Ist coop PBEM possible?

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Ist coop PBEM possible? - 1/2/2016 12:02:43 PM

AstaSyneri

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Hi!

Is it possible to run this game in some sort of coop mode (based on scenario, of course) via PBEM? I can't find anything if I enter those keywords and I am looking for a nice game to play via PBEM.

Coop is preferred, going to head-to-head sometimes is not good for friendships ;-).

Post #: 1

RE: Ist coop PBEM possible? - 1/4/2016 2:28:02 PM

Ostwindflak

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I can't recall any scenarios that could be played as Co-op. I do not believe anything in this game was designed to be played as Co-op, either the AI or PBEM are your only options.

(in reply to AstaSyneri)

Post #: 2

RE: Ist coop PBEM possible? - 1/4/2016 3:57:15 PM

loki100

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you can ... sort of, in some of the 3 faction wars. As an example in the Sulla-Marius scenario the Marian and Pontic factions have a common early goal (destroy Sulla) but to 'win' they would then need to fight each other.

problem is the scenarios are set up usually as 2 or 3 faction civil wars and the goal is to destroy everyone else. My PBEM group have no problems with back stabbing and betrayals so this suits us.

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Post #: 3

RE: Ist coop PBEM possible? - 1/7/2016 10:48:00 PM

marcpennington

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Actually Sertorious works well as a potential co-op. Early on, the Pontians and Sertorious can strike an alliance, they share a common enemy, and never realistically would have any reason to fight each other.

It also works extremely well (maybe even is designed to be played as), a 2 sided scenario with one taking Sertorious and Pontus and the other Rome.

(in reply to loki100)

Post #: 4

RE: Ist coop PBEM possible? - 3/1/2016 8:58:31 AM

AstaSyneri

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Will try Sertorius, thank you.

Currently a friend of mine dipped in with me to learn the game and he "complained" that his turn didn't reflect what he did the previous turn (I am hosting).

I tried to follow the sequence on page 11 of the manual: Start game, save - send the .trn file to him. Got back and .ord file, put it into the games save file folder, started the game and ended the turn. I may have looked around through my own troops before ending the turn and generating the new turn.

What could be the probable cause here?

My first instinct is that somehow his .ord file didn't get processed and the AI jumped in instead...

(in reply to marcpennington)

Post #: 5

RE: Ist coop PBEM possible? - 3/1/2016 3:17:46 PM

Hattori Hanzo

Posts: 734
Joined: 3/21/2011
From: Okinawa
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quote:

ORIGINAL: AstaSyneri

Will try Sertorius, thank you.

Currently a friend of mine dipped in with me to learn the game and he "complained" that his turn didn't reflect what he did the previous turn (I am hosting).

I tried to follow the sequence on page 11 of the manual: Start game, save - send the .trn file to him. Got back and .ord file, put it into the games save file folder, started the game and ended the turn. I may have looked around through my own troops before ending the turn and generating the new turn.

What could be the probable cause here?

My first instinct is that somehow his .ord file didn't get processed and the AI jumped in instead...

it's a possibility.

if you have all the files (and you should have them) you can re-do the host and see if it happens again or not.

(in reply to AstaSyneri)

Post #: 6

RE: Ist coop PBEM possible? - 3/2/2016 9:06:47 AM

AstaSyneri

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Okay, found out how to turn back time ;-). It looks like there may have been a problem with the file - now zipping it seems to work. Thank you!

Now if only those lazy generals would get away from their orgies and onto a horse :P.

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Post #: 7

RE: Ist coop PBEM possible? - 3/7/2016 10:13:05 AM

AstaSyneri

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quote:

ORIGINAL: AstaSyneri

Will try Sertorius, thank you.

I have been looking through all the scenarios - and I can't find any one that mentions Sertorious. What scenario are you talking about?

Great Mithradaic War 82 B.C.?

< Message edited by AstaSyneri -- 3/7/2016 11:08:15 AM >

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Post #: 8

RE: Ist coop PBEM possible? - 3/8/2016 6:32:08 PM

Hattori Hanzo

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quote:

ORIGINAL: AstaSyneri

quote:

ORIGINAL: AstaSyneri

Will try Sertorius, thank you.

I have been looking through all the scenarios - and I can't find any one that mentions Sertorious. What scenario are you talking about?

Great Mithradaic War 82 B.C.?

it depends on which games do you own of the "Alea Jacta Est" series.

< Message edited by Hattori Hanzo -- 3/8/2016 6:33:10 PM >

(in reply to AstaSyneri)

Post #: 9

RE: Ist coop PBEM possible? - 3/9/2016 11:08:41 AM

AstaSyneri

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quote:

ORIGINAL: Hattori Hanzo

it depends on which games do you own of the "Alea Jacta Est" series.

The complete bundle ;-). We are playing the Mithradaic War, and every turn offers new challenges. ;-)

For some reason my friend could send alliance offers to Sertorius, but they never arrived with me. That only works with a PC opponent/ally?

(in reply to Hattori Hanzo)

Post #: 10

RE: Ist coop PBEM possible? - 3/9/2016 4:36:06 PM

Hattori Hanzo

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do you mean "Mithridatic War" ?

it's a great scenario indeed

I don't know how the alliance offer work.

a way to discover it can be to do a special "Experimental Game" with that "Mithridatic War" scenario in which you play the role of all the players - so you can see what's happen when the alliance offer is sent to Sertorius.

the system of playing against yourself it's a great way to learn the mechanics of the AGEOD wargames.

(in reply to AstaSyneri)

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RE: Ist coop PBEM possible? - 3/11/2016 11:10:23 PM

AstaSyneri

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Wow, 20 turns in it's quite hard to get used to it - so much is happening behind the scenes. And those Roman generals (I am playing Sertorius) are slippery as hell. I battered one of those 4-legion stacks into oblivion, but the General escaped to Carthago Nova with 700 men!

(in reply to Hattori Hanzo)

Post #: 12

RE: Ist coop PBEM possible? - 3/12/2016 2:24:59 AM

Hattori Hanzo

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20 turns.. it's a lot of game time..

but on the spot I don't remember the time scale of the Alea Jacta Est series

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Post #: 13

RE: Ist coop PBEM possible? - 3/18/2016 5:34:18 PM

Franciscus

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quote:

ORIGINAL: Hattori Hanzo

20 turns.. it's a lot of game time..

but on the spot I don't remember the time scale of the Alea Jacta Est series

Turns are 1 month duration.

Regards

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Post #: 14

RE: Ist coop PBEM possible? - 3/18/2016 7:16:12 PM

Franciscus

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quote:

ORIGINAL: AstaSyneri

quote:

ORIGINAL: Hattori Hanzo

it depends on which games do you own of the "Alea Jacta Est" series.

The complete bundle ;-). We are playing the Mithradaic War, and every turn offers new challenges. ;-)

For some reason my friend could send alliance offers to Sertorius, but they never arrived with me. That only works with a PC opponent/ally?

Hi

The Pontic Diplomatic option of alliace offer to Sertorius should work in PBEM. After Pontus sends the offer, a new Diplomatic option should appear for Sertorius player to accept it or not (at a cost of some EP and VP).

If this is not working, you cand send me a saved game (and also the contents of the scripts folder), but it is better to do it at the Ageod forum

Regards

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Former AJE team member

(in reply to AstaSyneri)

Post #: 15

RE: Ist coop PBEM possible? - 3/18/2016 9:07:20 PM

Hattori Hanzo

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thank you Franciscus

(in reply to Franciscus)

Post #: 16

RE: Ist coop PBEM possible? - 3/26/2016 3:11:46 PM

AstaSyneri

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quote:

ORIGINAL: Franciscus

The Pontic Diplomatic option of alliace offer to Sertorius should work in PBEM. After Pontus sends the offer, a new Diplomatic option should appear for Sertorius player to accept it or not (at a cost of some EP and VP).

If this is not working, you cand send me a saved game (and also the contents of the scripts folder), but it is better to do it at the Ageod forum

Unfortunately we have moved far beyond that already :(. Right now my friend (playing the Pontic side) is extremely frustrated with the supply situation. Basically he cannot do anything, because his rather large armies run out of supply extremely quickly.

I have a feeling this should have been a huge part of the tutorial mission - it seems to be a huge problem if you don't play the Romans and their efficient legions but rather have a more quantitative approach.

(in reply to Hattori Hanzo)

Post #: 17

RE: Ist coop PBEM possible? - 3/26/2016 5:26:05 PM

Hattori Hanzo

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well, the supply system is the heart of the AGEOD wargames in my opinion and masterize it is capital to play.

(in reply to AstaSyneri)

Post #: 18

RE: Ist coop PBEM possible? - 3/26/2016 8:23:16 PM

loki100

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From: Utlima Thule
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quote:

ORIGINAL: AstaSyneri

quote:

ORIGINAL: Franciscus

The Pontic Diplomatic option of alliace offer to Sertorius should work in PBEM. After Pontus sends the offer, a new Diplomatic option should appear for Sertorius player to accept it or not (at a cost of some EP and VP).

If this is not working, you cand send me a saved game (and also the contents of the scripts folder), but it is better to do it at the Ageod forum

Unfortunately we have moved far beyond that already :(. Right now my friend (playing the Pontic side) is extremely frustrated with the supply situation. Basically he cannot do anything, because his rather large armies run out of supply extremely quickly.

I have a feeling this should have been a huge part of the tutorial mission - it seems to be a huge problem if you don't play the Romans and their efficient legions but rather have a more quantitative approach.

the Pontics are hard to play. Not least in combat you ideally need a flat province or your numbers will be negated by the terrain.

For supply there are two tricks. One is to hug the coast, keep a fleet close by and you can send supply wagons to the fleet and back (fleets carry more supply than they need so this is quite effective). Of course this means your fleet is vulnerable to storms, but ...

Second is to keep the core of your combat army back in good supply and create a number of light columns. These should go ahead and grab key supply producing cities so your main army can then march between supply secure bases. The ideal is not to start burning off the supply they start with till you reach an area where you need to engage in an active campaign.

final bit, the Pontics have real problems with siege works, so ideally avoid a route that means you need to take level 2 (or more) forts.

This will help but its still a real challenge. In all the early games, the Pontic faction is probably the hardest to play well

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RE: Ist coop PBEM possible? - 3/28/2016 10:09:05 AM

AstaSyneri

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Thanks for the Pontics hints.

Yes, supply is important. Is there a good tutorial somewhere?

Lastly we have tried the alliance thing again. I am seeing a notice that the Pontics are offering an alliance to Sertorius, but I can't find any option to accept it. Where should I find it?

Unfortunately upload the .zip file with the turn orders (400+ kb) is not supported here :(.

< Message edited by AstaSyneri -- 3/28/2016 10:24:31 AM >

(in reply to loki100)

Post #: 20

RE: Ist coop PBEM possible? - 3/28/2016 5:07:04 PM

Hattori Hanzo

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buyed the whole Alea Jacta Est series yesterday evening with the smashing Matrix Games "Happy Easter !!!" promotion

suffice to say that I'm very happy now..

(in reply to AstaSyneri)

Post #: 21

RE: Ist coop PBEM possible? - 3/30/2016 11:55:44 AM

loki100

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From: Utlima Thule
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quote:

ORIGINAL: AstaSyneri

Thanks for the Pontics hints.

Yes, supply is important. Is there a good tutorial somewhere?

...

Check out Narwhal's threads on how the AJE combat system works (on the AGEOD forum), that will help you a lot with estimating when and how to risk combat with the Pontic army.

There is no supply tutorial as such but AJE has the same system as the older Wars in America (WiA), so a lot of the discussion in those AARs about how supply (lack) drives strategy is valid.

The key is that supply doesn't move around the map but stays in the province it is produced. So you need to either go to it, or bring it to you. Its worth trying to preserve your organic supply till you really need it. So one trick is to look at the supply demanded by a stack (hovver over the supply icon on the stack) and it will tell it needs 'x per turn'. Now look for provinces that produce that level.

The ideal is to have more supply in a province than you need to use (this will replenish any organic supply you burnt off). This might tell you how to break your army down for winter to maximise supply. Clearly a large city with a large depot is wonderful, but a cluster of smaller cities can be useful.

When marching, again ideally you want to move from supply source to supply source. You can't always manage this so you need to rely on your supply wagons. This includes sending them back to replenish (escort them if you have any fears of their loss) either at a large city or via a fleet (as above).

If you are campaigning with a Roman army in Italy or Greece (in the early scenarios) all this is of minimal importance. It really hits the Pontics as first Asia Minor is less well developed and second you need a larger army (to compensate for having less effective troops)

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Post #: 22