Alright, I've been biting my tongue for awhile, but what the hay... Anyone mind if I make a shameless plug? No? Thanks.

Evernight is an online turn-based strategy game currently hosted by RealNetworks. It's a fantastic strategy game, especially for those who crave true diplomacy (and occasional backstabbing). You take one turn a day (trust me, there's plenty to do) and the game resolves all turns simultaneously overnight.

The first game is free (they take several weeks to play), then I think it's $5/month to keep playing (I think that might include access to other Real games, but don't quote me).

I know this site is a haven for strategy players, as evidenced by all the SMAC/Civ/Fading Suns discussions. I highly recommend that anyone into Multiplayer strategy games checks out Evenight.

What makes this a shameless plug? I know a bunch of the people who made it. And let me say, when the people who developed the game are still playing it obsessively three years later, that says something about a game.

http://evernight.vr1.com/

Try it, folks. You won't be disappointed.

Chris

P.S. I may as well mention that Evernight got an 83% in the recent PCGamer review, just as added incentive.

I should add one more thing: There is no download required and a minimum of bandwidth needed to play Evernight... It's played in your web browser!

Hey, this looks interesting. IIRC, didn't VR-1 try something like this a year or so ago with a science fiction milieu? Does Evernight use the same basic mechanics?

If you've tried it Chris, could you give us a feel for how it plays?

-Tom

Judging by his e-mail address Tom, he probably made it as well as played it. :)

--Dave

Just so you guys realize there are alot of browser based stratagy games. You can find most of them under stratagy at mpogd.com My personal favariot is "space" if you like space empire games you should check it out.

Yes, Tom, you're probably thinking of UltraCorps, a browser-based online game by VR1 that was hosted at MS's Zone for awhile. Evernight shares some similarities, but it was made a little later, so it learned from some of Ultracorps' mistakes.

I'm not trying to pull the wool over anyone's eyes... Yes, I work for VR1, but I was not involved in the making of Evernight.

As far as how it plays, you log in to a particular game (you can play several at one time) and you manage troop movements, cast spells, and send email to other players. Combat and spells are all executed simultaneously overnight. The next day, you log in to see the results of your battles and plan for your next turn. As you gain territory, you gain resources to make more units and cast more spells.

Those are the tangible rules, but the real meat of the game is in that email bit I mentioned. Remember, each game has maybe 20 to 50 players, so you're dealing with far more opponents than a game of SMAC. The diplomacy in Evernight is very deep and can get quite cut-throat. Besides fighting, of course, players can make non-aggression pacts, form an alliance, and even join the same religion -- which is like being part of an uber-alliance. The better your fellow believers do at the end of the game, the better you do (victory is established by a system of points based on territory, religious allegiance, and the casting of a major spell called the Black Between).

Wrap all that in a quirky and interesting fantasy setting and that's Evernight in a nutshell. I'd be happy to answer any other questions and go into more detail.

Of course, the best way to learn more about it is to play a free game.

Again, thanks for indulging my blatant plug. In all honesty, I am more motivated by a desire to see strategy fans find games they love than to rake in paying customers for RealNetworks. Not that there's anything wrong with more paying customers.

Speaking of MPOGD.com, you can see some comments on Evernight there:

http://www.mpogd.com/games/rating/rating.asp?id=633

Happy strategizing, folks, whatever your game of choice is!

Chris