I wonder ...

BulMaster · June 15, 2003, 12:37

what sort of FUTURE config will one need to run civ3 smothly.Since i'm of the very inpatient type i can't finish most of the games cause those 5min turns are killing me!!! like if you make the calculation you can make only 12 turns an hour and this only if your turn last milliseconds so let's say 10turns an hour. Frustrasting isnt it?

So how much future ram and futur CPU speed will we need? like my 900Mhz and 256 MB ram apears to be very not enough!!!! Can someone explain also why when the AI's turn is over and my pop ups appear i have to wait 2 min before i take control of my civ?

bobbo008 · June 15, 2003, 12:51

when i got a new computer, i specifically got 512 of RAM for this game, instead of a 100 GB larger harddrive. now i only have about 2-3 minute waits :|

when i had 92 MB, it was getting to be 15 min...

i feel for you and would also like an answer

BulMaster · June 15, 2003, 13:37

So will someone be kind enought to enlighten us on the matter

Thirgaral · June 15, 2003, 14:42

Quote:

Can someone explain also why when the AI's turn is over and my pop ups appear i have to wait 2 min before i take control of my civ?

Yeah...why is the longest waiting time after the AI's turn?? anyone know??

Patroklos · June 15, 2003, 15:01

I just bought a new comp (Dell has some great deals, btw), and one of my main buying considerations were those 10min turns I was getting during civ. So, I cut the bull and got 1GB of ram with my 2.6GHz system. gives instant turns for early games, but I had to head off to OCS before I got far into a game (feel lucky I spent some valuable weekend time on your question

).

I think the longest wait is the pop up because it is resetting everyting for the human player

Panag · June 15, 2003, 15:05

hi ,

get more ram , shut down all the programs you dont need , clean out your harddrive , the bigger c or d , the faster the comp , defrag , etc , .....

most firewall and security software causes a slowdown , close your internet connection , you dont need it when playing in SP , .....

have a nice day

edit ; typo

Thirgaral · June 15, 2003, 15:18

panag...how many times have you posted that very post?? must be like ten by now

Quote:

close your internet connection , you need it when playing

why should I close it if I need it when playing??

Panag · June 15, 2003, 15:25

Quote:

Originally posted by Thirgaral
panag...how many times have you posted that very post?? must be like ten by now

why should I close it if I need it when playing??

hi ,

how many posts by people who slow the comp down by themselfs yet complain about it , ......

how many posts of people asking what they can do in order to have a faster play , .....

how many people complaining about that the game does not work when they dont have a comp that meets the minimum requirements that are writen on the back of the game box , .....

btw , apolytons FAQ is also intresting to read

have a nice day

BulMaster · June 15, 2003, 16:37

hehe panag

like why don't they make Civ run i dos this way i will shut down windows besides the crapy stuff about closing the programs i suggest don't botter except for some ofcourse.

CrONoS · June 15, 2003, 16:42

hey I got a AMD 1.1ghz, 512 ram! Just turn off Friendly/Enemy Animation and it only take 30 sec ton complete the turn.

On my computer, 30sec to 1 min by turn maximum in the modern era.

See ya

alva · June 15, 2003, 17:24

Quote:

Yeah...why is the longest waiting time after the AI's turn?? anyone know??

Improvements are build and thus the (possible) change in trade routes has to calculated (think: settling a city), things such as harbors can change a lot.

dexters · June 15, 2003, 18:42

Huge map, continents, 60 or 70% water, my wait was 2 to 3 minutes. I hit the higher scale when there is a war. 2 minutes is its quiet.

And believe it or not, my system is P III 450 MHZ, 512 RAM.

It's an old system though and the HARDDRIVE is slowing down.

alva · June 15, 2003, 19:29

How many civs? Which is the deciding factor btw.

dexters · June 15, 2003, 19:58

I play 16 civs.

Interestingly enough, my current game, also huge map with 16 civs, but on PANGEA loads much faster (from saves) and is faster between turns (1 to 2 minutes max, usually much less). I MAY have set the landmass smaller with more water. I can't be sure.

But I'm still trying to figure out what made the difference between my continents games and my current pangea game

Kaos XIII · June 15, 2003, 20:05

Hi!

I've found that difficulty level also determines the IBT length. The higher you are, the more the AI seems to be "thinking", or "calculating." I recently went to cheiftain for a "relaxed game" and found the wait, very minimal compared to Monarchy/ Emperor.

alva · June 15, 2003, 20:34

Dificulty has nothing to do with it, The AI is the same on chieftain as it is on deity.
-

Quote:

But I'm still trying to figure out what made the difference between my continents games and my current pangea game

Best guess and probably right - pathfinding -

dexters · June 15, 2003, 20:56

You're saying 16 civs sharing on landmass offer less pathfinding load than sharing 2 continents?

With so many Civs crammed into one continent and the AI's habit of sometimes parking units right in the middle of their roads, my recent pangea game actually revealed for the first time that the autopathfinding abiliy of the game is not perfect, which I always assumed it was.

I'd try to move a unit from point A to point B, with a lot of the way through enemy territory, and the unit would maybe move halfway and simply refuse to move further. I'd move him manually and find that while the pathfinding system wants to go in X direction, there is some stupid ass unit in the way and the pathfinding system just doesn't know how to deal with it.

On the same token, the system would tell me that it would take say 2 turns to move my cavalry from my fully RRed empire to the war front, again, going through significant foreign territory. But surprise surprise, If I move my units in two parts, taking an alternate route based on what I think is best I can get to the same location in 1 turn. It's very strange.

Anyways, I kinda got of topic. Let me know how pathfinding is different if I'm on continents vs. pangea. From my experience, the latter seems more complicated whereas on Continents you usually have 8 civs on each landmass and its usually a simple north-south / east-west spread of Civs and there's not a lot of clutter in betten.

Quote:

Dificulty has nothing to do with it, The AI is the same on chieftain as it is on deity.

Actually it may have something to do with it. In Chieftain there are fewer units for AI to deal with. Actually, thinking about it, this may by why my pangea game is quicker. Smaller total landmass (at least it feels that way for me) means that the AI has a smaller empire and therefore fewer units. The Game's #2, Japan, has about 88 infantry and 34 cavalry. Whereas my last continents game, 88 infantry and 34 cavs would mean the #5 spot and the higher tier civs could easily have 120+ infantry plus offensive units.

BulMaster · June 16, 2003, 05:58

the ottomans i my game have 255 infantries now this was the number i could remember

not to mention all the rest. Thing that bother's me is that the AI wake all it's units pay attention to a city at each turn you will see the unites awakes and fortifies again, that's stupid i will try to turn the animation off don't tell me they still run even when there is a fog of war?

Solomwi · June 16, 2003, 06:00

Wait until you try to move a unit through another civs territory, with whom you have ROP and who has his empire partially railroaded. I did this once, using go-to, and found the only two zero movement paths were blocked. Now, does the pathfinder recognize this and give up two thrids of a movement point to take the road around one of the blocks? Nope, it simply bounces my unit back and forth between the two blocking units ad infinitum. Being that it's railroaded, said unit loses no movement points, ever, and would still be bouncing back and forth if not for Ctrl-Alt-Del. It may not be a crash, but it's just as good as one.

BulMaster · June 16, 2003, 11:31

we can only hope they will take the performance issue in consideration for the next exp

otherwise we have to buy allien ware computer

Carver · June 16, 2003, 12:54

Quote:

Originally posted by Solomwi
it simply bounces my unit back and forth between the two blocking units ad infinitum. Being that it's railroaded, said unit loses no movement points, ever, and would still be bouncing back and forth if not for Ctrl-Alt-Del. It may not be a crash, but it's just as good as one.

Now that's crazy.

Also, the pathfinder will not avoid enemy units taking ZOC pot shots at you when doing so would cause no loss in movement points.

alva · June 16, 2003, 16:24

Quote:

Also, the pathfinder will not avoid enemy units taking ZOC pot shots at you when doing so would cause no loss in movement points.

That IS annoying.

There is a small error too when leaving and returning to RR too, the cursor will indicate you can reach a cretain tile while in fact you can't.

Pathfinding has a couple of minor errors, but all in all it is pretty good.

Panag · June 16, 2003, 19:49

Quote:

Originally posted by alva

Quote:

Also, the pathfinder will not avoid enemy units taking ZOC pot shots at you when doing so would cause no loss in movement points.

That IS annoying.

There is a small error too when leaving and returning to RR too, the cursor will indicate you can reach a cretain tile while in fact you can't.

Pathfinding has a couple of minor errors, but all in all it is pretty good.

hi ,

has this been reported allready to Firaxis , ....

have a nice day

Alex · June 17, 2003, 10:57

yeah, the pathfinding can be a pain in the arse sometimes. I especially hate when I send a unit to a nearby city connected by road and it tries to send the unit over an un-roaded tile.

Panag · June 17, 2003, 11:07

Quote:

Originally posted by Alex
yeah, the pathfinding can be a pain in the arse sometimes. I especially hate when I send a unit to a nearby city connected by road and it tries to send the unit over an un-roaded tile.

hi ,

it tends to do that if there is no difference in number of moves , .....

have a nice day

Rhothaerill · June 17, 2003, 12:28

Quote:

Originally posted by panag
it tends to do that if there is no difference in number of moves , .....

It does indeed do that. It has to do with pathing toward what the AI perceives as the shortest distance between two points. If you're on a road with 2/3 of your movement points used up and need to get to "Point A" which is two road tiles away, the AI will occasionally recommend using that last 1/3 movement to travel onto a mountain next to the tile you want to get to, rather than going to the road tile that is also next to the tile you want to get to. I want maximum flexibility out of my movement points so I always try to make sure that a path doesn't cross an unroaded tile. If it does then I will manually run the unit along the path I want it to go.

Jon Shafer · June 18, 2003, 00:26

Play on smaller maps...

Rhothaerill · June 18, 2003, 00:29

That would work. I just have this insane masochism to play large and huge maps.

I'm learning though.

Dr. A. Cula · June 18, 2003, 02:36

Re: waiting time between AI turn and human player

This may be caused by a slow hard disk, when auto-saving the game. My system has a 900 Mhz processor and 256 MB memory, but a veeeeeeerrryy slow hard disk. If you experience long delays when saving the game manually (especially true on huge maps in the late game, in my experience), then there lies your problem.

Re: infinite movement

I haven't seen this in Civ3. I thought this was fixed since Civ2. At least in my copy of Civ2 ToT is.

BulMaster · June 18, 2003, 05:58

I lova panag msgs always hi .... have a nice day I used to s
ay regards at the end but lost thebait maybe i should restart! Yeah i have that bad habit of playing huge maps also. somehow the standart is to small for me

. somehow i was hoping that rr shal no longer be a way to cross the map it's insane to me but off topic here. Since i had not nerves to wait for my turn i started a new game

This time huge map, 8 civ and no animations everything turned off and i'm in the medieval now and it runs well for now that is