PBEM - any candidate ?

[Old_Lion]

current situation -

3 to 6 player.
proposed settings, still being modifiable. :
Patch "m"
Erebus (random)
Normal size,
Quick game
Monarch.
no raging barbs
no tech brokering
All unique features
blessing of Amathon.

I'll safe the patch installation files so that new player can come later.
I'll also take all players password to allow replacement.

Roster
Old_Lion : Svartalfar ~23 PM GMT
Azhral : suscribed as Brawl of the Luckychirp ~7AM GMT and/or 7PM GMT
Boson777 : Grigori ~11 AM GMT and/or 11 PM GMT
McWill123 : Balseraph ~ 2 PM to 5 PM GMT
Lascivious :
PPQ Purple : Calabim ~22 PM to 1 AM GMT

 

[PPQ_Purple]

I newer plaid internet MP, how does the whole PBEM thing work?

Do we need to be online at specific times? How many hours a day do we need to be online ect?

 

[Azhral]

I may be keen, but as far as I know the Civ4 PBEM is far different than the name would imply. Rather than just sending a message with game data, Civ4 just uses the POP3 and SMTP servers as a network protocol. If I'm wrong and we can each bust out, say, a few turns a day, the game would take ages but wouldn't be too bad. Certainly wouldn't be as time consuming as a normal Mp game (~8 hours).

 

[Old_Lion]

I never played a PBEM either, but in my understanding we bascailly send an uneditable, unmodifiable saved game to the next player.
It is less time consuming on a daily basis (like one turn a day), but it can take ages to end (like one year)

The idea is to have player around the globe so that the game follows time zones. it allow about one turn a day per player.

I never played so I might be wrong.

 

[Cromagnum P.I.]

What difficulty setting? I've been playing Civ 4 since it came out and have been playing FFH2 for a bit over a year and am only now getting into Noble and no reloading.

 

[Old_Lion]

I'd suggest monarch because it is my usual setting, but I'm open to négociations.

details in the linked thread, post 1.

I think fast game on a normal map is better than normal or epic because the game will last long enough that way.
Solo, I'd rather play marathon or epic...

 

[Azhral]

Difficulty is a different beast in MP games. Personally I haven't seen much difference when changing the difficulty in our MP/RP games. Usually we are on Monarch.

And quick is required for MP, otherwise everything just takes ages. Our MP/RP games usually take about 8 hours for 200 turns. Longest game was approaching 400 turns and that was an all nighter for me (over 12 hours constant play).

 

[PPQ_Purple]

I newer plaid anything faster than Marathon so... it could be an interesting opportunity to get an excuse for a quick one.

Two motions thou:
1. Lets continue the conversation on this thread rather than on this one and the other one
2. Please no raging barbarians, I can barely keep up with normal barbs.

Other than that, if someone could explain to me how to play PBEM I would be willing to join in.


PS. What size were you thinking off? Huge maps make my PC die.

 

[Old_Lion]

Ok, copied from the other thread, and modified :

3 to 6 player.
proposed settings, to be discussed. :
Patch "m"
Erebus (random)
Normal size,
Quick game
Monarch.
no raging barbs

What about not tech brokering ?
+ Azrhral asks for :
All unique features
blessing of Amathon.

I'm ok with those
please give advice.


I'll safe the patch installation files so that new player can come later.
I'll also take all players password to allow replacement.

I'll update this post to reflect the discussion, and turn it into first post af thread eventually.

Roster
Azrahl suscribed as Brawl of the Luckychirp
PPQ Purple
Old_Lion

 

[PPQ_Purple]

What about not tech brokering ?

I usually play with NTB on but its not an important option.

+ Azrhral asks for :
All unique features

I second this notion.


Also, what civs is everyone taking?
I am thinking of going Calibim.

PS. Does base FFH have flavor starts? If so they would be cool.

 

[Azhral]

"Azhral"

NTB is a most excellent option when playing with AI. If we don't it can be left off (perhaps not a bad idea since the game will be pretty slow anyway).

And Base FFH on the Erebus mapscript does have flavour starts. I think it does (to some extent) on all maps aswell.

 

[Old_Lion]

I don't have favorite civ, I usually play random.
I'l go for Svarltafar

I think flavor start is by default. (someone correct me)

We could add end of winter for extra flavor. Never tried it.

 

[Azhral]

Perhaps, but End of Winter is a bit of a pain. Fine for singleplayer, difficult in multiplayer.
No problem with going random, I've just been wanting to rip out the Golems in MP for a long time now, but never had the chance.

 

[Lascivious]

I might be interested as well. Been interested in doing a PBEM for quite a while.

 

[Old_Lion]

Ok, Lascivious in. Any choice of civ ?

+
what is everybody time zone and playing hours ? I'll try to have people playing in an optimised sequence.

I'm GMT+1, playing aroud 11 PM -- 1 AM

4 player is enough, can cope with two more.
I'll wait a couple more days and then have the game started.

I'll put one random AI beweeen each player (up to 8 civs) in order to have spare room for late comers.

any comment ?

 

[PPQ_Purple]

I also am GMT+1, I can play betwen 22h and about 1AM when I am stretching it.

 

[Emptiness]

I think I should mention a workaround you will need to employ, just in case no one here is aware of the problem.

Spoiler the details of the workaround :

When you start a game of FfH2, the game is on turn 0. If you save the game, however, the name of the saved game will indicate that it is turn 1. Normally this is not a problem, but PBEM relies on the name of the saved game to communicate important information, and it does not handle this problem well. Others have reported this in the past, but the problem has not yet been corrected:

I'm having a problem getting a PBEM game to work. After the 2nd human turn the file it saves has the same name as a previous file and the game won't advance beyond that. When I try to open that file it shows the game as paused by the player. Any help is appreciated.

I've been trying to start a PBEM game of FFH (0.32 Patch L, for stability) with friends on another forum. We haven't had any luck. Set up and the first player setup/turn are fine, but when the second player tries to load the emailed save file, we get errors:

"Load Failure: Could not load initial game data."

"System Error: Failed to load setup information!"

We've tried having different people start and load the game, to no success.

Has anyone else had this problem? Any recommendations?

In order to solve this problem, whenever you pass the file to another player on turn 0 you must make sure that the save you send has been renamed so that it correctly indicates turn 0 instead of turn 1. (Also, during turn 1, you must not accidentally rename the file to incorrectly indicate turn 0.) After the game progresses past this point the file names will be handled correctly by Civ, so no further intervention will be necessary.

I hope this information will be helpful, and good luck with your game.

 

[PPQ_Purple]

I am definitively Calibim.

Also, if we are playing with AI civs maybe we should consider this modification:
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=8999555&postcount=33

 

[Azhral]

Cheers Emptiness, should save alot of hassle.

As for the mod, perhaps. I figured it would cause OOS's, but since we're playing by Email that shouldn't be a problem.

And Old_Lion, you should keep updating the first post in the thread with game info, so we can all find out whats going on fairly easily.

I am +12GMT and would probably do a turn in the evening when I get home from work. So thats about 7am GMT. Could also perhaps do a turn in the morning, so that would be around 7pm GMT.

 

[Old_Lion]

Emptiness : duly noted. We 'll try to have it going smoothly, I don't know yet how the PBEM mechanics work, but I think we'll all be doing ok fast.

Azhral : You're right about first post. Updated already. I'll keep it up to date. Poke me if I'm late.

About policies :
I propose :
- new player acceptance : No rebuttal two days after announce means OK
- If a player disappears more than a week without warning, we skip his turn (I hope the AI can play it for a few turns) --- or we look for replacement.
- Is it ok to make annoucement or description in this thread, even though it is not strictly known in the game like bragging "Oh, I just found a shiny axe" or having a little RP ?

I'm not sure about the mod. I'd tend to keep thinks simple to better cope with future difficulties.

+ a warning : I play in French. I don't know if it might impact some in-game messages. hope no.