PlanetsCentral

Games

When a game is newly-created, it will be listed in the Join Game section. It will start when all player positions are filled. At this point, the game is created ("mastered") and the initial set of result files is sent out.

The game will then be Active. At this point, hosts will run according to the set schedule. Players can still resign or join the game. Ultimately, the game will end and be moved to the Finished Games section. There, it can only be viewed, no more changes can be made.

From the game's overview page, you can download the player files. There is a section which contains files common to all players (e.g. playerfiles.zip with the ship list, configuration, etc.), and one section for each player (playerX.zip).

If you have done a turn, you can upload it on the host overview page. The system will automatically figure out what game the turn is for. Alternatively, upload it on the game's overview page or send it by mail.

You can also let the host set up the game for playing with PCC2 Web. This is called a Managed Game.

Also see the Host Rules for some useful rules and tips.

Scheduler

Games by default run on a 3-times-per-week schedule for the first turns, and a 2-times-per-week schedule until the end of the game. Host can run early when all turns are in early; you can use this to accelerate the game.

When uploading through the web interface, you can mark turn files temporary ("This is not my final turn, do not run host with it."). Such turn files do not count as "in" for early hosting, but host will use them when the regular host time arrives.

To avoid messing up games with a wrong click, PlanetsCentral does not execute all orders immediately. When a game waiting for players becomes full, it will not immediately start; game creation will be delayed a bit so you can undo an accidental join. This delay is currently set to 15 minutes. Likewise, if a game is set to "host when all turns are in", host does not run immediately upon receiving the last turn file, so you can still fix a last-minute error (or at least mark your turn file temporary); this delay is currently set to 30 minutes by default.

It can happen that a scheduled host run is delayed (for example, server maintenance). This will reduce the time remaining to the next scheduled host. To give you enough time to do your turn, the next scheduled host will be skipped if a host is delayed too much, the default limit being 90 minutes.

Future directions

The host manager supports a number of features that are not yet supported through the web interface, in particular:

• changing schedules, including temporary host breaks
• setting up holiday replacements
• private games

These can currently only be done using the admin console, contact me to have these done.