Bah! Turns uploaded on Connect

Cainehill · #1 September 2nd, 2004, 11:39 AM

Just got burned in two games, because Dom2 uploads your orders when you connect. I'd checked my turns the night before, did some things, and selected to "Save Game and Quit", so I could revise my orders (and in one game, _give_ orders, since I'd only issued about 3 instead of 30-40).

Upon reconnecting to the host, I happily went about my business, modifying and giving orders, hit 'E' to end my turn, and found that the game had already hosted - using the _OLD_ orders.

I've never seen this documented anywhere, and personally I think it's a bit ... Bogus

- the host shouldn't be sent the turn's orders until it's explicitly done via 'End Turn'.

There's a work around, of course - always, _always_ do your turn in off-line mode, but because the ... behavior pops up only when you have issued some orders and saved them, _and_ everyone else's turns have been taken when you reconnect to a game with QuicheKost turned on, it isn't readily apparent that there's a need to do so.

(At least, in retrospect I know this happened to me on several occasions in the Last 6 months or so, but because of the rare, intermittent nature of the phenemenon I dismissed it as an intermittent bug, as opposed to a consistent behavior to be guarded against.)

Feh. This screwed me in two games, one seriously, and screwed an ally even worse in another.

So folks, remember : if you "Save and Quit", make sure to finish analyzing the turn and doing your commands before you reconnect to the server.

Gandalf Parker · #2 September 2nd, 2004, 12:40 PM

I think that if you are connected to a server, then "save game" means to save it on the server. There is no "send to server now" button. The only options are "save game and quit", and "dont save and quit" which will allow you to enter into your turn in an offline mode.

Yvelina · #3 September 2nd, 2004, 06:41 PM

I am not so sure about that, Gandalf. I think that 'save and quit' means 'remember the orders I have given so far, but do not send them to the server' and 'do not save and quit' means just 'drop everything'.

Cainehill · #4 September 2nd, 2004, 06:45 PM

Heh. Just goes to show how poorly those commands are understood, Gandalf. As Yvelina says, and as the command says in a dialog, "Your moves will not be uploaded to the server until you reconnect. To upload your moves exit via the End Turn button on the main screen".

Where I misunderstood, and where the dialog is ... ambiguous, is that it does imply that your moves might be uploaded when you reconnect. But on the other hand, it also implies that moves get uploaded via the 'End Turn' button, and not on a mere reconnect.

archaeolept · #5 September 2nd, 2004, 06:47 PM

i'm surprised you haven't been bitten on the *** by this before caine.

worst is when you reconnect w/out actually having done anything in the turn and it hosts...

deccan · #6 September 2nd, 2004, 06:50 PM

I agree wholeheartedly that this should be changed to an explicit command to upload a turn. Occasionally, I may do some orders offline, but don't want to upload them yet and instead only want to connect to the server to see who else has outstanding orders. The only way to do this is it seems to move the game directory elsewhere and to move it back in the Dom2 folder when you're done.

Arryn · #7 September 3rd, 2004, 12:06 AM

Being a big fan of fool-proof programming, I have to agree with Caine and Deccan that it should be fixed. Or at the very least a prominent note should be stuck in a readme file if it's not going to be changed.

Sheap · #8 September 3rd, 2004, 01:56 AM

Sure, the behavior is a little counterintuitive. On the other hand, I don't see why, once you've started doing your turn offline, that you wouldn't just go ahead and finish it offline, and upload when you're done.

deccan · #9 September 3rd, 2004, 05:28 AM

Quote:

Sheap said:
Sure, the behavior is a little counterintuitive. On the other hand, I don't see why, once you've started doing your turn offline, that you wouldn't just go ahead and finish it offline, and upload when you're done.

There are many different reasons. For example, say, I'm doing the turn offline, and then something urgent comes up that needs attention. So I want to connect to the server to find out if I'm the Last person. If I am, in order not to drag everyone down, I might just finish doing the turn hastily (sub-optimally). On the other hand, if I see that I'm not the Last, I may hold off doing the turn until later.

Here's another reason: I'm doing diplomacy outside of the game (via PM, e-mail or whatever) and I've already set some orders. After a while I don't receive a response, so I try to connect to see if the player in question has already done his/her turn, but I don't necessarily want to upload my own turn at that time.

More flexibility is always handy, Sheap, like when you asked me why I would want to be able to download and upload turns via a browser.

PhilD · #10 September 3rd, 2004, 06:20 PM

Yeah, if you want to do your orders offline, you should just connect to get the turn file, not play the turn, then only play the game as you would a local game; and only reconnect when you have valid orders.

I've never been burned by this, but games on QuickHost can do that to you. Hey, I'm thinking right now - this may be how thinktank missed so many turns on our 2-player games...