How's PBEM ?????

[Rodo Benzo]

Hi all !
you experienced a PBEM game for 4 weeks now ...
How is it ? fun ? boring ?
I'd like to know.
How long time you think you'll need to complete the game with 8 players ?
10 years ? more ? less ?
Thanks for your answer ...
Cheers.

[Lung]

I'm in Monkey's PBEM 2 game, and it's improving after a slow start. At one stage it looked like dying due to slow turns and boredom, but now that players are starting to actually be able to do something, it's starting to take hold. We have been playing for about three weeks for nine completed turns, but we're doing about 1 turn per day weekdays, and 1 or 2 turns on weekends.

In a word - promising!

[Robm]

I'm playing in Monkeys first PBEM game. And so far it has been slow, but that is the nature of the game. When you start a Solo game it takes about 20 turns to get a few units on the field, and it is no different in PBEM. We are on turn 12 now, and we have been getting about 1 turn a day. It is still slow, but in no way disappointing. I'm looking forward to the future when we can get a dozon cities, and have a lot more to do each turn.

All in all, I've never played anything in this way before, and I'm finding it to be a interesting experience. And I'm excited to get home each day to see if I have a turn to play waiting for me.

[Swissy]

Playing PBEM allows you to consider more aspects of game play than internet/LAN multiplay. I am looking at things like where do you put workers to get certain things done. Between turns I look at which technology branches I want to research and in which order, something I barely considered vs AI opponents.

As for the length of time to complete a game, at 575 turns I figure 2 years. This is about the same amount of time a good postal chess games takes.

[Monkey]

Well, being the host of two PBEM I am pleased to say that they are running fairly smoothly now. The turn update is currently at one turn a day however at the start there were a few holdups here and there which resulted in a few frustrated players....

There have been a couple of dropouts already in my games... this is normal... I don't expect the same people to play in this game 1 to 2 years from now.... heck I probably won't even be the host in a few more months!!! On a positive note... it is rather nice to wake up in the morning and see that you have a new turn waiting to be played