How is multiplayer going to work??

[CIA_Operative]

I was wondering how Civ 3 is going to conduct multiplayer games. Is GameSpy going to support it or is Firaxis going to have their own gaming service, I never played Civ 2 online so could anybody please hit me back with the answers that would be great.

[Gramphos]

It has been very little said, except that there will be some cool multiplayer features.

[Sabre2th]

We really have no clue how civ3 mp will work. They will offer all the basic types of MP, but we know little else.

[Footie Mad]

If I recall correctly they said at least two new groundbreaking ways of mulitplaying TBS. Or maybe that's just my imagination.

[Sabre2th]

Firaxis has said that they have new ideas, but we have no clue what. I believe at least one of their ideas has to do with simulataneous turns.

[tniem]

Hopefully one is a way to make PBEM more secure and with less hassle. i.e. downloading the game off of a central server when you load up Civ III and the uploading when you quit.

[TechWins]

I believe at least one of their ideas has to do with simulataneous turns.

Well, your belief is a fact. Jeff stated a while back that simultaneous turns would be included and he also said something about another way to play MP. BtW he said all this on a thread in this particular forum.

[Admiral PJ]

too many ideas too late to be implemented?

I hope theres a good multiplayer game save system too,
its probably a standard feature, but would allow large games to go on effectively.

I'd really like there to be a way to penalise/help certain civ players, to balance out games where you have mixed player skills. Things like extra money and techs , or disabling special units and armies for experienced players only (the other sides having this option still).

It would be nice to have a 'free for all' game server option where you could have a permanent server up, and have players log on or off to play their civilisation when they wish (at other times the server AI could control this civ or someone else take over) - this might allow a Massive multiplayer style system, with a continuus style world(like ultima online) though this may be too much to ask. would probably need to much extra code.

How about having short 'deathmatch' games, where you only have a couple of cities with barracks for repairing troops and can only build troops. The main purpose would be to fight with troops for territory/obliterating the enemy, and you'd start out with your main army already, a few armies and troops.
This would be nice for short fun multiplayer sessions, good for training for major standard civ games.

I hope scenario multiplayer will be well supported too, with objectives and historical popups and special events working well.
(also allow disabling of certain diplomacy actions where innapropriate for the scenario, IE no peace deals with the Nazis and Allies during WW2)

PJ

[Gramphos]

Speaking of features wanted, but not confirmed

I would like to add a request for a rule-checker.
Yes it has been suggested before, and I think most of you know what I'm going to write. If you know that in peace .
The easy way rules can be modified in later Civilization games has become a problem for multiplayer, as there is no check to compare your rules with the rules of the host, that you play after.
If the hostplayer modifies his rules to set the roadmultiplier to 100 instead of 3 he/she can quite easy mess with the other players without their knowledge. This can be solved with a comparation of the rules in the following way: When a player connects to a session will the hostplayer send a message containing the rules of the host to that player. That player will compare the rules received with the rules of the local machine. If any differences are found a popupwindow will sow that tells the player what rules that has been modified. The player can then select to accept or disconnect.

Note: I don't remember who came up with the original idea for this. I think it was UberKruX that brought up the problem, and from that a group of people have developed this idea (I've been involved)

[0:) Innocence]

Originally posted by Sabre2th
We really have no clue how civ3 mp will work. They will offer all the basic types of MP, but we know little else.

Yea, quite strange IMO. I mean, the game recently went into beta and will most likely be released within a few months, yet we have no details on such a fundamental game feature