I was away last week from Wednesday to Sunday and I wanted my little scouts to go exploring. Most of my "island" is non-black, so I set them to auto-explore while I was gone so no time was wasted. I needed some sort of intelligence since sending them blindly into the black, could have ended badly.

on a side note, if the animal wasn't a bear, I prolly would have survived since I was on a forested hill.

OK, but auto-explore what ? What you had already unveiled ? [hmm] What for ?

BTW, I have one question. What happens when you don't log on for a turn or more ? Can we stop the game for a few days if people go on holiday ? I'm a bit uneasy to let an AI get in charge of my civ for a week... An answer would be laptop + WiFi, but that is costly. Always money...

you could either get a sitter or give your workers, cities, research and units queued orders. Just hold down the shift key and select away.

The only thing is if someone declares war on you or you want to do any trades during that time. Then you definatly need a sitter. I know that I'll be away the last week of the year so it would be nice if that week we could shut it down, but I don't think that it's mandatory.

Tubby I agree..week between Christmas and new years may be a good time to shut it down. too many people away for enough subs to be available. its also a good time for a cease fire. :)

I also agree with the pause for the Christmas holidays.

oh and as far as barbs go....I havent seen a single one.

I have no problems with the game being turned off for the week between xmas and new year.
Also to anyone who need a player to fill in around this time in other games, i'm hosting the party this year so i'm available:)

No problem with a Christmas break, just let me know what dates to turn off and on the PTBS...

how about 12-24 thru 1-1 ?

I can't play from 12-22 in the evening to 12-27 afternoon. I have no problem with shutting it of for longer or missing one turn or so.