Questions about multiplayer from a 100% SE5 newbie... |
I play MOO2 online, a lot. I'm considering buying SE5, and am having difficulty finding out a few things. My only experience is about 45 minutes worth going through the tutorial on the demo. Can someone help?
1. Is there a decent sized online community of SE players? Is it difficult to find opponents? Online play against other humans is where it's at IMHO, so this is an important consideration for me. SE5 looks promising, even if combat is not resolved tactically.
2. Is it possible to play a non-PBEM game online where all you and an opponent have to do is get connected/started, and after that all you do is play and click turn? If player A finishes a turn first, do they simply wait for player B to finish their turn before they get started on the next turn? As an example, with MOO2, opponents get hooked up on a network connection, and once the host hits "start", everyone just plays the game like they would in single player mode (except for between turns when everyone waits for everyone else to finish their turn). Is there a way to play this way? Does it require some third party help, or does the game itself have the functionality?
3. Combat resolution: given that it happens via strategic combat rather than tactical, how is it accomplished? Is it all about an algorithm based on numbers of ships and technologies, or is there a way that two opposing fleets could fight similar battles with different results? Do ships and fleets have a way to define their tactics during resolution of strategic combat? (note: I have not done any combat to speak of in SE5, so I don't yet know how tactical combat is controlled.)
Sorry for asking such basic questions, but I haven't any experience with online 4X play beyond MOO2, and the little I've found in my search for information has not been helpful, probably due to my limited frame of reference. Thanks for any help.
-Gusset
Brief answers
I don't have a lot of time to comment here, but usually the most common way to play multiplayer Space Empires is via Play-By-Web, which is an automated version of PBEM. A game is created at the site and the players sent their empire files to the game host who sets up the first turn, which is uploaded to the PBW site. Then each player can download a copy of the turn and play it, then upload the player file back to the site, which can process the turn when all files have been sent in.
Please note that there is no PBW service yet for SE:V, since it just came out very recently.
There is of course a TCP/IP mode, but it's difficult to co-ordinate schedules of players to get longterm games running... especially with more than 2 players.
Combat is done in strategic mode, which is just like regular tactical combat with the exception the AI is running the show and its done during the turn processing stage. You can then run a combat replay to see the battle yourself during your turn.
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