Best way to setup online multiplayer with mates?

[Simo]

Have 1 possibly 2 mates with whom we are planning to have a game via online.
I have not played online with people I know (and only once through gamesspy when first bought it) so am wondering since we know who will be playing do we still need gamespy or how would we connect to our game, we a replanning to play weekly so we need to keep being able to continue playing i.e. not just one night and then never again, the game will take us months.

I have read of direct IP addresses, if we have routers does that mean we type the router address or the address the router gives my PC which shows up in ipconfig?

Also in civ4 do you see others moves when relevant to your own? From memory in past hotseat games and I think my brief stint online in civ3 your units simply disapeared if killed and you saw nothing of the battle and didnt know what happened to them, they were just gone!

It would be cool if it was played like single player so you could plan your startegies based on what was happening rather than guessing who killed what.

A bit confused

 

[The Pyramid]

Hey maybe i can shine some light for you. What my friends and I do online is use Hamachi. http://hamachi.en.softonic.com/

Dont need to use that version but still. What it does, just in case you dont know, is sets up a lan over the internet. So you all log-in and connect to the same area. Than one guy hosts, the others copy his IP into Direct IP Connection and tada!

Its neat and works well for us!

And it does play just like single player. So if you were "warring" with a buddy and he marches at your troops before you can though, he gets first attack and you can see it.

Hope i helped a little!

The Pyramid / Joey Jordison haha


PS. Almost forgot to mention! When you all get hamachi make sure, YOU all have the same version. So if one have 1.3, make sure everyone does or it doesnt work...Its kinda lame in that aspect but just share the link.

 

[Simo]

That sounds great, thankyou for your help! I now have a starting point to explore!

 

[The Pyramid]

np, of course theres other ways to do it but thats my preference!

Good luck!

-The Pyramid

 

[Langly]

im checkign this out as well...hopefully it will work for me and i can play with you guys

 

[Adversus]

I've played online with a friend a couple of times, we just used direct ip connection and it worked without fail

 

[rah]

with our normal group we seldom have problems just using direct ip connection also.
Some new players cause problems with their firewalls but it eventually gets worked around.
We're always looking for players on Friday and Saturday nights. We play normal one sitting games that can last up to 6 or so hours so they progress to the point where you kind of know who is going to win. We play random civs so every night is different. New players are always welcome. We play normal speed with the regular timer. Using custom pangea maps that Snoopy set up that offers better starting spacing, (in theory)

 

[L4zybugg3r]

Hoping I can get in one some of these games if they're still going. Just having a bad experience using GameSpy.

 

[Sarge85]

Hey, I'm interested in joining one of these Normal or "slower" speed games if there are openings.