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Official: Turns Are In Thread


EternusIV
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SN is independent from Victory! The Battle for Europe games, though we have been receiving a lot more non-email turns to key in (and print and mail out), and often turns come in late in the cycle that need to be entered. I could be harsh and make them miss the turn, but hate to do that.

 

For run time, massive numbers of (in my opinion) utterly worthless screens have bloated the database considerably, causing a fairly significant slow down in normal order processing.

 

Report generation has slowed mostly because of the screen issue (requires me to compress the database several times during the industrial run and snapshot creation) and very fast ships running circular convoy routes many times. I have been determined to let players solve the screen issue on their own as I really don't want to step in and take direct measures if I can help it - if the database bloats too much, it has the final say....but I still hold out hope that players will solve that issue on their own. Those who have figured out how to ignore screens know what I mean, but it takes time for more players to obtain the necessary technology.

 

Well, until someone tells us why screens are useless and how to ignore screens, then for most of the players screens are damn valuable. And the research route to this way to get around the screens is not obvious. So this problem is only going to get worse and worse. I suggest one of the wise wonders out there that has discovered the magic spill the beans.

 

You state you are already compressing the database several times each run. MS Acceses has limitations on performance and database size. Having managed such an application in a company, I can tell you doing such multiple compressions is a warning sign for MS Access. You may be getting close to the point where the database will lock up and nothing can be done as the damn system will not be able to secure the memory it needs even to delete data. At that point the database is dead. About the only thing you can do is import the various tables into a new database, one at a time, and clean them up as you do so. Then once all tables are in you import in all the code, queries, report layouts, etcetera... piece by piece. An exceedingly long and painful process. I know.

 

My bets are on a crappy Microsoft Access, which is not really a RDBMS :cheers:

 

I guess easiest port might be to Microsoft SQL server, but that is even one of the most expensive ones nowadays (even more :cheers: )

 

When we "upgraded" an old MS Access app, we converted the database / tables over to Oracle running on a Unix server. Queries and database calls were compiled and stored within the Oracle server, and then accessed by the various retuned screens and reports which were left in access. The data manipulation and storage was handled on the Unix server, and with Oracle produced great speed. Leaving the MS access front end (compiled) kept the application in the format the users liked without having to spring for another front-end type tool.

 

Of course, any database change will take quite a lot of time for Pete to accomplish. It's not simple. And the product costs can be quite annoying.

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You know , hobnob , you need to look at things in the context as they were written , and what Pete wrote...while I know you have played a pbm game or two , so have I.....you have gotten pretty stodgy in what you write , and if you were to read what Pete wrote , then you wallow in false security with your screens....don't like a newbie to this particular game to tell you that?....If you had played in Paul's SN II in Holland , Michael and I would have wiped Draconis / Orion with your carcass...like what I think about you? Now do something about it....be constructive and offer some suggestions as to what to do about this game.....it is obvious if you had read what Pete wrote that eventually the database is going to become so bloated that it is going to take longer and longer to run a turn....right now turns go from Thursday to Saturday to process...in another 6 months , with the bigger empires adding thousands of screens per turn , what is now 3 days is going to become 4 days...it does not take a genius to figure that out , but it seems that fact has completely gone past you. Also , if you did not read what Pete wrote , once the database does start to creek and no longer move , then Pete will have no choice but to do something about those thousands , probably hundreds of thousands of screens out there....then what are you going to do...tell him he can't do that , and in a fit of anger quit after 5-6 years of playing the game....can't you see the writing on the wall?

 

 

Ok, I see your point, you like to argue. My point was that if the game is so stressed that only a game breaking rule change could fix it, then it is high time to roll out SN4 along with all the fixes. There comes a point where the cure is so painful it actually kills the patient/project rather than fix things. I believe that most all of the suggestions posted thus far that are process changes are of this type. Migrating databases and getting faster better machines are all good since nothing we see would change, but are also expensive and have there own problems. We are too entrenched in the current system to effectively change things this dramatically.

 

I too played in 3 or 4 SN regions starting with Centari I think. Nobody ever "wiped me out" that I recall. As a matter of fact I did quite well until I was forced to retire due to funding and other college issues.

 

And for what it's worth. If I were to start a new position tomorrow I would adopt screens as the best defense for the first 4+ years of the game. so for all the newer folks out there, screens are still a viable option, at least until somebody proves that they are not. We are all waiting for the first post of a major battle that proves this point, but even then it will only matter to you when your current enemy shows up with the anti screen strategy in place.

 

Now off to look at turns.

 

Good Luck All

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You seem to be relatively dense.....let me make it simple .....NO......you play a position with 2 years of turns more than my position...even though I doubt you play an optimum game , 2 years of research and 48 turns would not be possible for me to overcome.....so , if you want me , send your ships out using the normal procedures

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You seem to be relatively dense.....let me make it simple .....NO......you play a position with 2 years of turns more than my position...even though I doubt you play an optimum game , 2 years of research and 48 turns would not be possible for me to overcome.....so , if you want me , send your ships out using the normal procedures

 

But that is alot of orders :blink:

If you were really that upset with Pete you would want to deny him all that income :blink:

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Did I anywhere say I would give out my mapping info...don't think so...anyway , all I want RTG to do is to fix the game , and to do that , they might need the income.....

 

So you are treating this like a fund raiser.

Get people to come after you. Thereby spending more money so Pete has income to fix the game :blink:

You are a sneaky one. :blink:

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