Need Testers For Duel Game (Centauria Map)

[Lord Diamond]

You make a good point about the solo game. Dual and regular games would benefit, however, this was an immensely popular upgrade towards the end of Fall of Rome and it had almost no downsides. The one downside it did have was that we could see that one slacker who forgot to hit 'Ready' and sometimes got annoyed with him.

Wouldn't we simulate a Ready button for other games with a Daily turn frequency? It'll be pretty close to the Kingdoms of Arcania experience with no downsides or risk to the server and I can create that new turn frequency in less than a day. Would anyone be interested in a daily game? Or should I ask, what was the typical turn frequency of having a Ready button? Every two days? I could try to duplicate the same if possible...

A daily turn ndoes not simulate a ready button. With a ready button, you aren't pressured to get yoyr turn done by a hard deadline, or at least not be a drastically accelerated hard deadline. Some turns might run in a few hours while others could take a couple of days. You would still be held to a deadline each turn, say 72 hours, in which you had to get done.

A daily game sounds very interesting, but I could see some issues arising. Of course, turns are easier to get in now with 3rd Cycle...

[unclemike]

Not being pressured to get your orders done is no different than today where people may submit their actions at any time before a due date so that's not really an issue here I think. What I need to know is what was the average wait time of a typical game before turns were processed?

After hitting the Ready button, the turn wasn't immediately processed but waited until everyone else in the game was likewise ready. So what was the typical turn frequency on average? Once a day? Once every two days? How long did players have to wait until everyone submitted their actions?

After I know that information, I could try to duplicate the same turn frequency without having a ready button and we'll have a near equivalent to what people enjoyed with in Fall of Rome...

[HeadHoncho]

I would do a Duel game MWF or MTWThF. My weekends are often busy and I wouldn't want a daily game.

[IMPERIAL_TARK]

For Dual, I'd prefer a daily game (M-F) without weekends. But still really like the idea of a "Ready Button", if you and the other player have a matching schedule of free time and could crank a full game out in a few days.

[Jumpingfist]

There is no simulating a ready button. because it goes faster when players have free time which for most of us is not always predictable. I think the closest you could get and not really mess with how the current system works would be to add the ready button but have it checked just before turns get processed. Any game in the ready state would get processed and then given a due date 72hrs after that date.

So not a true ready button but one that can speed up games to at most daily. But not a must to be daily if some get to busy. I could see this spilling into the regular games and would only change the due dead line to 96hrs.

[Jumpingfist]

Just got the new Centuaria (The Road to Alamaze) map from Ralf Schemmann.  See attached and let me know what you think.

For me the swamps stand out the most for not standing out.   There are also a couple non terrain areas that pop out a bit to much and could confuse people.  For fire of void maybe make it an active volcano with red lava to stand out.

The edge squares seem to be more water than land but is kind of a non issue since UMs on-line turn sheets list all allowed movement squares.  Perhaps terrain issues could be resolved in a similar fashion if the turn input listed what terrain you were selecting as you issued your move orders.

[Lord Diamond]

Not being pressured to get your orders done is no different than today where people may submit their actions at any time before a due date so that's not really an issue here I think. What I need to know is what was the average wait time of a typical game before turns were processed?

After hitting the Ready button, the turn wasn't immediately processed but waited until everyone else in the game was likewise ready. So what was the typical turn frequency on average? Once a day? Once every two days? How long did players have to wait until everyone submitted their actions?

After I know that information, I could try to duplicate the same turn frequency without having a ready button and we'll have a near equivalent to what people enjoyed with in Fall of Rome...

Some games had several turns in a day when the players were really into it (custom games were likely to be this way) and other turns went right to the deadline. You could see who was ready so you were more likely to complete your turn quickly when everyone was waiting on you.

[Ry Vor]

The Ready Button was a great innovation, not seen elsewhere in PBEM, but was originally done for a solo Centurion game.  It was used some for Fall of Rome games, but the main purpose was a new player could instantly play Centurion free, and it was in a tutorial version of about 9 turns, with 9 minutes between turns, where orders were restricted to about 6 per turn.  Again, the point was to allow quick access to a scaled down game in Centurion - was just the military aspects of Fall of Rome.  Fall of Rome of course had the interactive map. 

The Centauria map was also intended mainly for an introduction to Alamaze (The Road to Alamaze) with limited orders, but looks like it can play well as a two player game.  It was a pretty interesting first turn where you have new decisions to make when its just one opponent.

[Lord Diamond]

The Ready Button was a great innovation, not seen elsewhere in PBEM, but was originally done for a solo Centurion game.  It was used some for Fall of Rome games, but the main purpose was a new player could instantly play Centurion free, and it was in a tutorial version of about 9 turns, with 9 minutes between turns, where orders were restricted to about 6 per turn.  Again, the point was to allow quick access to a scaled down game in Centurion - was just the military aspects of Fall of Rome.  Fall of Rome of course had the interactive map. 

The Centauria map was also intended mainly for an introduction to Alamaze (The Road to Alamaze) with limited orders, but looks like it can play well as a two player game.  It was a pretty interesting first turn where you have new decisions to make when its just one opponent.

I think the Centauria map could be HUGE for Alamaze and should not be limited to new players. I could seriously see this becoming a new favorite option. Rick should really build this into the business model and add more maps!

[VballMichael]

Hmmm, I think this is an error.
In one of my new games, 1006, I found Human controlled pop centers and neutral pop centers, suggesting we are keeping with one Human village and town per region.
But in game 1004, I found two Human villages in my region. Not sure UM can fix since he is my opponent in that game .
Anyone else find multiple human control of same type of pop center in same region?