A new idea to satisfy both SP and MP players?

Not sure if this has been mentioned specifically, but I do not remember seeing it discussed since I have been back here at the .org:

I was thinking about battle modes, when I thought how great it would be to play the single-player campaign in turnbased mode, then be offered the option of fighting any battles online with friends or strangers. There would be 3 options offered for any SP battles:

1. Auto-battle: The game automatically computes the results for you with no real time battle fought.
2. Battle the AI: You fight the AI to determine the outcome of the SP battle.
3. Fight the battle online: You are automatically logged on to the MP lobby and are able to invite who you would like to play the battle out with.

I can see both SP and MP players being excited about this.

The SP players, would not have to deal with what they term "The horrible battle AI". since they could play against real people. They could play anonymously if they choose, or they could play friends, or challenge themselves by playing some of the top MP players. It would be up to them.

The MP players may be able to use this feature to host MP campaigns or even as a training tool for new players. With the added benefit, this feature might get players who were formerly only interested in SP, to begin playing MP once they found out how much fun it was.

CA could benefit because everyone knows changes to fix SP balance problems, normally create imbalances for MP and vice-versa. CA would have one less thing to worry about when making changes to such things.

Has anyone discussed this before? I remember similar things, but not a full-featured SP/MP crossbreed.

If I'm not mistaken, ETW/NTW have this "drop in" option in the SP campaign where someone online can take over for the AI in your campaign battles. Perhaps Swoosh or someone else familiar with ETW/NTW can elaborate.

I haven't played the SP game in Empires, and I haven't played NTW at all. My son might know though since he has played both. I will have to ask him. :)

Yes, there is a Drop In option in NTW. Not sure if it's used regularly.

If your running a single player camapaign you can usually find an opponent in 4 or 5 mins or so, they have to queue which isent ideal as they cant do anything else while queued, would be better if the battles showed in mp somehow. You can also select just play friends so you can pre arrange for a steam friend to fight vs you in the battle. I like the concept but i think it should show as a game listed in the lobbly with the option for players in the lobby to hide/show drop in battles which it currently doesent. for the campaign player it shows searching for oponent and for the opponent theyre just in some queue. And it should allow you to play vs friends in battles that are not even, currently it just allows you to play even-ish battles.