What is the easiest way to set up a LAN-game?

Hey guys,

I have been trying to figure this out, since I am trying to create a very simple LAN-game, for testing purposes and to eventually create an AI from playing the game myself.

Here's my problem: What I am building is an RTS game, which means that synchronization is critical.

In my code-example (see under) I wrote some code which handles perfect synching, the example is just a cube changing color, but ofc this could be anything.

     //This function is called from a button-press.
     public void OnCubeColorChange(string color) {
         networkView.RPC("ServerSetCubeColor", RPCMode.All, color);
     }
     
     //We use this function, since we can't send a Color-variable in an RPC
     Color HexToColor(string hex)
     {
         byte r = byte.Parse(hex.Substring(0,2), System.Globalization.NumberStyles.HexNumber);
         byte g = byte.Parse(hex.Substring(2,2), System.Globalization.NumberStyles.HexNumber);
         byte b = byte.Parse(hex.Substring(4,2), System.Globalization.NumberStyles.HexNumber);
         return new Color32(r,g,b, 255);
     }
     
     //All users receive this message, but only the host will execute any code
     [RPC]
     void ServerSetCubeColor(string cubeColor) {
         if(Network.isServer) {
             networkView.RPC("SetCubeColor", RPCMode.All, cubeColor);
         }
     }
     
     //All users receive this message and it is certain that everyones cube is the same color.
     [RPC]
     void SetCubeColor(string cubeColor) {
         GetComponent<MeshRenderer>().material.color = HexToColor(cubeColor);    
     }

So when someone presses the button, it will send out a message to all users (RPCMode.Server did not call anyone, so I couldn't use that) and only the host (checked by Network.isServer) will send out a message to everyone again, which actually changes the color of the cube.

Perfectly synced, but the host will always have that 0.05 second advantage over the other users, making this a little bit unfair. A second thing is that sending a message out to everyone when actually only the host should get it, seems a little inefficient.

So my final question is: Does this code make sense to people? I feel like it's not the most logical way, but I would prefer not to work with a Master server, since it seems like quite a bit of hassle which might not be necessary.

Thanks for any help!

Cheers,

Ivo

P.S. I am aware of the fact that it's not neat coding to put the server-function in the Cube-object itself.