same shipsets for 2 opponents in game

[Emperor's Child]

I've joined a PBW game recently and have noticed that two of the opponents that did not provide a dowloaded ship-set have had the computer select for them the same shipset. I'm not in contact with either one at the moment, but am curious if this will cause issues in turn processing down the road. I need advice from players who have seen this before on what problems to expect and advice on how to tell the two apart when they have ships in the same sector.

[Ed Kolis]

It won't mess up turn processing, but it will be a real pain to tell the ships apart... I think if they have ships in the same sector there will be 2 identical flags, but you'll need to check each ship individually to see who it belongs to http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif
Hopefully they will declare war on each other and one will wipe the other out http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif

[NullAshton]

Or, you could force one to surrender to the other, and have fun destroying a double-wide empire.

[capnq]

The easiest way to deal with this is for the players involved to agree on a ship naming convention that differentiates between them, like their empire's initials.

[Emperor's Child]

I don't know, I'm assuming that this is a problem for me and me alone. I'd rather not put my issued onto the other players.

Out of curiosity, does anybody know if a double-shipset assignment in a PBW game is something that affects all players when it occurs, or is this something that only one player has to deal with?

[Renegade 13]

That depends. If you do not have the shipsets that those two players are using, the computer will randomly assign shipsets to those empires for you to see. Everyone who does have the shipset will see everything properly. So if it's a case of just you not having the shipsets the players are using, then it'll likely be only you who has the duplicate shipsets problem.

Sorry if that doesn't make a lot of sense, I seem to be having a tough time writing what I'm thinking! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif

[Alneyan]

Do they have the same Shipset name in their details? If so, tough luck. If not, you could create two silly ships for them, or something to that effect.

I actually play with few shipsets, so most ships look pretty much the same for me, but I wouldn't advise doing that if you like your game display clear and efficient. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif (I *know* where your ships are, so I don't rely on a graphical display for them)

[Fyron]

NullAshton said:
Or, you could force one to surrender to the other, and have fun destroying a double-wide empire.

Merging empires is one of the worst ways to ruin a PBW game.

[Atrocities]

Just have one of the players pick a new set, swap out the new images for the empire and forward a zip copy to everyone. Problem solved.

[Ed Kolis]

I think the game has already started... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif

[Emperor's Child]

Atrocities said:
Just have one of the players pick a new set, swap out the new images for the empire and forward a zip copy to everyone. Problem solved.



Won't work, game is already started. The two players didn't select any specific shipsets, so the computer apparently selected the same stand-in shipset for both.

[Kamog]

I wonder if it's possible to have a 20-player game and have every empire use the same ship set? Now that would be really confusing.

[Fyron]

It is possible. Don't give Geo or Tesco any bad ideas! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/stupid.gif

[Alneyan]

Make a copy of your whole SEIV directory, remove all the shipsets except one from your copy, and fire up your favourite game with 20 Empires: voilà, you now have 20 twin Empires. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

[Renegade 13]

But would they be twin empires when there's 20 of them? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

[Emperor's Child]

Renegade 13 said:
But would they be twin empires when there's 20 of them? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif



I think the term Clone empires is what you are looking for. Gods.. the SEIV "Clone Wars." Imagine if people used similar names for ships, too. What a mess.

[Strategia_In_Ultima]

Emperor's Child said:
Gods.. the SEIV "Clone Wars."



has nightmarish visions of Stormtrooper-ish guys mucking about while the forum regulars are cutting each other up using bright sticks and horrible dialogue

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Use the farce, Strategia!