Welcome to The Few Good Men

Thanks for visiting our club and having a look around, there is a lot to see. Why not consider becoming a member?
Register

Multiplayer Idea (one battle with several players)

There's something I want to bring up just for the heck of it.
My brother is not very tech knowledgeable so we use a program called "Team Viewer" which enables me to see his machine remotely and helps me download and setup programs or try and fix any bugs or issues he may have.
I can control his mouse etc.
Lately I helped him upgrade his CM games and we found we could open a CM campaign and play it at the same time. He took the infantry and I took the armor.
I know people may not be comfortable letting someone else control their computer but if it's only the CM game that's open I wouldn't have a problem with it.

It would be pretty cool if the FC's are seeing the same ground controlling their units more or less at the same time and communicating real time by voice using Skype or some such program or text or even email.
And I've never used it but there is a com of sorts inherent to CM no?
 
How do you see or what would be the mechanics for the OC to release the reserves to where they may be warranted?
This is where I get stuck. Without, say, stopping the game and resetting up I don't see how it can be done.
 
Gunner said:
How do you see or what would be the mechanics for the OC to release the reserves to where they may be warranted?
This is where I get stuck. Without, say, stopping the game and resetting up I don't see how it can be done.
Click to expand...

Just continuing to think aloud here:

I guess all the reserves would be in the scenario from the start, but kept back at the assembly area. It would be the OC's call which reserves to send to which player at what moment. That player would then be authorised to start controlling those units.
 
Gunner said:
I'm not sure what the value of an OC is here.
The scenario already has VL's that supposedly the higher ups have deemed objectives the FC's are tasked at taking.
How they go about it should be up to the FC.
Click to expand...

There's no real "value" as such to the OC. Any player would be able to play all units at the same time. The OC role would just be something included for immersion and fun that players would take on the role of subcommanders and do their best with the orders and support they were given.
 
Kraut said:
@Bulletpoint, you would be a perfect Battalions Commander for this multiplayer battle and also your help and ideas could be fantastic to improve this game mode. I am optimistic that we can find consensus for the rule of the Commander.

Sir, can I recruit you as a battle commander?
Click to expand...

Thank you - I might, but let's first see what kind of game people are interested in playing.

If it's a game where the commander is present in the game with his staff and support elements, it would have to be CMFB, because that's the only CM game I have that's patched to most recent version. If it's the "command by email" version, it could be any CM game.
 
Last edited:
Bulletpoint said:
I guess all the reserves would be in the scenario from the start, but kept back at the assembly area. It would be the OC's call which reserves to send to which player at what moment. That player would then be authorized to start controlling those units.
Click to expand...

I see what your saying. Leave a reserve in the setup zone so at any point they can be "released" and attached to any FC.
Have to make sure there will be a route to either flank.
 
Bulletpoint said:
Thank you - I might, but let's first see what kind of game people are interested in playing.

If it's a game where the commander is present in the game with his staff and support elements, it would have to be CMFB, because that's the only CM game I have that's patched to most recent version. If it's the "command by email" version, it could be any CM game.
Click to expand...
Because the main goals for the first match would be play testing and learning the technical method to play a battle with six players together, I can imagine that we could use an each different approaches for every of the both OC‘s, as long as this will not break the match. This would mean that we could get practical experience with two different styles/rules about how the OC can operate. If all player can agree to this proposal we could simultaneously try the „Radio“ (email) Bataillon Commander and the more in-game involved Commander. For example Axis side uses Radio Commander and Allied side the more involved in-game Commander.
Does this make sense?
 
Gunner said:
How do you see or what would be the mechanics for the OC to release the reserves to where they may be warranted?
This is where I get stuck. Without, say, stopping the game and resetting up I don't see how it can be done.
Click to expand...

The OC would simply designate them as not to be operable by the FC(s) until the OC said so ... they could either be left at their default set-up location if not (stupidly) in harms way, or moved to a location from which they could be deployed to either FC ... but this does seem to work easier (better) if the model being used is the more "active" OC ... but even if it's the "absent" OC, he can simply tell the OCs what they can use, and what they cannot .... I'm not seeing the problem, tbh ...
 
If I may add some input here..my suggestion would be to start a “Large“ ME. Have the OC’s pick the units (My suggestion would be 2 under strength battalions. One for each FC) and start the game. Get used to the mechanics of gameplay, turn taking, etc. and move forward. Let the details of OC’s work themselves out as you play. You can always start over....but that’s just me.
 
Buckykatt said:
If I may add some input here..my suggestion would be to start a “Large“ ME. Have the OC’s pick the units (My suggestion would be 2 under strength battalions. One for each FC) and start the game. Get used to the mechanics of gameplay, turn taking, etc. and move forward. Let the details of OC’s work themselves out as you play. You can always start over....but that’s just me.
Click to expand...
I think that this makes sense.
@JP48 , @Gunner , @PhilM @fivefivesix, Gentlemen, can you agree to start this in the way @Buckykatt has proposed?

But before that we would need one more player (as OC). @PhilM will command one side, but the other side is still vacant.

If there is a wargamer who would like to participate, but would prefer to take part as FC, I could switch from FC to OC so that it will work.
 
Kraut said:
I think that this makes sense.
@JP48 , @Gunner , @PhilM @fivefivesix, Gentlemen, can you agree to start this in the way @Buckykatt has proposed?

But before that we would need one more player (as OC). @PhilM will command one side, but the other side is still vacant.

If there is a wargamer who would like to participate, but would prefer to take part as FC, I could switch from FC to OC so that it will work.
Click to expand...

Good for me ... but I'm still having the technical problem with CMFI that I mentioned ... as it is with saving files, I don't want to be a blockage to the test proceeding. I have posted on the problem on the BF forum, to see if either one of their staff contributors, or another user, can help with a suggested route to solve it.
 
PhilM said:
Good for me ... but I'm still having the technical problem with CMFI that I mentioned ... as it is with saving files, I don't want to be a blockage to the test proceeding. I have posted on the problem on the BF forum, to see if either one of their staff contributors, or another user, can help with a suggested route to solve it.
Click to expand...

I'm still not certain, but ... the CMFI file-saving problem I'm having MAY just be an odd coincidence.

I had (completely unrelated) tried to start a PBEM of the Brummbar Game battle, and it's files for that (either if I start it with 001, or my opponent does 001 and I try to save 002) that don't work: but the filename seems to show different characters for the umlaut-ed "a" in the name in the load and the save screens ... I'm wondering if it's just a coincidence that it's that one battle / file name that is giving my Mac the hiccups.

I've now tried to start and save other CMFI battles, both scenarios and large ME QBs, and those outgoing saves work OK ... so hopefully I'm good to go, as long as we don't play Brummbar!!
 
Reading through the back and forth conversation, the thought occurred to me, 'What if every HQ in the game were a different player?'. Not very feasible to be sure, but think about it for a moment. An FC would be a platoon leader, and most other players would be OCs. More interesting would be, how it would affect the style of play, given that your participation in the game would depend on your troops and/or your HQ staying healthy. Just a thought. :)
 
It's a great idea.
The only thing I see holding it back is the time to complete a turn.
I wonder if it would be possible to have everyone on one team to be able to complete their move in a day.
Maybe with a schedule such as I'll do my move on this day at X time pass it to you and you do yours at X time and then you pass it to him etc etc. This way it would keep the flow of the game going.
As I mentioned above, with a program like TeamViewer loaded on the machines we could schedule a time and two or more people may be able to make a move at the same time.
 
From my experience with a two per side battle, it can take a little longer to complete turns ... and being flexible to swap the usual player order for a side if availability issues crop up ( IMO it makes no difference if the order swaps, or who goes first for a side, as you are - voluntarily - “ignoring” the units and battlefield areas that aren’t “yours”).

But all it takes is a little patience to wait for the turns ... as I recall we kept that large battle going over a fair few months, knowing that that was what it would take.

It’s only my personal foible, but I don’t want to load up and use something like TeamViewer, sorry ...
 
Gunner said:
As I mentioned above, with a program like TeamViewer loaded on the machines we could schedule a time and two or more people may be able to make a move at the same time.
Click to expand...

Even with TeamViewer, there's still only one mouse cursor in the game, so players would still need to wait to do their turn. It's the order plotting that takes most time, not the transfer of the file.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top