in reverse order...



TL;DR: Is an internet connection required to start or play a multiplayer game?



Long version with way more info than you need:



I live on a sailboat and play DotE wayyy too much with my significant other. In late December we will be pushing of for a couple day sail to see family, and once we do we will of course be out of range of my broadband wireless connection. While we may have cell phone coverage for the majority of the trip and therefore can hotspot, while we are cruising we may want to fire up our microsoft surfaces and play a little DotE across the network. I have a feeling you need internet access for the MP lobby, but I wanted to verify this and see if you need to maintain internet connection once a game is launched if you are connected across a local network.



If anyone has tested this let me know, otherwise I am sure a Dev could answer this quickly.

Hey,



You indeed need an internet connection to play a multiplayer game of DotE, as Steam will handle the lobby, servers and network.

Steph'nie wrote:
Hey,



You indeed need an internet connection to play a multiplayer game of DotE, as Steam will handle the lobby, servers and network.

Aww booo. Thanks for the answer though! I feared as much.

I mean, even with only a 15kb/s upload it should be no problem?? Maybe you finde some ways to cache some more information or reduce the update rate. The most important aspect is the desync issue. Maybe there should be a short stop to get insync with everyone, even if it slows down the game.

Pretty much anything that's multiplayer you will need an internet connection for.

PeterLG wrote:
Pretty much anything that's multiplayer you will need an internet connection for.

Absolutely not true. I own a ton of multiplayer games that are not server based, and can be played over a LAN without an internet connection. I would say the vast majority of multiplayer games out there can be played across a LAN that has no internet access.

Skarnor wrote:
Absolutely not true. I own a ton of multiplayer games that are not server based, and can be played over a LAN without an internet connection. I would say the vast majority of multiplayer games out there can be played across a LAN that has no internet access.

Don't you need internet access for a network to work...

PeterLG wrote:
Don't you need internet access for a network to work...

Well... no, you don't always need the internet. The internet is just that one huge network connecting almost anything out there, but it is very well possible to have any number of smaller networks in any size which are or aren't connected to the internet. Many years ago most multiplayer games were either played on one PC, or over LAN, with no connection to the internet. You'd just have a few computers in one room connected with each other but not the internet, building an autonomous network.