MP & PBEM Noob Q&A for TCW

[El Justo]

hello.

i'm new to MP & PBEM games. i mean, i've played hot seat games before but never online or by email.

i ask all of this b/c i'm attempting to determine whether my new scenario, The Cold War Deluxe; 1960-1989, is worth a shot in MP. i've spent nearly half a year putting this hog together and i believethat it'd be fantastic in multi-player mode.

anyhow, are there limitations to MP like amount of civs? map sizes? amount of units?

any kind of info or discussion about this would be greatly appreciated.

thanks in advance.

 

[viper275]

You can only have 8 civs in MP, other than that I don't think there's anything else.

I might want to play a TCW PBEM (I'm new to PBEMs too)...

 

[El Justo]

You can only have 8 civs in MP, other than that I don't think there's anything else.

I might want to play a TCW PBEM (I'm new to PBEMs too)...

hey viper275.

by 8 civs, do you mean that only 8 human players can play at once or is it that only 8 civs can be in a game irregardless of whether the human or AI controls them?

which would be better: PBEM or MP (if possible)?

also, i'd like to do a pbem game w/ TCW, too. we'll explore this in detail once the update is finished (soon btw).

 

[LouLong]

Well, I am no specialist of MP but as far as PBEMs are concerned I can give you some infos, most of which are also applicable in direct MP.

First : limitation of civs (AI and/or humans), unfortunately (or not) : YES, 8 civs maximum (not unfortunately for PBEMs as with 8 players they are already very slow so to play with more would not work very well).
Limits for maps and units :
not really, at least in PBEMs, but the same limits as in Civ3/C3C.
Of course for MP a huge map and a huge number can make the game impossible to play. But this is not really a problem for PBEMs as one has all the time one needs to play the turn.

Very kind of you to ask for infos about MP for your scenarios !

To choose between MP and PBEM is easy. If you have time on regular dates and pals who are free exactly at the same time you can do a MP game.
But the game won't last more than 3-4 hours (a lot already !).

PBEM is fine for longer games, larger games as well but not too long as they could last more than a year and probably fall into oblivion. But you have time to move your units and stuff. Reverse of the medal you have to be patient to reach the end of the game.

But scenarios (shorter than MP) are quite popular in PBEMs, just check the PBEM subthread and you will see it.

 

[El Justo]

thanks LouLong.

MP & PBEM are unchartered waters for me but if i am right, human v human in civ3 can produce a much more desirable result.

i guess once i'm finished tweaking the latest version i'll see what type of interest there'd be for a PBEM game. i know a few guys who'd likely give it a shot...

 

[LouLong]

Cool, always nice to have more PBEM players and new scenarios to play.

One important element is to put down the number of civs to 8, usually with one large "neutral" civ.
It could be difficult for your scenario though...

Edit : BTW, Detelf Richter (a player in PBEMs) was interested in trying your scenario once. So you can ask him.

 

[El Justo]

Cool, always nice to have more PBEM players and new scenarios to play.

One important element is to put down the number of civs to 8, usually with one large "neutral" civ.
It could be difficult for your scenario though...

Edit : BTW, Detelf Richter (a player in PBEMs) was interested in trying your scenario once. So you can ask him.

oye...so you mean that there can only be 8 civs total irregardless of whether it's a human or AI player?

 

[viper275]

It's irregardless of whether it's human or AI (which is why you sometimes see "MP" versions of scenarios.) You can start the game that has more than 8 AIs, but they simply aren't there, which can lead to a few problems (not being able to get domination, grabbing VP locations free, and it's kind of strange in general.)

 

[El Justo]

It's irregardless of whether it's human or AI (which is why you sometimes see "MP" versions of scenarios.) You can start the game that has more than 8 AIs, but they simply aren't there, which can lead to a few problems (not being able to get domination, grabbing VP locations free, and it's kind of strange in general.)

well that stinks...TCW just can't be only 8 civs.

i may see if i can try and do some import/export stuff w/ the TCW rules & civs into a geographically specific map for 8 civs only.