Game¶

A game is one match of Civilization V that CivBot runs from gathering players to the result. The bot assembles the lineup, hands out nations, records the winner, and in FFA mode also changes the rating.

A game's role¶

A game holds together the lineup, nations, thread and result of one match. The bot runs it in four steps:

• It gathers the lineup. A player creates a game on the game panel, and a gathering card appears in the game gathering channel. It shows who has joined, who is ready and which nations are banned.
• It hands out nations. When the game starts with a draft, the bot gives each player three nations to choose from. When it starts without a draft, the bot sends a “Nation Assignment” message to the game thread.
• It opens a thread. After the start, the bot creates a game thread in the game history channel, and nations are picked there. You can add the Steam link to the lobby while still gathering with the “Steam Link” button, or send it to the game thread as a separate message. While the game is in the state “In progress” and less than 48 hours have passed since the start, a player of the game can press “Join the game” on the game page on the site: the site finds the lobby in Steam itself and publishes its link as the game's link. See Game page.
• It records the result. The /game finish command saves the winner, the win type and the number of turns. In FFA, the rating changes after it. A player of the game can record the same result on the site, too. See Finishing a game on the site.

A game is run by its participants: they start it, pick nations, and finish or scrap it. A moderator can start, finish or scrap any game on their server.

What it includes¶

Game modes¶

The game panel has two mode buttons: “FFA” and “Duel”. FFA is a free-for-all game, and Duel is a game of two players.

Some old games on the site have the Teams mode, which is a team game. You can't create a new game in this mode.

Game types¶

The game type is the version of Civilization V or the mod you play. The “Info” button on the game panel privately shows a card with the “Game modifications” section, which lists all four types. It also has the links “Read about Vanilla”, “Read about Patch” and “Read about LEK”.

The game creator chooses the type. After the mode button is pressed, the bot sends a private “Choose game type” message with the buttons “Vanilla”, “Patch” and “KEK”. You can't create a new LEK game: that type exists only in old games.

The type shows in the titles of the gathering card and the game card, and in the name of the game thread. Player limits, bans and the draft don't depend on the type.

Game number¶

A game gets its number at the start, so it has none while gathering. Numbering is separate on each server. The number shows in the game thread's name, for example “248 — FFA 6 Patch”, and in the game card's title. On the site the number looks like “#248”, and on the cards in the “My recent games” block, like “Game 248”.

Outside a thread, enter the number in the game option of the /game finish and /game refresh commands. In the game thread, the bot works out the number itself.

Slots and sequence numbers¶

A slot is a player's place in a game. A player takes a slot with the “Join | Leave” button on the gathering card and frees it with the same button. Before the start, a game participant or a moderator can remove a player from the gathering with the “Kick” button. At the start, the bot shuffles the players and gives the slots sequence numbers from 1 to the number of players. The number shows next to each player on the game card: “1.”, “2.” and so on.

In FFA, players can swap slots by mutual request. Then they swap sequence numbers and nations to choose from, and the nations they have already picked are reset: they have to be picked again. See Picking nations and swapping slots.

How it connects¶

• Nations: bans rule nations out for the whole game, and the draft gives each player three nations to choose from. See Nations: bans, draft and picks.
• Roles: a participant runs their own game, and a moderator runs any game on the server. See Players, moderators and admins.
• Rating: a finished FFA game changes the rating of each of its players. See How rating is calculated.
• Game thread: after the start, the game continues in a thread in the game history channel. See Game thread.

Game states¶

A game has four states. The state is written in the title of the gathering card or the game card, next to the 🚦 icon.

The color of the bar on the card also hints at the state: yellow is “Gathering”, green is “In progress”, gold is “Finished”, and red is “Scrap”.

On the site, a game that stays “In progress” more than 48 hours after the start gets the label “No result”. See Games overview.

This applies on the server the site works with: the game card in the thread has an “On site” button, and the card of a finished game has “Results on site”. Both lead to the game page. When a game is finished without an attached save, the bot sends a “Keep this game's story” card with an “On site” button to the thread. See Game page and Save in the game thread.

Before the start, a game participant or a moderator can cancel the gathering with the 🗑️ button on the gathering card. A cancelled gathering has no state of its own: the card just disappears, and the game gets no number. A gathering where nobody pressed any buttons for 3 hours disappears the same way. See Creating a game and gathering players.

A game that has already started is scrapped with the “Cancel game” button in the game thread, and it gets the state “Scrap”. See Scrapping a game.

stateDiagram-v2
    state "Gathering" as gathering
    state "In progress" as ongoing
    state "Finished" as finished
    state "Scrap" as cancelled
    [*] --> gathering: a player creates a game on the panel
    gathering --> ongoing: a participant or moderator presses “Start…”
    gathering --> [*]: a participant or moderator cancels the gathering, or 3 hours pass with no action
    ongoing --> finished: a participant or moderator runs /game finish, or a player of the game finishes it on the site
    ongoing --> cancelled: a participant or moderator presses “Cancel game”
    finished --> [*]
    cancelled --> [*]

The diagram doesn't show actions inside the states: players joining, leaving and being kicked, bans, ready marks, nation picks and slot swaps don't change the game's state. Both start buttons, with and without the draft, lead to the same “In progress” state.

Rules¶

FFA takes 3–6 players, Duel exactly 2¶

The “Start with Draft” and “Skip Draft & Start” buttons turn on under two conditions: the gathering has at least 3 players in FFA or 2 in Duel, and each of them has pressed “Ready”. When the gathering is full, the “Join | Leave” button doesn't add new players. These limits are the same on all servers and can't be changed. See Starting a game.

Bans are optional: up to two in FFA, up to three in Duel¶

Each player can ban up to two nations in FFA and up to three in Duel. You can also ban none: bans don't affect the start. Bans can be changed only before the start. See Bans.

The draft gives each player three nations¶

The “Start with Draft” button gives each player three random nations to choose from. No two players get the same nation, and none of them is banned. Each player plays one of their three nations. The “Skip Draft & Start” button skips the draft: in the “Nation Assignment” message in the game thread, each player is assigned any nation that isn't banned. See Nations: bans, draft and picks.

One player takes one slot in a game¶

Pressing “Join | Leave” again doesn't give a player a second slot. It removes the player from the gathering.

After the start, the lineup doesn't change¶

After the start, you can't leave the game or replace a player in Discord: you can only finish or scrap the game. Only after the game is finished can the site confirm that someone else played a seat and take that into account when closing the game. See Scrapping a game and Game page.

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.

Only finished FFA games change rating¶

Players' rating changes when an FFA game is finished with the /game finish command or on the site. A Duel game also records the winner, the win type and the number of turns, but doesn't change the rating. A scrapped game changes no rating in any mode. See How rating is calculated.

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. The “Ready” button works as a switch, and pressing it again removes the ready mark. Ask the players without ✅ to press “Ready”. If players are missing and the server has notifications set up, call them with the “Notify gathering” button.
• The bot says you aren't allowed to do this. When you press a game button, the bot replies “You are not allowed to perform this action.” Only the game's participants and moderators can use its buttons, except “Join | Leave”. To manage a gathering, first join it with the “Join | Leave” button.
• The gathering card is gone from the channel. If the game started, look for its thread in the game history channel. If the gathering was cancelled or nobody pressed its buttons for 3 hours, create a new game on the game panel.
• The bot says the game has ended or was deleted. When you press a button on the card, the bot replies “This game has ended or was deleted. Create a new game.” and turns off that card's buttons: the game the card belongs to no longer exists. Create a new game on the game panel.
• The bot won't let you finish the game. In reply to /game finish, the bot says “All players must pick their nations before finishing!” Some player hasn't picked a nation yet: pick it in the game thread or on the game page on the site, and run the command again. A nation the site read from a save as played counts as picked. See Finishing a game.

Related¶

• Nations: bans, draft and picks
• Players, moderators and admins
• Creating a game and gathering players
• Starting a game
• Game thread
• Finishing a game
• Scrapping a game
• Games overview
• Game page
• Finishing a game on the site
• Save in the game thread
• How rating is calculated
• Seasons

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