The Syndicate

Players:
Alive: 7
Dead: 21
1. Epignosis: Killed N5 by Reading Railroad
2. Black Rock (replaced Elohcin N3) - WINNER
3. MovingPictures07 : Killed N7 by B. & O. Railroad - Returned to the game Day 10 - WINNER
4. Boogs - Lynched D5 : St James Place
5. Long Con - WINNER
6. LoRab - WINNER
7. zeek : Killed N6 by Water Works
8. Metalmarsh89 - Lynched D11 : Water Works
9. S~V~S: Killed N1 by Pennsylvania Railroad
10. DFaraday - Lynched D10 : B. & O. Railroad
11. DisgruntledPorcupine - Left the game Day 10
12. Bass_the_Clever - Killed N8 by Water Works - Returned to the game Day 10 - WINNER
13. S~V~S (replaced sabie12 N2) - Lynched D9 : Reading Railroad
14. birdwithteeth11 - Lynched D3 : Electric Company
15. HannaK - Lynched D12 : St Charles Place
16. fingersplints - Run out of town N12
17. Black Rock: Killed N2 by Water Works
18. Turnip Head : NKed by Vermont Avenue N11
19. Spacedaisy : Left the game Day 10
20. bea (replaced Mongoose N3) - WINNER
21. thellama73 - Lynched D6 : Pennsylvania Avenue
22. nijuukyugou - Lynched D8 : Mediterranean Avenue
23. keys56000000000 - Lynched D7 : Boardwalk
24. Hedgeowl - Lynched D4 : Pennsylvania Railroad
25. FZ. - Lynched D2 : Atlantic Avenue
26. Made - Lynched D1 : Short Line
27. Degobunny - Lynched D8 : Baltic Avenue
28. juliets - Killed N10 by Water Works

Roles (28):

For the rent, house/hotel cost, house/hotel payments, and mortgage value, go to http://monopoly.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_ ... Properties and go to the property you’re interested in.

Civvies (22):
Each night, every civvie will search another player. If they find a player who matches their colour/set (ie, the Mediterranean Avenue player searches Baltic Avenue player) they get BTSC. Once all the players of a set have BTSC, they may start buying houses and hotels (making double the posted value until they put up their first house). A set that has (at any point) all living players together will cease to be considered a civvie set, and become a LMSing group.

Mediterranean Avenue
Baltic Avenue

Oriental Avenue
Vermont Avenue
Connecticut Avenue

St. Charles Place
States Avenue
Virginia Avenue

St. James Place
Tennessee Avenue
New York Avenue

Kentucky Avenue
Indiana Avenue
Illinois Avenue

Atlantic Avenue
Ventnor Avenue
Marvin Gardens

Pacific Avenue
North Carolina Avenue
Pennsylvania Avenue

Park Place
Boardwalk


Baddies:

Team 1: Railroads (4)
Each night, every member of this team searches for another member of the team. If they find anyone on their team, they get BTSC. Searching continues until all 4 find each other, unless any of them get lynched. None of the 4 can be nightkilled until all living members have BTSC. They kill odd nights, with the kill randomly being assigned to one member each night, until they all have BTSC, at which point it will specifically be assigned to one member.

Reading Railroad
Pennsylvania Railroad
B. & O. Railroad
Short Line


Team 2: Utilities (2)
This team starts the game with BTSC. Kills even nights. Cannot be NKed by the Railroads. Any player who lands on a utility will have their property learned by the utilities, and if they are ever lynched, the utilities will have $300 applied to a bid on the property.

Electric Company
Water Works

Win Conditions:
Civvies that do not establish full BTSC can win with each other, and need all other players dead in order to win.
Civvies that do establish full BTSC (meaning they either find all of their set while everyone is alive, or they acquire the necessary cards by buying them), can only win with that set, or with their monopoly if they manage to establish one.
The Railroads need all other players dead in order to win.
The Utilities need all other players dead in order to win.

Rules:
1) No outting. No hinting.
2) Don't be an ass.
3) Things shouldn't be overly confusing once we get in the swing of things. Please ask any questions you have. BUT keep in mind, there are some things that I may have worded differently in different places, or failed to adequately explain as I meant. When/if these things happen, and I notice them, I will correct them and inform the people it's relevant to. If a player finds it, please remember host rulings stand.
4) Only off topic once your dead.
5) This one isn't a rule but is relevant to the board stuff. I'm not going to update you via PM how much money you have at the start of each Day (feel free to PM me any time to get it though if you don't keep track yourself), and unless your search of another player is successful, there will not be a failure PM. This is all just to reduce the number of PMs I have to send out at the start of each day.

The Board (Number beside your name in the player list = your token on the board). All Movements will be written out and available in a link to pastebin, the board image will show how things ended up.:
Day 0: Everyone starts on GO.
Day 1:List of all player movements on the board and results.,Updated board.
Day 2: Updated board, Board movements
Day 3: Board Movements, Updated Board
Day 4: Updated Board,Board movements
Day 5: Board Movements, Updated Board (courtesy of LC)
Day 6: Board movements, Updated board (courtesy of LC)
Day 7: Board Movements, Updated Board (courtesy of LC)
Day 8: Board Movements, Updated Board (courtesy of LC)
Day 9: Board Movements, Updated Board (courtesy of LC)
Day 10: Board Movements, Updated Board (courtesy of LC)
Day 11: Board Movements, Updated Board (courtesy of LC).
Day 12: Board Movements, Updated Board (courtesy of LC)


Host Posts So Far:
Day 0 Start: Mission Statement
Day 1 Start: You told us you'd say that, too.
Day 1 End/Night 1 Start: Thank You for Mathing
Night 1 Event
Night 1 End/Day 2 Start: The One Who Opens the Door
Day 2 End/Night 2 Start: Why so Socialist?
Night 2 End/Day 3 Start: Death Punched
Day 3 End/Night 3 Start: Get Hyped
Night 3 End/Day 4 Start: Seven
Day 4 End/Night 4 Start: Lynch and Hedgeowl
Night 4 End/Day 5 Start: Nothing
Day 5 End/Night 5 Start: NoU2
Night 5 End/Day 6 Start: Car Accident
Day 6 End/Night 6 Start: Wouldn't Eat the Food
Night 6 End/Day 7 Start: Worked Over
Day 7 End/Night 7 Start: On the Boardwalk
Night 7 End/Day 8 Start: Double the Killing
Day 8 End/Night 8 Start: Awaken
Night 8 End/Day 9 Start: 13 Remaining
Day 9 End/Night 9 Start: Death of a Railroad
Night 9 End/Day 10 Start: No Deaths and Some Returning
Day 10 End/Night 10 End: End of the Line
Night 10 End/Day 11 Start: Coffee
Day 11 End/Night 11 Start: Water Broken
Night 11 End/Day 12 Start: Turnip is Gross
Day 12 End/Night 12 Start: Charles Bit my Finger!
Game Over

Mechanics (I may forget important stuff initially, hopefully before Day 0 is over this post will have everything you may need to know):

On Powers:
If a certain number of players (will be percentage based so that it goes down as people are killed) all land on the same spot, a power will be made available for purchase. More than one power will be able to be sold, but the chances of more will be reduced as more are available (for example: If for the Day 1 rolls 2 people needed to land on the same space to get the first power available, then 3 or 4 on a different space would be needed to get the second. There may also be, before I roll out numbers for how many spaces people are moved, something along the lines of "If 3 or more people roll 12, a power will be available". Overall, the goal is for there to be fewer powers that are more meaningful, but likely way more expensive so bankruptcy is a legitimate concern even early on for people who are not careful.

General Monopoly Things (And How They Have Been Modified):

1) Houses and Hotels will be available in a limited quantity. Any house or hotel that is removed from the board (either sold because the person who had it needed money, or because houses were upgraded to a hotel, or for a strategic reason) will be auctioned off, available to anyone who wants to buy them (the starting auction price being whatever the person getting rid of it had paid for it).

2) Free parking is just going to be a free space (that's the actual rule, look it up). Taxed money/chance/community chest will all be put in the bank (meaning it's removed from the game).

3) You don't pay for landing on another players property (to start). Once a hotel has been built on a property, landing on it means you have to pay out of pocket (teammates don't get charged at this point).

4) Jail: Getting 3 doubles in a roll, a card, or landing on go to jail will send you to it. You go to jail for the follow day and night phase. While in jail, you are not allowed to post in the thread, if people land on your property, you collect no money, and you are not allowed to buy/bid on anything. To get out of jail early, you can pay $100 or use a get out of jail card, otherwise it ends at the end of the night phase (and you lose $50 unless your roll to get out is doubles). All players in jail will have a BTSC chatroom they may use (to talk about in thread things, no outting will still be applicable). Any player who is 'just visiting' (lands on the jail space but is not in jail), may request BTSC with 1 person in jail (random modifiers to this such as yes, no, requiring payment from one or both players involved, getting BTSC with more than the 1 person, etc, may apply) via PM during the day phase, and if it goes through have it while the player is in jail (again, just BTSC for in thread type things, no outing or hinting in this BTSC).

How the Game Will Run:
Days will function as normal, with a player being lynched. The lynched player will have their card revealed.

During the night, the card of the lynched player will be bid for (players who voted for the lynched player will have $200 applied to their bid, but they can’t actually access that money for anything else). The bidding is done publicly (in thread).The player who bids the most for the card will receive it. Successful NKs will result in the player responsible for the NK getting the card of the killed player.

At any point, a player with a card they do not want may PM the host, to offer it to the thread. They may either set a flat sell price, or set a minimum bid, and how long they want the bid to last (a maximum of 24 hours). You may not sell your starting property (as that would kill you). You can also just say you'll accept trades, and people can offer properties (or you can specify which one you want) or whatever else.

Bankruptcy:
If you ever reach a point where you would be below $0, you are killed, and any property you have is auctioned off (if it’s a result of tax/community chest/chance), or given to the player you owed and could not pay.

Market Place:

Powers/Property (bidding ends 10 minutes before end of night):

St. Charles Place - Starts at $1
Reading Railroad - Starts at $1

Being Sold:
Some properties are requesting offers still. Just PM me if there's one you want and I will inform the person who has it that an offer has come in.

All of these have the offer at or above listed price, if no one raises the offer within 30 minutes of yours by at least $1 applied:

Nest Egg (When played, allows the user to hide however much of their money they wish on the space they are currently on. On their next time around the board, they will get $150+their money back if they pass the space, and their money back+$250 and a random power if they land on it. Hiding more money increases the chances of a better power, by allowing the player to choose powers they do not want to get). - Starts at $75

Windfall (Makes the next amount of money the player who uses this card gets be at least double what it would be, with the possibility of being as high as x5. If used on a hotel payment, the payer pays the normal amount, but the receiver gets 2-5x the listed amount). - Starts at $200

Own The Block: This power allows you to take control the side of the board of your starting property. In order to use it, you must have BTSC or the cards of your could-have-been teammates of your starting property, and at least 1 card from every other set on that side (meaning 1 of each colour at least, the railroad, and the utility if applicable). Once used, any money that would go to the bank from people landing on such spaces, instead goes to you. - Starts at $200 and at $300

Houses x 4: Start at $150 each, do not have to used right away if won. and x9 at $100 each.

Houses and Hotels (bought based off the cost on the normal games card, use the wiki to find the cost):
*Can only be bought for immediate use*
Houses: 0
Hotels (Must have 4 houses before upgrading): 6

Day 0 Start: Mission Statement



Do you like Weird Al? I've been a big Weird Al fan ever since the release of his 1988 album, Even Worse. Before that, I really didn't understand any of his work. Too artsy, too intellectual. It was on Even Worse where Weird Al's presence became more apparent. I think Bad Hair Day was his undisputed masterpiece. It's an epic meditation on intangibility. At the same time, it deepens and enriches the meaning of the preceding three albums. Listen to the brilliant ensemble playing of Weird Al. You can practically hear every nuance of every instrument. In terms of lyrical craftsmanship, the sheer songwriting, this album hits a new peak of professionalism. Take the lyrics to Amish Paradise. In this song, Weird Al addresses the problems of abusive political authority. The Night Santa Went Crazy is the most moving pop song of the 1980s, about monogamy and commitment. The song is extremely uplifting. Their lyrics are as positive and affirmative as anything I've heard in rock. Lately, Weird Al’s career seems to be more commercial and therefore more satisfying, in a narrower way. Especially songs like Sports Song and Now That’s What I Call Polka!. But I also think Weird Al works best within the confines of the parody artist, than as an original artist, and I stress the word artist. This is Mission Statement, a great, great song, a personal favorite.

Day 0 has begun!
Ask any questions, begin general discussion.
It will probably last 24 hours, but will be extended to 48 if it looks like there's a significant number of players who won't have checked in before the 24 ends.
What to do: PM the host your favourite movie/book/song/etc. about (or has symbolism in regards to) capitalism.

Alright, you may post.

Buy low, $ell high.

"It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest."
- Adam Smith

thellama73 wrote:"It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest."
- Adam Smith

Would you believe I was literally about to post this exact quote?

And let the games begin!.....tomorrow! Because I am starting to get a cold.

Yay boo game

Just checking in - yay game!

Woo hoo! I became a Weird Al fan after the Smells Like Nirvana album came out, I don't think I've heard a song by him that I didn't enjoy. What a genius.

Question: Say I'm some lower-level property, and I manage to acquire, say, Boardwalk, and then I search the player who is/has Park Place. Does... anything happen?

Yay! I want to be the kitty token. Now let's roll them dice! Kitty needs a new can of tuna!

Long Con wrote:Woo hoo! I became a Weird Al fan after the Smells Like Nirvana album came out, I don't think I've heard a song by him that I didn't enjoy. What a genius.

Question: Say I'm some lower-level property, and I manage to acquire, say, Boardwalk, and then I search the player who is/has Park Place. Does... anything happen?

No (and if they were to search you, same thing. Getting BTSC just goes for starting properties, beyond that, trades and kills will be necessary).

game

Hellooooo new shiny game!!

There is no poll. I do not understand. What am I supposed to do?

Well you can't stop me voting. I have rights!! Just try and stop me!

Can the Civvies acquire Railroad and Utility properties? What would happen then, would the Civvie who possesses that property hold any sort of power over the baddies?

Long Con wrote:Can the Civvies acquire Railroad and Utility properties? What would happen then, would the Civvie who possesses that property hold any sort of power over the baddies?

Civvies can get the property but wouldn't have a NK which stay with the baddie team.

Hedgeowl wrote:Hellooooo new shiny game!!

There is no poll. I do not understand. What am I supposed to do?

Well you can't stop me voting. I have rights!! Just try and stop me!

Lies. You're not a citizen. I'm onto you, Rodrigo!

Hello friends! I have been looking forward to this game for a while, glhf all!

Yay game! And yay for the No Hinting rule, which I apparently need to have in place.

This all seems like it will take some getting used to, but I am a fan of capitalism (within reason), so I'm excited to get going!

ayo

Hooray game.

Damn, no off topic allowed. I will talk about the game. Talking about the game, talking about the game tlaking abut the gam taaalking abtbou teh agmae atalkgtinab otut theg egaemaa atlnnngi kkghteee butatba gmmabe....

Sup players

I have a question. It says civvies without BTSC win together if everyone else is dead, and that civvies with BTSC can only win with their BTSC teammates. Does that mean that civvies without BTSC are in competition with civvies with BTSC? That one group needs to eliminate the other to win? If that's the case, I don't understand the incentive to find my BTSC partner/s. Perhaps us civilians will be stronger if we don't attempt to gain BTSC with each other?

Whoa, this seems like one complicated game.

I didn't understand the part about how we advance on the board. Can you explain that again, please?

keys56000000000 wrote:Sup players

I have a question. It says civvies without BTSC win together if everyone else is dead, and that civvies with BTSC can only win with their BTSC teammates. Does that mean that civvies without BTSC are in competition with civvies with BTSC? That one group needs to eliminate the other to win? If that's the case, I don't understand the incentive to find my BTSC partner/s. Perhaps us civilians will be stronger if we don't attempt to gain BTSC with each other?

Yes, that's right (civvies without BTSC cannot win with those who do have it, or successfully gather all of the properties tied to their own starting one if some or all of their teammates die). I'll leave the rest of the questions unanswered since I think those are questions for the other players and not me, and if that isn't what you meant them to be, they can be anyways :P.

FZ. wrote:Whoa, this seems like one complicated game.

I didn't understand the part about how we advance on the board. Can you explain that again, please?

At the end of each night/start of each day, everyone will be moved around the board. I'll be rolling it out for everyone during night phases (or during D0 to move everyone for D1). It's not something you'll have to put a lot of thought into doing (there will be powers available that effect dice rolls and such in play, but beyond that it's just to use that aspect of monopoly in this game). These movements will get people landing on properties to give out money, landing on the other various spaces to get or lose money, etc.

FZ. wrote:Whoa, this seems like one complicated game.

I didn't understand the part about how we advance on the board. Can you explain that again, please?

I have played a lot of boos games (all of them, iirc?) and they CAN seem complex at first glance (maybe even second) but usually the complexities wrinkle out by the end of Day One. So so long as you are paying attention the first day & night you should get the hang of it pretty quick. This one actually seems a bit more straightforward than is usual for boo. I don't see much in the way of secrets, so there's that

So now is the time to read the mechanics and ask questions.

And Keys point is something to consider:

keys56000000000 wrote:Sup players

I have a question. It says civvies without BTSC win together if everyone else is dead, and that civvies with BTSC can only win with their BTSC teammates. Does that mean that civvies without BTSC are in competition with civvies with BTSC? That one group needs to eliminate the other to win? If that's the case, I don't understand the incentive to find my BTSC partner/s. Perhaps us civilians will be stronger if we don't attempt to gain BTSC with each other?

I don't know if that would work, voluntarily not searching, becasue then we can't build hotels and eliminate people through eviction (death via being unable to pay the rent). ALTHOUGH, numerically, we would be more likely to be eliminating other civs than baddies that way. I am not sure if there IS a way to manipulate this game that way, and if there is I am not sure we can trust people to actually do it; almost everyone like being an Indy

boo said: Civvies (22):
Each night, every civvie will search another player. If they find a player who matches their colour/set (ie, the Mediterranean Avenue player searches Baltic Avenue player) they get BTSC. Once all the players of a set have BTSC, they may start buying houses and hotels (making double the posted value until they put up their first house). A set that has (at any point) all living players together will cease to be considered a civvie set, and become a LMSing group.

This was in the sign up thread:

- A monopoly will be when a group of players with BTSC (or a single player) manages to own all properties along the side of the board their original property was on.

So then, @boo~basically the goal, for a color based BTS group, is to eliminate the other color groups on their side of the board? Like if the Marvin Gardens (yellow) team managed to gobble up the Illinois Avenue team (red)? Would there be more of an advantage for doing this, than say, the Marvin Gardens/yellow team gaining, say, The Baltic Ave group? (This last part is more rhetorical/aimed at the other players than at you, boo)

Or should I not be mixing up mechanics from different threads?

Also, @boo~

During the night, the card of the lynched player will be bid for (players who voted for the lynched player will have $200 applied to their bid, but they can’t actually access that money for anything else). The player who bids the most for the card will receive it. Successful NKs will result in the player responsible for the NK getting the card of the killer player. The bid is done publicly (in thread).

At any point, a player with a card they do not want may PM the host, to offer it to the thread. They may either set a flat sell price, or set a minimum bid, and how long they want the bid to last (a maximum of 24 hours). You may not sell your starting property (as that would kill you). You can also just say you'll accept trades, and people can offer properties (or you can specify which one you want) or whatever else.

So the bidding is public for lynched cards? Is the bidding public for offered cards as well? Won't public bidding tend to out people on various sides of the board? Like if I was to bid for both Illinois & Indiana at various times, wouldn't that clue people in that I could be Marvin Gardens?

Or am I foolishly missing something very very obvious? A totally possible thing

This game should be super interesting. I'm sure as I go along I will probably have some questions. I'm looking forward to it. Now to decide my favorite capitalism related book/movie/song... good question that will take some thought.

I'm going to go ahead and warn people that I will probably be uncharacteristically quiet this game. I'm in two mafia games while trying to write a novel and restore freedom to America. So I've got a lot on my plate.

Thank you for answers boo.

I'm checking in! The game looks complicated but not overly so. Excited to get this show on the road

I am having a lot of trouble reading the dark blue host colour on the dark grey background.

The game definitely seems geared toward turning the general Civvie population into a bunch of baddie groups. Selfish greed over common good. I would advocate, as keys said, that we all just don't send in search PMs, and win together as Civvies, but for two reasons: a) that would go against boo's intentions for the game, and carve out a good deal of fun for us all, and b) there ain't no way that most people would go along with such a plan anyway.

If we did implement such a plan, then we would want to start lynching the winner of the last dead property auction on the following day, as they would obviously not be going along with the plan. That sounds lame too.

So, what do we lynch people for? Instead of lynching players for suspicion of being a Railroad or a Utility, will we lynch a player we suspect is becoming too powerful and rich?

thellama73 wrote:I'm going to go ahead and warn people that I will probably be uncharacteristically quiet this game. I'm in two mafia games while trying to write a novel and restore freedom to America. So I've got a lot on my plate.

I feel free if you know what I mean.

Long Con wrote:I am having a lot of trouble reading the dark blue host colour on the dark grey background.

The game definitely seems geared toward turning the general Civvie population into a bunch of baddie groups. Selfish greed over common good. I would advocate, as keys said, that we all just don't send in search PMs, and win together as Civvies, but for two reasons: a) that would go against boo's intentions for the game, and carve out a good deal of fun for us all, and b) there ain't no way that most people would go along with such a plan anyway.

If we did implement such a plan, then we would want to start lynching the winner of the last dead property auction on the following day, as they would obviously not be going along with the plan. That sounds lame too.

So, what do we lynch people for? Instead of lynching players for suspicion of being a Railroad or a Utility, will we lynch a player we suspect is becoming too powerful and rich?

This is an excellent strategy. I agree that not many people would go along with the idea of NOT sending search actions in. Sure it's ideal, but who's gonna prove that you did or didn't search and find a partner?

I agree with the last point too. We must pay as much attention as possible to who gains what properties. In monopoly, once you start gaining power, it's hard to stop that person. In this version, I guess you just have lynch 'em.

Long Con wrote:I am having a lot of trouble reading the dark blue host colour on the dark grey background.

The game definitely seems geared toward turning the general Civvie population into a bunch of baddie groups. Selfish greed over common good. I would advocate, as keys said, that we all just don't send in search PMs, and win together as Civvies, but for two reasons: a) that would go against boo's intentions for the game, and carve out a good deal of fun for us all, and b) there ain't no way that most people would go along with such a plan anyway.

If we did implement such a plan, then we would want to start lynching the winner of the last dead property auction on the following day, as they would obviously not be going along with the plan. That sounds lame too.

So, what do we lynch people for? Instead of lynching players for suspicion of being a Railroad or a Utility, will we lynch a player we suspect is becoming too powerful and rich?

I'm going to lynch you for asking questions and making me think. :P

Metalmarsh89 wrote: This is an excellent strategy. I agree that not many people would go along with the idea of NOT sending search actions in. Sure it's ideal, but who's gonna prove that you did or didn't search and find a partner?

Prisoner's dilemma. It'll never work. While it's in the group's interest for us all to remain civvies, it's in the individual's interest to try to obtain BTSC.

Checking in. How much money do we start with? $1500?

$1000

I have a question that I hope someone can answer. Let's say I'm Baltic Ave. Let's further say llama lands on and buys Mediterranean Ave, my partner. In the night I find Mediterranean, snowy. Now, llama's got the card but Snowy is the card. Can snowy and I still put up houses? What are the consequences of llama having the card?

juliets wrote:$1000

I have a question that I hope someone can answer. Let's say I'm Baltic Ave. Let's further say llama lands on and buys Mediterranean Ave, my partner. In the night I find Mediterranean, snowy. Now, llama's got the card but Snowy is the card. Can snowy and I still put up houses? What are the consequences of llama having the card?

I thought only cards of dead people could be bought. No?

Oh I see - thats the only way to acquire properties. I've got the game in my head where you land on a property and buy it if you want it. THanks FZ.!

I shouldnt say only way because people could want to trade or put a property up for sale, except their original property, and I think thats allowed too.

juliets wrote:I shouldnt say only way because people could want to trade or put a property up for sale, except their original property, and I think thats allowed too.

Luckily, you do not pay rent unless there is a hotel. So if there are houses or nothing, you are in the clear.

So we use our money for powers and/or bidding on dead players cards? Okay this isn't as confusing as I thought

EBWOP: until the paying rent comes into play

So if Llama is right, what incentives, if any, do we have as civilians to work together? Is it mafia vs civs or mafia vs potential mafia?

I'm not convinced that Llama is right, yet. Llama, what incentive do we have to search for teammates? Once you're in a BTSC set, you're playing against everyone. You're going to have to survive every other player. Seems like when you are in a set, your overall chances of winning drop significantly. Especially those 2-player sets. Is there really any reason why we can't stick together as loose civilians? Even if some civs do search, and find their partners, we'd still have the advantage over them. At least that's how it seems to me at this early juncture.