networked games

[Jim Kingdon <kingdon at panix dot com>]

OK, Derek and I tried to play a network game tonight and this is what
we found:

* Without the sequential play option, having the two xconq's get out
  of sync was swift (turn 5 or so I think).

* With sequential play, we would last maybe 20 or 40 turns.  Then they
  would get out of sync.  I believe this happened at the end of a turn
  both times.

* In either case, we couldn't see any way to recover (and we've tried
  a few things.  Even something basic like restoring a saved game
  seems broken for networked play, unless I'm missing something).

The quickest and dirtiest way to get networked games playable would
seem to be something like:

(1) if the games get out of sync, then have the master download the
    entire state to the out of sync xconq(s).

(2) Derek had in mind something in which the xconq's somehow have a
    way of knowing which commands they missed, and recovering.  I sort
    of wonder whether this is making assumptions about why the games
    got out of sync (do you need to undo partially done commands for
    example?).  But since he is more likely than I to get around to
    implementing one of these....

(3) even fixing restoring from a saved game would help, because then
    you wouldn't have to start over at the very beginning.