10-08-2002 19:53									#1
	Mp demo game dynamicly by PBEM? Browse Apolyton AD-FREE

It's an idea i had overnight ,mainly because i understand the difficulty's of managing a mp demo game (especially with multiple fraction's) under the current system's.As i see it ,the main problem the mp demo game had to deal with at the start was the availabilety of top leader's at the key moment's ,that is the moment's when the leader's would play ,as the mp demo game is usually played by multiple fraction's at the same time in a normal mp game mode.

I then searched for an alternative for this system ,the most obvious of them would have been to play this PBEM.Afcourse there were always reason's why a PBEM game was not considerd valiable ,the most important one being that a demo game ,that uses forum's for decission making ,usually work trough a set of turn's after a number of days of decission making (defacto two day's) ,this all to keep the game itself within a certain timeframe. (usually about 4 to 6 month's)(although civIII demo game's tend to be over quicker than civII ones)

PBEM is played turn by turn ,thus if every country would take 2 day's of decission making before actually playing that turn ,then it would take 2day's per turn multiplyed by the number of fraction's to complete this game ,in other word's about 10 to 20 year's aproxamitly ,a bit to long IMHO.

However ,most of the decission's within a demo game don't need to be reviewed on a turn by turn base ,and it has come the norm in al demo game's that if a prsident encounter's situation's within the game he is playing that havn't got any attention by it's respected leader's on the forum ,if you will situation's where there isn't a normalized policy for.In those case's the president either decide's himself ,or save's the game for later review ,where most of the time the president will decide himself ,war being the most logical situation where a pres would save for review.

Therefore i would propose to try this mp demo game in a PBEM system ,but then with a dynamic aprough ,basicly meaning that the president's would play like a normal pbem game ,thus playing when other fraction has uploaded the save game ,then save it to be let by an other fraction ASAP.My calcullation's say that the beginning turn's would go at a fast pace ,and around 1000 ad the total turn's played in 2 day's for about 3 fraction's would be somewhere between 3 and 5. (rough calcullation's though)
This on itseld would drasticly change the way decission making hase to happen on the forum itself ,but it would ensure an easy organizing of the game playing itself. (wich is still the biggest problem of the mp dmo game at this moment)
It would mean that the leader's would have to make decission's for a number of turn's in the 2 day's (as it happen's now) and that the president would have to apply them in game in a pbem style ,while those decission making day's are actually running.Most people will think that that would be very hard to do ,but i think that this can work.Eventually most decission's work for a number of turn's ,i would estimate about 70% ,only a few decission's have to be reviewed or rearanged on a turn by turn bases.So the leader's would make those long term decission's in the 2 day's ,where the will be used by the pres in the next 2 day's (and in those 2 day's new long term decission's will be made by leader's for the next two day's ,etc..) ,while there should be made special arrangement's for short term decission's ,for ex. appointing representative's that have a lot of time and can assist the president ,and most probably appointing a millitary leader that can be present at most time's ,or giving millitary leader's a more determinal role in the decission making.

Now i know that for this system to work ,a lot of thinking should be done and experimenting would be nessecary to fine tune such a system.But basicly that is what always have been done in Demo games so far ,from the very beginning.I have much confidence that ,if enough people want this system to work ,then they will achieve that ,as most experiment's have succeeded in the past.

Oh and now AC has it's own demo game to ,it's time to port the demo game to Europa universalis also.

Last edited by DuckOfFlanders on 10-08-2002 at 20:23

	12-08-2002 12:16									#2
	Support Apolyton, buy Galactic Civilizations: Deluxe Edition

I assumed from the start that PBEM would be used...

	12-08-2002 18:11									#3
	Put an end to popups!

No the other MP Demo Games is played real time.

	16-08-2002 18:38									#4
	Put an end to popups!

I really think this system might be worth trying.In any case ,i think this system could make the organization of the MuSi Demo game much more smooth and effective in term's of actual playing and playing speed.The forum organization would have to be restructurized though to encompass the more real-time playing.But i think it would get easier to actually get this game started and to keep it rolling.

Another point is that this system would make the game more played by people on forum rather than by the few people that can normally meet at a same time for a chat session ,thus making the game more open to a large number of people.

	17-08-2002 09:38									#5
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i, too, had assumed that pbem would be used...

real-time is profoundly useless for anyone outside of the US.

we're already struggling for active players...if this is played out in real-time, we may as well give up.

	18-08-2002 06:09									#6
	Support Apolyton, buy Alpha Centauri

quote: Originally posted by Darkness' Edge real-time is profoundly useless for anyone outside of the US.

In the GC game....I *was* the only player in the US.

Of course...now I'm in Canada.....so you know...