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Gaslov
Gaslov
Join Date 10/2009
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How does multiplayer work in Elemental?

November 16, 2010 3:44:43 PM from Elemental ForumsElemental Forums

Hello all,

I have not yet purchased Elemental, but am on the search for a good modern turn-based multiplayer strategy game.  Would one of you who enjoy the game be willing to describe how a typical multiplayer match in Elemental plays out?  Are turns simultaneous or one-by-one?  Do battles happen at the end of everyone's 'end turn' or are turns played out like a real time strategy and once the order is given the battle starts (interrupting other players' turns in the case of simultaneous moves)?  I suspect, given the complaints about not having tactical battles, that move orders happen in real time.  If there is already a thread that answers these questions, my apologies!

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Gaslov
Gaslov
Join Date 10/2009
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Reply #1 November 17, 2010 5:40:45 PM
from Elemental ForumsElemental Forums

Hmmm, I have this creeping suspicion I just asked a really dumb question...

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Gaslov
TorinReborn
Join Date 10/2010
+5
Reply #2 November 17, 2010 7:32:41 PM
from Elemental ForumsElemental Forums

If you want a good 4x game to play in MP with exciting and balanced battles I suggest you try Birth of the Federation game.

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Gaslov
Heavenfall
Join Date 07/2008
+441
Reply #3 November 17, 2010 7:51:45 PM
from Elemental ForumsElemental Forums

The multiplayer is simultaneous in the sense that you and other humans players move at the same time. It has too many flaws to even list. If you're looking for a fun multiplayer experience, I recommend not looking here.

Just a few things wrong: terrible animation lag - units warping over the map instead of ordinary movement. No tactical combat. Some spells disabled. Terrible chat interface. AI will move first, you are not in a simultaneous turn with it. AI will delay movements in a game for about 20+ seconds before you can start moving your own units. Once a player hits end turn, the turn will end for everyone else as well in 10 seconds.

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Gaslov
Gaslov
Join Date 10/2009
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Reply #4 November 17, 2010 10:42:56 PM
from Elemental ForumsElemental Forums

Thanks for the replies.

Stardock has a history of creating amazing games.  It must be really painful that some are so upset with the quality of Elemental.  I suppose I will wait until these details are fully flushed out.  These guys take a lot of pride in their work, so I have no doubt the end product will be very good.

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Gaslov
PurplePaladin
Join Date 02/2008
+35
Reply #5 January 12, 2011 12:16:23 AM
from Elemental ForumsElemental Forums

Oct. Nov.  Dec.  It's now Jan, still no MP.  Ren, Yes it is painful, but I suggest looking to other possible MP games.  My friends all gave up.  But I, I still check here once a month.  Always Nothing.   

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Gaslov
StevenAus22
Join Date 06/2010
+110
Reply #6 January 12, 2011 3:09:26 AM
from Elemental ForumsElemental Forums

Well, hopefully we can get some progress on MP some time.   Devs, how about it?

Best regards,
Steven.

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Gaslov
Cruxador
Join Date 09/2007
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Reply #7 January 12, 2011 3:24:42 AM
from Elemental ForumsElemental Forums

Quoting RenegadePeon,
reply 4
Stardock has a history of creating amazing games.
Stardock has a history of creating amazing single player games. It is not the best company around for a multiplayer experience.

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Gaslov
Wintersong
Join Date 07/2006
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Reply #8 January 12, 2011 4:21:37 AM
from Elemental ForumsElemental Forums

Quoting Cruxador,
reply 7

Stardock has a history of creating amazing single player games. It is not the best company around for a multiplayer experience.

They cannot learn to make amazing multiplayer games if they don't try making them. If Society is ever to be done, they need good "multiplayer skills".

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Gaslov
Alstein
Join Date 07/2004
+55
Reply #9 January 12, 2011 5:29:05 AM
from Elemental ForumsElemental Forums

MP is pretty much the lowest priority for SD.  They believe (with reason and backed up by polling) that very, very few TBS players play MP, so they put most of the MP budget into AI development instead.

 

That said, I think with Elemental's AI issues, which are improving but still there, investing in MP is needed for this game.

 

If the AI is good enough, I won't care about MP that much, but it isn't good enough right now.

 

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Gaslov
Wintersong
Join Date 07/2006
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Reply #10 January 12, 2011 5:40:15 AM
from Elemental ForumsElemental Forums

If everything were fine, multiplayer would have higher priority but as things are, doesn't make much sense to prioritize it. That said, and as someone that has paid for that part of the game (d'oh, like anyone who has bought the game), I hope that with 1.2 things start getting well for multiplayer. One of these days when I have time for a TBS multiplayer game, I'd like it to actually work and be fun.

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Gaslov
NorsemanViking
Join Date 03/2006
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Reply #11 January 12, 2011 4:06:37 PM
from Elemental ForumsElemental Forums

Me want Elemental mp so very much... I love long, long, long tbs mp sessions on the internett and with my friends!

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Gaslov
ChungasRevenge
Join Date 08/2010
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Reply #12 January 12, 2011 4:16:40 PM
from Elemental ForumsElemental Forums

I think it is shame they put any effort and time into doing a MP option - the audience for MP would be, IMO, very small. And unless they pulled off something amazing it would most probably not live up to the requirements of those who do want to play TBS MP games. For me, personally, mp is a complete waste of time and I would never use it. If I am going to play a game with mates it needs to be a bit more exciting and faster paced.

 

 

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Gaslov
Fistalis
Join Date 10/2010
+21
Reply #13 January 12, 2011 4:20:01 PM
from Elemental ForumsElemental Forums

As far as i'm concerned elemental doesn't have multiplayer. It has a multiplayer mini game mode

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Gaslov
EviliroN
Join Date 04/2008
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Reply #14 January 12, 2011 4:31:38 PM
from Elemental ForumsElemental Forums

since this thread seems to be getting some traction, I will ask here:

 

I wanted to play a LAN game with my brother the other day and I remember reading something about our one copy being able to spawn others for LAN play. Well, we had no such luck, even using my friends account we still couldn't get a game to start. So I ask:

Is multiplayer down?

Can I not use my login twice? If we create another login, does that account have to be linked to another unique game serial?

 

seems the general consensus is that mp is borked. true?

 

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Gaslov
PurplePaladin
Join Date 02/2008
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Reply #15 January 12, 2011 9:15:09 PM
from Elemental ForumsElemental Forums

Gee Wilikers, your right Chunga, why in the world would people who bought a game, a TBS game, that had 16 multiplayer on the box want to play MP when they can stay home and play a much "faster" game with others   

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Gaslov
StarReaper
Join Date 08/2006
+5
Reply #16 January 13, 2011 12:32:52 PM
from Elemental ForumsElemental Forums

BTW you will find even with Civ5s pathetic mutiplayer there is a very high number of players.

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Gaslov
CariElf
Join Date 08/2001
+68 sdemployee
Reply #17 January 13, 2011 1:17:23 PM
from Elemental ForumsElemental Forums

Quoting EviliroN,
reply 14
since this thread seems to be getting some traction, I will ask here:

 

I wanted to play a LAN game with my brother the other day and I remember reading something about our one copy being able to spawn others for LAN play. Well, we had no such luck, even using my friends account we still couldn't get a game to start. So I ask:

Is multiplayer down?

Can I not use my login twice? If we create another login, does that account have to be linked to another unique game serial?

seems the general consensus is that mp is borked. true?

 

It is not currently possible to spawn other copies for LAN play. 

You cannot use your login twice because there is currently only one character per account.  We are working on a way where you can sign on twice and choose a different character so that you can play with another family member using the same account.  

All logins require a valid serial to be associated with the account, and you can only associate a serial number with one account.

All computers must have an internet connection.

Does this explain why you couldn't get it working?  If not, could you please provide more details?

 

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Gaslov
EviliroN
Join Date 04/2008
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Reply #18 January 13, 2011 1:45:43 PM
from Elemental ForumsElemental Forums

Quoting CariElf,
reply 17
 

It is not currently possible to spawn other copies for LAN play. 

You cannot use your login twice because there is currently only one character per account.  We are working on a way where you can sign on twice and choose a different character so that you can play with another family member using the same account.  

All logins require a valid serial to be associated with the account, and you can only associate a serial number with one account.

All computers must have an internet connection.

Does this explain why you couldn't get it working?  If not, could you please provide more details?

 

 

Well, after trying several times to mp with 1 account, I called my friend and had him give me his account so my bro and I could play.

We created a game and hit start and it just sat at the custom game screen for several minutes. We tried twice and gave up.

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Gaslov
CariElf
Join Date 08/2001
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Reply #19 January 13, 2011 2:18:11 PM
from Elemental ForumsElemental Forums

Hmm,...well, if entries for each of you showed up in the game lobby, that indicates that you were both able to connect to the server.  If either of you had lost connection, it would have popped up a dialog.  It could have possibly had issues creating the game on the server.  I'll try it out later today to see if I can reproduce that.  I think that one of our admins had to increase the memory available to the servers last week, so it's possible that the problem has cleared up since you tried it.

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