Update 3 Information

Post by **Balthagor** » Oct 05 2005

Anyone else got update 3 comments? Bergsjager certainly seems to like it

I'll be interested to see if the economic model changes allow for the length of games ppl where asking for.

foo · Post by **foo** » Oct 05 2005

Can I use update 3 on previously saved games?

What if those games have AI economies that have gone ballistic, i.e. developed all techs upto 150, and listed as $,000,000 M in the regional atlas?

I'm still slogging thru Africa as the evil (but fun loving) dictator from South Africa. Cameroon's economy has gone ballistic and they're next on the conquer list. Can update 3 handle that? If I conquer them (if possible with and army of 15M, it might take awhile...) will that screw up my economy when I get the bonus from invading their capital city? Should I put off Cameroon to conquer last? This is my third attempt and I'm getting tired of attacking Namibian Federation and Angola Republic, so I'd like to get on with the rest of continent.

What's your advice on playing this save game with update 3?

(btw, I've made it to 2027 with gdp/c roughly at where it started, so inflation shouldn't be an issue...)

Post by **Balthagor** » Oct 05 2005

Using the savegame should not cause any problems. I won't crash or corrupt the program. However, the economy is a lost cause, it will remain "ballistic".

bergsjaeger · Post by **bergsjaeger** » Oct 05 2005

well been waiting for this update for awhile. And yes i like it. As advice do not declare war on the AI if ur not ready for a fight.

course i did just to c if they would do anything different. They certainly did. I like the elements added to the airforce too. Now my F-22's can control the skies and my FB-22's blow everything on the ground away.
I haven't tested everything with the patch yet. Maybe a new experience.

ozmono2005 · Post by **ozmono2005** » Oct 05 2005

I'm downloading as we speak but before I transfer the files onto my computer via cd I've got to finish a larger download, but it sounds grreat and I can't wait to test out this AI!

I think if the AI's giving you a hard time Berg, I may just be testing out the Georgia scenerio a little more

swatter555 · Post by **swatter555** » Oct 05 2005

I played the heck out of it last night, on the world map. There are alot of changes to the economy, but I like it for the most part. Im sure most of my complaints about the economy have the do with the World scenario needing an overhaul, but I can deal with it.

One thing I noticed is its easier to maintain a positive GNP growth, probably a shade too easy, but better than it was. One thing I did notice was the price of oil was sky rocketing, I mean way beyond the point of sensibility. A thousand dollars a barrel is a bit much and made the Middle East and South America stupidly rich. The regional debt was removed from the scenario and as a result the regions had more money to trade with, which is good.

One negative thing I do have to report is the game speed. I take the World scenario and delete all the units from the map, to speed up early game progress. Even with this, the game has slowed down to 40-50 seconds a day in about 18 months. Mind you, I have a gig of RAM and a 3.4 ghz processor.

The AI just needs to build less units, that would solve the speed issues. Having a 4-5 (multiplied by 8 ) million man army at the battalion level is just way beyond the engines ability to cope. The AI needs to limit itself to about 1-1.5 million man army. Until the AI is limited in the number of units it produces... or until I get 2 gig more of RAM and a 10ghz processor, the world scenario will be broke.

Those are some intial reactions, I will post more later.

bergsjaeger · Post by **bergsjaeger** » Oct 05 2005

Oh the Ai isn't giving me a hard time Oz. But if u want we can have a MP game to c if ur like the new AI.

Post by **Balthagor** » Oct 05 2005

swatter555 wrote:.. One thing I did notice was the price of oil was sky rocketing...

The decision was made to have petroleum in a shortage situation. The map does not produce as much petroleum as the players need (only about 70% of the map wide demand). We have ideas both for reducing the amount of unit construction the AI does, and to have it pursue alternate fuel sources more aggressivly but it is good to know that the map is an improvement. We will also continue to work at performance imporvments.

Post by **George Geczy** » Oct 06 2005

For performance improvements on the World Map, try turning off the unit pathing display option (toggled by Shift-P). This drain on performance was noticed too late to be fixed for Update 3, but it is high on the list for future improvements; for now it's one of the tips mentioned in the readme file.

-- George.

swatter555 · Post by **swatter555** » Oct 06 2005

George Geczy wrote:For performance improvements on the World Map, try turning off the unit pathing display option (toggled by Shift-P). This drain on performance was noticed too late to be fixed for Update 3, but it is high on the list for future improvements; for now it's one of the tips mentioned in the readme file.

-- George.

Umm... its not the unit paths that is slowing my game down, its the ten bazillion units on the map. Nonetheless, I went and did as you asked, but it made no difference.

Unless you cut down on the number of calculations being done during a day cycle, I doubt you will improve game speed on this map. Like I said, unit limits are my suggestion.

geminif4ucorsair · Post by **geminif4ucorsair** » Oct 06 2005

Balthagor wrote:Are you trying to start a riot here?

BTW, I'm sure this will get a few ppl confused first time this happens; Units you buy/get from the World Market offers are put into reserves now instead of deployed.

This is great - and, THANKS for Update 3. Newsletter update notice!

M1911 · Post by **M1911** » Oct 06 2005

Thanks for a great update!

The optimizations have definitely made a difference for my machine (1.5 Ghz 256 Mg RAM). The World map ran like a slideshow before. It's still a bit slow, but playable now. I also had to give up on my Russian campaign before the update because it would slow down and then eventually crash on me after a few minutes of play. I fired up my old save last night and it ran fine.

I can't comment on the economic changes because my simultaneous war against St. Petersburg, Kirov, and Volgograd with insufficient oil reserves had thrown my economy in the cr*pper before the update (thank Stalin for Communism and 100% military approval). Now that I was able to play again, eliminate St Petersburg, and move on Kirov's oilfields, I may be able to turn that around and see how the economy handles.

I really like the changes in missile loading. It's made it a lot easier to make sure that your aircraft are carrying the appropriate missiles for the mission.

What form do military advisors take in the game? The WM sent a bunch to Western and Central Siberia. Are they just free troops of a different nationality, or something else?

Post by **Balthagor** » Oct 06 2005

Glad you're enjoying it, the missile loading feature is certainly one we are proud of

What form do military advisors take in the game?

Do you mean the status lines telling you the WM offered something to another region? Most of those are units, sometimes money, technologies or products (got 4 billion in petrol once

)

M1911 · Post by **M1911** » Oct 06 2005

Yup. I saw some warnings that these regions had received military advisors and was wondering what I would run into.

Geez! I can only hope the WM takes pity on me and sends some oil. A few billion dollars worth would get my tanks rolling again.

The_Blind_One · Post by **The_Blind_One** » Oct 07 2005

Hey did u guys fix the issue with the WM dishing out entire armies yet?

Maybe a thought for update 4 to allow us to disable the WM from giving units

?