Panzer Corps 2 has a little secret...

[@robinmattheussen2395]

Slitherine's PBEM++ works quite well. The only downside is that, unlike classic PBEM of course, it requires centralized infrastructure by Slitherine. I kind of doubt this is a huge drain on their finances, but if Slitherine decides to shut these down one day, you're out of luck, and that does kind of suck. Another one of the very best games to play in PBEM IMO is the Dominions series. Turns are made simultaneous and all player's can usually take quite a long time to finish a single turn I find. So this perfectly fits the PBEM model. Every time you receive your game, you watch all battles that happened, take 30 minutes to make your decisions, and you're off for the next round. Honestly I have wished for quite a few years now that Steam would incorporate some sort of PBEM feature into Steamworks so developer can easily integrate that, alongside notifications in your Steam client and relying on Valve's infrastructure rather than Slitherine's, etc. etc.

[@twiglets2]

@robinmattheussen2395 That's interesting re the difference between PBEM++ and just PBEM, thank you for sharing that knowledge!

[@jacobscott2473]

I didn't realise Dominions had PBEM, I might have to see if any of my friends have the one I've got on Steam.

[@RickD1990CH]

I've recently been playing Axis & Allies 1942 Online in this way with friends and family. Seems to be a very underutilised feature for mulitplayer strategy games as it works so well for actual adults with responsibilities and commitments.

[@twiglets2]

@@RickD1990CH exactly this my friend, it just works! But I'm conscious in the recent past I would have turned my nose up at such things (for no good reason) and as you say it's an underutilised feature. I predict there are many out there that would make good use of it.

[@RickD1990CH]

@@twiglets2 Much the same for me. Not so long ago I would've seen it as a needless feature. Then I had kids...

[@ReekieReels]

Civ IV had play by email 😂 i remember thinking it was an odd feature, but 20 years later it makes a lot of sense

[@twiglets2]

@@ReekieReels oh yeah! I recall playing chess with friends years ago which felt like a gimmick, but these days it makes much sense

[@jacobscott2473]

I 'd love to see you cover other games that have this kind of multiplayer. I'm really intrigued by the mode, but I don't think Panzer Corps 2 is my kind of game.

[@jacobscott2473]

I know it's often referred to as Asynchronous Play to shake off the "gaming in the 80s vibe" it has

[@Bwakcmo69]

This game is shit