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Having little time to play, i have done only a few times mp. My main mp period was with Birth of the federation. Now i am doing pbem for the first time with Armada 2526 (testing for expansion) which i enjoy and have always been looking for (for 4x space strategy game which is my favorite genre). Now, i don't see the problem with my personal life to do a turn every day or every 2 days as i will most likely play anyway or going on internet. Here are the reasons why i have done little mp and none pbem.

1. Before playing against a human, i want to know the game very well and be at least able to win on average on a regular basis. Here comes the time factor. With so many games, there's only a few games i really master (armada 2526 being one).

2. I want to rely on my human opponent. I prefer to play against someone who visits the forums on a regular basis as i would hate to see a game not being finished.

Cheers

Only game Ive ever played PBEM was Stars! which was a great game. Played a few games over the internet like Rome Total War and some first person shooters but I dont tend to play long games on the internet and I dont like waiting for email games unless there is a lot to do per turn like there was in Stars!. I generally still prefer to play single player off line.

I was a hardcore single player until I got into AACW. I played Steel Panthers with my buddy, but who would ever want to play an email game? It just sounds so archaic. I finally tried last year and loved it. Breaking habits is hard, but rewarding.

If I had control over my schedule, I think I would enjoy PBEM. But I would not want to commit, with another person's time and efforts involved, and disappoint due to time constraints.

I can't imagine a more schedule friendly game system than pbem. I have a busy schedule, and it can be erratic also and change day to day, week to week. But during that one or maybe two times during the day that I have a moment at home and can do something I wanna do, the turns are waiting in the mail. It is reasonable to expect about a turn per day (more or less, of course) for most players, I think. If you want to have times where you can play longer in a session, then have 2 or maybe more games going, it isn't something you even have to plan. I do mine during times when I have nothing else planned.

Mortar wrote:I can't imagine a more schedule friendly game system than pbem.

I could not agree more sir. PBEM is a convenient system and should fit very well in most people's schedule.

I got interested in this thread, kinda drifting through the crazy, and it made me think of this ...

Here is the text of an old post from the Matrix site, that I posted sometime in 2005. It was meant for WITP, but it will work with most any MULTIPLAYER strategy game.

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Scenario duration calculator


g = number of game turns as stated in the scenario editor for a given scenario.

t = turn-around time in minutes, or the average time it takes to play 1 complete turn (for all players) and takes into account all posssible delays, except sleep.

s = sleep time in minutes, or the average amount of time any player will sleep each calander day.

d = a calander day expressed as total minutes or normally 1440 minutes.

dm = duration of a game in minutes.

dd = duration of a game in days.

dy = duration of a game in years.



therefore:

dm = ((g * t) / (d - s)) * d

dd = dm / d ...

dy = dd / 365.25


example 1:

Bert and Ernie decide to play WitP scenario 15 by mail. The game lasts the maximum number of turns the scenario will allow.

Each turn took 30 minutes to complete on average. During the game Bert and Ernie sleep about 8 hours a day. How many days elapsed while Bert and Ernie were playing the game?


dm = ((1576 * 30) / (1440 - 480)) * 1440

dm = 70920

dd = 70920 / 1440

dd = 49.25


example 2:

Ralph and Fred decide to play WitP scenario 15 by mail. They agree to do 1 turn per day in the evening after work. Both Ralph and Fred sleep 6 hours a day on average. How many years elapsed while Ralph and Fred were playing the game?

dm = ((1576 * 1080) / (1440 - 360)) * 1440

dm = 2269440

dd = 2269440 / 1440

dd = 1576

dy = 1576 / 365.25

dy = 4.31

Other.

Human players ruin game immersion.

I don't play PEBM, nor any other kind of Multiplayer.
I like to kill my enemy.
But since killing humans isn't socially accepted I prefer to keep playing against my computer. Killing it being perfectly fine

I think the game experience is better, much more enjoyable, when you are playing against another player than playing against Athena (I don't mean to hurt you, lady ). Yes, maybe you can only play one turn or two at a day, but you center in that turn all of your attention, and you wait anxious the opponent turn in order to see what's happened.

A human player is also less predictable than the AI (altough the AGEOD's AI is much more challenging than other games AI).

Other.

All of the potential challenges that potentially exist when playing a live human as opposed to the always limited computer AI are understood and appreciated and I have played against others in real-time naval games like Strategic Naval Gunnery or HPS Jutland with both positive and negative experiences.

I impose generally severe restrictions on myself to avoid exploits or prevent drifting away from my definition of the historically reasonable. Therefore I am uncomfortable about imposing my house rules on another player as would be required for me to enjoy PBEM.

-C

Ashbery76 wrote:Other.

Human players ruin game immersion.

I disagree, read here http://www.ageod-forum.com/showthread.php?28824-Diplomacy-amp-News

I used to talk in pbem with my opponent maintaining some forms according to the era of the war or the personalities involved. Make it more funny.
In pbem you play better and take long time preparing each turn trying to imagine your opponents plans. In a game like AJE there are room for diplomacy as in PoN (more than two players scenarios)

I understand the advantages of the AI, it always plays when you want, to the game you want etc... but normally you win. I have had great games losing in pbem. And fortunately in AGEOD forums we have very good players and at the same time very good people.

Some years ago i wasnt a pbem player but the experience was really good for me. Now i play both types of game but i enjoy much in pbem.

voted have yet to but plan on eventually playing pbem. For me we need more mp options such as simply sitting down and doing turns on both sides then simply clicking done, I understand this will cause at certain tirns long waiting periods, than i can do other things/plan strategy etc.

I love the game and would like to play PBEM games but my problem is I am not sure how being a little older I am not so good on computers. but think once I learned how to would be great. and if people cheat to win why would you play the game its about having fun

Helo,

I will answer to this question, becasue for a long time I was a player who had avoided PBEM, and only played on SP.
For me, the main reason was lack of lobby/in game PBEM rooms/cloud saving .ord files etc.
The only way to find an opponent is to look here, on AEGOD forums or STEAM forum, but all the work with sending files (dropbox helps a lot !), finding opponent etc is a real horror for a newcomer (as I was not so long time ago), and I tihnk it's the reason many people never tries PBEM.
But I have to say, when you play even one game, it's much more challenging and entertaining than SP, and now I have 5 PBEM running along.

If posible AEGOD team designer, consider creating in game PBEM mechanics/lobby/in game hosting possibilites which would help to get more new plaeers into MP and make life easier for the rest.

general rumbo wrote:I love the game and would like to play PBEM games but my problem is I am not sure how being a little older I am not so good on computers. but think once I learned how to would be great. and if people cheat to win why would you play the game its about having fun

PBEM in AGE games is very simple, particularly if someone else is hosting. All you do is open the turn (like you would any other saved game), plot your orders, then save rather than clicking next turn. This generates a .ORD file in the save directory, which is sent to the host (via email, dropbox, however). The host then runs the turn with the ord file. Very very easy.