Dropped player recover

[Ice_Sickle]

We are on rev 3 of our first attempt at a multiplayer game. This interface is intensely annoying!

Let me explain where we are now. We are trying to complete the first turn. In the setup a player joining 13 hours after launch clicked on the race he wanted to play -- race A -- (already selected by another player) and then selected the race he was going to play. So the player who selected race A to start with can't access it because he doesn't have the correct password and even if the second player gave him the password he wouldn't have his own diety.

I tried shutting down the server and deleting what I believe is the map file (ftherland) and all the .trn files loading up the game again and having the first player re-click his race. I got a "god failed to load" error. So then I restored the .trn files. Same error. Then I restored everything except I deleted the files associate with race A and the player was able to select the race but it still seemed to be set at the other players password. Whether it is the other player's deity or not we won't know until that player emails him the password.

Is there any other solution?

We could just restart -- again!!! This would make the 3rd restart.

Why the $%#$@ does the game allow one player to select a race that another player has already selected???!!! (Why someone would select a race is an issue of wet-ware and not the issue in my opinion. If you give someone the option to do something, they will). There's no indication to anyone that anything is amiss. The game just happily reports that a human is playing that race. It's really unbelievable. It makes absolutely no sense. I can't think of a reason where this ability would be usefull but I can think of countless nightmares that can result from it.

[Zapmeister]

I can't think of a reason where this ability would be usefull but I can think of countless nightmares that can result from it.

The reason it's useful is that a player that has already registered may want to change his pretender, and the program can't tell the difference between the original player submitting an update, and a new player gazumping the position.

But I feel your pain - this has been complained about before. The obvious solution is to demand the original pretender's password before allowing an update. Next patch, maybe (fingers crossed).

[Norfleet]

Another thing that might be useful is to include the option for the original player to delete himself from the game. It's sometimes the case that after a player has uploaded already, conditions may change: However, at present, he's currently stuck in the game and unable to delete himself. I'm sure this probably happens quite a bit on Mosehansen.

[rabelais]

Perhaps this is a more appropriate thread for my comment....

Is this a bug or a *new* feature?

Upon a mild change of strategic heart, I tried to overwrite my own pretender well before the start, but the pretender I ended up with is my first Version.

Is this new MP overwrite protection, or just me somehow screwing up?

If the former case, how *does* one amend one's design?


Rabe the Revisionist

[Ice_Sickle]

A really simple first cut at a fix would be to put in the pretender's name parentheses after the "human controlled" entry.

Atlantis Human Controlled (Waterboy)
Pythium Human Controlled (Cedrick)
Man Human Controlled (Billy Bob)
...

Also empower a right click on the race to return it to it's previous state (either the previous pretender or "open" which ever applies).

Finally the oft mentioned requirement to enter the pretender's correct password in order to replace a pretender.


Ice

[BugRoger]

I just wanted to second the request for patching of this behaviour.

This is exactly why I requested the pretenders for the Cradle of Doom game via email.

[Norfleet]

Originally posted by Ice Sickle:
A really simple first cut at a fix would be to put in the pretender's name parentheses after the "human controlled" entry.

Atlantis Human Controlled (Waterboy)
Pythium Human Controlled (Cedrick)
Man Human Controlled (Billy Bob)
...

This "fix" does actually come with a minor drawback: If the game is to be played with information on other nations disabled, pretender names would still be visible right off the bat. That sort of makes the matter slightly moot, since now they've given us the option to still have Pretenders of the World while ixnay on the scoregraphs.

The password-to-replace suggestion is definitely the way to go, however.

[Cainehill]

Originally posted by Norfleet:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Ice Sickle:
A really simple first cut at a fix would be to put in the pretender's name parentheses after the "human controlled" entry.

Atlantis Human Controlled (Waterboy)
Pythium Human Controlled (Cedrick)
Man Human Controlled (Billy Bob)
...

This "fix" does actually come with a minor drawback: If the game is to be played with information on other nations disabled, pretender names would still be visible right off the bat. That sort of makes the matter slightly moot, since now they've given us the option to still have Pretenders of the World while ixnay on the scoregraphs.

---

Instead of showing the pretender names, it'd be really nice if they used different colors - ones selected by a human already should be red. (It'd also be very nice if color was used to show AI players that have been turned on.)

And, if a slot is selected that already has a human pretender, at least prompt "This nation has already been selected by a player. Are you sure you want to override their choice?"

This would at least give the idiots a headsup that they're doing something wrong.