Decided to try out GameRanger. It turned out to be pretty cool.:D There were no problems with the installation, and when I was ready to play, I joined a room. The game launched quickly, and there were no connection issues. We agreed to play with random settings and no restrictions on the rules. My opponent was the host, and in my Russian version 4.0, the fonts didn't get messed up (as they usually do in the expansion pack) - that's great. The game itself took about 40 minutes and went like this: Pit for LM (blue, random Rampart, random Jeddite, Sir Mullich) def. Lazybird (red, random Stronghold, random Kairin, Kairin), Dragons, 121. On turn 111, my opponent was surprised that he didn't get Conflux - but he said it was okay and that he would play anyway. The map had a lot of towns, and there were no guards anywhere. By turn 117, I had 6 towns, and I had built psychics in the fortress, plus two towers with groups of gremlins. On turn 121, Mullich reached my opponent's town through a portal (as the save analysis showed, he had 2 heroes at that time) and captured his tower with the citadel and the unbought troops. Kairin was standing nearby with dwarves and a horde of centaurs. Since my opponent was building up his economy in the first week, he didn't have enough troops to fight, and he ran away without even thanking me for the game. I couldn't find an automatic rating, and I'm not even sure what I need to do to get the game recorded somewhere. And my opponent disappeared, so it will be difficult to find him to confirm the report:). So, it's unlikely that we'll be able to find cool opponents there or simplify the rating calculation, but it can definitely be used as an alternative to Hamachi. The connection was excellent, and it's easy to download - it's only about 100 KB. Although, it's possible that for those who don't have an external IP, it won't look so good.

Added 17 minutes ago
P.S. Now I'm sitting here and wondering if I'll be accused of cheating and banned. :smile16: Regarding simultaneous turns - simultaneous turns up to turn 116 is, of course, cool. It's very convenient for those who don't eat, don't wash dishes, don't think about their next move, don't browse the internet, don't watch TV, etc., while it's not their turn, but instead sadly stare at the ceiling and try to swat a fly.:) But this is only a partial solution. From the beginning of the second week, you will still have to play the old way. There is a much bigger thing that doesn't require players to do anything extra, except to be able to play on SoD and TE (or even just SoD, but in two different folders). This option is especially good for games up to two wins. Two games are played in parallel: on SoD - without a limit, and on TE you can skip your turn until you reach it (or if you have 2 SoDs, then on both without a limit, or you can hang out in battle). Synchronization with the opponent(s) after some practice is easily achieved. In fact, you can play on two fronts in the same amount of time. Of course, if you are playing with different opponents, it is desirable to warn them so that they don't rush the fast forward. I've tried it! I recommend it!:smile54: