Undercovergeek and I are planning on having a crack at a PBEM game of Pride of Nations. As neither of us really appears to know what we're doing, it should be a glorious shambles. Anyone want in?
Just trying to gauge interest as of now. We will have to ensure that we've all got the same version of the game running and then we can figure out what scenario, who will play what country, who will host, how often turns will be done, etc.
hmmm would that mean the turns wouldn't take forever since it's 'people' that already did them?
with pbem the turns can take as long as you like - sip a cup of tea and contemplate your nations goals - noones going to rush you
The bottleneck would be that whoever hosts has to send an email to everyone with the turn update, then collect the orders files from each player, throw them into the game folder, process the turn results, and then email the next turn update to each player again.
I've been farting around with the 2nd Anglo-Boer War scenario using the 1.04RC2 beta patch with the speed hotfix and the game is very fast at processing turns now.
I still have trouble wrapping my head around the AGEOD system though. No idea why certain leaders refuse to activate, why losing units always seem to retreat in the worst possible direction, and a bunch of other stuff like replenishment, how exactly the siege mechanic works, and so on.
Quote from: Silent Disapproval Robot on September 07, 2014, 07:13:55 PM
I've been farting around with the 2nd Anglo-Boer War scenario using the 1.04RC2 beta patch with the speed hotfix and the game is very fast at processing turns now.
I'm pretty sure the individual scenarios in PrON (not the full campaign) are as fast as other AGE games since it doesn't have the complete world economy and accompanying AI being calculated every turn. It's the grand campaign that has slow turn speeds, although it's a bit faster than it was on release.
Yeah, I messed around with a few turns in the GC as well just to see if the speed had improved and it has. It's still slow, but nothing like before. Turns that were taking 2-3 minutes before are processing in about 45 seconds now.
hmm might have to give it another shot then.. I"ve never made it past the first turn.. the time would always make me close the game
3 way pbem?
Quote from: Silent Disapproval Robot on September 08, 2014, 01:06:25 AM
Yeah, I messed around with a few turns in the GC as well just to see if the speed had improved and it has. It's still slow, but nothing like before. Turns that were taking 2-3 minutes before are processing in about 45 seconds now.
That sounds promising. But are there still late game bugs, unimplemented features?
Quote from: jomni on September 08, 2014, 07:41:37 AM
Quote from: Silent Disapproval Robot on September 08, 2014, 01:06:25 AM
Yeah, I messed around with a few turns in the GC as well just to see if the speed had improved and it has. It's still slow, but nothing like before. Turns that were taking 2-3 minutes before are processing in about 45 seconds now.
That sounds promising. But are there still late game bugs, unimplemented features?
Has anyone ever gotten far enough to be able to tell? ;-)
Quote from: jomni on September 08, 2014, 07:41:37 AM
Quote from: Silent Disapproval Robot on September 08, 2014, 01:06:25 AM
Yeah, I messed around with a few turns in the GC as well just to see if the speed had improved and it has. It's still slow, but nothing like before. Turns that were taking 2-3 minutes before are processing in about 45 seconds now.
That sounds promising. But are there still late game bugs, unimplemented features?
Pocus says there are still problems that need to be address but that he's working on them in his spare time. There is some missing text on the population screen and some unit descriptions are still showing placeholder file names instead of data when you view the detail page on the element detail tab.
EDIT: Oh yeah, and most importantly, all the pretty uniform art on the details page is gone.
There was some people playing a multi-player game since shortly after release. They seemed to be finding a lot of bugs along their way, and one had been reporting them for a long time.
Not sure if they ever finished or continued finding them. They seemed pretty steady though, and not just grammatical errors either. I recall numerous historical event scripting errors being reported. Hopefully they were all addressed in updates. There were also some fairly recent reports of a bug with gold, or some such economic mechanics problem that would pop up after playing for a time. Not sure it's been fixed yet.
I would like to play the GC in PrON sometime, but I get the impression that it still needs some patching on bugs that were broken, or had returned, from previous patching.
I got PoN on Steam last week on sale. Did the tutorials. I didn't realize how deeply complex this game was. It would require a full reading of the long manual (the tutorial only covers some very basic concepts) to make sense about what to do, what to build, how to balance trade, economy, military, etc. I'm not being critical. It just is what it is and these sort of games can be very satisfying once mastered. I've been playing Ageod's ACW2 for awhile and love it. But PoN is significantly more complicated; four modes with multiple sub-modes, with each opening up their own set of builds, decisions, etc. It will require a commitment of time and effort I just wasn't prepared to make right now. Good luck everyone!
OK, so who's in? What scenario should we play?
its got to be GC surely
I'd love to, but I haven't done crap with it, so don't know how to play.. will you be gentle like Metaldog is with his neighbors in Warlock?
I have no idea what I'm doing either Tuna. I figure getting slapped around by some human opponents might actually force me to learn the game.
Any preference for nationality, UCG?
Quote from: Tuna on September 09, 2014, 08:04:15 PM
I'd love to, but I haven't done crap with it, so don't know how to play.. will you be gentle like Metaldog is with his neighbors in Warlock?
I'll be following along if you guys do this. Please write it up.
And I resemble that remark
What's the latest patch version. I went on the ageod forum, but didn't see any patch links.
The last official patch is 1.03d. There's a beta patch 1.04RC2 plus a hot fix that fixes some economy bugs and speeds up turn processing but it adds some new bugs. The worst one is that it makes all the text disappear from the population screen. We'll have to decide which version to play if we're going to do this.
Quote from: Silent Disapproval Robot on September 09, 2014, 09:47:53 PM
The last official patch is 1.03d. There's a beta patch 1.04RC2 plus a hot fix that fixes some economy bugs and speeds up turn processing but it adds some new bugs. The worst one is that it makes all the text disappear from the population screen. We'll have to decide which version to play if we're going to do this.
i dont think any of us knows what we're doing which makes it a level playing ground
ill go for Italy if thats ok
Italy? Somebody's getting ahead of themself, you megalomaniac!
Sardinia-Piedmont it is then.
I'm thinking Russia. Anyone else? Tuna?
Quote from: Silent Disapproval Robot on September 10, 2014, 08:26:35 AM
Italy? Somebody's getting ahead of themself, you megalomaniac!
Sardinia-Piedmont it is then.
I'm thinking Russia. Anyone else? Tuna?
lmao, indeed
I'd like to join, gotta get it installed patched, and just run the tutorial. I'm non steam that ok? What's a good country for another noon.
I'm non-Steam as well.
You've got your choice of the UK, France, Prussia, Austria, Belgium, the Ottomans, the US, or Japan.
I'd say avoid the UK as they'll be overwhelming and avoid Japan as there's really nothing for them to do until the Commodore Perry event triggers.
im steam :-\
im assuming it doesnt matter, although it was originally not steam if its a deal breaker and ill find the install on gamersgate
Should be an easy test. I think the main issue will be ensuring that we are running the same patch. I'm not sure what the Steam version is patched to.
steam is 1.04, but i think you can roll back - need to check on home PC
I'll just install when I get home. Won't patch till I hear a version. Too bad us Gamersgate people got dis-owned by slitherine we couldn't get Steam keys :'(
Dammit! I passed on getting this game on sale last week and now you've gotten me wanting me to go all imperialism on somebody. Would you all please stop acting liking you're having fun?
Quote from: undercovergeek on September 10, 2014, 09:26:57 AM
steam is 1.04, but i think you can roll back - need to check on home PC
I'm currently running 1.04 with the hotfix but I can roll back if need be.
yeah i thought i was gg but apparently i went straight in thru a steam sale - let me check what i can roll back to
so whats your version number?
PON 1.04 RC2
ahh - thats mine i think - will confirm later
downloaded to work laptop because im an impatient bastard - yes steam is 1.04
it doesnt designate the RC2 part but 104rc2 is the only version of anything that is 104 that i can find
had a mass panic at first as i cant see an MP option but its all under the hood i see after reading a post on steam
Here's the link to the latest patch. I'm not sure if it'll work with the Steam version.
http://www.ageod-forum.com/showthread.php?36514-August-3rd-quickfix (http://www.ageod-forum.com/showthread.php?36514-August-3rd-quickfix)
We can run a test to see if the versions are compatible. If you PM me your email, I can start a game and send you the file and you can test to see if it works with your game.
pm sent
OK, turn 1 sent. Let's see if this works.
Maybe find these useful? Enjoy your game and please produce an aar O0
The latest patches
1.04 RC2: http://www.ageod-forum.com/forumdisplay.php?104-PON-latest-patch-Dernier-patch-publi%E9 (http://www.ageod-forum.com/forumdisplay.php?104-PON-latest-patch-Dernier-patch-publi%E9)
1.04RC2 quickfix: http://www.ageod-forum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=29734&d=1407086211 (http://www.ageod-forum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=29734&d=1407086211)
The quickfix is an exe. Just extract and place it in the install directory overwriting the original.
Manual (1.02): http://www.ageod-forum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=16575&d=1322465217 (http://www.ageod-forum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=16575&d=1322465217)
Key list:
I have attached a key list...can't remember how i got it ???
Quote from: Silent Disapproval Robot on September 10, 2014, 11:26:50 AM
OK, turn 1 sent. Let's see if this works.
good news - ive saved the turn and can open it in ProN
so Load Game, choose SDR1850, game opens
bad news - it thinks im Russia, i can only plot turns and build as Russia - when does my choice to choose 'Italy' get asked
Quote from: undercovergeek on September 10, 2014, 11:50:20 AM
Quote from: Silent Disapproval Robot on September 10, 2014, 11:26:50 AM
OK, turn 1 sent. Let's see if this works.
good news - ive saved the turn and can open it in ProN
so Load Game, choose SDR1850, game opens
bad news - it thinks im Russia, i can only plot turns and build as Russia - when does my choice to choose 'Italy' get asked
Hmm... Perhaps I have to send you the Italian .TRN file? Let's try that and see what happens.
no no ive sussed it - me being an idiot - you are the host and its you that runs the game - so all the players send you their ord files, you drop them all into the saved game at your end and then click end turn, then game runs the turn using all our ord files and spits out the result - not a deal breaker for me, but youre the only one that gets to see the turn play out as it were, everyone else has to read the message log - wash rinse repeat
so effectively you are duplicating an AI game but using our ord files to generate our moves
Ok, as long as it works. Anyone can host. I'm fine with reading the message logs rather than processing.
No it's cool I'm happy with that
Anyone else in?
OK, I processed turn one. As Russia, all I did was pull one unit of cavalry out of the stack in St. Petersberg. Let me know if that registers on your map and if your orders processed properly. If everything is good, then we can re-start once everyone who wants to play is ready to go.
Yeah I moved one unit too.... Will your moves not be hidden from me big fow?
Quote from: Asid on September 10, 2014, 11:27:39 AM
Maybe find these useful? Enjoy your game and please produce an aar O0
The latest patches
1.04 RC2: http://www.ageod-forum.com/forumdisplay.php?104-PON-latest-patch-Dernier-patch-publi%E9 (http://www.ageod-forum.com/forumdisplay.php?104-PON-latest-patch-Dernier-patch-publi%E9)
1.04RC2 quickfix: http://www.ageod-forum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=29734&d=1407086211 (http://www.ageod-forum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=29734&d=1407086211)
The quickfix is an exe. Just extract and place it in the install directory overwriting the original.
Manual (1.02): http://www.ageod-forum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=16575&d=1322465217 (http://www.ageod-forum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=16575&d=1322465217)
Key list:
I have attached a key list...can't remember how i got it ???
hmm I get 500 errors trying to access AGEOD's site... I tried Matrix, but it doesn't look like they are at 1.04
Nevermind working now 8)
Quote from: Tuna on September 10, 2014, 07:05:34 PM
hmm I get 500 errors trying to access AGEOD's site... I tried Matrix, but it doesn't look like they are at 1.04
Hi Tuna
Just "left click" the links and the file downloads automatically. I use Mozilla Firefox. I just checked. The links all work.
Regards
I'm thinking France for me.
SDR - it works fine, FWIW i only ever need the italy trn files and tuna will only ever need the France ones, the Rus ones will allow us to see whats going on at your end !
but yeah, my troops moved, i see yours did and the little log file is extendable to see what happened in the turn
im good to go for the real thing when you and tuna are
Ok sounds good. How many turns/day are we shooting for?
Quote from: Silent Disapproval Robot on September 11, 2014, 09:44:15 AM
Ok sounds good. How many turns/day are we shooting for?
i would imagine its the same as all grand strategy games, fairly hefty concentration on the first few turns, especially as were all noobs, but i would imagine the turns will fly once were in it - should be done, ooooooooo 2017?
What time zone is UCG?
im London, GMT but im a later to bedder and early riser, and im looking forward to the game very much - when i turn comes in, ill be all over it
I'm in the pacific time zone but I work shifts and have insomnia so my hours available are pretty erratic. Unfortunately, when I'm working I won't be able to process turns as there's no wifi available for the laptop there.
Anyway, let's decide on the game rules and get this thing rolling, shall we?
Tuna, does yours work? - do we want to do a sample first turn with the 3 of us in this time, and see if Tunas happy with the text feed as opposed to the turn watch
Yikes the time zones are spread, will be tough to do multiple a day.
Send me a turn file. So we just do our stuff, but don't hit end turn, then save and send to sdr?
SDR starts the game and emails you France.trn and me Italy.trn, do your stuff, save it and send france.ord back to SDR, he puts all the .ord files into the game runs it and presses end turn - hey presto
but only SDR sees the turn played out live, you and i just get the message feed at the bottom of the screen
OK, so here are the options menus. Please chime in and we'll get a consensus on what settings to use.
First are game options:
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fv320%2Fbogaty%2FPONPBEM1_zpseff3879e.jpg%7Eoriginal&hash=0c22c90339939d31ab479d9934b9cca08cc3a9f7)
Fog of War: On/Off (I vote for on)
Activation Rule: None/Some/High (Some is default so I'm voting for that.)
Randomized Generals: Low/Medium/High/Strong (Doesn't matter to me. I know nothing about the Russian generals at the time.)
Extended Pool: +0%/+50%/+100%/+200% (I vote for +0%)
Sphere of Influence: Historical/Extended (I'd go for historical just so we aren't slaughtering one another from turn 1)
Redeployment: 0/1/3/6 (Instant redeployment on the map seems ahistorical so I vote for zero).
Historical Attrition: None/All (I don't think the middle option will work in a PBEM game, so it becomes a yes/no to attrition.)
Ext Struct Pool: +0%/+50%/+100%/+200% (Notes say the game's only been tested for +0%.)
Extended Claims: Historical/Historical+ Adjacent Territories
And AI
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fv320%2Fbogaty%2FPONPBEM2_zps1cac6da4.jpg%7Eoriginal&hash=4be96648ffed11b7dcc996c2ce8606a7df9602c5)
AI Ranking: Private/Sergeant/Lieutennant/Colonel
Activation Bonus: easy/normal/hard/very hard
AI Detect Bonus: none/low/medium/high/very high
Aggressiveness: low/normal/high
They look fine to me, since I don't know what they do anyways. Why no middle button on attrition, we don't want it too harsh, but nothing would be stupid.
top section i agree with you, except id like historical generals - id maybe like to have a look at their profiles in down times
and go default for the bottom section
Quote from: Tuna on September 11, 2014, 11:15:42 AM
They look fine to me, since I don't know what they do anyways. Why no middle button on attrition, we don't want it too harsh, but nothing would be stupid.
The middle attrition button means that only the player is affected by attrition, not the AI. I'm not sure, but I think in a PBEM game only the host counts as the "player" so only he would be affected by attrition if that is the case.
Alright, so here's what I'll put in if nobody's got any objections.
Fog of War: On
Activation Rule: Some
Randomized Generals: Low (low is equal to historical generals)
Extended Pool: +0%
Sphere of Influence: Historical
Redeployment: 0
Historical Attrition: All
Ext Struct Pool: +0%
Extended Claims: Historical
AI: On
AI Ranking: Sergeant
Activation Bonus: Normal
AI Detect Bonus: Medium
Aggressiveness: Normal
:D :D :D
OK, turn 1 .trn files sent. Let the madness begin.
Will be awhile for me, still at work. :'(
New beta patch is out. Grab it here. Readme isn't available yet but it's supposed to fix the missing data from the census screen, fix the missing artwork on the unit data pages, decrease the time it takes to resolve a turn by 15%, and....ummmm.....stuff.
http://www.ageod-forum.com/showthread.php?38402-PON-1-04-public-beta-patch (http://www.ageod-forum.com/showthread.php?38402-PON-1-04-public-beta-patch)
EDIT: The installer is really slow. It seems like it's doing nothing for about 5-6 minutes before it actually starts up so if you install it, just wait it out and it'll work.
Quote from: Silent Disapproval Robot on December 07, 2014, 12:08:57 AM
New beta patch is out. Grab it here. Readme isn't available yet but it's supposed to fix the missing data from the census screen, fix the missing artwork on the unit data pages, decrease the time it takes to resolve a turn by 15%, and....ummmm.....stuff.
http://www.ageod-forum.com/showthread.php?38402-PON-1-04-public-beta-patch (http://www.ageod-forum.com/showthread.php?38402-PON-1-04-public-beta-patch)
Ooohhh reeeallyyy? 8)
Hopefully nothing new is broken after these improvements. That has often been the case before with PrON.
The unit art work is still not displaying. (UCG, Tuna. Don't install it as it breaks our current game.)
k.. thanks for the warning
did you upgrade everything to 4c before the beta patch? or that not necessary? Or is it just the exe that get's updated in these patches?
Straight from 1.03e to 1.04RC3
New beta patch should be out tomorrow. This sounds promising.
QuoteExecutable work is done, with fix on portraits display and natives not getting back replacements if in hostile region, mainly, I'll finish the patch tomorrow or Tuesday at most evening by adding some events from Loki and Christophe Barrot probably. Stay tuned.
Glad to hear development is still on. Would be interesting to go back to this game.
Quote from: Silent Disapproval Robot on January 19, 2015, 05:06:31 PM
New beta patch should be out tomorrow. This sounds promising.
QuoteExecutable work is done, with fix on portraits display and natives not getting back replacements if in hostile region, mainly, I'll finish the patch tomorrow or Tuesday at most evening by adding some events from Loki and Christophe Barrot probably. Stay tuned.
Cool.
Did they ever track down that nasty Gold bug and squash it for this one too? I'm sure there were plenty left to squish but that one stood out in my mind.
Gold bug?
Gold is like handbags, but less valuable. >:D
Quote from: undercovergeek on January 20, 2015, 05:29:10 AM
Gold bug?
There was reportedly one in a previous beta patch where some trigger would prevent money being accumulated for certain stuff. Or something to that effect. Seemed like a pretty big deal if it happened.
Quote from: JasonPratt on January 20, 2015, 04:18:18 PM
Gold is like handbags, but less valuable. >:D
lol, thanks, i reckon ive cornered the ladies accessories market, its a shame its not one of my goals
Looks like new patch released....
http://www.ageod-forum.com/showthread.php?38402-PON-1-04-public-beta-patch-RC4-updated-Jan24-2015
thank the maker, though I feel the need to make some sort of evil-eye/game breaking bug warding gesture.
Still a beta patch. So hopefully no big new bugs pop up. :)
I haven't tried this game on my new computer, having given up in despair over how slowly the program crunched itself. With more processing power and (hopefully) a little streamlining things would run a bit more smoothly.
I remember when I was looking at this game that there were some annoying skipped unit images in the Franco-Prussian war scenario. One of the units was one that you encountered frequently, French cuirassiers or Chasseurs a cheval, or something like that. Has this been fixed yet?
I think this was the game that used the black and yellow Austrian flag, a very appropriate symbol for the later years of the Hapsburg dynasty. When I was making flag mods for Strategic Command Great War and Breakthrough, the first thing I noticed when researching period propaganda posters is that almost every German or Austrian poster that I looked at used the yellow and black flag for Austria. In other words, when Austrians indulged in flag waving, that was the flag they were thinking of (somewhat more complex story if you were a Magyar).
I can't help but wonder what would happen to game performance in PON if they let the Canadians behind WW I CE take a crack at PON's game engine. There's only one Pocus, and that would be a great way of cloning him.