Some advice on hosting MP games please

[Martin James]

I’m pleased to say that our kriegsspiel group is starting to take up SOW. We are hoping to run a HITS sandbox MP game for perhaps 10 or more. With any luck the first of many. Most players would be in the UK, but some also in the USA. A couple of UK players have superfast broadband (up to 50 meg), and could host the games. I would be very grateful for any advice on how best to run it, particularly in the following areas:

1. As I understand it, there is a choice between playing on a network, and playing over the internet using the lobby. In our previous games we used the Hamichi WAN emulator, which may still make sense, but in that case there were only 3 of us, and all were in the UK. Could someone please explain the pros & cons of the two approaches, and also recommend which would be best for us?

2. In our previous games, we used Skype to talk if we were in the same position on the battlefield. Essentially we had it switched on the whole time but maintained ‘radio silence’ unless 2 of the players met-up. In that event, the third took off their headphones for a couple of minutes. We did this because I had read somewhere that the game doesn’t always respond well to tabbing-out. I’m pretty sure there will be better methods, and in any event I don’t think our current one will work with larger numbers. What do experienced MP gamers do?

3. If using a modded OOB, but no other mods, do all players need to have it installed, or just the hosting player?

I should also say that if we can get things running smoothly, we would love to invite members of the forum to join us for any of our future games. These are likely to follow the traditional kriegsspiel style of umpired games, using HITS and with uncertainty about the enemy strength, location and (perhaps) objectives.

Martin

[Beef Stu]

For the GCM group we use Teamspeak for communicating and organizing games. it doesnt require any tabbing out of the game.

as for the hosting questions i'm no help ,i can't host.

[Martin James]

Many thanks Beef Stu. I'll investigate Teamspeak.

Martin

[kg_sspoom]

Just the host has to have the modded oob.
We meet up on teamspeak then start games from the SOW mp lobby.
Sometimes we do games IP which is in the screen right before the lobby at the bottom.

[Martin James]

Thanks kg_spoom. That's excellent news re the modded OOB, as we like to have lots of uncertainty for the players in our games.

Re Teamspeak, what we would like to do is just allow any 2 or more players who meet on the battlefield to chat, and for no-one else on their team to overhear. At some times, there may even be more than one conversation going on between different groups in a team. Is that possible please?

Yes I've seen the IP option, which is how we've played small games previously. What prompts you to do it that way, rather than running games through the lobby? Is there a performence difference?

Martin

[Garnier]

Regarding "teamspeak discipline":

It's possible, but you have to do it manually. When people meet on the battlefield, someone has to alt tab and move them to a separate channel. Probably the best way to do it is have all players (both sides) in the same channel by default, and just have them move when they meet.

OR, you can set up whisper hotkeys to talk just to one person, but there's no monitoring that to be sure people aren't talking when they're not supposed to.

To alt tab in game without pausing it, you have to turn off Full Screen mode in the options. Then you can switch to teamspeak while playing without interfering with the game.

[Martin James]

Some good practical advice there, Garnier. Many thanks.

I particularly like the idea of whisper hotkeys. Appreciate it depends on folks not cheating, but our group members are pretty good on that sort of stuff. The reason they play kriegsspiels is precisely so they won't have information they wouldn't have had in real life.

Martin

[Martin James]

Thanks to all those who've kindly given me advice on this.

The one question still outstanding is whether it's best to play MP using the IP option or going through the lobby. Is there a difference in performance between the 2 methods, and are there any other pros & cons please?

Martin

[Garnier]

Pretty sure that once you get in game there's no difference. If you host through the lobby, individual players can still join by IP while you're in the staging room.

I think we typically host through the lobby first, and then if people get dropped out of the staging room before we start, they can rejoin by IP. Going through the lobby automatically gives you the host's ip on your list, so no one has to read it to you.

[Martin James]

Many thanks Garnier.

Martin