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Simultanious Turns don't work when the AI hogs all the CPU time

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12 years ago
Sep 12, 2012, 5:32:35 AM
Due to the AI hogging all the CPU time the player always has to move after the AI, thus it isn't really simultaneous turns.
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12 years ago
Sep 12, 2012, 10:25:18 PM
I-3 2100 Sandybridge 3.1 GHz

8 GB Ram

GTX 550 Ti 1Gb v-ram

Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit
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12 years ago
Sep 12, 2012, 10:32:05 PM
Many people have pointed out this problem. In a large, late game situation, the AI may have some dozens of fleets to move around. For the first few seconds of a simultaneous turn, the GUI response is very choppy as all these animations play out. So the OP is correct, in many cases the AI "effectively" moves first. But not all AI movement happens at the beginning of the turn. For example, try this. When you are fighting with an AI, you may see a fleet of theirs near your system, but your system has a defensive fleet. Move your fleet away. Immediately, the AI fleet will move in to attack your undefended planet. A human player would do the same thing; this is not "AI cheating", this is a consequence of simultaneous turns.



I am sure over time, the AI will get more efficient and the choppiness at the start of the turn will be less.
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12 years ago
Sep 13, 2012, 1:55:25 AM
I don't mind the "start of turn" choppiness so much as the "post-end-turn" issues - with the start of turn choppiness, you can at least attempt to prevent/mitigate it with pre-assigned orders and clicking quickly over the planned moves button. The issue that really bugs me is when (as an example) the AI starts a move at the end of the previous turn towards a given system. You then move to intercept at that system with a fleet capable of destroying the incoming fleet. You setup to intercept with your fleet. Turn ends. Next turn, the AI moves towards the system your fleet moved from with a different fleet, and then doesn't issue "move" orders to the inbound fleet where you are setup to intercept. The only way to get the AI to be "forced" to move that fleet which is already incoming, is to end turn - at which point you cannot then destroy that fleet when it arrives, until NEXT turn - which prevents your interception fleet from moving to block the movement of the second AI fleet, which can at the start of the next turn arrive at your system and either a) continue on past further into your frontier or b) begin an invasion, neither of which would have been possible had you been able to successfully intercept the first fleet on the turn it was supposed to arrive, and then moved your fleet back to the "empty" system. Other examples where this can be frustrating is such things as trying to intercept colonization fleets prior to them getting a combat fleet into position to defend them, cutting off scouts from pressing further into your territory from multiple directions, etc. Effectively, the AI can tie up your fleet for an entire turn doing nothing, just by waiting to process the already ongoing movement until after you press end turn. There really needs to be an "I want to end my turn UNLESS the other player does something which causes the global situation to change (moving into a system you have intercept orders on, etc) in which case I want to be able to respond to that action and THEN end my turn." When combined with the AI "mass-move" at the start of the turn prior to it being easy to react, plus the "multiple combat" forcing all but one combat to be resolved as auto due to timers, this just compounds the issue of the AI continuing to move after you press end turn...
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12 years ago
Sep 13, 2012, 2:53:22 AM
Unless I am mistaken, a human player in MP can do the same thing, waiting until the very end to move a fleet. It is annoying, but I distinguish between the "game rules" and the "AI behavior". This one is a "game rule". Do you agree?
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12 years ago
Sep 13, 2012, 7:56:03 AM
I actually noticed that and thought it was clever... and fiendish.... I am glad to hear it is on purpose.
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12 years ago
Sep 13, 2012, 3:30:42 PM
The difference between a human player and the AI is that with the human player you get a 'battle of wills' - he who ends turn first loses it. The AI being a computer, well...they ALWAYS win the waiting game :P I suppose enabling the turn timer would be a way to "force" this, but overall I dislike the turn timer for single player, especially when testing out custom factions or game mechanics...which has been my main focus lately.



Edit: Actually, this issue in MP was a bane of Civ MP as well - the "double move" rush...if there was something that could be done to avoid that here in both SP and MP that would be excellent - at least with regards to fleets which have already begun their moves for sure...since they have no way to "not move" that turn, and will be forced to arrive anyway. Not necessarily the case for ships which have just been given planned moves but are sitting in a system still, but definitely for those already on a warp lane...
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12 years ago
Sep 14, 2012, 12:59:26 PM
Yeah, I like the simultaneous turns in principle, but they interact weirdly with the AI. It would be nice to basically input some rules for the AI how to treat the simultaneous turns, so they act more like humans instead.
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