BTS, How about a co-op mode?

[oddball]

Originally posted by Radar:

[QB]Cool Oddball, I was just wondering if it would work and you confirmed it(I was boobering with when to send it too). Outstanding

Radar,

Let the disbelievers wallow about in

their ignorance, I say. Whilst in the interim, men of letters such as we,

bask in the glory of knowing that WE

can engage in CO-OP play to our heart's

content.

We used a variation on this idea several

years ago to play the old SSI classic:

"War In Russia" with four of us

involved. It was clunky, but most

assuredly do-able despite what

the naysayers in here may say.

Regards,

Oddball <CAF>

[Foobar]

OK, I have always wanted to do this.

I volunteer to play in a public co-op game, just to get things rolling. I will be player A of the allies, I need a partner, and two opponents. We also need someone to make a quick scenario that would be appropriate. Rune? do you have anything handy that you would recommend for this style of play?

We need the forces split up and deliniated on the setup. And units must be purchased by you, not by us...

Perhaps player A would be ALL AFVs., and player B would be all infantry and non-towed support?

ONLY big rules I have for this game,

1)EVERYONE involved, TURN MOVEMENT LINES AND TARGETING LINES OFF. No fair knowing exactly what your teammate is up to.

2)Initial conversations about the game plan will be allowed, but after setup phase, the ONLY conversations allowed will be a single email both ways on turn 5,10,15,20,25,etc.

3) Player A from allies and Player A from Axis will be the ONLY ones sending files across the sides. Player A will be responsible for getting his B player in on the turn. It will take slightly longer, but it will be much easier to keep organized.

4) Filenames will be figured out before we start. We need to keep it well organized, and make sure that everyone gets to see the movie files. If anyone has a protocol for this, I would love to hear it.

So, I need three COMMITTED, honest players to contact me by email. Serious offers only. If you cant send at least one file per day, please sit this one out. One file per day minimum.

This is going to be fun.

[Foobar]

bump!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Username]

Foo

You bumped the thread 2 minutes after you posted?

[yarrick]

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

Radar,

Let the disbelievers wallow about in

their ignorance, I say. Whilst in the interim, men of letters such as we,

bask in the glory of knowing that WE

can engage in CO-OP play to our heart's

content. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Well, yes, I'm sure it works the way you described but what a hassle! I've got the feeling that most of the people who want CO-OP was thinking more of a networked CO-OP mode where two players (for example) on the same side plot their own actions/moves simultaneously.

So, it would basically work like a normal network game except that instead of 2 players, maybe 2-6 players each get a bunch of units assigned to them and then all players would be planning their own unit actions simultaneously.

That would really be something! :eek:

[Gyrene]

Foobar, how about Player A Allied has Infantry & player B Allied would have Airborne, while the Axix side could be split between Heer and Fallschirmjager or something along those lines?

They'd be easy to tell apart in the game.

Gyrene

[Foobar]

Gyrene, are you going to volunteer to be one of the players?

In answer to your question, I'll need you to sell that concept to me. Its sounds like an ahistorical mix to me, and I was thinking of starting this coop game to further the cause of realistic simulation. The confusion and hesititance between armored and infantry forces to work together.

Do you want 2 players on a team that are able to operate independantly? I was thinking it would be fun if neither player had a "whole" force, and they would have to rely on each other to succeed. My tanks cant move in without infantry screens, and the infantry cant take the ground without my overwatch support.

Tell me what you think of that...

[Username]

Its funny how people don't like anything that warrants thinking like command and control limitations. But things like multiplayer coop (which DOES sound cool) gets raves.

Imagine the Peng thread proliferation. People accusing each other of cowardice, foolhardy behaviour, stupidity, backstabbing, etc. Imagine Peter NZuh commanding your supporting tanks and hiding them in some far off corner all lined up while he drinks himself silly.

Its a scary vision of the future.

Lewis

[Foobar]

It is a vision that will be realised, as soon as I get 3 VOLUNTEERS.. come on people, lets GO

[Gyrene]

Capt. Foobar, count me in. I'll give it a shot.

The Infantry/Armor split does make sense.

Gyrene

[oddball]

Originally posted by *Captain Foobar*:

[QB]It is a vision that will be realised, as soon as I get 3 VOLUNTEERS.. come on people, lets GO

Captain Foobar. I'm a "wargamer-lite", not

a grognard like yourself. However, shold

you NOT be able to find among the previsouly

whning hordes WISHIHG Co-Op was availlable,

I'll be happy to join in.

It could be done with jus three players

as well, shortening the turnaround time

as the "enemy" player would be running

the whole ball of wax on his side.

I like your idea of limited comms

as well. This'll simulate problems

encountered when trying to coordinate

separate commands in the field.

I'll keep track of this thread for

the next couple of days and see if you

get your three other volunteers. If not,

then I'll hop in myself to fill a slot.

Regards,

Oddball <CAF>

[Rookie]

What Oddball says, Its Do-able. It just takes a little extra effort.

If two chuckleheads like Me and Odd can handle it, anyone can

[chrisl]

Hey Foobs, sign me up. I've wanted to try multiplayer coop for a while and am running a little low on games, so I've got some time. I can generally do a file in the morning and one in the evening (sometimes two depending on the time zones of the other players).

[Foobar]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Captain Foobar. I'm a "wargamer-lite", not

a grognard like yourself.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

LOL, umm.. You can ask anyone in the cesspool. I am a complete FOO. Although I am no expert, I like to at least "try" the historical approach as much as I can. It makes it more fun for me

OK, we have our 3 volunteers. So here are the teams, (chosen arbitrarily)...

Captain Foobar------------Allied Player A

Gyrene--------------------Allied Player B

Oddball-------------------Axis Player A

Chrisl--------------------Axis Player B

I will make the arrangements to get out map and such built for us. There will be plenty of landmarks built in (Hill 404, etc).

It should probably be either a Meeting Engagement or a probe, so that everyone gets a chance to do stuff.

I'm thinking we might allow a little more communication than every 5 turns, perhaps every 3.. but we can hammer this all out later...

Oddball, Chris, you guys hammer out who wants to do what (armor or infantry). I will email you all direct as soon as I know somefink.

[chrisl]

Oddball - send me a note. Your email doesn't seem to be in your profile.

I'll play either grunts or tanks, but one question: are halftracks part of the armor force or the infantry force? May as well play them as armor for this kind of thing, since they're less valuable for transport during a battle unless the map is large.

[Foobar]

I was thinking that anything on wheels should be commanded by Player A, the AFV guy.

If we give B the tracks, he might be able to support his infantry independantly in combat, which defeats the purpose. I'm flexible on the issue, but thats what I had in mind...

So to reiterate:

Player A - any self-propelled vehicle: tank, track, car.

Player B - all infantry, support guns, arty.

(since Player A will have less units to command, he will be responsible for file transfers to the other team)

Chrisl-If you get Oddball's email, please send it to me.. I need to get in touch with the 3 of you that way.

[Rookie]

I'm afraid Odd is all tuckered out and in bed, but he can be reached at cholmes2 at mediaone.net (replace AT with @ of course).

Don't worry, he can thank me later. And don't let him near any armor assets, whatever you do

Oh, Here's his bio off our webpage

[ 04-28-2001: Message edited by: Rookie ]

[oddball]

Originally posted by Rookie:

[QB]I'm afraid Odd is all tuckered out and in bed, but he can be reached at cholmes2 at mediaone.net (replace AT with @ of course).

Don't worry, he can thank me later. And don't let him near any armor assets, whatever you do

Rookie! Hey, thanks for fillin' in

for me while I was noddin' out. It's

0400 and I'm goin' back to bed shortly

to catch another hour's sleep before

gettin' up for work.

However, I couldn't resist firin' up

my box and seeing how this thread was

progressing. <G>

In return for your kindly assistance

for filling in for me while I was

goldbricking, perhas I'll send you

the movie turns so you can watch my

err...progress during the battle. <G>

Regards,

Oddball <CAF>

[Foobar]

Update:

Rune promised me that we would have a map by the end of Sunday. But the one catch in this whole thing, is the fact that I am leaving for May 2-6th to washington DC.

We have a couple options, and I need a vote from the 3 of you on what you want to do.

a) Wait to begin until the following Monday (May 7th)

Start asap, and put the game on hold on wednesday 2nd-until the following Monday

c) Start asap, and have Gyrene play my part while I am gone. (this will be our general rule for when one of us is unavailable)

Gyrene, Oddball, Chrisl... please reply with what you want to do.

[chrisl]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by *Captain Foobar*:

I am leaving for May 2-6th to washington DC.

We have a couple options, and I need a vote from the 3 of you on what you want to do.

d) buy a laptop for the trip so I can play on the road

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I like (d).

Any of the options is fine with me, as long as Rune doesn't get to pick the units.

[Foobar]

LOL

chrisl,

oh man, you have no idea how bad I want a laptop.. but I cant get umm... budget approval from my finincial advisor for that discretionary spending?

As it stands, Rune will be picking everything. All we do is start our engines and go. I will email him right now, and request that scenario not be "evil". He knows what we want.

But anyway, please go ahead and pick A, B or C. Choose what you would prefer most. I am not voting, as this is concerning me inconveniencing you guys.... (but personally I would prefer b or c)

[Warmaker]

Just dropping a word of encouragement. This would be cool in any CM but I think it'd be too late for CM2. Would be nice though.

I can already see some of the nice conflict between some co-op players.

IMAGINARY TURN 10

Allied player A:"What the hell? Where were your tanks at? Those panzers chewed my infantry up!"

Allied player B:"Those were friggin' Panthers and a King Tiger! No way I was gonna go toe to toe frontally! I sent my Shermans around the flank!

Allied player A:"At the cost of my grunts getting slaughtered?!?"

IMAGINARY TURN 13

Allied player A:"Look, grenadiers are now mopping up my troops while the panzers are pinning them in place!"

Allied player B:"Hold on! Wait another turn, I've got my boys almost around their flank!"

Allied player A:"Okay, but my infantry can't take all this wonderful fire that they're receiving for long you know!"

IMAGINARY TURN 14

Allied player B:"Ummm... sorry about this, but... it seems they laid out a few Hetzers and SMG troops on the flank and I can't make a quick flanking maneuver anymore! You're on your own!

Allied player A:"NOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

This would be great if implemented!

[Foobar]

Warmaker:

I love your little skit. While the coop game we are starting now will not have the instant spontanaety (sp?) of that, I am sure there will be plenty of blaming, finger pointing, and general fun to it.

If this works out, we should make this a regular thing... Until BTS can implement it in tcp-ip mode, we will make due.

[chrisl]

It's starting to make me think of Bolo, which you probably only know if you're a mc user.

It was a tank game, with a top down view, where you drove around a little island and captured supply centers and pillboxes (which could be moved to defend your supply centers). There were hooks for the development of things like AIs and mapping tools, because it had full FOW. It had the advantage of 2D, and very simple units, but people built some fancy plugins. I could imagine there will eventually be a CM where you have control over your own units as now, but essentially full FOW on your flanks with respect to your partners' units. Not in CM2, but maybe CM53 or so.

[chrisl]

Oh, almost forgot-- I vote for (.