Game Slowdown / Black Holes

[Zook (OP)]

This is only my second game (the first ended rather abruptly in 2030 after I discovered an NPR right next to Sol), scenario is per the default New Game settings, and I have two unrelated questions:

1. The gods played a cruel joke on me and put me in a universe that looks like this:

Sol - 1 - 2  - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - BH3

In other words, Sol system is at one end of a seven-systems-long chain, and although there are three more systems branching off to the side, there is only one exit from this cul-de-sac. It leads directly into a Class III black hole. Of course.

On the one hand, it's certainly a challenge. Everything that enters the system has 2500 km/s subtracted from its speed - slower ships get swallowed, faster ships slow to a crawl. If they run out of fuel, they get swallowed. I saw a 3800 km/s grav scout survey a total of three JPs before being lost. Now I can scrap my entire fleet and build a new, much faster one before I can survey the remaining JPs and eventually get to the other side. That'll take ages. Also, I guess Earth is pretty safe behind that obstacle, so it's a game that can take forever and I can't lose. Would you consider it worth continuing?

2. The terrible slowdown due to NPR fighting somewhere else in the galaxy. It's 2065 now and it began in 2064, with one short period of "playable" months in between. I never met any other races, but the SM log shows 5-second increments due to possible contact or firing. The current auto-turn alone has been running for over an hour, yet processed only four days. This behavior has ruined the better part of the evening for me. I'd have the patience to endure this once in a while, but if I understand this correctly, it'll probably get worse as as the game progresses, the universe expands, more NPRs are added and more battles fought.

This is not happening in my part of the woods, so SM mode can't help me here - I can't tweak unexplored systems.

What I'd like to know is:
a) whether it is perfectly normal for a game to slow to a crawl after 40 years, or a rare event?
b) how long does a NPR "war" typically last before the game becomes playable again?
c) do all or most Aurora games eventually die of slowdown disease?

Also, is it wise to just kill the game process in mid-turn because I need to sleep once in a while and turn off the computer? It'll probably corrupt the database...

[Zook (OP)]

BTW, I have precursors, swarms and invaders in my game. Can I switch them off later to see if that helps?

[Haji]

Yes, you can unselect them at any point. Just remember to hit "save" on the game selection screen.

It should be pointed out however, that while this will certainly stop new spowns, it won't delete existing ships - at least I think it won't.

Also, you can use SM mode to either delete the black hole system or to add additional jump points to already existing systems, so you can escape a closed (or almost closed) chain like this.

As for the other questions.

a) For multi-starting player game it is not uncommon to have 30 day increment last over 10 minutes. I'm pretty sure the slow-down occures in normal games too, although the exact point where this happens differs on game to game basis.
b) There is no "typical" time of engagment. I had ones that lasted very short and ones that made me abondon a game.
c) The game have no winning conditions and the more you expand the more resources the game will need, so yes, I'm pretty sure all of them die of slowdown disease.

[Theokrat]

This is only my second game (the first ended rather abruptly in 2030 after I discovered an NPR right next to Sol), scenario is per the default New Game settings, and I have two unrelated questions:

1. The gods played a cruel joke on me and put me in a universe that looks like this:

Sol - 1 - 2  - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - BH3

In other words, Sol system is at one end of a seven-systems-long chain, and although there are three more systems branching off to the side, there is only one exit from this cul-de-sac. It leads directly into a Class III black hole. Of course.

On the one hand, it's certainly a challenge. Everything that enters the system has 2500 km/s subtracted from its speed - slower ships get swallowed, faster ships slow to a crawl. If they run out of fuel, they get swallowed. I saw a 3800 km/s grav scout survey a total of three JPs before being lost. Now I can scrap my entire fleet and build a new, much faster one before I can survey the remaining JPs and eventually get to the other side. That'll take ages. Also, I guess Earth is pretty safe behind that obstacle, so it's a game that can take forever and I can't lose. Would you consider it worth continuing?

Absolutely! So you have encountered a challenge, but that’s hardly a reason to give up. Yes, expansion out of that system will take a while but its hardly impossible. Overall you have 9 systems readily available for exploitation, which should be plenty enough to cover all you mineral needs.

Take a look at it the other way round: Suppose you would only ever encounter a perfectly “flat” universe that stretches out uniformly in all directions. Would that be much fun?

And yeah, you are pretty safe. Early NPRs wont find you at all. You also know perfectly well that anything hostile must come through that one jump point, so you can establish a hefty presence in that system and on your side of the jump point.

2. The terrible slowdown due to NPR fighting somewhere else in the galaxy. It's 2065 now and it began in 2064, with one short period of "playable" months in between. I never met any other races, but the SM log shows 5-second increments due to possible contact or firing. The current auto-turn alone has been running for over an hour, yet processed only four days. This behavior has ruined the better part of the evening for me. I'd have the patience to endure this once in a while, but if I understand this correctly, it'll probably get worse as as the game progresses, the universe expands, more NPRs are added and more battles fought.

This is not happening in my part of the woods, so SM mode can't help me here - I can't tweak unexplored systems.

What I'd like to know is:
a) whether it is perfectly normal for a game to slow to a crawl after 40 years, or a rare event?
b) how long does a NPR "war" typically last before the game becomes playable again?
c) do all or most Aurora games eventually die of slowdown disease?

Also, is it wise to just kill the game process in mid-turn because I need to sleep once in a while and turn off the computer? It'll probably corrupt the database...

a) Depends, in my current game I have episodes of fighting in some other places sometimes, but not that often, being circa 75 years into the game.

b) Normally individual fire exchanges between task groups are quite short. On the order of magnitude of some hours of in-game time I would say. These tend to be clustered into battles, when various task-groups in a system rush into the action so I frequently see several fire exchanges occurring within some days. I guess I have been lucky to not see a full blown war, as I rarely observe many battles one after another.

c) Yes, or because a new version comes out and people are eager to try it out. Also the micromanagement will get seriously tedious at some point.

Note that one thing you can do to keep the slow-down limited is reduce the number of star systems the game will generate. This is really the main culprit for slow down I would say, as various fractions get generated and meet each other. It’s perfectly viable to use 100 systems I would say.

[xeryon]

Don't junk all your warships yet.  The game has a tendency to open hidden JP's at various times.  This might be giving away some of the fun but it might be that you perform a JP survey in a system on the other side of the black hole and naturally find a JP that connects back to your 4th system you found.