Looking for players to test play-by-email.

[sean_68333]

I have written up some rules to convert the game to a hex map? The idea is so that the game can be played via e-mail.

I have played three games so far and I think the rules work pretty well. I'm looking for a few more folks to help me do some more testing. I will "moderate" at least the first game.

You must have MS Excel, as will be how everything is tracked.

Please let me know if you are interested. And I will send you the rules.

 

[Renny]

Hi

I'm interested although I don't have a lot of time at the moment. What sort of turnaround time for game turns are you looking at?

 

[tneva82]

You must have MS Excel, as will be how everything is tracked.

Just an idea maybe change it to open office version? Unless it has tons of macro's it shouldn't be too hard and increases potential player base a lot. Open office is free=everybody can have it. MS office is rather pricey so there's people who aren't going to get it.

Of course if it has lots of macro's then converting it could be pain. I'll have to give M$ credit for creating lot easier macro language. At least in terms of usage it beats open office's one easily(not sure whether open office's one is more powerful. Haven't played it around much as I don't use macro's that much)

 

[JohnDW]

I'm interested in trying it out.

 

[sean_68333]

Renny, so far we have been playing it in the normal you move a ship, I move a ship pattern. Under that method the games lasted about 2-3 weeks with regular updating by both players and the moderator. I want to try a different system out for this. It will change the game quite a bit, but will allow for fairly quick play by email games. Both players will order all their ships in each phase blind. So you will choose all your ships movement and so will your opponent and then their movement will be updated. Then you will order all your shooting and so will your opponent. You will be updated on incoming drones/plasma for defensive fire. Then all the rolls will take effect. It will all be simulaneous, so damage won't apply until the end of the turn.

I know this is a big change, but it will make the game move quicker via e-mail. And remember this is just a test.

tneva82, I have never used open office. I'm sure it would open the options up to more players, but for now I'm just testing this out. I will look at that option in the future.

 

[sean_68333]

If you are interested send me a note at sean_68333 at yahoo dot com. I'll forward you the rules for you to review before you commit.

 

[H]

Count me in, should be interesting

 

[tneva82]

tneva82, I have never used open office. I'm sure it would open the options up to more players, but for now I'm just testing this out. I will look at that option in the future.

Ok. Well usage wise they are pretty similar with the notable exception of macro's. If all you are doing is adding stuff to cells including formulas it's not much of an issue to make it to work on open office.

Though based on how complex it is open office might be actually able to use it as it is, unless it has those macro's. Maybe install open office and try how it works?

Would love to try it but no excel=no chance whatsoever unless open office handle's it. Ain't paying hundreds just to take part in this

 

[sean_68333]

Tneva82, can you open an excel file with open office? You wouldn't need excel if you could open the file to view it. Send me an email and I can send you a file to see if it opens okay. There are no macros in the file.

 

[Rambler]

sean_68333, instead of move all ships blind maybe split it into 2 or 3 breaks. So one players moves half his fleet then, the next moves half his fleet, back to the first player to move the rest of his fleet and then the Initative winner moves last, thus giving him a slight advantage over the first fleet.

 

[sean_68333]

I'm going to try it as an all I go, all you go and see how that works. If it needs adjustment, that might be an option to try.

 

[sean_68333]

So we started a 1000 point game of Feds vs Romulans. Just started turn two. I think it is working well so far.

We had to tweak the simultaneous movement to account for decloaking. What we decided to do was just declare moves for all non-due cloaking ships, then the ships that are decloaking make their special move after that.

We will see how the plasma works shortly.

 

[sean_68333]

So as it turns out, plasma hurts, but isn't the be all end all. Still makes me think about building a romulan fleet.

So the simultaneous movement and fire make initiative meaningless. We've got several ideas to tweak the movement, but they all boil down to more back and forth. I want this to be straight forward for the moderator and enjoyable for the players. The dynamic is very different than the game on a table, but I think it works alright. I need to see more games though before I know for sure.

Any thoughts from anyone that has done a play by email or mail before.

 

[sean_68333]

We just finished up a game and I'm looking for one more player for the next game. Send me an email or message if you are interested.

 

[H]

Just finished my first game of CTA SFU PBeM... wow, lots of letters

very fun and close game between a federation fast cruiser fleet and a Gorn destroyer fleet. To keep it moving the game has a few changes to the standard rules, but was good fun, and I think gave a reasonably good representation of CTA.

 

[tneva82]

Just finished my first game of CTA SFU PBeM... wow, lots of letters

very fun and close game between a federation fast cruiser fleet and a Gorn destroyer fleet. To keep it moving the game has a few changes to the standard rules, but was good fun, and I think gave a reasonably good representation of CTA.

Yup. It took longer than expected because it seems Gorns had some trouble with GM mails going to spam box(annoying when that happens!) but apart from that it went at pretty smooth pace.

Some slight tweaks might be possible and obviously there's going to be notable differences due to the nature of simultaneous movement but still good fun

 

[H]

Just finished my first game of CTA SFU PBeM... wow, lots of letters

very fun and close game between a federation fast cruiser fleet and a Gorn destroyer fleet. To keep it moving the game has a few changes to the standard rules, but was good fun, and I think gave a reasonably good representation of CTA.

Yup. It took longer than expected because it seems Gorns had some trouble with GM mails going to spam box(annoying when that happens!) but apart from that it went at pretty smooth pace.

Some slight tweaks might be possible and obviously there's going to be notable differences due to the nature of simultaneous movement but still good fun

you aren't going to let that go are you! lol :lol:

 

[sean_68333]

I think our rules are working well. We are still working out some kinks, but overall they work pretty well.

I'm looking for a few more players to join the group. We are getting ready to start another game and would love to have a few more players.

Let me know if you are interested and I can send you the rules to review.

 

[tlee33]

Would love to try this out if you need another player. I'm pretty new to ACTA though. I used play a lot of SFB as a kid.

 

[Skullduggery]

I would like to see an AAR posted or a by turn posting on the forums for us curious bystanders.