New feature during the turn delays of 3-4 minutes

[rasnell]

This may be an impossible, new feature request, but is there any way to allow us to do something in the game while we wait between turns of 3-4 minutes?

How about:

1. Allowing us to view and move the map and look at our units and plan the next round.

2. Allowing us to view the messages from the previous turn while the new turn is processing.

3. Or allowing us to view the ledger and study our scores, investments, in preparation for the next round.

At the current pace of my full campaign, I figure the AI will need a total of 5 hours during the 115 turns. Of course, I take 10-20 minutes myself on my turns so I can't complain.

I'm not complaining at all about the game -- I can't wait to understand everything about it because of how promising this first campaign has looked. But I'd love to do something game-related or productive as these turns process such incredible amounts of data.

How hard is this to program, Pocus, to free up or unlock some of these views while the turn is processing? I can understand that we wouldn't be able to make any selections or add any orders, but could we view and move around the map or open the ledger or messages?

[jimwinsor]

In the past, Ive used the AI turn time to:

1) Use the restroom;
2) Refill my Mountain Dew, and get more salty snacks from the kitchen;
3) Fold my laundry;
4) Return phone calls;
5) Shower;
6) Reread the rules;
7) Walk my dog;
8) Make my bed;

etc.

[Winfield S. Hancock]

I have done many of the same things as Jim. Not a big problem with me.

Plus, Dell just notified me this morning that they have shipped my new XPS 710 gaming rig to me, 2.4 GHZ dual core processor, 4GB ram, 768MB video card, all the bells and whistles, plus it is coming with XP, not Vista. I have high hopes that machine will speed up AI turn time and graphics speed significantly above my current machine, with 512 MB ram and a 256 video card.

If not, still not a big deal with a little delay between turns. Beats the hell out of the brain dead AI that many other games have.

[Ashbery76]

The turn waiting is very frustrating in my view.

[marecone]

This has also been disscused in beta forum and I am sure it will be improved. AGEOD will either add something when turn process, like moving around map, checking rosters, etc or will try to speed up the process.
I have probably the slowest and worst comp here so it does take much time but if it was fast I would never be able to post here


Godspeed


P.S. This is just my two cents and not offical standing

[rasnell]

I'm certainly not complaining about how deep, wonderful and full of strategy this game is. But am worried about my own patience and replayability when I consider that my next full campaign would involve:

1. About five hours of waiting for the AI.
2. About 20-25 hours of the AI waiting on me to make my turns.

With the time to start the game, load, and between turns, every outing with this game will require a minimum hour-long commitment and a campaign could take 2-4 weeks in real time. Certainly not a game to load and see where you are during a 10-minute break.

(By the way, I've spent my time watching the Cincinnati Reds bullpen cough up several games that the starting pitchers had won -- perhaps that's just adding to my impatience.)

[gbs]

The only thing that bothers me about the processing wait time is that I start thinking,"Oh God, has the game locked up."

[Pocus]

allowing to scrolls the map or checks the interface is a significant work yes (and if you scroll it means you use CPU bandwith not given to the AI ). Adding hints, strategical advices or even panel with stats is more affordable. But it takes time, and there is many things planned already for the upcoming weeks.

[rasnell]

Some sort of speed enhancement is going to be critical or replayability is not going to be so hot.

Love the game, love your company and especially how well you treat your customers, but this is a big negative with AACW. BOA ran much faster and was more playable.

As life crowds in and the newness of the game wears off, I might be reluctant to tackle too many more campaigns. You're talking a two- to four-week investment of time to see it through at 115 turns with these kind of delays.

I really don't like the micromanagement of the HQ, Corps, Division. Took many times of reading the manual and studying the forums to get a handle on this, but it's still extremely cumbersome.

We really need a simpler way to simply choose a general, click a button to assign him to an Army or Corps and then have a dropdown box that gives us a list of where all the HQ are and we can select. Then let the game follow exactly the time frames and rules required to automatically get the HQ moved to the general. This would dramatically simplify the process. (Again, is this a major programming nightmare to pull off?)

There's much to like about the game and I still would recommend people buying and trying. But I'd be a brutal beta tester for you: There's a lot that could be improved in turn processing speed and in unit management.

Getting 120 messages per turn is a bear, too. The filters help somewhat.

[rasnell]

I'm almost to the halfway point of the April 1861 full campaign and now processing speeds are taking as long as 4.5 to 5 minutes. Last night, I played for an hour -- and only got through three turns. (I upgraded my PC 18 months ago (motherboard, processor) and have 1 gig of memory so it's not an old machine causing the problems and I'm not running anything else in the background).

Is this going to get worse as I get deeper into the campaign? This is going to be a game-killer and non-replayability factor for me. And I hate to say that because the game has so much depth.

Of course, the AI could complain that it waited 15 minutes per turn for me during that one hour of play last night.

[DennyWright]

This game is exactly what I hoped it would be. If you were playing against another person, then you'd be looking at 20 to 25 hours waiting rather than 5. The AI does a tremendous job. Yesterday in the first turn of the July 1861 campaign, the Confederate AI managed a decent raid on Washington itself.

[jimkehn]

Hancock: If THAT doesn't speed up your wait time then nuthin will!!

[JamesL]

So what would you choose:

a short wait and a poor AI
or
a 5 mins wait and an exellent AI

I know which one I'd choose any day!

[mike1962]

So what would you choose:

a short wait and a poor AI
or
a 5 mins wait and an exellent AI

I know which one I'd choose any day!

Well, I will take the excellent AI. Although a stats screen, etc... would be nice , looking at the map reminds me of all the time I spent playing Frank Hunter's ACW. I spend a good 15 minutes average my turn pouring over info and culmunating a strategy, although I think my strategy changes every turn, so I guess I really don't mind the wait.

[rasnell]

So what would you choose:

a short wait and a poor AI
or
a 5 mins wait and an exellent AI

I know which one I'd choose any day!

My choice would be thanks to this great company; I love their efforts and customer service; I would encourage others to buy and support them; but I really hope they can find a way to enhance this.

If not, I probably won't play much. I don't mind spending the time and getting immersed, but I do mind the waits of nothingness.

So my choice would be probably not play, but still keep an eye on improvements because these developers have been so outstanding in finding ways to enhance.

I'm going to see this first full campaign all the way through, just because it is so strategically and historically interesting. It is addictive and very well-designed. But the real world and busy life just won't allow me the luxury of over 5 hours of waiting per campaign and more than 25 hours or about a month to finish a session at my pace.

[Spharv2]

My choice would be thanks to this great company; I love their efforts and customer service; I would encourage others to buy and support them; but I really hope they can find a way to enhance this.

If not, I probably won't play much. I don't mind spending the time and getting immersed, but I do mind the waits of nothingness.

So my choice would be probably not play, but still keep an eye on improvements because these developers have been so outstanding in finding ways to enhance.

I'm going to see this first full campaign all the way through, just because it is so strategically and historically interesting. It is addictive and very well-designed. But the real world and busy life just won't allow me the luxury of over 5 hours of waiting per campaign and more than 25 hours or about a month to finish a session at my pace.

You should do like I used to do when I was waiting for my War in Russia turns to progress, get a copy of the map printed and laminated, buy some grease pencils, and plan out your strategy while waiting. I even made myself a binder just for that game with the maps and a bunch of blank laminated sheets where I would track my production, any changes made, etc. I used to have a blast with that.

Honestly, I know they're going to try and optimize it as much as possible, but with all of the options and possibilities for each AI turn, I don't know how much faster it's going to get, without compromising the AI. I usually just browse the forum here while the AI is thinking, and since you can't go back to the game until it's finished thinking, checking is just a quick alt-tab away.

[rasnell]

My hope is, that with more time, they can scale down the scenarios to one theater.

It would be nice to break these moves, strategies and turn info to process into smaller segments, maybe weekly moves, just to speed up the decisions.

I really want to love this game. What I've seen so far is impressive. The graphics are outstanding. The flavor of the real thing is outstanding. I can understand for the first time ever why McClellan was so darn cautious and I can also understand just how much Grant was hanging out there when he kept pushing in Corinth and Memphis. I'm dangerously close to spreading myself too thin; having trouble holding supply lines; constantly needing to move troops in to replenish.

There's a very fine line between breaking the enemy and breaking yourself. The AI in this game is superb, aggressive, and very punishing when you make mistakes.

Like I say, I want to love this game. I don't mean to be critical because I love everything about this company, Pocus, PhilThib, etc. Just being brutally honest with my first observation that turns are now taking 5 1/2 minutes as I get deeper into the full campaign. Geesh, I thought the 2-minute delays were a killer.

[Spharv2]

My hope is, that with more time, they can scale down the scenarios to one theater.

Never fear, the one theater campaigns are coming.

[Maj. Frogbottom]

I don't mind the wait as long as the AI is decent. If I were to dream though I would like to step through the turn one or two days at a time just so I could watch my brilliant generalship in more detail.

[rasnell]

I don't mind the wait as long as the AI is decent. If I were to dream though I would like to step through the turn one or two days at a time just so I could watch my brilliant generalship in more detail.

If there was any way to program this easily, dramatically reducing the turn processing time, cutting back on 144 messages and shortening strategic decisions to a day or a week, this would be a huge improvement.

Is this a coding impossibility, Pocus? If units are only moving for one day and strategies involve fewer decisions per day, would this reduce all of the numbers-crunching that the game engine has to do?

[christof139]

One week turns might be OK for the ACW. As it is now, the troops and trains move much too slowly and movement rates need to be increased.

Chris

[Pocus]

this is need a survey of all data, a major work. Can be a modder one though...

[marecone]

I am happy because AI is great. Plus when turn processes I either visit this forum or read about ACW.

Just my two cents

[rasnell]

The latest patch, v 1.02, is a great improvement in this area of turn processing time. I really like the ability to set the options menu to allow tracking of the moves as the turn progresses.

Thanks, Pocus, for something that helps this delay.

[Fatboy]

Whatever fancy thing you display between turns after seeing it 100+ times each game it is going to get boring.

I vote that the developers focus their energies on game enhancements & not on between turn eye candy!

[Rafiki]

If the "fancy thing" is something relevant to the game at hand, e.g. some statistics and overviews, I'd rate it as "useful", rather than "eye candy"