How is the multiplayer community??

[shocker28]

I have been very dissappointed with the multi player in battlefront games. I know this a niche game and not as popular a resource building strategy games. And thats what I love about it but the lack of finding someone real to play really sucks..

So basically how easy is it to find opponents either for real time or WeGo games?

[Johnsy]

It's very easy. Go to the website below and go into the forums and there are tourneys to enter or you can post a challenge that will be quickly taken up.

www.thefewgoodmen.com

[GreenAsJade]

Yeah, and there's We Band Of Brothers, and many others.

Find a club, or more than one ... the community is great.

If you want a feel for sheer "amount of activity" read the AAR Forum. The top 10 most active players between them played about 100 games in the last 3 months...

GaJ

[sburke]

Heck you don't even have to leave this forum

http://www.battlefront.com/community/forumdisplay.php?f=74

[slysniper]

I will do one better than that, I am looking for a new opponant.

I play Scenarios PBEM, if that is something you like I will give you a match.

I like players that like to make it a lasting partnership. I have played all my present opponants for years.

But I have one opening, so if you can be committed to follow through with games, ready to take on good competition, my offer is there.

[PLM2]

A live chat group like there used to be would help out a lot... Can't Battlefront sponser some sort of realtime convenient way to setup multiplayer games?

Company of Heroes has an excellent system for multiplayer but something even remotely resembling that would show that BF supports the real time gameplay they created.

[slysniper]

I would enjoy real time if the battles are small. I tried close combat for a little while on line- but it was a joke at times. Between the game just crashing or the other guy dropping the game because he was losing was sad, there was plenty of in-mature players on the site. But there was good players also.

Qb's are the best option at the moment for real time, but slow to set up and hard to get agood fights becase of many issues with the maps and options in selecting troops and what are or not as house rules go.

It would be nice to have scenarios designed for on line play that were small in nature. I know there is one member that has a site that he is providing mini battles. But I agree it would be nice to have a place that we could go to chat, find a game and have battles that were designed and ready for real-time play.

[GreenAsJade]

You'll find in most communities that PBEM way outweighs RT. I don't even know off the top of my head where to find a really active RT player forum or chat. WeBoB has a chat room for this - there's hardly anyone ever in it.

There's a reason for this: the game is not a twitcher. As the Armchair general guy said:

While CMBN is reportedly built from the ground up to be a real time strategy game, and while it allows players to “lasso and go,” it only truly shines when it is played in its proprietary ‘WeGo’ format

GaJ

[PLM2]

I'm 25 so I've played older, turn-based games without even the WeGo of Cm1... but PBEM is not something in my mind that is acceptable any longer for a game for at least 10 years. Tried it... hated it... don't want to have anything to do with it. You can't seriously expect a modern gamer to convert to PBEM no matter how good the game is. Unless BF just wants to stick with the same niche of gamers until they die out then some things need to change. That doesn't seem like a logical marketing strategy to me. If you don't like playing with typical gamers then you're more than welcome to stay in an old man only club.

Just because somebody is a realism junkie with tactical strategy games doesn't mean they're also going to be willing to load a file from their freakin e-mail for one minute of game time. There's no logical connection between the two. Maybe maturity was a common trait in gamers that liked those type of games and would do that 10+ years ago.... but that just plain isn't going to happen for anybody born within the last 2 decades except for your occasional oddball. We live in a society where people expect instant communication... Who the hell even uses e-mail nowadays? At the very least PBEM should be done through the game platform. And there's too drastic of a difference between WeGo and real time to leave RT players depending on doing their own work to find an IP address to play with in RT.

[SlowMotion]

Nowadays PBEM games can be automated using free SW so that you don't have to use email at all. All file transfers between players are done automatically, but you still have to open turn files from CMBN yourself. And that alone takes a while.

I found your post most fun I've read here in a long time

[Mike Churchmoor]

I'm 25 so I've played older, turn-based games without even the WeGo of Cm1... but PBEM is not something in my mind that is acceptable any longer for a game for at least 10 years...You can't seriously expect a modern gamer to convert to PBEM no matter how good the game is...

Being a realism junkie oddball older guy with wife, kid, work, studying and other hobbies pbem is not only the best solution, it is the only solution for me to play.

...the very least PBEM should be done through the game platform.

This is very true and would be very handy.

[LJFHutch]

There's a reason for this: the game is not a twitcher.

CM RT is hardly a "twitcher", I mainly play RT because I don't have the time to play WEGO (and for me at least battles feel more cohesive in RT).

When the speed at which you can "micro" things is more effective than tactics then it's a twitcher. In CM RT it doesn't matter how fast you are you're still going to lose to tactics 99% of the time, or else I wouldn't play it - which is precisely why I don't play all those other "strategy" games.

From my understanding the xfire/steam communities mostly play RT, which reflects the type of play I suppose: if you're looking for an RT game you're hardly going to post on a forum, you're probably going to be asleep by the time you get a reply. So of course WeBoB and others are almost exclusive to WEGO: real-time demands the ability to find an opponent in real-time, that or you have to schedule a time when you're both able to play

[Kuderian]

You can't seriously expect a modern gamer to convert to PBEM no matter how good the game is.

I have been computer wargaming for the last 30 years and as much as I like RTS games imho you will not be able command a battalion realistically in real time until computer AI improves exponentially. Until then we have to to micromanage which is impossible in rt hence 1 minute pbem. Hey I love going to bed thinking of my next pbem turns (11 years with the girlfriend!) Perhaps you are right and CMx's are historical anachronism, long may it be so.

[Kuderian]

PLM2 check out this pertinent article from armchairgeneral.com

http://www.armchairgeneral.com/combat-mission-battle-for-normandy-seeing-the-game-through-contemporary-field-manuals.htm

[GreenAsJade]

You can't seriously expect a modern gamer to convert to PBEM no matter how good the game is.

"modern gamer". LOL. Excuuuuuse us ol' gamerz

modering gamer: "twitcher".

Who said anything about playing WEGO by email?

GaJ

[z1812]

Just because somebody is a realism junkie with tactical strategy games doesn't mean they're also going to be willing to load a file from their freakin e-mail for one minute of game time. There's no logical connection between the two. Maybe maturity was a common trait in gamers that liked those type of games and would do that 10+ years ago.... but that just plain isn't going to happen for anybody born within the last 2 decades except for your occasional oddball.

That is what you do not understand. We are all oddballs. I have been playing wargames for many, many years and I have yet to meet a serious wargamer who was not, shall we say, a tad eccentric.

When I was a board gamer, yes wargames used to be played on boards, I spent hours arranging little cardboard chits and then very carefully pushing them around maps to satisfy my interest.

Friends thought me nuts simply because I liked wargames. They said, " Who will you find to play with except oddballs."

But there were others. Not many, but enough that I could find a game usually once a week.

These days it is immensely easier to find opponents with pbem than it has ever been before.

Fortunately "realistic wargaming", by it's nature, is a little more complicated, and time consuming however you play it. I just look at that as a type of filter that keeps the impatient and conventional away.

[slysniper]

I'm 25 so I've played older, turn-based games without even the WeGo of Cm1... but PBEM is not something in my mind that is acceptable any longer for a game for at least 10 years. Tried it... hated it... don't want to have anything to do with it. You can't seriously expect a modern gamer to convert to PBEM no matter how good the game is. Unless BF just wants to stick with the same niche of gamers until they die out then some things need to change. That doesn't seem like a logical marketing strategy to me. If you don't like playing with typical gamers then you're more than welcome to stay in an old man only club.

Just because somebody is a realism junkie with tactical strategy games doesn't mean they're also going to be willing to load a file from their freakin e-mail for one minute of game time. There's no logical connection between the two. Maybe maturity was a common trait in gamers that liked those type of games and would do that 10+ years ago.... but that just plain isn't going to happen for anybody born within the last 2 decades except for your occasional oddball. We live in a society where people expect instant communication... Who the hell even uses e-mail nowadays? At the very least PBEM should be done through the game platform. And there's too drastic of a difference between WeGo and real time to leave RT players depending on doing their own work to find an IP address to play with in RT.

Dont be too hard on this young man, it is a sign of his generation. And it is true in what he says as to the fact we will see fewer and fewer young people willing to change to the concept of a computer game that takes a 1/2 hour of inputed commands to watch a minute of play and then do it over again.

Their whole life is a subject of instant gradification and quick thinking. In depth thought and patiences is hard to find in the younger generation. They also beleive in change, so they expect software to change to their wants and that if its not to their liking, push for change. They generally are not satisfied with things as they are and want to see change, which is not bad. The older we are, seems we are less liking to want to change. Just look at all the old farts that want to stick with CMX1

Yes , I agree with the other quote, we are a oddball minority that like the slow in depth tactical way of playing the game.

How the game is now, it still is a PBEM game, no matter what they say. It was developed for that style of play

The changes for real time makes it work, but as is trying to be pointed out. The game or site is not set up to support that type of play.

I can see the logic for wanting Battlefront to make it possible to play RT just like the game says it is for.

My view of that is it should be like the old Close combat series in that the site should hook you up with other players who are on-line right now ready to play now, then the battles should be easy to create, so that a map should be easy to find, units can be selected quickly and play starting within 10 -15 minutes at the most.

Much of this can be adcheived by battles being the size where the player is only managing 15-20 units at the most. Within 1 hour to a 1 -1/2 hours, the battle is done and your on to other things.

For those of us that would like to see the details of these battles, the video save concept where you could replay the battle would be the key. But for many years, none of these things have trully been addressed. so I do not see this game really pushing for true real time play. Which as is pointed out. would be a drawl for the younger Generation

What we have is a RT that allows those that play the AI to not have to accept waiting a minute to override their last commands. They can pause at any moment at any critical spot and redirect their troops to do the best thing to try and beat the opposition. That is where most RT play is getting used. At the moment, there is little use of the game in a true RT application. I think there is enough in the game to make it work as a RT tool. But there is not the community or direct efforts to make it a success. To bad, real time can be as fun as PBEM, but it would need to be given the chance.

[c3k]

(All parenthetical due to the nature of the post. A military unit - to remain nameless - sent out an email to everyone under the Commander's name. He was in charge of 4,500 personnel. In a later debrief session, one young female said she was offended due to the "impersonal nature of the communication". This is your modern US armed forces, reflecting your mores and values. I'll stop here before I begin a rant...)

[PLM2]

Who cares what one single female soldier in a brigade thinks. When I was in the Army I wished death on one of my battalion commander and half the rest of em including the officers hated the guy too. There's nothing wrong with WeGo for larger maps or even small ones. The problem is in relying on e-mail to communicate moves. And having to meet someone out of the game platform and get their IP just to play with them.

Its not just young people who expect basic things from a video game. And there are plenty of younger people who can get into stuff as in depth like Combat Mission. I play a super realistic shooter called Resistance and Liberation. Its a Half-life 2 mod... I try to get people from other stupider shooter games to come and try it out. Many of them including a 50 year old guy (who says he loves the ideas of the game) don't want to because the game isn't supported on Steam... which means you have to manually download and install it and get updates for it instead of just letting Steam do all the work. Even games that don't work through steam (like Company of Heroes) and other's have an automatic updating system once you log in through the game. Welcome to the 21st Century. How much revenue does BF lose because the game doesn't appeal to gamers who started playing in this decade because I'd feel like a moron recommending this game through word of mouth. There's always a mandatory "but its an old fashioned game where you have to find an opponent yourself" when answering a question about whether it supports multiplayer when unsuccessfully trying to get someone to check it out as if the realism doesn't already exclude enough people. I'm not complaining about the realism its basic features that aren't there.

You're talking to a guy whose willing to accommodate for a game like this... bottom line is I haven't played in mutliplayer yet and I'd like to (Not PBEM). I'm actually still a member of We band of brothers but I had been out since '07 and I can't retrieve my forum password for some bizarre reason (it doesn't send the e-mail and can't remember my password). The only reason I joined them was because I literally couldn't f ind players anymore after the old online chat went down from that unnofficial CM site. At the very least there should be an official player-matching chat, preferably through the game platform, but anything would suffice. How many resources can it possibly take to have a simple place to chat and meet up for games? Not much and that's the kind of thing that turns modern gamers off and keeps people from being referred here.

[poesel]

There's nothing wrong with WeGo for larger maps or even small ones. The problem is in relying on e-mail to communicate moves. And having to meet someone out of the game platform and get their IP just to play with them.

Using actual email IS a PITA for PBEMs. Use dropbox or a similar service. It makes the file handling smooth as silk and with H2HH you'd even not have to do that, too. Maybe calling it PBF (play by file) would be a better name.

I doubt it would be a wise move for BFC to provide a service that handles the file excahnge because there are already solutions that handle just that (see above).

RT may be a different beast but I don't play RT so I don't care

An ingame platform for finding opponents may be nice but it takes resources that can better be spend on making a wargame. BFC is probably better at the latter than the former...

OTOH they could advertise the fan based solutions out there more so newbies can easily find them.

[GreenAsJade]

This is the point I was making. Some posters in this thread seem to think that you need email to play WEGO ... it is not the case.

GaJ

[noxnoctum]

"modern gamer". LOL. Excuuuuuse us ol' gamerz

modering gamer: "twitcher".

Who said anything about playing WEGO by email?

GaJ

There's no wego tcp-ip in CMBN :confused:

I guess you can play via dropbox though. Bit of a hassle, but better than PBEM in my book. GAJ are there significant amounts of players playing CMBN wego via dropbox or other similar programs at webob? Cause that's all I play for both CMx1 and CMx2. I can't stand the pace of PBEM.

[PLM2]

Yeah... saying you don't need e-mail for PBEM is like saying you don't need e-mail for outlook express or any of those other "e-mail" programs. Haven't touched one of those in a decade probably.

Bottom line its a 3rd party program you need when it shouldn't be required. Im not trying to trash your traditional game values or whatever but... like, you know that still doesn't suffice for even unnaverage gamers that might find this game attractive otherwise.

[GreenAsJade]

No-one said you don't need email for PBEM. That would be an inherent contractiction.

What I said was you don't need email to play H2H WEGO.

I am playing 6 H2H WEGO games at the moment and I never send or receive an email. Neither do I copy and paste a file. I just open the CMBN, play the turn, close CMBN.

It's true it would be better if CMBN itself supported this properly, but since it doesn't there are good community supplied tools to help. It's a non-issue: playing H2H WEGO is smooth and seamless.

GaJ

[GreenAsJade]

There's no wego tcp-ip in CMBN :confused:

I guess you can play via dropbox though. Bit of a hassle, but better than PBEM in my book. GAJ are there significant amounts of players playing CMBN wego via dropbox or other similar programs at webob? Cause that's all I play for both CMx1 and CMx2. I can't stand the pace of PBEM.

Since H2HH came along, there's significant number of people playing CMBN via dropbox. It's not at all a hassle - it's basically seamless.

GaJ