User Guide

highest Ping.An arrow appears over the column to indicate
this. Click any column header to sort the list using another
criteria. For example, to sort games alphabetically by Session
Name, click Session Name. Reverse the order of the list by
clicking on the column header a second time.
• Chat: The chat area below the Session List allows you to com-
municate with other players who are logged into your LAN or
Internet game.(See “Chatting”on page 67.)
Hosting a Multiplayer Game
To host a game, click Host
on the Multiplayer Lobby
screen.This opens the Multi-
player Setup screen, which
allows you to set the options
for your new game. Note: In
the Multiplayer Lobby you
can set a password to protect
who enters your game.
Note: When playing an
Internet game,you must first
announce your game from the Multiplayer Staging Window.(See
“Staging Window (Internet Games)”on page 56 for details.)
The Multiplayer Setup screen is divided into four regions:
Game Settings
To change a setting, select the option from the appropriate
drop-down menu.
• Game Type: Select Tournament, Simultaneous Moves or
Turn-Based. (See “Multiplayer Game Types” on page 58 for
details.)
• Game Mode: Play a Standard (randomly generated) game,
load a Civ Content variation and existing scenarios, or load
a saved game.
• Game Speed: Select a Slow,Medium,or Fast game.In Turn-
Based and Simultaneous Movement games,select None if you
want players to have unlimited time to complete each turn.
• Location: Click on this button to toggle the games displayed
on the Session List between Local (those on the LAN to which
you are connected) and Internet games.
• Filter Out: Click on this to set the parameters for the games
that you do not want displayed on the Session List.Doing so
opens the Filters screen.
Filters Screen
The Filters screen allows you to filter out games that fall below
a certain performance level (Ping).Select the maximum Ping level
from the drop-down menu.
All other filter options are check boxes. Check the player and
game characteristics you want to block by clicking on the box
beside the desired option.Games that match one or more of the
characteristics checked on the Filters screen will not be displayed
on the Session List on the Multiplayer Lobby screen.
Session List
The Session List displays all of the games being hosted at the
selected location (LAN or Internet), as well as the following
information:
• Session Name: The name of the game.
• Type: The type of game — Simultaneous Moves, or Turn-
Based.(See “Multiplayer Game Types”on page 58.)
• Mode: The victory conditions of the game.
• State: Whether the game is Open,Locked,or In-Progress.You
can only join Open games.
• Players: The number of players currently in the game and the
maximum number of players allowed.For example,1/8 shows
that one player is in the game and a maximum of eight are
allowed in the game.
• Ping: The connection speed between your computer and the
computer on which the game is being hosted.The lower the
Ping number,the faster the connection.The higher the Ping,
the more lag you will experience during the game.
By default, games are listed in order from the lowest to the
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Chat Game Rules
Game Settings Player Setup