Improved Multiplayer

Maltrease · #1 January 12th, 2007, 02:57 PM

Right! Say you and me are playing a game together.

We start off just fine. But then some stupid RL issue pulls you away from the game. Then computer would step in for you so I am not forced to find a more productive use for my time.

The computer would play and do exactly what you would do. So when you come back your plans are not interupted. Later I might need to do something else and then the computer would step in for me.

Maltrease · #2 January 12th, 2007, 03:01 PM

Oh.. and not exactly a stale turn. More like. I got my turn in, I want a new turn to play NOW, so the computer would take yours for you. As long as the computer did exactly what you would have done anyway its not like you missed much.

I SUPPOSE I could wait like 5 or 10 minutes after I submitted my turn before I would demand a new one. That would give you some time to do your turn manually if you were available.

Agrajag · #3 January 12th, 2007, 03:06 PM

And how exactly would the AI do exactly what you would have done anyway?

Or is this just a joke like Strages Sanctus is implying

Maltrease · #4 January 12th, 2007, 03:26 PM

As a programming manager it is not my job to figure out how to actually do things, only to assign the job. As you can see from my first post I already mapped out 95% of the task. All that needs to happen is the creation of the generateExactOpponentsTurn() function.

Manuk · #5 January 12th, 2007, 03:42 PM

Maybe you can play infinite MP games if the AI does it for you. But I suspect you will lose most of the time.

Maltrease · #6 January 12th, 2007, 03:44 PM

Gandalf, perhaps my post is a bit of a joke. I have a few minutes to kill while eating lunch and I DO NOT have any MP games available where I can submit a turn.

So I thought I might put on my pointy hair hat and kill a few moments.

Your idea is interesting... and I know it has been talked about before with having an AI fill in temporarly for a stalled player. So to possibly bring "value" back to the thread maybe that is an area of discussion.

Even if you were only able to que up troops, or tell the AI somehow hire mage commanders and set them research while you are away it would be useful. You would still be hurting badly by missing early turns, but later in the game if you are not actively at war you might do just fine missing a few turns this way.

What would be really GREAT is if you could set yourself to this mode manually (toggle it on or off). If you know you won't be able to take turns due to a vacation or other commitment you can turn yourself to autopilot. Then you don't need to find a temp player or make everyone else in the game wait for the timer to run out before a new turn is generated.

Perhaps that is a more reasonable request then my initial one.

OF course if Illwinter does want to implement my orginal idea I would not complain.

TwoBits · #7 January 12th, 2007, 03:58 PM

Hey, being able to que commanders seems to be a simple and wise addition. The bare minimum you should be allowed to do if you know your host will need to "force" a turn or two while you're gone...

Gandalf Parker · #8 January 12th, 2007, 04:00 PM

As a moderator on forums, and customer service, Ive learned that its better to seem abit naive than to take something as a joke when it wasnt meant that way.

I was letting the conversation progress abit before bringing up that the needs of doing stale turns as AI have been discussed. And the idea of allowing a player to be turned AI while they are away doing something then coming back to play. But apparently both have problems. Switching a player to AI sets many variables for the nation that apparently cannot be set back again as far as the way the code is presently written.

However, as far as the "tired of waiting" thing..
I have suggested creating a game of "musical chairs" with 10 players where the game automatically hosts whenever it gets 9 files turned in. The last person to do their turn always gets left out. For some reason I get a picture in my head of the chess games where they slap the timer after each move.

You would do only the minumum actions then rush your turn in and curse over every second that passes waiting for it to host thinking that you could have done one thing more. But then next time you try to squeeze in another action and the game cuts you off.
MUHAHAhahahahahahh A very evil blitz game.

Gandalf Parker

Maltrease · #9 January 12th, 2007, 04:07 PM

I really like that idea Gandalf. Actually what would most likely happen is you do your most critical turn elements and submit it. Then go back and do more things and hope to have time to resubmit your turn.

Another idea would be to make the last player pay some kind of fine. Like 20-50 gold to each player depending on how many people are playing.

Meglobob · #10 January 13th, 2007, 03:56 AM

Quote:

Maltrease said:
Gandalf, perhaps my post is a bit of a joke. I have a few minutes to kill while eating lunch and I DO NOT have any MP games available where I can submit a turn.

I have a solution for you, join more MP games, just like I do. I am currently in 8 (was 10 at one point), you always have a turn to do!

A couple of problems however, sometimes you can get overwhealmed having loads of turns to do, which can result in substandard play. Getting your head around playing so many different nations can result in headaches, as your brain overheats...

Seriously thou, I would like to be able to hand control to the AI for a time and then switch it back to human control. This would be a fantastic feature, great for when you take your hols, there is NO WAY that any 'mere' computer or machine could play like me or any other human. They just have not got the creativity or original thought.