Ugleb

Join Date 09/2003

GC2 Multiplayer - What do we want to see?

As we've had a few threads crop up lately about the lack of multi player features in GC2, I thought it might be useful to move the discussion on a bit and see what people would like to get in a multi player expansion pack.

Please remember this is a suggestions thread for the possible multi player expansion, not the place to demand that stardock slap an mp mode onto the main game, or to declare how useless you may think an mp mode would be. Lets try to be constructive ok?

So, what do you want from an mp expansion?

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Oh well. Keep the game comin. I hope you can work multiplayer in at a future date. Cause i loved that feature in games like Birth of the Federtation, a game which she and i still play today.

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e anyone wanting to play that long in 1 sit online when saving and restart a online game can be somethines hard.

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...Civ3 doesn't have near 1024 turns in a normal game...Unless you customize that, of course.

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ats it's from me for now. I am off to work.

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Simultaneous turns for the reasons Solitair brought

It would be my best and only wish really... the rest would be done correctly anyway so I don't bother.

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IMHO...

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g to a player who was supposed to go before you, you wouldn't be able to move your ship until the other player had moved his. Probably not easy to implement, but it's the way that makes the most sense in this kind of game IMO.

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plamented. Just make a great game.

These are what i would love to see in the release or the expansion!

Adam

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ying who is which civ).

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layers move their units for example=> trade with the yor for the new super cannon or fiddle with your planets

- Easy direct IP.to minimize lack

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ng ships.

Paul.

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d hardly play any Multiplayer if it weren't for PBEM.

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Play by email would probably be how I'd play it as well, I've only played a 4x mp a few times and they take far too long for all players to stick at it I find.

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I am not trying to troll but just give a balanced view to me the metaverse is enough there are better things to do with any expantion packs imo

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I'll add much more later, but one tiny thing I just thought of would be during diplomatic relations, it would be nice if voice chat were available for those with mics so that typing would be unnecessary. I suppose Ventrilo or Roger Wilco could be used, but an in-game voice chat would be better so that people who don't know each other beforehand can benefit from voice chat.

Perhaps people that form alliances would have voice chat enabled at all times, while non-allies would be required to voice-chat through diplomatic channels, pun somewhat intended

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I vote for simultaneous turns as well. As for the ship targetting problems that could easily be solved by A) Targetting for movement done by assigning either a space, or a ship (A fleet can split up)

Zones of control, like in CIV and SMAC, where you would become attacked if you moved into a square around an enemy ship. C) Patrol Options, where you can give a ship orders to intercept any enemy moving into a zone you set for it (maybe you could give multiple fleets of ships the orders, and they will work together to form a network of ships, with smaller fleets scouting ahead, while the larger fleets stay back to intercept the intruders) You could implement a mouse drag method of designating an area.

I like C a lot, because even though it will be harder to implement in the game, it will eliminate some amount of micromanaging on the players part. Maybe even add an alert when an intruder is spotted so that a player can evaluate the threat, and step up defenses if he thinks it's necessary.

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Lucky_Jack

Join Date 01/2002

+62

I don't care much for MP, so it is very important to me that GC2 works well as a single player game. I think adding MP should always be a secondary consideration to how well the game works in single player mode.

If you really think about it, if the game works well only in MP mode, the game isn't realy much. But if a game works real well in single player mode, then playing the same game in MP mode has to be that much better.

Another thought. How about an MP mode that includes computer run races. You and friends as several races and the computer as several other races, all competing at once. Has anyone ever seen a game like that?

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You and friends as several races and the computer as several other races, all competing at once.Has anyone ever seen a game like that?

Have you tried Heroes Of Might and Magic ?

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Lots of great suggestions here. But shall we wait for the final game first and then go on and make wishes for a multiplayer variant?

Only thing I would really fancy is PBEM

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I would think ideally the single player and multiplayer games should be identical tactically, i.e., if turns are simultaneous MP, they are in SP as well. Length of game is an issue, but not if you play medium maps.

And while a community might be nice to look for players, I think most people will end up using the MP function for coop play in something like the Altarian Allies (I think the name is, from Altarian Prophecy where Terrans and Alterians fight side-by-side against a universe of hostile aliens). People will likely also play 3-way free-for-alls, but I doubt many people will play 5 person games. So, these are more like scenarios in AP and not like traditional games, so that allows for more reasonable length games and people will likely play with friends and not need to find people over the Internet (though the ability to find new people might be fun).

Finally, I really think GC2 needs MP. While GC1 was a great game, it is just a lot more fun to play with friends than it is to play alone (esp. on a long game like GC where you can easily disappear for hours and hours). So I really hope the developers take the time to consider adding MP into the base game (it also sells more games--if it has MP, all my friends will buy it since we like to play together). Even if it is an add-on, it really has to be basically designed before the game is done so that it is basically an identical tactical game--if it is turn based in SP and simultaneous in MP, it just won't work (or something similar). I am not in love with simultaneous or anything, but it seems to be popular here. I am fine with order options like in Stars! (which is more in keeping with GC anyway) that allow you to issue standing orders to your fleets.

So end my thoughts, but I would like to remind everyone how cool it would be to release your new theoretical deisgn on your friend's theoretical design to see what happens... around here, we are already thinking up ideas based on the limited state of the beta, so I think it is safe to say multiplayer is something that we would use extensively. You just never had that custom ship overlay in GC1, and so, the desire for MP is just stronger in GC2.

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I think Esnoble said it best here. I do think that multiplayer should be included at some point, but I also believe that it should not cost us a good single player experience. Multiplayer should be build upon the single player experience, not instead of it. I do play single player a lot, but I still like it when me and a few friends can sit down an play together. I remember playing hotseat MOO2 for several years in college with 4-6 friends at once, heh. But they would never have been interested if they hadn't watched me play a fun single player game. I think it is because of this that TBS games tend to have the most sophisticated AI elements when compared to all other games. After all, even in RTS games, the computer players are more reacting and following preset development strategies than actually thinking.

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