CIV4 Pitboss game --- gauging interest
 

I'm considering starting a pitboss game for Civ4 this weekend.
For those that have never played Civ4 via Pitboss, its very simple. You don't need to have Pitboss installed. You just select Multiplayer, then Direct IP, then enter my IP address and the game name and password, then take your turn. I can provide more info as needed if you're unsure of how it works.

Here are some specifics of how the game will be run:

- Online/realtime for the first hour (concurrent turns with all players online at the start of the game). This should allow us to take multiple turns at the start of the game (when there is only 1 unit for each player to move anyway). We should be able to take the first 25 to 35 turns within that hour and get the game well underway before the turn clock starts.

- After the initial hour of concurrent play (by then we should have a few units to move and more decisions to make) we'll switch to an 18-hour turn clock.

- settings will be "standard" map size, fractal map, temperate, medium sea level, ancient start. I'm thinking about having one computer civ and as many human civs as we can get.

- Tentative start time will be 7:00 PM EST friday June 23rd.

If you're interested and available this friday at 7:00 PM EST, then respond with your preferred civ and leader. I'll provide connection info to everyone by email or PM.

Can't do 7:00 PM EST, or I'd be all over that.

I would, but I'll be out of town this weekend...

ditto, still at work until 10

what time is that UK side?
just now its 18.21 - what time is it just now in EST?

EST is 1:24 pm...

Looks like you're 5 hours ahead of EST

Never tried this before, but I'm game.

If you make that Sunday or Monday as a start, I'm in. I'm working on Friday, though.

The big problem with this is the difficulty in getting everyone in the same place at the same time for the amount of time it would take to do 23 to 30 turns. One of the good things about Pitboss is that we all don't need to be on at the same time -- when you do your turn is up to your own schedule.

I could do late night just about any night. Weekends might work.

If you wanna have an hour or two online, the best way might be to have it late at night...

There's no concensus here about when to start. I imagined that would be very difficult to arrange, but frankly thought there would be more interest. Since WVUFan has mentioned this idea in another thread, I thought I'd bump this thread for those interested in this type of game.

I still feel that we're likely to maximize the number of people that can play by starting on a weeknight. Obviously 7:00 PM EST is too early. Perhaps 10 EST would work better for some of the folks farther west?

Express your interest and suggestions for starting times and dates here, and we'll see where it leads.

i'll play if I can do the 'initial surge' - i'm not able to say when i'm free for an hour or two just now so plan it without me and if there's a gap and I can do it, i'll play.

I can play if it is after 9pm EST on any night.

Needs to be later than 8:00 pacific. Or on a weekend. Maybe.

I'd be up for it, but I work at night (and am on the West coast), so finding a time when everyone else is available will be down that 'impossible' path.

Do you work Sunday night?

So far it looks like the following could play for an hour or so at approximately 10:00 pm EST on either Saturday or Sunday:
Bisbo
Franklinnoble
WVUfan
Spleen1015
Sharon
and me, so that's 6. If Yossarian is crazy enough to stay up till 4 a.m. that'd be 7. I'm hoping for 8 or more.

FYI... Sharon's interested in playing, too.

Yeah. I typically work Thursday-Monday (all nights), and have Tuesday and Wednesday off.

deleted. See post below.

I've created a test game; it's up now. If someone could log-in to the game, take a turn, log out, then log back in after about an hour or more and then post here to let me know if you were able to successfully log onto the game both times. PM me for the IP address and password.

If this works, I'd be up for a Saturday night kick-off.

As you might expect, coordinating everyone's availability is a challenge. But the feedback I'm receiving is pointing to one of two possible start times for the game: Saturday (the 8th) at either 1:00 PM EST or at 10:30 PM EST.

We would play online for one hour, but it might take another half hour to get everyone together and advance from turn 1 to turn 2 (what with stragglers and the potential for connectivity issues.

If anyone is interested but unavailable at the start time, I believe I could reserve their civ and leader, and let the AI run things for them until they can connect. If anyone is willing to adopt an AI civ, let me know and I'll try to reserve it for you.

I'll take Kublai Khan.

Sharon would like Catherine.

I think the 10:30 PM EST time would be better... but we might be able to do the 1:00 as well.

Ah, crap...the times I was giving you was Central. I doubt I would be able to make 1030EST...

I'm in at 10:30.

1 is bad for me.

I don't need to be any special civ. Can I just pick one when I join the game?

OK, I got more committments for the Saturday 10:30 PM EST time, so that's our start.

There is still room for others to join. In fact I'm going to use at least 4 computer players to save room for anyone that wants to join after Saturday night. (If no one takes over the computer AI civs by Monday night, I can kick them from the game if that's what the other players want).

Bisbo will determine our exact start time: he says he will be ready between 10:30 and 11:00. I'd like to get everyone logged-in at 10:30 so we can resolve any issues and be ready to go as soon as Bisbo logs-in.

If there are any other requests for specific civs or rulers, get them to me soon.

I'll provide the IP in this thread on Saturday. Game name will be CivEarth. Password "fofc"

For the hard of thinking, what is 10.30 est in uk time? it's 16:15 right now for me.

You're 5 hours ahead of us in EST. It's 11:15 here.
Game would start at 3:30 in the morning for you.

well, i'll make it a day-call. If I'm out Saturday, I might be stumbing home at that time.

That's the spirit!
:-)

If I get out early I'll be there, but it's not likely...

I will do my best to be home in time to log on at 10:30.

Just a reminder that this game will start Saturday night at 10:30PM Eastern time. I'll post here when the game is up and running, and will then provide the IP address and a summary of how to get connected.

Lots of space available in this game. See above for details.

Game on!
 

The game is up and running! We will not begin playing until 10:30 PM EST (possibly a bit later as Bisbo warned me he might not be online until a little after 10:30). But you can log-in now, select your civ, and take your first turn. We'll all be online together for about an hour, and should be able to finish at least 25 or 30 turns in that amount of time (I suspect it may be 40 or more).

Please make sure you have the latest patch (1.61) installed.

Here is the info to get you into the game:
- Start Civ4
- Select Multiplayer
- Select Direct IP
- Under the "Join Game" area, enter my network IP address 24.98.171.207
- Enter the password fofc
When you select your ruler, know that FranklinNoble has requested Kublai Khan, and Sharon has requested Catherine, and Yossarian has requested Mansu Musa. The other civs have not been reserved by anyone.

That should get you into the game. I will have this thread open while I'm waiting for the game to start, and even after the game has started, so message me here if you have any questions or if you can't get in. I may be away from the computer for short periods, but will check back frequently.

Also note that I've decided on Large map, as we may have as many as 9 civs. I'd prefer standard, but the manual suggests that standard is only good for up to 8 civs. I've also decided against Fractal map, as I believe that gives a random map setup, and we don't want something like islands or archipelago. I've decided to use Continents instead.

having a little trouble configuring civstats. It'll be up in a few minutes.
(edit: OK, it's ready now. Everything looks OK).

I am unable to connect.

"The connection attempt to the host has timed out."

This is my first time ever doing this so I am wondering if there is something I haven't done. I know for sure I am running version 1.61. Other than that, is there any requirements? I believe I have my firewall open so that I can connect.

I have tried from 2 different computers with no luck.

Please double check the IP address and try again.
I have zonealarm, and I'm pretty sure that it is not blocking anyone.
Do you by chance know what your IP address is? If you tell me that, I might be able to note if zonealarm actually is blocking you, but I doubt it.

I have made sure that I am entering the right IP.

192.168.1.103 is my IP.

That is not your true IP address. I can't explain this well, but that address is behind your firewall, not the one that actually connects to the internet. Wish I could explain it better. I'll try to find someone here that can give a clear explanation and help you configure the router/firewall so you can play.

I'm just back from being out.

tried to connct

no luck .

I hosted a game earlier - no probs. but it timed out connecting to yours

my ip is
86.16.111.204

it is my 'true' ip because my bro could connect into it today

you can probably get your ip by going to http://www.whatismyip.com/

My IP is 74.132.165.174

re: 192.168.1.103 not being your real ip

the way it works is your 'house' has one internet connection via cable or whatever.

the ip address that you have on 'the internet' is owned by your router

inside your own network, each pc gets a local ip address that means nothing to the real internet but seperates all your 'internal network' machines.

anything htat starts 192.168 is a local ip address that isn't on the real intenret

Is there any configuring I need to do to my router in order to play?

Hmmmmm. Well I don't think it's zonealarm. Zonealarm records the source IP of any blocked connections, and it isn't listing yours Yossarian. Also I'm sure I've listed the right IP address for myself. Not sure what to check next.

Thinking....
Thinking....

@spleen
probably not - you usually only need to configure for letting people into your network

86.16.111.204 is my address, try a direct connection there (no pass)

Now we're getting somewhere. Zonealarm DID block that IP address.

OK, give me a few more minutes to find out WHY

runtheball - have you checked windows firewall isn't on?