More multiplayer questions

Okay lets assume I have set up a game using multiplayer with a few other individuals. How do you communicate with the people you are playing with while online?

I see two possible problems (having never actaully looked at this part of the game)

1. How do you coordinate your offensive and defensive strikes when in battle? It seems that th enemy might not have to cast chaos in order for your party to suffer from it. Do you : use a built in chat function, talk on seperate phone lines, use instant message? If so how do you use use instant message since the game plays ful screen?

2. If everone has a high degree of control over their characters actions, how do you prevent one person from being left behind or lost on another screen (like my familiar, I still do not know wher he is, who got lost around ch3)? Is ther only one person who can create way points for the entire group?

[turbovee]

I'm really beat right now and want to answer this in detail, so hang in Raistlin and i'll try to get your question answered. If by chance you didn't know i'm playing a multi with a couple of people from this board so I can help you.
If someone else answers this Thank you in advance.

isnt there a little bit under the text buffer that you can type messages in, and you have to all traverse areas together, "gather your party before ventureing forth" so people cant get left behind only the party leader can intitiate area transitions i think

[turbovee]

Ok i'm back after a long hard sleep.

There is a dialogue box beneath the playing screen that you and your other players can communicate back and forth. We have to type to each other, but i believe you can set up a live voice chat on "roger wilco" If you do type your dialogue you learn really quick to use anagrams and shorthand I.E. rl=reload, u/s= upstairs, d/s = downstairs
and so on. we use a lot of pausing throughout the battles to coordinate our attacks. It doesn't work all the time especially when we trap each other into a hallway or with summoned critters, but we just rl and try again. Its really a blast

We plan our attacks before we go wandering into an area. Charlie and I have been through the game so we usually know whats around every corner. We cast alot of defensive spells on the party before we go too. Its really cool because you have to make decisions with other people on how your going to approach a battle or a situation. Not everyone agrees, but we are very compatible to each other. It's funny too. Charlie likes to get his character drunk before we go into battle and he has a bad habit of pickpocketing and turning the whole place against us when he gets caught. Can't control him, but its funny as hell.

You can give permissions to your other players if you are the host. I give everyone all the permissions. Anyone can go wherever they want to in an area, but you cannot leave an area without everyone together. if you get lost in a large area say like the Underdark, you can put your cursor onto the player portrait that you want to find and it will automatically take to that player's position once you click on the portrait.

It's a lot of fun!!! Cloudbringer, Charlie and I are all addicted to multiplayer now

Any more questions and I'll be glad to help.

[Melusine]

Whoops sorry double post

[Melusine]

correction: triple post... oooh I'm so embarrassed...this is the first time this happened to me!

[Melusine]

Note: I think the loss of your familiar is actually a bug. It happened to me once but luckily I noticed it in time and still had a save game where it was in my inventory. Download the patch, as it fixes this problem.

[turbovee]

Just wanted to know if you got this Raistlin. I know I hate it when my q's aren't answered and the message drops off into obsurity, so I'm basically bumping this to make sure you know I didn't forget about you.