Marathon MP on Earth 18 civ map, possible?

[Romulus]

This goes out to the experienced multiplayers, whats your opinion, do you think a MP game on the Earth 18 civ map is realistic?

I'd be interested in starting one up or joining any group dedicated enough to pull it off!

[Herandar IV]

Finding 18 players patient enough is going to be difficult.

[Gnarfflinger]

Would you be thinking PBEM for this? Expect maybe one turn per week if that's the case. I'd be willing to try it if you do PBEM...

[Romulus]

yeah, definately PBEM...lol, its tough enough to get FOUR people to finish their turn in MP!

Although a one week time-frame would drag that sort of game into 2008+

I think some people already talked of starting something like this up...I wonder how THAT went

[Herandar IV]

Wonder no more. I was either seventh or ninth in the turn order, and I never even got the first turn.

I would still be interested in something like this. It would be more viable on PTBS.

[Romulus]

you mean the pitboss? Could never manage to dl it from the link given in the forums...well, they say the civ4 expansion will include it standard.

You got any experience with the pitboss? how does it work?

hehe, I think the only way to make it work, is to rent a LAN with 18 pcs, bring plenty of nachos and diapers!!

[Herandar IV]

I'm involved in two PTBS games. There is a dedicated server running the game. The two games I am in, the creator has gotten a static IP address for the game, so everyone logs in using the direct IP address. There is a turn timer. If everyone plays before the timer ends, the turn ends when the last player finishes his/her turn. Otherwise, when the clock hits 0:00:00, any pre-planned actions occur and everyone gets to go again.

There is no preset order, so I don't have to go after you, but before Person B. If all 18 players log in within the first hour, the turn will only be one hour long. Someone will need a PC and bandwidth to host the game server 24/7.

[Romulus]

i see...well, that wouldn't be me...lol, maybe when I get a new pc I can use my old one as a static server.

How long has it been going? and in what era/date is the game in? So I can get an idea on the progress vs. realtime ratio.

[Herandar IV]

It depends. The first game I am in is the Realpolitik game and there are multiple players on each team. So that slows the game down a lot. It started about February 1st with a classical start (2160 BC), and is at 775 BC. Compare to a five player PBEM game I'm in that started on December 6, and is now at 2880 BC.

The second game started late last week, and I think is around 3600 BC.

[Romulus]

eeek!!

i guess thats why people seem to loose interest...even the most patient players. Well, maybe if you're playing it at work and sending the files in between meetings!

The way I see it--correct me if I'm wrong--the only way would be to set aside a certain time period where everyone agrees to play, like on a weekend. To move the game along. But you can imagine the logistics of making sure people follow-through.

Hmmm...looks like its back to the occaisonal hack'n'slash 2 hour MP on a wednesday night. Its a shame, a true marathon game between pros would have been cool.

[Herandar IV]

I'm sure if you search actively, you can find 18 people willing to play an 18 player PTBS game and patient enough to survive 24 hour turn time limits.

I don't think it would be possible to get 18 online for a turn session at the same time, though.

[Romulus]

yes, I agree.

Although, there are just too many threads to weed through right now to find existing ones (unless you know any??), but maybe they'll add a specific one.

How do you think I should proceed? Thats kind of the reason I started this thread, and so far it hasn't exactly been crowded!

I guess I'll take the time to search on the weekend.

[Herandar IV]

I have no ideea how to proceed, aside from keeping this post at the front of the MP forum...

Anybody patient enough to play a 18 player PTBS game with 24 hour time limits?

I suppose we need someone with the server and bandwidth to host the game too...