1v1 PBEM - How to do it?

[Turbo823]

Hi,

Exactly how does this work since the game has 3 main factions. One of us want to play the reds, the other all the whites. We want to play without the AI playing any of the 3 main factions.

Thank you in advance for your kind guidance!

[deguerra]

Hi Turbo,

Assuming you know how PBEM works generally, it's really quite simple: the red player loads up the game as the RED faction and does their turn as normal and saves. The whites player loads up the game as the WHI faction and does their turn and saves and then also loads up the game as the WH3 faction, does their turn and saves.

So long as the game detects that you have saved orders (i.e. clicked "save" after making moves") for all three main factions, the AI will not play them.

Hope that makes sense!
- deguerra

[Turbo823]

Hi Turbo,

Assuming you know how PBEM works generally, it's really quite simple: the red player loads up the game as the RED faction and does their turn as normal and saves. The whites player loads up the game as the WHI faction and does their turn and saves and then also loads up the game as the WH3 faction, does their turn and saves.

So long as the game detects that you have saved orders (i.e. clicked "save" after making moves") for all three main factions, the AI will not play them.

Hope that makes sense!
- deguerra

Thanks so much Deguerra! Excellent explanation. If it would not be too much trouble, could you walk me through the PBEM process?

Regards,

Turbo

[deguerra]

Hi Turbo,

I sure can, but Captain Orso already did it better than me (this is for CW2, but the principle is exactly the same for RUS):

PBEM = Play By EMail

This is directly from the manual, updated by myself to fit to the current game.

Play by Email (PBEM )
CW II can be played against another human opponent using PBEM or any other valid file transfer protocol, such as Instant Messaging. One of the players (the “Host”) will have to initiate the game. The procedure is detailed below:

1. Create a game:
The Hosting player chooses a Campaign/Scenario and a side and starts the game as usual. This automatically generates a sub-folder in the 'C:\Users\{Username}\My Games\Civil War II\CW2\Saves\' directory, named after the Campaign or Scenario selected ('1861 April Campaign' if you play the “1861 April Campaign” scenario, for example). Please note that a number at the end of the folder name helps differentiate between multiple instances of the same Campaign/Scenario. However, the best way to avoid confusion is to rename the in-game Save (e.g. 1861 Campaign John vs. Joe). Do NOT rename any CW2 files inside the Saves\{scenario_name} folder just created. They will be changed automatically when using the rename function in the load-scenario menu.

In this newly created folder you will find a .hst file, which is shared by both players.

2. Host sends the HST file to opponent:
The Hosting player now sends his opponent the .hst file. The opponent must create a folder in the 'C:\Users\{Username}\My Games\Civil War II\CW2\Saves\' directory, named after the Campaign or Scenario exactly as in the .hst file name, and copy the .hst file into this folder. For example, if the full name of the .hst file received is '1861 April Campaign.hst', the non-hosting player must create a folder named '1861 April Campaign' and copy the .hst into it.

Note: In order to avoid possible data corruption while transferring files, it is strongly advised to compress the file(s) into an archive format such as ZIP, RAR, or 7z, what ever the players agree upon.

3. Non-Host sends ORD file to Host:
Each player now loads the scenario .hst file and gives his orders for the upcoming turn. When ready, each player saves the game. This will generate a .ord file in the folder mentioned above.

Important: do not click on End Turn at this step, only save.

The Non-Hosting player then sends his .ord file to the Hosting player.

4. Host resolves turn
The Hosting player saves the .ord file received from his opponent into the appropriate directory and loads the game again. He now clicks on End Turn to launch the turn resolution, where all orders are then executed. A new turn is now
ready to start. Go back to step 2. and repeat, only the non-hosting player will use the previously created folder instead of creating a new one.

Note: The Non-Hosting player doesn’t get to “play back” his opponent’s turn. However, he can check the turn’s Message Log to see what has occurred during the turn, including battle reports.

--

Maybe this could be sticky-ed for posterity.

from this thread:http://www.ageod-forum.com/viewtopic.php?t=50768

Let me know if there are any questions on top of that.

Hope that helps!
- deguerra

[ERISS]

One want to play all the whites.

The game was not balanced for this,

as whites could not be politically united: whites are warlords competting with jealousy or hatred for the victory
but AGE engine can't handle more than 2 sides about the victory, so the true victory white conditions are ingame told with text: only one of the 2 is considered true victorious (by the VictoryPoints or by entering Moscow first).

The "united white" ingame what-if is to please the White fans, and because players don't like playing idiots:
what about those aristocrat Whites could abandon their pretentious pride? (hating each other)
What about the white diaspora, with their inside pride struggles, could unite and help all the whites, despite being divised prefering one champion and hating the other? (even could prefer a red victory than the other white victor!)

[ It's some like the "republican" side in Spanish 36 war (but too few historians say this):
left bourgeoisy, republicans, hate democracy, people power:
anarchists, told in the "republican" side, allied with the republicans, but the reverse was not true: anarchists saved then helped republicans, but republicans prefered to first destroy anarchist side to thank them, rather than first destroy Franco side (who could easily invade the north once republicans treacherously cleaned it from people organization). ]

To simulate this in a 2 players game, games don't handle negative Victory Points, so it is always badly done.

[Durk]

I really agree with ERISS - the game was designed for two white players.
A compromise might be for both players to take a white faction and take turns playing the Reds.

Just a thought

Incidently Orso's solution is not as nice as shared hosting. Shared hosting has each player hosting every other turn. It is much fairer and moves the game along in half the time.