PBEM playback or lack thereof

[Beckles]

Originally posted by mikel
I changed the names of the 3 files in c:\Matrix games\UV\Video by putting an x in front of each filename. It now loads faster by skipping the intros.

Even easier, I just put an "x" in front of the folder name intself, so it's now "xVideo". Two less names to change that way.

[robdam1]

Thanks very much for the constructive advice. For the non-constructive advisors, I can recommend some good Sesame Street forums for you to browse.

[XPav]

I assume where they learn about the letters "F" and "U" and the number 2?

[dpstafford]

Originally posted by robdam1
I disagree. No other PBEM capable game that I've played, and I've played them all, has this problem. It's really ludicrous to debate this, "is it a bug or isn't it a bug". It's at the very least, an annoyance and a detriment to this wondeful game.

I find the inconvience of the seperate replay file quite minor. What bugs me about it is the very concept. The existenst of a seperate, un-secured, combat slash replay file that is shared by both sides, means that neither side is really getting a proper look at the action. For example, my opponent may know that my scout plane over flew his TF, but he sure as hell shouldn't know what my eye-in-the-sky saw and reported. In a perfect world there would be 2 tailored replays available, and they would be part of the turn file.
A "fix" is probably well beyond the mandate of the programmers working on UV patch issues (and I'm OK with that), but I really hope that Gary (my hero!) will re-examine PBEM issues for WITP and other future products.

[ciril]

I'm afraid I have to agree with dpstafford here. I was quite surprised when I realized both players were seeing the exact same thing, and it wasn't a pleasant surprise either. NB, the problem isn't endemic to PBEM, head-to-head play suffers from it too.

UV goes out of its way to simulate FOW - as it should, because war in this theater was all about gathering intelligence. The player has all kinds of assets at his disposal to lift the FOW - coastwatchers, recon and naval search planes, combat vessels observing the action from up close, etc. This creates a realistic and entertaining feeling of everpresent uncertainty. However, the concept of a "unified" action replay hurts the simulation immensely. The enemy scout plane reports are just one negative consequence of this, IMO serious, imperfection. Certainly some concessions must be made to playability, but things like discovering an enemy air combat TF with a poor weather report are difficult to accept. Solutions like obscuring ship names in surface combat displays are only partially satisfactory.

The only way to go are two action replays, either by means of two files or through a "FOW filter" of some sort. Only after that has been implemented can we talk about which pieces of intelligence should be available to the other side. Hopefully UV's makers are giving this some consideration.

I guess this has been discussed in length before, so forgive me if I'm posting at the wrong place.