Pbem vs AI . . In what mode is most of your time spent playing?

[Cross]

I'm surprised anyone would be concerned about PBEM cheaters. I've been playing for years and have never come across a cheat, as far as I know.

These are the ways I can think of to cheat:

1. Replay a turn.

This would have to be really frustrating and boring. Turns can take 45 minutes or more. Replaying turns several times until you get a better result can't be much fun. Anyway, the 'Loads, Quits, Fail' results should expose this.

2. Get a look at your opponents forces.

I guess you'd have to crack your opponents password to manage this. I'm sure it's possible, but not knowing where the enemy is, is one of the best aspects of this game, setting it apart from table-top gaming. Why ruin the fun?

3. Choose 'unfair' forces (sniper armies etc.)

This is easily avoided with a brief pre-game agreement.


In my experience this game doesn't attract the sort of people who are all about winning. It's not like this is a 'first person shooter'.

If anyone is concerned about cheats, I recommend joining one of the PBEM wargame clubs, that track game results. You're even less likely to run into a problem there:

Here are two clubs but I believe there are others:

http://www.theblitz.org/message_boar...ut=9999&page=1

http://worldatwar.eu/index.php?&lang...des&boardid=11

cheers,
Cross

[Double_Deuce]

Originally Posted by Cross

I'm surprised anyone would be concerned about PBEM cheaters. I've been playing for years and have never come across a cheat, as far as I know.

I agree. For the most part I Pbem with people I have established an online sorta friendship with. As you interact and Pbem with people you should get a feel for who is on the up and up. There are players on this forum, and others, that repeatedly thrash me in Pbems but nothing in the games and communications give me cause for concern about their level of integrity. I think its mainly a matter of establishing rapport and going from there.

If you get a bad vibe, you just don't play them anymore.

[gila]

I play AI now, but finding that less of challenge latley,but still fun.
I would like to play PBEM but don't you need the CD to do so?
It would be well worth it if thats the case.

[Double_Deuce]

Originally Posted by gila

I would like to play PBEM but don't you need the CD to do so?

You can Pbem without the CD version, IIRC you are just mainly limited to 4 Pbem slots.

[FloodNZ]

I first got SP2 on a demo CD back in 1998 and there a couple of scenarios on there that I played to death. One day my dad came in asked me what I was playing and asked if he could have a go and we had a head to head game of SP2, which was a Vietnam scenario forget what its called but I think a version of it is still in the game. From then on I was hooked to playing against humans in SP. I bought SP3 because I couldn't find SP2 anywhere and that's where this whole saga began I enjoyed SP3 and for a while I thought that SP could not get any better until I played the original DOS version of SPWW2 in 2003, logged my first PBEM game of that in 2005 and have not looked back since. For a long time I was convinced that MBT was the superior game but in the last year the games I have had have shown me that SPWW2 is probably the best turn based multiplayer game out there.

PBEM is such a cool game experience and I have found that the only time I have been disappointed was when myself and my opponent did not set up the ground rules first. That is the most important PBEM rule talk before you play it can be difficult sometimes especially with some language barriers but it is worth it. I think my most disappointing PBEM game was when my opponent bought vast amounts of helicopters which I can handle in MBT but not in WW2!

Just going OT here but the most frustrating multi player I have done was Civ 3 in 2003. I was at my final year of uni playing 3 other people including a couple (this woman ended up dominating a whole continent and this caused a major row between her and her boyfriend which lead to war and a shouting match). At first it was fun but the game speed slowed to a crawl... Ah memories.

[Lt. Ketch]

Originally Posted by FloodNZ

I first got SP2 on a demo CD back in 1998 and there a couple of scenarios on there that I played to death. One day my dad came in asked me what I was playing and asked if he could have a go and we had a head to head game of SP2, which was a Vietnam scenario forget what its called but I think a version of it is still in the game. From then on I was hooked to playing against humans in SP.

I'm with you, FloodNZ. My dad and I use to play SP1. In fact I found out about Shrapnel when he managed to load the old SP1 for DOS onto his VISTA machine. After trying to put it on my XP and calling for help he told me about the Camo Workshop.

I'm very greatful for that day. I'm saving up my pennies (not to mention my explinations to my wife as to why I'm buying a game that I've been playing for free for months) for the CD version. I've been playing AI simply because I always wary of playing across an internet connection. That, and I'm very intimidated with all of the AARs, DARs and tatics discussed here. I get the feeling that most of you would hand me my butt on a plate. Not that you wouldn't do it very nicely (or in some cases with much laughter and glee), but I don't feel ready for that yet.

The first human player I want to try my hand against is my father, but for some reason, he says that he hasn't had much time to download the game, much less give it a try. I've always enjoyed hotseat games and it would give us another excuse to hang out. Secretly though, I figure he afraid of me.