Any news on MP'er with Harpoon ANW 3.10?

[cuthbo2001]

Darren don't want to put a damper on things . I can see a lot of effort going into sorting MP. However how certain are people that harpooners will use MP in significant numbers. It would be a shame to see all that effort going into something only a few have the desire to use

[Bucks]

cuthbo2001,

I'm in agreement with you completely. Unfortunately just about every time I've approached the forum in the past about what people would like I get few responses or none at all.

My hope would be to see MP used as part of a larger project such as a Campaign game with multiple players per side. A few of us had attempted to get this type of PBEM game running at the time of the Interfet action in East Timor circa 1999, although with no MP functionality that, was going to be a hard ask...

I think that would be its most useful application, although maybe MP is something the Professional users will probably take up well before most of us. Then again, without feedback my mind-reading skills aren't what they used to be... Thanks for the contribution to the discussion, I'll take it on board and assure you MP wasn't something I had anywhere near the top of the "to do" list right now.

Cheers

Darren

[cuthbo2001]

Darren to be honest I have been using harpoon for a long time all the way back to floppy discs on the Amiga.All the fracas that has in the past gone on here , just hacks me off and I want no part of it. I run a naval section of cadets in my school and looked to buy and install several copies of harpoon for use of my cadets. Unfortunately our IT Guy said there were technical difficulties. However if these could be overcome I would use the MP capability within the section. However as you say I may be in a minority of one, as for my own use harpoon is a quick fix for me between work and other activities. I can't imagine many oportunities to organise time to meet up for an online game

Jim

[Little Beavers]

I'd like to see more multiple player co-operative scenarios.  The head to head stuff is pretty good but the real team work happens when you get groups of people work together on the same side.  It would be neat if players could handle different departments, like one guy for ASW, another for AAW, etc...

Another idea would be a group of subs working together towards a similar objective.  Each player would command a sub....

[Bucks]

ORIGINAL: cuthbo2001

Darren to be honest I have been using harpoon for a long time all the way back to floppy discs on the Amiga.All the fracas that has in the past gone on here , just hacks me off and I want no part of it. I run a naval section of cadets in my school and looked to buy and install several copies of harpoon for use of my cadets. Unfortunately our IT Guy said there were technical difficulties. However if these could be overcome I would use the MP capability within the section. However as you say I may be in a minority of one, as for my own use harpoon is a quick fix for me between work and other activities. I can't imagine many opportunities to organise time to meet up for an online game

Jim

Jim,

As we say Downunder, mate you're not on your "Pat Malone" (alone) when it comes to the fracas. It's always gotten the better of me as I came from a Minis background while you were playing on the Amiga, so I tend to get irritated by people claiming this and that without much understanding of what I'll say is the "theory" behind the gaming system. Anyway enough said about the past.

I'm happy to hear of your intentions Jim. As I said I'm not the most technically minded. Seems like you'd really need to get in touch with Don Gilman or Russell. You may find the issues might be addressed, especially if they were to lead to greater overall functionality of the Multi-Player version of the game. Ideally the "quick fix" attitude you mentioned would solve a lot of the participation issues I believe.

I can "host" a server on this machine and run the client for testing, I've mentioned that previously. Both are simply running through my network card with nothing special in the hardware department here. If people looking for a "quick fix" on-line game, were able to host a game (i.e. host the server) & run the client for active play against a human player simultaneously. The only thing missing is let's call it an "Active Game Browser" program that, allows you to see who's up for a game and get connected. In a similar way to the Harpoon Media Viewer (in game button click calls a windows program) that, eliminates the "dumb server" to a single machine hosting availability status and invisible connection data centrally. Button for host, button for join/start and a chat connection like we have already on our machines. Players connect directly to each other, you could even run some stats or a ladder etc off the central server for the competitive amongst us.

Apologies for the rambling, I'm trying through some ideas out at people and see what everyone's opinion is. The more constructive discussion the better. On the serious use in your Class Jim, if you haven't tried to contact Don and Russell, I'd attempt to see if those IT "technical difficulties" couldn't be addressed. If you are able to use ANW as a learning tool, it has to be good for the Sim's future as it exposes it to a wider audience.

Thanks

Darren

[FreekS]

ORIGINAL: Little Beavers

I'd like to see more multiple player co-operative scenarios.  The head to head stuff is pretty good but the real team work happens when you get groups of people work together on the same side. 

Carrier Exercises is a (up to) four player scenario which is a little large but allows four small carrier battlegroups to combat each other, form alliances (and break them). Its been played several times though proved to be too big for stable MP play (which is a pity as I developed it for that).

ORIGINAL: Little Beavers

Another idea would be a group of subs working together towards a similar objective. Each player would command a sub....

One scenario that has been MP-ed very often is "Shadow the Boomer". It features three sides, each with one or two subs (US, UK and Russia). In addition there is a AI-controlled Russian ASW side that will attack any subs it detects and generaly make life hard on all players. The mission is for UK and US to shadow a Russian boomer in the Barentz sea. Its nice to play as it is not too long and there are several MP-AARs out there for it. I'm sure you can play it if you want.

Some good Head to head MP scens are (IMO),
Dawn patrol
Pebble Island
Hemphills ordeal
Advance Guards
North Cape
Power Sweep
Matrix Siege
Matrix Lance
Matrix Shield

All of these have played very well.