PBW question - how many turns per day?

[raynor]

A question for all of you playing by web: How many turns per day are you playing?

PBW sounds really cool. But it just seems like it would take an eternity to finish a single game if you played only a single turn per day?

Or, do you play more turns per day during the weekends?

Do you sometimes play multiple turns per day if everyone sends in their turns soon enough?

I have a friend who used to play an awesome text only game called mpempire or somesuch. I think they started out playing one turn per day. But then, down the road, they started playing two per day. I think he had to have a turn in by noon and another by midnite.

Anyways, I'm curious to hear how you are doing it. Also, can you tell me what date you started your current PBW game and what turn you are on now.

Thanks!

[Suicide Junkie]

I expect most people would have to respond "lots".
Not all for the same game though

From what I hear most people on PBW have at least two or three games going at once.

[capnq]

The most I can recall ever doing in one day (for the same game) is four turns.

I'm currently playing in three PBW games:

1 day turn duration, started March 15, currently at turn 42;

2 day turn duration, started March 18, currently at turn 60;

7 day turn duration, started December 21, currently at turn 31.

The three PBW games that I've finished went at least 74 turns, 121 turns, and 131 turns; I don't have records of how long they took or the turn durations, but they were all on a timescale of months. The latter two ended by mutual agreement rather than by fulfilling the victory conditions.

A PBW game can be set to run automatically as soon as all the players have submitted turns, or when the turn duration expires, whichever comes first.

[ May 26, 2002, 21:00: Message edited by: capnq ]

[geoschmo]

The best way to ensure rapid turns is to limit the number of players in the game. If you are in a game with more than 4 players, don't count on gettings more than a couple turns a day at the most.

2 player games though can really fly if both players are interested in keeping it moving.

In the Universe Cup Tournament, and in the Last round of the Survivor Tournament, where all the games were two player games, many games go by very fast. As fast reaching a 80 to 100 turn completion in less than a week! This wasn't a rarity either. There were several games that went this fast. But a few also went slowly. With two players a turn a day can feel very frustrating.

My personal record for a game with more than 2 players is probably around 15 turns in a three player game once. But most days we only got 2 or 3 turns done.

I have never been involved in a game with more than 3 players that EVER got more than 4 turns in for one day.

Geoschmo

[Suicide Junkie]

Here's an interesting idea:
What if you set the auto-turns to every hour?

Then you would have the AI playing most of your turns, and the players would have to go with the flow of the AI in order to keep a stable empire.
Whoever works best with the AI would win, and someone who tried to countermand every AI command would be in deep trouble.

Plus there is a great excuse for not winning

[PvK]

Sounds like a neat idea, though you might get sued by the wives of some of the players who can't stand to let the AI take control...

Also it could be a see-saw battle between people in different time zones. <g>

You could also [be insane and] do one with teams of players who all had access to the same empire, and each played the same empire but at different times of day, though I don't know that PBW supports broadcast emails of turn files for one empire to multiple players - you might have to use a listserv or something to distribute it.

PvK

[Suicide Junkie]

I imagine the competition would really heat up on weekends, too, but the first weekend would fall somewhere in the mid-to-endgame!

[Gozra]

The amount of turns varies with player number. However I have started and completed a number of games already. and the best pace seems to be about 1 turn a day. But an alert host can speed it up by running the turns a bit faster. And weekends seem to help speed the games up further. I think it is best to have several games going at once. then it seems as if you are doing several turns a day. 6 committed players seems to be the best mix.

[Possum]

I'm only in one game at PBW right now, Quikngruvn's Ay Chihuahua, which I notice he didn't have the BALLS to play in himself

It's been frustratingly slow. We have not even averaged one turn per day. But this follows what the other posters have said; we started with 8 players, although we are now down to 6, and soon to be 5 (whimper!).

[capnq]

The amount of turns varies with player number.

And who the players are, and how early in the game it is. My game that did four turns in one day had eight humans and four AIs at start, and IIRC, the four-turn day was within the first two game-years.