Is TCP/IP Supported?

[Norden_slith]

ORIGINAL: Froonp

ORIGINAL: Norden

Exactly. Sitting at your own leisure studying the map, formulating plans and having time to discuss it at length with other players and kibitzers. IP for a game like this is almost violating it, its a thinking game. IP and fancy graphics, always the same. Can I have a first person perspective and a gun please? [;)]

one more week to go,

IP does not mean its not a thinking game, and does not mean either that it is an FPS.
You have strange concepts of IP gaming. Dismaying.

Dismaying are people who misinterpret others posts. Also, it might be dismaying if my idea of IP had any influence whatsoever on you, which it doesnt. So dont be dismayed.

That said, my experience with IP IS a sad one. All to many games have way to few eurobased gamers. Anyway, in the case of EiA I vastly prefer email.

[ravinhood]

Where do people get off PBEM is "ancient"? I would say and think it's the PREFERRED way of playing turn based wargames over the internet. These games take too much time to get 7 people together and play TCP/IP, maybe LAN, but, TCP/IP?? Too many opportunities for disconnects and lag and quitters when losing and all the other flaws that come with tcp/ip playing games. I'll take PBEM any day over TCP/IP play. It takes money to create the ability to play TCP/IP in a game and those resources could be better used for improving something else within the game like the AI. Turn based games just weren't meant for tcp/ip type play. I don't know how many countless games of Civilization and HOMM and Age of Wonders I started only to have people drop out and the games never finished. TCP/IP might work for a group of dedicated friends/gamers, but, for the most part it's pretty much a failure online. PBEM is the way to go and perfect for turn based wargames.

[jmo2l]

Don't worry Froonp: I'll be happy to PBEM with you on EiA [:)][:)][:)]
And I'm in France, in Brest, so no different time zone for us[:D]
And to be honnest, my TCP/IP experience for wargame is VERY  bad.

[Ursa MAior]

Count me in!

[Ralegh]

The inital release supports shared-computer, and PBEM.
 
If all players had access to a common save location (whether a network drive or a drivemapped share on the net somewhere), you could all save the files to that shared location, and the game would proceed very quickly.  At this stage, you would still need to manually load each of those saves, so this is not as good as true TCP/IP would be.  [I have tested this using a hosted Sharepoint document library.]
 
If enough people want it, perhaps true tcp/ip support could be a feature for a patch... - certainly many other matrix games support it.

[Peeking Duck?]

Have to say I'm really disappointed about the no TCP/IP support.  Nothing wrong with PBEM, but me and my two brothers (plus a couple of friends) like to talk rubbish while playing   Shame as I was thinking of buying this for their xmas presents (will the game survive without me? [:'(]) - gonna have a rethink though before I commit.

[Murat]

Norden, just invade froonp, he'll surrender immediately like they always do and in about 2-3 years someone from here will have to go rescue him ^_^
 
I just do not see 5-7 people staying awake long enough to pursue a full game over TCP/IP, especially talking trash [:D]

[Veldor]

People can drop out of a PBEM game just as much as a live game. Its less likely they might do so for emergency reasons (Kids, Dinner, whatever) but can be more likely for other reasons (Even 1 player who just simply takes too long between turns etc.) People generally socialize more during TCP/IP games as well compared to PBEM, which can be a nice touch.

TCP/IP disconnects really aren't a problem with the proper system in place to accomodate reconnects (With worst case being an AI takeover). With the proper system neither is meeting people online in order to find opponents. A Timer can also be set to limit the annoyance of waiting, much like in the real world.

A pretty decent model for all of the above is Paradox's Diplomacy. Unfortuneately the game itself was abysmal with poor sales and even poorer support (That's long since been 100% abandoned) but the core MutliPlayer TCP/IP model was a good one and the game has similar requirements in that department to EiA.

It in know way would seem to be a simple undertaking and anything less than that level of TCP/IP support would not seem acceptable to me. As it was people complained about that one. Multi-player TCP/IP is far more complicated than 2-player TCP/IP.

For the record though I'd love to play EiA TCP/IP though I'll gladly accept PBEM until such a time it exists, if ever.

PS. If I remember correctly with Diplomacy you could "save the game" to the server and continue on whatever other occasion you got together. So no 5am jam sessions if one didnt' wish one. Technology makes anything possible, its just a question of cost, effort and feasibility.

[onkelh]

Why do u guys trash 1 thing or the other ?? What i dont understand is why it couldnt have been made with both options ??

[Marshall Ellis]

onkelh:
 
It could have been. We just didn't want to add another year for release
I've already looked at some of the aspects of 7 player / IP and it will be time consuming. The IP issues are not as complicated but the socket strategy of updating 6 players for every turn can be tricky.
 

[Froonp]

ORIGINAL: Murat
Norden, just invade froonp, he'll surrender immediately like they always do and in about 2-3 years someone from here will have to go rescue him ^_^

What a real fun SOB you are. You should consider a career on stage.
Maybe you forgot who allowed you to get free from the English during your independence war.

[Murat]

ORIGINAL: Froonp

ORIGINAL: Murat
Norden, just invade froonp, he'll surrender immediately like they always do and in about 2-3 years someone from here will have to go rescue him ^_^

What a real fun SOB you are. You should consider a career on stage.
Maybe you forgot who allowed you to get free from the English during your independence war.

Lafayette and his cousins and we still love Lafayette and even tried several times to pay him and his decendants for his service. [:'(] You came here once and it was half-hearted (Lafayette had to beg his cousin to bring up the Caribbean fleet to Yorktown and Rochambeau spent the whole war except Yorktown pretty much sitting safely in Rhode Island instead of fighting). We came to your aid with all that we could in 1812, 1914, 1941 and 1955 receiving nothing for our troubles while restoring you to your lands (obviously not the ones Nappy sold to us, I mean we bought those after all). We have been, and continue to be, your military shield.

We avoided your civil wars, you chose piracy against us in 1798 and 1806, interfered in our civil war and tried to subjugate Mexico while doing it. You would not even let us fly over your nation so we could get Libya for unprovoked attacks. [:-]

While intended as a dig at French military prowess, especially as of late, it does have some backing in history.

[La Provence]

ORIGINAL: Murat

You would not even let us fly over your nation so we could get Libya ...

Wrong. [:-]
It's the official version [;)]
In fact, USAF use some french airport for logistic and..... [8|]

No comment about your historical/political opinion. [;)]

[Murat]

OK Lafayette and Le Resistance (obviously who helped us at the airports) helped but the government can be downright hostile at times and that hurts our feelings    It's really all DeGaulle's fault.
Clementine Churchill, who admired de Gaulle, once cautioned him, “General, you must not hate your friends more than you hate your enemies.” De Gaulle himself stated famously, “France has no friends, only interests.”

[Erik Rutins]

Allow me to say for the first and hopefully last time to everyone in this thread, NO POLITICS. We are all wargamers, let's focus on what unites us!

[JavaJoe]

ORIGINAL: Erik Rutins

Allow me to say for the first and hopefully last time to everyone in this thread, NO POLITICS. We are all wargamers, let's focus on what unites us!

That's right! Let's make a wargame about fighting AND politics that way we can play the devious games politicians play!...

Now if someone can make a good 7 player political game..

[Murat]

What politics? It was historical commentary. The French were awesome with Nappy without him they are not. Sheesh you would think being so close to New Hampshire you would know what political discussion looks like. As wargamers almost nothing unites us - we are WAR gamers, we fight, it's what we do.

ORIGINAL: JavaJoe
Let's make a wargame about fighting AND politics that way we can play the devious games politicians play!...

Now if someone can make a good 7 player political game..

Uhhhhh....EIA maybe? [:D]

[jamo262]

ORIGINAL: Erik Rutins

Allow me to say for the first and hopefully last time to everyone in this thread, NO POLITICS. We are all wargamers, let's focus on what unites us!

Why this is censorship most foul
And tyranny of the highest order!


What heartless soul can stand by and see blessed freedom of
thought and conscience trammeled into the mire thus?

Brothers! A call to arms against this attack on
Life, Liberty and the pursuit of $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ Happiness!

[Peeking Duck?]

Aside from the politics - did we ever get a definitive answer whether this will eventually support TCP/IP, or will it take an (Dear Lord please no) all new version of the game ?

[Marshall Ellis]

No we did not answer this yet because we do not have an answer yet. We are going to focus on critical issues first then we will evaluate our roadmap going forward. As we said, the EiA community wanted PBEM way more than IP so that was what we focused on more so to keep from delaying release any more than what it was.