An easy way to multiplayer?

a technical discussion

from GalCiv2 Forums
First of all: Great game

I nearly read all the posts on multiplayer ... and it seems that there are people out there who miss the multiplayer part. I do so too, in my case i would like to have some mp games (mostly cooperative) with friends. So my intend is to show ways how multiplayer could easily be implemented with little changes.

The more I think about it the more I come to the conclusion that it should be a rather easy task. OK the word easy is the wrong word in the development sector, but let us see what i mean.

First some basics:

Simultaneous MP: This will never be an option I think as the core system of the game is not simultaneous

Balancing: I think there are no real balancing problems in mp, OK maybe some races are not the best for mp (against aggressive players), but hey, choose another or create your own race

Now to the 2 only needed multiplayer options which are needed to do the rest:

Hot seat: This is the first step. If you can make it possible, that you can start a game with more than one player (and maybe choose a race file for every player - if wanted) half the way is done.

PBEM: Lets think hot seat is solved and in PBEM after player 1 ends his turn the game stops makes a savegame and you can send it by mail - then player 2 loads this file and after his turn it goes same way back. The only thing i dont know ... what about the diplomatic options with other players? Maybe this is saved in file and popups after loading ...

So if I am right its nothing other than a file transfer (of a save game or a similar file). Now lets say there is an external tool:

- Every player opens this tool at desktop.
- One creates a game, the other connect to him (TCP/IP)
- Afterwards player 1 (server) opens the game by button with "mp" option
- The tool tells the game how many players have joined (by file per example)
- Now player 1 set the params for the universe and assign a race (maybe also per file) to every player
- Player 1 starts game
- After he finishs his turn the game creates a file in an outgooing directory
- The external tool checks this (after a second or so) and delivers the savegame to player2
- The external tool at player2 checks this and save the file in an incoming directory
- The game checks this (periodically) and load this savegame
- Player 2 finishs his turn -> savegame is delivered to player 3
....
....
....

And of course there could be more options in the external tool -> PBEM, HTTP, FTP, Direct File Access (for LAN), etc ...

And if you would not make such a tool I'm sure the community would and if the community would not ... I would. As a note: The good old but outdated Stars! used a simmilar tool in the background for multiplayer, thats why i come over this possibility.

What do you think about this ... am I right? Is it a "simple" file transfer? Or am I totally wrong?
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Reply #2 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
There should be a sticky about how to get multiplayer working... or maybe a document from the website to download. Otherwise these topics will frequently be popping up.
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Reply #3 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

One of the big issues is Diplomacy. There is NO way, currently, to message a friend (if playing hotseat or PBEM) and say "Here what what i want to give you, and here's what I want. Is this a fair trade?" We'd have to establish some sort of method for this.

Also, we'd need a way to queue up battles, so you can go back and watch the fights your ships were in, rather than coming back and seeming half your fleet gone.

There were some other feathers that would have to be tweaked or implemented before Multiplayer would be a possiblilty, so 'no', it's a bit more complex than sending the save file over (not MAJORLY complex, but enough to take some time and planning).

Reply #4 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
There should be a sticky about how to get multiplayer working... or maybe a document from the website to download. Otherwise these topics will frequently be popping up.


There is a sticky 'The case for no multiplayer' and still the topic keeps coming up again.... *shrugs*
Reply #5 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
OK I see. The diplomacy is also some sort of problem when you play cooperative -> 3 players are researching 3 times faster than the comuter if everyone concentrates in one direction and technologies are traded as hell.

So there are 3 possible ways for this:

1. It doesnt matter that much, because if comuter players are allied they trade also a lot and you can set AI to hard.
2. Trade between players can be restricted anyway (settable on game setup)
3. Let the AI react on offers. You can only set that it may trade with this or that race (not the best way of course, it will not satisfy the players )

And you are right, there are of course some things to handle in an other way in multiplayer games. Not only diplomacy and fights from player to player but also from computer player to player.

And where I was wrong: OK, at the moment it is not as easy as I thought, but doable...
But where I am right: If you get the game to be playable by PBEM, than all other mp options are also possible the way i described ...