Game page¶

The game page is the screen of one game on the CivBot site: a header with the number and state, players with their nations, a banner for what's left before the game closes, and the way into saves, the map and the charts. The page exists for games of the server the site works with.

On this page: Who can open the page, Game header, Who played what, Picking a nation on the site, Banner before closing, Closing the game

Who can open the page¶

Everyone who has signed in to the site with Discord can see the page, not only the players of this game. A guest who opens a game by a link doesn't see the page: the site sends them to sign in with Discord right away, and after sign-in returns them to the same game. For sign-in details, see Sign-in and privacy.

The page exists for started games in three states: “In progress”, “Finished” and “Scrap”. A game that is still gathering, or was rejected or cancelled, has no page: the site shows “Game not found” for it.

Only the game's players, that is, those who had a seat in this game, can change the game on the site. Only a player of the game can attach a save, finish the game, point out a player or pick a nation. On the site, a moderator without a seat in the game can only view it, and their path through Discord stays the same: /game finish and picking a nation in the game thread.

How to get to the page¶

A game opens from several places on the site:

• a “My recent games” card in the Overview: the “View game” button; the save button on the card opens the same game right at the save block;
• a row in the list of games in progress and in “Recent results” on the Overview;
• the “Games” item in the top bar — Games on the site;
• a player profile — a game tile, a row of the games table, the last win — Player profile;
• the search in the top bar: the “Search players or a game number…” field takes you straight to the page of a game by its number.

This applies to the server the CivBot site works with: in its game thread, under the game card, there's an “On site” button (in a finished game, “Results on site”) that opens this same game. For more about the thread, see Game thread.

Game header¶

The header has the title “Game #248”, the game's state — “In progress”, “Finished” or “Scrap” — and chips with facts about the game. Which chips appear depends on what is known about the game:

Buttons sit under the title. Each one appears only under its own conditions:

If there are no buttons, the button block doesn't appear. For saves, see Game saves on the site; for finishing, Finishing a game on the site; for the map, Game map.

Who played what¶

The “Who played what” section shows a card for each seat in the game. Next to the heading there's an ⓘ icon with an explanation: hovering, keyboard focus or a tap opens it, and Esc closes it. Under the heading is a status line, for example “Attach the save to see the nation each player actually led.” or how many seats are still without a name.

Above the cards there are two switches:

• “Lens”. It switches between “Lobby”, “Play” and “Compare”. “Lobby” is described here; “Play” and “Compare” are on the Charts and player comparison page. A lens that isn't available yet stays disabled, and a note says why: for example, that “Play” and “Compare” open once the game is finished or as soon as a save is attached.
• “Full” / “Compact”. “Full” shows the cards in a grid, and “Compact” in a list without the “ROLLED” and “BANNED” strips. There's no switch in “Compare”. The choice is remembered only in this browser. If you haven't chosen anything, the page shows “Full” on a wide screen and “Compact” on a phone.

A card's color matches the color of the player's line on the charts.

Player card in “Lobby”¶

A card shows:

• the nation's emblem and the player's name; the name is a link to their profile, and the “YOU” tag sits on your seat;
• the nation line: “Led the …” if the nation is known from the save, or “Picked …” for the player's pick; next to it are notes like “· as picked” or “· playing now”, and a seat with no pick says “no pick”;
• rating: the rank stars, the number of points, the change (“+N”, “−N”, “0”) and the “before → after” range. In a game that's still going, “after finish” stands in place of the change;
• in the “Full” view, also the “ROLLED” strip (the nations dealt, with the picked one marked) and the “BANNED” strip;
• stickers on the top edge: “Winner” with a gold frame, “Who is this?” for a seat awaiting confirmation, and “Substitute” until the substitution is applied.

A player's name or avatar opens a short player card with a “View profile” button (on your seat, “View your profile”). On a phone, tapping the name goes straight to the profile, and tapping the picture opens the card. See Player profile.

Picking a nation on the site¶

A player of the game, in a game that is “In progress”, can pick a nation for any seat that has no nation yet, right on its card. In the “Full” view, the card shows the nations dealt in the roll, and you pick by pressing one of them. Otherwise the card has a “Choose a nation” button. It opens a list:

1. Find a nation. In the “Search a nation” field, type part of a name. The list heading says how many nations are available: “Nation for Orion · 5 of 43, bans left out”.
2. Pick a nation. A nation that another seat has already taken is marked “Vega's”. If nothing fits, the list shows “No nation matches”.
3. Check the result. The player's card shows the picked nation, and the bot redraws the game card in the Discord thread.

An error appears as a notification:

• “This nation can't be picked for this seat any more”;
• “Another seat took this nation a moment ago”;
• “The nation was not saved; try again”.

The same pick is also in the finish dialog. For those who don't play this game, the card doesn't show pick buttons. The result of the pick is the same as in Discord: the nation goes into the same game. The path through Discord remains and is described in Picking nations and swapping slots.

Steam lobby on the page¶

The “Join the game” button is there only for a player of the game, in a game that is “In progress” and started no more than 48 hours ago, and usually when the game has a saved lobby link or the site can ask Steam. It opens the Civilization V lobby in Steam, so you need a computer with Steam and Civilization V. Next to it is a narrow copy icon button (“Copy the lobby link” for a screen reader); after you press it, the notification “Link copied” appears. It is there when the game has a saved lobby link.

The site asks Steam only when you press the button, not when the page opens. While it searches, the button is disabled and labeled “Looking for the lobby…”. After that, the freshest known option opens: the host's lobby, a lobby where a player of this game is playing now, or the game's saved link. A new lobby that is found becomes the game's link, so the game card in Discord shows it afterward too.

After you press the button, the site tells you what happened:

When Steam opens, the page shows “Check the game: you should be joining” and hints that nothing will open without Steam and Civilization V, and that if it stays quiet you should press again. There are also separate refusals: “Only players of this game can join through the site” and “The game is no longer in progress”.

Banner before closing¶

When a save is attached to the game and the game isn't closed or scrapped yet, a banner sits under the header. It shows what's missing before closing, in one sentence made of parts separated by “·”: “Save of turn …”, how many players of the save are matched to seats, and what's up with the substitutions. The heading says what to do next:

The end of the sentence tells the player what will happen: “The game closes by itself once it is finished.”, “…once every player is matched.” or “…once the substitution is confirmed.” A visitor who didn't play this game sees “Players of this game confirm who is who.”

The banner shows buttons only to a player of the game: “Upload a later save”, “Fix a player” when there's a “Who is this?” question or a fix, a hint on where the save is, and “Finish the game”. A visitor sees only text.

Closing the game¶

There's no “close” button: the game closes by itself. For that, four conditions must be met:

1. the game is finished, on the site or in Discord;
2. a save is attached to the game;
3. every player of the save is matched to a seat (a person confirmed it, or the site matched by a linked Steam account); the answer “not in this game” counts too;
4. all substitutions are confirmed.

The site checks this after every action that could close the game — a player's confirmation, attaching a save, finishing the game on the site — and also every 10 min and at startup. A game finished in Discord is closed by the site too.

Closing locks the game in:

• for each seat, the nation the player actually played according to the save is recorded; a seat without a match stays without a save nation, and the player's pick is kept;
• if there were substitutions, the seat, the season rating and the win pass to the substitute, and the rating is recalculated;
• the bot redraws the game card in the Discord thread: the new owner of the seat, the rating change, the nation from the save and the winner's 🏆.

A closed game is final for the site. The header shows the chip “Closed · …”, and instead of the banner there's a strip “Closed on …” with the note “ratings as the bot recorded them” or “ratings recalculated for who played: …”. If a seat passed to a substitute without a rating, the strip says “Seat taken over: …”. The “Who is this?” questions disappear, and any change from the site gets the refusal “This game is closed, so it can't be changed from the site.” A save dropped into the thread of a closed game is turned down by the bot with the reply “The ratings of this game are final, new saves are not accepted.” See Save in the game thread.

Substitutions¶

A substitute is a player of the save who doesn't own any seat. Substitutes exist only on the site, in a finished game. The site can suggest a substitute by itself when that player's Steam account is linked to a user of the server. A player of the game can also name a substitute for a seat. Until the game is closed, the seat's card has the “Substitute” sticker and the note “· substitute: Kai”. In the player picker, a substitute is labeled “substitute, applies when the game closes”. Confirming a substitution doesn't change the rating yet: everything is applied at closing, and the banner says “1 substitution confirmed · Orion's seat → Kai, applies when the game closes”.

After closing, the seat's card gets a line “substitute for Orion · applied …”. Dates in the closed-game strip are written out in words with the year, and in the header chip they're short.

Rating at closing¶

Rating is recalculated only for FFA games with a substitute, where the bot has already recorded the result. The rating of players whose seat didn't change also shifts a little, because the substitute's rating goes into the formula. The sum of changes stays zero if it was zero. These players' later games are recalculated in a chain. See How rating is calculated.

What can go wrong¶

• The page doesn't open, and the site asks you to sign in. You're a guest: the site sends you to sign in with Discord and then returns you to the same game. See Sign-in and privacy.
• The site opened the Overview without a message. The game address doesn't contain a number. Open the game from the Overview, from the “Games” item or through the search.
• “Game not found”. Under the heading “Game #248” it says “There is no game #248 on this server.” There's no game with that number, or it's still gathering, cancelled or from another server. The “Back to overview” button leads to the Overview.
• “Couldn't load the game. Try again.” Next to the message are “The game page failed to load.” and a retry button. Press it.
• While the game loads, the page shows “Loading game #248”. This is the page skeleton; wait.
• The site asks you to sign in again when you open a game. Your session ended: the site sends you to sign in with Discord without a message and returns you to this game.
• “This section could not be shown.” One block failed to load, and the rest of the page works. Reload the page.
• The “Attach save”, “Finish the game” or “Fix a player” buttons are missing. You aren't a player of this game, or the game is already closed or scrapped. A refused action says “Only players of this game can do this.”
• There's no “Join the game”. You aren't a player of the game, the game isn't “In progress”, more than 48 hours have passed since the start, or the game has no saved lobby link and the site can't ask Steam where the lobby is now.
• The game is still open, though the banner says “Everything is confirmed…”. The site closes such a game by itself within minutes. Reload the page a little later.
• “Play” and “Compare” are disabled. The note next to the switch says what's missing: the game being finished, a save or all players being matched.

Related¶

• Games on the site
• Game saves on the site
• Finishing a game on the site
• Game map
• Charts and player comparison
• Player profile
• Save in the game thread
• Picking nations and swapping slots
• Game thread
• Games overview
• Sign-in and privacy
• How rating is calculated

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