RSW

In our current game, we've discovered a couple more significant rules embedded in the RSW software that could screw up your game if you run afoul of them. Beware!
First, when I signed up for symmetry5p I included a question mark at the end of my game name. Don't do that! For some reason that confused the software. When I try to download my turn report, I get a message informing me that I am not playing in that game and can't download the report. Of course I AM in the game, and can enter orders online. I've had to copy my online reports and paste them into emails to send to my allies. I also can't download other players' reports when they post them on the message board. That means that my allies have to email me their reports as well.
Second, one player in the game left his orders in "save as draft" mode for two turns in a row, so the turns wouldn't process until the deadlines. After the second time, the software informed him that he had abandoned the game, and a substitute player took his place. So DON'T do that if you want to finish the game that you started!
I suspect that other players have found other quirks that can affect game play but are not mentioned in RSW rules. If you have, please reply to this post with a description of those unwritten rules. Perhaps the Dave the Creator can add them to the RSW rule set, but until that happens we'll have to rely on you players to warn others of those quirks.

Hmm, I'm surprised that you say having a question mark in your player handle is causing trouble--I'm pretty sure it shouldn't! And, in fact, trying this out myself now, everything seems to work OK, even with a question mark on the end of my name--I can download my turn reports, in both TXT and XML form; and I can also import turn reports send to me via the in-game message system from other players. So maybe something it's something else that's causing your troubles? Can you send me screenshots via email of what happens when you try to download a turn report, maybe?

As to your friend getting booted after failing to uncheck the "save as draft" checkbox for two turns, yeah. That's by design. There has to be some consequence for leaving this checked, otherwise there's no motivation to clear it (other than goodwill to your fellow players, and we all know how much that is worth). So the game server considers leaving this checked to be the same thing as missing the turn altogether, for the purpose of deciding how many turns you've missed. On the other hand, it does also process whatever orders you have on file, because it seems unfair to ignore them.

David