View Issue Details

IDProjectCategoryLast Update
0005415AI War 1 / ClassicSuggestion - Interface Ideas - Game and Menu ControlsFeb 14, 2013 1:06 pm
Reportermoriarty Assigned Tokeith.lamothe  
Status closedResolutionnot fixable 
Product Version5.000 
Summary0005415: Game speed slows /everything/
DescriptionI consider this a bug, but you may not.
Using 5.000Trial, if I slow the game down, not only does it slow the game down, it also slows down the interface and in fact everything except the mouse cursor.
This makes the game effectively unplayable below about -3/-4 or so as zooming, etc become horribly laggy.
Amusingly enough, when you get to -8 or so, when you then try and adjust the game speed, it takes a noticeable amount of time before the adjustment takes effect.

In short - game speed should only affect game speed, it shouldn't affect the interface or interaction. These limitations even happen when the game is paused.
TagsNo tags attached.
Internal WeightPolish Tweak

Relationships

related to 0010676 new Scroll rate independant of game speed? 
related to 0010719 new Increase minimum game speed from -10 to -5 due to UI issues 

Activities

TechSY730

Jan 15, 2012 4:21 pm

reporter   ~0018019

IMO, "On the field" animations (explosions, shot animations, ship animations, etc) should be slowed or sped up accordingly, as after all, you are speeding up or slowing down the "universe" relative to you, and the explosions and stuff are logically part of that universe.

Everything else, I can confirm though. Scrolling, panning the camera, UI responsiveness, UI animations (as opposed to explosions and shot animations and stuff) all get affected by "game" speed.

Just as a note, this is a LONG standing issue. It was around even in the 3.0 days (before the port to the Unity engine), and probably even earlier than that, and continues to be an issue in 5.020.

Chris_McElligottPark

Jan 16, 2012 8:18 am

administrator   ~0018025

Right. The way we are doing the speed shifting, it literally affects the framerate as well as thus the input polling. There's no way around that. This feature is included as a convenience, not a core gameplay element. If you want battles running slower you should adjust the combat style -- this is just for moments of slow-mo and it comes with the unavoidable list of side effects mentioned.

Chris_McElligottPark

Jan 16, 2012 8:19 am

administrator   ~0018026

Side note: this "bug" did not exist in the 3.0 versions prior to the unity port. Neither did the feature. Prior to unity we could speed up gameplay only, never slow it down. With unity we noticed we could do this sort of slow mo, and decided to add it in case anyone thought it was useful.

Hearteater

Jan 16, 2012 10:19 am

reporter   ~0018028

Just a note, especially for any new players, the "combat style" referred to here is the overall game speed you can set during map setup and not the personal play style of the individual. The three speeds are Epic, Normal and Blitz and found under the Game Options tab during setup. If you find yourself playing at negative speeds a lot, try Epic speed instead.

moriarty

Jan 17, 2012 5:31 pm

reporter   ~0018032

I did see that setting, but I don't want to slow the entire game down all the time - it already takes far far too long to destroy AI facilities early game - I just want to slow it down when things are hectic and speed them up when they're slow. I already do that in other games, and due to it's nature I expect to do it much more in AI war than most other games.

Chris_McElligottPark

Jan 17, 2012 6:17 pm

administrator   ~0018033

That's where increasing the speed comes in -- playing on a lower setting and then increasing the speed.

Alternatively, if you need more time to think, there's pausing the game on your current speed setting, issuing a bunch of orders and looking at stuff, and then unpausing. Orders can still be issued while paused, and there are also settings that let you have it not dim the battlefield or stop the music.

Probably the second one there is your best bet. For us to do true slow-mo without it also slowing input and such, we'd have to rewrite the entire logic processing and that's just not feasible.

Issue History

Date Modified Username Field Change
Jan 15, 2012 10:15 am moriarty New Issue
Jan 15, 2012 4:21 pm TechSY730 Note Added: 0018019
Jan 16, 2012 6:49 am tigersfan Internal Weight => Polish Tweak
Jan 16, 2012 6:49 am tigersfan Assigned To => keith.lamothe
Jan 16, 2012 6:49 am tigersfan Status new => assigned
Jan 16, 2012 8:18 am Chris_McElligottPark Note Added: 0018025
Jan 16, 2012 8:18 am Chris_McElligottPark Status assigned => closed
Jan 16, 2012 8:18 am Chris_McElligottPark Resolution open => not fixable
Jan 16, 2012 8:19 am Chris_McElligottPark Note Added: 0018026
Jan 16, 2012 10:19 am Hearteater Note Added: 0018028
Jan 17, 2012 5:31 pm moriarty Note Added: 0018032
Jan 17, 2012 6:17 pm Chris_McElligottPark Note Added: 0018033
Feb 12, 2013 4:52 pm TechSY730 Relationship added related to 0010676
Feb 14, 2013 1:06 pm TechSY730 Relationship added related to 0010719