Hi,
Playing my first turn based game, I would like to know when the next turn will occur if the players don’t submit their go.
I can see it’s a 24 hour period, but does it display a count down anywhere?
Also, say the game starts at 2pm, does a new turn always occur at 2pm every day regardless of how many player submitted turns, or does the 24 countdown start after the latest player submitted turn?
Thanks
I believe the turn deadline is shown in your local time right next to the ‘Submit turn’/‘Submitted’ button that shows up when you don’t have any other menus open. I’m not in a turn based game right now though and it’s been a while since I’ve played one.
The countdown starts fresh after the last player submitted turn, so it does move around a bit from the original deadline.
Thanks, nice one.
Wigglydo is right. As soon as the last player submits their turn, the 24h period starts over. Otherwise, it forces the next turn at the end of the timer. If you miss three turns in a row, you get booted from the game.
Also of note, actions are hidden during a turn, with two exceptions. Stars being abandoned and tech being traded show up instantly to all players. So there is little incentive to delay a turn except when waiting for someone to make good on a trade.
Ok that’s useful to know, thanks.
I still can’t quite get my head around the mechanics of the time system here though… does everything happen at the same speed as a regular game, but we’re just not updated as regularly?
Say I set a flight path for a carrier, and in 6 hours time the last players submits their turn - will the carrier have moved forward 6 hours?
Unless I’m just not paying attention, pay day seems to take longer than 24 hours.
Yes, production does often take longer than 24 hours, but can also take much less if everyone submits their turn.
Your confusion perhaps lies in confusing real time with game time. In a turn based game, the game is paused until everyone submits their turn, real time has no bearing except that it automatically submits turns for people that have not by the end of the deadline. Then the game will jump forward X hours when the turn is submitted. For example, in the default turn based game, it jumps forward 8 hours once the turns are all ready/submitted. However, this will take 24 hours in the default settings if someone is AFK and not submitting.
Roger… got it now =) Thanks
Also, you should only loosely consider game time in a real game, as actual time. The game works on turns called Ticks. In a standard speed real time game, one Tick is played each hour. However, it doesn’t matter when during any given hour you do things. You can switch your research and ship waypoints as much as you want during that time, because the game only calculates game progress at the Tick.
There are options for Double and Quad speed, as well as half speed games. Again, that just impacts how often a Tick occurs.
In a Turn Based game, the Ticks all happen in bursts, when either all players have submitted their turns, or when the submission timer runs out. Just like Alias said, the game will then progress X number of Ticks depending on the settings, then start the submission timer over. Turn based allow for a slower pace, as you typically won’t miss an attack because you went to sleep, but the tradeoff is that you don’t get the micromanagement of a real time game. When a player launches an attack on you, you won’t see it for the number of Ticks that take place each Turn. Where in a real time game, if you log in during the Tick after the attack is launched, you will be able to respond much faster. So in every Turn based game I’ve played, the attacking fleets have been in progress 6 Ticks before I know of the attack.
You also don’t have the ability to micromanage research and infrastructure purchases either. Say Terraforming finishes 1h (really should be Tick) after Production. I either spend at the old Terraforming prices, or lose several Ticks worth of ship building or research points, by waiting for the next full turn to make my upgrades.
One other benefit to Turn based games, they can progress at different rates depending on the people playing. You might get many turns played in a single day if everyone is checking in often and submitting their turns. On the other hand, if things get real busy, it can slow to the maximum submission times. Real time games are only flexible in that administered ones can be paused if need be. That option is there for Turn based as well.
So, pros and cons of each game type.
Wow, thanks for such a detailed reply! Great to know how the real time games differ with the turn based. I guess both have their place. I like to get obsessive with a real time game but not always possible!
Just joined another turn based game with 12 hour turns and 24 hours jumps, so I guess that means even if it times out waiting for people to submit their moves, the game would still move at double speed? That aught to be a quick game I guess.
You are right. The slowest that game can move is double a normal time game. Those are huge jumps. You can never micromanage, and most attacks are going to take place with no warning! A ship can move 8 light years in a single turn, which is Range 5. Good luck with that!
I think I should remove that 24 hour jumps option.
@PandaBear Can you report back if that game is basically unplayable because of the huge time jumps.
@JayKyburz I decided to leave this game before it had started since I posted my previous comment so won’t be able to report back I’m afraid. There is 1 slot still open but it won’t let me join because I already joined and then left (presumably this is to stop people trying to gain a better starting position?)
It’s game:
I think the whole point of this game was to get screwy with time settings so probably a novelty game. I imagine luck would play heavily here.
Please dio not delete the option of having 24 hour jumps!
For games with a 48 hour waiting deadline, 24 tick jumps are a valid option to give the game at least some speed.
And i am actually quite fond of long waits (having played PBEM and PBSnailMail in my distant past).
The game in question was/is Time Jumpers 2. It worked great. (Well not for me, I’ve been KO’ed.) But the fast pace is a lot of fun, and it’s nice not to have to watch a fleet endlessly move towards you. Boom, it’s there.