Turn time limit

[Yogibear]

I would like to hear some opinions about the new turn time limit feature in wesnoth 1.1. I recently had my first game and the turn time limit was set to 90 seconds, which appeared to be ok on first glance.

While playing (1v1 on Blitz) i found that 90 seconds is awfully few time to complete your turn. On the other hand i did not notice the clock at all until it ended my turn before i intended to do it, so i missed the chance to accumulate some more time on the first turns that are rather "standard" if you know the map a little bit.
And i was using a touchpad, that doesn't really speed things up...
And i am not really known as being one of the fastest players...
And i was using slow move/fight animations which takes even more time...

Still i think it is not enough time. If you are well into the game you might have to manage 15-20 units and need to scroll around a bit and lets not forget recruiting which takes up time, too. So there is about 5 seconds for each unit.

At the end of the game we both had almost no chance to finish our turns. Even if you try to do all your thinking on the opponents turn you are hardly able to move all units.

I guess 120 or maybe even 150 seconds is a reasonable time limit for 1v1. And i am curious: What are others experiences on this?

[Hellrider]

Today i played a game with time limit of 1 minute.. it was my first game with with it.. It was a 5 players ffa and at about turn 15 i couldn't move all my units before time has ended..
That said, I prefer games with no time limit, and if i'm going to play one with time limit on, it will be with no less than 180 seconds..

At least i would like to see default time limit raised to at least 2 minutes..

[JW]

It's true that the limits can get ridiculous...

I don't think upping the minimum times is a good idea, but upping the *standard default* times would probably be a great idea.

[Mythological]

The time limit can get ridiculus. But it can be necessary too.
The idea and the purpose of the time limit is to speed up the games, especialy ones with more players and to deny the posibility of someone who is too slow or multitasking or deliberatly not moving when losing ruin the game. 90 sec per turn has always been more then enough for me...but if you play with someone who know and want a slow game you should simply play without the time limit. I still think that the limit is a good feature in wesnoth and it is only an optional thing, so if you dont like it, play without it .

[Dragonking]

For me it doesn't matter if time is limited or it isn't (of course if limit is sane).
I already played with various settings some 1v1 and 2v2 games, and usually IMO 2-4 min is a good limit (still depends on size of the map and amount of units which player can recruit).

[Yogin]

Alternative Time Systems are possible.

Here is a good website showing all the different time systems used in "GO."

http://senseis.xmp.net/?TimeSystems

FWIW, I think Japanese timing or Canadian timing are both possibilities.

Absolute timing has advantages where shorter turns: ie. defensive maneuvering and attack setup don't need to count, or count minimally against the clock, and you use up the bulk of your time executing and withdrawing from, or defending from attacks.

Canadian time is also an interesting flexible option. It would likely be similar to the above.

[Sapient]

I would like to hear some opinions about the new turn time limit feature in wesnoth 1.1. I recently had my first game and the turn time limit was set to 90 seconds, which appeared to be ok on first glance.

I disagree with the current model, which is derrived from chess. Rather than forcing a chess time model onto Wesnoth, we should reverse engineer a time limit strategy based on the time components of Wesnoth.

To do this, you must:
1) Identify all the time components (time needs and their scaling variables).
2) Merge time components with similar scaling variables
3) If there are still too many components, simplify them and merge again
4) Provide an interface that restricts these components.


Some example time needs {and their scales} are as follows:

Code: Select all

1) Time to survey the board {initial constant based upon map size, increases each turn based upon map size and number of units visible}
2) Time to move units into place {increases based upon number of units possessed}
3) Time to select an attack from the attack dialog {increases based on number of attacks made}
4) Time to view the attack animation {increases based on number of attacks made}
5) Time to recruit units {initial constant based upon starting gold, increases each turn based upon number of villages captured and gold per village}
...etc...

In the example above, items 3 and 4 would be obvious candidates for merging. To further simplify, you could merge moving and attacking.

Still, the number of units possessed is an important variable for time usage in Wesnoth. Far more important than it would be in Chess.

[toms]

If you can program it, it wouldn´t be a problem.
I´m not very long at the forum, but I learned that you can reach things easiest if you do it at your own.

[romnajin]

Yeah, but I believe you need C++ for something like that, not just WML.

[Sapient]

I know C++, and I have a computer science degree. I just haven't bothered to register on Sourcforge yet.

One of these days...

[romnajin]

I'll know C++ eventually...I'm probably going to Cal Tech, your still a little bit ahead of me though(sarcasm)