- Can't find an Opponent with the Time ?
- Don't want to play head-2-head
- Want to think before you leap ?
- Want to avoid large phone bills ?
Whilst most people who play will have identified some hints and tips for the game when playing on-line against someone else, here are few that have been identified as different in e-mail play. Remember, you're opponent can use all these too !
Determine by e-mail who plays which side and the difficulty level. Both players must be able to play the chosen scenario.
Agree a rough schedule for play eg. hourly, daily, bi-daily. But remember you're playing
an e-mail game so don't get too hung up on time - especially as e-mail's can get delayed.
Start the game in player vs. player mode.
Then one player starts the game. Play out all of your leaders that have initiative.
Stop when the other player's leader gets initiative.
Save the game as, for example, "bagradas-xy" where x is the turn number and y an incrementing number (or letter) within the turn. Using this will prevent the wrong
turn file being sent or loaded. If using numbers, one person will in effect have the even 'y' numbers and the other the odd 'y' numbers. The program will assign an extension depending on the game you're playing.
For GBCE
the extension is ".gb", for Alexander ".alx", for Hannibal ".han", for Caesar ".jc".
The saved game is placed in the data folder of the game you started.
Simply attached the file (e.g.,
'bagrada-1a.han) to your email message and send to your opponent.
The receiving player downloads the saved game to the correct game's data folder and, loads the correct game CD.
Select "load saved game" and pick up the game sent in the e-mail.
Play the turn until it changes to your opponent.
Repeat the process from step 3 until the game has been won.
It is important to note again that you must download the scenario to the data folder for the correct game. Caesar will not recognize any ".han" file as a saved game, etc.
Have you played Great Battles (or any other wargame) by e-mail ? Any comments you'd like to pass on ? Please tell me
Etiquette of E-mail play
In order to maximise enjoyment, there should be an agreed etiquette in e-mail play. This etiquette decides the small admin tasks that each player should perform at the end of
their turn before e-mailing the result to the other player. These tasks can be varied but should be agreed before starting the battle.
A few suggested rules :
- return the map to wide minimum zoom and remove all the dead bodies.
- write a brief commentry on what happened during your turn.
- missile weapon shooting at leaders is not permitted.
- leaders can rally & remove cohesion on units they do not command
- whether leader iniatives should be taken
- maximum length of time between turns.
Note that at the end of each turn you cannot save the position so it is up to players to note when a new turn has started. See also the file naming conventions below to help resolve this.
Leaders
Tournament rules allow only the main leader or an unattached leader to move units not in their own group.
Shooting at leaders
Tournament rules prefer that archers and
slingers do not shoot at leaders since this adds an unhistorical element; however, historically being in the front line was a very risky strategy so it probably pays to ensure you stay far enough back. If the game was being played at a
lower level of detail, there would be all sorts of communication problems if the leader was in the front line rather than where he could be seen.
There are 3 good reasons to allow shooting at leaders:
1) when playing without
this, some players will use leaders aggressively to disrupt the line of command from a leader to his own units (which is as unhistorical as those players who say that they did not snipe in ancient warfare)
2) leaders took a risk when
they led (e.g. Alexander - how many wounds from missiles did he get?)
3) it is a good reason to keep leaders behind the lines where they really belong.
Suggested solution is to keep it simple and decide at the start whether
shooting at leaders is allowed.
Those Lost in Battle
Whether to remove those lost after each battle, for the sake of clarity. Whether to set the animation on or off (not everyone has a fast machine). While this, like
the hex pattern can be changed, those lost in battle cannot be replaced.
Replay
In e-mail games, the potential for replay of a turn is immense. It gives you the chance to play and replay the same situation over and
over again. For combat, leader initiative, momentum etc there are internal random "die" rolls so replaying might get a better result or another move. This can significantly change the outcome of a battle.
Also, if you blunder or a move does not work out, you can try a different way.
Whilst you may not think this is acceptable, it is easy to do and as the end result should give a higher level of play, this might well be an acceptable
part of email play.
However, remember that results can get worse as well as better.
Even if one side has many leaders, this is usually offset by the fact that the other has leaders of better quality and more chance at momentum
- so, a wash in terms of advantage. Besides, every leader will move every turn unless killed, stunned, etc. Now that is a big issue! Imagine, replaying until you get that leader kill. That can be devastating. With a 15% chance of a missile
kill, it has been a major factor in many games.
Orphan Leaders
When you have a leader with no units, it would speed up play if players agree to move or click off each others useless leaders. However, the enemy player
should not then attempt to kill the leader. Also the leader may be used aggressively to block a line of command or another leaders move path.
The one exception to consider is for rallying purposes where any leader could rally the
troops or improve cohesion, irrespective of whether they are the units immediate commander or not.
Suggest that if a player no longer wishes to use a leader then move the leader to the 'back' of the combat and state to the other
player they no longer wish to use them. At that point I think the opposite player can skip through them.
Units that start out in a zone of control (ZOC) can slip right out next move. That makes for a very unrealistic situation. A
suggestion is that once in a ZOC, you are stuck unless you retreat. Afterall, in battle it is unlikely the enemy would just stand by and let you hit him in rear.
However consider it and the possible consequences before agreeing
to it. Note that skirmishers have flank ZOCs. The exception would be if another of your units has the enemy in its own ZOC.
Momentum
One of the problems that can occur in play is when a leader has multiple phases
having succeeded in gaining tactical momentum. This can leave the other player's troops devastated and he unable to do anything about it - other than watch.
Historically this is questionable so the following options to limit the
problem are documented here. It is suggested any deviation from the norm is agreed beforehand to prevent disputes.
Note : leaders making use of tactical momentum are noted in the commentary box so there is no hope of a quick move
without the other player noticing.
1. Play multiple tactical momentums as now
2. Limit the number of tactical momentums a leader can have in one turn
3. Limit the number of tactical momentums a leader can have IN THE GAME !
(You'll have to keep count manually)
4. Limit tactical momentums to the main leader only
Option 4 can be played with any of the other 3 options.
Option 3 can give an interesting twist as you'll have to plan your tactics
carefully to maximise the use of your tacical momentum - provided of course you get it !
As there is no way to enforce or discover replays, the spirit of trust presides.
Thanks to Alejandro Orjah for helping with the playtesting on the Great Battles play by e-mail.
Suggested File naming conventions
When you save your turns to e-mail to the other player, the following file naming convention is suggested. A name for the battle is decided and postfixed to it are the
turn number at the point of save and a final letter to indicate the part turn. As the battle is passed back and fore, the final letter should increment allowing easy tracking and ordering of previous saved game files. Eg. If the battle was
Ruspina, the saved turn files would be called Ruspina-1a, Ruspina-1b, Ruspina-1c etc until the end of the first turn at which point it would go to Ruspina-2a with the incrementing letter going back to 'a'. This formula prevents against
overwriting your last turn and ensures your opponent has (likely) sent the correct file. (There is always Murphy's Law).
The file extension is automatically determined by the game. It is not recommended you change this as some battles
with the same name appear in more than one Great Battles CD.
If you are playing a number of battles you might also want to include the initials of the participants in the filename.
End game - screen save
Whilst you can
save the game at the 'You are Victorious' stage, it is suggested that a screen snap-shot is taken by the winning player and mailed with the last turn back to your opponent. The screenshot should show the winning scores by ensuring the rout
points window is included in the snap-shot.
The reason for this is that when your opponent opens the post winning turn, the game will reply the last leader's turn and then complete another end of turn 'run away' so changing the final
score as further units leave the map.
Remember - as a final note, anything you can do, your oppoonent can do likewise.
One of the main problems with play by e-mail is the lack of visibility over what is happening when the other player takes their turn. This can be further compicated should leaders get multiple initiatives.
Battles previously taken over 6+ turns can suddenly finish in 2-3 because players are doing their utmost to get the most out of 1 turn - see playing styles (below) as an alternative to this.
In this very short time, a lot can and does
happen and it can get very confusing to try to work out who advanced where, attacked who and where all your eliminated forces have suddenly vanished to.
A solution to this is the running commentary. As an addition to the commentary
window in Great Battles a much more detailed commentary by the player should also accompany a turn. Eg. instead of the GB commentary saying 'Glaucias is active', you also get from the player
My turn started on the left flank with
Glaucias. Only the Hypasist 1 unit was in any kind of range so that was the target. Even then an a frontal assault was hopeless with LI so an additional initiative allowed a flank/rear attack and routed the unit - not dead however and no
more initiatives left.
This lets the receiving player get a picture of what has happened to his troops in the intervening phases of the turn. In particularly complex scenarios or at crucial moments, a screen snapshot might also be
sent to clarify exactly what went on.
Commentaries help players to understand what is happening in the battle even though they may not be able to see exactly what moves were made.
Whilst the ettiquette above should help resolve many problems before they occur, it may take a few e-mails to sort this out. In order to quicken this process, playing styles have been developed. The concept is that a style will indicate the style of play you can expect in the game. It is recommended that both players agree on a chosen style or severe imbalances in gameplay can arise.
Suggested Playing styles:
1. All is fair in love and war
Anything goes (If the rules allow it - you can do it).
2. Heroic style
Missile volley on leaders is permitted.
Using momentum is not permitted (each time a leader takes a turn it is noted in the commentary box so can be easily checked)
3. Express style
Missile volley on leaders is not permitted (missile attacks on leaders is shown in the commentary box).
Using momentum is permitted. It should always be assumed as wanted should the momentum question be asked.
4. Saintly style
Missile volley on leaders is not permitted (missile attacks on leaders is shown in the commentary box).
Using momentum is not permitted (each time a leader
takes a turn it is noted in the commentary box so can be easily checked).
5. No Playing Style
This is the standard method of deciding which rules to play which allows complete customisation of the rules as noted above in the notes on etiquette.
Thanks to Nick Welman for the suggestion of Playing styles.
- You can play your turn as often as you wish before you send you're completed turn to your opponent. As your turn is a saved game, you can reload it and play it to get the best result. This may be a simple as your archers hitting a target or it could be used to test whole move strategies with leaders. Having the think time is very useful - use it.
- Don't clog up your data directory with old saved game files. Move them out to a subdirectory with an identifying name eg. Scenario + Opponent initials
- Decide on any rules up front e.g. tournament rules. If your opponent breaks them, you can always re-send your last turn and ask them to play it again.
- Game etiquette : Decide before you start on game etiquette e.g. what state to leave the maps when mailing your turn, whether to clean up the graphics, switch off the hex grid, return to high level view etc. This can be a minor annoyance but over time could get irritating and spoil the game - so decide on your etiquette at the outset or at least within the first few turns and stick to it.
Alejandro Orjah has come up with the following process if you want to give it a go.
It can still get a bit quirky so if you try it please let me know of any real problems - or any hints or tips to improve the overall play.
If you're interested in playing a game by e-mail, send me your mailing address and I'll post it on a play-by-e-mail gamer's page.
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