SEV Recommend?

[Suicide Junkie]

Appending the log file only takes a few seconds, depending on your HDD speed.

Reducing the combat log history can help with the .CMB size and download times, tho.

The real problem is that the combat algorithms have to keep chugging through many combats. If you'd had 11 or 12 full on smashemup combats it would be the same way.

IMO, the best thing to do is disable retreat. If your fleet survives combat, it can run away normally, but no 12 combats in a row with no shooting.

[Wardad]

oops, looks like the best thing to do is stop playing.
maybe someday it will be worth the price.

[Uncle_Joe]

Yep, I noticed excessively long turn processing too...even early in the game. I hate to think what it would be like if I actually played a game out past turn 20 or 30. I thought maybe it was just my system or something.

Out of curiosity, how does one disable retreat?

[Suicide Junkie]

Well, by asking Aaron to add a settings.txt option, mainly.

[Atrocities]

I currently have a game well into the hundred plus turn range and my processing time is about 45 seconds. That is with 5 players though.

The more I play the game the more I can't help but feel that it is one of the best 4x games to come along since SE IV.

It is also very comforting to know that Aaron is hard at work addressing bugs, working on the UI, the AI, and much more.

[President_Elect_Shang]

I agree with you Atrocities. Well said!

[Demorve]

I have to disagree with Atrocities and President_Elect_Shang about SEV becoming one of the best 4x games since SEIV. UI aside, there are games with a lot worse UI's than SEV (like NWN2), this game has to many thing wrong for it to ever become as good as SEIV. Like diplomacy, there are to many choices for the AI. The AI will never be able to handle diplomacy unless Aaron makes it possible to remove about 90% of the options. Ship building needs to streamed lined as well. Just have two rows one labled inner hull and the other outer hull, each can hold a certain percent of the total hull capacity. For example the inner hull can hold 30% of the total hull weight, the outer 70%. This means that a ship hull with a 200kt capacity would be able hold 60kt in the inner hull and 140kt in the outer hull. Directional damage needs to be removed and changed to this: components in the outer hull destroyed before the inner hull components. Having firing arcs in this game would make it to combersome to use in combat, especially when there are more than 50 ships to each side. I know of no other RTS that use firing arcs in their combat model (I don't consider SFC1-3 to be RTS's, they are real time tactical combat games using a limited number of ships at one time). Just try and imagine having to remember the firing arc of over 50 ships and then moving an individual ship so as to take advantage of it's firing arc. If you thought the AI is weak now, just add firing arcs to the mix. You could add firing arcs if combat was turned base like it was in MOO2.

To me the way this game stands now it's probably an excellent multi-player game as long as there are no computer players, but since I don't have the time to play multi-player, SEV becomes a below average 4x strategy game. I don't think SEV will ever become as good as SEIV was and is, so I think Aaron should cut his losses here and move on to SEVI and take the things that worked well in SEIV and SEV and combine them into one very awesome game with a superior AI.