PBEM58 Tech Thread

[Catwalk]

PBEM is much simpler, and works fine with a 4-player game. I'd be up for playing, if you're interested in doing a quick game on a small mirror map along the lines of PBEM57. HBHR and B4ndit, what do you prefer about pitboss games? It's better for games with large players, for a smaller game it's probably not worth the hassle of figuring out double moves and other crap.

[eastway]

I am patient and in no hurry so can wait if required. Catwalk, I am happy with those settings.

[B4ndit]

I have just thought that pit boss games tend to be faster then pbem. Quick pbem sounds also good

[WilliamLP]

> I have just thought that pit boss games tend to be faster then pbem.

PB games move at the speed of PYFT. (One guy who wants the small advantage of playing last slows a game down dramatically... And two is a disaster.)

[eastway]

I have just thought that pit boss games tend to be faster then pbem. Quick pbem sounds also good

I agree. I understand we have three players now.

[Catwalk]

4 players is good for rapid pace, and even 3 could work fine. It'd actually be interesting to try that, I don't recall ever seeing a 3-player game on here. Can a good mirrored map be made for 3 players? I'm guessing we could maintain a pace of 2 turns per day with 3 players until the late game, with 4 that is getting difficult.

EDIT: Obviously 3 strips next to each other on a cylindrical map would work What about a toroidal map, though? Is anything more interesting than strips next to each other possible?

[eastway]

Might make it difficult to report turns if they are incredibly frequent though. Only a thought. A game will be good no matter the circumstances.

[Catwalk]

Early turns are pretty easy to report, put up a screenshot of what your scout has found That said, I do plan on making sparse reporting for this game as I'm fairly invested in PB17. I will also likely put a little less planning into this one and play it more casually, but always in a timely manner. I hope that matches your expectations.

[B4ndit]

When talking about "mirror" or "stripes" you are talking about some standard map scripts? Or you have some custom one in mind? I will comply to your judgment, but I would like to see on myself some generated maps to get "look and feel" what to expect from your proposed settings

[Catwalk]

I'm talking about some of the custom maps commonly generated by other users, most notably Commodore (also a bunch of others). I'd personally prefer not to know the layout of the map, but by stripes I mean this:

--------A--------B--------C--------A--------B--------etc

Each player starts at the same distance from both other players. Mirrored means that a map portion is duplicated on to other parts of the map. In the above simplied case, the land west of A would be identical to the land west of B. This has the obvious advantages of being completely balanced and take much less time to make than a balanced non-mirrored map.

I may well be completely wrong about this, but I suspect there are far more interesting options for 4-player mirror maps than 3-player mirror maps. If any mapmaker wants to chip in about 3-player maps, please feel free. Don't take my word as gospel on anything B4ndit, I'm not very good

Do feel free to ask more newbie questions though, it's fully understandable if some of the lingo confuses you.