Pros and Cons

[Gandalf Parker]

This is just a rant..

A friend of mine was listening to me talk about Dominions. I was praising that it would run in a window and the processing of turns let me check all my windows appearing to be very concientious about my job.

Knowing my favorite phrase of "everything has its pros and cons" he asked that of me. I said the game makes it easy to check things while its processing, but it makes it VERY hard to NOT look at the results. Which means that "just a peek, just a peek, just a peek" takes you far into the next morning

Gandalf Parker

[FrankTrollman]

I would really like it if I could look at the next turn without submitting a turn file. That, I think, would be totally sweet. I could check the next turn, see my victories and defeats, then shut it off, go to sleep, talk about the situation with my allies, and then actually do my turn the next day when I was rested and prepared for that information.

As is, you have to do your whole turn in one sitting, which makes coordination and planning difficult. And it also keeps you up until forever in the evening.

-Frank

[Endoperez]

Check the turn, then press Esc, then choose 'Quit without saving'. That should do the trick.

However, if you accidentally have already submitted it, you can't unsubmit it.

[Gandalf Parker]

I often hit ESC and choose "Save Game and Quit". Because I often check the messages and simply HAVE to assign some action to a unit before I forget what I was going to do with it next.

When I start the game the next day I have two options. To continue where I left off or restart that turn.

[RonD]

The safest way to play your turns offline:

Connect to your game and download the turn. Do not look at your turn yet, instead exit the game at the nations/"48 hours till next hosting" screen.

Make a temp copy of the whole game directory. Play *that* game at your leisure, offline. I often set a basic strategy and then come back and tweak it a few times after thinking about it. Sometimes I even make 2 temp copies and play with different ideas.

When you are ready to upload, just copy the .2h file from the temp directory into the real game directory and connect to the game.

[Gandalf Parker]

Or create a batch file which copies the turns to a backup copy then goes into the game. Have each "save and quit" drop you out, use the batch file to go back in then hit host

[Ironhawk]

You dont even need to do file swapping like this. Just connect to the server, download your new turn, and disconnect without ending your turn (I usually just hit the windows X in the top right corner). Then just do a normal Load Game on whichever game you just downloaded, just as if it was a local game. It will load up and play just like normal. You can hit end turn all you want, nothing will happen. Go back and change stuff, etc. Then, when you are ready to submit, just connect to the server and it will upload for you.

[RonD]

The reason I do the file swapping is so I can connect to the game using the real (unplayed) game directory. That lets me check who has played and how much time is left without risking uploading a partial turn when I'm the only player left to play.

Less of an issue now, with god's eye available, but I'm in the habit of doing it this way.

[Chazar]

RonD said:
The reason I do the file swapping is so I can connect to the game using the real (unplayed) game directory. That lets me check who has played and how much time is left without risking uploading a partial turn when I'm the only player left to play.

Less of an issue now, with god's eye available, but I'm in the habit of doing it this way.

I had the same problem and God's Eye really helped for this one!

Furthermore I seem to recall that after logging into a remote server, dom2 used to open the game and display the messages immediately. Now after entering the password, it just returns to the info screen with the display who is connected and who has done his turn - this is better, because I can then just exit to the main screen and play offline (and use God's Eye to view my time limit). So am I hallucinating or was the behaviour changed in some patch? Or is it due to switching from windows to linux? Or due to some commandline options that I am using?