Long games in Multiplayer

I do not know the details and would wait for a Dev to comment, however, I do believe that a lot was said about multiplayer in the heat of the moment following the DemiGod launch. So a) your plan might be doable even with them doing the hosting, and there may be other multiplayer options that we don't know about.

Possibly. We really don't know, right now.

I don`t really see why not, as long as you`re both on at the same time. The multiplayer stuff hasn`t really been detailed yet though, except that it exists.

I'd be shocked if there is no way to save a MP game and resume it later. Stardock would get absolutely killed in reviews for something like that (even if the plan is to focus heavily on SP, if they're going to implement MP at all then they can't just half-ass it and get away with it). So like Tridus said, as long as you're on at the same time you should be fine. But should isn't will - we don't really know, yet.

although one turn a day might be a little light...

you could have more than 1 turn a day if you have really good 'governer' or 'advisors' or whatever you want to call the AI that might automate your stuff while you're not around to take your turns.

In the early game, sure. But by late game on an Immense or Ludicrous map, a single turn could take an hour or more to work through. If everyone in the game lived alone, worked from home, and didn't go out for fun much, then maybe a couple of late-game turns a day could work. But it sounds about as hard as getting a crew of 'real grownups' together for a tabletop RPG--i.e. very hard.

The one thing about Supreme Commander, and Forged Alliance, that was almost a game killer for myself and the group of friends I LAN with, was the complete lack of multiplayer save.

Back in the days of MoO2, we'd have incredibly long, sprawling games that lasted many a day.  Usually because we'd stack the game against us and see how well we did.  We do that now in Sins of a Solar Empire, but half of us have kids, everyone works, and you just don't have the time you used to.  For a strategy game, a save feature is needed, not optional, at least IMHO.

I'm sure they will still have LAN multiplayer, so you can set up a virtual lan and play that way.  At least, that's the hope anyways. 

So what I'm looking to do is just be able to log in for a few minutes, give my instructions and save the game.  If my buddy Pat hads already done his turn then the game would move to the next turn and I could fo that turn as well, if not, then I'd need to wait until Pat logged in ad updaed to go forward.

So effecctively, play by email (PBEM).

In my understanding, PBeM will be implemented.

Ah ok, I knew it was mentionned somewhere but it seems I jumped to conclusions.
I seldom use PBeM personally, but in my understanding it is a must have in long winded games such as Civilization, Dominions and incidentally, Elemental.

PBEM - not sure yet.

If your plan is to play one turn a day, PBEM is a much better method then direct online play, yeah. You do your turn when you feel like it, and the other person does theirs when they feel like it. It leads to very long games (real life time wise) and not a lot of people tend to use it, but for the people that do there's really no way to recreate what it does without it.

so very true.

I'm one of those play by e-mail people.   I used to do it in civilazation from time to time, and because of how long the games took we had to have it on the fastest game settings.  And the game would take the better part of a year still.  But it is a fun experiance.   I'm hoping that if not play by e-mail, some other (perhaps impulse related) system to allow for many players will be implemented.  I'm also hoping that the resource management and civ auto-mation is good enough that in such games you could in theory leave your civ unattended for a turn or two without massive damage from neglect.

Really though, I is not a must if such a thing is not possible    As long as you can save multiplayer games, we will be able to have long games.

It would be a weird move by Stardock not to have the SAVE option in this game.

I would not worry so much I am pretty sure we will be able to save. It does not make any sense other wise,.

Yeah, developing multiplayer for a game like Elemental and then leaving out the save feature would be a gigantic waste of time and resources, because multiplayer wouldn't be usable unless you only like playing the first 20 or 30 turns and then starting a new game...

you say its common sense, but I'm always shocked at how poor some multiplayer game saves can be.   So I feel its important to say.

I've seen some where only the host can save, or you can't make back-ups.  Or some where it is near impossible to get players back together when a game is being loaded.

So iy loks like there will be an option (play by e-mail) that will do what I want.  I'll have to wait and see but I am now less concerned.

I will say yes.  lol