Announcement ! tcp/ip players needed

[bdanv]

Originally posted by Mukuu
First, I got Vista, and to my knowledge there is no way to get SMAX to work on Vista.

I don't have Vista and i don't intend to install it in the near future, so i can't help you.
Have you ever tried to install SMAX on Vista?
Maybe Andijvie can give you some advice. Also there is a very good Help section here on Apolyton. Maybe try to hit the search button using some filters there...

[bdanv]

Update on League game #1 (Mart's scenario)
started March, 29

29.03.2008 1st IP session - 30 turns (4 hours)
04.04.2008 2nd IP session - 20 turns (3.5 hours)
11.04.2008 3rd IP session - 30 turns (5.5 hours)
18.04.2008 4th IP session - 8 turns (2 hours)

Players:
Bergfehl (replacing H0bbes) - Cycons
bDanv - Angels
AI - Gaians
Hercules - Hive
Andijvie - PKs
AI - Drones
uselesses - Spartans

Power graph in 2188:

[Mukuu]

Yea 5AM! ... I cant make it this time, but hopefully next time Ill be up for it... 5AM is harsh though.

[bdanv]

That's good news for the future of the League.
Do you have SMAX and Hamachi installed on your comp, now? Take a look here, in the first post. You can't play with us without Hamachi.

[bdanv]

Waiting for Hercules to join us in the lobby

[florin79c]

[bdanv]

@florin79c: free yourself, man!

i will be out of town from the 1st to the 4th of May.
i can play IP on sunday (starting 1 pm GMT)
also there is a slim chance for me to play on thursday night (GMT). i will let you know...
if you want to play on Saturday as usual i can be replaced, but only by an experienced played. i should also shortly brief him. someone interested?

[Andijvie]

Hey guys,

I've given it some weeks thought and I think I'm gonna drop out of this thing. Turn rate is just tragically slow for me and it feels like I'm wasting my friday nights with 20 minutes of actual gameplay. To be honest I think turns could be way faster, but I dont really know what some of you do during your turns. I have the feeling it has something to do with all the supply crawlers or its just slacking (being alt-tabbed and responding too late etc.) I honestly dont know what it is exactly. I brought it up but I never get a reaction. Last friday I purposefully slacked a bit too, playing another game in the meantime and sometimes looking back to AC, but still I felt I was faster than some of you.

I usually finish my turns in a matter of seconds, because I deal with the management issues during the turn of others and I also plan my moves during that time. In my turn I just need to move my units swiftly, only sometimes having to deal with a slightly larger issue.

Maybe your gameplay is just way more advanced and better than mine, I admit I play pretty louzy and relaxed, but if I wanted to play a technical perfect game I would go play chess or something.

[bdanv]

i think that large map it's too big for an IP game. most factions (if not all of them) are still expanding at this moment (2190) and that means more and more units that we have to move. i don't think that banning crawlers will help us much. crawlers are static units most of the game.
for the moment i have 6 minutes on the clock to make my moves and i'm only using 4-5 of them, maybe all 6 when i'm at war. that means: 5min*5players+upkeep=30minutes/turn and it's growing every turn. That's way too much for an IP game. So i think we should have played on a small map.
I don't do alt-tab during the game because there is much to do (micromanage, diplo, see what the others are doing, etc) and i still enjoy most of the time spent this way, even though ther's always some time lost during the upkeep.
i think we must discuss and try to solve these problems before they grow to big and spoil the game. all of us should give a seroius tought about it and try to bring up some ideas to improve turn rate.
i don't even wanna think about loosing such a reliable player if we can do something about it.

[uselesses]

Well its either sim moves or small map.
Maybe even both

[bdanv]

@Mukuu: Here is an answer to the Vista problem

Originally posted by McLaine in the "The SMAC/X FAQ: COMMON QUESTIONS and their ANSWERS" thread

63) Will Alien Crossfire work with Windows Vista 32-bit?

A: Yes it will, when doing the following:

1. Install Alpha Centauri from the CD as normal (but right-click the setup and select "Run as Administrator").

2. Install the SMACP4E.EXE patch from the Firaxis site (but right-click the setup and select "Run as Administrator"). NOTE: I don't know if this is needed, but that's what I did.

3. Install Alien Crossfire from the CD as normal (but right-click the setup and select "Run as Administrator").

4. Install the SMACXPV2.EXE patch (but right-click the setup and select "Run as Administrator").

5. Drag an icon onto the desktop to launch Alien Crossfire from the Start button list.

6. Right-click to change the properties. Enable Windows XP SP2 compatibility mode (compatibility tab) and make sure you run it as administrator (Shortcut tab under the Advanced button).

7. Double-click the icon and AC starts up.

NOTE: Screen resolution can be set if so wished by changing the Alpha Centauri ini file as stipulated elsewhere (Set DirectDraw to 0) and this will work, even for a wide screen (like mine).

[bdanv]

Originally posted by uselesses
Well its either sim moves or small map.
Maybe even both

-sim moves: works fine in the expansion stage of the game, but when it's time for war... and it's a lot of fighting going on right now in our game.
-small map: i agree, next game should be played on a small map, but what shall we do about this game?

[H0bbes]

Yes, it is a long time between turns--especially as 3am approaches! I agree it is not the length of each player's turn, but the cumulative effect of 5 players turns that hurts, it was about 25 mins between each turn last time if I remember correctly. I read a book but it is getting a bit painful. Having said that I'm loathe to start a new game as I'm only just getting somewhere with this one.

[Hercules]

Originally posted by Andijvie

I usually finish my turns in a matter of seconds, because I deal with the management issues during the turn of others and I also plan my moves during that time. In my turn I just need to move my units swiftly, only sometimes having to deal with a slightly larger issue.

I think this would help if we all do it. But it would still take 3-4 minutes. Secondly there is the matter of diplomacy: that too takes time.

Maybe we could go for 2 hour slots / 5 turns slots, leaving time for other matters or indeed a smaller number of participant games. 3/4 person or Head to Heads.

So we would have say a two hour slot for the big game followed by a variable period for the smaller games.

[Hercules]

Remember this (TCP/IP via Hamachi)) is still faster than pbem.

However by the year MY2220 or there abouts I can forsee the turns getting really complicated for those remaining.

That may be something we have to live with and we agree a set time for a 1 hour slot.