Hi people,

I have loved the Civ games ever since civ 1 on the Amiga 500, and have always wanted to play a good multiplayer version of civ with simitanious moves,etc. Alpha was good but it just wasn't civ!

My problem with ptw is that when you are in a multiplayer game it fails to tell u when u have invented something, built something, been attacked, etc.

Is there a way to play multiplayer ptw like u would a single player (with all the helpful pop ups).

I have looked at every available option in the game and cannot find a way.

Any help would be good as without all the pop ups the game just isn't playable.

Cheers

I'm trying to figure this out myself. So far I've already forgotten to switch both of the techs the AI chose (until it was too late, and I had to let it continue on so I didn't waste the research). It'll especially be annoying when I have a large civ.

Could it have something to do with the show fewer multiplayer popups toggle?
Or maybe certain game modes like turnless don't have the popups whereas say turn based will?

I hope this helps.

@bladester: No, I don't have the "show fewer pop-ups" option on. But your theory about it only being with certain modes might be right; I've noticed that in my hotseat and PBEM games I get all the pop-ups I want. It's just in my simultaneous moves game where I don't. I wonder if a multiplayer turn-based game would have pop-ups...

Unfortunately, I came to this forum looking for the same answers. I can tell you turn-based gives the same results, no pop-up on build/research completion.

I know that it is possible to build queues to overcome this but who keeps track of every queue when a civ becomes very large.

It is especially frustrating since the multiplayer functionality is something you have to BUY. You would think that would provide more motivation for the developers to get it RIGHT.

Maybe I'll just go back to a real game like AOE 2.

Bummer! I for one would lose track of what was happening behind the scenes in an online game. Having no popups is just plain annoying. Does anyone know if
conquests has added this?

Edit: Welcome to CFC, stuart_wildcat

surely there has to be a way

surely there has to be a way do turn on the pop up'!!!

It's total bullsh*t that the pop ups would make the game to slow.

It worked perfectly fine in alpha centurai! and there are real time 3d strategy games which cope pretty well .

I am not even going to play the game until i can sort this out, not being able to see the popups makes the game v boring.

I really want to play it properly!!!!!

Well, at least it shows the stuff on the top-left corner ("Athens has built warrior," etc.). I guess you just have to remember all it says, and keep track of when you complete your research of techs.

It is a major pain, though... But at least you know your MP partner(s) has the same problem. ;)

Unless there is some super-secret preference that we all have missed, I think it is impossible to enable pop-ups for any kind of live turn based game.

I agree that it should be easy to add pop-ups to the game. In Civ 3 single player, it is just like a "pre-turn" stage which is very easy to get used to. I think it's something that was simply overlooked.

The argument for "saving time" doesn't work because you probably waste more time trying to cruise your cities to find out what's gone on.

Although I like the game, overall I have become frustrated with each new edition in the Civ saga. It seems like every game has learned to fix some things, but others become more difficult. I am not even going to buy "Conque$t$" until I see reviews on the boards from people who actually play the game. You can never trust the "raves" the publisher puts on the game packaging.

This may not completely solve your problem but it should help with one aspect: You can tell the science advisor what tech to research next after the current one is complete by holding the SHIFT key and selecting it. If you have a whole sequence planned just keep holding the SHIFT key and select any remaning techs you want in the order you want them researched. Then you don't have to go back to the science screen to change it manually every time a new tech is completed. If you made a mistake in the sequence, or changed your mind and want a different research order, just click on the tech that is currently being researched without holding the SHIFT key in order to clear the queue. The tech issue was the most annoying problem with multiplayer games for me, and since I've started using this method, I've been a lot less frutrated with the other problems.

Has any one tried the latest patch (1.27f) , does anyone know if the pop up messages appear in multiplayer?

I Will download it if it does, i'm fed up from downloading quite large patchs (i'm on dial up) only to find the main problem still exists!

played yesterday 1.27f PtW - still no pop-ups in turn-based multiplay ...

I have no problems; I find it easy to cope with it. Maybe I'm just too used to RTS games =D

thanks BlastDuke,

U have saved me wasting my time downloading the patch.

Does anyone know of any version of civ where u can have similatious moves in multiplayer and get the pop ups.

I tried freeciv but couldn't find a way of making it similatious moves.

The only version i can find is alpha centurai, which whilst is very good, it just isn't civ ...

@lets-eat-gary

I have not really played a game of freeciv but on my linux I remember it being simultaneous mode when I was just testing it out. I started the server and added two clients (me and me :)). It seemed like the turns were simultaneous.

Hi all,

This is the first time I visit this forum and the reason I looked for one is exactly because of this subject.

I'm also quite frustrated by this fact. It's really annoying not having pop-ups in multiplayer and also, when I get attacked unless I'm in that location it won't auto-center me to the location and I won't see the battle. I can even loose a city without even noticing it. When the enemy moves around my territory it won't show it to me so I'm not aware of this. It's very very annoying so I stopped playing in multiplayer.

Hope they will fix this or PTW won't be much use for most of us... :(

I'm having same problem with hot seat

I dont see any battles at end of turn <im player 1>

My buddy , player 2 does see his enemys moves and attacks

and yes i have the perferences on

im really sick of this garbage

mebbe sid mier should get his head out of his *ss and playtest the frickin game ?

ill make sure not to buy conquest thats for sure

already got me fer 30 bucks , bastards

It's so bad that there has been no solution to this problem.

:mad: :mad: :mad:

I spent money on Civ3 which i liked but was let down by the total lack of multiplayer. It seemed like a downgrade from alpha

I thought that multiplayer would come in some form of free patch..... how wrong i was!

I then shelled out more money on PTW to gain multiplayer mode to find out it has problems which turn a great game into one of the most unplayable...... I was really pissed!

Can't some really cleaver person hack or crack PTW to include pop ups
:)

Has anyone got any contact details for the company behind PTW.

If so please post them here.

I think we should all e-mail them explaining that the game just isn't playable or fun without the pop-ups and threaten not to buy any more civ games unless they sort it out!

They wouldn't want to lose their biggest fans!!!!

well the real ****ty part is that after shelling out 30 bucks for ptw

now that its known that it sux

the fools release conquest

and expect us to pay for it

more like conquest should be a free patch

ive played civ since the 80's

and am TOTALLY fed up with their marketing bs

i say we shud all steal conquest

and tell infogrames <now atari <yech>

to go f*k themselves

I understand they're coming out with a new version called simply:

--------------------- Civ III: PLAY THE LIVINGROOM -------------------

Available soon at a game store near you.

Finally found a thread that answers what I'm looking for.

Anyone got the skinny on Conquests? Is it worth buying (ie. Put pop-ups in and fix that annoying lag?)

Nothing would annoy me more than having a nice empire, building up forces, and then upon having to check each and every city to make sure they are building what I want, and notice the 8 enemy tanks that rolled 6 squares in my territory and no alerts. All this on 2 cable modems within 5 miles of each other, waiting on the 2-3 second lag while pieces move.

Supposedly, some good reviews of Conquests are out, but frankly, I don't care about new scenarios, better graphics, etc. Those are one time add-ins, that will be boring immediately after playing.

stuart_wildcat got it right, you end up spending more time watching every inch of your empire than having the pop-ups do it for you.

I can understand how they implement features, since apparently they made the game for those who like short, quick, small games. But seriously, how difficult is it to put OPTIONS in to turn that stuff on/off??????? Let the users decided what they want, and not the designers knowing whats best.

Oh, they want to speed up multiplayer, so no pop-ups? Thats fine and dandy, as long as those of us who don't want them can turn them back on!!!

I've played Civ since the original, CivNET was GREAT, Civ2 made me drool for multiplayer, and when they delivered, I was in heaven (since they did it right). Civ3 had me chomping at the bit, but no mulitplayer, thats fine, since they say its on its way. Oh, ok, its an expansion, thats fine, cause it will be multiplayer. PTW comes out......and there is already a patch for it the day its released. Multiplayer was horrible, and full of holes.

I even called Infogrames about the no build popups, since it clearly said in the preferences that I had it on......after 30 minutes of them having me figure out the preferences file, and what value in what position did what option, they finally tell me that its only for single player......

Not long after, I gave up on PTW.

I got CTP2, and with the Apolyton Pack, supposed to be VERY good multi. I tried it single player, and it held a lot of promise, just never got around to multiplayer yet.

Are my friends and I the only ones who own Conquests? Holy Moly I felt ripped too after PTW but .... nevermind.

On topic, in a multiplayer LAN Conquests v1.00 game you get a popup when someone completes a wonder. Other than that, no popups about enemy's attacking or what tech to research. There is a list in the top left that says what production has completed in what city and if one of your units was victorious in battle. But it goes away fast and is pretty useless. Guess you gotta keep a sharp eye even when your empire grows. Connectivity is better in the newest expansion!

I cannot say how right you are ffej! :mad:

wow, look at this thread. Man, forgot how fun it was to rant sometimes ;)

Any other news on this? I haven't tried Conquests still, not gonna fork over money for something I don't know a lot about.

I've been entranced by Medieval Total War since PTW, oh man, is it sweeeeeeeeet. Would have dropped Civ like a hot potato if MTW was mulitplayer in campaign mode, but we won't dip into that subject, I put my comments on Total Wars forums (pretty much what I said above), and they aren't including it in the Rome expansion, so I ain't getting it.

So, since the search for a REALLY good TBS is continuing, I feel everyone should get what info I have discovered.

-No version of the Total War series has Campaign Mode in multiplayer, just the RTS mode that you might as well play EE or AOE for. Although, I would reccomend getting one of the series, MTW is really good. Very fun game, I spent hours and hours playing it in campaign mode single player.

-Tried that game Spartan, the main game mode has a lot of promise, and the MP option they came up with was quite ingenious, but no tactical mode in the game, pretty much MTW without battles, which would be fine, but its not as crisp. Instead, the tactical battle mode is just set your troops and let them go at it......didn't catch my interest.

-Tried CTP2, as mentioned above. Oh man.....what fun it was single player.....and multiplayer looked so good.....IF YOU COULD GET THE DAMN GAME TO RUN IN THAT MODE!!!!!!! Won't run right under XP for some reason, and the lobby-like joining area was just the pits. Anyone know anything to get around this, please let me know.

I have decided to return to my roots, and broke out Civ2Gold again. So easy....wham bam, directIP, thank you maam. Hours and hours of game time lately with a friend, runs like a champ, and has a lot of options. :)

So, given what I am looking for, is Conquests up to the challenge?

Thanx again.

Ffej

No !


Alpha Centauri was the best turn based Multiplayer game i´ve ever played in the last 20 years.

Conquests (even 1.22) has excactly the same problems. No Popups in MP and a horrible lag even on a 100MBit Lan with only 2 machines.

--
grs

Its a shame :mad: :mad: :mad:

The only hope is the last patch, which will come out in June (or should i say this year;)?)

Breakaway and Firaxis must understand, that CIV is a turn based game and not a realtime game. So we need popups!!!