Firaxis, you're definately no Blizzard...

[SpencerH]

I believe UberRant is taking a vacation and I dont know the answers to your questions.

[asleepathewheel]

Since you wanted these answered. My honest thoughts. flawed but not as bad as some would say.

Originally posted by Sheik

Was it easy getting into the MP game with your friends?

Yes, well, it was easy to get 1x1 games going. Others tried to join us, but sometimes kicked them out. not sure why. not sure what would happen if i played a 3 person game with the 2 individuals I played before.

It did freeze temporarily when some of those latter people tried to join, but the 2 i got working, everything went perfectly. the problem was with those players (their systems rather) rather than the game, IMHO.

Originally posted by Sheik
Did it run more smoothly with friends?

simul ran fine for me. turnless was a bit awkward, difficult to control what was happening. not sure about turnbased

Originally posted by Sheik
Do you have the latest patch?

yes

Originally posted by Sheik
Does the new patch fix some of these problems?

Not sure

Originally posted by Sheik
And two questions for Firaxis:
Are you reading this thread?

They are always lurking, I thought I saw Mike was online now

Originally posted by Sheik

If so what do you have to say?

no comment

[notyoueither]

Originally posted by Sheik
Was it easy getting into the MP game with your friends?
Did it run more smoothly with friends?
Do you have the latest patch?
Does the new patch fix some of these problems?

Getting into MP is not easy for everyone. Many, or most people will have processes running on their computer that will interfere, or they will have issues due to the way their home network is set up. As more and more people learn what it takes to make it go, it will get easier for new people to get up and running fast with a little help from a friend.

I don't think 1.04 improves the networking much, but I'm not sure. From the readme it has a lot of bug fixes for game play. It does mention some stability issues addressed.

[SpencerH]

NYE, have you played a game with at least 4 players all on broadband conections? How did it go?

I have no interest in 1x1 games so without the ability to play with at least 4 it'll be a waste of time for me to try MP.

[notyoueither]

Starting at 4 the lag increases noticably. If they are all low ping players on broad band it is not too bad, relatively.

I say relatively because tastes will vary considerably.

Best results would be for 4 friends in the same city I imagine. I haven't been able to get 4 people from Edmonton together yet, but I want to try that ASAP.

[nationalist]

Originally posted by Carlos113
Uber won´t be answering your questions for a while it seems.
http://apolyton.net/forums/showthrea...threadid=66124

[NELSON VOICE] HA HA! [/NELSON VOICE]

[Jaybe]

Microsoft DirectPlay: A great reason that multiplayer will not be cross-platform (I would prefer to play on my Mac).
My Windozer has a joke for a graphics card (integrated on the motherboard, no AGP slot).

EDIT: Just updated graphic drivers (ATI Radeon 7000 for PCI slot), and it meets all my speed demands -- I'm a Happy Camper!

[Sarxis]

SMAC's online play was marginally workable at best, and that was WITH Brian Reynolds and crew still on the Firaxis team.

What did you expect? Remember, these are the guys who brought you such innovative games as..

umm..

[asleepathewheel]

Originally posted by Anunikoba
SMAC's online play was marginally workable at best, and that was WITH Brian Reynolds and crew still on the Firaxis team.

What did you expect? Remember, these are the guys who brought you such innovative games as..

umm..

....simgolf

[Dominae]

The fact of the matter is, as of today (Novermber 1st), Play the World doesn't work around 50% of the time for the average customer. By "doesn't work" I mean you're lucky if you manage to play over the internet, either without crashes or without horrendous lag. Anyone who is capable of doing so is to be commended and immediately removed from any future Firaxis playtest list; we know it works on your systems, now why doesn't it work on ours?


Dominae

[FrostyBoy]

I'm curious, has anyone tried modem to modem? and if so, how is it?

[notyoueither]

Originally posted by Dominae
The fact of the matter is, as of today (Novermber 1st), Play the World doesn't work around 50% of the time for the average customer. By "doesn't work" I mean you're lucky if you manage to play over the internet, either without crashes or without horrendous lag. Anyone who is capable of doing so is to be commended and immediately removed from any future Firaxis playtest list; we know it works on your systems, now why doesn't it work on ours?


Dominae

ROFLMAO

Ahem. Good question Dominae.

Actually, I have heard that there were people before Oct 29 who refused to play each other. The point is not that the game works perfectly and there is no lag. There is lag.

The point is that you can find people with whom you can play with much less lag and with whom you can have an enjoyable game. You have to find them.

As for not running at all, only a very few of the testers (1 I think) were unable to get MP going over the internet. It is a matter of finding out what works for you.

I have found one person so far who does seem well and truely stranded due to lag with people who are close to him. He is on the network of a large institution (school). I hope there are not a lot of them.

I, and other testers, have been helping people get going. PM me if you wish.

[astrologix]

FIRAXIS, i'll cancel my command from Amazon.uk if you don't tell us what's hapenning with the PTW-MP issues in the next 3 days....

[Wise Ass]

Originally posted by asleepathewheel



....simgolf

SimGolf was all Sid... I don;t even think he had help... other than the word Sim on the box.

[SpencerH]

Originally posted by notyoueither
Starting at 4 the lag increases noticably. If they are all low ping players on broad band it is not too bad, relatively.

I say relatively because tastes will vary considerably.

Best results would be for 4 friends in the same city I imagine. I haven't been able to get 4 people from Edmonton together yet, but I want to try that ASAP.

I dont understand how 1st person shooters can be played with large groups of people while the best we can hope for with PtW is 4. It doesnt make sense.