Multiplayer

[VitalyB]

I was wondering, do you really play it by email? Doesn't it take like ages to finish a game like that?

I mean, even regular SMAC LAN game can be quite lengthy when the powers of the players are not equal and everyone have to wait to the player with the longest turns to finish.

[moi]

many people PBEM. yes it takes forever

i play a LAN game occasionally

[Black Sunrise]

Not long.
Maybe a year or two.
Per game.

Lets see, my favorite game
Started 10/06/2000
Currently in turn 168.
A four player game (more players, slower game).
Pretty quick.
I'd recomend playing several games simultaniously.

It's really different that playing the AI, or playing LAN, but it is a LOT of fun.

[big_canuk]

Yes, each game takes a long time. But you still get penty of satisfaction each day if you play the "right" number of games. My quickest game was around 3 months. Some are over a year now.

Keys to enjoyment:

1. Play enough games to have one or two turns to play per day (Maybe more if you have *lots* of free time (between golf rounds, ala Googlie, lol). This may seem like not much, but when each move is much more important, because victory is not assured, I find turns in the middle and end game can take from 1/2 to many hours to play. Add to that lots of diplomacy emails, and that's lots for me to do.

2. Which brings me to the second point: Don't bite off too many games right away. Depending on how many players per game and how fast they are, the game will get back to you every x hours, or x days. Realize that at the beginning the turns are only a few minutes, but will quickly become longer. A few times I have had many games waiting, and really remember: RL comes first!

3. Keep a notepad file for each game to store passwords, emails, other pertinent game info, stratagies, and those important tactical "to dos" that you may sometime forget after a say two week delay and having played countless other game turns. I find it really helps.

[VitalyB]

Sounds interesting.. Yet, don't you lose the "spirit" of the game when you bounce from one game to another and wait at least a day for the next turn to arrive.

Another question, when you recieve the game by email, how do you see the turns that were made by the other players? Do you see them moving at all?

[Black Sunrise]

The notepad thing really adds to continuity. And since moves only come in a few times a day, you don't really lose track. Might take you a sec to remember what you were doing, that's what notepad is for. I'd say that having a notepad file for each game is a trick that has improved my game play 100%.

As to other players moves, you don't see them as they happen, only where they were at the end of the turn. Usually not a big deal.

A nice thing though: I can't imagine having 4 players all having the time to finish an IP game or LAN game, especially late game. Email games do finish, even when they get fairly large and develped and you wind up spending 1/2 hour per turn on them.

If you are starting MP email, get 3 other players in a game. 3 player games are fast, 4 players are a touch slower, but have really much better diplomacy, IMO. 5+ players get bogged down way too often. A slow player, a broken computer, a divorce, etc, can all kill a game, and the more players, the more chance for something coming up.

Be well, best of luck.
Indra

[Sprayber]

VitalyB: If we can find a third or fourth player, I would like to have a go at PBEM. Never seem to get in on a game soon enough. What do you say?

[VitalyB]

Black Sunrise: Thanks for the info.

Sprayber: Sure =), it might happen to be fun.