Wondering if patch for additional slow speed options would be welcomed

[DanCar]

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for your excellent work on 0ad, been having plenty of fun with it. Wondering if the community would welcome a patch to add some slower speed options. Currently there is:

http://trac.wildfiregames.com/browser/ps/trunk/binaries/data/mods/public/simulation/data/game_speeds.json?rev=13590

Adding slower speed options has the following advantages:

1) Makes it easier for newbies to figure out what is going on and to learn

2) From other game comments people like the idea not to pause but have a super slow mode

3) Some people just like a more thinking game and less of a click fest

Suggestion is to add a couple of slower speed options:

* 0.1 (super slow)

* 0.25 (slow turtle)

* Existing: 0.5 (turtle) It is only slow at beginning of game, then rapidly is too fast for some of us

I'd also like to lightly suggest a deaccelerate option, where the game speed slows down automatically as the number of units increases. No idea what this means for multiplayer.

Changing subjects:

I found this about multi-core:

http://www.wildfiregames.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=15796

<quote>

You should use multiple threads"
0 A.D. was designed when multiple cores were not yet common, and it would take too much work to program the game to get it to use multi-core processors efficiently. Still, it can be good to have multiple cores, because they may be available to other programs running while you play 0 A.D.

</quote>

A tad shocking given that arm based mini PCs that cost $80 are available with 4 cores and 8 cores are starting to be available.

http://www.cnx-software.com/2014/04/25/amlogic-stb-socs-comparison-aml8726-mx-s802-s805-and-s812/

Is multi-core is too hard still the thinking of the team?

Thanks so much!

Daniel

[Stan`]

The multicore issue you noted is mostly for testing purpose since it is more safe to work on one core than two. But in the future calculation that are thread safe will be dispatched on the different cores. After all it's still an alpha

[Radagast.]

I support additional slower simulation speeds.

In a battle you have no time at all for giving your commands. This is especially feelable as there are no commanders yet, which could stand by with decisions on the group/formation level.

As we have already several velocities, it should not have consequences for multiplayer, neither be too much hassle.

---

The multithreading is possible. The team always pays attention to that fact. Nevertheless I have to ask if you would like to debug an Alpha program which changes rapidly - when you have to pay attention to the 4th dimension: time? I've spent weeks of my life infront of a machine just because of that and I didn't like it.

Edited April 27, 2014 by Hephaestion

[sanderd17]

About the multiple speeds, I think 0.5x is slow enough (else animations start to become ugly). We might add an "active pause" in the future (where you can pause the game in single-player games, and give some new commands during the pause phase).

Still waiting for someone to implement it though.

[DanCar]

About the multiple speeds, I think 0.5x is slow enough (else animations start to become ugly). We might add an "active pause" in the future (where you can pause the game in single-player games, and give some new commands during the pause phase).

Still waiting for someone to implement it though.

How do you define ugly? They look very good to me and with slower speed, you have time to watch and enjoy them. Anyways it is an option that people who want it will enjoy it, and those that don't want don't have to select it.

http://trac.wildfiregames.com/ticket/2499

Edited April 27, 2014 by DanCar

[thamlett]

Yeah, I like watching things slowly - especially when my ships sink other people's ships

As for the multi-core support, that would be a major improvement (it's what I have 4 cores for).

As a side note, it is kind of nice to be able to play a game while doing a virus scan or something (something I do more than most people b/c I am a IT technician)

[sanderd17]

Please follow these guidelines when submitting something: http://trac.wildfiregames.com/wiki/SubmittingPatches

[DanCar]

Please follow these guidelines when submitting something: http://trac.wildfiregames.com/wiki/SubmittingPatches

Thanks will do. Changed the milestone Alpha 16, and added "review patch" to the keywords.