Hot Seat?

[bk6583]

Inspite of 1.16cr10 patch, where the read me text says that the CSA Athena is much better now at staying put and playing defensively 'smarter', I've seen no indication of that whatsoever. Using the recommended settings (I believe off the top of my head: Liuetenant or Captain; normal aggressiveness and medium fog of war) I had CSA corps go north all over the place and eventually die of starvation. So I thought I'd go the old fashioned route and try playing solitaire - only I don't see any way in the manual to do this. So can one play hot seat with this game?

[Longshanks]

Yes you can. On the Load Game screen there is a very small gray square in the upper right hand corner. If you click on that, the list of game files you can load will change and you will see the game file for the "other side". You can then load that game (that is, the AI's side).

Since I don't want to play EVERY turn for the AI, I've been doing this when one of the AI armies suddenly takes off into the hinterland.

1. I back up one turn, using the "Home" option on the load screen.
2. I then load the AI and remove the moves for the offending stack, and do something else with it.
3. I then save the AI's turn.
4. Then, I reload my ORD file (my turn) and re-execute the game turn. This gets rid of the crazy invasions, but some things (like building 3 coastal artillerys in one turn), you have to back up several turns perhaps, and so those aren't worth fixing imo.

[Durk]

Another way of doing this, if you do not want AI to be a player at all is this:
1. Start the game normally.
2. Select one side, say CSA and make your move, then save.
3. Then select the other side, USA in this example, then save.
4. Run the turn end button.
Now play the side where you are. Save. Go to the other side, play and save and hit turn end.
As long as you keep making moves for both sides, each side is offered to you every turn.

[Captain_Orso]

Ah, this thread is very opportune for a question.

I wanted to check something or other that Athena was up to after running a turn but without having to backup a turn or break-out a turn to another saved-game, so I loaded her side and tried to run the turn replay, but when I hit the 'Replay Turn' button nothing happened

Is this somehow WAD?

The patch level of the game is 1.16rc10a.

[Longshanks]

LL is the pro to whom I defer, but I think you do not get a RPL file when the AI does the turn. Therefore, WAD.

[lodilefty]

LL is the pro to whom I defer, but I think you do not get a RPL file when the AI does the turn. Therefore, WAD.

Ii think you are correct. Never tried it!

Once again, the Great Bear finds an obscure issue

[Captain_Orso]

In my second from last full game on 1.16rc10a I played the CSA and when I look back in all the saves there are both USA and CSA replays for all the saved turns of the game (the last year).

In my last game in which I played the USA there are only USA replays

In the second from last game I'm sure that I loaded the US's side at least once to look at the orders, but in my last game I don't think that I did, so it may very well be that if you never load the opponents turn that replay files are not generated.

But that begs the question of what happens if you are hosting a PBEM game. In that case you don't load your opponent's turn either and he aught to be getting a replay file back along with the .trn and .hst files. I would have hoped to have heard some complaints about it were not the case.

Then again, the game might recognize that the non-hosting player's .ord file is imported and therefore generate a replay file for the non-hosting player.

In one saved game from 1.16rc9 half way through the game the opponent's replay files were not generated. But that was a game that I copied from another save and continued with it to test something.

So it may very well be that the game doesn't generate replay files if you are only playing vs Athena and never load her orders.

The simplest solution would be to always generate a replay for both sides regardless of what is otherwise going on with the game.

One for the devs I guess.

[lodilefty]

AFAIK, current design:

• vs. AI, only the human player should get a Replay
• PBEM, both sides get a Replay, host should sent it to opponent with the trn file
• If you "intervene" in an AI game for one turn, I think that turn will generate a replay for both [you have changed the AI file to human].
  
  • Next turn, if AI picks it up again, AI gets no replay.
• If a PBEM play abandons the game, opponent can continue vs AI, which will then start not generating a replay.

[Longshanks]

AFAIK, current design:

• vs. AI, only the human player should get a Replay
• PBEM, both sides get a Replay, host should sent it to opponent with the trn file
• If you "intervene" in an AI game for one turn, I think that turn will generate a replay for both [you have changed the AI file to human].
  
  • Next turn, if AI picks it up again, AI gets no replay.
• If a PBEM play abandons the game, opponent can continue vs AI, which will then start not generating a replay.

This is exactly my experience. Of course since I am currently hosting 5 games, playing in a PBEM of my own, and running a test game vs the AI, I can barely keep anything straight.

[Captain_Orso]

Since I've never PBEMed as of yet, I looked in the manual to see exactly what it says. In the manual, and the Wiki, it states that the non-hosting player only gets sent the .trn file returned to him. It also states "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". So it seems that generating a replay file for the non-hosting side was an afterthought in the game development.

What I also wonder is what is the .hst file for if the non-hosting player doesn't get a post-turn copy of it? Is it the complete game status at that point-in-time?