What's that PBEM for???

[Alexander Seil]

Why not play through a direct connection to the game host? This isn't possible in WitP, for example, due to sheer number of units, but WiF is quite manageable in terms of counters that could be moved through the duration of a turn (I'm judging from the beta here). You could get a couple of impulses in on a good day. I really can't imagine 7 players playing anything PBEM. That is just sheer insanity - it would take forever.

Seriously, instead of cramming the game with "art" that no one who is ever going to buy THIS actually needs, modifying the interface or including an AI that is going to suck (no offense, but I seriously doubt ability of any AI to handle a game like this), it would be better to throw all efforts at some kind of direct play connectivity.

[macgregor]

My thinking is this: You're probably not going to stick around to finish a turn (or two) in a one-night slugfest w/PBEM. However, over the course of a week's time, you should be able to have the game moving at roughly the same pace. Some players are more patient (or experienced) than others, so perhaps matrix will find a way to introduce the us to appropriate opponents.
-Oh yeah, if you're looking for that all nite slugfest. The direct connection to server would probably be better. Maybe have both. Perhaps you could move a few impulses between direct server sessions.

[Mziln]

Why not play through a direct connection to the game host?

PBEM would be very advantageious to people with differing work shifts. Graveyard and Swing shift players would then be able to find other players to interact with.

[X(] Also the game addicts could play several PBEM games at once (In addition to playing solo and by direct connection). There were some recent news articles on the net about actual European militia (I belive it was about 2000 of them) released from their military obligations due to stress from Game Addiction Withdrawal. [X(]

[8|] Although this sonds like fun, at first glance, I plan to take breaks to work, eat, and sleep at times. [>:]

[Greyshaft]

Download turn to Laptop.
Do turn on train or during lunchbreak at work.
Finish turn at my convenience in my timezone (Australia) and post it at my leisure.

[MButtazoni]

you have less chance of getting 5 (to 7) ppl to stay online for many hours at the same time when 80% of any given persons time is spent just watching other players moves.

there might be a hybrid alternative though that i am writing up a design doc to submit. It involves a server based machine that keeps the state and players are sent IM's (to include emails, text messages, and pages) that their presence is reqd in the game. this would be configurable, maybe Defensive Air is set to Auto at an intensity of 4 out of 5, Naval interceptions in the Pacific Theater are set to Notify, and Naval Interceptions in the Atlantic are set to Intercept troop movement at an intensity of 3 out of 5.

there are at least 2 games in the design phase that could use this type of hosting.

[wfzimmerman]

But doesn't this fall apart if someone goes away for the weekend or whatever?

ORIGINAL: MButtazoni

there might be a hybrid alternative though that i am writing up a design doc to submit. It involves a server based machine that keeps the state and players are sent IM's (to include emails, text messages, and pages) that their presence is reqd in the game. this would be configurable,

[Greyshaft]

ORIGINAL: MButtazoni
you have less chance of getting 5 (to 7) ppl to stay online for many hours at the same time when 80% of any given persons time is spent just watching other players moves.

there might be a hybrid alternative though that i am writing up a design doc to submit. It involves a server based machine that keeps the state and players are sent IM's (to include emails, text messages, and pages) that their presence is reqd in the game.

I'd be interested to hear your ideas. I think your first statement summed it up... people aren't going to hang around online waiting for someone else to finish their turn. For another option, check out www.pcwargames.com and see how they handle the multiplayer "Rise & Fall" in an on-line game. That game uses up to six individual players rather thna two teams, but they handle it quite well.

[MButtazoni]

But doesn't this fall apart if someone goes away for the weekend or whatever?

there's always teamplay, aside from that i can't offer any suggestions on how to make oppenents stay home 24x7 [:D]

[Mziln]

ORIGINAL: MButtazoni

there's always teamplay, aside from that i can't offer any suggestions on how to make oppenents stay home 24x7 [:D]

Suggested Online Team Play (Would this be possiable in MWiF [&:] ):

Establish times to be online or your country will be run by another player on your team.

[:D] Just like we did with the monster board games [:D]

This can be interesting when you come on late and find out what somone else has done in your absence. Come to think about it how will linked play be handled [&:] Should I start a new Thread [&:]

[MButtazoni]

Suggested Online Team Play (Would this be possiable in MWiF ):

i am only offering design suggestions at this point.

[meyerg]

Does everyone (4 other players) wish to wait around while I agonize whether to implement a DX result against my front fighter or bomber?
Does everyone want to wait around while I decide how to spend my surprise points?
Let's get us a PBEM system that abbreviates the sequence of play so we can save some of our precious time. With a good PBEM system I can play 4x as many Wif games as a "real-time" game. You can wait for the Chinese player to realign his units during a winter turn, but I would rather find out about it when I open my PBEM move.

[vonpaul]

I agree, If you can't do your entire impulse in one e-mail i dont think PBEM will ever be worth playing.
As it is if its 1 impulse per e-mail, its 43.5 impulses in 1 year that is 261 in a Global War game(assumes no passing so this will be max average).
If you work Inititative into the AI system you can remove 1 email per production phase(have an option that can be selected before hand to demand re-roll), the side that get inititative does production at the start of their impulse.
Need to add another 36 e-mails for the person who loses initiative to do production e-mail. (they obviously would have to do their production first)
So the total is now up to 297 e-mails for a game.
I think its doable.[:)]
I cant see anything that is done by the non-phasing player that the AI cant do in the interest of making the game playable.
The above impulse calculation is based off the Scenario instructions for WIF:FE.
All of the above if based on a 2 player pbem game, more players=more e-mails no way around it![:(]

[Mziln]

ORIGINAL: vonpaul

As it is if its 1 impulse per e-mail, its 43.5 impulses in 1 year that is 261 in a Global War game(assumes no passing so this will be max average).

So the total is now up to 297 e-mails for a game.

For clairification of what actualy occurs in a "Turn"

ORIGINAL: RaW-7m

3. The Turn represents 2 months.

A. REINFORCEMENT STAGE
B. LENDING RESOURCES STAGE
C. INITIATIVE STAGE

D. ACTION STAGE - Repeat D1 through D3 until the action stage ends.
D1 Determine weather
D2 First side’s impulse - Every major power on the first side performs these steps:
D2.1 Declare war, Align Minor Powers, and Select Special Political Options.
D2.2 Choose action - Choose either a pass, a naval, an air, a land or a combined action.
D2.3 Perform actions - There are 17 actions that can be preformed. This doesn't include Combat Air Patrol (CAP) or Intercept missions. For brevity I'm not listing all the actions.

D2.4 End of action - Roll to end the action stage. If it doesn’t end, advance the impulse marker the number of spaces shown on the weather chart for the current weather roll. If it ends, move on to stage E - the end of turn.

D3 Second side’s impulse - If the action stage didn’t end, repeat the steps in D2 for the second side. If the action stage doesn’t end after the second side’s impulse, go back to D1.

E. END OF TURN STAGE - Both sides perform these steps in this order:
E1 Partisans
E2 US entry
E3 Return to base
E4 Final reorganisation
E5 Production
E6 Intelligence (option 63)
E7 Peace
E7.1 Conquest
E7.2 Allied minor support
E7.3 Mutual peace
E7.4 Vichy declaration
E7.5 Liberation
E7.6 Surrender
E8 Victory check (& option 30: factory destruction)