A fun game turning into a waiting game

[PeterDR]

Hi everyone,

I've been playing a great game for the last few days. After overcoming a long and hard war with both the Shoshone and the Spanish, my Incan civilization eventually prevailed and became more prosperous than ever. Happiness all over the place and population numbers were going trough the roof again. By completely annihilating these civilizations from the face of the earth, my people were eager to take over the world.

In my standard, Continents map on Deity I was now a proud owner of my own continent and I even made a lot of City States friends a long the way, netting me 30 votes in the World Congres to choose any resolutions of my liking. Anyway, since I'm playing on domination (and culture victory) there was still work to be done.

This is were the trouble started. I actually only had one important opponent worth reckoning, my dear friend Shaka. This could be a great fight, since both Shaka and me both owned our own (big) continent through conquest. However, Shaka likes to spam units. A lot. Really, a lot. Eventually, I died of boredom, since I couldn't bare to wait 5 minutes per turn for Shaka's units to move. And bare with me, I wasn't even at war with him.

Oh my. The simple thought of going to war with Shaka and having to wait 15 minutes for how each fight would turn out was beyond what I could take. I couldn't help to ragequit. I did save the game, but I'm afraid I'll never find the patience to grab that domination win. Even nuking his capital (and captured capitals) and taking them with Xcom units would take too long with his units swarming all over the place, like pesky insects on warm days.

So far for my frustration. Any of you guys experienced a great game, which you simply didn't finish because you just didn't had the patience to wait for your opponents turn to end?

P.s. For those wondering, I have quick combat on.

 

[quantum42]

It takes time for the game to process all the AI/CS/barbarians turns. The more in the game, the longer it takes.

 

[Green_Power]

Turns processing shouldn't take that long on a Standard size map, especially when you have quick combat on. Sometimes my games lag at late game, but I only notice it on Large sized games with >10 Civs and around 16 CS. But, yes, turns processing in late game on Large maps can take a while (I didn't time them, but I think it's always below <30 to 45 sec at worse case).

Do you have quick movement on?

Overall I think turns are taking more or less the same amount of time as in Gods & Kings.

What's your CPU clock speed? Maybe it's time to upgrade? Civ, like most turn-based games, is a CPU hungry game.

 

[PeterDR]

Turns processing shouldn't take that long on a Standard size map, especially when you have quick combat on. Sometimes my games lag at late game, but I only notice it on Large sized games with >10 Civs and around 16 CS. But, yes, turns processing in late game on Large maps can take a while (I didn't time them, but I think it's always below <30 to 45 sec at worse case).

Do you have quick movement on?

Overall I think turns are taking more or less the same amount of time as in Gods & Kings.

What's your CPU clock speed? Maybe it's time to upgrade? Civ, like most turn-based games, is a CPU hungry game.

I know, and they usually don't. I have quick movement on and usually I don't have any problems with speed whatsoever. My current PC is not top of the line, but definitely more than enough to play Civilization at decent speed. Large or Huge map can get troublesome, but Standard is 99/100 perfectly fine.

I do have to admit Shaka really had a huge continent for his own. All other turns (CS, France - which also owned a smaller continent, and smaller Civs) went fast, but waiting for Shaka was just to hard to handle for my feeble mind.

 

[Green_Power]

How much time does a turn take for you in that game?

 

[Alzadar]

I've heard that switching to strategic view before you end your turn helps a lot. Haven't had this problem though so can't say for sure.

 

[Socratatus]

I`ve been playing with 12 Civs which wasn`t too bad. I just switched to 22 Civs and now I`m beginning to understand the term `waiting for an eternity`.

Guess I need a new super computer. Maybe 2.

 

[Anarchist]

I just tried the 'quick movements' again (I have not done that for years), and I have found the speed increase between turns to be amazing. I'd estimate it speeds it up by a factor of 10.

I may want it on for war, so I can see where troops are being moved to (especially on the high seas, so I can chase 'em down!), which would be a pain. With this speed increase I may well move up to huge maps, even....

 

[fotonut]

I've heard that switching to strategic view before you end your turn helps a lot. Haven't had this problem though so can't say for sure.

I just switched the the strategic view for the first time, and within minutes my fans stopped, and my machine is actually cool running Civ! I don't know if this means it will process turns any faster, since I'm at the start of a game.

Unfortunately I don't enjoy the strategic view that much.

 

[Anarchist]

I just switched the the strategic view for the first time, and within minutes my fans stopped, and my machine is actually cool running Civ! I don't know if this means it will process turns any faster, since I'm at the start of a game.

Unfortunately I don't enjoy the strategic view that much.

I get no benefit from strategic view. Maybe my GPU is dealing with it all well anyway, so there is no gain. The 'quick movements' does help enormously, however, and I assume that is CPU-dependent.

 

[Canabrava]

I agree and you dont need be at war to long turns. My problems are airplanes. All AI change all air units every turn. IS SO BORING! Isn't a hardware problem, this happens just in BNW, something changed. If this airplane rebase every turns don't exist anymore, will solve a huge part of problem.

 

[Rob5000]

For me it doesnt take that long, but I recommend putting on Strategic View as it cuts down processing during the AI turns.

 

[Green_Power]

For me it doesnt take that long, but I recommend putting on Strategic View as it cuts down processing during the AI turns.

But shouldn't this be the same as normal view with quick movement and quick combat on? I mean, if nothing is moving on the map (or moving very quickly) why would the strategic view be faster? But if faster, how faster? I'll try with my last game and report here.

\Edit: My turns in late game take approximately 45 seconds to conclude with quick combat and quick movement on. Large/11Civs/16CS). I have a quad core Intel CPU with 2.30Ghz.

 

[poom3619]

My last, most enjoyable game turn into a dreadful waiting for Science Victory. Maybe I should try Quick Movement when thing start to get slower. I use quick battle already since 10 second for bombing thing is already past my patience.

But shouldn't this be the same as normal view with quick movement and quick combat on? I mean, if nothing is moving on the map (or moving very quickly) why would the strategic view be faster? But if faster, how faster? I'll try with my last game and report here.

Why ask if you will try it anyway?

 

[GeneralAtrox]

I've played Civ 5 a lot back when I had my old PC about 2 months ago and I understand this whole "waiting" problem the game suffers from. My first game I ever played went on for 500 turns and ended up being a good 30 second wait between turns.

Ever since I bought my new one (spec below) I haven't noticed much slow down at all anymore, the game runs as fluid as can be, I've played a full 18 civ match on a huge Earth map with Spain and I saw it through to the end. Admittedly late game you do see the turn timer get longer but you could live with it.

Motherboard: Gigabyte Z87-D3HP
CPU: Intel i5 4670k @ 4.0GHz
GPU: ATI 7970 3GB
Storage: Samsung 840 Pro 256GB Solid State (this makes a HUGE difference, HIGHLY recommended)
Game Settings: Max @ 1920 x 1080 (Minimum leader scene quality, you would be surprised how many seconds that shaves off the turn time)

 

[starstx]

I've heard that switching to strategic view before you end your turn helps a lot. Haven't had this problem though so can't say for sure.

I can 100% confirm this. This works not only for turn times but in game as well. My computer takes a long time even switching between units on standard view to the point Civ was almost unplayable. Then I switched to quick combat on standard view and it sped up turn times a little bit but still took forever clicking between units or really doing anything. Then I started going into strategic view and voila! Everything is extremely fast including turn times. Like the other poster said my computer's fans turn back off of overdrive and runs smooth. I used to loathe strategic view but I actually like it now and it is easier to move my units. I switch back and forth now when needed to view certain things. Even if you hate it ... switch to strategic before you end your turn and switch back when done.

 

[Scarpa]

+1 on both the Strategic View and SSD. Pre-GnK when the Stealth 'rush' was a strategy I would switch to Strategic view for the mop up phase of the game, made a huge difference (also couldn't toggle quick combat in game then either).

SSD helps for startup and load and such but doesn't really help the late game. Still worth getting in general, it's one of the best bang-for-your-buck mods you can do these days.

As for the OP situation, I've been in that before. Often I leave games around late industrial and then return to them a few games later when I'm in the mood for a pure warfare slog. It's somewhat like playing a scenario in that respect, I guess.

 

[Cicerosaurus]

. And bare with me, I wasn't even at war with him.

.

Trust me, I do not wish to bare with you

One aspect of the game which I only noticed yesterday- and I hope it was the game I was playing instead of a new slow- was I'd click on "next turn" and then the computer would sit and stare at me for up to ten seconds before things would start buzzing. Several times I thought I had mis clicked as it seemed nothing was doing.

One thing I am experimenting with is using a flash drive to enhance performance. With Windows 7 you are supposed to be able to plug in up to 8 of the things (if you have that many ports) and select the boost option. I will admit I have only used one and seen no noticeable improvement- I think it may only kick in if you are low on RAM anyway. However, if you have a marginal computer it may be worth looking at.

 

[dexters]

With expansions Civ games usually take more and more resources.

If you had a computer that just barely passed minimum requirements when Civ5 came out a few years ago, it is probably going to struggle handling all the new features.

If you're running dual core CPU or below (is single core even supported?) turn times might take even longer.