Anyone for PBEM?

[zeebo]

All,

I've played my turn as the french and sent on the file to Makeo.
It seems there is a problem with opening the saved game file with a Mac, so perhaps that won't work out...
Also, I suggest compressing the file using Winzip before sending, to save on download times (the file compressed from 71K to 6K),
Regards,
Z.

[kengel]

Hi to all,

great, it seems the game is running. Hope, that MacUser will manage it.

Unfortunately, I am away this weekend (I told makeo to send his turn directly to superstar so the game is goin on).

Meantime, please post here how it is goin on. Wish all a nice weekend & see you

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greets from the Warrior of sky

[Makeo]

Game sent to superstar.

[MacUser]

Kengel sent me a test game to see if I could open and play it, and I had no problems. So something was different or wrong with the first file that I downloaded. Having said that, however, I do need to make sure that everyone is using the current patches on their games. In order for PCs and Macs to play together in MP, the PC game must use patch ver. 1.3 (available on the MicroProse site) and the Mac game must use ver. 1.1.b.1 (available either from ACS or MacSoft, see the Mac Forum). I am using the current Mac patch, are all the PC players using the patch 1.3? Skryke, don't count me out yet! Hopefully, the first turn was an anomaly and the next one will work for me.

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Different is GOOD!

AOL IM--JacSamDad

[MacUser]

Here is the answer to the "Do we all need the current patch" question. I copied this from the MicroProse patch 1.3 Read Me file:

"Due to game balance and cheat issues, this patch will not work in
tandem with older versions of Civ II Multiplayer. That is, everyone
in a multiplayer game must have the patched version in order for the
game to run properly."

The PC patch is available at http://support.microprose.com/

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Different is GOOD!

AOL IM--JacSamDad

[Monkey]

Super star,

if that was you sending me the e-mail game I think you forgot to attach the game to the mail. I didn't see anything attached to it.. so please send it again...

[MacUser]

I got GAME! Skryke sent me the 2900 BCE game and I had no problems playing. The file has been saved and sent to Zeebo.

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Different is GOOD!

AOL IM--JacSamDad

[Superstar]

I've been offline lately due to HArdrive problems, I'm still not fully operational so I won't be able to take any turns for a couple of days, keep me posted as to what is going on and let the AI take my turns or KENGEL can take them if he wishes, sorry about this but it is unavoidable.

[kengel]

No problem, superstar. I will take care for your mighty civilisation, for that no AI will ever take over your people (as soon as I get this game file... where is it now?). Hope you will fix your problems, please email if you are ready again!

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greets from the Warrior of sky

[kengel]

!!! IMPORTANT MESSAGE !!!

Really bad news: I found something like a "bug" in our system of PBEM gaming, making trouble by a partial overtaking of every player by the AI. If during the move of a player an unit wasn't moved (for example an in the round before fortified unit), it will be moved by the AI till next round, even if the player got the blinking message "end of turn"!!!

Really good news: I found out how to avoid this nuisance. Just before you save, you simply have to press "Ctrl" + "n" (="end turn" in the orders- menu). You should do this even then, when at the right bottom corner the "end of turn"- message is blinking and this menu point seems to be deactivated!

I think, the reason for this behaviour is found in the saved game file: If you save a game, there are saved the moves of the units you used, but there is also saved the information of units, which have the possibility to move (that means, the left moving points of every of your units is saved; hence, the fortified units, for which the program did not ask you about moving, still have their full moving points!). If the next player starts the game with his civ, the saved game tells the program that it is still your turn, but of course you are not connected anymore to the game. So the program will takeover your civ with an AI, which will move the rest of your units which you didn't move.
Now, if you are hitting "Ctrl" + "n" before you save, the program will set automatically the moving points of all your units to zero, so there is nothing left for the AI! To my knowledge, the AI will also not change your city stati.

FAZIT: PLEASE HIT "CTRL" "n" AT THE END OF YOUR TURN BEFORE SAVING!

Since this message is widely relevant for game play, I will send it as PBEM Mail #4 to all. Thanx for reading this, and I wish you all a nice go on of the game. Have fun!

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greets from the Warrior of sky



<font size=1 face=Arial color=444444>[This message has been edited by kengel (edited September 14, 1999).]</font>

[zeebo]

Turn sent to Makeo...

[Makeo]

If its the turn you sent to me yesterday..I sent it on yesterday. If its an new turn. Excellent the pace is picking up. btw I'm at work at the moment.

[Superstar]

Sorry Guys, I'm waiting for some drivers to be sent through, I reckon I'll be out for another day or two

[MacUser]

I sent the 2800 B.C.E. turn to Zeebo about a half-hour ago (ca. 10:00 CDT). Things are moving along!

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Different is GOOD!

AOL IM--JacSamDad

[kengel]

I agree, the timing works very well. I did my next move as well as that of superstar (be nice to your harddrive ) and sent it to monkey 24 h after the last one. This is great!

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greets from the Warrior of sky