AI turn time

[Banquet]

I would absolutely still recommend the game, despite the AI being slow in certain situations. I'm not keen on waiting 10 minutes either so I play against 1 AI with a 50 or 60 square map. That's still a pretty big map! Even at the height of the game the AI is pretty quick.

If anything could be done to increase the AI speed (or make something watchable during the AI turn) that would be a big improvement to me, and allow me to play multiple AI's.. but it's easy to get around by making smaller maps and/or having less AI so please don't let that put you off buying the game. It's one of the most addictive wargames I've ever played!

PS, totally agree with all5n.. I'd rather have a good slow AI than a bad fast one.

[dsvitak]

I tend to agree with the others here.

The excellent AI MUST be thorough, otherwise, why play the game?

Multi-tasking is exactly that. Pick up a book on the Second World War. Watch Sports Center. Pay attention to the significant other. Call your mom. Pet the cat. Pet your significant other. It's all good!

[GFeros]

If there is still a way, I really wish you could watch what is going on when you end your turn instead of looking at the same screen. If there is a way to include this that would be nice.

[SMK-at-work]

It's been between this one, Operational Art of War, and the Campaign Series and it seems the other two games don't have that kind of wait period. Perhaps I'm wrong?

 
what hte other guy said - TOAW can take as long or longer with large scenarios.
 
10-15 minutes per turn happens in "whole of WW2" sized scenarios with large maps and hundreds of units - exactly like, say, Trotsky's War in TOAW.
 
Haven't played campaign series, but I am still regularly playing TOAW.

[Brausepaul]

Does anyone know if AT makes use of several CPU cores? I own a quad core and wonder if this speeds up AT in a considerable amount.

[Vic]

Nope AT does not use duo or quad core. This is because i coded the application as one thread.
However owning a duo or quad core machine does allow for very smooth multitasking while the AI is calculating.
 
Kind regards,
Vic

[Brausepaul]

Thank you very much for your answer. Do you think it might be possible to enhance threading (at least for AI calculation) in a future patch? Note: I do that this is more than a compiler switch or adding if(quadcore) { runfaster();}

[Vic]

@brausepaul,
 
actually using multiple threads for your caculations is not an easy thing to implement. if you want to use multiple processors the AI thought process will need to be designed in such a way that it is not linear. to be honest i dont think this will be patch material.
 
sorry there,
kind regards,
vic
 

[Brausepaul]

Thanks again. I was thinking the same, but without asking one can't be sure.[:)]

[ravinhood]

ORIGINAL: rowech

ORIGINAL: Lipa

Too bad. This is really a great game. Personally, I have no problems with waiting on the AI... But, tastes are different, I guess. Anyway, I think you'll miss quite a lot by letting this one slip past you.

Cheers!

It's been between this one, Operational Art of War, and the Campaign Series and it seems the other two games don't have that kind of wait period. Perhaps I'm wrong?

They also don't have this kind of an AI, so, you're losing out big time if you don't get this one over them. Just don't play huge maps and umpteen jillion AI's is that so hard to not do? Back in the day we were lucky to have one opponent to play against, so, just play against one AI until you find the optimum level of time between turns. Then add another and see how that goes. Once you reach the I can't take it anymore stage then stick with those parameters just below that and there you'll have a great game with enough AI opponents to keep you challenged for a lifetime without taking all your time out of it.

[Forbidden]

I really think that the people having trouble with the AI turn time must be playing some REALLY big scenarios with lots of AI. I have an old Sempron 2800+(1.6ghz) and have just played a 45x45 game with 4 AIs and the AI turn time is really fast, 1min, 1h30seg MAX. In a 40x40 game with 3 AIs the game goes really fast. 

[miral]

Forbidden, they are playing Really Big Games. One person has a post asking how to create a 200x200 hex map! Like you, I enjoy medium and small games and find very little lapse. But try the Diplomacy scenario sometimes, with 10 sides, and you will find there can indeed be a significant wait. Once in a while I do assay a Big Game; and keep a good military history history book at hand to read while waiting. This doesn't bother me but a lot of younger players (and some not so young) love monster games and wont little to no waiting time between moves.

[bssybeep]

I play huge, 6 player maps.  I just noticed one parameter that makes a big difference on AI turn time: "Optimize for AI" option during random map creations.  If that option is not slected, then turn times are a more reasonable 1-3 min, compared to 15-20 min.