Are there any suggestions for good PBeM?

I noticed in a different thread that there was a goal of one turn per day, that's pretty good because it is clear what is expected of you when you join the game.

I tried doing some diplomacy in the one game I am involved in, but you can only make offers, right? I mean, there is no way to indicate what you would be interested in from the other player, right?

which leads to...

Is it considered "bad form" to supplement the game channels via, e.g. eMail? For example, instead of just sending an offer of some tech, would it be considered "cheating" to also eMail the other player to specify that you are, say, really interested in getting some energy from them? What about just sending another player some intelligence, via email regarding the location of a third player's forces?

Just some questions to see what people think is fair in PBeM.

The in-game communication is very poor. I am all for communication via email or this forum. In fact it makes it a lot of fun when you roleplay your faction. Just my $.02

quote: Originally posted by Stumpy on 03-29-2000 01:14 AM I haven't played enough online to guage the quality of communication, but the lack of real-time does seem a bit odd. How does that work? Can I set something which says which research I'm willing to part with and which research I'm unwilling to part with?

Well, You send a message to the other player and they do not receive it until it is their turn. You offer something and they offer something that you won't see until it is your turn again, and then you can accept or decline, and then they can accept or decline (this is the longest way of doing it, but you can see that negotiations could take quite a while).

Re: not having comm frequencies. I believe you start with all player comm frequencies (not the NPC ones though).
I don't see why using email would be any different than real-time in-game communication. The only thing I'd suggest avoiding would be communications via email with players who you don't yet have the comm frequency for in the game.

You don't have to worry about people getting technology that you didn't want to offer, you just offer what you are interested in offering.

There is a way to get extra intelligence on another player, BTW: if you start negotiations with them, and then go to the screen to choose which technology to offer, it tells you if the other player already has that tech. You could theoretically use this periodically with no intention of trading, just to see what technologies you have that others don't have. Of course this does not tell you what they have that you don't