Adjusting battlespeed / naming commanders [Archive]

Gandalf Parker

November 29th, 2003, 03:43 AM

Originally posted by Adept:
Does anybody here know if it's still possible to speed up the battles. In Dom 1 one just presses 1 - 9 to select a speed factor.

Also, is it still possible to change the names of commanders?
The closest thing to speed control in Dom2 right now is changing the graphic setting.

And rename is gone but there is something in the works for adding "tags" to your commanders which is netter because only you get to see the tag notes.

Prio

November 29th, 2003, 06:39 AM

Press 'w' while viewing a battle replay. That should help a lot, except on ultramegafast computers.

Adept

November 29th, 2003, 10:38 AM

I'm not sure if the tags will give the same feel. There's a lot of atmospheric RPG feel to be had by naming important commanders.

Also it's really embarassing not identifying your Prophet, most important general, astral king... from the Messages or in the line of commanders on province screen.

apoger

November 29th, 2003, 03:49 PM

I've already lost a major battle because I handed gems to a character with a duplicate name to the one I was intending to use.

The lack of renaming is harsh. It's not a major thing (from a programming perspective), and I don't understand how they could have left it out.

The lack of ability to change battle speeds is preventing sales of the game. Straight-up, no joke. About six of my hardcore Dom1 friends falied to buy Dom2 after seeing the demo, and it's largely due to the battle speed. I am stunned that they went to market without this in game.

Nerfix

November 29th, 2003, 03:52 PM

I never used replay speed in dom I. No jokes here. I either skipped the battles or then watched them.

apoger

November 29th, 2003, 04:38 PM

Skipping is fine for many small battles, but often it's important to know why you took a loss or damage. Thus (particularly in multiplay) you need to watch some battles. The replay speed of Dom2 is "rip out your hair" painfull. A few times I have missed the important event that I was waiting for (usually a spellcast) and had to watch over again. Spending 5-20 minutes mostly watching tiny sprays of arrows slowly arcing back and forth, is killing the game for me.

Treebeard

November 29th, 2003, 04:48 PM

I agree, the battle's speed is insufferable. If it can't be adjusted, there should be an option to remove missile fire/magic fire. That alone should resolve most of the problems.

Darryl

December 1st, 2003, 08:33 AM

Just a newbie here, so feel free to ignore what I say as I just started playing...but.... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

My all time favorite game is Master of Magic. One of the features that I loved about the game? The ability to name my heroes. Seriously. I got a kick out of playing "themed games" in my mind. When my wizard was "Merlin", my heroes were "Lancelot", "Galahad", "King Arthur", you get the idea. The ability to do that here would be great IMO.

I've also done the "wrong Hymer" thing and sent the wrong commander into battle. If multiple commanders can have the same name, then I don't understand what naming them adds to the game if you have to look at the commander type ANYWAY since there can be duplicates. Just out of curiosity, was there a reason this was removed ?(apparently it was in Dominions I??)

Oh, and I didn't figure out I sent the wrong commander until a few turns later. Why? Because I noticed the two commanders going through other things. Didn't notice before because the battle replays were, well....

Shael

December 1st, 2003, 09:43 AM

i asked this before but no one answered http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon9.gif
how do you rename commanders in dom 1

Endoperez

December 1st, 2003, 10:40 AM

In Dom1, to rename a commander:

In his info screen (right-click opens that), press r. Or maybe shift+r.

And, that was removed because of three armies led by PowerMonger the Frost Father/ Sea Father/ Ice Druid. Or somesuch. You could get your enemy wondering unless he knew all available pretenders. Or because a pretender was renamed!

Only way I can think that would remove the need of this would be if pretenders/prophets etc. were very clearly named in scouting reports, commander types were mentioned in there AND in Hall of Fame. And even then this might not be enough.

Pocus

December 1st, 2003, 11:11 AM

This has already been hashed and rehashed many time, this issue on battle speed, but as we got no answers if the problem will be solved, we can pretends that IW didnt know how detrimental it is to the game.

This is my most grievous problem as of now, before anuy game balance (and usually I prefer a game to be balanced/bug free before anything else!).
I concur with Alex, I report already 3 missing in actions (decision to not buy) players mainly because of this lack of feature. I wont write here how harsh they were with their comments, but it was rather clear for them that it was a major pain in the a...

December 1st, 2003, 11:18 AM

Originally posted by Pocus:
This has already been hashed and rehashed many time, this issue on battle speed, but as we got no answers if the problem will be solved, we can pretends that IW didnt know how detrimental it is to the game.

This is my most grievous problem as of now, before anuy game balance (and usually I prefer a game to be balanced/bug free before anything else!).
I concur with Alex, I report already 3 missing in actions (decision to not buy) players mainly because of this lack of feature. I wont write here how harsh they were with their comments, but it was rather clear for them that it was a major pain in the a... There was an answer some time ago, IIRC, and it was that they encountered some bugs while they were trying to implement it.

johan osterman

December 1st, 2003, 01:19 PM

Originally posted by Pocus:
This has already been hashed and rehashed many time, this issue on battle speed, but as we got no answers if the problem will be solved, we can pretends that IW didnt know how detrimental it is to the game. Would you care to spell out what you are implying here?

Graeme Dice

December 1st, 2003, 03:32 PM

Originally posted by Pocus:
[QB] This has already been hashed and rehashed many time, this issue on battle speed, but as we got no answers if the problem will be solved, we can pretends that IW didnt know how detrimental it is to the game.YOou mightn want to read the reply they gave to you when you asked them about this back at the end of October.
battle recorder speeds (http://www.shrapnelgames.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=74;t=000181#000000)

Treebeard

December 1st, 2003, 04:38 PM

I think Pocus has a point here. We know the fast forward was taken off because it was buggy, but I don't remember any of the IW crew saying whenever they would adress the problem in a patch or if they felt that the current battle speed is good as it is.

apoger

December 1st, 2003, 04:39 PM

>YOou mightn want to read the reply they gave to you when you asked them about this back at the end of October.

We understand why the function was removed.
What we are trying to communicate is how severely this isuse is impacting game fun and game sales.

Balance issues and interface issues aside, this is single-handedly killing the game.

Gandalf Parker

December 1st, 2003, 04:42 PM

Originally posted by Endoperez:
In Dom1, to rename a commander:

In his info screen (right-click opens that), press r. Or maybe shift+r.

And, that was removed because of three armies led by PowerMonger the Frost Father/ Sea Father/ Ice Druid. Or somesuch. You could get your enemy wondering unless he knew all available pretenders. Or because a pretender was renamed!

Only way I can think that would remove the need of this would be if pretenders/prophets etc. were very clearly named in scouting reports, commander types were mentioned in there AND in Hall of Fame. And even then this might not be enough. Im afraid that was my fault. One of my early hacking reports was the tactics avaiable by renaming your pretender.

However Darryl reminded me of something. In MoM you got a chance to rename your heroes when they first appeared. That might provide a safety if it can be implemented. A one time deal when the commander is first created. Maybe after you select the commander you want next round and while its still showing on the recruiting screen then hitting R could give you access to the old rename function but only there.

Gandalf Parker

December 1st, 2003, 04:57 PM

Originally posted by apoger:
>YOou mightn want to read the reply they gave to you when you asked them about this back at the end of October.
We understand why the function was removed.
What we are trying to communicate is how severely this isuse is impacting game fun and game sales.
Balance issues and interface issues aside, this is single-handedly killing the game. Hmmmm that seems abit of an extreme view. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif
But it does seem to be on alot of peoples list. I take it that the graphics settings doesnt do what you want in speeding up the battle? Surely having a setting above Very Fast that says Too Fast must take care of those who want to slow battles down. Maybe we need one below Very Low such as Too Low for those who want to speed the battles up.

Graeme Dice

December 1st, 2003, 05:09 PM

Originally posted by apoger:
Balance issues and interface issues aside, this is single-handedly killing the game.I highly doubt that the speed of the replays is killing the game. You might want to avoid hyperbole if you expect to get a useful response out of any of the developers.

Argitoth

December 1st, 2003, 05:25 PM

BRING THE GOOD STUFF BACK!!! WHOS WITH ME?

LET THE REVOLUTION BEGIN!!!

Argitoth

December 1st, 2003, 05:33 PM

Originally posted by Argitoth:
BRING THE GOOD STUFF BACK!!! WHOS WITH ME?

LET THE REVOLUTION BEGIN!!! Heh, that was kind of... uhh.. something.

PhilD

December 1st, 2003, 07:53 PM

Originally posted by Endoperez:
In Dom1, to rename a commander:

In his info screen (right-click opens that), press r. Or maybe shift+r.

And, that was removed because of three armies led by PowerMonger the Frost Father/ Sea Father/ Ice Druid. Or somesuch. You could get your enemy wondering unless he knew all available pretenders. Or because a pretender was renamed!

Only way I can think that would remove the need of this would be if pretenders/prophets etc. were very clearly named in scouting reports, commander types were mentioned in there AND in Hall of Fame. And even then this might not be enough. OK - so what about allowing players to rename commanders "internally" (ie, just for their own use), while keeping their "official" names for all Messages to other players?

This would let one rename them based on, say, their intended use, and also make them easy to distinguish (the game doesn't have enough name examples for each nation, and tends to reuse names a LOT!)

Gandalf Parker

December 1st, 2003, 07:58 PM

Originally posted by Graeme Dice:
<blockquote>quote:<hr />Originally posted by apoger:
Balance issues and interface issues aside, this is single-handedly killing the game.I highly doubt that the speed of the replays is killing the game. You might want to avoid hyperbole if you expect to get a useful response out of any of the developers. <hr /></blockquote>More than that. Examine some of the threads here and you should see a pattern. Johan tends to reply fairly often at the beginning of a thread. As soon as someones "I wish" comes across as "this is whats wrong" then you dont see him anymore. Kristoffer tends to hang around longer trying to turn some of the "its broke" threads into "well Id be glad to hear some specific suggestions" discussions. But some of these threads even the beta-testers and shrapnel (who and around longest) seem to have given up on.

But dont mind me. Im getting the flu and feeling feverish so such impressions are probably way off the mark. Forget I said anything.

[ December 01, 2003, 17:59: Message edited by: Gandalf Parker ]

Taqwus

December 1st, 2003, 10:28 PM

Heh. Once I was startled to find that out of a small five-commander army I had, three were named Eadred. That was a bit strange.

Gandalf Parker

December 1st, 2003, 11:16 PM

Originally posted by Taqwus:
Heh. Once I was startled to find that out of a small five-commander army I had, three were named Eadred. That was a bit strange. For a game that does so many "dice roll" type formulas they seem to hate randomness in other areas. Alternating a couple vowel-consonant-vowel comboes in names would go far.

But I do remember that they said early on they were willing to include name files if people would send some that fit the national language. Should be true for Dom2 also.

PvK

December 2nd, 2003, 03:37 AM

Seems to me that maybe it'd be better than the Doms I system to offer a way to skip or accelerate missile and/or spell displays. The main thing that takes time is the pause while long-range arrows fly. Maybe a hotkey to skip to the end of the current flight animation would do the trick.

As for name-changing, it'd be nice to have, and there are a variety of possible solutions.

I'd say the point's been made to IW that people would like these things added, if/when possible.

Personally, I'd like both, though the arrow/battle speed only bugs me near the end of a battle once one side is just running away, at which point I just hit Q. Of course, I seem tend to have more patience than many do.

PvK

Argitoth

December 2nd, 2003, 03:51 AM

Well, lets start a list of commander names now. I'll do some for C'tis.

Nassinaz
Kel'tamad
Kurshna
Lattsa
Glektonissah
Ettez'nak
Ebenostakni

http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/confused.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/tongue.gif

I've noticed C'tis names have a lot of East Indian-type names.

[ December 02, 2003, 01:52: Message edited by: Argitoth ]

Pocus

December 2nd, 2003, 01:20 PM

Originally posted by johan osterman:
<blockquote>quote:<hr />Originally posted by Pocus:
This has already been hashed and rehashed many time, this issue on battle speed, but as we got no answers if the problem will be solved, we can pretends that IW didnt know how detrimental it is to the game. Would you care to spell out what you are implying here? <hr /></blockquote>Dont be suspicious, I imply nothing more that what is written (in bad english, I agree). We got a response from you or another member of IW, about the reason why there was no battle speed functionnality, but never got a precision telling us if yes or no the issue was deemed of sufficient importance to IW that in a future patch it should returns, as in dom 1.

It is very detrimental to multiplayer gaming where you need to check battles with keen eyes to understand the subttle mechanisms which were triggered. Should I really wait 15 minutes in a big battle to reach the point were my ice devil was killed, and to understand that he collapsed of fatigure because of excess heat generated by lava warriors, and not because he was hit a single time?

Sure, I can just check the battle summary and draw the false conclusion that he was killed because he was too low on def and/or armor. But if I play like that, I loose 90% of the subttlety of dominions.

Fixing the issue is a question of priority (or lack of), and we dont know if this is an important issue for you (for us, MP'ers it is). We just want this answer.

Pocus

December 3rd, 2003, 08:42 PM

thread dead without an authoritative response...

johan osterman

December 3rd, 2003, 09:21 PM

Neither the renaming or battle speed has been changed in the development Version so far. Obviously everyone thinks that it is better to have an adjustable battle speed than to not have it, perhaps it will be implemented at a later date. I have no wish to go into a discussion why or why not features are implemented again.

Saber Cherry

December 4th, 2003, 07:19 AM

Back the the names discussion slightly earlier. Anyone interested in randomly generated names MUST check this out:

http://ebon.pyorre.net/

Have fun! I'd love to see a game that integrated it, though simply pregenerating names en mass and adding them to name files would work.

-Cherry

Pocus

December 4th, 2003, 12:32 PM

Originally posted by johan osterman:
Neither the renaming or battle speed has been changed in the development Version so far. Obviously everyone thinks that it is better to have an adjustable battle speed than to not have it, perhaps it will be implemented at a later date. I have no wish to go into a discussion why or why not features are implemented again. fair enough.

Gandalf Parker

December 6th, 2003, 03:13 PM

Originally posted by Saber Cherry:
Back the the names discussion slightly earlier. Anyone interested in randomly generated names MUST check this out:
http://ebon.pyorre.net/
Have fun! I'd love to see a game that integrated it, though simply pregenerating names en mass and adding them to name files would work.
-Cherry Ive tried the method they are using and alot of others. The simplest, with about as good results, is this....
build one LOOOOOooooong string of all the names that sound right. Alittle bit of work to try attach names starting with a vowel to names ending in a consonent and vice versa helps the results. Then snag random pieces from that. It works pretty well and doesnt do a bad job of keeping the "feel" of the names used. Long words can be tossed in also.

I go into it deeper in some other threads. Can provide code if anyone is interested. I will probably start adding this, and another code for generating province names based on terrain, into my daily random generators.