[Discuss] Theoretical realistic messaging

[Rob Croson]

On 1 May 2006 at 20:06, Mark Moss wrote:

> On Mon, 2006-05-01 at 09:16 -0400, Timothy Collett wrote:
> 
> > But that's the problem--orders *already* have to be given, in some  
> > cases, less than an hour after the turn in order for a good chunk of  
> > people to receive and follow them.  If we can't get current orders  
> > out until *hours* after the turn, we'll end up with 1/3 of our army  
> > always being half a day behind, at best.
> 
> It would be a big change in game play, but keep in mind that your
> enemies face the same problems.  Once solution would be to actually make
> use of the realm hierarchy.  Give the marshal, who presumably is with
> his army, the orders in advance (i.e. Attack this region on this date,
> or go and plunder on the east side of some enemy realm).  He can then
> give the message to his army at the appropriate time with no delay.

No one will live with those artificial restrictions. Players will all 
switch to out-of-game messaging channels. Any realm that doesn't will 
be at a phenomenal disadvantage, and won't be able to compete.

> Bonus points if you can allow your marshall some leeway in how he
> implements his orders.  For example, to call off an attack against an
> unexpectedly large opposing force.
> 
> > I also worry about what some people have mentioned: that realms that  
> > already make heavy use of out-of-game means of communication, such as  
> > IRC and MSN, will end up sending orders that way, bypassing the  
> > delays in messages, and gaining an extremely unfair advantage over  
> > realms that don't use it to that degree, or refuse to use it in such  
> > an abusive manner.
> 
> This sounds like a job for...<voice>The Titans</booming voice>.
> 
> > And there's little to no way to detect this in  
> > order to punish it.
> 
> That's the problem.  The titans would have to come down very hard on
> offenders they do catch to provide an effective deterrent.

And how exactly are they going to catch anyone? Read the multiple 
thousands of in-game messages that must get passed each day, on each 
continent, on a regular basis to attempt to identify who is acting on 
knowledge they don't really have?

--
Rob
Imagination is intelligence at play.