Faster game speeds

I'm still a newbie here...so my post is probably uneducated, so forgive me if I've mistaken what you are saying.

1st: One of the first things I did after playing a quick tutorial game was decrease the rates down to "slow"...thinking I could give myself more time...besides I'm all for EPIC games such as CIV IV (all-time favorite, nearly flawless game) or GAL CIV 2 (decent enough game and well supported). I'm now realizing after several games that the "slow" option just doesn't match the mechanics of the game very well...so perhaps I'll bump that up. I'm curious to see what speeds other people use.

2nd: Perhaps I'm misinterpreting the statement of:
>>I would like to see even faster overall game speeds than the ones offered presently<<
I assume you are referring to the "+" and "-" functions for game speed? Personally, I've felt that 2X is usually plenty fast enough for most of the game and the next one up is fine for those "dull" periods. I'm just curious how much faster you would want it?

3rd: you write
>>It seems that several complaints have come from the fact that a good deal of a typical Sins game is spent waiting for resources to accrue or ships to cross a gravity well.<<
I think I would be one of those with this complaint. Not so much about the speed in general, but the relative speeds. I can make a ship faster than I can destroy it. I can make a massive structure faster than I can cross a gravity well. I could rebuild an empire in the time it takes for a large...evenly matched battle to occur. These are things that CANNOT be fixed by the simple global increase in game speed you proposed.

It is very possible that SINS is not "the game for me" and I should just stick to great turn based games (SO many hours spent on Heroes of Might and Magic III online..or X-com..classic!) I'm still enjoying SINS..but I can see the excitement curve dropping fairly quickly and the randomness/strategies for victory are fairly limited...so "replayability" is diminished a bit.

Thanks Joe, to address your points:
2) Yes, under the game options screen when you start up a new game, the game speeds choices found therein. Not being very familiar with PC game mechanics, its hard to say exactly "how much" faster I would want it, however a further option or even two beyond the "fast" rating I would be pleased with. Since it's an option, should it even be too fast, I'll scale it back to my comfort level. Key word here is that we would have the "option" of faster speeds, no need to hardcode it to be faster for everyone.

3)Interesting perspective, however I might argue this is an example of necessary suspension of belief required of the player in order for the game to succeed. The fact that games can be won, empires can fall, fleets be destroyed, speaks toward the present balance established by the devs between construction and destruction. Otherwise games might fall into a perpetual cycle of cat-and-mouse (get destroyed, build anew, get destroyed, build anew...).

Hmmm...I think I may have misinterpretted your original post. I thought you were actually talking about "speed of game" (ie it runs at 2X, 4X..etc by hitting "+" and "-" buttons) not "Speed of research/economy/metal/crystal" (settings of slow, normal, fast).

The option you are asking for is for faster economy based items. To me that is just seems like it is turning into a frantic continuous building cycle. If you have nearly unlimited funds that you don't have to "work" for it eliminates 2 of the 4X (eXpand and eXploit) turning into (eXplore and eXterminate).



Ironic you should say that...because I was trying to say that the current mechanics ARE a cat-and-mouse cycle on the small scale. Of course if you have overwhelming numbers the mouse is dead instantly.

If the production time takes only a fraction the battle time (very unrealistic, as previously stated) the "balance" is severely disrupted. I can "suspend my belief" on many things...especially if it makes the game more balanced...but in this case you are asking me to "suspend my disbelief" so that the game can remain unbalanced. This negates the ability of running sabatoge missions...a key element of any good strategy game.

To me the game has just seemed like "build big army...go destroy everyone". Much less "strategy" than typical turned based 4X games. Perhaps that is just a trade off one has to live with when trying to go to RTS from turn-based.

I must say, I completely agree with you, CWO109. I typically play large maps, but even with the extra planets, it sometimes seems like I could actually go get the groceries.    I would also like it if they had a numerical representation of how much faster the game is going - i.e. "2x" or "8x" as compared to "normal" and "fast" - as well as maybe make the speed modifier like a slider bar from "1/4x" to like "8x" instead of the simple "slow", "normal", "fast" options, or at least something of the like.  :NOTSURE: 

They do have this - Game speed is alterable, it has been said two times already by Joe so I'm not going to repeat it. Not to mention it's in the patch notes for 1.02 and the developers have talked about it as well.

That's news to me...

With games, as with movies you have to suspend any rational idea of what's going on. We're talking about alien races, ships that shoot and don't manuever much (except strikecraft), super futuristic humans etc. The simple idea that there is a a single space ship pretty much goes against everything we have now.

I did manage to take a shower while 5 caps took out a 6k planet. I clicked a few offered CF's from the AI before heading out. With only 3bar ships at my chokepoint I was suprised I didn't get invaded. Might have had something to do with the 10k bounty I put on the fella who owned the planet 1 spot out of the chokepoint hmm?

During the beginning of the game I don't do to much waiting around. I intensely micro manage to squeeze every point out of my ships. Every time a scout hits a planet I check out if it'll make it to the other side of the planet before it goes poof. Stuff like that. I figure since I have low net worth, every cred is worth more and worthy of management.

Why not just increase game speed? Unless you taking REALLY quick shower, if you max out game speed there I suspect it would take much less time.

Again if you missed it in previous the hotkey is "+" to go faster and "-" to go slower.

Thanks.

Multiplayer?

Anyway, personally I wish there was more to do in that time, ie more complexity to resources and more customisation of ships, I mean if you think of the options something like civ4 offered, it justifies the speed, whereas sometimes with SoaSE you end up bored: sad but true.

Well Taak...

The post I was responding too (see quote in my post) was clearly a single player situation.

But as I have written in the past SINS is a bit boring at times...I totally agree. Trying to meld 4X and RTS = semi-dissatisfied players from both sides.

I think SINS has a good "base" for the RTS players (not my cup of tea really)..but lacks at least 2 of the "X's" in 4X that lead to a compelling game you can play over and over again.

I'm enjoying the game..and I think there are plenty of ideas on the board to make it better in future expansions/incarnations.

Does the + button go faster than "fastest" in the options when setting up a game? Cuz I always set it to fastest speed for everything. I thought that was the limit.

I wasn't complaining about speed, just recognizing how some people could see that as "slow". There were plenty of things I could have done to increase my position during that time. It was closing in on my time to leave the house so instead I built up a choke point. I then took the shower while I nuked the guy It was quick..problably about 8 minutes and when I got back the planet was just being destroyed. The Caps were all level 3-7 so not maxed out either.

As I said, the speed complaints are largly from early game that I've seen. I over-micro in the early stages to maximize utility since each cred is worth a higher percentage of my overall net worth.

Oh yeah...I play in windowed mode. So It's no biggy to flip to my explorer and hit my email or read something.

Maybe you guys are all too young or too fast for the game?!

I agree, it could be a little faster in early game phase when you have to manage 1 fleet and a few planets. But that's true for most RTS games since you simple do not have that much resources, buildings, units (whatsoever) to manage. In Sins late game I find myself pretty much in trouble keeping the management of 30+ colonies, 6-8 different fleets fighting at all ends of the 5 star universe in line.

So my suggestion is:
Early game - go to the grocery
Late game - you hopefully bought energy drinks to keep up with the action

  

Question - when you increase ship speeds, what does it do, exactally? Increase the speed you zip around the map, or production speeds . . I am not really sure.

I find the beginning of the game a tiny bit slow, but that is when I am settling in, getting a drink, etc. By the time I am settled it seems ok, and as Extremor said, I need my energy drinks later to keep up, especailly when controling my cap ships and directing them on a 2 front war.

I use the "=" key to speed up the game at times and then the "-" key to slow it down. It seems to go plenty fast after hitting "=" once or twice. Then there's the fact you can speed up parts of the game in Options. And a 4x game is not something you sit down to play "a quick game".