Turn Calc Time

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Originally posted by capnq:

I think when the hardcode was written he just assumed that no AI empire would EVER get that big

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I think the more likely assumption is that he thought no one in their right mind would mod the quadrant size limit above 100 systems. I've yet to finish a game in a "normal" large quad, and have trouble imagining that I'd want to bump that up to the 255 hard limit. Reading your reports of your Huge Game experiments almost frightens me sometimes.

Before I started saving my empire I had played a half dozen games in 255 quadrants with over 500 colonies planted by hand in each. I then colonized over 900 planets by hand in each of two 255 quadrant games to get my racial score up. This second test game of the AI planting about 1000 colonies has pumped the Clays race score above 600,000 points. I guess it depends on how much time you are prepared to put into a single game. An unmodded 255 quadrant fully colonized by hand ending about turn 150 takes me 100-150 hours depending on how much difficulty the AI causes me after I blitz at turn 120....

[rdouglass]

I have a PII / 350 Mhz w/ 192 Mb RAM (my 'funtime' computer) that I play SE4 on and I always play 255 max / large galaxies and as many AI's as the settings will give me (usually at least 10 AI's plus neutrals). In late games, it can take 4-5 min processing the turns, but I usually take at least 20 min myself for my own turn - not a big deal to me, but may be to others. Hey folks, its crunching a LOT of numbers....

As a side note, I can load the same game turns (same mods etc) on my kid's homework computer (a Dell P166 / 64 Mb) and it only slows down a little (about 6-7 min per turn in late games).

Personally, I think our standards are sometimes too high - anyone remeber PONG and how slow that ball seemed to move across the 'court' (even in the faster settings)????

[Instar]

This is just a gripe in general, and it could be a source of the problem.
The Celeron processor doesnt have any L2 Cache, so it could be slowing things down. Im never buying any processor without one. But still, like I said it might not be causing a problem.

[Quikngruvn]

quote:

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Originally posted by rdouglass:
Personally, I think our standards are sometimes too high - anyone remeber PONG and how slow that ball seemed to move across the 'court' (even in the faster settings)????

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Hear, hear! We're playing the game for the strategizing and the socializing, not for speed and reflexes. I'll sacrifice the responsiveness for a game with a sense of strategy. Take the extra time to think about your next move, or your next message to another empire, or a trip to the bathroom (hey, you gotta pee).

Which isn't to say I wouldn't love it to be quicker.

Quikngruvn

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Stay alert. Trust no one. Keep your laser handy.
--from the RPG Paranoia, now my PBW mantra

[Alpha Kodiak]

quote:

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Originally posted by Quikngruvn:
Stay alert. Trust no one. Keep your laser handy.

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Be careful or you may be used as reactor shielding!

[DirectorTsaarx]

The long AI turns may not be a processor problem; they may be OS related. I'm running Win 95 on a 233MHz Pentium w/ 64M RAM, and haven't had an AI (that's single AI) take more than a minute per turn. Of course, I usually play with 10-15 "major" AI players (and 3-5 neutrals), so that can lead to a 15 minute wait between each turn.

BTW - I've also run this on an NT 4.0 platform, unknown proc & 114 MB RAM (it's an older system that's using scavenged parts, hence the strange memory size). And, again, no single AI has taken more than a minute or two. Even after they've planted 100 colonies, etc. (I had a game where the lead AI players had scores around 3-5M; but a new patch came out, and I haven't been able to play a game that far since then).

[Quikngruvn]

quote:

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Originally posted by Alpha Kodiak:
Be careful or you may be used as reactor shielding!

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In one game, I practically am! Hence the new mantra.

Quikngruvn

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Stay alert. Trust no one. Keep your laser handy.
--from the RPG Paranoia, now my PBW mantra