PBEM

Sithrandel · Post by **Sithrandel** » March 18th, 2004, 9:29 am

From another thread... how about adding PBEM, this is a TBS after all

Post by **fmunoz** » March 18th, 2004, 12:25 pm

Create a multiplayer hotseat game and save every turn and then send the savefile to the other players... its open to cheats but as the game is open source and the savefiles are plain test it adds no extra risk

(I'm not suere if the gold+saves multiplayer bug is still there...)

Post by **Dave** » March 18th, 2004, 2:01 pm

It's already possible to play a PBEM. What features would you like to see added that facilitate it more easily?

David

Sithrandel · Post by **Sithrandel** » March 18th, 2004, 5:20 pm

I think fmunoz highlighted it quite well... the current way is ok, except cheating is too easy. That means it is actually possible to cheat accidentally. If you have a number of PBEM games going on the chance of this can increase as sometimes you find yourself playing both sides in different games.

Useful things are...

* making the save game file obvious, e.g. placement wise, though that might be harder with the cross platform nature (no save dialogs, etc).
* Making it very clear who's turn it is (not just It Is Now Your Turn). I might be unsure who I am if it has been a week or two and other games have come and gone. Occassionally files can be sent out of order, so I need to be sure I am having the right turn. Sithrandel's Turn [Loyalist] would be a lot clearer (if players could be named in multiplayer).
* Preventing seeing the map / minimap (by accident) between turns (e.g. turning the map black for multiplayer cf greyed out).

Some of this might already be there, but I haven't noticed. I don't think you need to try to hard to prevent deliberate cheating, but preventing easy accidents are important.

If after 17 turns I notice my accident that my opponent has sent an assassin round the back to my briefly unguarded leader then that will wreak the game

Proper PBEM would definitely be a plus. It isn't urgent, but should be considered a possible avenue for improvement. Then also, perhaps, a PBEM meeting section on the forum?

jmosher · Post by **jmosher** » March 20th, 2004, 2:46 am

Also, for both PBEM and hotseat, you need to be able to see combat that occurs during other players' turns, a mini-replay of the last round before you start your moves. Otherwise you have to look around the field and figure out what happened to your units, which adds confusion and subtracts fun.