Some multiplayer help questions

[cbn]

I am really new multiplayer (currently played less than 20 turns in each of 4 MP games). I have a couple of things that I am trying to figure out.


1. Sometimes I have 4 game turns waiting for me when I get home. After downloading and unzipping the turns I then load the game to play Game A. Once I am finished Game A I am prompted to "Save and exit". Well I want to save but is there a way to save the turn without exiting the game. My computer isn't the fastest so game start-up takes a couple of minutes each time. In a perfect world, I would like to be able to save the completed turn of Game A and then load and play (and save completed turn of) Game B and then C and D before exiting the game and then doing the zip/send process for them all. I have hesitated to experiment since I have been trying to follow exactly previous advice on how MP is played.

2. In-game I have received messages such as "1 battles won". Is there any way to see who was fighting?? The first time it happened I checked all my units and it was obvious that one of my units in the fungus was damaged pretty bad-- so it was a worm attack, I guess. If an opposing faction attacks I'm assuming that I will get a notification of that. When units get more numerous is there any message or notification that shows what happened. More importantly if a unit is killed does the game remember (and show on the screen)the unit that killed it? I really miss the animations you get in SP when you can see the enemy units that have flitted across your visual range.


3. Diplomacy-- Is there any way to look back at what was said more than 3 or 4 lines ago-- ie a scroll function??

Thats all I can think of right now
[This message has been edited by cbn (edited March 15, 2001).]

[Garth Vader]

1. Not that I know of.

2. Your messages screen has a message like, Scout patrol survived attack by alien mind worms near some base.

That sucks, but it as good as you are going to get. I have had a base dissappear in MP I assumed it was hit by worms but I didn't get any message I am assuming because it was a new base and it was empty.

3. I thought there was a scroll on hte diplo screen but I forget. Most of my MP games are 2 player so we don't really have any diplomacy

[The Commodore]

I'm new to PBEM's, but in LAN-games, you pop-up the dipplo-screen, thenMake a offer. The other chap then makes a counter-offer, and you can accept or refuse, or counter-offer again. I think that's how it goes with PBEMs too...just it takes longer. You don't have to offer one of the options. ANYthing goes.

[big_canuk]

The diplo screen only sends the last 3 lines. It is only of use for limited diplomacy. For complicated arrangements, email is better. Email also gives you a permenant record. Careful, though. It could be forwarded to someone else, and used against you.

ICQ is also useful for 1 on 1 negotiations. It is also a permenant record. I find it extremely useful to ICQ while both of us have the turn open in a pact (one could be a "live" turn or not, the other would of course be an old turn). All kinds of nuances, and possibilities open up when 2 heads are put together.

[Aredhran]

Don't think that the in-game communications are "safe"...

Have you noticed that the PBEM saves keep getting bigger and bigger ? Well surprise, it's not only because you have many more units, but also because all the diplomacy text is appended at the end of the save. Anybody could load the .SAV file in an editor, and read your prose...

cbn, that's not exactly a "scroll bar", but it would let you see the history of your diplomatic exchange, if you're willing to bother.

You've been warned

Aredhran

[big_canuk]

Wow, I didn't know that! Sounds like reading the save is another cheat!

This makes the diplo screen almost useless for communication. This is terrible!

[Horus]

I suggest that this 'feature', reading saves that is, should be included in the MP instructions. Not in order to encourage, but to warn.

[cbn]

Thanks for the info Aredhan but if other parties diplomatic info is there, I would consider looking at it a cheat. Its just one of the many things where we have to trust each other to not exploit a game bug.

So-- from the responses I take it that there is no quick and easy way to end a MP turn without exiting entirely from the game?? Oh well its just a minor inconvenience I guess

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My biggest MP beef is the inability to see where worms and units went. You know, you pop a pod and get a worm and want to capture/kill it but next turn it has run away and you just do not know which direction.

[Aredhran]

I agree that it is a cheat.

The format is rather difficult to read, because you have all the communication between two factions, in order, with lots of duplicate text (I guess each year the game saves what appears in the dialog again) : gaia/hive, gaia/uop, gaia/morgan, ... gaia/pk, then hive/uop, ... hive/pk etc.

I checked out an old 5-player game, around 2200... Over 50% of the file size was such dialogs ! Talk about wasted space.

Aredhran