Thoughts on MP

[Ephrum]

At the MMG Forum, Colonel Kooch and I did a kind of game experiment. And I realized a few things, in regards to future NSD MP games, and I wanted to share them with you guys.

I know this has been discussed before in other threads.
Courier messaging: As I understand it, that will require typing messages to and fro. Which is fine with me. But to anyone...anyone, who is slow at typing, like me, start practicing!! I mean put some practice into it!! Go start a TC2M game, play it to a point and then stop, look at the situation, decide what you would have to tell a commander. Then go and type it. See how long it takes. You'll realize by the third sentence, it's already old news. And the slower you type, the older it gets. Then factor in the time it'll take to get it to him. If your commander's responding orders are not applicable, it's partly because the info you gave him was was already old, thus inaccurate, by the time he got them.
As such, I don't think writing in the style of, text messaging, should be scoffed at or dismissed, when it can be applied. We'll probably learn how to abbreviate names, and words, like reference points on the map as well.

Take a look at what Colonel Kooch and I did. Though not all of it would apply to what we'll be dealing with, some of it will. He and I were writing in a kind of ACW period character, but when you take that away, you'll still get an idea as to how hard typing, relevant courier messages, is going to be for some of us, if we're not ready.

There's six parts to it, but you only need to read one of them, to get my point.
http://www.madminutegames.com/MadMinute ... 172073581f

I have a few more thoughts about MP battles, But before I go into them:

Does NSD know how many people will be able to play on the same side?

[JC Edwards]

Some very good thoughts my friend.

The one aspect that this in game courier messanging has is the historical accuracy it will represent.
In many instances, when courier messages did arrive, they would be quite old as to locations and events that were happening.

Pre-battle, most would be set in a certain position (if they were already present on the field)....but during the course of the battle, positions changed sporadically and so very often; people were not always where they were supposed to, or, ordered to be.

This is going to make MP even more interesting and challenging in that respect.

Like we've talked of before Ephrum, if we are engaged in an MP game together, we'll have to rely on some good fortune that both of us are where we're supposed to be when messaging events happening in game and positions we'll need to take.....not only hoping the courier makes it through.......but that neither of us is a mile or more away from (or past) our overall objective!

I can see it now...... courier message:..."Yankees!! Everywhere!! Where ya'll been?!"

[estabu2]

Excellent post Ephrum!! It will be a challenge starting out and learning the courier system, but like everything else we will adapt. I think people will get used to sending constant updates about what is going on, like, "hey there is a bunch of bad guys coming at me, I might need some help" and then "THEY ARE EVERYWHERE SEND ME HELP!!!!!". After everyone gets the hang of it and as you said learns to abreviate there messages, I think it will become second nature.

Also, Norb said that he want to have as many people be able to play MP as possible. So however many commanders there are that many people can play. At least I think that is correct.

[dale]

Oddly, I had never even thought about this. I have been involved in mulitplayer games where all are miked up and the command/response is instantaneous. The use of the courier system will be great fun.

If the battles take place in a non-meeting engagement mode then signal towers were probably present. The odds of having a signal tower system present are larger if you are the defending force. (The information would have been transmitted in terms of where the enemy was sighted.) Balloons were used by both sides in 1862 but I believe the balloon itself was the target of artillery once it was in view. (The belles of Richmond contributed their fine silk garments for the cause.) For larger campaign style battles the telegraph was used to relay information back to a commander who was not in view of the lines. McClellan tried to run the Peninsula Campaign by commanding through the telegraph wire. He never showed up on the field of battle until the matter had been decided by his subordinates.

In a multiplayer game the commanding general who can place himself on the highest ground with the best view will have a huge advantage.

In multiplayer will the view be limited to the range that each individual player can see? That would be the most appropriate and would give the best feel of the battle. Perhaps the setting limiting view can be adjusted to account for the signaling technology available for that battle.

[rebeltim]

maybe someone can make up a MP website for this game. scheduled battles you can sign up for days in advance. just trying to think outside the box.

[norb]

There is no player limit right now. I have not written one into the game. There will be some cap at some point. We just have to test it out.

I have so much I want to do with MP, but my first goal is to just get it working. I will put all that other stuff in the game, probably later. Stuff like ladders, etc. This kind of stuff is my specialty, I just got to get mp solid first.

This is one of the reasons that I want to go with Steam. They offer so much for free that we could take advantage of as far as MP goes.

[Little Powell]

rebeltim wrote:

maybe someone can make up a MP website for this game. scheduled battles you can sign up for days in advance. just trying to think outside the box.

That's a great idea.

I was also thinking; as many of you know, JC Edwards maintains the MMG OOB where members of the community are part of the OOB commanding brigades, divisions, etc.

Well for multiplayer games, maybe we can use a similar concept where each commander has to earn their promotion. If you are new to multiplayer, you can start out commanding a brigade. If you perform well during a battle, you can be promoted to division commander and higher. We could have a website where people apply for their command and if there is a place for them, they are promoted and can take part in the next scheduled battle. There could be several armies to make sure there is room for everyone.

[dale]

I just finished reading your entire transcript, Ephrum, of the multiplayer battle you had in TCSM. It was a great and successful effort. I can see where the typing is a factor in the battle itself especially if the clock is ticking during an ongoing battle.

What I really like about the courier system and written orders is that it is very reflective of fog of war. If we have a ladder system as Little Powell suggests it would be good to have the overall commander to be one who is clear, direct and concise in his orders. In real life it seemed that some commanders left a lot of wiggle room in their orders for their subordinates to hang themselves if the plan failed. (Well that was one way to rise to through the ranks.)

The multiplayer aspect craves a longer and grander scenario. I know that scripting AI was a problem in longer scenarios but perhaps a scenario could be established just for multiplayer when both sides are to be human.

I do love single player historic scenarios but multiplayer battles has me fantasizing in so many ways.

[Gnl. D.W. Marlow]

Powell that is a fine idea. That would be a great feature for this game.

[Zoonp]

Well, I personally think the courier system in MP is a bad idea because a team that uses a voice program like Teamspeak will have a huge advantage against a team that uses the slow moving couriers. It would be much fairer if you would get the courier messages instantly.