Multiplayer

[Wade]

All i want to say is can someone from the developing team tell me in this day and age why no multiplayer? And i think it would be nice to tell us "if" the are working on anything for this like a patch/expansion (which would be a joke personally) cause i paid 70 bucks and figured they would come out with a patch like civ 2 so if this can get somehow looked at by some developers that would be great!!!!!

[Mikel]

The official reason for no multiplayer was given by Firaxis a few times and was along the lines of "this was always intended to be and designed as a single player game"and that is the best you will read from them.

I personally believe that multiplayer will not be released for free. It will be part of some kind of expansion. This will obviously anger many people, but what is likely to anger everyone is if the expansion contains only multiplayer and an expanded editor, with a few scenarios included that won't be as good as the free scenarios the very creative people at Apolyton will be creating. Any future expansions must include features that the internet community cannot produce and should not be features that should be (or where advertised as ) part of the out-the-box game.

As an aside you posted that Civ2 had a multiplayer patch. I thought the Gold Edition had the only multi version. Can you point me in the direction of this patch? I might give it a go.

[Grumbold]

Its a hard one to call. If an expansion comes out that only provides multiplay then no-one need buy it unless they plan on multiplaying. If an expansion comes out that has a full-on scenario editor then only mod-makers need buy. Neither of these are likely to shift the same number of copies that a "must have" expansion would.

Of course if the new scenarios can only be played by those who purchase the add-on then other people will be very annoyed. So the most likely course is either no expansion at all or one which covers all the bases. Multiplayer, better editor and new content for the game which seems to justify the cost for those players who won't multiplay and are unlikely to search the web for player made content.

[Jethro83]

Personally, I don't think multiplayer should be in any turn-based games. I really don't see any fun in sitting around and waiting for other players (who really taking their time) to finish their turns only to spend 30 seconds taking my own turn and starting the process again. Its bad enough seeing the AI take their time to carry out their turns.

I'm sure there are those who disagree, but that's my thought. Though I do love multiplayer in FPS and Real-time strategy, where you can force them to move faster by wiping them out if they aren't keeping a strong pace.

[ColdWizard]

actually there was a big stink during sept/oct about whether or not there would be MP at release. firaxis responded that they working on some ideas for it and that it wasn't ready yet. apparently, it's still not ready. seems likely that MP will be in an expansion, more revenue


*wanders off to look for Ming, to continue Civ2 MP duel*

[reefer addict]

MP is the only thing i want out of this game . the ai is so dumb it needs many,many cheats to keep competitive on the higher levals where playing other people online i find new strategies and many challenges from creative people that all use the game differantly. im guessing there gonna fleece there fans once again with a add-on package instead of a patch/update, im gonna wait and see what people think of it b4 i waste any more money on this game( need more ps2 games anyway ;p)

[reds4ever]

[SIZE=1]
As an aside you posted that Civ2 had a multiplayer patch. I thought the Gold Edition had the only multi version. Can you point me in the direction of this patch? I might give it a go.

you can get it from Civfanatics.com, i've tried it and i does work

[ffej]

I have 4 friends waiting for the Mulitplayer version before they buy this game. I bought it the day it came out, and was both impressed/depressed by what I saw. The most depressing was the lack of multiplayer.

Reffer addict was right, the AI gets so damn predictable, cheats with production bonueses, etc. It gets really repetative after a while, the AI settles the same way, etc. I am really dying for the MP to come out, so you can get some human intelligence into the game. The game has become boring for me.

Leave it turn based, leave it whatever! I'll take multiplayer anyway I can get it. I mean, COME ON! Its Civ3 MULTIPLAYER!!! IT HAS TO ROCK!

Me and 4 friends play Civ2 gold every now and then, and its true, the turns do take a long time......but I say it again...its MULTIPLAYER! I would gladly wait a long time between turns if the AI was.......well, intelligent.

I've read many, many references to multiplayer support when peope look at the files installed with Civ3. So it has to be coming out, I am just tired of waiting, hehe.


Ffej

[Ãœber KruX]

firaxis initally had multiplayer advertised on all the websites (and buying sites, like ebworld.com etc) and confirmed that there was none like 2 weeks before it came out. real nice of them to get our hopes up and all.

wait for civ3 multiplayer gold. they might actually have a decent singleplayer game by then too.

[E_T]

I think that the reason that we haven't seen MP is the Pathfinder routines. See my reasoning in this thread:

http://apolyton.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=816250#post816250

E_T

[DrFell]

'Personally, I don't think multiplayer should be in any turn-based games. I really don't see any fun in sitting around and waiting for other players (who really taking their time) to finish their turns only to spend 30 seconds taking my own turn and starting the process again. Its bad enough seeing the AI take their time to carry out their turns. '

Have you ever played MP before? You can click on your cities and manage them when it's not your turn, check the demographics, etc. There's never a point when there is nothing to do, unless you're in a huge game. No one plays people who are excesively slow, and if you can't stand a game with several players, then play one on ones, I usually do. Trust me, you won't be waiting that long, and it sure beats a pathetically stupid and weak AI.

[Grumbold]

I don't see how pathfinding could be a problem in true turn based I go / you go mode. If we are talking about simultaneous resolution of everyone's movement in a "we go" mode then it would probably be more efficient for one machine to process the moves step by step and pass the results back to all the other clients. The slow speed is predominantly going to be because of human deliberation, not the movement. The more human players there are the less AI players there will be assessing each unit every turn to see if it needs to go scouting.

[ACooper]

Re: Multiplayer

Originally posted by Wade
All i want to say is can someone from the developing team tell me in this day and age why no multiplayer? And i think it would be nice to tell us "if" the are working on anything for this like a patch/expansion (which would be a joke personally) cause i paid 70 bucks and figured they would come out with a patch like civ 2 so if this can get somehow looked at by some developers that would be great!!!!!

Multiplayer was not a patch in Civ2.

[DrFell]

An unofficial civ2 to MP patch was eventually created, though.

[ACooper]

Yes you're right there was an unofficial patch not supported by the game maker.