We'll start by assuming you have a copy of Civ 4, its installed and that you know how to play it to a greater or lesser degree. Then we'll mention a list of probably very obvious things you might have thought of yourself:
- You do have the very latest version of Civ 4 installed don’t you? Of course you do.
- After you have loaded your first turn, a dialogue box will appear asking you to enter a password, there will already be a couple of *’s in the box, replace these with your new password and confirm, it should be a random 20 digit alphanumeric code with a low autocorrelation function, the name of your goldfish will suffice.
- All subsequent turns will require this password before you get into your save, this prevents devious dictators from "intelligence gathering" ( also called cheating in closed minded circles). If you’re not prompted for your password, you’ve not set it properly, go to the next point.
- You can change the name of your civilization, your leader and your password by going to player options in the in game option
- When you’ve finished your turn, end it as you would in SP. The next players turn is saved to a file in the PBEM directory in the save folder of wherever you installed Civ 4. Pop along to Darkkeep, and post a reply to the relevant turn thread, to this reply, attach the save file. Insert some snappy comment if you wish to play mind games with the opponents. Creative use of marquee is always impressive
- PLEASE be careful as to which turn you attach, check the year of the game to make sure it is the most recent. Pay particular attention at the BC/AD changeover, when the numbers start going up instead of down, and consequently, the newest one ain’t on top of the list.
- This game will go on for quite a while, if it happens (and it will) that you will be indisposed for more than a couple of days, and unable to play, please notify the rest of us so we’re not pulling out our moustaches. Find somebody to take over for a few turns if necessary to keep the game going.
- Try and check Darkkeep regularly (at least once a day) to see if the game is waiting on you. Whoever comes after you will be gnashing their teeth. There’ a lot of players in this game, a Darkkeep record, and we don’t want it to last forever and ever.
- If you are attacked by a vicious thug masquerading as a world leader, don’t carry a grudge into the next PBEM game, it’s beneath you and it annoys me - I mean - the vicious thug.
- My (many) enemies are jealous of my past success and compulsive liars