Teach me!

[Beta]

Understood. Thinking more about it, it is simply a new dynamic in the game that has to be managed, and a possibility to be aware of.

I was also thinking of the extreme scenario - a bit of a mexican standoff - where two players wait each other out to make the last move, at the 23 hr 59 min 50sec mark, each trying to gain that advantage.

[snoopy369]

Try playing MP, that's basically how an MP game goes.

Er, well, you remember that game we were playing a few days ago right?

[snoopy369]

Originally posted by Beta
Happy trails!

OK - MP game question. In a pitboss game such as this, is there the possibility of using the game timer to your advantage to make a double move. You want to sneak attack someone. You wait until everyone else has played their turn, to ensure you play last. When you play, and you move your troops forward, the turn advances. You are still logged in so you can play first, in effect making a double move. Is this possible, and if yes, has anyone suggested a 'rule' to disallow it in practice?

Or is this just one of those things you need to be aware of in MP pitboss games.

It is actually NOT possible, in the strictest sense. There is a seven second penalty to any unit that moved in the last seven seconds of the turn (I think it's exactly 7 in both cases). This means you can sort of double move - and in an PTBS game it would be basically the same thing - but in an important situation, you'd probably know and make sure you were the final player of the turn or at least be on at that point (if it's not 3am or during work...)

This is, TBH, the problem with a PTBS simul turn game... I don't think it's a problem for this game, as it's mostly fun, but for a superserious game I'm not sure I'd use PTBS on Simul Turns... Every MP game i've played has come down to who can move his units faster in the first second of the turn (and perhaps lag in this case) at some point in the game. Not necessarily game changing, but certainly an effect. When your turn is 32 seconds, making one move wth 8 seconds left, hoping the other guy is paying attention elsewhere, and then moving again in the first second is basically mandatory...

[Beta]

Snoop, thanks for the explanation. And yes, pretty much the same as the MP experience. The manual states this as well.

So in effect, what we have is our much beloved turn-based game, with a sprinkling of real time strategy.

Now, as to whether pitboss should be used for a "superserious" game, well, I have my proposal all written up. Guess we wil see. Where should I post it BTW. I gather this forum.

[vondrack]

For a superserious game, PitBoss in classical turn-based mode would probably work best (at the expense of a slower game, of course).

Though, who'd want to play a superserious game...

[Beta]

Ok - and now a follow-up question to von, snoop, solver and the rest of you.

I was explaing to snoopy my ideas regarding a pitboss based demogame, the joy being the speed it would move at, and the chaos/dynamics it would bring to a team-based democaracy set-up. It would be different. The speed of the game (assuming 24 hour turns here) would enforce different governance structures on teams; they would have to be quick on their feet - and have back-up players ready.

But then I got to thinking about how this would work in team mode. So, my question is, if you had a pitboss game of say 7 teams, and each team had say 10 players. Could the 10 players from Team ABC all log on during the turn to see the situation, and as long as only one makes the moves and hits enter, would it work. So, can multiple IP addresses access the same team, and will the game allow "read only" access, so to speak. Hope this question makes sense.

I am aware of the clamouring regarding a warlords demo game, and I was going to float a proposal for a pitboss based game, just to shake things up. But I need to know if it could work in a team environment.

[vondrack]

As far as I know, it's not possible for more than one player to log into the same civ at the same moment. Doesn't matter if it's Pitboss or other type of MP game.

[Beta]

But could more than one player log into the same team at different times. In other words, you , snnopy and I are a team - you log into the game - check out the situation - make your recoomendations. You exit without playing or ending. i do the same. Snoopy then goes in and plays the turn. This could work could it not?

[Gyathaar]

that would work (as long as you all know the password for the civ ofcourse)

[Rommel2D]

Originally posted by Solver
If it's not too much trouble, then it would indeed be very nice to be able to see who's connected to a Pitboss game when you're in it, for XP2. Another great feature would be for the game list in the lobby to display the current turn for Pitboss games. Like, "Teach Alexman! (6)"

Last I was able to test PitBoss, earlier this year, you could change the display to show who was currently connected- Ctrl/Shift I believe? I thought this was a general MP function...

Can't comment on the lobby features- direct IP seemed the best way to go at the time...

[Beta]

Originally posted by Gyathaar
that would work (as long as you all know the password for the civ ofcourse)

Ok - thanks. This may require some thought. It would be verrry difficult to run a team-based game if the teams were large. But a 4 or 5 player team could probably make this work quite well.

[Nubclear]

It seems that I am no longer able to log in.

[vondrack]

Has anything changed on your side? The game is up and running, I have just checked I can log in.

[Nubclear]

Nope. It just seems to eventually time out. I've tried many times now.

[vondrack]

Have you tried the trick I described earlier for Beta? If the progress meter runs three times full length and the text doesn't change to "Connecting to the host", click "Go Back" (lower left) and retry immediately. It helps me log in faster than if always waiting for the time out - I am seldom able to log in without retrying at least once.