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yin26
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This space reserved for Darkstar.
Apr 1999
time: 14:12
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Can Civ3 manage a strong on-line presence? Or will we all be beating the computer a few days after buying the game, left with:
- PBEM games that take months to finish (great on the personal schedule but lousy for how darn long they take);
- Hotseat games that require eveybody to be in the same room (fun enough when possible, which is never for me);
- Praying that scenario designers outdo themselves (I would consider scenarios a different civ experience, not necessarily the one I bought the game for);
- Trying increasingly silly challenges -- forget the "One City Challenge" how 'bout the "No City Challenge"? -- to keep things interesting (more a logic puzzle than a game)?
In my case, unless I can play against other human beings and have everything wrapped up in 2-3 hours, I just don't see how I'll get much challenge/fun out of the game after a few weeks AND have it fit my busy schedule (8 hour on-line games won't fit into my lifestyle, for example, and I imagine most people are the same).
Obviously, PBEM, Hotseat, scenarios and challenges all have their place, and I hope they are supported in Civ3. But I'm not sure anything can replace the fun of logging in to a crowded Civ3 site, finding a room full of friends, and battling for a few hours to determine a victor.
But to finish a civ game in 2-3 hours, how would we need to set it up? Timelimits are fine but artificial. Total points are the same way. "Last man standing" or "Election as World Leader" are the most satisfying to me, but can that be done in 2-3 hours with Civ?
So, my questions:
Do you think MP games are important for Civ3?
If so, how would you suggest it be done?
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Having the multiplayer option in a civ is the main reason I play. I play multiplayer in 2 ways - LAN and WAN.
On a LAN game, I'm in one room, my opponent(s) are in another. We play for a few hours, or until someone has to leave. The host then saves the game and we continue it later. A game can take a month or two to actually finish.
On a WAN (Internet) game, it's basically the same. We play until someone has to leave. Then the Host saves the game. We coordinate later on when we will continue the game (usually call over the phone or send an email to coordinate the time). Lately I've been using MSN Messanger Service, this way we can all "talk" to one another during the game.
The current game I'm playing is with 7 civs (2 human). I'm in North Carolina, my human opponent is in New Hampshire. I'm the host of the current game, so I contact my opponent via MSN Messanger. I give him my IP Address. I load the saved game, he joins me for the launch. I like it because we can both actually talk to one another during the game. Of course, we normally only play on the weekend (Friday/Saturday nights) because of work schedules.
So as far as the actual length of a game goes, I don't feel its that important since we play when we can. 
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Jon Miller
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It is my opinion that both AI and multiplayer need to be developed. Current Civ AI is currently too easy (but it would also help if Firaxis just fixed stuff like ICS). Multiplayer is a lot of fun and is better than playing vrs AI. PBEM and LAN both need to be supported well (and for LAN SMAC's simultaneous play seems to work best. I have not really tried over the internet. As for PBEM, it is dependent on the players (like in a current game I am playing we did 3 turns a week until somebody (me) forgot about it and kept on forgteting about it, at that rate it would take a long time to play though). I personally like LAN for the starting and then going to PBEM later (but 8 hours of LAN is always good). Also SMAC does not get by my colleges firewall (and no they are not going to change anything for me) so it must be played PBEM. CivMPGE I have heard can go through the firewall. Also a full game being 2-3 hours just is not Civ, it could be a scenario though.
Jon Miller
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tniem
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Hope College
Apr 2000
time: 00:12
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Multiplayer is important to me. It needs to be able to go through firewalls. I don't want to change everything that I have set up for my computer just to play some Civ III.
PBEM needs to be included to allow my friends and I to play more than one game at a time.
Finally, yin I really don't think that there is a way to make a multiplayer game go very fast except for making a small map and maybe having a quick start option where you are already x years into the game.
Or, maybe Firaxis could make some multiplayer maps/scenarios that don't take too long to play but still have a lot of complexity and are fun to play.
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This is a no brainer - the future of these games IS multiplay. I play civ 2 almost every night and I only multiplay. No-one has yet come close to creating an ai that can match a competent human player.
The civ 2 Gold multiplay platform is very stable and user friendly so I think they should stick with that. Don't change a thing. And PLEASE DON'T try and make us dial into a dedicated server like those CTP fools did. Its much better having the set up where one player hosts.
Also it would be immensely helpful if the game could continue to be run in a window like civ 2 so that players can use icq or aim. Also so they can do other things on their computer during long MP turns.
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Chaos, panic and disorder - My work here is done.
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Lung
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of my princess Anastasia!
Mar 1999
time: 15:12
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Multiplayer is a must! I play CTP by pbem, and despite taking up to a couple of years to complete, it is infinitely better than playing the AI, which never competes with humans except by being programmed to cheat. Even with a good AI (is that possible?), it's much more fun knowing that somewhere else in the world someone is cursing you for conquering a city, rather than knowing that you're beating a machine than wouldn't even care if it was aware of what was happening. Also, the time it takes to complete a pbem game results in a strange sense of ownership and responsibility for your civ, which can't be explained to anyone who hasn't played a single game for that long. Maybe i'm just a bit weird 
Hotseat is also good, but games tend to never finish as, as soon as someone starts to lose they usually quit in disgust!
However, the prospect of playing Civ3 by pbem has me positively salivating at the thought  The idea that we will have far more strategic paths and far less bugs than CTP makes it even more appealing, and a much improved AI only barely reduces this.
[This message has been edited by Lung (edited February 01, 2001).]
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Taliseian
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Sacramento, CA
Nov 2000
time: 05:12
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Long time Civ player....never played Multiplayer.
I still break out Civ2, CtP (very rarely), and SMACX for my CivFix.
I know that alot of people look for MP first before anything else....I personally don't.
Make sure the single player component gets all the attention it needs, please.
Taliseian
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31-01-2001 09:48
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