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Starting a game

A game participant or a moderator presses a start button on the gathering card, and the gathering becomes a game with a number and a game thread. The start buttons turn on when the gathering has enough players and every one of them has pressed “Ready”.

Participants

  • Player — signs up for the gathering, presses “Ready” and starts the game when the start buttons turn on.
  • Moderator — can start any game on their server, even if they don't play in it.
  • Bot — turns on the start buttons, removes the gathering card, gives the game a number, creates the game thread and posts the game card in it.

Steps

sequenceDiagram
    participant G as Player
    participant B as Bot
    G->>B: presses “Ready”
    B-->>G: puts ✅ next to the player's name
    Note over B: enough players, and everyone is ready
    B-->>G: turns on the start buttons
    G->>B: presses a start button
    B-->>G: removes the gathering card and gives the game a number
    B-->>G: creates the game thread and mentions all players in it
    B-->>G: posts the game card in the thread with the state “In progress”
  1. Put together the lineup. FFA needs 3–6 players, Duel exactly 2. Players sign up with the “Join | Leave” button on the gathering card. If you need more players and the server has notifications set up, call them with the “Notify gathering” button. See Gathering notification.
  2. Press “Ready”. ✅ appears next to your name on the gathering card. Each player marks themselves ready, the game creator too. Pressing it again removes your ready mark.
  3. Wait for the start buttons to turn on. The “Start with Draft” and “Skip Draft & Start” buttons turn on when there are enough players and each has ✅. A new player signs up without ✅, so after they join, the start buttons turn off again until they press “Ready”.
  4. Press a start button. First check the lineup on the gathering card: you can't change it after the start. Any game participant or a moderator can start, not only the game creator. See Starting with and without a draft for how the two buttons differ.
  5. Go to the game thread. The gathering card disappears from the game gathering channel, the game gets a number, and a public game thread appears in the game history channel. Its name is the number, mode, number of players and game type, for example “248 — FFA 6 Patch”. In Duel, the name has no number of players. In the first message, the bot mentions all players in the thread and so adds them to it. On a server that works with the CivBot site, this message also has a hint after the mentions: “💡 Drop the save file (.Civ5Save) here after the game to keep its charts on the site.” See Save in the game thread.
  6. Find your number on the game card. In the next message, the bot posts the game card with the state “In progress”. The players on it are shuffled randomly and numbered: “1.”, “2.” and so on, and each player's bans are hidden under a spoiler. At the top of the message, the bot reminds you of the commands «Finish game» /game finish and «Refresh game» /game refresh. On a server that works with the CivBot site, the card's title links to the game page on the site, and there is an “On site” button under the card. See Game thread and Game page.
  7. Pick nations. After a start with a draft, you see three nations to choose from next to each player, and there is a “Choose who plays which nation” menu under the card. After a start without a draft, “Nation Assignment” messages with nation buttons appear in the thread. On a server that works with the CivBot site, you can also pick a nation for a seat that has none on the site's game page: the result is the same. See Picking nations and swapping slots.

Starting with and without a draft

Both buttons put the game in the “In progress” state. They differ in how players get nations.

“Start with Draft” “Skip Draft & Start”
Nations to choose from Three random nations for each player, with no repeats between players None
Which nation you can pick Only one of your three Any nation that isn't banned
Where you pick the nation The “Choose who plays which nation” menu under the game card The “Nation Assignment” message in the game thread

In both cases, you can't pick a banned nation, and only one player can have a given nation. See Nations: bans, draft and picks.

Rules and exceptions

You can start when there are enough players and everyone is ready

The start buttons turn on when the gathering has at least 3 players in FFA or 2 in Duel, and each of them has pressed “Ready”. These limits are the same on all servers. While even one condition isn't met, both buttons are off for everyone, moderators included. Bans don't affect the start: you don't have to ban any nation. See Bans.

Any game participant or moderator can start

The game creator doesn't have to press the start button: anyone who signed up for the gathering can. A moderator starts any game on their server, even if they don't play in it. The bot denies access to other people on the server. See Players, moderators and admins.

Each player marks themselves ready

The “Ready” button changes only the ready mark of whoever pressed it. Nobody can put ✅ for another player. If a moderator who isn't playing in this gathering presses it, the bot replies “You are not allowed to perform this action.” See Creating a game and gathering players.

The game gets its number at the start

The gathering has no number yet. Numbering is separate on each server, so numbers can repeat across servers. The number is in the game thread's name and in the game card's title. See Game thread.

Player seat numbers are handed out randomly

At the start, the bot shuffles the players and numbers them from 1 to the number of players. The order of signing up doesn't affect the number. In FFA, players can later swap slots by mutual request. See Picking nations and swapping slots.

A game belongs to the season active when it starts

A game gets its season together with its number when it starts. When the gathering opened doesn't matter. See Seasons.

After the start, the lineup doesn't change

The game thread has no “Join | Leave” or “Kick” buttons. Bans don't change after the start either.

Don't start the game until everyone is in

After the start, you can no longer leave the game or replace a player: you can only finish or scrap the game. Check the lineup on the gathering card. See Scrapping a game.

What can go wrong

  • The start buttons don't respond. The gathering has too few players for the mode, or someone isn't ready: there is no ✅ next to their name on the gathering card. Ask the players without ✅ to press “Ready”. If you need more players and the server has notifications set up, call them with the “Notify gathering” button.
  • The bot replies “Not all players are ready”. Someone removed their ready mark, or a new player signed up, just as you pressed the start button. Wait until every name on the gathering card has ✅, and press the start button again.
  • The gathering card is gone from the channel. If the game started, look for the thread in the game history channel. The game also appears in the list of recent games on the game panel, and the “>>” link next to it leads to the thread. If the gathering was cancelled or nobody pressed its buttons for 3 hours, create a new game. See Creating a game and gathering players.

This page was translated with AI and checked against the bot's terms.