Watching opponents turn

[SoulMan]

Hello, I'm new to this game (just few games played). I have noticed, that when I'm in game during opponents turn I can see his moves in real time (those in my sight range). Meanwhile if I join game just for my turn I can see only current situation and replay battles. Is any option to replay opponents turn? I think it's not fair that someone who sits 24/7 have huge advantage in this kind of game.

[KGB]

You can only replay turns *after* a game has ended.

There is no real advantage to seeing them move live since there is absolutely nothing you can do about it.

KGB

[Tim]

Sorry Kgb but its a huge Advantage when i can see what Opponents Units go through my Lands( and after the Turn they are out and i cant see them).

Or someone shuffle Stacks in my Territory and i see what is in this stack without scouting just by beeing there at the right Time.

I can maybe react directly in Updating the Fight Order for Example.

But who will do this... so i think its ignoreable...

[SoulMan]

Are You kidding? It is a huge advantage. For example if i have scout in opponents area and see some units i can watch which side they went, how many units was walking there etc. Or when enemy is checking defense of my castle by going in my saith range - I can spot his unit - extremely useful if this will happen in area where I'm not sure that opponent even reached, because it will let me know that i need some defense to not get my cities raped. Sometimes i can see opponents regrouping and spot some of his units.

[SoulMan]

I wish I can press button 'replay opponents turn' and just be able to watch move by move all I could see if I was in observer mode as many times as I want. Games like Warlords and Heroes of Might and Magic had similar function and I hope it's not hard to add this feature.

[KGB]

Sorry Kgb but its a huge Advantage when i can see what Opponents Units go through my Lands( and after the Turn they are out and i cant see them).

Anyone who is actually obtaining extra information from this is doing a VERY poor job of scouting on their own turns. Units don't move far enough that you can't immediately find them if you do even the most basic scouting

Or someone shuffle Stacks in my Territory and i see what is in this stack without scouting just by being there at the right Time.

I wish I can press button 'replay opponents turn' and just be able to watch move by move all I could see if I was in observer mode as many times as I want. Games like Warlords and Heroes of Might and Magic had similar function and I hope it's not hard to add this feature.

Warlords most certainly DID NOT have this feature. All you could replay were battles which you can do now in Warbarons. The game definitely doesn't need a feature to allow players to replay their opponents moves in their lands. Especially changing units in stacks!

KGB

[piranha]

Sometimes I have also had a game open to see what happens if there is something that I'm really interested in and seeing you opponent move can give some pretty good clues that you would otherwise miss so it's not a useless feature.

It could be a future gold feature . To be able to replay the last turn and see the movement you would have seen if you were online. You would not be able to change anything just get that information. I'll write it down at least but it will take quite a while before we get time to do it.

[KGB]

I personally don't think this is a good feature to add to the game:

1) It takes away from scouting and those players who do it well (ie scout each turn with units to unfog lots of the map).
2) The minute you 'end' your turn the game recalculates the fog squares (ie if you re-enter the game what's fogged is different than at the end of your turn). You'd have to change how that works or else do a lot of extra coding or change rules on when the map re-fogs etc to avoid a lot of bitching about what is or isn't viewed.
3) You'd have to change how stacking works. Basically you'd need to allow more than 8 units to occupy a square during a turn as long as players only had 8 at the end of the turn (manually ejecting units to nearby squares if players don't do that in a manner similar to how production in cities works). The reason is because fiddling with armies in order to merge stacks is an artifact of the game user interface mechanics of a 8 limit stack and not anything to do with scouting / gaming skill. So allowing someone to see another player merging his stacks in a replay feature 'cheapens' the game.

Also adding that feature for 'gold only' accounts would be a pretty large advantage. It would definitely break your 'no advantages to gold accounts' rule.

KGB

[Chazar]

It can be a huge advantage, I believe I once discovered an enemy flyer at the edge of the map early, since I was online and the flyer was evading a mountain, thus coming briefly into my scouts' view range (the scout could not move close enough to the map's edge otherwise)

However, please do not add turn replays for normal turn based games. It would be hugely detrimental to the game experience if players are forced to watch turn replays on their turn! What a waste of time that would be in most cases! Nevertheless one would be forced to watch them in competitive games, or lose the edge.

Note that there is another option:
Prohibit enemy real-time view in turn-based games, were it is not needed. However, this would also be sad.

I think the best option would be to make sure that the online display work properly. Currently, there is sometimes a colored border around a player's crest on the right hand side, if that player is online. However, I noticed that this is not 100% reliable or I do not understand the color codes. A clear indication, whether someone else is watching, would be enough to allow a player hide vital information.

[SoulMan]

Watching opponents turn not only let us scout with less units. You can catch opponents scouts much easier and sometimes You don't have to sacrifice unit just to figure out where opponent moved (if he is very fast).

I think You should add this feature for free or just disable watching opponents turn in real time - then will be fair too. Otherwise it is 'sit 24/7 to win' or will be 'pay to win' which is terrible.