SE5 Patch 1.13 Out

[Baal]

Mine was for a small galaxy (~15), 8 players, stardate 2403.0, High Bonus, High Difficulty.

[Raapys]

Ironic, though. We've got 3D graphics, but we've got 2D combat.

I don't know about anyone else but it annoys me a great deal when simultaneous processing takes 10+ minutes at turn 30. I notice most all the processing takes place with the red bar (I think that means combat). That time needs to be cut down for the sake of play value or I'm going to get really ripped doing sit ups while I'm waiting.

Yeah, I checked into this( I had two players who used 20 seconds each while the rest used 2~ seconds, turns out the ones using 20 seconds were fighting each other) and sent a mail to Aaron about it.

In my scenario one of the empires suddenly used 5 minutes for its turn processing. I logged into it and looked at the player's log; turns out the empire had had *8* seperate combats where they had 5 frigates chasing after the same single insignificant enemy frigate; it had retreated 7 times, they managed to destroy it the 8th battle.

Now, turn processing in SE V is actually very fast; it's the way combat works in itself that is the major issue. I'm assuming the hidden combat AIs do under turn processing is only slightly faster than the 'strategy combat' offered to human players, and we all know they can take quite a while, even at 8x speed, if they go on for a full 5 minutes. Then imagine *each* AI player having a dozen of these combats in a single turn. Not a pretty thought.

Hopefully something can be done with this issue, and hopefully more people will bring it up to make it a priority. It's really unbearable for single-player sometimes.

[frightlever]

Raapys said:
Ironic, though. We've got 3D graphics, but we've got 2D combat.

The whole game is 2D. The 3D is all pseudo.

[Suicide Junkie]

The graphics are indeed 3D.
Thank goodness the game physics are 2D, or it would be hell to play.

[Raapys]

I don't know. Personally I think for instance Homeworld did the whole full-3D combat very well( granted that the scenarios were still mostly 2D-designed). Excellent control system when you got used to it, although use of keyboard was a must.

[AminMaalouf]

I suppose there is not going to be a real solution for the turn-slow-down issue in the short. But can we expect in a future patch or mod (maybe) something in the direction?

[AstralWanderer]

Suicide Junkie said:
Thank goodness the game physics are 2D, or it would be hell to play.

With the current UI's limitations I'd agree. But with better UI design (Should we haved a whip-around to send Aaron a copy of Homeworld? Perhaps not, he might spend his time playing it instead of doing a new patch!) "true" 3D could certainly add an extra element to both tactical and strategic movement (warp point ambushes would be harder for example if you had to envelope them with a sphere of ships instead of a circle to prevent a faster enemy from escaping).

Even an old DOS game like Ascendancy benefited (IMHO) from a true 3D strategic map - just a shame that the combat and AI in that game weren't up to scratch.

[Suicide Junkie]

With a team of AI programmers on staff, yeah. But tactical combat would still be a problem. We just don't have any inputs that can easily specify six degrees of freedom across tens to hundreds of ships.

[frightlever]

"We just don't have any inputs that can easily specify six degrees of freedom across tens to hundreds of ships."

Or even thousands. Which Homeworld didn't have to contend with.

I wonder if the ships losing access to the Z axis (their hopping ability, if you will) has anything to do with the extended turn time after 1.13. Turn off the 3D calculations to cut down on the combat calculation? Or if not maybe it should be considered.

[Baal]

Excessive numbers (>40) of fighters being launched in combat still crash the game.