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OT: 1830 MP over the Net - here's how - 9/23/2007 10:32:43 PM

MarkShot

Posts: 7089
Joined: 3/29/2003
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Geofactor, as per your comment:

Actually, I think 1830 is one of the best PC strategy games ever made. I play it all the time under DOSBOX.

As you know it supports hot seat. So, you could do multi-layer like this:

(1) Two players who trust each other can play remote hotseat 1830.

(2) One player hosts the game in a DOSBOX window.

(3) The hosting player also runs one of any number of remote control host programs over the Internet like PCANYWHERE. You can set up PCA to only permit a specific IP to connect with a specific user/password.

(4) The two players during the PCA session share the mouse and keyboard and play hot seat on the hosting PC.

The 1830's hot seat protocols are pretty clear such that this method should be quite feasible. Although not true MP, this should work quite well. Of course, the most important issue is playing with someone whom you trust, since you will be giving them remote access to your PC while the game is in progress.

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Post #: 1

RE: OT: 1830 MP over the Net - here's how - 9/24/2007 2:44:34 AM

geofactor

Posts: 5
Joined: 9/19/2007
Status: offline

thx.....was one of my fav games as well......have played many many games........

(in reply to MarkShot)

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RE: OT: 1830 MP over the Net - here's how - 9/24/2007 3:02:59 AM

MarkShot

Posts: 7089
Joined: 3/29/2003
Status: offline

After I wrote that, I tried that with PCA 11.5 and a DOSBOX 0.65 window between my desktop and my laptop. It looked like it would work except that I could not get the remote mouse pointer to work in the DOXBOX window from the remote.

However, there are two other versions of DOSBOX to try 0.70 and 0.71. And there are many remote control programs besides PCA to use. So, I still think you might be able to get this to work.

---

I think there are two factors which contribute to making the 1830 such a great strategy game:

(1) The game is incrediably balanced. Every action taken has subtle positive and negative affect on your standing. So. I have never seen a game with such a wonderfully designed rule set. 1830 has no chance except initial seating sequence and despite a game only taking an hour, each game is quite unique.

(2) Unlike most PC games designed exclusively for the PC where the game's play balance is only discovered after the game hits the market, 1830 had 5 years of thoughtful boardgame play before the PC project was begun. Thus, strategies for the game were extremely well understood before the game was actually ported over to the PC and the AI programmed.

---

I am already on my 4th. game today. :)

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Post #: 3

RE: OT: 1830 MP over the Net - here's how - 9/25/2007 2:11:35 AM

kverdon

Posts: 85
Joined: 5/8/2000
From: Tigard, Oregon USA
Status: offline

1830 was one of my favorite PC games of all time! (I like the board game too). Elegant design and very good AI. I wish someone would get ahold of the code for this, give it a graphics upgrade and re-release it.

(you listening Matrix? :-)

Kevin

(in reply to MarkShot)

Post #: 4

RE: OT: 1830 MP over the Net - here's how - 9/26/2007 3:53:58 AM

MarkShot

Posts: 7089
Joined: 3/29/2003
Status: offline

There is nothing which could be done to improve this game. It is pure strategy like chess. Unless you cannot run DOSBOX. But it does run beautifully under DOSBOX which is free. The graphics work just fine. The reason it is the best strategy game ever made is the rule set and a solid AI. It takes only 9Mb of disk and with DOSBOX about 29Mb RAM. Of course, it is more fun to play on newer machines as the AI think time is less the faster the CPU. Yes, I am spending much of my time playing an early 90s game on quad core processor liquid cooled and over clocked to 3.2GHz.

I have played about 250 games since January when I bought the game. (Yes, I actually bought it for around $20; even though you can easily pirate it, but I wanted an original color manual. Current prices range between $50-$100 USD.) I win about 50-60% at the hardest level.

This is where I am consistently done in. A game I just finished. The AI players "churn" (buy and dump) my RR stocks to drive the share price down. Three opponents doing that in succession to two or more RRs of which I am president keeps killing me in these close games. I have to change my playing style to focus on making my RRs earn good dividends mainly functioning as a cash cow to drive buying minority stakes in other RRs. The other RRs should be the ones which will eventually trade at high share values at the end of the game. Since the AI will be the majority share holder, churning these shares would hurt its net worth more than my own.

I have to change my style. Playing at "hard" not "hardest", the AI was less aggressive. However, at hardest, it really puts pressure on your share prices. Besides churning, it always leave one certificate outstanding to slow the appreciation which otherwise would occur when a good stock effectively has no open interest position at the end a stock round. Simply a really solidly coded AI and a great game!

Attachment (1)

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Post #: 5

RE: OT: 1830 MP over the Net - here's how - 9/26/2007 4:11:20 AM

MarkShot

Posts: 7089
Joined: 3/29/2003
Status: offline

The colors in that screen shot didn't really work.

Basically, you should see my Net Worth curve knocked down briefly and thus putting me in a permanent lag position behind what would have been the #2 player.

---

Something interesting happened to me during these last couple of years. I stopped only looking for fun in new games being released. I started going back and looking at games maybe long gone and games in genres I would not have previously considered. Some basic axioms:

Axiom #1: Like all works of art, there a very few really good games (could be played and appreciated endlessly).

Axiom #2: The very best games are timeless. What made them great went far beyond the state of graphics and sound processing at the time they were coded.

Axiom #3: Older games tended to have more solid AIs as the AI programming represented a greater portion of the project budget than today, since what you could do graphically was limited. However, there was already adequate CPU cycles do a good AI; certainly for strategy and some simulation where heavy physics was not needed.

Axiom #4: With the Internet and thousands of talented programmers, there will always be technical solutions to keep old games running like DOSBOX. Old games are often further enhanced by running in a window compared to the original machines which hosted them.

Axiom #5: Despite high resolution super crisp LCD displays, older games are often easier on the eyes for aging gamers. The feature big fonts (when there wasn't enough CPU to put a million lines of statistics on the screen) and the typical display was 14" or 15". When you put such a game on 20" or 21" display, you get something very easy too look at.

Axiom #6: If you constantly buy newer gamers, it easy to be dissappointed and waste money. When you get a game that is 10 years old, it is easy to know what you are getting and often it may only cost few dollars for used game.

Axiom #7: Not only are your software costs lower, but your hardware costs should be lower. When I played flight sims, I needed a new PC every two years. Now, a PC should last me 5-6 years easily.

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Post #: 6

RE: OT: 1830 MP over the Net - here's how - 11/7/2007 12:01:32 AM

rsitaly

Posts: 33
Joined: 11/1/2007
Status: offline

I have lost the count about the number of times I have played this game with my friends ... mostly the boardgame but in recent years we used the PC in order to calculate the operating round revenues (when you are at 2 o' clock in the night, after a day at work, calculate the revenues for your diesels can be an hard task!) but still maintaining the boardgame for all the other things (like map, tiles, money etc ...); a great game that never is the same!
If you like great PC games, you should try ADVANCED CIVILIZATION (AVALON HILL) that you can find for free in many sites like the famous UNDERDOGS ... one of the greatest gane of all time without doubts.

Roberto

(in reply to MarkShot)

Post #: 7

RE: OT: 1830 MP over the Net - here's how - 11/7/2007 12:15:27 AM

MarkShot

Posts: 7089
Joined: 3/29/2003
Status: offline

I love 1830. It has to be one of the most elegantly crafted games of all time!

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Post #: 8