Official Multiplayer host/Manager?

[Daza99]

It probably has been already suggested a few times over the years. I have only played MP a couple of times ages ago using one of the community made 3rd player apps for uploading/downloading and notifications etc, I am not the greatest player and tend to expand a bit too slowly to be competitive so I haven't played MP recently.

However I think MP does have one thing going for it, that is if all or most of your opponents are humans then they will be playing by the same rules as you, unlike the Ai so the experience will be different than SP and different tactics can be played out that wouldn't really affect/work against the Ai since they operate on different rules for somethings.

So it would be nice to have an official host/join built right into the game, and if possible a ranking system (however that would work, so you could find games and play against similar skilled players or if just level of play is choosen by host beginner, intermediate etc).

There could be a browser window showing open slot games window and another screen that shows existing games you have joined (telling you current turn number, date it started, who is the host etc) and a notification if it is your turn next to them (green light bulb). These screens could have the same kind of UI graphics in the main game with the metal panel framing. Perhaps when it is your turn you will also get an email (could be toggle optional).

Maybe on the main SE screen when you load up the game, there could be a notification graphic bell that tells you there is a turn waiting and you click on it and it opens the current games in play screen and you view which games you have joined in order of when the notification came (time stamps) and load the earliest one (if playing several different ones) and make your turn. SE would handle the backend of downloading the latest save file and uploading etc.

When it is not the players turn, maybe they are still able load their last turn (end turn is greyed out ingame and there would be no decisions anyway as you made them already) and be able to view stats, their data and the map, spend that waiting time to make plans and dig into the game data in reports etc. However doing things like creating a new blueprint simply wont save, you are just viewing old data file basically.

Having something official and implemented well so it works properly could bring more players to MP or give it a try, for the reasons mentioned at the top, and especially if there is a way to have a basic ranking system or type of game eg. beginner, casual players, average players, advanced players.

A bonus suggestion: It would be neat if it could be possible to host a PVE game, where human players cannot declare war on other human players only Ai, and the game wont let you, rather than asking if you want to declare war it will just say it is forbidden. Currently players can do this by agreement but I am sure some players might break this because they can because they are losing and want to mess up another game before quitting.

There could be a vote to kick player, should a player somehow grief other players in some form (if that is possible) if a player is kicked they will be taken over by an Ai, which is already built in I believe, if a player leaves?