PBEM FAQ

[zsozso]

There are some newbie PBEMers in the tournament who need some help, have questions. Therefore, an FAQ thread would be useful, so here we go.

I invite all PBEM newbies to post questions here!

I would like to ask experienced PBEM players, to please help answer the questions in this thread!

To kick-off I list some questions:

Q1. Who to load up a PBEM turn ?

A1. From the main menu, choose Multiplayer -> Hotseat/Play-bu-Email -> Load Multiplayer game.
Select the .SAV file you got from the previous player.
Enter your password, and voila, you can play your turn.

Q2. How to finish/save a PBEM turn ?
This is not so much a freqent question, but rather a frequently made mistake, that's why it is good to have it here...

A2. Do not save the game when the "Turn Complete" sign flashes in the game screen! Press enter or click on "Turn Complete", you will get a similar window that you had when you loaded the game (before your turn started) with text "NEXT PLAYER TURN" and the name and faction of the next player below that. It is asking for password again. However, now instead of typing your password, click on SAVE AND EXIT button and save the turn for the next player. Then email that off (you may want to zip it to save network bandwidth).

Q3. How diplomacy works in PBEM ?

A3. You can start communication in your turn, select what you offer and type in some text message below (e.g. telling the other party what you expect in return). Then press "end-transmission".
The other player will get the communication screen pop-up automatically at the beginning of his/her turn with your message and offer. That player can set the counter offerings and press "Accept" or request different things in text and continue negotiation.
Therefore the communication may drag through several turns. When both parties has accepted, they will receive whatever the other party has offered (techs, energy, map, treaty, pact etc.)

There are a lot of fine details about the communication that I do not want to go into now, but I do not mind if others add to this topic...

Zsozso

[flop]

zsozso,
thank you for starting up this thread. brilliant idea.
very well sofar and it does answer my first three questions.
Here's another one:
how do you usually make agreements on the time you'll spend playing? I imagine some folks play non-stop until the game is done, even if that takes days. Others may prefer playing one or two hours a day, others a couple hours a week and so on.

[zsozso]

I presume, you were talking about single player game when said some folks play non-stop 'til the game is over. PBEM, being play-by-email pretty much predetermines a break-up for every turn. You play your turn, send the save off to the next player, then keep checking your email as you have time, and when the turn has come back, you play your next turn and so on.

As for arrangements, it depends on the game. E.g. for the tournament I set 48 hours time limit for a person to respond. Normally, it is much faster than that. With 2-3 human players, a 1 day turn-around is normal, i.e. everybody plays a turn every day. For 7 human player game you can expect something like 2-3 day turn around. Of course it also depends on the player's time zone and preferred playing time.

However, also be prepared for the downside: human players may lose interest in the game especially if they are not in good position - that never happens against the AI

Zsozso

[Spekter]

Originally posted by zsozso on 01-14-2000 12:43 PM
Q3. How diplomacy works in PBEM ?

Is it considered rude or improper in some way to conduct diplomatic communications through regular emails? It would seem that this would probably make more involved diplomacy quicker.

Spek
[This message has been edited by Spekter (edited January 15, 2000).]

[MichaeltheGreat]

No - not at all. The ingame messaging is of very limited effectiveness, and having been involved in a LOT of PBEM's as both player and CMN (over at ACOL), email communications are indispensible for effective diplomacy.

Especially for issues like reporting infiltrator data to pactmates, and coordinating research or military strategies.

My longest running PBEM is at 113 turns, and coming to a close. With two other pacted players, and one bullied into a submissive neutral, we have exchanged on the order of 350 emails, including replies from all parties. If coop victory is enabled, and to a lesser extent if it isn't, communication and diplomacy are essential aspects of the game. It also adds an additional layer of complexity and fun that you don't have in IP games.

[Blunderdog]

I've had this answered for me, but my fellow PBEM newbies might find it worthwhile:

Q:How is it that I can contact and negotiate with all the factions yet not be able to summon the council?

A: (I think) Although you can negotiate, you don't really have the other factions' commlink frequencies. You get them like you do in single-player, i.e. contact in the field, buy it from another faction, find it in a Unity pod, or build the Empath Guild.


[This message has been edited by Blunderdog (edited January 20, 2000).]

[MichaeltheGreat]

There is an occasional bug in PBEM communications, which I experienced in one game - I had all frequencies, obtained in the normal manner, and had diplomatic relations with all parties, but was unable to summon council. One of my pactmates was able to do so, but three of the faction contacts he received were gifted by me.

We were able to duplicate this, but never figure what the problem was. I have a similar problem much later in the same game where I am unable to turn over units to a pactmate, despite taking steps to verify that nothing in our diplomatic status would prevent such a turnover.

Luckily, these problems are quite rare, appearing only in that single PBEM in my experience, and rarely or not at all for other players. Still, it does occur every so often.

[flop]

hi there,
is it possible to convert PBEM games into TCP/IP-multiplayer games and vice versa. This would be very practical because the players of a PBEM game could meet every once in a while and continue their game in multiplayer mode, thus playing very much faster than before. Later, the game can be continued as PBEM and so on at convenience.
Anyone knows?

[ChrisShaffer]

You can solve the "unable to call a council" bug by having another player who has all the commlinks choose "give all technology." The game will list the commlinks of all the factions the computer incorrectly thinks the receiving player does not have. The gifting player then, of course, can delete out the technologies and map if they don't want to give those also :-)

[warpage]

flop -

You sure can! What you need to do is to go multiplayer, TCP/IP and then when the new game screen loads up, under "Type of Game" select load game. You then would load in the hotseat game you had been playing before.

Similarly, you can continue a LAN (and probably a TCP/IP, but I've never tried) game in hotseat mode by starting up a hotseat game and loading up the save from your LAN game.

I would imagine that in both circumstances, things may be a bit fuzzy regarding the initial turn that it taken. For instance, if you were The Spartans and your opponent was Gaia, then Gaia goes first in the turn. If you received a save from the Gaia player in hotseat and used that save to begin a LAN game, then it's entirely possible that Gaia will get an extra turn compared to you when you begin (i.e., if the save occured on MY 2150, Gaia gets the 2150 turn before sending you the save, and then goes again in 2150 once the game is started in LAN mode). I haven't played around with it enough to know if this is what occurs, though.

I hope this helps you (and others) out. It isn't a real obvious way to do things (it took me a bit to figure it out), but it sure helps speed up those first turns of a hotseat game.

-warp
[This message has been edited by warpage (edited January 31, 2000).]

[Misotu]

I have a question about loading the game.

Once I've loaded, played my turn and sent it off to the next person, can I reload an earlier turn just to look at my general situation (techs researched/lab per turn/whatever). Or does *anything* count as a double-load? Because er, if it does, then I did it. :-(

I understand I can't load an uncompleted turn twice. But once I've sent the game off, this can't be a problem, can it?

- Mis

[zsozso]

Don't worry Mis. Once you sent off the turn, the game will not send another email after it to tell the others, you cheated...

Seriously, loading after you played and sent it off is not a cheat.

Zsozso

[Misotu]

Thanks for the reply Zsozso.

I'm very relieved because ... er ... I already have one double-load thingy due to technical incompetence and stupidity ...

I just thought that two of those in three turns might look a little, um, suspect. :-)

regards
- Mis

[Sarxis]

I have been playing a pbem game with someone for a while. Usually what we do is play by e-mail for a week or so, then we get together to play the same game as a multiplayer game. The problem we discovered is that when we open the save file to load as a MP game, all of the human units were not able to move for the first year; it was as if they had already been moved during the first MP game turn. I figured that this was probably caused from the game being saved 'in between' our turns while we played it as a pbem. I then suggested that we open the file and recieve it during one of our turns and THEN load it as a MP game, and it kind of worked- the other player's units could be moved in the first year, but my units were already moved!
Anyone familiar with this problem and have a solution, or suggestions for it?

[Misotu]

We just had a strange situation in our PBEM game. One faction summoned the council and voted for himself as leader. The next faction voted for me. But when it came to my vote, I could only vote for one of the other two, and not for myself.

Can anyone tell me

Q: How does the game determine which candidates are available for election?

Q: Could the selection criteria explain how different players might see different candidates?

Thanks
- Mis