Simple Survey

[madman_matt]

Solitaire - 5% (just to test it first, before playing any real game)
Head-to-head - 10%
AI Opponent - 5% (just to test it first, before playing any real opponents/friends/groups)
NetPlay - 50%
PBEM - 30%

[Gresbeck]

First 6 months of game:
100% AI (as a totally newbie, I'll play A.I. till I get decent results)

Later (assuming I can get decent results against A.I.)
50% A.I.
50% PBEM

No chance I will ever play solitaire, or netplay.

[Froonp]

ORIGINAL: SewerStarFish

AI, almost completely -- though I'd play solitaire if you think there'll be no AI.

<edited to actually answer the survey-reedited to spell actually korektlee>

Be carefull if you edited your post, chances are high (100%) that I miss it and that I report the original vote in the Excel spreadsheet that I am updating with your votes for Steve.

So you'd better reposting rather than editing an old post.

This one from SewerStarFish is OK, because somehow Steve pointed it to me.


Ah, a last thing, please don't confuse "Solitaire" play with "AI Opponent" play.

Here are the 5 mode of play, reminded to you :
Solitaire - you play both sides and make all decisions.

Head-to-head (Hotseat) - two players use a single computer, with the players taking turns moving their units/making decisions using the same mouse and keyboard.

AI Opponent - the player takes one side and the Artificial Intellengent Opponent plays the other.

NetPlay - 2 to 6 players with each player having his own computer; there are game 'sessions' where all the players log into the game and communicate their decisions using the internet.

PBEM - Play by email for 2 players, with all decisions communicated via email (an option to temporarily switch to NetPlay if they so desire).

[obermeister]

Solitaire - 10%

Head-to-head (Hotseat) - 0%

AI Opponent - 80%

NetPlay - 5%

PBEM - 5%

Question: From a game mode aspect, I don't know that there's any difference between Solitaire and Head-to-Head? Or would I have more freedom to 'overrule' dice results in Solitaire? This would be very, very useful to me in the WIF game I'm playing in, since it would give me the ability to set up the board the same way it is in our cardboard game, and then run simulations to test certain plans.

If this isn't the case, then I'm guessing if you want to play solitaire, you'd just choose "hotseat" from the game menu?

[Shannon V. OKeets]

ORIGINAL: obermeister

Solitaire - 10%

Head-to-head (Hotseat) - 0%

AI Opponent - 80%

NetPlay - 5%

PBEM - 5%

Question: From a game mode aspect, I don't know that there's any difference between Solitaire and Head-to-Head? Or would I have more freedom to 'overrule' dice results in Solitaire? This would be very, very useful to me in the WIF game I'm playing in, since it would give me the ability to set up the board the same way it is in our cardboard game, and then run simulations to test certain plans.

If this isn't the case, then I'm guessing if you want to play solitaire, you'd just choose "hotseat" from the game menu?

Hotseat has prompts built in that tell the players to switch who is seated in front of the computer (i.e., switch sides). The Axis player doesn't get to see the US Entry chits. When making simultaneous decisions (e.g., air-to-air combat), the players should not see what the other side is doing.

[Rodwell]

100% PBEM as soon as I feel comfortable with the rules (AI opponent until then)

[grisouille_slith]

Solitaire: 10%
Head-to-head: 0%
AI: 50%
NetPlay: 0%
PBEM: 40%

[Caquineur]

NetPlay 100%

Who said we French Southerners were talkative chatterboxes ? [;)]

[Mad Russian]

ORIGINAL: Froonp

ORIGINAL: SewerStarFish

AI, almost completely -- though I'd play solitaire if you think there'll be no AI.

<edited to actually answer the survey-reedited to spell actually korektlee>

Be carefull if you edited your post, chances are high (100%) that I miss it and that I report the original vote in the Excel spreadsheet that I am updating with your votes for Steve.

So you'd better reposting rather than editing an old post.

This one from SewerStarFish is OK, because somehow Steve pointed it to me.


Ah, a last thing, please don't confuse "Solitaire" play with "AI Opponent" play.

Here are the 5 mode of play, reminded to you :
Solitaire - you play both sides and make all decisions.

Head-to-head (Hotseat) - two players use a single computer, with the players taking turns moving their units/making decisions using the same mouse and keyboard.

AI Opponent - the player takes one side and the Artificial Intellengent Opponent plays the other.

NetPlay - 2 to 6 players with each player having his own computer; there are game 'sessions' where all the players log into the game and communicate their decisions using the internet.

PBEM - Play by email for 2 players, with all decisions communicated via email (an option to temporarily switch to NetPlay if they so desire).

How about an update on the voting results?

Good Hunting.

MR

[Ron]

AI Opponent - 100%
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[macgregor]

ORIGINAL: Gresbeck

First 6 months of game:
100% AI (as a totally newbie, I'll play A.I. till I get decent results)

Later (assuming I can get decent results against A.I.)
50% A.I.
50% PBEM

No chance I will ever play solitaire, or netplay.

How do you reconcile never playing solitaire with 50-100% AI?

[cantona2]

Solitaire 100% until i learn as i've never played WiF
AI 20% once i learn
PBEM 80%

[Caquineur]

quote:

ORIGINAL: Gresbeck

First 6 months of game:
100% AI (as a totally newbie, I'll play A.I. till I get decent results)

Later (assuming I can get decent results against A.I.)
50% A.I.
50% PBEM

No chance I will ever play solitaire, or netplay.


How do you reconcile never playing solitaire with 50-100% AI?

According to the definitions Steve has given (excerpt below) , "Solitaire" and "AI opponent" are two different modes of play

ORIGINAL: Shannon V. OKeets

...There are 5 modes of play:

Solitaire - you play both sides and make all decisions.

...

AI Opponent - the player takes one side and the Artificial Intellengent Opponent plays the other.

...

Hope this answers your question

Alain

[Froonp]

ORIGINAL: Rodwell

100% PBEM as soon as I feel comfortable with the rules (AI opponent until then)

Nice flower !

[Froonp]

ORIGINAL: Mad Russian
How about an update on the voting results?

Do you allow me to do that Steve ?
anyway, this is public data, anyone can do what I did, time provided.
This can skew the results, but, anyone can look at the previous votes the same way.

[Shannon V. OKeets]

ORIGINAL: Froonp

ORIGINAL: Mad Russian
How about an update on the voting results?

Do you allow me to do that Steve ?
anyway, this is public data, anyone can do what I did, time provided.
This can skew the results, but, anyone can look at the previous votes the same way.

Let me do that (later this morning).

I have been updating the spreadsheet you sent me. Right now I have 84 responses. Does that match what you have?

[Rexor]

AI opponent: 95%
PBEM: 5%

[felixghost]

Solitaire - 10%

Head-to-head (Hotseat) - 0%

AI Opponent - 70%

NetPlay - 10%

PBEM - 10 %

[Shannon V. OKeets]

Survey
I ran a simple survey of the World in Flames forum members asking which mode(s) of play they expected to use, as a percentage of the time they spend playing MWIF. This was motivated by my conversation with Dave about how important the AI Opponent would be. My guess prior to this survey was that the break down would be 50% NetPlay, 30% AIO, 20% PBEM. I was completely wrong.

The scrren shots are taken of spreadsheet that Patrice created for summarizing the responses from this survey. As I write this we have had 86 players respond; that is a healthy simple size, though perhaps biased, since the survey is of active forum members. Patrice used the word 'votes', which is imprecise. I think of them as 'responses' - since no one is getting elected.[;)]

The dominant mode of play is going to be AIO (52%) with PBEM second (23%), NetPlay third (17%), with Solitaire and Head-to-head making up the rest. You can see these numbers in the first page of the spreadsheet.

From the comments players made when completing the survey, Solitaire, and to a lesser extent AIO, will be used to gain experience with the game so they can play against human opponents using PBEM and NetPlay. But there are over 60% of the customers who expect to play against the AI most of the time. If you look at the bar chart, you’ll see that AIO overwhelms the other modes of play for use Predominantly (75% or more of playing time). It is also equal to the sum of all the other modes of play for use Most-of-the-time (50% to 74% of playing time).

Overall, PBEM beats out NetPlay slightly, and almost 90% of the respondents had zero interest in Head-to-head play. Solitaire use is apparently expected to be a learning/planning tool rather than a means of playing the entire game from start to finish.

My conclusion is that I now agree with Dave: the AIO is crucial for sales. Indeed, I see this as a personal challenge, with players saying they can play MWIF better than any AIO I can create. [:D]

[Froonp]

ORIGINAL: Shannon V. OKeets

ORIGINAL: Froonp

ORIGINAL: Mad Russian
How about an update on the voting results?

Do you allow me to do that Steve ?
anyway, this is public data, anyone can do what I did, time provided.
This can skew the results, but, anyone can look at the previous votes the same way.

Let me do that (later this morning).

I have been updating the spreadsheet you sent me. Right now I have 84 responses. Does that match what you have?

Yes. Plus those 2 between your post & mine.