Matrix Games World in Flames: 7 Moments of Wow!

[icitrom_y]

Regarding the 21' x 9' optional physical map, I see now how it is. I measured a hex on my physical WiF game's map. Indeed, it is roughly 0.7" wide.

[Philkian]

Playing World in Flames

The seventh moment of Wow for MWIF is playing the game against human opponents, either face-to-face over the board, or over the internet. When you are learning the game you should play both sides in Solitaire mode. Without acquiring some experience with the basics of MWIF, you would be a mere babe in arms when competing against a skilled opponent.

Playing Over-the-board

If you have the room, the patience, and opponents who live nearby, then you can use the printed map from Matrix Games World in Flames to play against opponents face-to-face. This is how World in Flames was designed to be played, across the table from friends in an informal setting. The unified world map is large, but not all of it needs to be laid out. For example, the map segments for the Americas and most of the Pacific Ocean typically see very little action during a game. But the benefit of having all of Scandinavia


Africa


China


and the USSR east of Stalingrad


adds enormously to the game.



Playing Over Internet

As you acquire knowledge and confidence you can contact other players of comparable skill level for playing over the internet. MWIF makes this easy to do, providing an online Seeking Opponents database so players can find opponents and arrange to play a selected scenario


with specific optional rules



To simplify playing over the internet, Matrix Games maintains a server 24/7 to transfer data between players’ computers during games. As players make decisions, that information is automatically sent to the other players, whose computers update with the new information. All of this happens virtually instantaneously, with delays measured in microseconds. As a player’s armor corps overruns a pathetic division left behind as a speed bump by his opponent, the opponent instantly sees his division evaporate from the map. When one player successfully intercepts and sinks naval transports carrying prized armor reinforcements to North Africa, his opponent can immediately start cursing the cruelty of fate.

Starting a new World in Flames game over the internet merely requires the person originating the game to know the user name of his opponent. He starts a new internet game just like any other new World in Flames game, and when he comes to the list of players, he types in his own and his opponent’s name


The program then logs him in to the Matrix Games server for World in Flames. His opponent has even less to do: he just clicks on the program’s opening screen’s button to go to the Matrix Games server for World in Flames


Once both players are connected, the program informs both players and starts the game. That’s all: a normal new game start by the originator, and one mouse click for his opponent.

You can save the game at any point and later restart it with a few mouse clicks. Indeed, if you have turned on the Player Interface option to save games automatically, MWIF automatically saves the game at the beginning of each phase of the game, and at the beginning of most of the subphases within a phase. Restoring a saved game for play over the internet is equally simple: both players restore the game from the same point where it was saved


MWIF logs into the Matrix Games server for World in Flames and informs both players when their opponent is ready to play


Then the game resumes.


Well folks, this was the last Moment of Wow! See you next week for the release of Matrix's World in Flames!