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[stealth_nsk]

What percentage of the map is in vicinity of human units on a turn to turn basis?

If we implement different way of calculating combat for areas human player don't see, that's huge overhead - it will require second algorithm, which needs to roughly mimic the main one AND additional part to determine which combat zones could be affected by human player (if you fly your jet from base to carrier and see some artillery in front lines, this would look suspicious).

Also, take into account - the area which could be visible to human grows more late game - right at the time there optimization is needed.

If situation with AI algorithms is really bad, that's possible, but if these efforts are directed to optimizing primary AI algorithm, that would likely bring much better results.

 

[Blkbird]

My empirical impression is that the Civ AI (all versions so far) only starts to think when the player ends the turn - it's idling while the player is playing, instead of doing heuristic calculations the way all computer chess engine does. This could speed up turn times significantly.

 

[stealth_nsk]

My empirical impression is that the Civ AI (all versions so far) only starts to think when the player ends the turn - it's idling while the player is playing, instead of doing heuristic calculations the way all computer chess engine does. This could speed up turn times significantly.

Nope. Chess engine could calculate several turns ahead due to very limited number of tiles and pieces. Civilization tactical AI can't fully calculate 1 turn, so planning before human turn is actually a disadvantage.

 

[Blkbird]

Well, it seems Civ 6 may in fact do some heuristic calculations:

According to our sources, the Firaxis developers will take advantage of Asynchronous Compute and Resource Heap features in order to create a deep and articulate gameplay. Thanks to these DX12 features, Civilization VI will be able to guarantee a lot better artificial intelligence and a more detailed world than previous chapters.

Anyone knows more about this Asynchronous Compute feature of DX12? Specifically, how it can be used for non-graphical purposes?

 

[stealth_nsk]

Anyone knows more about this Asynchronous Compute feature of DX12? Specifically, how it can be used for non-graphical purposes?

They are probably talking about DirectCompute, but it was released with DirectX 11 and could be run on DirectX 10. And, honestly, the whole phrase looks like a heap of buzzwords to me.

 

[krasny]

My main problem with Civ 5 was the glacial turn times even early on in the game.

Anyone got any idea how long it takes for the AI civs to take their turn?

 

[rastak]

My main problem with Civ 5 was the glacial turn times even early on in the game.

Anyone got any idea how long it takes for the AI civs to take their turn?

Was this question directed to Ed Beach?

 

[anandus]

The short answer is: No

Nobody has played the game, and we haven't heard anything from the people that played on the E3, ad also those builds were still beta.

Wait until october for a definitive answer.

 

[krasny]

At anyone who knows. But if Ed is reading, feel free to answer!

 

[rastak]

At anyone who knows. But if Ed is reading, feel free to answer!

If he doesn't answer by end of day I'll sneak into Firaxis tonight and play a quick game and then let you know.

 

[krasny]

If he doesn't answer by end of day I'll sneak into Firaxis tonight and play a quick game and then let you know.

You know they have the world's best burglar alarm: A PC running Civ6!

 

[rastak]

You know they have the world's best burglar alarm: A PC running Civ6!

Yea, I'll say to myself, "I got in, no alarms. So far so good. Ok, here is a PC with the game installed. What time is it, 11pm. I'll play for 3 hours and let myself out"


9 hours later "well, it must be 3 hours, I better go"

Then I turn around and there's Ed and Sid with security standing behind me.

 

[Jimdigriz]

The end of turn time can be a little long later on in games but to be honest, I wouldn't care if there is no improvement in this area as long as the AI is much better!

 

[krasny]

The end of turn time can be a little long later on in games but to be honest, I wouldn't care if there is no improvement in this area as long as the AI is much better!

The turn time even at 0AD is long enough for me to lose my focus, hence any sense of excitement. It's like playing an AGEOD game. Which is pretty much why I'm still playing Civ4.

 

[Gamewizard]

Turn animations off and in-between turn times are no longer a problem. You are welcome.

 

[master__jj]

In any case, I don't think it has to do with computer speed. I recently bought a new pc and cpu usage (i5, so four cores) remained around 50%. So there's still some reserve there...

 

[TheMeInTeam]

Turn animations off and in-between turn times are no longer a problem. You are welcome.

Not enough in civ 5. Especially above standard size maps turns still quickly take more than 30 seconds without animations. Across a game you then spend hours waiting to play. It adds up.

This is despite being well above recommended specs. Playing a huge map on "recommended" specs (specs that should, if honestly represented, run any game mode on default settings fine) makes turns quickly take several times that long. If each turn rollover takes a minute, you will lose many hours per playthrough having to do something else rather than playing the game.

It's even worse if trying to do this in MP, because you're already often waiting for other people, then all of you have to wait for the AI if there is one, which makes even "doing something else between turns" impractical. Not that MP has actually worked on a vanilla release in the past decade+, so here's hoping 6 breaks THAT trend too.

 

[Atlas627]

I'd rather the AI be improved and take longer, but it is possible to make the AI both faster and smarter. For an example using Civ5's AI, look at the Community Balance Patch (or whatever its called now)

 

[krasny]

In any case, I don't think it has to do with computer speed. I recently bought a new pc and cpu usage (i5, so four cores) remained around 50%. So there's still some reserve there...

I think it's because they used a cheap and nasty database language. But I could be wrong. Anyway Civ4 is fast enough to maintain my interest.

 

[Primacide]

I will happily be corrected if I'm wrong but as I understand it, the looooong turn times in CiV were largely due to the 32-bit format. (For those who don't know, this puts a hard cap on your RAM usage at 2 GB - meaning even if you have more ram available, the program won't use it). Since this is a 64-bit program, that alone should reduce turn times significantly.

Edit: Ed Beach just called. He said turn times should be 1ms, maybe 2. He also said a civfanatic should be our next pres-o-dent.