landisaurus

Join Date 06/2008

+154

Forum and e-mail features

multiplayer options for the slow

Ok, this may be a bit out of scope, but I wanted to bring it up anyway.

Several games such as Civilization and Diplomacy have incorperated an e-mail multiplayer system. The games are turn based and some casual players just do not have 5 hours straight to sit down and do stuff with a friend(s), where they do have enough time to do 1 turn a day (or two) via e-mail. It is something I know I've gotten my father to do with me for civilization and I'd really like to see that feature appear in Elemental.

In addition, I would like some more advance feature based options. We all have stardock.net accounts, So if stardock could provide a forum or similar feature where 1-turn-everyday-or-two games are available. It could be directly through impulse or something. I'd like to see a forum or thread for each game where people can post group chat and post ready for the turn each day (or several days, whatever the options for it are set to be). This turn-by-forum feature protects users that do not want to disclose their private e-mail addresses but still want to participate in a play by post e-mail/forum type gameplay. Websites like Facebook have features for their web-games like this for free, so I don't see why a AAA title like Elemental could not.

With the talk of governors, that gives room for the AI advisor to be given commands to follow in the case that a player does not submit his/her moves within the correct timeframe (a problem I remember encountering with diplomacy on face book all the time).

(Sorry, I re-read the above and its confusing. I hope the '-'s make it a bit more clear.)

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I like this idea a lot, I'd much rather have my games tied to my impulse account (which everybody'll have, and which will probably contain their stats and the like, making it easier to deal with) than with an email that may have no bearing on the game. This'd be a neat feature for impulse in general, I like the idea.

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Philocthetes

Join Date 10/2003

+152

Wraithlord started a PBEM thread a couple of weeks ago, and it is still active. I suspect that Stardock will want to have anything along these lines work through Impulse rather than e-mail attachments--that would probably make it easier for more players to use the features.

But I haven't noticed any dev-types directly answering questions in this area, and I think it might be related to the fact that the tactical layer is still in a 'very early alpha' state. Depending on how this "continous turn" stuff works, maybe it won't be possible to have a PBEM-style multiplayer mode?

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PBEM games would probably require auto-resolve (or auto-resolve w/recording-of-battle-to-playback ala Dom3) combat. The issue there is that unless they also implemented something like Dom3's "set up your army's positioning and tactical policies before battle", the auto-resolve could be less than satisfying.

Still, even with no-control auto-resolve, it would be nice to be able to play giganto-normus maps with 50+ players, and that doesn't happen without some sort of asynch multiplayer.

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Quoting GW Swicord,

reply 2

I'm certain it has everything to do with the early alpha stage, but at the same time thats why I want to make sure its brought up BEFORE its too late.

I seriously dought a continous turn thing would prevent it, though perhaps complicate it a lot. I mean, Diplomacy is what I would call "continous turn" and communication would and such is just submitted at the same time. It actually makes it even more perfect for e-mail play since you can then communicate through whatever means needed while you are waiting for turns to be submitted.

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Philocthetes

Join Date 10/2003

+152

Darned if y'all aren't making me doubt my initial conviction that I wouldn't never touch the multiplayer side of Elemental.

keithLamothe might have hit the nail on the head for me. I'd never be interested in syncrhonous multiplayer, but something asynchronous might end up really sucking me in. Especially if game Closure Conditions include cooperative scenarios where a permanent alliance of players work through a ludicrously complex map with scary-good AIs lurking all over the place. And maybe even a good old fashioned Warre of All Against All might be fun if I didn't have to watch some live input and click real fast in response.

Now, the 50+ players thing seems both 'interesting' and like it might be a problem for the core game mehanics and/or scenario. Has anyone seen a sign that a game instance will be able to support more than 12 channelers?

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Solam

Join Date 03/2007

+16

I certainly would enjoy something as EPIC as that!

If it's possible I want to play a game with you guys!

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DUDE! yeah, totally. If they have a feature that lets us play together by contact of stardock accounts, then I am playing with all of you. Like, we early supporters who have spent a great deal of participation could totally play a big through-impulse 2 days (or something) per turn game.

You (solam, xthetenth, and GW swicord), McFungos, Spartan, Luckmann, Dale_, Lungdrago, Tamren, Sammuel, vieuxchat, McCracken, Ron Lugge, Iwarmonger, alway, pigeonpigeon, V_squid, BoogieBac, Nights Edge, Lord ralient, and any others that I have forgotten to mention because I've become lazy and stopped trying to think of names (sorry if I didn't remember you enough to mention) should get together and play a game. It would be as easy as sending a personal message! Or something. We could all play a totally awesome game together!

(Solam is my hero for suggesting it)

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I must admit that I would be very interested in a feature like this. I usually don't play multiplayer... Occasionally with a family member or friend, but finding family members with time and finding friends with similar tastes in games and the patience to play through them are getting harder and harder with time... I don't usually like playing with strangers, especially in games like this where you're unlikely to finish a game in one sitting (unless it's a really small map, which doesn't really appeal to me). It's frustrating to start a game but not be able to finish it because you can't get the other player back. And getting a replacement just isn't the same (and isn't easy...).

Luckily, it seems like SD games tend to have pretty good communities, and a multiplayer option like this would be an awesome alternative to straight single-player. If they include a feature like it, count me in landisaurus!

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