I used to play for several weeks on the same game with people across different countries. Although the game is (was?) missing a way to send a message to notify players it’s time to play their turn, it’s not difficult to write a small python script to parse the log and send an email.
That's a pity that feature is missing. Might be a fun weekend project to look into someday.
Where did you find the players in your group by the way? I always wanted to play long Freeciv games with friends but never found anyone willing to put in the time in my own circles!
I used to play with people I met at university and work. But I have to admit that most of the people I invited to join gave up as soon as they launched their first single game. Most were turned off by the complexity of the game interface or the old school graphics.
https://github.com/dareg/jouer_a_freeciv/blob/master/atoidej...