How multiplayer worked at all? Never played it before on Civ3.

[Jh00]

Hi!

I read all reviews that I could find, but I still don't have an idea about how multiplayer worked on Civ3 and how it would work now.

How it was? Do you have to wait for the others to move all their units before moving yours? What could you do while waiting? Could you use your ally transports to move your troops like it seems to happen in Civ4? How long a short game lasted? What happened when someone quited in the middle of the game? Was there situations where a long time ally of yours just changed sides to the enemy? Was it common?

I just want to get a grasp about what it was and what it will be, so maybe I can convince my friend to order a copy too, so we can play together.

Thanks and sorry for the noobness.

 

[SuperSmurf]

Badly. And smoothly.

Long version: people say C3 PTW MP hardly worked at all, but it got better with the Conquests expansion. For me and a friend, it was never stable in LAN, even with the latest patch.

Hopefully, C4 will be much better. Firaxis keeps saying they were playing MP long before there was any SP. So chances are good they did it right this time.

All your C4 questions are answered here: http://www.civfanatics.com/civ4/preview/multiplayer.php

[The following is about C4. As a matter of fact, C3 doesn't even come close to this feature list. That's why most are so excited about it.]
Game length: 2-3 hours or 1+ day, depends on if you pick "fast game" or "epic". Yes, you can use your buddy's transporter, you can help him defend his cities, you can donate units to him.
If a player drops out, the remaining players can choose to wait until he rejoins, or save and continue another day, or a comp takes over his place. If the server drops, another player gets the job.
You can have locked alliances if you don't trust someone to be loyal. There are always some jerks that think it's funny to backstab you.
You can both make your moves at the same time to shorten downtime. Or do it traditionally one after the other (yet you can still manage your cities even if it's not your turn).
I think MP (especially coop) will rock, as you can combine your resources (e.g. faster researching) and you both benefit from wonders. And instead of giving some cryptic orders ("Attack his units on the forest tile next to his capital !"), you just make a nice drawing on the map with a big, fat X on the target tile and send it to him. http://apolyton.net/dir/index.php?sid=781744532&id=4852&t=fullimage

More info: http://www.civfanatics.com/civ4/info/#MP

 

[Knight-Dragon]

Moderator Action: Moved to the CIV MP forum.