Slitherine

quote:

ORIGINAL: Joseignacio

Does that contradict any of the previous statements?

I have bought the game in the first batch that came to the market, with transport and taxes it costed me about 200€. and it didn't work well even in solitaire (which for 99% for people is not worth playing but anyway...).

After what? 15 years, the game seems to work in solitaire but not in Netplay, most people who play in a group use diverse systems to share screen et al, to be able to play. Even with this, the AS (Artificial Stupidity) keeps sending my resources through lame routes even though I correct it once and again; some resources are not credited, like recently the NEI resources to Japan, and I need like 5 or 10 convoys more to be able to get the resouces than I should need, to compensate the errors of the program. Extra convoys which are more prey for enemy subs , giving sometimes an extra bonus because of becoming more than 10, and always a higher number of ships, which means higher values of losses in the table.

Sometimes we get the game hanged like it did recently with something that was supposed to be solved but fails sometimes, the ships AA fire; that not counting on MIL that dont come up like the Nanking (which was later adressed), partisans that cannot be killed and can stack with enemies, or desync problems due to Matrix's online platform, which kicks us from time to time, or the game simply hanging because one of the computers believe one side has one CAP to do and the other doesn't think so, so the game doesn't progress.

When I reported this last one and asked whether someone was checking netplay errors after there had been no comments at least in the netplay Tech support forum for two weeks I got a message from a (I think) betatester, and the answer I got is "sorry to say that there are game stopping bugs in netplay. cant tell you when they will be fixed." which looks suspiciously similar to "sh*t happens, shut up and man", although maybe I am guessing too much here, but honestly that's how I felt then.

This system is retro-feeding, the worst it works in netplay the more people who plays it in the solitaire and sends screen through TeamViewer and similar. Apart from not being theoretically necessary if the game worked right, this brings security risks for the computers connected. And the less people plays netplay the less reports come and less attention is paid by the Tech Support. So the less netplay improves.

After 15 years more or less, I thought something more could come from this, not an AI, not all the scenarios, not the optionals, not a 5 or 7 players game, but at least a good netplay system for 2.

Now I believe all the effort seems to be concentrated in AI for the game (not only conv), but I have no faith in it after seeing that I order the computer for the 10th time how to carry the resources (routes drawn by me in a paper just to make sure) with more than enough convoys and the computer rejects it for the 10th time...after doing all this following the book and video tutorial sequencies. I cannot hope too much of the general AI in year 2050 when it comes out.

I am a fan of the board game, have recommended MWIF to my mates and in the forums, where everybody told me how naive I was for believing in this project, and I am finally coming to see that they were right.

Some people, old fans of the board game and newcomers have both fallen in love with it cause it is better than nothing and allows them to play their favourite game with a distant opponent... somehow.

For me, who was here from the beginning it is a list of dissapointments and only now some happiness that goes away soon, after seeing how after more than a decade of difficult birth, the baby is left crying with wet diapers, in order to make a new child.

I am not complaining on Steve, I know he tries to be fair and does his best, but maybe this project was too much for just one person in the first place.

And some things I believe are just a matter of pride and could be easily solved, like accepting that the Artificial Dumbness cannot manage convoys and letting the user decide which convoy carries what where. But alas... here we are.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Centuur

quote:

ORIGINAL: Joseignacio

Does that contradict any of the previous statements?

I have bought the game in the first batch that came to the market, with transport and taxes it costed me about 200€. and it didn't work well even in solitaire (which for 99% for people is not worth playing but anyway...).

After what? 15 years, the game seems to work in solitaire but not in Netplay, most people who play in a group use diverse systems to share screen et al, to be able to play. Even with this, the AS (Artificial Stupidity) keeps sending my resources through lame routes even though I correct it once and again; some resources are not credited, like recently the NEI resources to Japan, and I need like 5 or 10 convoys more to be able to get the resouces than I should need, to compensate the errors of the program. Extra convoys which are more prey for enemy subs , giving sometimes an extra bonus because of becoming more than 10, and always a higher number of ships, which means higher values of losses in the table.

Sometimes we get the game hanged like it did recently with something that was supposed to be solved but fails sometimes, the ships AA fire; that not counting on MIL that dont come up like the Nanking (which was later adressed), partisans that cannot be killed and can stack with enemies, or desync problems due to Matrix's online platform, which kicks us from time to time, or the game simply hanging because one of the computers believe one side has one CAP to do and the other doesn't think so, so the game doesn't progress.

When I reported this last one and asked whether someone was checking netplay errors after there had been no comments at least in the netplay Tech support forum for two weeks I got a message from a (I think) betatester, and the answer I got is "sorry to say that there are game stopping bugs in netplay. cant tell you when they will be fixed." which looks suspiciously similar to "sh*t happens, shut up and man", although maybe I am guessing too much here, but honestly that's how I felt then.

This system is retro-feeding, the worst it works in netplay the more people who plays it in the solitaire and sends screen through TeamViewer and similar. Apart from not being theoretically necessary if the game worked right, this brings security risks for the computers connected. And the less people plays netplay the less reports come and less attention is paid by the Tech Support. So the less netplay improves.

After 15 years more or less, I thought something more could come from this, not an AI, not all the scenarios, not the optionals, not a 5 or 7 players game, but at least a good netplay system for 2.

Now I believe all the effort seems to be concentrated in AI for the game (not only conv), but I have no faith in it after seeing that I order the computer for the 10th time how to carry the resources (routes drawn by me in a paper just to make sure) with more than enough convoys and the computer rejects it for the 10th time...after doing all this following the book and video tutorial sequencies. I cannot hope too much of the general AI in year 2050 when it comes out.

I am a fan of the board game, have recommended MWIF to my mates and in the forums, where everybody told me how naive I was for believing in this project, and I am finally coming to see that they were right.

Some people, old fans of the board game and newcomers have both fallen in love with it cause it is better than nothing and allows them to play their favourite game with a distant opponent... somehow.

For me, who was here from the beginning it is a list of dissapointments and only now some happiness that goes away soon, after seeing how after more than a decade of difficult birth, the baby is left crying with wet diapers, in order to make a new child.

I am not complaining on Steve, I know he tries to be fair and does his best, but maybe this project was too much for just one person in the first place.

And some things I believe are just a matter of pride and could be easily solved, like accepting that the Artificial Dumbness cannot manage convoys and letting the user decide which convoy carries what where. But alas... here we are.

Is it artificial dumbness or player dumbness? I said before, and I say again: apart from 1 minor bug regarding the lending of build points by an active and hostile Vichy and a cosmetic one found by mr. Warspite, there are no bugs in production planning that I'm aware of.
But there is of course, the inability of players to understand the right way to get things done in the game. It's not simple, it's pretty difficult to get it right.

If you can't get it right, do it like Mr. Warspite. Post a gamesave in here and let other players give you tips and tricks on production planning.
The problem is partially the program which is written out of a certain way of thinking which isn't easy to understand. But that doesn't mean the program is wrong. It is the way players approach it. It takes a different way of thinking and that's not easy to grasp. And believe me, it cost me an awful lot of time to accept that different thinking.

To be honest: I'm a bit troubled by the fact that you keep posting this issue again and again without giving others who got the program to work for them the opportunity to help you.

Finally: I agree with what you say about netplay bugs. Problem is: other players cannot check on those bugs. Only Steve can do so because we can't load other peoples netplay games.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Joseignacio

I have been following this forum and contributing to the debates on features and strategies, as well as waiting for the release of it from at least 2009 (unfortunately I cannot be sure exactly since when). So maybe my clock is not so wrong, considering that i said 15 years aprox..

My greatest dissapointment with a game in my life came when a few months from it's first projected date, suddenly we were informed that it would take many more months /some more years to be released.

I have downloaded the game at several points in the developement, just to find it unplayable and leave it after several highly frustrating attempts to play because of omnipresent bugs (then). Somehow we were unofficial beta testers I guess.

quote:

ORIGINAL: paulderynck

quote:

ORIGINAL: Joseignacio

I have been following this forum and contributing to the debates on features and strategies, as well as waiting for the release of it from at least 2009 (unfortunately I cannot be sure exactly since when). So maybe my clock is not so wrong, considering that i said 15 years aprox..

My greatest dissapointment with a game in my life came when a few months from it's first projected date, suddenly we were informed that it would take many more months /some more years to be released.

I have downloaded the game at several points in the developement, just to find it unplayable and leave it after several highly frustrating attempts to play because of omnipresent bugs (then). Somehow we were unofficial beta testers I guess.

That's all well and good. Your dedication is commendable. I became a playtester in 2007. But what I am saying is that you are providing a false narrative in terms of how long the game should have had to fix issues. No game should be dissed for time spent in development. Indeed for most games no one knows the time period from inception to release. So it should not be claimed that issues have extended over 15 years when it released 7 and one half years ago.

Nor should the developer that undertook to bring a niche game to market in 2003 (I think it was) be insulted by using preciously unfunny redefinitions of the terminology. This game was not the output of a production studio with a budget of millions.

It surprises me the developer continues to plug away at improving the game after this much time. Clearly he has quite a thick skin when it comes to some of the comments on this forum.

It is just a game after all...

quote:

ORIGINAL: paulderynck

Your posts are artificially sincere.

quote:

ORIGINAL: rkr1958

Two more questions for markb50k or anyone else who wishes to answer. 1 easy and 1 hard, I assume. I'll ask the easy one first.

(1) Where can I find which countries are axis and which are allied. I guess, specifically I'm asking how can I determine which side (if any) the minors are aligned?

quote:

ORIGINAL: Joseignacio

After patching the latest update, some processes that had happened one or more turns ago, ocurred again. There was a new conquer of NEI by Japan and a new anexation of ICeland, and so on.

Problem is that my mate had bought (after the first conquer) a NEI Terr and he is very pissed offf, and although it makes me shiver to have to do this "programming-like" thingy, I want to give a try.

Can somebody tell me how to identify the NEI Terr, so I can bring it back to game?

quote:

ORIGINAL: gw15

Paul,
I seem to remember there is a way to change several of the parameters to switch a file from netplay to solitaire and back again. Once a player switches to solitaire and "adjuste" stuff then change the paramaters back to net play and THEN send the files back to your opponent and he can use that file to play.
Peter and I will send our file to the other on rare occasions when our files get out of synch.
Open the game file with Notepad:
4.2.2.10 (Debug),10,2
gw15,Centuur,
Jul/Aug 1940,3,Declare War,On Major Powers,Commonwealth,France,USSR,
|Thursday, Jul 1, 2021 2:56 pm|
1324637403,1657215,2,0,0,Mine,|D:\Matrix Games\World in Flames\Scenarios\Global War\Saved Games\AutoSave\

There are many lines of code after the last line above but I only show the first 5 lines of the file. On the last line the "...,2,0,0,Mine,..." I can't remember but one of those 3 numbers can be changed to make it solitaire.

I may have this all wrong but I believe it has been done before.
Peter - does this "ring a bell" in your memory?

quote:

ORIGINAL: ssiviour

quote:

ORIGINAL: gw15

Paul,
I seem to remember there is a way to change several of the parameters to switch a file from netplay to solitaire and back again. Once a player switches to solitaire and "adjuste" stuff then change the paramaters back to net play and THEN send the files back to your opponent and he can use that file to play.
Peter and I will send our file to the other on rare occasions when our files get out of synch.
Open the game file with Notepad:
4.2.2.10 (Debug),10,2
gw15,Centuur,
Jul/Aug 1940,3,Declare War,On Major Powers,Commonwealth,France,USSR,
|Thursday, Jul 1, 2021 2:56 pm|
1324637403,1657215,2,0,0,Mine,|D:\Matrix Games\World in Flames\Scenarios\Global War\Saved Games\AutoSave\

There are many lines of code after the last line above but I only show the first 5 lines of the file. On the last line the "...,2,0,0,Mine,..." I can't remember but one of those 3 numbers can be changed to make it solitaire.

I may have this all wrong but I believe it has been done before.
Peter - does this "ring a bell" in your memory?

On the very top row, the very last number designates the mode

2 is Netplay 1 is Head to Head and 0 is solitaire

I find changing the file from Netplay to H2H to be more stable, but there are some difficulties you encounter that only as a solitaire game you can advance past