Questions about the Multiplayer experience in AJE

[pakfront0]

Hello AGEOD,
I am curious as to what the PBEM process is like and how streamlined it is. I have tried the demo but it is not sufficient to evaluate the potential for multiplayer.

I've owned and played AACW for years and have always played it single player due too the size and complexity of the game, specifically the number of stacks involved.
It seems that AJE might be a little quicker to play and coincidentally I have friends who are also interested in the time period. I understand there are even 3 player scenarios available. Am I correct?

Now, I know the multiplayer is only PBEM. Simultaneous turns might be more appealing to my group, but if PBEM is quick enough I may be able to convince them. Is there a way to make it more simultaneous by using Dropbox or something similar?

Are there any 'double blind' steps where a file is sent but no orders are given? I know this is necessary in some games to prevent cheating, does it apply to AJE?

Is there any specific scenario for co-op play? How about competitive co-op, like the fantastic board game Republic of Rome, where each player controls a senatorial faction struggling for control of Rome while collectively trying to prevent its collapse?

I always felt that co-op would have added a lot to AACW.

Thanks

[Jim-NC]

Welcome to the forums.

Dropbox can speed up a PBEM significantly. Currently I am playing in a 3 way contest in the Pompey vs. Sertorius vs. Pontus (Great Mithridatic War) using dropbox. It is much faster than email.

To get around cheating, you can take turns hosting. That way a person is only responsible for 1 out of 3 turns. The host needs to ensure there are the correct number of .trn and .ord files, but you can process a turn without them (but if in the dropbox, everyone can see there were no orders for someone).

Don't have co-op designed in the game, but 2 players can gang up on another (in the scenario above, the forces of Sertorius and Pontus can fight or act together).

[pakfront0]

Thanks for the reply and the information. I found some more info on MP here:
aleajactaest-game dot com/game-info/campaigns-scenarios/

If I'm reading it right it seems that orders can be composed simultaneously by all players, then all .ord files are processed by the host. If so this is fantastic and just what I was hoping for.

[pakfront0]

A follow-up question - is it possible for a player to give units, cities or other resources to another player in game? If not, IIRC the trn and ord files are text, so I suppose one could hack the ownership of units etc.

[Franciscus]

A follow-up question - is it possible for a player to give units, cities or other resources to another player in game?

No, that's not possible except partially in the Great Mithridatic War scenario where Sertorius and Mithridates can form a kind of alliance

(PS: There are some scenarios where in some conditions a defeated faction's units and cities are absorbed by other(s) factions (namely in the Year of Four Emperors and Severus scenario that can happen). Also in the Severus scenario the SEV player can choose to remain neutral in relation to Clodius faction, at least for some time. Just like happened in reality

[pakfront0]

Purchased it last night and had an opportunity to play a few turns of the later Roman Civil War scenario with a friend. Besides the game itself being quite impressive and evocative of the period, we found the PBEM mechanics to be exactly what we had hoped for.

One thing we were wondering was if AJE supports commandline (DOS) options to load a particular save game on startup? Or even better, a commandline option to open a saved game that has all ORD files submitted, process the turn, then quit?

[Pocus]

Sorry no, such thing was envisioned but never really worked upon... We did some preliminary tests though.

The current system is the one used in Dominions (Illwinter Games) or Stars! (Jeff McBride). Space Empire series (Malfador Machination) have a simplified system where all players share the same file (what we call the host file, HST extension). We are considering doing that too in the future.

[Andris]

If you fancy a PBEM game, count me in, mates.

[pakfront0]

Oh, I hope you do not change it too much, we like that players can all work on their individual ORD files at the same time.

[Sir Garnet]

No, that's not possible except partially in the Great Mithridatic War scenario where Sertorius and Mithridates can form a kind of alliance

Pontus exercised an alliance option, but nothing ever arrived in Spain. How does this work?