I cant stand a game less than 5 - 6 hours lol, each to there own, its good that such a great game can be played so significantly different and still be enjoyable for everyone with there different likes/dislikes.
Thanks for the link, and yeah ill give it a read. yAlthough 19 hours is a short game for us, and this is the first ever de-sync (noticable one anyway) that we have ever had, and only after purchasing Diplo.
We play 4 Players 4 NPC's Pirates, largest galaxy's we can make and NPC's hardest possible setting by the time we all deal with the NPC's and pirates, its already a few hours worth, we give the NPC 2 hours to build up, while we snail a single planet. And then its FFA, we were hoping Diplomacy would add a new environmental variable to our gaming experience with "dynamic" in-game co-alitions, a new form of "war" as it were.
As for fixing the game, i managed to extract a bunch of save games, start some new 4 player games and immediately save them, extract that game data, find inconsistent data, map it to physical game environment differentials, extrapolate the "headers" for each systems save games, then realign the "game" from a single computers stand point. There was alot of stuff in the data files i couldn't understand, so i just shoved it in how i thought it may go, and it worked, so far.
The only weird side effect was only one of us got to stay on our original computer to play the side they played (The host), i don't know if this was because the host was the stamp we used or if there was something substantial i missed.
That post explaining how the games de-sync, was detrimental to this outcome, so i thank you for the link, very helpful, now we can have a sleep and resume our battle.
P.s
The reference to "Competitive" match's, I guess i have a different perspective on whats competitive, I Have not played ICO but i used to play many games in internet areana's and seldom ever found them competitive, usually more of a "all in race to the finish"
Frequently even after 28 hours of game play, were we are almost assured that we know who will "win" our battles, there can be large turnarounds.
Using prolonged play style incorporates many variables we do not encounter in short game play, each player requires sleep, sustenance, we get tired, we make mistakes, we become complacent. My last game i lost when i thought i had basically destroyed 2 of my 3 opponents, the 3rd opponent had taken advantage of seeing i was pre-occupied on 2 attacking fronts cleaning up the debris, he amounted 2 large fleets, and landed at a sun and wormhole, i got no warning, since he had no destination within my empire, he flew straight past my gravity well defenses taking moderate damage, and split to attack 2 different planets within my sector, I recalled a fleet from the smallest player and proceeded to secure my sector, after a few more hours, the player had exhausted his reserves, I was weary after a long battle on two front's, and decided to make a decisive move, and end the game, i launched most of my fleets to finish off the previously larger player, and as i began the final engagement, the player i had abandoned for dead previously, launched his rebuilt army, By the time forces had got home with sufficient power to defend against his armies, He had a stronghold within my system, after a mere few more hours, enemy culture , and the inability to safely exit my system to counter attack, rendered me defeated.
In saying that, im about to see what ICO is like 
