Play by Web

[Atrocities]

Ok, I have tried two games of PBW, and both games seem to have some serious issues. One, each time I design a ship class, and a new turn is inputted, I loose all the work I have done.

Two, the time delay. With no set schedule for when Turns are do, its makes the game very difficult to keep interest in.

But mainly, the ship design bug.

Sorry Mates, but PBW is just too un-organized for me at this point. I do appreciate the invites, but am no longer interested at this point.

[Gimboid]

1) Atrocities, every game ive ever been in on PBW, my designs have been saved and used correctly, as have all the other people in those games.

The only problems ive heard about designs(besides yours) was that in an earlier Version of SE4 it was possible to retrofit your ship on the same turn as another player and retrofit to the other players ship design, regardless of what techs u had. As far as i know this was an SE4 bug that was fixed in the latest Version

2)The game owner can set the timeout period for turns, to as little as 1 hour if u want. But generally in the vicinity of 24-72 hours. Its an effective way of keeping a constant playing schedule going.

If the game owner has not set the timeout (its only optional) then the game can take until all players have uploaded their turns. From what uve said u must have played in games where the timeout period was not set, which can make the game severly boring and its easy to lose interest if people arent prompt with uploading their turns.

[Atrocities]

The game owners had nothing to do with my desiding not to play. In fact, they are a couple of great guys. The simple fact is, I got frustrated about the design issue, and the slow pace of the game.

This has nothing to do with the hosts.

Thanks for your input, as always, its important to know all the facts, and I am glad that you enjoy the PBW system. I am sure I will in time, but right now, its not for me.

[tesco samoa]

Hey Atrocities

A friend of mine will not play PBEM. He says his fleets kept disappearing and ships were moved around on him. It never happened to any one else. One of those weird things.

[geoschmo]

Atrocities,

I am very sorry to hear you had a bad experience. Of course PBW is not for everyone. As much of an improvment over standard PBEM it is, it still is limited by the people in your game.

I don't belive Gimboid was trying to discount your experiences, he was merely pointing out that your two "complaints" about PBW have nothing to do with PBW.

The ship design issue is either an Se4 bug or simply something you are doing incorrectly. The slow play issue is only due to the other players in your game. And while it is correct that the game owner cannot "force" players to upload their turns in a timely manner, they do "set the pace" for the game. They can force the ai to play the turns whenever they want if the players do not, and they can always kick the players and find some that will play more rapidly.

You have to forgive some of us cause we can get a little fervent in our defense of PBW. We enjoy playing against other players so much, and anything that makes that easier to do is awesome. But no, it's not for everyone.

Geoschmo

[Gorgo]

You're right, Geoschmo. Since I've started PBW, I lost a lot of my interest in playing against the AI for I now realize how much it lacks the thrill of interacting with humans.

I'm curious: Does Shrapnel or Malfador pay your costs (the server you're running shouldn't be that cheap)?