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RE: MP Support

Posted: Tue Nov 24, 2009 9:23 am
by killroyishere
ORIGINAL: ETF

"A contender for the best AI in any wargame"

Granted an excellent product. Best AI will get you maybe the equivalent of a good beginner human player IMHO. I have never see an AI in 20 + years of wargaming that could come close to a even intermediate level player. I think this decade and the next will certainly see the old gronards finally accept that MP play is the only way to go. Yes you have to play with another human at a set time and what not but its better than bashing a limited AI IMHO :)

Tell you waht you go find yourself a copy of War of the Lance and play it on normal difficulty and tell me how bad you beat it. [:D] no cheating now, no reloading none of that. You take your lumps as they come. Don't come back crying that the ai cheats because it doesn't it just plays damn well and will win the majority of the time if you make a mistake.

RE: MP Support

Posted: Tue Nov 24, 2009 10:37 am
by Epsilon
I for one hope a lan option will be added or ip connect. My friends and I love playing Sword of The Stars in multiplayer and it looks like this could really be equally or better than that.
PBEM is outdated, what with the broadband connections being so widespread. LAN Or IP connect all the way.

RE: MP Support

Posted: Tue Nov 24, 2009 10:38 am
by Janster
It depends, I'm fine with harder difficulties using a cheating AI of sorts +resources etc, which makes Emperor difficulty in CIV 4 just right for me, I can keep pace and the fight is a touch and go, anything lower, and its a snore, higher and I get bulldozed.

Having a non cheating hard AI is harder, you gotta have a simpler rules game, but I'm a pretty solid chess player, and the chess AI's these days wash the floor with me :)

RE: MP Support

Posted: Wed Nov 25, 2009 4:14 pm
by ETF
ORIGINAL: killroyishere

ORIGINAL: ETF

"A contender for the best AI in any wargame"

Granted an excellent product. Best AI will get you maybe the equivalent of a good beginner human player IMHO. I have never see an AI in 20 + years of wargaming that could come close to a even intermediate level player. I think this decade and the next will certainly see the old gronards finally accept that MP play is the only way to go. Yes you have to play with another human at a set time and what not but its better than bashing a limited AI IMHO :)

Tell you waht you go find yourself a copy of War of the Lance and play it on normal difficulty and tell me how bad you beat it. [:D] no cheating now, no reloading none of that. You take your lumps as they come. Don't come back crying that the ai cheats because it doesn't it just plays damn well and will win the majority of the time if you make a mistake.
Sure.....is it a wargame though? And your 100% positive the AI has no advantages over a human player?

RE: MP Support

Posted: Wed Nov 25, 2009 4:16 pm
by ETF
ORIGINAL: Epsilon

I for one hope a lan option will be added or ip connect. My friends and I love playing Sword of The Stars in multiplayer and it looks like this could really be equally or better than that.
PBEM is outdated, what with the broadband connections being so widespread. LAN Or IP connect all the way.

How long does the turns take to process once completed? Thx

RE: MP Support

Posted: Wed Nov 25, 2009 4:29 pm
by Berkut
ORIGINAL: Epsilon

I for one hope a lan option will be added or ip connect. My friends and I love playing Sword of The Stars in multiplayer and it looks like this could really be equally or better than that.
PBEM is outdated, what with the broadband connections being so widespread. LAN Or IP connect all the way.


PBEM is most certainly NOT outdated.

Broadband/LAN does not replace Email, it is simply a different way of doing things - but one that requires that everyone play at the same time, which is often not possible.

PBEM is an entirely different beast from LAN play. The gameplay is different, the interaction between players is different - in some ways better, since there is often a greater allowance for diplomacy and discussion with asynchronous play.

Ideally, when they do MP, support for both would be ideal. Integrated email support would be an excellent idea. For a lesson in how to do this right, hopefully the Devs will take a look at something like Korsun Pocket.

If not that, at least have the forsight to create order packets that are small. All you really need, in theory, for a turn based game, is a packet from each client sent to the game owner with orders, and then a return packet with results. Neither of these need be huge files.

I am still waiting for a game to replace Stars!. Will this be it?

RE: MP Support

Posted: Wed Nov 25, 2009 5:06 pm
by ETF
ORIGINAL: Berkut

ORIGINAL: Epsilon

I for one hope a lan option will be added or ip connect. My friends and I love playing Sword of The Stars in multiplayer and it looks like this could really be equally or better than that.
PBEM is outdated, what with the broadband connections being so widespread. LAN Or IP connect all the way.


PBEM is most certainly NOT outdated.

Broadband/LAN does not replace Email, it is simply a different way of doing things - but one that requires that everyone play at the same time, which is often not possible.

PBEM is an entirely different beast from LAN play. The gameplay is different, the interaction between players is different - in some ways better, since there is often a greater allowance for diplomacy and discussion with asynchronous play.

Ideally, when they do MP, support for both would be ideal. Integrated email support would be an excellent idea. For a lesson in how to do this right, hopefully the Devs will take a look at something like Korsun Pocket.

If not that, at least have the forsight to create order packets that are small. All you really need, in theory, for a turn based game, is a packet from each client sent to the game owner with orders, and then a return packet with results. Neither of these need be huge files.

I am still waiting for a game to replace Stars!. Will this be it?
Space Empire V is a disaster for LAN play. The turns just get longer and longer. Also with PBEM the packets just become to large. Unplayable......
PBEM IMHO is a good backup if LAN is not available. If the game system allows it you can complete 6 months worth of turns in some games in one 3-5 hours session in LAN than PBEM.

RE: MP Support

Posted: Wed Nov 25, 2009 6:06 pm
by Zakhal
Vga planets 3.5 was the only 4x MP I ever liked/played. Nowadays all I want is good SP. 

RE: MP Support

Posted: Wed Nov 25, 2009 9:38 pm
by ETF
Pity you deserve better than the Ai :)