Netplay vs PBEM

[Majorball68]

Have a couple of games going PBEM and I really think that more effort should be put towards making it easier to play PBEM. The games I have been playing have been going for 5 months so Netplay is not really practical unless both players have plenty of time to commit and are in the same time zones.

I am not computer programmer but I reckon it would be easier to facilitate PBEM over netplay.

Some suggestions:
- In game random roller that sends emails to both players.
- Altering some of the sequence of plays at end of turns to reduce save transfers.

[Shannon V. OKeets]

ORIGINAL: Majorball68

Have a couple of games going PBEM and I really think that more effort should be put towards making it easier to play PBEM. The games I have been playing have been going for 5 months so Netplay is not really practical unless both players have plenty of time to commit and are in the same time zones.

I am not computer programmer but I reckon it would be easier to facilitate PBEM over netplay.

Some suggestions:
- In game random roller that sends emails to both players.
- Altering some of the sequence of plays at end of turns to reduce save transfers.

"Altering some of the sequence of plays at end of turns to reduce save transfers."

That is asking for a lot. There are 60 phases in the game and when you add in subphases, sub-subphases, and digressions, the count goes over 150. Messing with that code would be very dangerous.[:-]

[paulderynck]

There are several online die rollers. What is really needed tor PBEM is a way to secure looking at US Entry chits.

[Majorball68]

ORIGINAL: paulderynck

There are several online die rollers. What is really needed tor PBEM is a way to secure looking at US Entry chits.

Anything like this would help. Just think it might be easier to facilitate the game for PBEM over netplay but only Steve would know the difficulties of either. Being in Australia and playing yanks time zones make it difficult for netplay other than weekends. I do know from 1942 it can take ages to move all your units and having the other guy waiting on the other end of the line doesnt seem practical to me. Early on the game it isn't so much of an issue. Netplay may be useful for certain stages like resolving naval combat or air combat but for land and naval movement given the time it could take to move things around. Limited netplay to resolve naval battles or air battles that require interaction of both players would be very useful to help with PBEM. At the moment we just hook up on some internet chat program at the same time with both players having a copy of the save from naval searches.