• At our last meeting in the club we discussed which AA client was the most popular.
    I was surprised to hear that TripleA wasn´t standardized, since every single member in our club votes for TripleA to be the best client. Therefor the question came also to, why they don´t use it in the World Championship 2008 instead of battlemap.?

    Axis & Allies Club Danmark will launch several online tournaments in 2009 and have decided to use TripleA as our standard client. Is there any problems as compatibility issues related to this, that we should be aware of?

  • '18 '17 '16 '11 Moderator

    TripleA does not function on some computers, it’s also flagged as unsecure by a few different firewalls (in other words, they won’t LET you link through the firewall).

    Battlemap, on the other hand, is a self contained user interface.  You don’t need to install it to use it, that means you can run the whole thing through email and flash drives by passing 100% of all network security without issue at all. (Not to mention, the file extensions are unique and thus, never included in major patches as potential virus threats meaning email programs won’t kick out the file like they do with other extensions like exe or zip)

    Interesting note, many of the same issues plague Mapview.  I cannot use it at work because it cannot be run from a flashdrive, you HAVE to install it to use it and we’re not allowed to install programs at work. (I don’t have a private laptop anymore, on weekends I use my hand held and there’s no way I am dealing with mapview on a hand held!)


  • Ah, the TripleA vs Battlemap debate again ;)

    Jennifer, that firewall issue is easily fixed by enabling port forwarding on port 33. Then again, that offcourse wont be of much use at work or something…

    Still, I vote AAA as my favourite way of playing A&A on the comp.

  • '18 '17 '16 '11 Moderator

    Exactly my point.  If you don’t have administrator rights, you cannot get TripleA to work sometimes.

    Also, there are multiple flavors of tripleA out there.  I had like 7 different versions (yes it’s an exaggeration) on my old computer and I’m sure there are more now.

    I tried a few times to just have people send saved games and open them, but it never worked that way either.

    Honestly, the simple solution is almost always the correct solution and the simple solution is battlemap.

  • 2024 '22 '21 '19 '15 '14

    If the tournaments are Play By E-Mail, then there’s no huge advantage to using TripleA over the other programs available.
    But if you want to play in real time that’s a different story.

    I don’t know why people always compare TripleA to Battlemap. Battlemap is a stat tracking utility, which can be used for any number of purposes, but its not a self contained game in the same way that TripleA is. You can’t just quickly load up Battlemap, meet other players online, and start a 5 man game in real time the way you can with TripleA. The Gametable stuff looks promising in the real time department, but as of right now, it doesn’t have the level of functionality that TripleA offers.

    The downsides to TripleA are mainly with the poor aesthetics (janky graphics) and port forwarding/hosting issues like the ones Jennifer mentioned. If you play a lot of A&A though, those things are not such a big deal to overcome. I’m not sure if its the best suited for official Tournaments and such, but its certainly useful if you want to practice or play a quick pick up game.

    :)


  • My note wasnt ment as battlemap vs AAA, but AAA against all other platforms/programs that I have seen.


  • Hey, I know this is off the topic, but as long as we’re talking TripleA - I have a question:
    Are there any intentions of having a more difficult AI opponent than “Easy Al”?
    Thanks


  • TripleA is Java so: “write once run everywhere”!!!

    In our forum, in Italy, we use only TripleA for PBEM and for direct connection games, we are also organizing a tournament using TripleA. No one is having problems with it.

    I had tried to use both Abattlemap and Mapview and really they have some interesting features. Give time to the TripleA community to develop them… new versions come out regularly and this is a good thing. In the dynamic world of information technology the things done in the morning are already obsolete in the evening.

    TripleA forever!!!


  • @captainjack:

    Hey, I know this is off the topic, but as long as we’re talking TripleA - I have a question:
    Are there any intentions of having a more difficult AI opponent than “Easy Al”?
    Thanks

    There’s talks about it at the dev’s forum yes, but nothing solid yet.


  • @Woodstock:

    @captainjack:

    Hey, I know this is off the topic, but as long as we’re talking TripleA - I have a question:
    Are there any intentions of having a more difficult AI opponent than “Easy Al”?
    Thanks

    There’s talks about it at the dev’s forum yes, but nothing solid yet.

    Thanks.
    What’s the dev’s forum?


  • The developer’s forum. Go to the main page that lists all the forums and then go to, I think, the software page. That might be where you can get more info.


  • @The:

    The developer’s forum. Go to the main page that lists all the forums and then go to, I think, the software page. That might be where you can get more info.

    Thank you!


  • I don’t see how triple a can be the standard if it does not allow you to play by the rules.
    see my question in another thread.
    http://www.axisandallies.org/forums/index.php?topic=12377.0.

  • 2024 '22 '21 '19 '15 '14

    I don’t see how triple a can be the standard if it does not allow you to play by the rules.
    see my question in another thread.
    http://www.axisandallies.org/forums/index.php?topic=12377.0.

    TripleA has been problematic with Carriers/Fighters in the past, mainly because the standard rules governing them and Submarines are rather complicated. In other A&A programs this isn’t an issue, because other programs don’t track the rules for you the way TripleA does. In ABattlemap for example, you could move the fighters anywhere you wanted to, because Battlemap doesn’t track this kind of information, it just provides a graphical display for players to use however they want. Your fighters can move as they please, and unless someone was there to tell you its against the rules, the program would allow it.

    TripleA is a little different, because its designed to track the rules that govern unit interaction. According to the logic of the TripleA program, fighters get to move 4 spaces and must have somewhere to land at the end of the phase. With land territories this is simple, but with carriers its harder because they can move around, and you can’t always tell where they will end up. In the situation you cited above, the problem stems from the quirky airstrike/submerge rules for Subs, more than anything else. The only reason why its legal, is because you know for sure that the sub can’t fire back, and that you will have freedom of movement once its under water or dead. 98% of the time the fighter-carrier dynamic works as it should, its only in these types of odd situations where you have subs/carriers/fighters working together in concert that you might run into a snag.

    In any case, you can easily fix this situation, by just selecting “Kamikaze” fighters in the game options, or through the use of the edit mode. The guy you were playing with just didn’t understand the rules of the game, and would probably have be an even more hopeless opponent if you were using a program that didn’t keep track of the rules for him. Next time just use “Kamikaze” fighters, or the edit mode, and if there are any doubts refer him to this thread.

    In the future you will probably find a speedier resolution to your problem if you post the issue on the TripleA dev boards rather than here, since there’s no guarantee that the code guys are going to be browsing A&A.org to catch stuff like this. Perhaps Kevin could recode the Carriers (yet again) so that fighters can move based on all possible landing options during Non-Com, though I’m sure you can imagine how that would get complicated, when you have to factor in things like submerging subs as well. Its usually just easier to allow a fix by player edit, which is essentially what the other programs do too, they just don’t call it an Edit, since all the rules have to be tracked by players anyway.

  • '18 '17 '16 '11 Moderator

    The only advantage TripleA has is when you have two or more players unfamiliar with any of the dice rolling utilities out there.  Then you have TripleA roll the dice for you.

    However, this is easier to deal with at FoE, AAMC, AA.org, Frood and any number of random dice generator sites.  Therefore, there is no need to bundle this software into the mapping utility.

    Now, if you just wanted to map with TripleA, then I would suggest that it is horribly more labor intensive to use TripleA to map than any other mapping utility out there including setting up the physical board yourself!

  • 2024 '22 '21 '19 '15 '14

    The only advantage TripleA has is when you have two or more players unfamiliar with any of the dice rolling utilities out there.  Then you have TripleA roll the dice for you.

    However, this is easier to deal with at FoE, AAMC, AA.org, Frood and any number of random dice generator sites.  Therefore, there is no need to bundle this software into the mapping utility.

    Now, if you just wanted to map with TripleA, then I would suggest that it is horribly more labor intensive to use TripleA to map than any other mapping utility out there including setting up the physical board yourself!

    Well here’s the issue as I see it: When you use a program like Battlemap, you have to know how to play the game already. You need to be familiar with the rules, the dice rolling utilites, and the dynamics of exchanging information with other players (either via email, or forums or whatever.) In the beginning, you have to have someone around to show you how to use the program to play the game, because its not exactly very intuitive.

    There is a big difference between a functioning stand alone game, and a map/board tracking utility. I would argue that the latter requires a lot more overhead to opperate, especially for the new player.

    I’m not sure what you mean when you use the word map as a verb. What does it mean “to map”?

    The advantage of TripleA in my view, is that you don’t need to know the rules, or the board set up, or the various protocols related to PBEM or PBF style gameplay to use it. Its basically all self contained, with a relatively simple user interface, and a way to meet other people online via the Lobby. I don’t see any of the other programs (with the possible exception of gametable) even coming close to providing something like that.

    TripleA is not just a map utility with a built in dice roller. If you’re judging it like that, then I think you’re being a little unfair in your assessment. There is also a bunch of java code and under-the-surface stuff going on, that allows TripleA to support real time gameplay, live over the internet, which simply does not exist in these other programs to which its constantly being compared.

  • '18 '17 '16 '11 Moderator

    Yes, I do assume you have read the rules before playing the game.

    However, if you do not wish to read the rules, you can always get a copy of Iron Blitz and Axis and Allies from Hasbro, there are plenty of copies for sale on eBay I’m sure. :P

    And hey, they’re much prettier!

  • 2024 '22 '21 '19 '15 '14

    Yes, I do assume you have read the rules before playing the game.

    However, if you do not wish to read the rules, you can always get a copy of Iron Blitz and Axis and Allies from Hasbro, there are plenty of copies for sale on eBay I’m sure.

    And hey, they’re much prettier! :P

    Well I already own both of those. But they have not supported online play for over 5 years now. Plus, both those CDs were hacked and broken a long time ago, so they’re not very reliable for Multi-player games. In fact the decision to pull the Hasbro CD from Gamespy, is arguably the reason why TripleA even exists in the first place.

    There was no online alternative for real time MP play, so we built one. Well, Sean and Logan built it, but it has since been added to by other people. It might not be the prettiest thing around, but that’s because it was put together by a bunch of non-professionals, as a volunteer effort.

    I don’t see the need for sticking out tongues though. Did I say something that upset you or something?
    I was asking a serious question, when I asked what it means to map. :)
    Is that like when you use the gameboard, and the map utility simultaneously, like in chess by mail? I could see the allure of something like that, but its not the way I play.

    I don’t generally use TripleA in conjunction with the physical board, though I sometimes have the board set up in the computer room while I play online, just to look at it. When I use TripleA, its normally for quick games with minimal set up and instant gratification. If I have to email someone, or post the results on a forum between turns, the whole thing loses its luster for me. Basically I try to use the computer to recreate something of the Face-to-Face experience.

  • '18 '17 '16 '11 Moderator

    No, not upset.  I was just making a point that if all you want is a game where you don’t need any dice, the AI is artificially idiotic and has pretty pieces, the hasbro discs were good at that.

    But I will assume that most players have the books, the boards, the fundamental understanding of the game and all they need for online play is a computer with internet access and a dice server.  If that’s the case, it’s far easier to use mapping utilities not all encompassing games.


  • TripleA allows me to play a game of A&A with an ex-colleague that lives miles away from me with on-line direct connection and chat. It is like we are still living in the same city and meeting for play face to face.

    TripleA allows me to play multiplayers games, with my friends or with other people with on-line direct connection and a Lobby with chat to find opponent.

    In our Italian forum, as I said, we use TripleA for PBEM game.

    People have to learn only a single program.

    TripleA is a completely different program from ABattleMap and MapView. They can not be compared, because make differents task and are aimed to different use.

    Moreover it is Java and may run everywhere. I work on server side application using Java (Enterprise Edition) on any kind of system: Windows, Mac, and Linux. Java may be used to access to DataBase, to realize web applications and to implement Web Services. Running a simple stand alone program with Java is really easy in comparison.

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