RealTime on GameRanger?

[Stumpy]

Would anyone be interested in trying to meet on GameRanger sometime and play online? I'm not sure what playing a turn-based game online is like, I've never done it... I imagine one spends a lot of time watching TV as other people take their turns. But it might be cool to get on and play for a few hours every now and again. I'm curious to see what people think about this idea.

Stumpy

[-Ashman-]

I haven't had much luck in getting a multiplayer game going on GameRanger. SMAC is very sensitive to latency and until recently I've been on a 56k modem. Now that I have DSL I might give it another shot.


Ash

[Baston]

I am going over to Cable from 56k around mid april. If you are still willing to try then Ashman i'd be happy to oblige!

[illiria]

Count me in, too (sitting on a shared 10Mbit ethernet line

[iMac722]

sure I'd like to come along

[-Ashman-]

Ok, when would everyone be able to play on GR?

[Stumpy]

Well, we've got a little interest at least, that's a start. Never having played SMAC online before, I have some questions about how it works exactly (such as, can the game be saved and played at a later time? Who initiates the save, etc, etc...). But provided those issues end up being feasible, I'd like to give it a go. I have two suggestions as to how to go about it:

1) Watch for each other: Write down the names of all the folks on this forum and make a point of logging on to GameRanger when you have some game-time to spare. I know there are 1 on 1 scenarios, although I've never played any of them, so even if there's just one person on we could play. I'd certainly be up for trying that. Apparently GameRanger 2.0 has a buddy-list on it, so that's helpful. I go by 'Stumpy' on GameRanger as well.

2) We figure out a time to meet on GameRanger. While the "Strangers in the Night" approach above is chancy, it may be the more viable of the two options, since figuring out a time when several of us could be on with a few hours to spare will be tricky. And I'll say right now that my gaming schedule is spotty, I can't always make it to the computer when I want to (although I'm going to install SMAC at work, which will vastly increase the possibilities).

Ash, it sounds like you've done this sort of thing before, so if you have any words of wisdom about online SMAC, share 'em. I'm a rank newbie at this.

Stump

[This message has been edited by Stumpy (edited March 29, 2000).]

[-Ashman-]

I go by -Ashman- on GameRanger too. I am free most evenings after 8pm Mountain/7pm Pacific. GameRanger's new buddy list feature could really come in handy in finding people to play with.

Ash

[bradman]

Let me be honest - tcp/ip play in SMAC at the moment is hit and miss. Unless the players all are local to each other and/or have very low ping, you'll likely not have a very successful net game. This is being worked on for an upcoming patch, but I can't promise it'll be ready in time for the next patch.

Brad

[Qualiciide]

*AHEM*


i have tried SMAC on GR sevral times, it only works when i host, otherwhise it gets very very difficult (1 succesful game out of over 10)

[bradman]

quote: Originally posted by -Ashman- on 03-31-2000 12:23 PM Brad: Any idea on a timeframe? Seems to me that you folks at Westlake really have your hands full. I imagine that it makes it hard to work on patches when there are so many new titles coming down the pipe. Ash

No, I don't have any estimate. The 'net code was the only portion of SMAC I didn't work on, mainly because I had never done net code before. Thus, I can't really tell you much about it, since it's not really something I can influence or fix myself. (Well, I could fix it if I learned how it works, but that's a slim bet.)

Brad

[-Ashman-]

Brad:
Any idea on a timeframe? Seems to me that you folks at Westlake really have your hands full. I imagine that it makes it hard to work on patches when there are so many new titles coming down the pipe.

Ash