Time limited real time speed ?

Ideas for expansions and improvements to Defcon

Moderator: Defcon moderators

Rich_Zap
level1
level1
Posts: 33
Joined: Tue Oct 03, 2006 9:50 pm
Location: Europe (till it gets nuked)

Time limited real time speed ?

Postby Rich_Zap » Wed Oct 11, 2006 12:27 am

Thought of this earlier, i have no problem with people slowing down the game to micromanage their defense or offense (i usually do it on 5X but maybe not everyone can it that fast). However some people do seem to abuse this, setting it on real time for very long periods. I know that a lot of people will say thats fair and that if others cant handle it thats their problem. However when a player keeps doing this i have noticed that other players will just get frustrated and leave, thus ruining the game... There is really no need to have it on for such long periods, usually you should only need it when your organsing an attack or trying to defend against a large wave of incoming missiles.

So my solution:

Give each player a budget (set by the server host) of 'real time', if 2 players have it set on real time then it only reduces their time budget by half as much, 3 will be a third etc... This seems a relatively fair solution as players can still micromanage, but it doesnt allow them to do it for so long that they drive others off. It also means they will be more conscious of how they use real time so they wont spend minutes staring at a barely moving screen doing very little.

This would of course be a totally optional setting ...
User avatar
Spacemonkey
level4
level4
Posts: 609
Joined: Thu Oct 05, 2006 1:31 am
Location: Auckland, New Zealand

Postby Spacemonkey » Wed Oct 11, 2006 12:47 am

I don't agree, if one players gets attacked more then the others, he/she will need more 'real time' time. Also, when one player has selected real time, all players get real time, so why should one player get their 'real time' used up while the other players get the same advantage?

I don't have anything against real time, usefull when lots of action is going on. And don't say stuff like I can do everything at 5x speed, because you can't, not when you're launching 3 attacks on 3 diffrent players at the same time, launching nukes from subs, and changing bomber orders midflight, while ordering your fighters to take down enemy bombers.
User avatar
GeneticFreak
level3
level3
Posts: 325
Joined: Sat Sep 30, 2006 2:43 pm
Location: Indonesia
Contact:

Re: Time limited real time speed ?

Postby GeneticFreak » Wed Oct 11, 2006 12:55 am

Rich_Zap wrote:Thought of this earlier, i have no problem with people slowing down the game to micromanage their defense or offense (i usually do it on 5X but maybe not everyone can it that fast). However some people do seem to abuse this, setting it on real time for very long periods. I know that a lot of people will say thats fair and that if others cant handle it thats their problem. However when a player keeps doing this i have noticed that other players will just get frustrated and leave, thus ruining the game... There is really no need to have it on for such long periods, usually you should only need it when your organsing an attack or trying to defend against a large wave of incoming missiles.

So my solution:

Give each player a budget (set by the server host) of 'real time', if 2 players have it set on real time then it only reduces their time budget by half as much, 3 will be a third etc... This seems a relatively fair solution as players can still micromanage, but it doesnt allow them to do it for so long that they drive others off. It also means they will be more conscious of how they use real time so they wont spend minutes staring at a barely moving screen doing very little.

This would of course be a totally optional setting ...


die
Blessed be the LORD my strength which teacheth my hands to war and my fingers to fight
alphager
level3
level3
Posts: 400
Joined: Fri Jul 28, 2006 1:36 pm
Location: Germany
Contact:

Postby alphager » Wed Oct 11, 2006 1:00 am

as this gives twitch-players an advantage, it will never be implemented. It is a bad idea.
User avatar
xander
level5
level5
Posts: 16869
Joined: Thu Oct 21, 2004 11:41 pm
Location: Highland, CA, USA
Contact:

Re: Time limited real time speed ?

Postby xander » Wed Oct 11, 2006 1:09 am

Rich_Zap wrote:--==<snip>==--

I disagree. I love realtime (which is why I generally play office mode games). I use it to micro my AA fire (so that I spread the fire, rather than have all of my silos aimed at one incoming nuke, which is what the AI does); I use it to micro my sub nuke launches so that they are as synchronised as possible (a nuke can get a long way in the time that it takes to select a second sub and a new target); I use it to micro my bombers in naval combat (keep them right at the edge of enemy firing ranges); and I use it to micro everything else. In a typical game, there will be one or two naval engagements that require micromanagement, at least one sub strike, and a hell of a lot of incoming nukes. I don't mind when other people micro, and I do it myself. The solution is not to force people to micro for a limited amount of time, but to educate people running servers on how to use the minimum speed setting.

However, I think that the problem is this. A lot of people complain that others are spending too much time in realtime because they can't see what that person might be doing. Earlier today, I was backstabbing an ally. I sent a volley of nukes at their silos, and another behind that to take out their cities. I never unally until I have taken out their silos (there is no penalty, and, if I can get away with it, it works really well). The problem is that, with two volleys close together, you have to time your backstab fairly well -- if you don't, you lose a lot of points to collateral damage. The host, who was not involved in this exchange, though I was taking too long and quit, shutting down the server. The host couldn't see what was going on, thus didn't see the reason for the time setting. At other points in the game, he had been in realtime.

Again, the solution is not to limit the amount of realtime that each player has, but to get people to set up servers the way that they want.

xander
Rich_Zap
level1
level1
Posts: 33
Joined: Tue Oct 03, 2006 9:50 pm
Location: Europe (till it gets nuked)

Postby Rich_Zap » Wed Oct 11, 2006 8:08 am

I do use real time as well, im not suggesting not to use it. What i was putting forward was another option to augment the existing speed time controls. Ive been on servers which force players to play on 5X or above and to be honest it can be quite hard like that. So what i wanted was basically to allow players to do that but still allow limited use of real time because remember that there are groups of players, 'twitch players' who prefer to play at higher speeds. If you get a server where a real time player is playing, some twitch players are going to become frustrated with this, not the real time players fault but its going to happen. Likewise im sure a real time player would absolutely refuse to play on a server with a minimum speed of 5x. This option would hopefully allow those players to co-exist peacefully as it were :).

I don't agree, if one players gets attacked more then the others, he/she will need more 'real time' time.


That might be a problem although i personally believe real time is more useful in organising very large simultaneous attacks. I also mentioned in my first post that players would share the expenditure of real time so that no one player would pay for it. I just dont see how adding an option to limit what is essentially a game resource could be a bad thing ? Unless it had gameplay problems but that i more a matter of general opinion than something that you could say is there.

as this gives twitch-players an advantage, it will never be implemented. It is a bad idea.


Doesnt limiting the speed to 5x minimum do exactly the same thing ? Except even more extreme... Lets not forget that there are players who enjoy playing fast and enjoy the challenge of that. Theres no reason to just boot them out of the community because they disagree, theres also no need to force them to play on separate servers as that will just fracture the community.

Oh and genetic freak, i dont mind constructive or even harsh criticism, in fact i prefer it when people point out flaws that i myself have missed however instant flaming like that solves nothing and is a very unnecessary response.
User avatar
GeneticFreak
level3
level3
Posts: 325
Joined: Sat Sep 30, 2006 2:43 pm
Location: Indonesia
Contact:

Postby GeneticFreak » Wed Oct 11, 2006 9:21 am

Dont take that kind of stuff from me too seriously. Thats the way I post in forums or talk in real life :)
Blessed be the LORD my strength which teacheth my hands to war and my fingers to fight
FoodNipple
level0
Posts: 2
Joined: Wed Oct 11, 2006 8:57 pm

Postby FoodNipple » Wed Oct 11, 2006 9:05 pm

I was about to post this as a suggestion when I noticed your topic. I have no problem with people who do a lot of micromanaging in real time and I probably take a bit longer than the average person to get things done. I have been in a few games where someone goes afk and left it on real time, as well as a few games where a player who was losing set it on real time to grief other players. People are generally pretty polite about the speed issue, but it would be nice to have an additional mode like the one you suggested.
User avatar
AtomicPlayboy
level1
level1
Posts: 13
Joined: Thu Oct 12, 2006 12:32 am

Postby AtomicPlayboy » Thu Oct 12, 2006 7:25 am

FoodNipple wrote: I have been in a few games where someone goes afk and left it on real time, as well as a few games where a player who was losing set it on real time to grief other players.


Something that would solve the realtime+afk problem would be an activity monitor. Just automatically move people's time level up every minute they're not doing anything.
Frontmaster
level0
Posts: 2
Joined: Wed Apr 19, 2006 9:29 am

I agree

Postby Frontmaster » Thu Oct 12, 2006 12:12 pm

Hi,

I actually like the idea of monitoring the activity, if no movement then the game speeds up. Only problem with that is, how easily could that be patched into the game?
User avatar
GeneticFreak
level3
level3
Posts: 325
Joined: Sat Sep 30, 2006 2:43 pm
Location: Indonesia
Contact:

Postby GeneticFreak » Thu Oct 12, 2006 1:22 pm

AtomicPlayboy wrote:Something that would solve the realtime+afk problem would be an activity monitor. Just automatically move people's time level up every minute they're not doing anything.


I am one of the people who likes to go to real time and i must say this suggestion ROCKS!
Seriously.

This way nobody will accuse us for being slow, cause we really are doing something.
Blessed be the LORD my strength which teacheth my hands to war and my fingers to fight
Rich_Zap
level1
level1
Posts: 33
Joined: Tue Oct 03, 2006 9:50 pm
Location: Europe (till it gets nuked)

Postby Rich_Zap » Thu Oct 12, 2006 7:43 pm

I also like it, its better than my idea as this one means that it only lets you use real time if your actually doing something !

Return to “Think Tank”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 1 guest