the first night, there is always a chance.
Beyond that, and I've had your same question and been corrected, you will always learn more by killing. It sounds harsh, but it's true. There are very few cases when you don't want to use a vig. Pick out someone who jumped on a bandwagon at a suspicious time, or someone who made a post that sounded like they were trying to hard to seem like a villager. Or pick someone at random. You don't always want to pick your grudge in case it's too obvious.
You need to know things like whether or not your vig ability is clarified in the narration, which means whether you can call your kills or not. This is very important for a vig.
As for the Euro time problem, in phallas where it is going to be important there is often sadly no way to deal with it except to get up at 3.30am and monitor the game for the last half hour as I sometimes do.
Wow, this reminds of the time when I was playing browser games. There were nights when I had an alarm every two hours or so. I'm glad that i got bored eventually.
/again with the edits: Thanks for the answers to the "vig on day 1" situation, guys. I think I read something about IRC-conversations in one Phalla-thread, is there an "official" CF- or Phalla-channel somewhere?
imo, close signups immediately, assign mentors immediately, send out role PMs slightly before the time you want to close the vote tonight, have the day start at that time and end tomorrow night.
Edit: EST/EDT. I can be around during vote close.
But, wouldn't it be a good idea to send out roles earlier so mentors could work a bit more with their mentees?
It would allow more time for basic tips on playing a certain role and answering more specific questions, and allow for a longer day 1 mingling time. That being said, when this happens we should cut off all of the DeepSkyBlue talk in the thread, to promote more talking among the players.
I suggest if a mentor thinks of something really useful to add they could PM JC about it?
I have a very busy work day but will endeavor to get role PMs out soon-ish.
Day 0 - Opening narration to follow shortly thereafter.
Day 1 will end at 10:00pm Eastern tomorrow evening.
Now, please kindly shut it.
As suggested by Nocturne and others, if any player not actively participating in this game has something that is general knowledge based that you believe is worth imparting to new players, please PM me and I will post it - with credit given, of course. This will hopefully cut down on the interruptions and allow the game to progress more smoothly (and will prevent any accidental interference caused by knee-jerk responses to posts/gambits made by the new players).
I will continue to take reserves from new players. Simply !reserve up, and I will be sure you are notified as needed.
Personally I'm looking forward to learning a bit more about the interactions and more of the small particulars that can help keep one's self alive and effective in the game.
https://twitter.com/Hooraydiation
This, except minus the winning part. I've made several stupid mistakes in some phallas, and I'm hoping that I'll be able to see exactly how I could of avoided them/catch some of my horrible mistakes before commiting them.
I'm hoping to use this to learn how to spot the proper voting shenanigans and post histories. I tend to lock into one or two people and watch them and not the group as a whole.
Play Fanduel. One Day Fantasy Leagues use my referral
Be my friend on Magic Online! Dogbone19 is me.
"We believe in the people and their 'wisdom' as if there was some special secret entrance to knowledge that barred to anyone who had ever learned anything." - Friedrich Nietzsche
You could even say that I hope to enjoy this game, and maybe learn something too!
This is PHALLA!
(This is not because people in #mafia were all 'oh gawd don't let Kay near newbies it will be terrible. It is because if I'm, not going to be all that useful in the way Jules wants me to be, there's not much point in me helping out.)
3DS FCode: 1993-7512-8991
Curses, Wildcat saw right through me! While I am impressed that it hasn't occured...part of me secretly yearns for it...deep down inside :O
Also, I am summoning a piece of advice that I saw while perusing the previous newbie phalla thread.
The logic behind this (discussed in later posts there) is that us being able to see your activity will either not effect our opinions of you or make you seem more suspicious. The main relevant part about this is that not operating in invisible mode apparently allows others to view your PM activity, which can be very bad depending on your role (especially as a seer or other village special). A mentor can correct me if this has changed since the times of the old newbie phalla, though I'd assume it hasn't. I've seen quite a few yellow currently online lights, indicating that a few of you don't have invisible mode on.
What's that you say, I joined days before he did?
Well isn't that interesting