Opportunity fire control option for hotseat games

Fabs · Post by **Fabs** » Sat Dec 02, 2000 4:51 pm

At the risk of appearing positively kinky, I will admit that I like to play hotseat games against myself. (Are there any other people with such perversions out there?)

What is the point of that, I hear you ask.

Well, it goes back to the games of soldiers that I used to play with figures when I was a kid, living in an isolated house and with nobody in the neighborhood who was interested in the hobby.

It is more of an intellectual exercise, and it is very important for it to create the right effect that the player act as umpire as well, and ensure that each side act accordingly to the information that they have.

I sometimes use dice to decide if a particularly inspired move by the current player should be allowed.

The point I'm getting to is that i find it a great shame that it is not possible to use the controlled Opportunity Fire option in such circumstances.

I can see very well what the difficulty is in a two player hotseat game, but would it be possible to start a hotseat game with this option turned off by default, but be able to turn it on for one player hotseat games?

It seems to me that this modification would not require much coding, as it does not introduce a new feature.

While playing a hotseat game as one player, one would be asked from time to time about Opportunity fire and practically switch sides for a moment.

I can understand if some of my fellow gamers find this totally absurd, but I can assure you that this mode of play introduces a different kind of enjoyment of the game.

It is sometimes preferable to playing the AI, which is after all quite predictable, because even if you play against yourself you can not always predict, while deciding on the moves for player A, how you are going to view the situation once you have switched to player B.

If you have the discipline to conduct each player's moves according to the information that they have, and not what you know of the opposite player's intention because only twenty minutes ago you were formulating his plan, what you have is a very evenly matched game.

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Fabs

Fabs · Post by **Fabs** » Sun Dec 03, 2000 10:24 pm

Anybody??

Fabs · Post by **Fabs** » Tue Dec 05, 2000 2:01 am

At the risk of making a nuisance of myself, is this question being ignored because it's considered too dumb to deserve a reply?

Securitas · Post by **Securitas** » Tue Dec 05, 2000 2:14 am

Actually we were all sucked into another dimension and could not read your messages. But now that we're back......

I don't do what you do, playing hotseat against myself, as I find it hard to be truly honest about it and end up favoring one side over another, until the side I favor is really clobbering the other side and I take pity on it. Talk about fighting to the last gasp.....

I *DO* see a point to the hotseat opportunity fire, simply because hotseat is a fun way to play against a friend and as long as you can agree on who sits where and when to look on screen, it could be fun.

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Securitas
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88mm is a really nice number

Slayer · Post by **Slayer** » Tue Dec 05, 2000 2:19 am

I, actually, am impressed. I could not play like that without inadvertantly cheating. If you can pull it off, though, I imagine that you would have an opponent well matched to your skill own skill level

skukko · Post by **skukko** » Tue Dec 05, 2000 3:34 am

Nope. I haven't played hotseat against myself, but I've played LAN-game against myself ; ) Is that better? Should I try next pbem-game against myself?

they do play chess on their own, why not spwaw!

Fabs · Post by **Fabs** » Fri Dec 08, 2000 12:15 am

Hello, everyone, just got back from a trip abroad.

It's interesting to read your comments, guys.

Now what would be nice would be to hear from someone who can tell us if this is something that we can hope will be included in a forthcoming patch, whenever that may happen.

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Fabs

Paul Vebber · Post by **Paul Vebber** » Fri Dec 08, 2000 1:20 am

There no plans to add more feature to SP:WaW in the near term. Maybe someday, but that particular request has some technical difficulties I don't think can easily overcome.

Fabs · Post by **Fabs** » Fri Dec 08, 2000 8:24 pm

I enjoy developing my own scenarios more than playing existing ones.

Playing against myself is a very good way to test scenario balance and explore the tactical possibilities on both sides.

When I am not testing a scenario, playing against myself gives a different feel to the enjoyment of this excellent game system.

It's an analytical rather than competitive approach. That's why I find it easy to detach myself from the end result and be impartial.

I'm acting more as an umpire than a player.

Since the opportunity fire option has been added for solitaire games (I don't know if online and PBEM games enjoy this excellent feature, I guess it's impossible for PBEM) it has added complexity to decisionmaking in the course of a game, and the fact that I can't reflect this in hotseat games against myself makes them far less interesting.

It seems that very few people are interested in this issue, so it is unlikely that this is going to be looked at any time soon.

It's a bit of a shame. Between this and additional elevation levels, I do seem to have a knack for picking lost causes.

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Fabs