Question re Play the World Multiplayer

[quentin570]

I've read some reviews of PTW and heard that the multiplayer was a real pain in the *ss (very slow, crashes a lot, etc.), but I'm wondering if all of the complaints are with respect to the internet multiplayer. I'm thinking of buying PTW for the ability to play "hotseat" games on one computer. Can people let me know if there are similar problems with that aspect of the game? Thanks.


quentin

[Romanus]

I play hotseat games with my 13yr old son quite a bit. We havent seen any problems yet, although the way the diplomacy windows work between human players seemed a bit wacky at first. Not bug related or anything, just strange the way it works

[FNBrown]

Hotseat games seem to work fine for me. I cannot get LAN multiplayer to work, and won't even try Internet multiplayer, as my dial-up connection rarely reaches speeds over 22 kbps.

[quentin570]

Thanks. Correct me if I'm wrong, but with PTW two (or more) people can play a game against each other using the same computer? You each just take a turn? I assume you can't see the other guy's screen while your taking your turn, until you bump into him.

[FNBrown]

With the PTW hotseat mode, you can play up to 8 at a time (Human or AI... any combination) on the same PC. You can't see your opponent's moves unless you're standing over his shoulder, and you can password-protect your session so that when his turn is "up" he doesn't immediately get to see your turn.

[quentin570]

Cool. Thanks for the info.

[Fried-Psitalon]

I have Windows XP, DSL, 2k processor, modest video card, Patch 1.14..... I run nothing but DirectIP games... I have averaged 1 out of synch every 15 games or so, and no crashes past that out of synch.

I have absolutely no idea what the people who are crashing are doing that I'm not, but the game simply is not problematic for me. My biggest problem is slow players, not lag...

[eloquence]

I have to second Fried-Psitalon on the positive PTW experience over the internet.

I've got Win 2k, a cable modem, < 1 GHz processor and I notice that my rate of crashing is only about 10%.

I've also found that as I'm playing more people who are on the Civ 3 ladder (http://www.myleague.com/civ3ptw) that my rate of crashing is much lower. Basically if you're a clueful enough player that you're signing up on the ladder then you generally know enough to make the game run correctly.

[FNBrown]

I'm running WinXP, 256MB RAM, 1.4GHz, and I get "out of synch" errors chronically in the late game. This is over a 100MBPS LAN.

[Fried-Psitalon]

FN- playing turnless or simulturn? Turnless is still very wonky- I play, exlusively, simulturn.

[krait23]

Oddly enough...
When I was playing over a LAN, we had out of synch errors quite a lot. Simulturn mode, standard map, and not even middle ages yet.

When I tried internet play (simulturn, large map), there was one out of synch right at the start of the game, and then never again.

Maybe it is somehow connected to LAN play. I used to assume that if it works over internet, it certainly should work over LAN, but maybe that is NOT the case with PTW...

Regards
Krait