Voluntary "Homework Assignment!"

[Velociryx]

That's a good point...it'll be great to play in via LAN, but PBEM would be a nightmare....anytime you fought, it'd take weeks to resolve a battle....UGH...didn't really think about it, but you're right!

-=Vel=-
(PBEM we aren't!)

[Velociryx]

As for "The General" LOL...I downloaded it and played around a bit but kinna got stuck on something. I had the economy part nailed...was racking up HUGE amounts of food...well, huge for only having one province, and had about six tons worth of scientists, BUT.....

I couldn't figure out how the heck to attack! I hired a general and some troopages, but couldn't get the troops IN the army (they appeared in a red number off to the right).

Eventually, somebody attacked me and put me out of my misery there...HELP!

-=Vel=-

[Cyclotron]

Vel, I don't think there's any reason to make a "pseudo turn" or anything like that to review things for diplomacy. If both sides can negotiate and cancel the deal during the resolution phase, there's no reason to add that extra "no moves" turn or a "game freeze" mode.

[Velociryx]

::nodding:: I'm just trying to visualize what that's gonna "look like" in game terms...I mean, I send out a deal to you (off goes some data from my pc, to the server, and then to your pc)...you look at it, take your turn, maybe even attack me or something, then accept my deal...but the conditions have changed....so off goes some data from your pc to the server and back to me....now I get to see that you've ransacked three of my provs and then accepted my deal...but suddenly I'm not so interested anymore....so I decline it, and do some ransacking of my own.

Your next turn, off goes the data back to your side indicating that the deal's off.

Or....I send a deal, you get it, do your stuff (which includes attacking me), then accept my deal and send it back. I get a popup right then (and I obviously already know that you've attacked my provs), we cancel the deal, and you end your current turn.

I like the second method better....the other way is too SMAC-ish...and takes forever...LOL

-=Vel=-

[Cyclotron]

Originally posted by Velociryx
::nodding:: I'm just trying to visualize what that's gonna "look like" in game terms...I mean, I send out a deal to you (off goes some data from my pc, to the server, and then to your pc)...you look at it, take your turn, maybe even attack me or something, then accept my deal...but the conditions have changed....so off goes some data from your pc to the server and back to me....now I get to see that you've ransacked three of my provs and then accepted my deal...but suddenly I'm not so interested anymore....so I decline it, and do some ransacking of my own.

Vel, you misunderstand my idea. It's more like this:

I send you off a deal on my turn. You recieve it at the beginning of your turn. You go off and play awhile... then, at the end of your turn, we get to bargain, a la Civ3. There would be no continuous back and forth over the deal spanning many turns.

On the other hand, we could do that... you'd have to actually put trust in people to get things done. Kinda like Pal/Israel today, eh...

Or....I send a deal, you get it, do your stuff (which includes attacking me), then accept my deal and send it back. I get a popup right then (and I obviously already know that you've attacked my provs), we cancel the deal, and you end your current turn.

This is a more simplistic way, without the bargaining table... but it's ok if that's what you envision for diplomacy.

I like the second method better....the other way is too SMAC-ish

Whoa, I never thought I'd hear that complaint from you...

[Velociryx]

Yeah...LOL...that phrase *sounded* wierd coming from me....but it's true...SMAC's MP diplomacy left a good bit to be desired....I can't tell you how many times I got delayed 2-3 freakin turns getting a tech cos my partner didn't just accept the deal...lol

Anyway, yep, I think we're in agreement on how the diplo thing would work....I was just trying to visualize it from the perspective of data-handling in an MP environment.

-=Vel=-

[FrustratedPoet]

Originally posted by Velociryx
As for "The General" LOL...I downloaded it and played around a bit but kinna got stuck on something. I had the economy part nailed...was racking up HUGE amounts of food...well, huge for only having one province, and had about six tons worth of scientists, BUT.....

I couldn't figure out how the heck to attack! I hired a general and some troopages, but couldn't get the troops IN the army (they appeared in a red number off to the right).

Eventually, somebody attacked me and put me out of my misery there...HELP!

-=Vel=-

I had a similar problem ... I did figure out how to attack, though ... you have to position your general on a border. By selecting a neighbouring province in the menu on the left and then double-clicking on the general's status in the right-hand box ... or something ... you can change his orders (rest, study, defend, attack.) I think ...

When I attacked though my troop numbers came out as 0 Cavalry, 0 Infantry ... etc... even though i had bought a lot of soldiers. I'm not sure where i was going wrong.

[Velociryx]

Hmmm....and the help file makes no mention of it either (attacking, that is)...so I'm thinking it must be fairly obvious, but if it is....I'm clueless! Still, a strangely addicting game for being very...."spreadsheety"

-=Vel=-

[Zealot]

LoL @ you guys!
Just double-click in the "on-border" column for each general you want to attack! Then on the rightmost part of the screen you'll see a vertical bar for you to assign how many troops you want for that general! Don't forget that he keeps attacking that country unless you tell him to stop or he loses his troops!

I just read the instructions carefully!

Oh yeah, and I've managed to win once so far!

[Velociryx]

D'oh!

Okay....now I'm feeling like a bit of a nitwit....LOL



-=Vel=-
Thanks for the assist, Zealot!

[Zealot]

Hey guys, I found this 1997 game called Cave Wars, wich might have some interesting elements to compare with Candle'Bre! So check it out!

Go get it here.
Hey, there's a tutorial there! Now they tell me!

[Velociryx]

Saw that one and had it on my list, but if it comes recommend, I'll move it to the top!

-=Vel=-

[Zealot]

Huh, about the tutorial, it's a bad link, wich means you'll have to figure out to play it by yourself.

[Chowlett]

I was thinking about the tactical battle model, and the way it's shaping up makes me think of a game I played once or twice. It's Talonsoft's Battleground: Waterloo, the third installment in their Battlegorund series.

Now, It's been a while since I played it, and I didn't play it much - but from what I remember it was more or less the sort of model we're looking at, and could prove useful. It's apparently still published, and is available from Talonsoft for an unspecified price, Chips&Bits have it for $9.95. I have no idea what the other Battlegorund products are like, but I assume the basic combat engine is similar across the series. Don't quote me on that though.

[Skanky Burns]

I've been playing War of the Worlds as "Bresearch."
The battles are basically a C&C clone, but the movement is badly implemented. The units all move to very near the same point on the map when group-moving, and even drive over each other without much worry. I've even had some of my tanks drive up sheer cliff-faces, sideways no less.

One interesting idea they have is that the map is divided into provinces (much like CB) and when an enemy army moves into a sector controlled by another player, battle breaks out (much like CB). Once a battle starts, the player is taken to the battle map which is unique to each province, and have the opportunity to attack the enemies buildings as well as their units.

Worth looking into for these features, but I don't think its available as abandonware.