19-01-2005 06:31									#1
	Crisis at 'Poly Inflate your Upload Space

If you voted B or C then lucky you, if you voted A then lets try to come with some suggestions to speed things up. That is suggestions that we can do to send our turns on faster.

When I get a turn in the mail I leave marked as unread until I have time to play it and send it.

I keep a note book for my PBEMs where I record any deals I'm working on. On the cover I make a note of when I last sent it on. If I haven't seen it in a few days I start wondering if I missed it in the mail so I check the thread.

Also posting in the thread is a big help.

For all those people playing 10+ games, whould you play as many if your games were faster?

	19-01-2005 08:56									#2
	Re: Crisis at 'Poly Support Apolyton, buy Galactic Civilizations

quote: Originally posted by 1889 When I get a turn in the mail I leave marked as unread until I have time to play it and send it.

quote: Originally posted by 1889 I keep a note book for my PBEMs where I record any deals I'm working on. On the cover I make a note of when I last sent it on. If I haven't seen it in a few days I start wondering if I missed it in the mail so I check the thread.

Wow, that's organized. I just subscribe to all the tracking thread and do some bumping/emailing to ones that don't get replied to for a few days.

	19-01-2005 09:31									#3
	Re: Re: Crisis at 'Poly Support Apolyton buy from Amazon

quote: Originally posted by Kloreep Wow, that's organized. I just subscribe to all the tracking thread and do some bumping/emailing to ones that don't get replied to for a few days.

I'm pretty much the same. I sometimes keep track of things that I really am worried about, but not much more ... but I'm in the Paddy Club of too many games

I'd probably not play quite as many, but only because I can probably manage 15-20 turns a day max - if I were in 40 turnaday games i'd be screwed.

	19-01-2005 14:48									#4
	Got spare money?

Heck, I don't even have separate folders for them. Started some scenarios though, and those are tendious, because I can't save them mid-turn.

And there's always those people, who manage to stall any and every game. I just bump the threads for Beta them in that case.

	19-01-2005 15:03									#5
	Enter the AD-FREE zone

1889, not sure what the issue is here

do you find that you are in too many games?

Join ya for a jug

Last edited by Paddy the Scot on 19-01-2005 at 15:28

	19-01-2005 18:16									#6
	Support Apolyton buy from Amazon

I just feel that games are running a bit slow. I am also hinting that rather than play more slow games, maybe we would get more enjoyment from playing fewer faster games.

I only have six PBEMs and I can check mail 2-3 times a day. I'm sure that most people are a lot busier than me. Since I have the time to track games a little closer I do so and I hope that keeps the games more interesting for everyone in them.

I hope that others will recognise how important a decent pace is to keeping PBEMs entertaining. Some of these people may decide to put a little more effort into speeding up their play or at least cus at me less next time I send a PM.

I am not ranting at people who can not check mail every day or at people who play lots of games. I am enjoying all the folks in my PBEMs. I am only asking that if you also feel games are too slow I hope you will try to do something about it.

	19-01-2005 19:18									#7
	Support Apolyton, buy GURPS/ Alpha Centauri

I am currently in 7 games.

2 are alive, 1 on life support.

I find that most of my games don't even survive til the end of the ancient age, usually due to someone not playing. I have a rule of thumb - do my best to play within 24 hours after receiving it, and post in the turn tracker. Some games, I get back once every month or so. It sucks, but so be it.

One solution I have seen sucessfull is to keep games to 4 or less players, and to let everybody know eachothers password so that if someone is gone, their turn can be skipped. There are a couple of program turnskippers out there as well, so nobody see's the others confidential information. Check with UberKruX / II as he has one of the best ones out there that I have seen.

	19-01-2005 20:22									#8
	Support Apolyton, buy Alpha Centauri

I check my email generally once a day, and will play any I have.

I keep a notebook of negotiations with the other parties, or important builds/plans if a game makes it that far. Generally, that's about the time the games seem to die off, though. I think this is likely due to one or more person being unhappy with the general position they are in and losing interest. This is understandable to a degree, not everyone likes to play out an unfavorable or hopeless position. I know one game I have no hope of winning. But I'll sure have fun trying something crazy out if the game keeps moving. I'll probably actually have MORE fun with that than a more standard game, actually.

I'm in maybe 8-10 PBEM's, of which 2 are moving good 1/day or close to it, 2 more are moving...sorta 1-3/week, and the rest are either dead or moving slower than 1/week.


And as GK alludes to, the "massive Diplomatic" game that Uber/Inverse Icarus set up on MZO, where we have an enforced turn/day rule where there's a timeslot, and we are skipped if we don't play in that time or can skip the previous player if we don't get the save, has moved VERY well so far. Even despite being 8 players.

Last edited by UnOrthOdOx on 19-01-2005 at 20:30

	19-01-2005 22:55									#9
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6 out of my 7 games are progressing OK...

	20-01-2005 02:31									#10
	Support Apolyton, buy Galactic Civilizations: Deluxe Edition

Lets see....

2 games moves pretty fast (1 turn a day unles someone is vacationing), the rest drop in once or twice a week.


I try to keep my civ stuff organized.

When a new save arrive I copy the save into the appropriate folder (like my documents->civ->iron civer final). From there I make another copy into the 'saves' folder (I keep a shortcut to 'saves' within each game folder, very convenient ).

If several mail arrive at once I repeat until I'm done.

If I got the time I will now start c3c and pick any of the saves that are waiting for me(some saves gets priority). I then open the appropriate turn protocol to see what's happening. The level of details vary wildly, in some games this protocol is kept at a bare minimum while other games recieve a minute protocol of *all* events. I then play the game, take notes, save the game and close the protocol(and then open the next game, when appropriate). When I'm done playing, I close c3c and look at my saves folder. Incoming saves(which have been played) are dumped in an 'old saves' folder while the fresh saves gets moved to the games folders.

Then I start the 'clean-up' process. Each game folder has one or more sub-folder for old stuff. When the outgoing save has been sent off, the save(s) gets dumped in the 'old stuff' folders.

When I'm all done, any .SAV files left in either the game folders or the 'saves' folder is saves waiting to be played.

I also keep other stuff in my game folders. Like maps, statistics, strategies and diplomacy.



I'm not sure if this makes me faster but it makes sure I don't forget to play a save.

	20-01-2005 03:24									#11
	Support Apolyton, buy Alpha Centauri

quote: Originally posted by UnOrthOdOx I keep a notebook of negotiations with the other parties, or important builds/plans if a game makes it that far. Generally, that's about the time the games seem to die off, though. I think this is likely due to one or more person being unhappy with the general position they are in and losing interest. This is understandable to a degree, not everyone likes to play out an unfavorable or hopeless position. I know one game I have no hope of winning. But I'll sure have fun trying something crazy out if the game keeps moving. I'll probably actually have MORE fun with that than a more standard game, actually.

Agreed. I have some starts I don't think I'll ever recover from, but I play them anyway.

	20-01-2005 03:38									#12
	Support Apolyton, buy Civilization 2

So far I'm in only 2 PBEM games.

The first one is a slow moving 8 player no AI epic one (accel = on). Mostly my fault; I set up the order of the players without regard to what timezones / what times people would actually play in and so there were even large gaps to open the save, hit enter and send it on.

In the second one, WW II Europe, the save hasn't even reached the last player the first time yet.

	20-01-2005 11:59									#13
	Support Apolyton, buy Civilization III: Complete

My tights are blue and I have a banana on the chest. How should I vote?

quote: Originally posted by Modo44 And there's always those people, who manage to stall any and every game. I just bump the threads for Beta them in that case.

	21-01-2005 05:04									#14
	Support Apolyton, buy GURPS/ Alpha Centauri

quote: Originally posted by Rommel2D My tights are blue and I have a banana on the chest. How should I vote?

Rommel, you're not Con. He's the blue banana man. You're the green tights with a switchblade on the front ...

	21-01-2005 05:29									#15
	Increase the size of your Attachments

ojn other things

game administration / management is very important

when a game is slowing down, or has come to a halt, I find that a post in the thread, along with an email to the player involved, along with a link to the thread is very helpful

the spice must flow

	21-01-2005 10:50									#16
	Support Apolyton buy from Amazon

quote: Originally posted by snoopy369 Rommel, you're not Con. He's the blue banana man. You're the green tights with a switchblade on the front ...

You seem to have forgotten that everyone is con's DL.

Speaking of which, I though this thread was going to be about Arnelos for some reason...

	21-01-2005 11:36									#17
	Remove this text

If you're setting up a game that will be played for such an extended period of time (half a year should be considered the bare minimum), it is well worth a few minutes of research to find out who you are playing with. By clicking the 'search' link, you can pull up a player's posting history and see what games they are in. By scrolling through a tracking thread of a few games they are in, you can get a good idea of their usual response times.

I group players into three categories (hey, look at the poll choices ;-): I consider the bare minimum for a good PBEM player to be a response within 24 hours under normal circumstances. This was the criteria for the Iron Civer tournament, so anyone with the sword-on-blue icon is a safe bet for a reliable player. (I'll have to go back and recheck this because I think Beta was admitted to the group just because he volunteered to be a replacement. )

Another category is the people who have real life issues on a regular basis that lead to repeated holdups in any games they play, or have overestimated the number of games they can maintain participation in. These games usually only stay alive if they have personalities that keep the tracking thread interesting...

Then there are the 12-hour max response people. If you can get a group of these together, you could have a 2-a-day slot game that makes for an exhilerating PBEM experience. Unfortuantely, RL events can affect various people's availability, and this last category is the most rare to maintain (not to mention a tendency to overestimate your own level of commitment).

I'd be interested in another 2-a-day if there are three or more other PBEM heroes ready to fight for truth, justice, and the Apolyton way...

Last edited by Rommel2D on 21-01-2005 at 11:46

	21-01-2005 15:45									#18
	Support Apolyton buy from Amazon

My notebook of ongoing negotiations and such is called "notepad.exe"

	22-01-2005 23:45									#19
	Put an end to popups!

This notebook idea is a good one that hadn't occured to me.

	24-01-2005 08:06									#20
	Suffering from ads?

Ok - I have 44 pbems on the go. I know this precisely as I have a pretty detailed list - and as I got behind this week - I did major housecleaning and catching up. Only one - an old PTW game - Team game - looks like it is dead. I am also playing two demo games (team Monkey and Vox) and just finished my stint as Emperor in the demo game.

Generally, I play my pbem's as they come in. Some of the bigger games (top gun, crusades, misfits, grapes) I may let sit for a day while I play the quicker games.

And yes Rommel, every now and then one sneaks through the cracks and either doesn't get played, or gets played and not sent. This is usually on two-bottle-of-wine nights.

I tried to keep a notebook, but found it a pain. I rely on my e-mail and PM log and my memory to keep track of deals made. I think 'silent' pbems make a lot of sense, and will sign up for most that come along.

I am generally on-line twice a day to play saves, but work or RL stuff can cut into that.

I am at about my limit for game time - but if someone comes with an interesting idea for a game, I am all ears.

	24-01-2005 13:11									#21
	Support Apolyton, pre-order Civilization IV

44 Almost more than Paddy

Come to think of it, I am in several games with both of you

Edit: Only 1 with you actually, but 4 with Paddy

	24-01-2005 13:56									#22
	Increase Your PM Length

quote: Originally posted by Beta And yes Rommel, every now and then one sneaks through the cracks and either doesn't get played, or gets played and not sent. This is usually on two-bottle-of-wine nights.

You shouldn't encourage your brother's drinking habit like this- what with con's head injury and all, even more games will end up suffering...

[at least I hope you're not finishing two bottles by yourself- makes my liver hurt just thinking about it. ]

	24-01-2005 18:24									#23
	Support Apolyton buy from Amazon

And no, I don't drink alone.

	26-01-2005 17:08									#24
	Avatar Enlargement: We've got the solution

I promised myself to not get involved in more than 10 games.

only so much grey matter left over for my "honey does"

	29-01-2005 04:08									#25
	Support Apolyton, buy Civilization 2

i've been unreliable twice for about 5 days in january, otherwise i've played pretty much anything since the beginning of my PBEMs a year ago within 36 hours, usually around 4-18 hours after recieving the save.

currently, only 3 games are moving on at a sensible pace and 2 are annoyingly slow. the rest are dead

any new PBEM i join should have reliable players only from now on should have reliable players who will notice by themselves if they are blocking any games and fire a replacement or retire for the sake of the others. what's it worth hanging on to stuff that won't survive the next era change?

so to all the overly busy players who continually are unreliable players: pleeeease find a solution!

	29-01-2005 04:53									#26
	Increase the size of your Attachments

quote: Originally posted by bongo 44 Almost more than Paddy Come to think of it, I am in several games with both of you Edit: Only 1 with you actually, but 4 with Paddy

	29-01-2005 06:59									#27
	Remove this text

quote: Originally posted by sabrewolf i any new PBEM i join should have reliable players only from now on should have reliable players who will notice by themselves if they are blocking any games and fire a replacement or retire for the sake of the others. what's it worth hanging on to stuff that won't survive the next era change? so to all the overly busy players who continually are unreliable players: pleeeease find a solution!

Hear, hear!!!

I think I'm fortunate not to have that problem in my current PBEMs. However, this can be an annoying problem for many players. I guess people don't understand the daily time committment over a very long length of time or RL situations emerge...it happens. A few of my current C3C PBEMs clicked over the one year mark recently.

What's weird is the no-notice disappearance after playing with someone for many months.

	29-01-2005 07:05									#28
	Get a bigger avatar today!

yeah a sudden disappearance certainly can be strange

	29-01-2005 07:07									#29
	Support Apolyton, buy Civilization III: Complete

quote: Originally posted by Shogun Gunner What's weird is the no-notice disappearance after playing with someone for many months.

Yes - I agree. Unless it is urgent RL calling, it is more than weird, it is disrespectful of those who invested the time and energy in the game.

sabre - I agree with your point completely as well.

	29-01-2005 21:43									#30
	Re: Crisis at 'Poly Support Apolyton, buy Civilization 2

quote: Originally posted by 1889 If you voted B or C then lucky you, if you voted A then lets try to come with some suggestions to speed things up. That is suggestions that we can do to send our turns on faster. When I get a turn in the mail I leave marked as unread until I have time to play it and send it. I keep a note book for my PBEMs where I record any deals I'm working on. On the cover I make a note of when I last sent it on. If I haven't seen it in a few days I start wondering if I missed it in the mail so I check the thread. Also posting in the thread is a big help. For all those people playing 10+ games, whould you play as many if your games were faster?

some of my game are simply overwhelming me..cant hardly breathe..any help would be great

actually I miss the all day affairs of playing but love this style as well

it kinda sucks when it is a slow turn rate..i luv it hard and fats..well that didnt come out right now did it?

Gramps