managing empires

[Skulky]

A long time ago, there was a thread about managing several games at once, i searched several times for it but came up empty handed, does anyone have any ideas as to where this might be?

[Gozra]

I know if you are unemployed or have plenty of time on your hands it is a snap. If you really are playing the game then 2-4 hours is sufficient to play adaquatly. If you intend to win then 4-8 hours per turn is needed. Some folks may deride me for the times but they include running simulations to see what your opponet can do.

[geoschmo]

I rarely am in less than 10 games at once. Right now I am in 13. To be fair though probably only 4 or 5 have turns every day. At times it gets rather overwhelming. Like the days when I log on and 7 or 8 games have new turns all at once. But I just take them one at a time. It's times like that I start to think I am in too many. But then there are the days when I get no new turns for 12 to 14 hours and I start trolling the open game list on PBW for games needing replacment players. I try to fight the urge though cause it never fails when I join a new game three days later I am back to thinking I am in too many games.

I won't deride you at all Gozra. I know I am probably at the low end of time spent on turns. I can't comprehend taking 4 hours on one turn. Even in heavy duty complex games the most I ever take on a turn is maybe 30 minutes. And to take that long I have to be distracted by something like my kids, or work.

Geoschmo

[ August 31, 2002, 22:51: Message edited by: geoschmo ]

[Gozra]

I tend to do 30 min or less in turns myself. But I have a friend who was spending 4-6 hours a day on one turn. I was stunned that anyone could put so much time in. So I took a second look on how I did things and in one turn I concentrated on maxmizing one factor and played the turn. It took me close to 2 hours. Also I don't do too many simulations. This fellow was trying to beat the Talisman and getting games to the point where he was running fleet battles from both sides. Going all out and using enemy ship designs. It is hard being an Admiral and Emperor and Researcher and pushing all three roles to perfection.
However if you met this fellow in a game you would know it.

[Fyron]

But all that knowledge can be acquired from experience in other games, leading to a lack of a need to do such things in newer games.

[DocShane]

I play 7-8 games at a time. 4 hours a turn is a little excessive. Has your friend seen a psychiatrist? Winning isn't everything.

Experiencing the game is worth more to me. In one game, I only have a colony ship left, no planets. I merely continue playing because it is cloaked and I want to explore the rest of the universe, to see what possibilities could have been. If I get lucky, I will colonize a planet. More than likely, I will be detected and eliminated. But life goes on.

I spend as little time as possible in each game. Oh, I have had the rare game where an hour needed to be invested in a turn, but it is usually 10-15 minutes and I am on to other things.

[Gozra]

I have to disaggree. Over the Last 2 years I have learned a lot about what to do and not do and I still learn hint's and trick's as I continue to play.
Want to build a Missle Boat that fires continually almost every combat turn? I know how and I learned that about a week ago.
I know someone that can outproduce anyone but I have yet to even keep pace with them. They have 6 million Game point and I have 2 and we started out with exactly the same They have 500 ships and I am struggling to get over 150 I am getting full trade bennies from 6 other Empires and still it is not enough. I still think I have a lot to learn.

[Fyron]

Depends on how many games you play at a time, and who you play against. Try playing games against people with a lot of skill/experience. You'll learn a lot.

[geoschmo]

Originally posted by Gozra:
Want to build a Missle Boat that fires continually almost every combat turn? I know how and I learned that about a week ago.

Three different levels of CSM? Then each would fire at a different range. In thoery this could result in a few missles eveery turn. It wouldn't be perfect of course because of differences in ship movement between your ship and the enemy, but it would be close.

I agree, as many games as I have played, I continue to learn new stuff all the time. And I even relearn a lot of stuff I used to know but forgot. Ideas for straategies I gave up on, but then saw later put into practice by someone you worked out the kinks, that sort of thing.

That's the main reason I don't like playing the AI. It's not so much that they are bad, cause I have lost solo games before. It's just that after a few games, they never show me anything new.

Geoschmo

[ September 01, 2002, 19:42: Message edited by: geoschmo ]

[capnq]

I'm a compulsive micromanager; I can't handle more than 2-3 active PBW games.

I've recently decided I need to concentrate on finishing some of my solo games, as well. I used to cycle through all of them, but it seemed like I was spending too much time refamiliarizing myself with the situation in each game.