Latency, Bandwidth
(and Other Funny Words)
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Since 2KNet is a multiplayer game, there are a number of issues that affect
how the data between players is transmitted and received, and those issues
can affect gameplay. Whatever the mode of transmission, your 2KNet game
information is sent in packets, discrete "lumps" of data, that
is then reassembled into the coherent glory of your shared city on the receiving
end--and back again at you.
No matter if the game is being played on a small (or big) LAN or over the
Internet, there will always be some kind of latency, or delay, in
the information getting from point A to point B. The closed loop of a LAN,
with its integrated high-speed transmission, will suffer the least from
packet latency. However, the Internet's unpredictable shuffling of information,
where packets can be shifted, diverted, and thrown into the ether before
they arrive back at your door, can make for a much higher latency, and thus
a much slower game. Modem-to-modem connections are somewhere in-between,
which brings up the concept of bandwidth.
Bandwidth, for our purposes, is a measure of how big of a packet (and
a data-heavy game like 2KNet has substantial packets indeed) can be pushed
through how small of a pipe. Modem speed would be a big concern in this
conversation, for if there were two players playing a peer-to-peer modem
connection game, the player with the 14.4 modem would make the whole game
somewhat slower for the 28.8 gamer, because the 14.4 has a smaller bandwidth.
Internetters have that issue to deal with, plus the issue of the connection
efficiency of their individual service providers.
If you are going to play over the Internet, you might want to avail yourself
of the PING command, built into Windows95. (We are presuming here that you
already have TCP/IP installed.) Ping lets you send a signal out to your
prospective playing partners using their IP address, and then reports back
to you what kind of latency (in milliseconds) that you might expect. A delay
of over 450ms would make for a real snorer of a game, so be forewarned.
You can also use the Win95 WINIPCFG command to get your IP address so you
can give it to your fellow pingers.
You can get to the PING program by opening a DOS window in Win95 and typing
PING at the command line. Run WINIPCFG by going to the Start menu, choosing
Run, and typing WINIPCFG. Check out the Quick-Start guide for more setup
information.
One more little caution for the Networthiness: logins to ongoing games from
the Internet can take a little while, so try some stretching exercises (or
go to the Strategies page for tips, so you can
have a thriving city built before your opponents even get their hammer and
nails out of the bag).
Of course, this is not to discourage you from firing up your modem and making
online empires in 2KNet--we've tested the game through all conceivable connections,
and it does indeed work, and work pleasurably (unless you've raised taxes
so high in your district that there's no pleasure to be found).
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(C)1996, Maxis, Inc.
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