Spaceship launched in 1170 "arrived" but game still on....

[ptt196]

So it said it would take 14.3 years. 1184 right?
Well even after waiting 20 turns - now its 1370, it says "arrived!" but I never got the whole alpha centuari thing.

What gives?

(I'm sure this was answered years ago but I can't find it)

 

[Mize]

Yes, this happens. Since the travel time is measured in years and not actual turns, a ship that travels for 14 years will get lost in time before turns start counting for 2 years (at your launch date, a turn is 10 years or 5 years, I think).
Since the year that the spaceship landed (1184) never really happened for the game, you don't get a victory screen and the game goes on.
It's weird, but you can also get your capital captured and you'll get the 'ship returns to Earth' message even though the ship has supposedly landed.
If other civs decide to go for building their own ships they can 'win' the game, regardless of the fact that you landed on AC centuries ago. In my experience though the AI does not invest in spaceships once you've landed, even if your ship got lost in time.

 

[Verrucosus]

The designers anticipated this problem to an extent: During the 1750 - 1850 era turns normally represent 2 years, but the time scale changes to 1 year/turn as soon as the spaceship is launched. This prevents ships with a travel time of an odd number of years from getting lost. I don't imagine that it would have been that hard to apply the same tweak to earlier eras, so it really shows how much the idea of a 1170 launch was beyond the imagination of the designers.

 

[Tristan_C]

There have been threads strategizing about how to launch early ships... you might be able to scare some up in a search. You have to be pretty deliberate about the 10/15/20 year designs, unfortunately. Sorry you had to learn this the hard way. I wish there was more we could do besides remember the loss, and reflect upon the eternal voyage of the ship, Somewhere In Time.

 

[Mize]

The designers anticipated this problem to an extent: During the 1750 - 1850 era turns normally represent 2 years, but the time scale changes to 1 year/turn as soon as the spaceship is launched.

This also causes the weird side effect that automatic save games start coming earlier, so the autosave planned for 1850 happens in 1830 for example.
Also, does the switch to 1-year-turns happen when the ship is launched or when somebody starts building it? I don't remember that exactly.

 

[SWY]

I never knew about the year count changing. Now it suddenly makes sense why the game turn and the game year are being saved seperately.

 

[Verrucosus]

Also, does the switch to 1-year-turns happen when the ship is launched or when somebody starts building it?

It happens when the ship is launched.

 

[GoldBerg]

So it said it would take 14.3 years. ...

See
2014 CiV1 - THE SPACE RACE CONQUEST
https://forums.civfanatics.com/threads/2014-civ1-the-space-race-conquest-ver-3.526175/

...
...cause the game a flight time of
a minimum of 20 years (something over or like 20.1, at best)
( "20 years time" is ONE TURN ingame before the year of 1 AD)

EVERY FLiGHT-TiME LOWER
THAN "20 YEARS" (will) CAUSE PROBLEMS ...

Simply choose a longer flight-time -
build a larger ship or use lesser propulsion units
to stretch the travel-time...

...if we know the game's limitations, we have to deal with 'em.