PBEM11 Organizing Thread

[luddite]

Luddite, i've been getting the save around 6-8 am recently, although my playing time is normally around ...
llet's see. GMT+8, so 13-17 changes to 21-01.

I thought i would be getting the save around 9PM to 1Am actually, so this is quite off.

Edit: I'm ok for Pitboss.

I know. Like I said, that's because I've been getting the save at midnight, after I go to sleep. I actually wouldn't mind staying up a little later to play it, but I'd have to know when to expect it.

[Kylearan]

It's the 11th RBPBEM game, and the group realizes they won't be make one turn per day. History does repeat itself.

Sorry, couldn't resist. Carry on!

[plako]

It's the 11th RBPBEM game, and the group realizes they won't be make one turn per day. History does repeat itself.

Sometimes unexpected happens. PBEM12 seems to be running on stellar speed compared to this.

[luddite]

At least one person must be getting it at or before the time they said they could play, yet passing it on after. (Yes, obviously we are all getting it at weird times currently, but that can't cause more than a single 24-hour delay. At some point the originally planned schedule catches up with it.) If that person could have their problem fixed by having a partner, they should speak up!

I've been thinking about this for a while... I think GES might be the one who's causing the delays. He said he's a lawyer in real life, so I assume he has a busy work schedule. And he's posted here a few times before, saying that he'll have problems playing it.

edit: I'm not trying to point fingers here. I completely understand that real life is more important than a civ game. But if you need a partner or a different time slot, please let us know.

[Tatan]

I think the problem is simple: a lot of people want to play at very similar times, and if just one person is running slightly late, it backs up disproportionally. Not a lot we can do there, but I guess there are two options:

-Continue playing at 1 turn per 2 days.
-Try to convert it to a pitboss.

I would be willing to try the latter [although we would need a host], but I admit freely that I have never done a pitboss before and have no idea how it works.

And, of course, we should settle the infamous turn-split and double-move rule arguments like immediately, before anything happens...

[Mardoc]

Well, Tatan to me/SS to GES seems to be working pretty well, especially now that Tatan's been trying to play earlier. It helps that SevenSpirits can grab it if Tatan happens to be late, of course . But I don't think it's sat in our inbox for more than a couple hours, ever.

I don't know what that does to GES' schedule. Maybe although Seven grabs it, it's still too late for GES? I don't think it's always stuck there; there have been times when I get the GPS from plako or Adlain, and then it's another day before I see the save.

Honestly, though, given how quickly the Pitboss rules arguments went from 1 page to 20ish when they were starting up PB4, I'd rather stick with PBEM. I'd be happy with trying to schedule a blitz; with enough warning, I can be available Saturday or Sunday from 1200-0400 GMT, although I'd like to keep it to 2-3 hours total.

[Gold Ergo Sum]

I'm late to the party here, and the finger pointing started without me. :neenernee

I have definitely held this thing up from time to time. I've tried to let you all know when that would be the case.

But I signed up to play essentially when I get home from work which is 5-9pm my time. The save is supposed to be played by 3-4pm my time before me. When it is, I generally see it before I leave work and get it played when I get home. But even if the save comes in later in the night before I go to bed, I've generally tuned out for the evening if the save wasn't here by 7pm or so. I'm rarely just sitting on the internet all night to see the save roll in. If I notice it, I play it. Otherwise, on 5-6 occasions at least, the save has gotten to me late enough (for instance, Turn 11 came at 11:56pm, and the save got to me on Tuesday at 10:37pm) that I am already in bed. When that happens, I do my best to play it when I wake up in the morning, otherwise it will add 10-12 hours to the delay, but if I am running late to work, or it is a morning where I have to leave at 6am to get up to Los Angeles, I cannot even play it in the morning.

I was pretty clear about wanting a teammate from the start and while I have ended up with two dedlurkers, they are not able to play any turns and so far haven't really been involved too much. Normally I know when emails roll in due to my Droid phone, but by mid-evening, I tune it out to avoid work emails. I will start trying to pay more attention for those times when the save comes to me late.

If we change this to a Pitboss, I am out. There is no way I can commit to that now that I have seen it in action. While the turn-timer might say 24-hours, people get angry if they aren't played immediately and off to the next one. As for a blitz session, I might be able to do something like that. But I generally get out and hang out with my wife all weekend, especially with the weather being like it has been in San Diego lately. Sunday might work for me this week.

[Mardoc]

So, Tatan was right - any delay at all among the groups at similar times adds up and either GES or Adlain gets the short straw of save arriving too late. I don't think there's much we can do about that except for everyone else to make an effort to play toward the beginning of your timeslot. Sounds like I shouldn't be patting myself on the back too much for 'only delaying a couple hours' when that's GES's timeslot too.

I will mention that I signed up for 2300-0400GMT, (3 - 8pm GES time), but the earlier end of that tends to work best for me anyway; that's when I play the FFH PBEM3 save, which so far is running like clockwork. But of course the difference there is people spread out more, so there's room for error.

[luddite]

So, Tatan was right - any delay at all among the groups at similar times adds up and either GES or Adlain gets the short straw of save arriving too late. I don't think there's much we can do about that except for everyone else to make an effort to play toward the beginning of your timeslot. Sounds like I shouldn't be patting myself on the back too much for 'only delaying a couple hours' when that's GES's timeslot too.

I will mention that I signed up for 2300-0400GMT, (3 - 8pm GES time), but the earlier end of that tends to work best for me anyway; that's when I play the FFH PBEM3 save, which so far is running like clockwork. But of course the difference there is people spread out more, so there's room for error.

Hmm did you really sign up for 2300-0400? The turn list says you signed up for 2300-2400, which is very different. But you're right, even a slight delay of between any of you in the 1700-2400 range can then create a large delay for GES and me.

We've already heard from everyone so far in this thread; unfortuantely that means that there's no easy solutions. I suppose we'll just have to try harder to be punctual, for now. If this schedule is really impossible, then we'll have to do something different.

Also, I'm available for a weekend blitz session if people want to do that, to speed things up.

[Mardoc]

Hmm did you really sign up for 2300-0400?

Yep, I had just phrased myself poorly (I believe I said 23-4, which was interpreted as 23-24) and Tatan's post never got fixed to reflect my correction.

That said, if I have the save by 2300, I can play it then.