PBEM it's destroying my soul and killing my life

Keunert · September 27, 2012, 04:25:35 PM

once i started a pbem in advanced tactics (against Harley Rider, later Barthheart) i instantly was addicted. if a game has this mode i don't care about ai at all. playing a human is just so much more interesting. and the glory if you manage to win a game! the satisfaction if you can learn from a helpful pro like Barthheart and others!

combined with making an aar this way of gaming makes my day. at the office i am specilating about my next move, opening a turn and watching the replay is like watching a horror movie...

but tonight my opponent with the help of me managed to destroy me in a game that went on for weeks, withboth sides doing an aar, at the very moment i felt that i was getting the upper hand.

first i got shaky hands, then i tried not to throw the laptop away and then i had to fight to act like an ass towards my better half... i never experienced that in my gaming life.

LongBlade · September 27, 2012, 04:28:35 PM

Call Smuck. I hear he's lonely.

Huw the Poo · September 27, 2012, 05:09:27 PM

Want to play some Solium Infernum PBEM?

Barthheart · September 27, 2012, 05:52:09 PM

Welcome to the dark side. Glad I could be your guide. 8)
Don't forget the cookies....

TheCommandTent · September 27, 2012, 07:55:47 PM

PBEM can be very satisfying even when you lose. Unless of course your opponent cheats to win....

Keunert · September 28, 2012, 01:56:57 AM

i am done with pbem for the time. i will put all my energy in fitness and become a Über Bison.
while spending hours walking and running i will listen to audio books by Sun Tzu and Von Clausewitz,
learn it by heart and late 2016 i will return to become the

Captain PBEM

JasonPratt · October 01, 2012, 02:21:30 PM

Quote from: Keunert on September 27, 2012, 04:25:35 PMbut tonight my opponent with the help of me managed to destroy me in a game that went on for weeks, withboth sides doing an aar, at the very moment i felt that i was getting the upper hand.

first i got shaky hands, then i tried not to throw the laptop away and then i had to fight to act like an ass towards my better half... i never experienced that in my gaming life.

I know this is going to sound terrible--but I want to see the AARs now. ;D

Keunert · October 01, 2012, 03:00:27 PM

that's Olivier spanking me:
http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=3173779

that's me thinking i will win:
http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=3183959

Al · October 01, 2012, 03:13:29 PM

I had to give up playing PBEM - was taking up too much time and it was starting to become a chore instead of something I wanted to do. Of course, maybe playing over 100 games PBEM over the years had something to do with it.

Keunert · October 01, 2012, 03:23:01 PM

i really hoped that this game would go on for a year. but now i managed to ruin it after four months. even my opponent is a little disappointed that it ends now.
Decisive Campaigns Case Blue is really great and if i went for the right decision on turn 40 the game would look completely different. that's just a tremendous amount
of fun not happening.

trying a HPS game pbem i realized that there are games with pro players out there. i wouldn't like playing them, i think it would get to ambitious very soon. with the opponent in this game i played before and it was challenging (he's a little stronger i guess, but beatable) but fun.

JasonPratt · October 01, 2012, 06:36:50 PM

Quote from: Keunert on October 01, 2012, 03:00:27 PM
that's Olivier spanking me:
http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=3173779

that's me thinking i will win:
http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=3183959

Thanks muchly! 8)

Have you played much of Grigsby's War in the East, enough to compare them? (Obviously the time scale will be shorter; maybe also the geographic range.)

jjdenver · October 02, 2012, 07:50:33 AM

I've played GGWITE and DCCB both enough to compare them. DCCB gets my money (although I already bought both unfortunately haha). At a very high lvl GGWITE has interface issues (sounds small but it's not when the interface issues make it hard to understand what is happening in the game) and a "unit carpet syndrome" (i.e. map gets a huge carpet of units that looks just silly) among other problems.

Keunert - I understand what you are saying about PBEM. AI's are pretty easy to beat - humans are not. Also I don't enjoy playing against truly professional PBEM'ers who get very very good at a particular game. But that's probably only 10% of the opponents out there.

If you are enjoying DCCB PBEM another game I'd recommend to you is Commander Europe at War with the latest GS mod (I think there is no installer for it yet and may never be because Slitherine doesn't make money by making installers for old game mods - you have to go on forum and ask for the beta). It's really good. Beware cheating is possible in that one but you can control the randomization (i.e. always roll 6 dice and average them instead of 1 die that can give wildly varying results allowing a cheater to profit by replaying a battle over and over) which alleviates that problem for the most part.

Anyway ya I will always be mainly a PBEM player of strategy games as well - it's really fun. I also lean that way in other game (World of Tanks, World of Warcraft PVP instead of PVE back when I used to play that game, etc).

GJK · October 02, 2012, 07:54:20 AM

For me, pbem (of most any game) beats playing a lame AI. Playing live online (if using VOIP) is maybe a bit more enjoyable than pbem because of the extra human interaction. However nothing beats playing live, sitting together at a table (boardgame). Actually moving units, rolling dice or playing cards from your hand and then watching your opponents reaction from across the table just can't be beat. Unfortunately, the PC whips boardgames in the logistics of finding an opponent, setting up, playing and game continuation across multiple playing sessions.

Hierarchy:
1. I want to play boardgame X tonight vs someone at my place (big game table is out and the game is setting out ready for play!).

My buddy can't make it over tonight but he'd be up for a pbem of the same game on vassal.

2. Try to find another opponent on vassal. Nobody is playing or all games are full. Look at some comparable PC games and send out emails to buddies to see who may be playing online tonight. No takers and I'm not up for some random pairings with kids who should be doing their homework instead.

3. Start pbem with a buddy but he can't get his turn back until tomorrow at the earliest- his wife says "no silly gaming tonight, we have a date night with 'French Kiss' queued up in the blu-ray". Ugh, I need more divorced war gaming buddies.

4. Go back to "comparable PC game" and start a campaign against the AI. One hour in, I recall why I don't care for playing against the AI.

5. Turn off the PC and go back to reading that thick rule book for that über-complex boardgame that I swear I will sit at a table and play against somebody one day.

Of course this isn't how •my• gaming routine usually goes.....

Al · October 02, 2012, 04:06:58 PM

Quote...trying a HPS game pbem i realized that there are games with pro players out there. i wouldn't like playing them, i think it would get to ambitious very soon. with the opponent in this game i played before and it was challenging (he's a little stronger i guess, but beatable) but fun.

About all of my 100+ PBEM games were HPS titles. After a while the opponents were those that would give up quickly if things weren't going their way or the real veterans of the game who knew the system in and out. Got tired of people bailing out on me or playing those who were more interesting in playing the "system" and winning at all costs than recreating a battle. I'll eventually return to PBEM - but not for a while.

Oche · October 02, 2012, 04:54:59 PM

I depend on PBEM, it is very addictive for me regardless of the game result. The AI in some games just gets way too predictable. :)