12 replies to this topic

[Gary Carpenter]

I got a Email from Pete stating that I had been told about the return of the ships from the battle three turns ago at the same time as IDE Here in the forum

HAS this forum now become the OFFICIAL area to look for responses to EMails and turn problems?

Pete implies it has.

[Locklyn]

Huh,

I am curious as to when that would have been? The ONLY answer we're given on that battle thread is from the post that IDE made on March 20th that he has caught Pete on the phone, nothing on ships on anything else there at all? An there are alot of posts after asking Pete to clarify but his first answer to the entire thread is April 7th so I wonder where this answer would have been posted?? I for one don't take one player stating he has spoken with Pete as any sort of official answer untill I see a written post by the man himself.

Cheers
/Locklyn

Quote from IDE 090320:

"I have news!

I just caught Pete on the phone and engaged in a short conversation on this topic.

Bottom line is that Pete's vision of the battle system indicates that in this particluar battle, our forces should have probably targeted the large surface fortresses in favor of the small screening forces. We did not do anything wrong in our deployment of our Flag Bridge. It should have worked.

He said that he had looked at the battle a little, but had not studied it sufficiently to determine exactly what had gone wrong. His main theory was that the code that executes multiple combat rounds at once (actually a firepower and fire control multiplier) to shorten massive battles, did not mesh well with the Flag Bridge code. For some reason, the effects of the Flag Bridge did not kick in when they should have.

Pete speculated that he may have to take a greater hand in moderating the space battles that involve Flag Bridges, possibly allowing the combat round multiplier code to kick in only once all the heavy assets on one side have been dispatched, leaving only the screens.

Tony"

[Coconutheads]

Not trying to be a smarta** here but I would really like to see RTG confirm this one. If true it would be the least I would expect....

[rfouasnon]

I cannot be true...not 100% of the players have internet access or access the forums.....for that to work , everybody , and I really mean everybody would need to have this access . Remember , there are still players who get their turns by mail , and send order sheets back to RTG by mail ( snail mail ) ........

[Coconutheads]

rfouasnon, on Apr 9 2009, 07:01 PM, said:

I cannot be true...not 100% of the players have internet access or access the forums.....for that to work , everybody , and I really mean everybody would need to have this access . Remember , there are still players who get their turns by mail , and send order sheets back to RTG by mail ( snail mail ) ........

Good point... unless everyone has access to the internet (which we know is not true as Pete has indicated that there are still snail mail people playing) there is no way this site could be the official contact point... Besides, isn't the top of each turnsheet reserved for official communications?

[Lord Xaar]

I have to agree...we need better visibility on communications such as this. This is a significant piece of information regarding the behavior of the combat system, so hopefully it will merit a 'blurb' at the top of the next set of turns.

-LX

[hobknob]

Pete has stated before that the board is the official response area. The problem of folks that don't use the board has been brought up as well and the response has generally been that there aren't that many of them out there.

So, if you see something from Pete or Russ on the board it is official.

[Lord Xaar]

hobknob, on Apr 13 2009, 10:28 PM, said:

Pete has stated before that the board is the official response area. The problem of folks that don't use the board has been brought up as well and the response has generally been that there aren't that many of them out there.

So, if you see something from Pete or Russ on the board it is official.

Well, sure. However, there are still apparently people that don't have access to (or the desire to visit) the forums and out of basic considerations of fairness certain things should be communicated widely.

I miss the commentary on the turn results. It's nice to see things showing the game is being worked on (even if I'm sure it is). I think it would do a lot to damp down some of the rampant speculation about issues (or whining, some might say) if there was a little more communication sometimes

-LX

[Breoghan]

I would question how anyone who can afford to play in this game would not have access to a computer. It then follows that if they choose not to log on to the site to keep up to date with what is happening it's on them rather than RTG. Pete & Russ cannot be expected to be all things to all people. They've provided the site - its up to the players to use it to their own advantage - I reckon its one of those 'taking a horse to water....' things.

[rfouasnon]

It is not a question of being able to afford to play this game......some people who play this game don't have a computer , don't have internet access . Some people actually still play this game solely by mail....they send their turns to RTG by paper , they get a paper printout sent to their address , wherever it might be . You might be surprised where some of the printouts are sent to ...run a couple hundred REA orders , and you would know what I mean . This game is not advertised soley as a pbEm game...it is advertised as pbm / pbem . Go to the website , read what RTG offers . As long as this is the case , in all fairness to those players without internet , the forum cannot be the only means of communicating changes or clarifications . Yes , of course when Russ / Pete posts something on the forum , it is official....but the board cannot be the only official means of communications until the game is either solely pbem , or until everyone , meaning 100% of the players , have internet access .

[Breoghan]

Are any of those people who get the stuff through the mail complaining? (Rhetorical question)

Who knows what Pete and Russ do to accommodate the the non-internet types! Those that ARE online have no excuse.

[WKE235]

Breoghan, on Apr 15 2009, 12:07 AM, said:

Are any of those people who get the stuff through the mail complaining? (Rhetorical question)

Who knows what Pete and Russ do to accommodate the the non-internet types! Those that ARE online have no excuse.

Sigh .. all I can think about when you're arguing about who can access what is how many PBM (or PBEM) games have gone under due to the move from mail to email and the internet. Posting turns and waiting for results is just something many people just can't seem to do. In today's instant access world, they want results now, and get upset by the slightest delay. I was just looking over Flagships PBM Boneyard thread, remembering all the games I played on the list.

http://www.flagshipm...ead.php?tid=801

I wonder how many of these poor games had similar arguements and struggles. How do we serve both the new email/internet crowd and still serve the old set who have to (or want to) use mail. I would say one reason these firms all closed doors is they failed to answer that question sufficently.

[hobknob]

For many years I have copied messages from the board and sent them to an ally that did not have board access. That or a phone call would generally keep him up to date on the game.

I know there are people who can't access the board today and I was just contacted by one of them this week.

Nobody ever said that the only means of communication were by the board, rather that communications on the board were official. I also like the messages on the turns, but they are much harder to get to down the road than a message on the board.

Also, if you are newer to the game there was a good document created by Eternus that compiled all the board comments and other tidbits of interest into a single place. You should be able to find it here on the board. It is slightly out of date, but is a good start still.