Turn Timer for a Long Game?!

[elvikis]

Hi all,

So I have a group of about 9 people interested in playing an MP game of BtS. None of us have ever played multiplayer before, and we're looking to have a nice, long, 10-12 hour game.

We are planning to play on a large map with a quick game setting. What are your recommendations for turn timer speed to accommodate a half-day game?

How exactly does the timer speed work? It looks like Blazing, for example, starts at about 20-25 seconds. Does that time go up as you play through the ages?

Thanks for your help!
-Po

 

[ggganz]

Yes, the time goes up. I really don't know what speed you'd want though.

 

[AfterShafter]

Hi all,

So I have a group of about 9 people interested in playing an MP game of BtS. None of us have ever played multiplayer before, and we're looking to have a nice, long, 10-12 hour game.

10-12 hours is a long game?

 

[Refar]

For online multiplayer that is

 

[AfterShafter]

For online multiplayer that is

He he, my regular online multiplayer games take 30 + hours. 2 to 3 people, 14 civs, huge, marathon.

 

[Refar]

I actually never got past 1AD in a online game: After 6 hours of playing someone needs a break for whatever reason, we save with the honest intention to "continue tomorrow" and never come back to that game again

 

[Duuk]

I actually never got past 1AD in a online game: After 6 hours of playing someone needs a break for whatever reason, we save with the honest intention to "continue tomorrow" and never come back to that game again

There is just nothing more entertaining than a solid 8 hour game that ends with two alliances of actual human beings nuking each other into the stone age.

 

[Refar]

We usually play cooperative. I am sure it's part of the reason we never finish it: bashing the AI is just not that much fun, and it adds very few compared to SP. But sofar i was unable to convince my pals to play 'serious' - sometimes people just tend to get frustrated if beeing nuked (or Axed or Maced...)

 

[Lord_Zath]

I've messed with the turn timer, and while it does help ensure that turns last a certain amount of time, I've also had problems with it.

I did a Warlords 17 player LAN game once. Granted, it was Warlords, but the turn timer was on longest. Each turn at the beginning was about 1:30. 10 or so hours later, the turn timer was only allowing about 2 or 2:30 per turn. For new people who are unused to the game, that is far too little time per turn.

Instead, I'd suggest you all agree to a certain time limit. Maybe something like "when x number of us are finished, everyone else has 30 seconds to finish."

The turn timer just doesn't allow you to be flexible enough. What happens in time of war? You're done moving half your units and then BOOM new turn.

 

[elvikis]

Well, the hope is that putting a turn timer will inconvenience some, but we want to avoid the problem of not finishing in a day.

So in the longest setting, the game starts with 1.5 minute turns and ends around 2.5 minutes?

How does blazing work? It starts at about 25 seconds. Does it go up to 1.5 minutes or just like 40 seconds?

 

[Refar]

The Timer Speeds depend on the size of the empire: There is a base time + a couple of seconds per unit/city.
Everything is defined in a XML file, so you probably can finetune it as needed (probably because i never tired myself.) In the very least you can look up, what speed is best for you. I am not sure what units are used thou. I would assume Seconds...

Vanilla/Assets/GameInfo/CIV4TurnTimerInfo.XML (Note: it is in the Vanilla Assets Folder, as the file was not chnaged by Warlords/BTS.)

Spoiler :

<Civ4TurnTimerInfo xmlns="x-schema:CIV4GameInfoSchema.xml">
	<TurnTimerInfos>
		<TurnTimerInfo>
			<Type>TURNTIMER_STATIC</Type>
			<Description>TXT_KEY_TURNTIMER_STATIC</Description>
			<iBaseTime>240</iBaseTime>
			<iCityBonus>3</iCityBonus>
			<iUnitBonus>1</iUnitBonus>
			<iFirstTurnMultiplier>4</iFirstTurnMultiplier>
		</TurnTimerInfo>
		<TurnTimerInfo>
			<Type>TURNTIMER_SNAIL</Type>
			<Description>TXT_KEY_TURNTIMER_SNAIL</Description>
			<iBaseTime>360</iBaseTime>
			<iCityBonus>36</iCityBonus>
			<iUnitBonus>12</iUnitBonus>
			<iFirstTurnMultiplier>6</iFirstTurnMultiplier>
		</TurnTimerInfo>
		<TurnTimerInfo>
			<Type>TURNTIMER_SLOW</Type>
			<Description>TXT_KEY_TURNTIMER_SLOW</Description>
			<iBaseTime>180</iBaseTime>
			<iCityBonus>18</iCityBonus>
			<iUnitBonus>6</iUnitBonus>
			<iFirstTurnMultiplier>5</iFirstTurnMultiplier>
		</TurnTimerInfo>
		<TurnTimerInfo>
			<Type>TURNTIMER_MEDIUM</Type>
			<Description>TXT_KEY_TURNTIMER_MEDIUM</Description>
			<iBaseTime>120</iBaseTime>
			<iCityBonus>12</iCityBonus>
			<iUnitBonus>4</iUnitBonus>
			<iFirstTurnMultiplier>4</iFirstTurnMultiplier>
		</TurnTimerInfo>
		<TurnTimerInfo>
			<Type>TURNTIMER_FAST</Type>
			<Description>TXT_KEY_TURNTIMER_FAST</Description>
			<iBaseTime>100</iBaseTime>
			<iCityBonus>9</iCityBonus>
			<iUnitBonus>3</iUnitBonus>
			<iFirstTurnMultiplier>3</iFirstTurnMultiplier>
		</TurnTimerInfo>
		<TurnTimerInfo>
			<Type>TURNTIMER_BLAZING</Type>
			<Description>TXT_KEY_TURNTIMER_BLAZING</Description>
			<iBaseTime>80</iBaseTime>
			<iCityBonus>6</iCityBonus>
			<iUnitBonus>2</iUnitBonus>
			<iFirstTurnMultiplier>2</iFirstTurnMultiplier>
		</TurnTimerInfo>
	</TurnTimerInfos>
</Civ4TurnTimerInfo>

 

[elvikis]

So does anyone have more qualitative information on turn timers?

We could calculate all this out (though the xml file doesn't offer an explicit equation for calculating time...), but obviously each game is different.

Has anyone found that playing in a certain speed feels too rushed or too slow for the type of game we're interested in?