What error message?

This game; http://www.webdiplomacy.net/board.php?gameID=18015 appears to be ‘stuck’.

Fleet
alert Parameter 'fromTerrID' set to invalid value '8'.

Looking at the order validation code I did notice that support-move-from was more strict about coastal inputs, and I can't remember why I would have made it like that so it might have been a mistake. I changed it and ran the automated tests and there were no problems, so we'll see how it goes with this change. Let me know if it happens again

@Carpysmind; I thought that was a bug too the first time it happened, but now I remember that people requested it be like that, because when the time for a live game is set a day or so in the future that means that it could start at any time over that whole period, and someone is bound to be away

Some people suggested that live games shouldn't start even when 7 players have joined, until the first pre-game deadline runs out, but now people are obviously expecting it to work the old way

Not sure what to do here

I think it should enter a more propper 'Pregame' phase.
Instead of players being automatically marked as 'ready', this should be an option for them.

A 12 hour phase game is considered “live”?

The ideal would be the ability to vote to start the game right away rather than waiting for the start time. So once the last person joins, then once everyone is there together they can all vote to start the game. If someone votes to start the game and then browses away and doesn't come back, that's their mistake. Could be used for all games, not just "live" games, but you might get some 10 day start timers and end up with someone keeping the game from starting for the whole 10 days.

Alternatively, you could somehow use the finalize button to do a similar thing even though no one has orders in pre-game.

Or, have the first phase of the game use the pre-game timer instead of the normal phase timer. That way you can have the first phase longer than the normal phase as some have requested, but once everyone finalizes then the game moves on as normal. The might be the easiest to implement depending.

@Carpysmind ah I didn't notice that. Yup looks like I mixed up minutes and seconds when determining whether something was a "live game", it should process now

Re: the vote suggestions, that would be ideal, I'll see if any real problems come up due to this now that I've fixed the live game detection before adding some new voting system though

That would be easier yes Alderian, as it would require changing only one small aspect of the code, which I think (off the top of my head) comes down to just just modifying two lines.

I prefer having a full pregame session however, as extending the first phase would allow those already present to engage in diplomacy before the others may return, giving an unfair advantage.