MP online game with fast turns

[Deonmag]

Want to host an on-line game with turn speed "last player played". So must be very quick, at least first rounds.
Suppoused 1-2 hours per day (may be more).
Game time from 9.00 till 18.00 (GMT +2). Mon to Fri.
All players must be on #dominions IRC chanel if some delays need to be discussed.

Some small map and 4-10 players. LA game. All other can be disscused if such idea is OK.

[Bwaha]

love the concept. im in if theres room. Bwaha

[quantum_mechani]

I'd probably play, but unfortunately the hours are 10:00 PM to 7:00 AM my time zone.

[Bwaha]

what i want do to is play this weekend till my eyes bleed! can play till 3Am tonite and resume at about 10 Am sat morning

[Lingchih]

Just blitz man. There is usually a blitz going on on the IRC channel on the weekends. I may even have time for a blitz thise weekend, if you want some schooling.

[Omnirizon]

problem with blitz is you are stuck with 'blitz' strategy, and don't get to explore any of the long-legged style game strategy. if i understand the OP correctly, this game looks like an attempt to have an 'epic' but faster game.

this would work OK but only for the early game (say first 20 turns). after that people really want more time to do turns, and you need more time to engage in politicking.

you could start a 'fast early game' format. doing the first twenty turns is very quick anyways; if you could get people to log on and just be checking in every so often each evening for the first week, you could easily get the first twenty done. I've always wished most games would get going quicker. A faster early game will also draw people in and get and keep them interested; I've seen a person just slump out by mid-game because the early game was so slow and they lost interest (every game has that one player holding it up too, sad). Also, this format is not likely to work with new players, who will sometimes go MIA within the first turns and sometimes want extra time to learn the system.

[JimMorrison]

Actually, those are very good points. I would really be interested in a game where the goal was to spend say 3 hours one night getting as far in as possible, and then transiting to 24 hour turns from there on out. Even though you can do 10-15 min turns against the comp for much of the game, obviously in MP most people want more time to think and craft their turn in the mid and late game. It would be disappointing to schedule 3 hours for "gameplay" and only run 2-3 turns that night, seems to me that the 24 hour turns get you 7 turns for the week, which is better investment.

If I wanted to host a game in that style, how would it work (I am still painfully new)? PBEM would be more complicated if you wanted fast turns at first, no? But on the other hand, if I ran a server game from my comp, then it should actually a piece of cake? Do you run the turn manually if you are hosting? I would assume if so, then there is no complication to run turns as fast or slow as need be, it would just be necessary to have everyone in IRC for the starting session, to optimize turn processing and diplomacy, to keep the pace rolling.


Anyway, someone convince me that this is a good idea. I also prefer at least medium size/length games to a blitz, so getting a head start to the meat of the game sounds excellent.

[Slobby]

Both pbem and network can go quickly due to quickhost (to my knowledge all games are on quickhost so 24hr quickhost doesn't necessarily mean a turn every 24 hours, as soon as all the turns go in a new turn is generated). However, on a network turns would be done/generated quicker since players wouldn't have to send their turn via email, wait for llamaserver to make a new turn then shoot it back out. The main issue is finding players willing to sit down and play in that specific time slot. If you can, then it will go quickly.

[Deonmag]

As I already mentioned "Game time from 7.00 till 16.00 (GMT). Monday to Friday." Weekend is not suitable for me. So if someone is OK with that period and could spend 2-3 hours every day, then sign in. If we get min 4-6 players, that will be able to play at the same time, then game will start. And of course IRC is "must have" for fast game

[LDiCesare]

Deonmag, the problem with your hours is that's either working hours in Europe or too early in America, so I doubt you'll find many people who have tims to play during these periods. Same kind of game on evenings would be more workable.