Queuing Up Constructions

[Busted]

The problem: I make constructions in 4 ticks (Ter + 1st priority construction), but SLEEPING takes 9 hours (it's summer). This is wasteful. Or even worse, say I'm going out 6 and I won't be back until very late, and then I want to go to sleep. There goes a good 15 hours. I was thinking about this dilemma and for ways to solve in the next round (this is my first round so i don't know if this is exactly fitting with whatever you guys are trying to achieve, just a thought)

*my favorite*Solution 1: Queuing Construction
Explanation: You can queue up to (x: x>2 preferably) constructions. That means when one finishes, the one after that starts, and then the one after that. Possibly research will make it so that you can queue up more.

Why people would use it: Because of the situation I stated above.

Why people wouldn't use it when they didn't have to: Possibly there could be 1 to 2 ticks inbetween each queued construction, so if people COULD be next to there computer, it would be faster for them not to use it.
Another possibility in addition to that, you can cancel any construction in the queue that ISN'T the current construction or the one after it. Just a possibility for another reason people would only use it when they have to.


Second possible solution: Simultaneous construction.
Say it takes 6 ticks to construct any structure. Well if I could have 3 structures be built simultaneously, however it would take 23 ticks.
A formula could be something like
Number of Structures * Ticks for each structure = X
X + 0.25X = Number of ticks, probably with fraction. Round that up and that could be how long it will take.




These are just a couple ideas for a problem I had. Hope this helps something.

-Busted

[Sinn]

You're missing an important point though. It's supposed to be hard to be there every tick to start new constructions and such. That's what gives active players an edge over less active ones. Also, if your schedule doesnt permit you to do a construction every 4 ticks it's rather silly to waste your engineering priorities on that.

[Tactitus]

Originally Posted by Sinn

You're missing an important point though. It's supposed to be hard to be there every tick to start new constructions and such. That's what gives active players an edge over less active ones.

I think active players have several more important edges besides starting new constructions.

In any event, Busted addressed that issue by suggesting an automatic delay of a few ticks before queued constructions are started.

[Busted]

And about wasting my engineering priorities, they're only changeable every 48 hours, so when I am able to login during the day, I want to get stuff done, but then later when i'm out, I can't just change my priorities. That's why I think it's a good idea. Thank you guys for the feedback, and more people please share your ideas because this might be a legitamate change for the next round.

[wakey]

With some kind of penalty then this could perhaps be a good idea BUT I think it should be restricted to just one item in the queue, after all we do want to encourage players to be logging regularry so you dont want them to be able to queue up 20 of them and then only login every so often to add the enxt one

[Envious]

There's more to the game tho than just building constructions wakey
So people will still have to login even if constructions are queued.

'Busted' started this post on the notion of queing up constructions to take full advantage of the 4 hour speed bonuses. Somebody argued that the challenge of being there when the ticks arrive is part of the game. I considered this, and after several moments of fervent meditation- an epiphany arrived. The truth is that planetarion is a macro management game. The planetary leaders dictate their orders to the constituents- who then follow those commands to the death if need be. This sort of game play would be most enjoyed by embracing it's style.
I say that all constructions and research should be "qued" up, with some delay between the projects- that could be jumpstarted by the will of the user.
also, some random events (natural disasters, scandals, etc) may slow or halt construction pending user intervention. Others may offer accelerated results if proper user intervention is provided.

To overcome the graphical limitations of browsers (I can just see a cluttered timeline full of construction, production, research, and priority changes) I would recommend that the option to
automate these above listed areas be packaged with a software interface that would operate something like "outlook express" and distributed with paid accounts. Such software would solve questions about who is attacking/ what/ where. Have a graphical battle calc, a pa clock, real irc, screen shots. Alerts that trigger a user script -a modem to dial a pager- instant/text message, etc.

I can just see the system i would setup that results in a message being hand-delivered to me in physics class requesting my approval to take advantage of some time-sensitive opportunity.
(EX. a gravitational fluke or something that lets me dig deeper than normal safety laws permit- resulting in a faster completion)

Or maybe just start out with some pre-defined que's.

Marketing strategy:
All great military commanders played games, (washington won a major battle because the britt general wasnt to be disturbed while in a game of chess) So to say that the players of PA - experienced in many forms of combat strategy games- would be elected to be the leader of a planet is not a far stretch. But to say that those leaders must still be responsible for the management of resources or technology is a farse.
That is where PA could stand apart. The goal for the PA staff should be to setup a leadership simulation- that is so attractive to real-world leaders that they find the game a compelling demonstration board for their tactics. I wonder if Bush/Blair/Saddam could become a GC without using real-world involvement?

[wakey]

Originally Posted by Envious

There's more to the game tho than just building constructions wakey
So people will still have to login even if constructions are queued.

I know that, i was taking a bit fo an extreame view to highlight that automation does have a major problem that we dont want in this game. While some of it has good aspects for the game (pre launch for example which might lower activity and make defence harder BUT certainly keeps the flow of roids in the universe much more fluid which isnt a bad thing) somethings, this being one of them doesnt offer much in the terms of enhancing the gameplay. If you then go to far with such ideas you move closer and closer to a game that really doesnt require anyone to be around to play as it can all be handled in advance. If theres going to be a the ability to automate things like this it has to be lept to the minimum and has to have a penalty to it that only makes you wish to use it as a last resort because ultimatly it adds nothing to the gameplay but damages the community by taking it a step further towards a game where we might as well be playing computer controlled planets rather than player controlled ones

[Brimstone]

seankubin brought up an idea i've been toying with for some time, that i think could help be sold by PATeam/Jolt.

People who play planetarion often use a number of utilities; Battlecalcs, Roid Calcs, Tech/Con plans.

The idea i've been toying with is for the marketing of a "Utilities" bundle. This could be either Downloaded from the internet, or sent by a CD, and, as a random idea, would cost about the same as a credit round credit.
This bundle could include:
-a resource for storing News/Scans/Messages.
-customised mIRC with P commands pre-scripted (This has been done before, around about R4?)
-Battle Calc
-Tech/Con planner, possibly with built in calendar function (eg, plays sound 10 mins before tick)

Seankubin also mentioned an software package that directly interfaces with the game. I don't think this is a good idea, as Planetarion is meant to be a solely web-based game, and as such providing facilities that can only be utilised with software could prove to go wrong.

At least with a "utilities" bundle of som description, you can get most of it off the net already, just these could be better, official stuff...

another random thought of mine...

Brimstone

[Redleer]

hmm if everything queued then ppl just logs in when they needs to put queue up again and theyr galmates dies easier bechose no1 noticing hostiles ingal, just bechose no need to login to do anything bechose queue does everything.

(my english is bad)