Consideration for longer turn cycles in pbem?

[Zakhal]

Has any thought been given to this in the expansion? All I want is to give more detailed orders (or more intelligent "turn AI") so that it will be easier to play longer turn cycles and this way finish the pbem game in a reasonable amount of time.

In the next pbem game I will propably try 5-7 day turn cycles (continious play until somthing happens or week ends). At that it would be only 52-70 turns per year. I played WPO on 3 days turn and it worked just great. When giving orders I had to think ahead 3 days and try to imagine all the possibilities that could happen because if somthing went wrong I might not be able to correct it until 1-3 days later. Nothing bad happened though. Witp has lots more detail though so Im not sure whether long turn cycles will work in it too but Im hopeful.

The only restriction for long turns is basicly the amount of orders you can give per turn ("the plan" for next week) and how "intelligent" the grass roots AI is. I hope they improve this in the expansion. Atleast it has interception and patrol zones.

As an example if I want to use train to get my troops from A to B can I give them (1) order to move with train from A to B or do I have to first (2A) order them to go into "Strategic Movement" and then the next day (2B) order them again to move from A to B?

If I have to give two orders instead of one, then because of the longer turn cycle, the troops would sit in A for a week (while in vulnerable mode) just waiting for the next order. If the game has lots of things that you must micromanage every day then longer turn cycles are hard to play.

[JeffroK]

I think that WPO is a lot slower game than WITP, CV's aren't as powerful as they become in '41 onwards and the support BB/CA are 5-10kts slower. You can get away with setiing orders ever 5-7 days.
 
I tried WITP on 2 day settings and found I preferred the 1 day turns, so much was missed ..
 
 

[akdreemer]

ORIGINAL: Zakhal

Has any thought been given to this in the expansion? All I want is to give more detailed orders (or more intelligent "turn AI") so that it will be easier to play longer turn cycles and this way finish the pbem game in a reasonable amount of time.

In the next pbem game I will propably try 5-7 day turn cycles (continious play until somthing happens or week ends). At that it would be only 52-70 turns per year. I played WPO on 3 days turn and it worked just great. When giving orders I had to think ahead 3 days and try to imagine all the possibilities that could happen because if somthing went wrong I might not be able to correct it until 1-3 days later. Nothing bad happened though. Witp has lots more detail though so Im not sure whether long turn cycles will work in it too but Im hopeful.

The only restriction for long turns is basicly the amount of orders you can give per turn ("the plan" for next week) and how "intelligent" the grass roots AI is. I hope they improve this in the expansion. Atleast it has interception and patrol zones.

As an example if I want to use train to get my troops from A to B can I give them (1) order to move with train from A to B or do I have to first (2A) order them to go into "Strategic Movement" and then the next day (2B) order them again to move from A to B?

If I have to give two orders instead of one, then because of the longer turn cycle, the troops would sit in A for a week (while in vulnerable mode) just waiting for the next order. If the game has lots of things that you must micromanage every day then longer turn cycles are hard to play.

I think even better would be the ability to vary the turn cycles within the PBEM game. For those long periods where both sides have little going on switch it on multiple turns.

[Sonny II]

ORIGINAL: AlaskanWarrior


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I think even better would be the ability to vary the turn cycles within the PBEM game. For those long periods where both sides have little going on switch it on multiple turns.

Which side would get to change it? How can you tell if your opponent has something going on? Would he say "Let's slow it down to 1 day turns because I have to prepare an invasion"? Or would you every once in a while slow it down to make your opponent think there is something going on? Doesn't really seem worth it except for the psychological aspect of it.

[erstad]

What you do is allow both players to set a maximum turn length, then run the turn for the smaller of the two. Allows the IJ player to slow things down if he's about to launch something without tipping his hand.

[Sonny II]

ORIGINAL: erstad

What you do is allow both players to set a maximum turn length, then run the turn for the smaller of the two. Allows the IJ player to slow things down if he's about to launch something without tipping his hand.

Not really. If we are running at 5 day turns and all of a sudden we are down to 1 day turns then I know something is happening that is important enough that it needs to be looked at. Either that or my opponent is doing it to "psych me out" into thinking something is going on.

[niceguy2005]

What you could do is set longer turns, like 3 day turns and then have certain trigger events cause the game to pause at the end of a round.  For example if a carrier engagement occurs 2 days into a turn cycle the turn ends after 2 days instead of 3, or if a player invades an enemy base, or if a large TF is spotted by patrol planes.  It should be a mode that could be toggled on and off in a PBEM game when both players agree.  It's not a perfect solution but is something that should be possible to implement.

I have 1 PBEM that had nothing happen for 2.5 months.  WOuld have been nice to fast forward through that phase.

[bradfordkay]

"I have 1 PBEM that had nothing happen for 2.5 months. WOuld have been nice to fast forward through that phase."

But during that 2.5 months convoys were created, supplies and fuel loaded and delivered, troops moved to jump-off locations, etc. Even though things are relatively quiet with respect to combat, that doesn't mean that nothing is happening.

[niceguy2005]

ORIGINAL: bradfordkay

"I have 1 PBEM that had nothing happen for 2.5 months. WOuld have been nice to fast forward through that phase."

But during that 2.5 months convoys were created, supplies and fuel loaded and delivered, troops moved to jump-off locations, etc. Even though things are relatively quiet with respect to combat, that doesn't mean that nothing is happening.

This is true lots of important logistics going on for the allies. I didn't mean I wanted to skip it, but moving the turns along in larger chunks of time would be nice, especially if the game could drop out of "hyper-speed" mode is something important happened.

[akdreemer]

ORIGINAL: niceguy2005

ORIGINAL: bradfordkay

"I have 1 PBEM that had nothing happen for 2.5 months. WOuld have been nice to fast forward through that phase."

But during that 2.5 months convoys were created, supplies and fuel loaded and delivered, troops moved to jump-off locations, etc. Even though things are relatively quiet with respect to combat, that doesn't mean that nothing is happening.

This is true lots of important logistics going on for the allies. I didn't mean I wanted to skip it, but moving the turns along in larger chunks of time would be nice, especially if the game could drop out of "hyper-speed" mode is something important happened.

An old DOS game tactical naval game called Action Stations! simulated this rather well. You could set triggers and then set how many multiple turns you wanted the game to process. What we would have to do is figure what triggers would be needed. But I doubt the is going to go anywhere.