Why no Save game Feature

[calmon]

For me Dominions is a MP game only. I play SP only to test some things or play for 1-x turns to try out a starting strategy. For testing a save/load function would be ok, but i'm still happy to just copy the save game files.

I've some problems to understand why people discuss about a save/load function in prior of a better single player AI. I mean is it only me but i find it quite boring, the strategical AI doing always the same:
Make useless attacks against high province defence every turn. There isn't any visible difference playing against different nations. It seems they are all replicates from only one AI.
In fact its really impossible to make a good AI for such a complex game. But anyway they could improve it, make some different play styles, reduce AI bugs like not conquering neutral provinces, etc.

This would be a worthy improvement before we discuss a save/reload feature.

Thats my oppinion.

[Wyehl]

calmon said:
I've some problems to understand why people discuss about a save/load function in prior of a better single player AI.

Improving the AI is a difficult, intricate and open ended goal with no clear finish line. Adding a save feature is a very attainable goal that can be achieved before moving on to larger changes.

[Gandalf Parker]

AutoSaves
Much of Dominions doesnt bother writing into the game for each of the operating systems, things that are already possible. Some of it by third party programs that exist or that other players can provide. We have seen the same discussions about screenshots, taking notes, keeping history, redefining keys, alarms so we wont miss real world responsibilities, backups, restores, configs for starting a game, email support since it is a PbEM (Play by EMail), etc etc etc.

The "autosave" feature is pretty simple for people on Linux or really old computer users who remember DOS. The game has a switch for telling it a file to execute before a hosting, and one to execute after a hosting. So if a windows person has batch files for it they can change the game icon to add
--preexec before.bat --postexec after.bat
The pre-execute batch file can copy the game save to a backup directory, or zip them up, or keep multiple copies.
The post-execute batch file can make a noise to tell you that the hosting is done (good for really big games) or display the scoreboard or anything else you think of.

Its not as simple as a menu option for save/restore but its much more powerful. I think Ive seen examples of files for Windows, and for Mac, and for Linux to make use of that powerful feature.

[Velusion]

Gandalf - please don't edit people's posts to insert your own commentary. A seperate post would do the trick and be less confusing.

[Gandalf Parker]

Ouch I didnt mean to do that. Im very sorry. The two buttons are too close to each other. I will try to fix it back as much as I can. Thanks for pointing it out to me.

[Gandalf Parker]

Wyehl said:
Improving the AI is a difficult, intricate and open ended goal with no clear finish line. Adding a save feature is a very attainable goal that can be achieved before moving on to larger changes.

Wow thats not true at all. Tweaking the AI code is fairly simple since its already in the game and there is only one code to tweak.

Adding save/restore is a headache. It has to work on all 3 operating systems which do things very diferently. It needs to be safe so it wont accidently hurt the persons machine in some way. It will need to offer some sort of cleanup of old files which is always dangerous. And it probably should recognize the difference between a local game or a server game so that the person doesnt get unreasonable expectations.

[Wyehl]

Gandalf Parker said:

Wow thats not true at all. Tweaking the AI code is fairly simple since its already in the game and there is only one code to tweak.

Adding save/restore is a headache. It has to work on all 3 operating systems which do things very diferently. It needs to be safe so it wont accidently hurt the persons machine in some way. It will need to offer some sort of cleanup of old files which is always dangerous. And it probably should recognize the difference between a local game or a server game so that the person doesnt get unreasonable expectations.

Lol, what isn't true ? You go on to say that it is very difficult (which is humorous to a programmer but then, that wasn't really the point anyway . Yet the point was that 'improving an AI' is an open ended process that can be worked on ad infinitum while making a save game system is a very attainable goal.