Beyond the Pit [Pitboss Diplomacy Game] [Organization Thread V]

[St Jon]

'Tis all well and good Ozzy but 48hrs is a sodding joke!

I've played faster PBEM's with 9 Players.

[Pitboss Japan]

I agree that 48h is too much especialy with full of uninterested players.
We should play one turn/day unless someone ask to extend the turn to max 48h.

If pause is too problematic then here is an other suggestion:
Turn timer 44h (~48h real time)
everyone should play in the first 24h or post here and ask for more time
if didnt move or write here then kick out that player (and put them back for next turn if they want to come back)

(btw I'd rather say that forget every rule we have just let the game going at normal speed and finish it normally than let it die because many more ppl get unintersted if we play 1 turn/ 3days)

[Pitboss Khmer]

I thought things were ticking over OK with the 24 hour timer.

48 hours would work if all played each turn but not all do. E.g Marcus of Oldonia might log in every 3 turns or so - which is fair enough in his situation but maybe such players can give the host the right to kick their turn over?

[Robert]

Well, it was never the intention to let the turns take 48 hours (or 52) indeed.
I assumed that if we fixed the England/Maya problem (which has been solved, MMC is back and Maya has a player) the turns would be shorter.

But we can say: every player gets 20 hours to play his turn. (orig timer)
If those 20 hours are over I end their turn. The timer for player 2nd in the turn order starts after the 1st player ended turn. Theoretically they get 40 hours.
If there are 3 positions in the turn order then we just have to pause the game if the last player can't get his turn done. (most probably theoretically)

If everyone pm's their password to me then I can end their turn more easily, if needed.
Shall we do it that way?

[Robert]

There was another popup at the pitboss server, that's why America couldn't login and the game has been hanging voor 12 hours. I've just fixed it.

I'm going to end the turn for America, Celts and Vikings now (without watching their situation).
I'll put next turn timer on 36 hours

I'm sorry for the delay in fixing this server-hang.
My wisdoom tooth was removed yesterday, not he easy way but the hard way. shopped in 20 pieces first and then removed one by one. I had hidden it very well, the doctor said. But hey, I'm a dutch hero so I'm not even using pain removers (yet) 8)

[Robert]

For the record, this is how I do it:
1. login as Sparta and pause the game
2. kick celts, america and vikings on pitboss server (b/c of pause the AI won't take over)
3. then I login as celts, vikings and america (shortly, only to set the password)
4. then I login as celts, unpause the game, end turn
5. login as america, end turn
6. login as vikings, end turn

Maybe I have to login as Sparta again b/c I can't unpause b/c of trade-screens.
Just being transparant here.

[Robert]

Does anybody know the apolyton username of the player who plays the vikings?
I need to send him his new password.

[Robert]

Game's up, new turn has started: 36 hours for now.
If all agree then I'll start ending turns for players after 24 hours.

[Pitboss Japan]

I agree ( i guess it's a lots of work for you though)

[The_Aussie_Lurker]

ok, so what's my password now? Just tried to get into the game and no success. Also, for the record, it doesn't help when every other time I try and get into the game, I can't connect with the host .

Aussie.

[Pitboss Celts]

Pausing the game is quite complicated.
in-game pause can't be unpaused if the player has a trade screen when he logsin.
Not to mention that players may unpause and forget to pause.

real-pause means that nobody can play anymore and the player who still needs to play, and the host, have to be online at the same time to make an agreement on the right time to unpause.

If all players just make their moves in time (check civstats, and move when possible) then we should finish all turns within 24 hours.
I don't really understand why Celts and AMerica didn't move yet, both posted in this thread after the game had been unpaused.

Sorry, I was swamped yesterday during my normal play window. On average I misst at least one turn a week due to being busy or indifference.

[Pitboss Celts]

For the record, this is how I do it:
1. login as Sparta and pause the game
2. kick celts, america and vikings on pitboss server (b/c of pause the AI won't take over)
3. then I login as celts, vikings and america (shortly, only to set the password)
4. then I login as celts, unpause the game, end turn
5. login as america, end turn
6. login as vikings, end turn

Maybe I have to login as Sparta again b/c I can't unpause b/c of trade-screens.
Just being transparant here.

I really wish you hadn't done this. In my opinion this is abuse of power. I don't want someone playing/ending my turn unless I give permission. I certainly hope that we don't make this a permanent thing where Robert ends all turns at 24 hours. If you are going to do that, then just set the timer at 24 hours instead of 36.

[St Jon]

I really cannot understand this 48hr nonsense if all it ends up with you end-turning people at an arbitary time. I could spend a night in London happy that I wouldn't miss a turn so not post a message only to find that eveyone else had played so you had just changed my p/w and left me to the AI! If I cannot play within 24hrs I will post a specific message and ask for a pause. If I am going to miss a week or two I would sort out my own sub rather than have one dumped on me.

[Pitboss Japan]

If I cannot play within 24hrs I will post a specific message and ask for a pause. If I am going to miss a week or two I would sort out my own sub rather than have one dumped on me.

Yes, this should be normal. Those who doesnt post here to ask for pause deserve to miss a turn. I agree that cutting this turn was unfortunate. However the 48h turn timer never meant that the turns should lasts for 3 days. it was set that long so we don't have to pause it (which is problematic as Robert said). Anyway i have said that the 48h timer is a bad idea because there are many players who just doesnt read this forum and doesnt care if they play or not..


So far we had

• - simple 19-22h turn timer is not working because players cant always play at their usual time or cant wait for their opponents
  -the 6 hours rule didnt help because it still allows an unfair double move
  -pausing the game causes problems, can not be unpaused etc
• - 48h turn timer is not working because that means 1 turn/3 days
• - kicking out players after every 24h wont work because ppl wont read this topic..

we must choose something..

I have no problem kicsking out people after the first 24h elapsed unless they ask for more time.

Or what i have suggested before: just increase the "six hour" to much more. If the timer is 24h then you had to wait like 22h (after your last move) before allowed to double move-and only if your opponent hadnt asked for pause.
(you said that it's not working because ppl not always play at the same time, however if ppl wont play at the same time that most likely will screw up the turn order anyway)

The point is: we shouldnt kick anyone, we shouldnt double move against anyone who post here and asks for more time. If he doesnt care then we shouldnt care either.

[Robert]

Celts, nobody likes this. We try to find something that works.
Putting the timer on 24h, like we did, causes new drama like we had past week!

And nobody's civ is being placed on AI!
That's why the passwords are changed. So it's only just as if you missed a turn. Nothing happened.

Like Japan says, if everybody manages to play in time there's no problem.
The extended hours are for those at war who need to wait till the player before them finish their turns.