Serious Considerations

[IanF1966]

Hello, I've been playing for some time now and one thing really bothers me about the game.
This has been mentioned before but I feel the need to speak about the blank screen that is shown when the AI is making its turn.

For me, this is a gamebreaker because it 'locks out' the player from the gaming process. I really strongly feel that some work should be made to provide game visuals of the ai making its turn and also speed up the process. At the very leaset, a visual should be made because it really does end the game for me each time.

As it stands, in later turns, it is 5-10 minutes of gameplay and 7-10 minutes of blank screen.

This is a serious and respectful post and I hope to see some genuine responses,
Thank you,
IC

[freeboy]

are you using the turn playback after the ai turn to see what it did ?

[xBoroNx]

Play pbem [:)]. When i got AT for 1-2 weeks i played only SP, then started pbem and haven't played much SP since then anymore.

If you want to play SP you might run AT multiple times, then you can always do your turn for another AT game while the other one gets calculated.

[Iron Knight]

ORIGINAL: xBoroNx
If you want to play SP you might run AT multiple times, then you can always do your turn for another AT game while the other one gets calculated.

Hey, thats a good idea! [:)]

[GFeros]

I agree with I.C., I wish you could see what is going on when you press the next turn button instead of the blank screen. I also posted this before. It would be nice if it could be implemented. Other than that, this is an excellent game!

[montarakid]

The <history> button provides all the intel you are allowed to have given your current recon abilities. If you need the "God View" to enjoy a game, well, you've got the wrong game.

As for the "blank screen" mentioned. Your pc is taking 7-10 minutes to resolve the AI moves!? Good Lord man! What kind of pc are you playing this on! Unless you only play the monster scenarios you will should find the wait time to be no more than a minute, two at the most, on any decent piece of hardware.

I'm with xBoroNx. I don't even play any SP anymore since I developed enough confidence to play .pbem.

[IanF1966]

Well, if I ran 2 instances of AT that would probably freeze the PC. I'm guessing the reason for long AI turns is that there is a lot of mumber-crunching going on and 2 instances of AT running at the same time wouldn't help.

I am running the monster scenarios,yes youre right - I love them. My PC is 2.8Ghz, 2GB RAM so its not a slow dinosaur, lol.

PBEM? I may try it but then turns will take much longer than the AI won't they? I would very much like to try a PBEM game if there is anyone willing to play historically.

Doesn't anyone agree though? Wouldn't you like to see the AI moves occurring instead of the screen of nothing? I do watch the AI replay at the start of new turns but thats not the point really.

At least I made my point, so I feel I have hopefully brought this to the attention of the developers.

Devs -It's a truly great game, but please consider this.

I.C.

[seille]

It was often explained already. Showing the AI moves is not possible.
The PC is busy enough with all the calculations and showing additional stuff
would not make the turns faster.
If your PC need 8-10 minutes for calculating a turn you probably use more than the recommended
map sizes and regimes. If you want to play fast you should not set a 100x100 game with 6 regimes or more.
AT can do that, but then you have to WAIT for the turns. That´s the price.
In addition if AT would show the AI moves it would be faster than you could follow with your eyes i think.
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In my AI games the PC needed not longer than a minute for the AI turns, but i played not more than 2 AI´s.
If you played a few PBEM´s you´ll probably not miss the AI games so much....

[Twotribes]

ORIGINAL: seille

It was often explained already. Showing the AI moves is not possible.
The PC is busy enough with all the calculations and showing additional stuff
would not make the turns faster.
If your PC need 8-10 minutes for calculating a turn you probably use more than the recommended
map sizes and regimes. If you want to play fast you should not set a 100x100 game with 6 regimes or more.
AT can do that, but then you have to WAIT for the turns. That´s the price.
In addition if AT would show the AI moves it would be faster than you could follow with your eyes i think.

In my AI games the PC needed not longer than a minute for the AI turns, but i played not more than 2 AI´s.
If you played a few PBEM´s you´ll probably not miss the AI games so much....

So you never play any of the monster scenarios? WAW, GW? You chose to limit yourself to a fraction of what the game can do?

[seille]

WaW is a monster ? I talked more about the setups above the limits.
The bigger the game is, the more units etc the longer the turns need. Pretty simple.
When i want to have fast turns i don´t play huge maps with multiple AI´s.
&nbsp;
Last AI game i did was End of a Union (me EU) and the turns needed not much time to calculate.
Less than a minute.
WaW i played only as PBEM. Sometimes i waited 24 hours or more for the next turn [:'(]

[Twotribes]

In other words we should be happy to just scratch the surface of the game. Tell ya what, you don't try and tell us how to play the game and we won't try and tell you how to play the game? Sound fair? Now back to the discussion?

[montarakid]

Twotribes, I think seille is probably right in that the AI calculations are so fast that you'd have a very difficult time trying to follow the moves visually, even if you had the chance.

.pbem is a different cat. I'm playing two 4-player games of "Pickem" at the moment (among others) and it is just a riot of activity. The scenario is in the <Fictional> <Human> folder if you like to review it. Yes, you have to wait for a turn file sometimes, but with 6-8 games going at any one time the wait isn't all that long. Besides, I have that SP game waiting for me anytime I need a "fix". [8D]

[xBoroNx]

ORIGINAL: montarakid
.pbem is a different cat. I'm playing two 4-player games of "Pickem" at the moment (among others) and it is just a riot of activity. The scenario is in the <Fictional> <Human> folder if you like to review it. Yes, you have to wait for a turn file sometimes, but with 6-8 games going at any one time the wait isn't all that long. Besides, I have that SP game waiting for me anytime I need a "fix". [8D]

Sounds familiar. I am in some pbems too and once i need a break or if there is little activity from my opponents i continue working a bit on my mod [:)]

[IRONCROM]

I like playing PBEM and I also play AI games. I suspect most people who own this game will never play PBEM. PBEM is not for everone.
&nbsp;
The history log is good enougn for me and I do play large scenarios against AI. Although I have thought it would be nice to see a sort of real time history log going on while the AI is taking its turn. TOAW has managed to pull it off and so have many other games. Perhaps in future AT games Vic will adopt that feature for the AI players that make up the majority of AT players.

[Banquet]

I.C has made a perfectly reasonable point about being able to see the AI's moves during the turn. Responses such as 'play pbem' or having the 'wrong game if you need a god view' are frankly ridiculous and completely missing the point.

[montarakid]

Banquet, thank you for that insight. Very helpful. I'll take it under advisement.

BTW, I got the point, such as it was. I just didn't think it was that big of a deal.

[Moltke71]

ORIGINAL: I.C.

W
Doesn't anyone agree though? Wouldn't you like to see the AI moves occurring instead of the screen of nothing? I do watch the AI replay at the start of new turns but thats not the point really.

I.C.

I don't. I find watch the other turns like in Tiller's games a bit torturous. AT's fast replay is more than enough.

[IanF1966]

I personally find it odd that many are saying they like waiting and seeing that blank screen for minutes at a time.
This is the only game I own that does this.
Not only is it frustrating while playing, it is also frustrating because this is the game I've wanted to see for years: total moddability, flexibility, great play value.

The sad fact is that if you are telling people this is OK, the devs will never change it.

I'm not one of those people who will say nothing if I think something does not work, and IMO, it doesn't.
Its a 'player lock-out'. A feature of the game that locks out player participation for minutes at a time - a big game spoiler.

Sorry guys. I have total respect but this doesn't work -and as long as people say 'its ok' it will never get fixed.

[Vic]

hi IC,
&nbsp;
i hear you. i might add this in a to be future version. no promises, but i realy might.
&nbsp;
kind regards,
Vic

[DasTactic]

I like it the way it is. I can minimise and get some work done.[;)]