Author Topic: Update on Progress  (Read 252741 times)

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Offline Steve Walmsley (OP)

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Re: Update on Progress
« Reply #285 on: August 21, 2019, 03:54:12 AM »
Yes, I will definitely add a warning on close. Some form of auto-save will be possible too.
 
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Offline Shuul

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Re: Update on Progress
« Reply #286 on: August 21, 2019, 05:04:54 AM »
And can we get an optional Ironman feature?)))
As having to deal with consequences of your actions without the possibility to revert to previous save is one of the reasons Aurora is so engaging.
 

Offline sloanjh

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Re: Update on Progress
« Reply #287 on: August 21, 2019, 07:57:42 AM »
And can we get an optional Ironman feature?)))
As having to deal with consequences of your actions without the possibility to revert to previous save is one of the reasons Aurora is so engaging.

Simpler solution: Just say no :)

Aurora is solitaire, so yada yada yada :)

To be more verbose about it: it would be a much larger development task for Steve to try to prevent players from cheating, and there's no need since it's not multiplayer.  This is one of the core design principles of Aurora.  So you're free to implement iron-man yourself by simply resolving to never exit without saving.

John
 
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Offline sloanjh

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Re: Update on Progress
« Reply #288 on: August 21, 2019, 08:07:22 AM »
I didn't realise I hadn't officially mentioned it :)

C# Aurora doesn't continually update to disk, which is why it is so much faster (still about 1 second per turn in my current campaign which is on year eleven). When you save, it takes about thirty seconds. The database pre-save is copied to a new file called AuroraDBSaveBackup.db and then the AuroraDB file is updated with the current game. The downside is that if you close without saving you lose progress. I tend to save quite often.

It is super useful for testing through as I can run the same situation many times without having to save and restore db files.

Hi Steve,

  Is it *really* 30 seconds, or is it a lot quicker?  30 seconds seems like a VERY long time, long enough that it will actively discourage people from saving as frequently as they should and to make an auto-save feature potentially frustrating: "I was running my turn and the game suddenly stopped for 30 seconds".  For example, in RtW I've learned to hit the save button every turn, just in case it crashes.  Even in battles, the RtW save is about 5-10 seconds which is right at the edge of being frustrating.  Outside of battles it's probably about 3 seconds.

  To put it a different way, on average I'd probably like to save every 5 minutes or so of wall-clock time so I don't lose a significant fraction of an hour if Aurora crashes.  A 30 seconds save time means 10% of my time will be spent saving; 5-10 seconds lowers this to a few percent.

John
 

Offline Bughunter

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Re: Update on Progress
« Reply #289 on: August 21, 2019, 08:25:43 AM »
Aurora crashed for me once in over 3 years of playing and I remember when saving meant changing floppy disks.. so 30 seconds sounds fine :)
 

Offline Steve Walmsley (OP)

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Re: Update on Progress
« Reply #290 on: August 21, 2019, 09:19:21 AM »
It does take 30+ seconds, although that is faster than a single increment in VB6 Aurora with a similar sized campaign. I usually save after spending time on design or doing a lot of orders, but I don't bother very often during the normal flow of the game. Because all the saving is concentrated in one update, the rest of the game is incomparable to VB6 in terms of speed.

 

Offline Hazard

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Re: Update on Progress
« Reply #291 on: August 21, 2019, 09:46:09 AM »
Regarding surrender; some normal races will also not surrender, depending on determination and xenophobia, and instead ram, flee or both.

Also, does the attacker's racial diplomacy rating help convince an enemy fleet to surrender?
 

Offline Steve Walmsley (OP)

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Re: Update on Progress
« Reply #292 on: August 21, 2019, 09:59:47 AM »
Regarding surrender; some normal races will also not surrender, depending on determination and xenophobia, and instead ram, flee or both.

Also, does the attacker's racial diplomacy rating help convince an enemy fleet to surrender?

Correct on the normal NPRs. Diplomacy isn't a factor at the moment.
 

Offline Hazard

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Re: Update on Progress
« Reply #293 on: August 21, 2019, 01:39:27 PM »
Correct on the normal NPRs. Diplomacy isn't a factor at the moment.

Diplomacy should be a factor, but I can understand if you don't want to put it in.

What happens with the crew/commanders after a surrender?
 

Offline Doren

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Re: Update on Progress
« Reply #294 on: August 21, 2019, 02:58:06 PM »
Yes, I will definitely add a warning on close. Some form of auto-save will be possible too.
I would say an autosave feature with two parameters which ever would come first would trigger autosave: Days in game or Actual time in minutes.
If you are having a long battle then the actual time limit would hit first. If you were cruising through the game with long intervals the days in game time would hit the first.
 

Offline Peroox

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Re: Update on Progress
« Reply #295 on: August 21, 2019, 03:35:24 PM »
Correct on the normal NPRs. Diplomacy isn't a factor at the moment.

Diplomacy should be a factor, but I can understand if you don't want to put it in.

What happens with the crew/commanders after a surrender?

I think that Steve think about it, but for now it's not possible to add diplomacy factor (lack of diplomacy coded ?).
 

Offline papent

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Re: Update on Progress
« Reply #296 on: August 23, 2019, 01:59:29 AM »
Just a quick note for the Discord. You cannot put railguns in turrets in C#.

will there be a time when we can turret most if not all beam weapons?
i mostly just want to uparmor my weapons
In my humble opinion anything that could be considered a balance issue is a moot point unless the AI utilize it against you because otherwise it's an exploit you willing choose to use to game the system. 
Rule 0 Is effect : "The SM is always right/ What SM Says Goes."
 

Offline Steve Walmsley (OP)

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Re: Update on Progress
« Reply #297 on: August 23, 2019, 02:36:57 AM »
Just a quick note for the Discord. You cannot put railguns in turrets in C#.

will there be a time when we can turret most if not all beam weapons?
i mostly just want to uparmor my weapons

The lack of turrets is for balance reasons. If you could turret railguns for example, they would become extremely powerful.
 
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Offline TMaekler

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Re: Update on Progress
« Reply #298 on: August 23, 2019, 04:29:59 AM »
In terms of autosave, I would suggest an option which autosaves after x amount of clicks on any of the time forward buttons. That way the game either autosaves after 20 (or whatever number) times clicking the 30 day forward, or it autosaves after 20 times clicking on the 5 sec forward. Gives a little more savety when doing a looong battle, and not being annoying autosaving if you just click around making notes, designing ships or whatever.
 

Offline sloanjh

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Re: Update on Progress
« Reply #299 on: August 23, 2019, 08:05:58 AM »
In terms of autosave, I would suggest an option which autosaves after x amount of clicks on any of the time forward buttons. That way the game either autosaves after 20 (or whatever number) times clicking the 30 day forward, or it autosaves after 20 times clicking on the 5 sec forward. Gives a little more savety when doing a looong battle, and not being annoying autosaving if you just click around making notes, designing ships or whatever.

I like this idea in terms on cutting user interface complexity while still providing an excellent metric of how long the user has spent in front of the screen.  I'd also make "20" an adjustable option parameter, so that people can tune it according to their tolerance for save time vs. risk aversion.

John