Q. Play By Mail and remote turn based Car Wars

Modesty B Catt · 08-22-2004, 10:21 AM

I have a question about Play By (e)Mail Car Wars, having never had anything to do with it.

When people play, do you really just send off one (phase) turn at a time, i.e. "1 small drift to the left, fire Front MG at car 2", or do you send off a whole set of movements in a go?

So if I had 4 movement phases in a turn, I'd send off.
Phase 1. forwards, accelerate 5mph.
Phase 2. easy left turn.
Phase 3. forwards, drop rear mine.
Phase 4. hard drift right.

And those would be played out, unless something happened? Does it depend on what stage of the game you're at?

Second question.

If this was being run as a turn based, web based game, with a server program resolving each move, rolling the dice and plotting the map etc. What would be the best way to queue up moves then. Again, a single move at a time, where everyone playing has to submit their action before everything is resolved, or people setting up a number of moves for each turn and the whole lot being resolved but stopped if an event comes up (or someone places a "stop/pause" command into the queue).

I ask just out of curiosity :)

Mod

jjdodger · 08-22-2004, 08:21 PM

For our PBEM, we have a person designated as referree, who accepts 1 phase at a time, sometimes parts of a phase, ie, movement then combat. We use standard 2.5 edition terms, like, D1 bend left, d3 drift right, etc, always oriented to the driver of the car. After every phase, or whatever he has updated, he posts that to a web site. There is no automation being done by a computer, aside from dice being rolled.

We have been trying to think up a way to "automate" it more, but we have not found an easy way of doing it.

Jeff

08-22-2004, 10:21 AM	#1
Modesty B Catt Join Date: Aug 2004	Q. Play By Mail and remote turn based Car Wars I have a question about Play By (e)Mail Car Wars, having never had anything to do with it. When people play, do you really just send off one (phase) turn at a time, i.e. "1 small drift to the left, fire Front MG at car 2", or do you send off a whole set of movements in a go? So if I had 4 movement phases in a turn, I'd send off. Phase 1. forwards, accelerate 5mph. Phase 2. easy left turn. Phase 3. forwards, drop rear mine. Phase 4. hard drift right. And those would be played out, unless something happened? Does it depend on what stage of the game you're at? Second question. If this was being run as a turn based, web based game, with a server program resolving each move, rolling the dice and plotting the map etc. What would be the best way to queue up moves then. Again, a single move at a time, where everyone playing has to submit their action before everything is resolved, or people setting up a number of moves for each turn and the whole lot being resolved but stopped if an event comes up (or someone places a "stop/pause" command into the queue). I ask just out of curiosity :) Mod

08-22-2004, 08:21 PM	#2
jjdodger Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: South Jersey, US	Re: Q. Play By Mail and remote turn based Car Wars For our PBEM, we have a person designated as referree, who accepts 1 phase at a time, sometimes parts of a phase, ie, movement then combat. We use standard 2.5 edition terms, like, D1 bend left, d3 drift right, etc, always oriented to the driver of the car. After every phase, or whatever he has updated, he posts that to a web site. There is no automation being done by a computer, aside from dice being rolled. We have been trying to think up a way to "automate" it more, but we have not found an easy way of doing it. Jeff