Hotseat Mode - Replay Opponent Turn

Baph · Post by **Baph** » Sat Aug 20, 2011 4:36 am

Hello gents, (and ladies)

Having purchased this game - i do like what i see bar one thing.

Where is the replay opponent's turn option in hotseat mode???

I find it baffling you would fail to include this as an option. To be honest, I find it more dissapointing than baffling.
I'm also finding it hard to recommend to my friends on the basis of this as we play primarily hotseat mode over a few beers.

Is there any plan to put this in the game?

Given the option is there for PBEM, surely it can be done for hotseat as well...

El_Condoro · Post by **El_Condoro** » Sat Aug 20, 2011 4:49 am

In the meantime, unless your internet connection is a bit flakey, play PBEM. It's almost the same as Hotseat except it has a replay. Hotseat to now has mainly been used to test scenarios etc where the same player plays both sides.

So you would start a PBEM challenge. The other guy (beer in hand) would accept it. You play your turn, then he does etc etc and each turn has a replay.

If your internet connection is flakey, forget all this and hopefully hotseat will get a replay function.

Baph · Post by **Baph** » Tue Aug 23, 2011 9:29 am

Internet is not a problem.. at home.

However the guys i play with often head to the country to do some war gaming..(we play combat mission, close combat.. even ww2 miniatures...) This title would be perfect had the player been able to replay the last move.

It really complicates playing a hotseat game when all you see is a units strength deplete from say, 10 to 4. What attacked it?? Where was the attacking unit coming from??
Air?? Ground??

It just ruins the experience...

So.. to the devs of the game...is there any offical word on this?
Is this on the roadmap?.. will we see this function in a hotseat game?

KarlXII · Post by **KarlXII** » Tue Aug 23, 2011 3:38 pm

I agree with the post.

Will Replay be available in future patches in hotseat mode ?

sullumvoe · Post by **sullumvoe** » Tue Aug 23, 2011 7:53 pm

Yep same here I was dumbfounded that the hot seat replay was not included. I spent like an hour going through the manual and online thinking that I had missed something. But then finally came to the conclusion that they just failed to include it. It was not an oversight as these are hard core gamers, it was basically a resource decision, and I am not happy with it. How you can you say you have hot seat when you do not put in a replay function. I think they would have been better off excluding the marketing. I am not happy about this at all, and if I could I would demand a refund for the game as I do not play online mainly with my son at home in hot seat mode, or let me rephrase that, I was planning to do that, now the game just sits here and does not get played pissing me off.

Kerensky · Post by **Kerensky** » Tue Aug 23, 2011 8:27 pm

Just out of curiosity for the hot seat players: what's wrong with watching your opponent play his turn as they play it?

Is that not better than replay, because it's the actual 'play'? Or is that the problem, it gives away too much information about opponent moves and purchases that would not be visible in 'replay'?

Baph · Post by **Baph** » Tue Aug 23, 2011 11:17 pm

Hello Kerensky - i think you answered your own question..

Problems playing side by side

1. You can (as you said) see what your opponent is purchasing.. Which removes the element of surprise when placing units down.

2. You can see units which are not immediately on the front line. This also ruins any chance of flanking or creating a surprise attack. You know what is coming. This also changes the way you purchase units.

3. You included Fog of War in this game for a reason.. playing side by side removes this variable.

4. You know how much Prestige your opponent has

5. You can also see if he withdraws a unit from the front - do you pursue attacking a damaged unit?.. or did he heal it?? If i can see what he has done, I wont find it a problem deciding what to do. I need to be confronted with a decision.. seeing with a god's eye removes this variable.

Problems playing Hotseat (as it is now) not side by side

1. After my opponent has made a move, i return to see a change in my unit's strength. What has attacked it?? Well, i dont know.. was it air..land .. naval?

2. Units within my line of sight that moved last turn - I can't see these as the replay function is not there.. this is problematic as these are things which i should have seen. No replay function means i am denied this.

3. If artillery is attacking a unit I own, and it is not visible, I will not be able to spot it when it shoots.. all i will see is a reduction in unit strength when i becomes my turn.

All in all.. this game is great, but this really needs to be addressed.
If the decision was made to include hotseat, please do it right... Heroes of Might and Magic got it right in this respect.. please bring the replay function to Hotseat games..

Cheers.

KarlXII · Post by **KarlXII** » Wed Aug 24, 2011 10:26 am

Kerensky wrote:Just out of curiosity for the hot seat players: what's wrong with watching your opponent play his turn as they play it?

Is that not better than replay, because it's the actual 'play'? Or is that the problem, it gives away too much information about opponent moves and purchases that would not be visible in 'replay'?

The most important thing will be tha lack of fog-of-war. I don´t wan´t to see his dispositions, buildups, retreats, hiding units etc etc

Baph · Post by **Baph** » Thu Oct 13, 2011 5:15 am

Just checking back in again here... I haven't heard any clear answer on whether this feature will be implented or not..

So again, I ask the Devs.. will I be able to replay an opponents move in Hotseat mode?

Also, is there any view to incorporate a LAN option here....

Internet is not always workable for multiplayer games, and as i stated in the post, I am finiding it impossible to recommend to my friends on the basis there is no complete multiplayer outside of internet games...

I have no problem at all with how the game plays, but the lack of a replay function makes hotseat games useless...

El_Condoro · Post by **El_Condoro** » Thu Oct 13, 2011 7:08 am

Not quite "useless" - as a designer or testing a scenario for play it's great. However, for playing against someone else it's less than ideal.

Baph · Post by **Baph** » Thu Oct 13, 2011 8:09 am

But thats precisely the point, i'm not testing a scenario.. I want to play a hotseat game!

At the moment, there is no point to playing one as i can't view where an opponents units have moved in the previous turn (as stated earlier in the list of problems no replay turn option creates..)

Again, this is not a dig at the game itself as i do enjoy it, but the offline multiplayer content is below par...
It feels half baked.. so close to getting it right, but they failed to add something so elementary to turn based games..
I was hoping the first patch would incroporate it.. but alas, no.

Internet isnt an option when a few mates head to the country to do some wargaming..
This game is IDEAL, however the lack of this feature kills hotseat gaming...

So is there any word if this will eventually come???

Post by **IainMcNeil** » Thu Oct 13, 2011 9:18 am

The system was not really designed for hotseat but we added it because of requests but were not able to fully support it so it was a question of this or no hotseat mode. I don't know if it will be possible to make it work just like a PBEM with replay but if we can we will. Alex will need to look and see what can be done. It's not likely to happen in the immediate future though because we are finalising the system for the DLC and making other improvements to support modding.

Baph · Post by **Baph** » Fri Oct 14, 2011 2:39 am

Thanks for the response Ian, I appreciate it wasnt designed for hotseat gaming, but given it was announced it would support it, i feel the game should ship with a fully functioning hotseat mode (including the ability to replay moves...)

I know this may be important only to the minority of Panzer Corps gamers, but if it is advertised it will be in there.. I'd hope the mode is complete.. and not missing anything. Essentially, i bought this with hotseat gaming in mind..

Such a shame... but aside from internet, are there any plans for offline multiplayer?.. LAN etc...

Aside from that, good luck, and if you do choose to make a sequel (or down the road in patches), please finish off hotseat as it is 99% there...

Cheers.

Post by **IainMcNeil** » Fri Oct 14, 2011 9:32 am

Hotseat replay will get done at some point - I just dont have a timeline yet unfortunately.

bones65 · Post by **bones65** » Mon Oct 17, 2011 9:22 pm

that's cool that it will be finished at some point,.. cos i sometimes think i'm being a little too cheeky to some guys..whereas a game over a glass of wine or two (beer bah!) is cool with your buddies..and it's not always convenient to bring over a second computer..i can be cheif wind up merchant then..cos the guys who i like to play know i'm not being serious... great work though guys..total force selection would be another improvement based on points..i know it's not in tradition of P.G. but..this is it's own game..and with hotseat..total force selection..and dare i say it ..disband MIDGAME and get half your points back(or similar!) as OPTIONS!! then it would bury P.G. ..which 15 or so years later it really should do!! be daring!! give the options..we don't have to use them...see what all the other players think

still loving the game either way

bones65 · Post by **bones65** » Wed Oct 19, 2011 1:28 am

and what about 'combine' ..where you have 2 weaker units? ..that'd be cool too

Post by **IainMcNeil** » Wed Oct 19, 2011 9:05 am

That is not planned

Hotseat Mode - Replay Opponent Turn

Hotseat Mode - Replay Opponent Turn

hotseat..finishing

hotseat con'd..