Arranging one or two role-play oriented games

[emjaycue]

I also posted on the "Strategy" forum about these games but I figured I'd put a post here too just in case. I'd be interested in joining games #2 or #3 as the Spartans (ouch industry hit ) or any faction actually. The email is emjaycue@iname.com. I'm a US eastern time zone and I usually do turns before I go to work (6:30AM-9AM EST) or when I get home (5PM-7PM EST). Cheers!

--M

[joer]

Sorry to dissapoint you folks, but since I am living in Europe, it's unlikely that my online times will match up with yours.
I'll give them to you anyways. My best times are, given in EST: 3 AM - 5:30 AM and 2 PM - 6 PM.

Another restriction of mine: Most likely, I will be leaving school near the end of this year, so I cannot be part in games that drag on for too long.

Blind research: I cannot confirm that your faction has any impact on what you research. So far, my first tech was always Centauri Ecology when I set my preference to Explore. However, it sometimes does take some time for the game to take focus switches into account.
I am still for leaving the default focus unchanged. Makes things more interesting.

I've emailed this to a couple of folks already, but I thought I might as well post it:

1) If there is any good way of not switching out the alpha.txt, I would prefer not to do it. There is really no reason to hardcode limitations of factions into the game file if we can all say that we just agree on them. Our word should be enough, and isn't worth the pita to constantly swap alpha.txt-files around.

2) I am generally for starting with com frequences of all players, since it speeds up the game -- and multiplayer games are terribly slow anyways -- and makes the beginning more interesting. In addition to having to move your 1 scout unit by one square per turn, you also have to deal with all the diplomacy, pacts, treaties, tech trade&denial, backstabbing, etc...from the start. That's what I am looking for in MP. Why not make it availible from turn 1?
-joer.

[Kinjiru]

I actually really like the proposed changes for the alphax.txt (and please note that it would be alphax.txt and not alpha.txt). We would only need to send that file around once.

When I play MP games each match has it's own saved folder where I put not only the save games, but also a text file with player information (who is playing who, their email address and any other info I find useful), and the alpha or alphax file. So the swap is not such a big deal.

Oh and Joer, the time thing is not a problem. We can just set you up as the first player of the day. Where is Europe are you going to be? Regardless, evening time play for you would be early morning for us, so the game should be waiting for someone else who likes to play in the morning.

[Tau Ceti]

Just a few notes about the alpha(x).txt files:

If a game is started as a scenario with a modified version of alpha(x).text in the scenario folder, then the modified settings are saved with the game and there would not be a need for anyone else to have the file or to swap it every time they play a turn. Of course, making these games scenarios will require an outside CMN, and then there is the problem that SMACX scenarios screw up the faction graphics. But it is an option...

[Basil]

Hmm. I thought that you could simply put the .sav file in a scenario folder with the appropriate alpha(x).txt and the game would react accordingly (as in Civ), but after testing over the last couple of days I have discovered I was wrong .

For game 2 (the 4-player SMAC game) there is no need for a distinct alpha.txt file, as noone strongly wants anything that a distinct alpha.txt file can give. So that game can be played as a technically normal game.

Game 1 (the 7-player SMACX game) would be very different without its own alphax.txt, so I will experiment and find out what Tau Ceti means by scenarios screwing up the faction graphics. With luck, one of the game 2 players will set up the scenario for us if we ask nicely.

I am opposed to early communications between factions. I don't like it in general because I know from experience that being able to communicate with player-run factions but not AI-run factions is very unRP'ish in a two-player game. In this particular game that doesn't matter, and I don't know how it would work out, but I fear something worse than I can imagine. Of course, given my faction early universal communication is nearly completely bad for me.

For those who do not know, there is another thread about these games on the Strategy board.

[Kinjiru]

What TC was refering to is that if someone plays a game with different factions (or even the same factions, but in a different order) inbetween turns of the PBEM, then the next time they load up the PBEM, the factions graphics will not be correct.

An example: In our RP game, let's say that Morgan is in slot one. We play, everyhting is fine. Afterwards, I boot up another game I have going where the UoP is in slot one. The next time I load the PBEM, the Morganites will appear with the UoP graphic set.

The easy fix is to hardcode the faction order into the alphax.txt and always swap the file in/out before playing the PBEM.

[Tau Ceti]

Kinjiru is close, but not quite on the problem. When you load a SMACX game that was started as a scenario, the game will use the graphics of the factions that are currently in the faction slots in the Alpha Centauri.ini file. They change every time you start a new SMACX game, but not if you load old ones. So if you do not start any new games in between your PBEM turns, you should be fine with just setting the factions once.

Otherwise, to get the proper faction graphics you either have to start a new game with the correct factions in the correct order immediately before you play your turn, or have an Alpha Centauri.ini file with the correct factions and swap that one around instead. Of course, that means you get file swapping again, which is what you were trying to avoid in the first place. Still, the game is playable with the wrong graphics, and forgetting it would be less of a problem than forgetting to swap a modified alphax.txt.

[Kinjiru]

Thanks for the correction TC. And you are right in that the game is still playable with the wrong graphics, except that you really have to pay attention.

In one game I was pacted with Santigao and at Vendetta with Morgan. Someone calls me up and asks for some tech. Since the graphic showed Morgan I was all belligerent and basically said that I was about to launch a big-ass invasion at him. Unfortunately it was really Santiago that had called me up, but i did not realize it and I had no idea that the grpahic switching problem existed!!
*doh!*