Questions on multiplayer PBEM

[javaslinger]

I've got a few questions on playing against humans...

1) How long in general does a game take. I know there a different sizes, but what would be average.

2) Doesnt' it take days for the game to pick up. I know in my AI games the first 20 turns are really slow. Is there a way to start farther down the curve in a PBEM game?

3) Someone really needs to make a jave IRC client or something on there site where people can meet up for real time games. Or start a IRC channel in Efnet or something...

Thanks,

KEn

[Triumvir Emphy]

1) depends on how good your players are on getting their turns in, one turn a day is reasonable,.. how long do your games Last? multiply this by days,...

2) start people of with multiple planets and medium tech etc,.. put them in a small map and you have action quick.

3) no comment,.. (you have to have a realtime interface first for the game)

setup a club in yahoo it offers chat rooms, and hope people come to it.

[This message has been edited by Triumvir Emphy (edited 28 February 2001).]

[Stone Mill]

Javaslinger,

I am in a game with 3 friends playing since the beginning of January. After 2 months at one turn a day, turns take quite a while at this point- there are so many more things to protect against a creative human opponent.

To get started, we started on a weekend and blitzed through the first few turns. During these sessions, to communicate with each other, we used Instant Messages, or met in a chat. (All Users need to have the same chat client or IM software). This sped up the game greatly.

Occasionally, we continue to meet for extra turns on the weekend by scheduling a specific time via email during the week.

Also, it helps to play with courteous players who let you know if they won't be able to complete a turn for a few days (for instances where they go out of town or such).

We used the settings suggest below, except for medium galaxy. After about 80 turns, the computer players are no longer a real factor and it it like the old west at sundown... really tense.

[Cheeze]

Javaslinger,

You have to figure that if you are playing even 1 turn a day, as you noted, the game with be a little boring at the beginning. You will have little tech and few resources to really develop. However, you will find that the early steps can even be important and over a short period of time it will be a much more interesting and involving game.

You just want to have a set of players who can all play about the same rate. In addition, the PBEM game ought to lead to a great deal of "back alley" diplomacy. In all fairness, I will not talk about specifics in my game with other players I do not have contact with in the game.