Convinced! Now looking for MP game...
 

The game looks great, but I am hesitating on purchasing until I have a little more info.

I play almost all computer games exclusively over the internet against other human players, so one of the most important aspects of a game for me is how easy it is to get into MP games.

I am most interested in hearing about internet play, but welcome comments about PBEM too.

How often do games start?

How long do they take to finish on average?

Is the MP internet game stable--how much of a problem is crashing and dropping of players?

How welcoming is the MP community to new players?

Are there many Online games in the U.S. Eastern time zone, and when are sessions scheduled: weeknights, weekend morning, afternoon or evening?

I have been scanning the forum (which is a bit counterintuitive to navigate, btw) and haven't been able to get a handle on these questions--if a post exists about this and I have missed it, please by all means point me to it.

Thanks in advance.

[ February 13, 2004, 02:18: Message edited by: Reverend Zombie ]

Re: Convinced! Now looking for MP game...
 

The length of a game is really dependent on many factors: The size of the map, aggressiveness of the players, frequency of play, and how long it takes people to get their turns done.

PBEM games crawl at a horrendously slow, snailish place. Network marathon games can go about as fast a single player session, until some whiny pansy decides to call it a night. Wimps.

The MP game is about as stable as the SP game, that is, fairly stable....but as of 2.06, the server seems rather intolerant of players lagging out or dropping, and will eventually require a reset if this happens more than once or twice, as the ghosts of the dead connections seem to exact their vengeance by clogging the server.

The MP community is definitely far more welcoming of new players than other, more mass-market games: Games like Dominions 2 are favored by the more erudite, and as such, the population isn't populated by the smacktards you'd find in a game like, say, Warcraft. If anything, that's the selling point of the game right there: !Warcraft.

Oh, and I fully agree about the forums. The person who decided to make it sort in this bizarre, mutated manner, and somehow managed to simultaneously delete the user preferences option to make it sort normally should be gutted with a rusty fork.

Re: Convinced! Now looking for MP game...
 

if you do get the game i would be interested in some multiplayer games on a small map(talis) that could be played in one sitting. I am on the east coast as well. I am new as well.

Re: Convinced! Now looking for MP game...
 

Yay, rusty fork!

I can't say much about the multiplayer community. I tend to prefer to play with people I know. I'm just paranoid that way.

However, I can weigh in my two cents on multiplayer games in general. The game is pretty much completely stable. Your connection may drop, but it won't be the game's fault. Game length varies, but I find a fairly big game can be finished in a single night. A long night, mind you - so we're talking six or seven hours of playing, say. As noted, no matter how many people you have, it doesn't make too much of a difference. The game is DESIGNED for multiplayer, not single player, though it's fun both ways. So except for a few particularly micromanagement-oriented nations (like Ashen Empire) no matter how long the game drags out, individual turns don't get MUCH longer.

Re: Convinced! Now looking for MP game...
 

How often do games start?
I could always find about 1 a month with Dom1. There were probably more but that was fine with me. Gave me a few weeks to lose, some time to decide on a new strategy to try, by then I was ready for a new game.

How long do they take to finish on average?
Well the range runs from hours to months. I would say that most games are played as 1-a-day turns and probably run 3 weeks?

Is the MP internet game stable--how much of a problem is crashing and dropping of players?
I havent seen that problem. There is a strange bug which seems to cause the combat playback to be different than what you have on the map. So far it seems to be from different machines (windows players when a linux machine hosts, that type of thing). Its irritating but not game destroying.

How welcoming is the MP community to new players?
Very. At least in my opinion. Still new territory so I dont THINK we give the impression of the "old guard" being cocky and rude. We are all still fairly equal at being able to get our tails kicked.

Are there many Online games in the U.S. Eastern time zone, and when are sessions scheduled: weeknights, weekend morning, afternoon or evening?
There are some IRC channels for immeadiate fast games. I dont ue them but they are posted here somewhere. I take it by mentioning timezone you want a blitz game where the host processes as soon as the turns are in and it goes all day.

What I say to people considering the purchase is this game (and as yet no one seems to argue) is that IF you can get past the learning curve with the free demo then I can pretty much gaurantee that this game will live on your machine many times longer than any other game of equal price. Dom1 lived on multiple machines of mine for 3 years. I have seen no reason to think Dom2 will not stay active on my box at least until someone creates a Dom3.

Re: Convinced! Now looking for MP game...
 

Timezones has never been a problem for me and I play with both Americans and Finnish in the same game.

And you really shouldn't be picky about different times zones in the US. That is definitely not a problem espeicially on the weekends.

The fastest way to get involved in a network game is to add me to your buddy list and message me saying "YO, GET ME IN A GAME!" and then I'll get you in a game. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon6.gif I'm always happy to get newbs into a network game.

[ February 05, 2004, 20:03: Message edited by: Argitoth ]

Re: Convinced! Now looking for MP game...
 

Nahh the fastest way to get in a game is to say "HEY Ive got the host mode up and running on my machine IP xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx and port xxxx" http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Re: Convinced! Now looking for MP game...
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">I beg to differ! Because you need to wait for people... well I guess you have to do that regardless. But if you message me I'd be happy to do a 1v1 to show you how it's done! You know, just for fun! Don't you know how I run?

Re: Convinced! Now looking for MP game...
 

Are hosted internet games typically finished in a session, or do folks save and resume later?

Re: Convinced! Now looking for MP game...
 

Games that are supposed to finish in one session are called blitz. That's when you get a group of players who are already availible to play Dominions and you go through a whole game. Usually you cannot finish a game in one session so you need to either schedual another session time to resume the game OR you leave the server on and let people take turns slowly over a period of days.

Re: Convinced! Now looking for MP game...
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Most games were hosted on machines running all the time on a permanent connection like DSL or Cable. The turn processing was set to happen once a day giving everyone time to connect, grab their result file, make all the decisions at leisure, then upload their turn file.

Solo games of course go much faster. A blitz game might be setup to try and finish a multiplayer game the same way a solo play game would be done. If it gets late and the game is good they might all decide to quit for the night and start again the next day.

Re: Convinced! Now looking for MP game...
 

I'd say in Dom 2 games start more than once a month, since there's alot more people than when Dom1 was around. And also if no game starts just say you want to start a game and people will gather round.

And Norfleet, maybe that needs to become a marketing slogan.
"Dominions II. It's !Warcraft."

[ February 06, 2004, 00:23: Message edited by: LordArioch ]

Re: Convinced! Now looking for MP game...
 

How about a T-shirt that says...
"DOMINIONS 2: It's not your childrens Warcraft!"

Goes well with..
"DOMINIONS 2: there can only be one."
"DOMINIONS 2: more strategy than joystick"
"DOMINIONS 2: if you can learn it, you will never delete it."
"DOMINIONS 2: like RISK on steroids"
"DOMINIONS 2: like MoM *10"
"DOMINIONS 2: like Stars! played pre-science"

Re: Convinced! Now looking for MP game...
 

The one thing I should note about Dominions II is that, for me, this game has really hilighted the fact that people's attention spans these days are simply not what they used to be: Everyone seems to suffer from attention span problems. In *MY* day, if somebody couldn't concentrate on something for more than about 20 hours at a time, something was WRONG with him. Now people are whining that they're "tired" after a mere 6 hours. Wimps.

Re: Convinced! Now looking for MP game...
 

R Zombie. Dom II works very well as a LAN party game, or over the net.

The way my group prefers it, is to set the turns to run as soon as everybody has played their turn. We organize everybody Online whenever we can (usually for a few hours at a time) and when we can't we still play 1 turn / day.

If the host has a DSL line and a dedicated host, one can just leave the game running. Works like a bomb.

Re: Convinced! Now looking for MP game...
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Hmm, I'm not sure how to do this (I only teach computer science: I don't actually know much about it http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...s/rolleyes.gif )...

I have a home LAN, with an ADSL modem/router as the gateway, so my ISP only gives me one IP address, and the rest is done on the LAN. Is there an easy way I can setup a TCP/IP game?

(I'm not necessarily offering to host, but I'd like to know if it's actually an option...)

Re: Convinced! Now looking for MP game...
 

For me the PBEM mode is very good. Though I'll definately come around to play this game in regular MP games, right now it's PBEM for me.

My PBEM partner lives in germany, is a cop, and very busy... as am I. Given that, and the 8 hours he's ahead , we don't get to play many MP games against each other.

We're in our first game, and it will probably take a few more months, but already you can see the usual advantages of PBEM. (for one ... if you're a slow planer, you won't p1ss anyone off by delaying a game...., and your long term strategies improve ... )

Re: Convinced! Now looking for MP game...
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Yes, should be easy. Set your router to forward traffic on port xxxx (whatever port you tell dominions to use when you set up the game) to computer 192.168.y.z (the host). Give players the IP address of your router and the port and you are good to go.

If your IP address is prone to change often, use a free service like http://www.dyndns.org/ and give players the server name instead of the IP address.

Edited to clarify- local clients must use the hosts LAN address (192.168.y.z), remote clients must use the router's address.

[ February 10, 2004, 20:24: Message edited by: Tiltowait ]

Re: Convinced! Now looking for MP game...
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Yes, should be easy. Set your router to forward traffic on port xxxx (whatever port you tell dominions to use when you set up the game) to computer 192.168.y.z (the host). Give players the IP address of your router and the port and you are good to go.
</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">I was going to report a failure, but then I read your edit below...

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Oh. Since I did all my testing from the LAN, no wonder it didn't work. I'll test this from work. Hey, if it works, I could even start hosting... (keeping the PC up 24/7 might be a problem, though )

Re: Convinced! Now looking for MP game...
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Dom2 doesn't support DNS lookup, unfortunately, so your players will have to resolve the IP manually. This will actually somewhat limit your player selection, as an amazing number of people are unaware of how to perform such a feat. Then again, this may be a good thing.

*sigh* I miss the old days. Remember the good old days, back when people had to be smart to use a computer? You know, back when they hid the power switch in the back?

Re: Convinced! Now looking for MP game...
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Dom2 doesn't support DNS lookup, unfortunately, so your players will have to resolve the IP manually. This will actually somewhat limit your player selection, as an amazing number of people are unaware of how to perform such a feat. Then again, this may be a good thing.

*sigh* I miss the old days. Remember the good old days, back when people had to be smart to use a computer? You know, back when they hid the power switch in the back? </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">It's not about being smart, it's about learning stuff. 15-20 years ago, people had to learn a few things of how computers work in order to use them. But this is the Age of Gates, where people have been promised they could use computers without knowing the difference between a keyboard and a power switch.

These days, there are lots of people who want to become computer engineers, but are not interested in how a computer works or what programming it means. I know - these are my students.

Re: Convinced! Now looking for MP game...
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">I feel your pain. I suppose it must take a great deal of restraint to avoid turning the entire class period into an extended rant insulting them and their ancestry. Really, though, it's more than just learning: Ignorance is curable, stupidity is forever. Couple this with a horrible attitude where people are unwilling to take even the most basic steps to figure something about, and it's enough to drive one into a homicidal rage. I'm surprised teachers don't go postal more.

Re: Convinced! Now looking for MP game...
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">They want the higher-than-average salary, and the white-collar office environment. What they fail to grasp is that they have to work, albeit with their brains, which is a part of their anatomy they are likely to not have properly exercised, or even understand how to exercise.

I, too, see what you see in your work -- daily.

Re: Convinced! Now looking for MP game...
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">In some ways, perhaps the ancients were right: For many people, the brain really *IS* simply an organ for cooling the blood.

Re: Convinced! Now looking for MP game...
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">I feel your pain. I suppose it must take a great deal of restraint to avoid turning the entire class period into an extended rant insulting them and their ancestry. Really, though, it's more than just learning: Ignorance is curable, stupidity is forever. Couple this with a horrible attitude where people are unwilling to take even the most basic steps to figure something about, and it's enough to drive one into a homicidal rage. I'm surprised teachers don't go postal more. </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Honestly, I'm not that negative. Having only students that are really interested in what you're teaching is a blessing; having students that are more interested in the expected good jobs at the end is more common, especially when you're teaching something that does lead to well-paying jobs.

Re: Convinced! Now looking for MP game...
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">You may wish to warn them of the realities of the marketplace, since very many (like 450,000) of those once-good jobs are being outsourced to India, Red China, and to a much lesser extent, Russia. In my case, I'm a victim of the Indians. Damn H1-Bs. Damn congresscritters.

Re: Convinced! Now looking for MP game...
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">But we do! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/tongue.gif

That's why we make games http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

Re: Convinced! Now looking for MP game...
 

Okay, I played the demo, & was convinced to buy it. It came today, but it doesn't look like there are any MP games currently open here or on DominionsX.

Anyplace else I should look?

Re: Convinced! Now looking for MP game...
 

Praise Jesus!

Praise Jesus!

Can I get an Amen?

Rev-er-end Zom-bie presiding this travesty of truition, this purgatory of pandemonium, the king-dom of chaos!

erm ... sorry about that.

The best way to start a MP game is to find/be a host. There are quite a few individuals who would join games if they are hosted and the game parameters are such that they can play (PBEM, TCP/IP, 1 A Day, 2 A Day, 3 a Week, turn games).

If you can't do that, you are kind of at a loss to wait. I wish there were more servers with stability and non-issues, but I am currently full with 3 (Plus nightly Blitzes) and it's hard to set up a maintenence free server.

Re: Convinced! Now looking for MP game...
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Well, if you're willing to cope with some physical hardship, there's the upcoming marathon due to kick off in about 15 hours. See my thread. If such a feat of endurance is beyond your capacity to stomach, there are other games which float around as well.