Right now, the player that receives the final PBM file, visualizes the results of the battle. The present system has a few nasty problems:
1) The final statistics are calculated when this player opens the file. Sometimes, each time the player opens the file, a different result appears. I have already receive "draw" results the first time I open the file and then on the second attempt I get "marginal victory" several times, and then a "draw" again, etc.. This happens when the battle result is very close to the threshold due to the randomness inherent to the algorithm that calculates the sequence of events and combat results. The guys who have been playing with me are lucky that I'm honest.
2) The player who receives the PBM file, is the only one that can access the battle results.
3) The final statistics are still uncertain regarding the opposing player, with many nonsense values and zeros. Of course, after the game is finished, there is no need to keep the statistics secret.
So I propose the following changes that does not seem too difficult to implement:
1) The last turn proceeds normally. The player who currently sees the battle results will only see the usual RED screen without the results - the results are calculated in his computer. He will save the file as usual and the file is sent to the opposing player. The latter watches the last turn and then sees the victory screen. When he is finished, he will send the PBM file to the other player, so that he will also be able to see the movements of the last turn and the results. Of course no orders will be issued after watching the last turn by either player.
2) The statistics are not hidden in the victory screens. Both players have full access to all the data.
Regards,
A. Grilo
HistWar – Les Grognards (English zone)