Civ2 PBEM Diplomacy

[yaroslav]

My vacations are out! You can not figure out how hard has been this academic year, but yesterday (15th August) I feel myself too lazy, so I'm working on my promised utility: CIV2 PBEM DIPLOMACY!

This utility will cover two aspect very important to PBEMs players:

1) This utility will allow that players exchange knowlegde, money, cities and sign teatries (Correct plurar for teatry?).

2) This utility will allow natural disasters, like earth-quake or floods [poor little German, Czech... ]

I expect to release a first beta soon, so I need beta-tester (I will comment this on a next post)

[yaroslav]

The diplomacy mechanism

I think that the mechanism the utility will use can be write out in this way.

All players have installed the utility on his computer. When a player want do a offer to another, he or she will load the utility. The utility will generate a file with the offer. The first player post his offer on the forum (or send it by e-mail), the second player will recieve the file, load it in his utility and accept/decline the offer.

The utility will take care about when a offer can be done and when not! (For example, you can not pay with 1000000 golds coins that you don't have)

---------------

How a player can know that a offer is to be trusted? And how a player (or a pair of players) can not cheat doing offers in others' name?

I think that these problem can be solve with signature (password). In the start of PBEM, all players will send a file (that utility will generate) with a 'signature' (a password that the user enter in to the utility) to a moderator. The moderator will load the utility a generate a file with all signatures and send it to all players.

Without these file with all signatures, the user will not have the posibility of doing diplomacy!

In fact, this will not stop the cheat, beacuse a experienced user will load the file in a hex-editor, learn its format (in the same way that many people did with the '.SAV' or '.MP' format) and cheat!

But there're easier ways of cheating in a PBEM, so I don't care about!

What do you think about this mechanism?

[yaroslav]

C++ or Java?

This is the main question that I have faced to...

Java and C++ are two good languages. I know C++ a lot better that Java, but I choose Java for the next reasons:

A) MAC users! A Java application can be run in any system. MAC users are so often ignored, and I don't want be part of this!

B) MAC users (again)

C) MAC users (again)

D) Java's Forte (A envoirement from SUN) is free, so I'll no have problem with compilers' copyrigth.

But Java has a major problem: his applications are not stand-alone! So any Windows user of my utility must download the Java Runtime Envoiremente (JRE) (5MB) in order to run the application

MAC OS have JRE, so there is not problem

Also, Java application are, IMHO, ugglier that C++'s ...

[yaroslav]

MAC users feedback

As far as I own a PC, I know what I need on Windows and I can test my utility very well on this system. But I need some support for MAC users. I need to know how text file (like rules.txt) is strucctured on a MAC:

Do you use ANSI or ASCII characters? What are the line-jump character on your system?

Can you read a RULES.TXT from a PC? Do you use the same RULES.TXT?

[yaroslav]

Beta-testers need

Finally, when I release the first beta, I'll start a PBEM only for testing diplomacy features! So, I'll need a few beta-testers. Please help me with this utility! I think that Waku are in, and perphas, Jay Bee.

And don't forget that be a betatester is very, very boring!

Thank you for reading all those post! If you can read them and don't cry about my English ( El-Awrence can not ), I'll be happy enough

[Waku]

Re: Beta-testers need

Originally posted by yaroslav
I think that Waku are in

Yes, Waku and I are in

[yaroslav]

You count in the place of two

Sorry, I wrote 'I think that Waku and Jay Bee are in', but after that I change and...

[Waku]

No. Perdóname tú a mi.

[Jay Bee]

Jay Bee se va de vacances hasta la semana next de la que viene je je

BTW, que quieres decir con eso de que tus vacas are out! Querras decir que estan in, no? O mejor que tu estas in

[yaroslav]

I wanna say that I have spend too much time without doing any of utility to Civ-Comunity

[Kramsib]

Hey Yaros, esa utility es una muy buena noticia.



Cuenta conmigo para ser BetaTester (siempre y cuando no conlleve estar a una hora concreta del dÃa conectado, ya sabéis que me conecto todos los dÃas pero a horas diferente, por eso me gustan los PBEM y por eso estoy muy interesado en esta utilidad).

[Henrik]

Re: MAC users feedback

Originally posted by yaroslav
As far as I own a PC, I know what I need on Windows and I can test my utility very well on this system. But I need some support for MAC users. I need to know how text file (like rules.txt) is strucctured on a MAC:

Do you use ANSI or ASCII characters? What are the line-jump character on your system?

Can you read a RULES.TXT from a PC? Do you use the same RULES.TXT?

We have the same rules.txt as the PC users (though some other text files differ somewhat, not much though).

You'll have to wait for the answer to the other question as I am not quite sure I understand it (and that has nothing to do with grammar), I do believe I know someone who knows the answer though.
I'll post in a while.

As for the testing part I'd be happy to do it for you (as long as everything is in english ).

[yaroslav]

As far as I could, all this thread and all the utility and beta-tester work will remain in English. I'm working now on how enconding the password on the Civ2 File, so a special key-file is not needed for my utility

[Henrik]

Hmm, maybe it would be better to have a separate key file, in order to prevent the program from being used as a password extractor?

[yaroslav]

How password will work

My idea on password, in the current 'state of the art' is:

A) All player runs, in his first turn, the utility to enter a password.

B) When a player, want to do a offer, they must introduce his/her password. It's asure: that no body will do a offer in the other's name, and that no body can use the program to see 'What techs these guy have to offer me'

The password are stored in the save-game, encrypted with a strong mechanism. The program will not show the password ever, only use it to compare with the keys enter by the player and allow or not a offer.

What offer do you think are interesting?

For my first beta, I'm putting my efforts on:

A) Teatries
B) Gold
C) Techs