Pros and Cons of SP / PBEM / MP(via LAN or Net)

[DrSpike]

I expect you administer your router through a web interface, ie you log in with your password and browse with IE for example. Most routers these days aren't that hard to use. You want to configure the port redirection/translation or possibly Network Address and Port Translation (NAPT) settings. Go to that section and you should be able to specify which internal IP to forward all packets to that arrive on the game port. I don't know the port SMAC uses I'm afraid, and 220 seems unlikely.

As I said before anyone you know with a 56k modem can host, and you can join no probiem, since then the connection is made outbound and your router knows where to send game info to. Additionally if the person is computer literate they can dl a utility that will tell them which ports your machines are talking. With that info you can then set stuff up and host yourself; it will be a little quicker that way, which is nice since SMAC real time MP is sooooooo slow, not to mention flaky at times.

Good luck

[Fitz]

Busta, the TCP/UDP ports I posted above are supposed to be the fowarding ports. I should have made that clear. Let me know if it works. I also sent an email to the EA Help desk, and their reply confirmed that they "should" work. I haven't gotten them to yet, but I think my problem was version compatibility issues.

[Jac de Molay]

Thanks one and all for the advice. Fitz, I will be in contact with you about possibly trying to set up a game this weekend. I am on Eastern Standard Time, so maybe we can try to work something out

Thanks again,

Dave