Multiplayer concerns and wishes

January 9, 2001, 19:14

The CTP2 multiplayer fiasco has raised some concerns about the multiplayer interface for Civ III and I was wondering if any members of the Firaxis team could give us some idea what they are doing on this. With civ 2 for example there is a large group of players who only multiplay.

Main questions:

. Will the game run in a window so we can access icq or aim? This is an extremely valuable feature of Civ 2.

. Will we able to host games on home PC without having to go to a dedicated server?

. Will players have the option of simultaneous movement? If you have a look at the civ 2 forum you will find players have recently modded civ 2 to allow this - and we LOVE IT.

Any other info you could give on the MP side would be much appreciated.

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tniem · January 9, 2001, 20:15

I am not a member of Firaxis but I think I can answer some of these questions from experience with SMAC.

quote:

Originally posted by Alexander's Horse on 01-09-2001 06:14 PM
Will we able to host games on home PC without having to go to a dedicated server?

. Will players have the option of simultaneous movement? If you have a look at the civ 2 forum you will find players have recently modded civ 2 to allow this - and we LOVE IT.

SMAC included both of these features and so I would imagine so would Civ III. I agree about simultaneous turns, it speeds the game up.

quote:

Will the game run in a window so we can access icq or aim? This is an extremely valuable feature of Civ 2.

Even if you cannot, you should be able to have your Windows toolbar always stay over the game and run ICQ, aim, or other programs. I can see how this would be great as you are playing Civ III and also using your browser to read the latest strategies here at Apolyton

January 9, 2001, 23:40

Ya, the main thing about being able to access icq or aim is when people lose connection or the game hangs. On civ 2, we spend a lot of time fixing glitches like that whilst the game is still running.

Also, many people like to play the game whilst doing something else on their PC between turns.

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Chaos, panic and disorder - My work here is done.

Keep the OT sticky thread free!!

tniem · January 9, 2001, 23:44

Alexander,

You did not understand me. Even if Firaxis does not expressively put the game in a window, you are able manually to have your tool bar to always show up. And then you are able to do whatever at the same time.

Sarxis · January 10, 2001, 02:29

Big one:

PBEM/Hotseat

I know this should just be assumed for a TBS, but nowadays it seems you have to say something- so I am saying it.

January 10, 2001, 02:43

quote:

Originally posted by tniem on 01-09-2001 10:44 PM
Alexander,

You did not understand me. Even if Firaxis does not expressively put the game in a window, you are able manually to have your tool bar to always show up. And then you are able to do whatever at the same time.

No, I understood that

CTP II is so buggy for MP it can't be played. I hope Civ III does a lot better.

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Chaos, panic and disorder - My work here is done.

Keep the OT sticky thread free!!

tniem · January 10, 2001, 12:43

I definetely need playing by email, but Firaxis has said that it is in, so I will take it for granted.

Roman · January 11, 2001, 02:19

I am extremely happy they are keeping the hotseat option. Huray, huray huray!!!

Aredhran · January 11, 2001, 06:22

I hope that for PBEM they took into account the remarks we made so long ago in the List.