PBEM Numbering: how do you do it?!?!

[JasonC]

I always overwrite, unless an opponent insists otherwise. It is easier and keeps the PBEM folder cleaner, with less potential for wrong file confusion.

The idea that you need a backup to review the game or in case of a transmission error seems to me off the mark. You probably have copies of all the files anyway, in your email in box, as attachments And they are time stamped there, and in the order you got or sent them. If you want to save them for review, you can do so; if you need to resend or back up, likewise. Just don't clean out your inbox (or the inbox you use for PBEMs, if you have a seperate one - which I recommend) every day. Your mail program is already archiving everything you get for you, you don't have to do it twice and clutter up your, and your opponent's, PBEM folder to do so.

[Hilltopper]

I send filename1 and get back filename2. I open filename2, move, watch or pray, and then send back filename3. I get filename4 and so on and so on....

[MrPeng]

Speaking personally, I think I'd hire some Dutchmen to set fire to Lord Snowden.

Failing that, I like to use the Peng Numbering system - a translation of which follows:

"Real" numbers Peng Numbers

1----------------------42

2----------------------11

3----------------------B/XIV.25

4----------------------42

5----------------------ii.x3~1

and so on. The clever ones of course see the obvious patterns and the, shall we just call them "unclever"(?), do not and remain baffled. The patterns having been discovered it is a simple matter of appending each file name with the next Peng Number or if you have a younger sibling coming with you for lunch putting your coat on the lower peg, after you open your email and while reading the latest issue of "Grog Porn for the 21st Century" by Professor Dr. Hamster X et alrenaming the file with your previous opponent's wife's mother's maiden name which if you happen to be going home for the weekend can be found tatooed on the back of your pet gerbil's neck.

All clear?

Good.

[Mark IV]

Thus, 42+42=ii.x3~1, though I would simply have rounded it to 2(x-y)18<w.

It is amazing how often we have to explain this. Elvis simply threw up his hands altogether... how he swallowed both hands, we'll never know.

(rimshot, cymbal)

[Seanachai]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Elvis:

The truth shall set you all free!!!!! Stop being lemmings!!!!

15mgs isn't a dent on my hard drive and isn't the point (I don't have a huge drive, 13gigs, which is plenty)<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

When I saw the name of this thread, I just knew you'd be in here, you pillock.

Keep this up, and we'll have a go at you with the medication we've been giving Mensch.

Now, as for this turn numbering biznai, Elvis, who we would normally have to characterize either as 'disturbed' , or the more kindly phrase 'a right nutter', can be forgiven for his endless gibbering on this topic because he is a new father, and therefore being forced by reality to try and simplify and save time wherever possible.

As for myself, I only ask that opponents use a sequential numbering system, with our screennames or some recognizable variant of them appended for clarity. At any given time, I never have less than a dozen games going, and more likely 20+. I myself further add a lowercase 's' at the end of my turns so that I can quickly, and at a glance, tell my turns from my opponents.

Now, as to what I require of my opponents...well, I'm not likely to get much of anything, am I, given that my games come almost completely from within the Peng Challenge Thread.

Some send turns with just enough of a designation for me to tell which opponent it's from. Some use intricate numbering systems that seemed to be based on the Mayan calendar. Some, such as Bauhaus and OGSF, go along blithely following a very straightforward sequential numbering system, then begin randomly resetting their returned turns to much earlier numbers.

Peng has taken to using the 'insult haiku/file naming system' in an attempt to break me down.

I don't give a stuff, I lovingly rename each turn to fit the proper file/sequence, and carry on. Time consuming? Perhaps. It helps when you know and despise each of your opponents in a way that is so personal that they are almost like your family.

But Elvis also overlooks the single greatest reason for turn numbering: Tradition.

For without our traditions, we're just so many idjits showing up to rant and rave about our own personal hobby-horses, such as '88mm penetration' and 'turn numbering'.

[ 08-04-2001: Message edited by: Seanachai ]

[ 08-04-2001: Message edited by: Seanachai ]

[Captain Wacky]

You've gotten a lot of advice already and most of it is of the school that you shouldn't number your PBEMs. Well, this isn't going to be any different, either . Numbering emails and trying to co-ordinate between different games is a real bear and you'll most likely get sick of it soon. Just overwrite your files and number them sequentially (u send 1, opponent sends 2). Saves time and stress. The only way to go, unless of course you are trying to make movies and make a history of your engagements.