jpinard
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quote:
ORIGINAL: DaveDash
quote:
ORIGINAL: JosEPh_II
@DaveDash,
Have you posted this in the Tech Support/"Bug" forum/threads?
And maybe give some practical advice to Elliot on your views for optimization?
JosEPh
That is the very first thing I did.
But picture this.
You have Supreme Ruler Cold War and Distant Worlds on your computer. Both games are extremely similar in look, feel, and scope. Both use a 2D map, both have thousands of automated units on the map, both have engaging strategy and diplomacy. One game runs rather poorly and has a difficult interface to navigate, one does not.
Which one do you think you're going to spend most of your time playing?
This is the challenging I bring forward to the developers of this game, because I really want to like it. I want to be engaged by it, and I think that optimisation of the engine should be something that takes more than just a back seat to functionality.
Combat too could do with some work. I find it bland, I'd like to see better fleet formations, longer engagement ranges, more size variation in ships, instead a gaggle of what look like bees to me circling around one another.
When one pictures space battles they picture massive volleys of missiles, swarms of drones, and railguns/cutting lasers shooting at each other across vast distances.
The tech tree also seems to be very heavily combat focused, why not more social, industrial, diplomacy related techs? We have these wonderful mechanics in the game to pursue peaceful "builder" type routes to victory, but hardly any technology focus on those areas.
I would love it if there is another expansion coming for Elliot (who I presume the developer is) to just spend a bit of time playing Alpha Centuari (faction/tech tree immersion), GalCiv2 (tech tree), Star Ruler (combat, ship building), Sins of a Solar Empire (combat), Endless Space (UI) and see what's out there to get some good inspiration for the next expansion, or his next space title. Some of these games aren't AAA titles that are unachievable on a smaller budget.
Unfortunately I do not know a lot about programming so I cannot offer insights into how to optimise this game. All I do know is that it runs rather poorly in comparison to a lot of other comparable games (and by comparable I mean other games that have thousands of units automated at once on a real time engine, not FPS games or some other apples to oranges comparison). I do also understand the heavy constraints imposed upon a small development team, and they have to best make do with what they have.
From a design standpoint however even things like having the civilian side more abstracted (who plays with civilian ships turned on anyway?). Bigger more powerful expensive ships with more weapons platforms, as to reduce sheer numbers (hundreds as opposed to thousands late game).
Clearly there are a lot of people out there that really like this game, and my thoughts on performance are probably not the majority, so I am not holding out for my wishes to be granted. However, I do want to give some constructive feedback on how I feel about this game, and why I struggle to get into it.
I do think it has the potential to be an amazing title, and capture a wider audience, if there was a heavier focus on some of the things I have mentioned.
The game runs a tad slower because there's so much more going on and the game is not cheating the simulation aspect. You really can't compare any turn-based game vs. Distant Worlds and have a legitimate performance argument. That is wholy unrealistic as is comparing Distant Worlds to Supreme Ruler <== terrible game.
I have no issues with performance even with the largest galaxies and max aliens. But that might be because I have my rig I overclocked to 4.9 GHz with 16 Gig of RAM. This game for the most part is single-threaded, so higher core clock speed is better. But the most important aspect to remember is the amount of stuff going on that isn't fudged.
That being said, there is a graphic performance issue with fleet stances and the irony is... another game does the exact same thing when you have a simple overlay on: Ship Simulator Extremes - when you turn on the radar overlays the graphics just slow to a crawl.
Now I do think Pipewrench was a little trigger-happy, but he's a great guy and wants to protect this series. I have a feeling the next expansion is going to do a lot for everyone beyond the added content. 
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Help me get into this game - 
I had a 512mg single core 1800 playing DW + ROTS and it was just as 'clunky' as it is now on a 4gig dual core 2.20 playing DW+ROTS+L, only thing thats changed is the map sizes, I can play on the bigger maps but with the new build, so I could play Legends as well, there really is no improvement with the general operation of the program, think its what ever DW is coded in so yes processor speed would help but that would still boil down and point to the general execution of what ever DW was written in not being up to par, so unless the one man band that is Codeforce decides to rewrite DW from the bottom up with a new OS were stuck with it 
The general interface for the game is not up there with GCII and I dont think it will get better in the way that screens open or the general way the GUI works, but the developer has worked closely with the community and its general usage has vastly improved. The gameplay is there in spades and once you get into it you learn to live with the short comings of the interface. 
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