Master of Magic - Implode's Multiplayer Edition

I'm not sure how CPU vs CPU combat worked in the original MoM (it was mostly behind the scenes) but I've seen some strange things happen, ie a CPU army consisting of one unit of spearmen enters a node I know is guarded by some powerhouse monsters and come out unscathed. I read somewhere that when a cpu unit fights another it doesn't go into a full battle, but rather does a simple dice roll comparing each unit's relative strength. This way there's always a chance that either side could win regardless of how absurd it is for a spearman to beat a basilisk. I'm not sure how accurate that is but perhaps Implode could enlighten us if he's not too busy.

My actual question is this: how will it work in MoMIME? And when two opposing players fight, one of them not being me, will I have the option to see the battle? (or at least an abbreviated after-action report) though that might be too much in a huge multiplayer game, the screen each turn could conceivably be just a stream of battle reports. Maybe that's not such a hot idea after all. Although I'm assuming that since it's a turn based game, if one player enters battle on his turn everyone will have to wait for his battle to finish before the next turn starts anyway, so why not break out the popcorn and watch? Unless it's simultaneous turn based, of course.

So yes, I'm rambling. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain. A spectator option might be fun, but it's just another in the long list of "wouldn't it be cool if..."

As far as I know, you're right about the original MoM. CPU vs CPU combats play out as if full screen combats are switched off (I can't remember what the option is actually called, but you can actually switch it off for Human vs CPU combats as well... although why you'd want to is beyond me).

MoM IME will play out the full combat, walking units, working out the damage from each hit, working out which spells each side is casting, etc. etc. But you won't get to see it, since you're not involved so it would be like getting to watch a combat another human player was involved in (and hence get to see what size armies they have!) I wrote combat with the intention of it working like this from the beginning - in fact I suspect if there was a way to actually kick off a CPU vs CPU combat that it would 95% work already.

Implode.

Oh right, I didn't think about that, it would let you see battles that are still in fog of war. Thanks again for replying! Interesting bits of information indeed. Also it sounds like the CPU combat will be much more predictable in IME than the original since you're actually making it fight the battles, which can only be for the better.