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SunStorm View Drop Down
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Points: 979 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18 Mar 2012 at 19:41
Jim - I have also contemplated this in the past.  I would LOVE this feature, but there are too many issues that can occur.  This is problematic because:

  • What if everyone sets an attack at a delayed time (as you are proposing), and then after you have gone to bed the leadership changes their mind... Your units will still go as told.
  • What if you set a time to attack, and an enemy attacks you and destroys that army?  (What if the army destroyed was the siege that was being sent which everyone else was coordinating to defend.  Would those units be "locked away" during this time - preventing them from attacking or being attacked?
  • What if extra time is added to the units (making them move slower as Ander suggests), but then a new target comes along and you need those troops back at home quicker... They will be stuck traveling at that slower speed.

There are many issues (more than I can think of at this time) which could gum up the works; however, some of these issues can be sidestepped if the Dev's develop an intercepting messenger unit (this messenger could even be used to "un-lock" those units awaiting departure).

Perhaps being a devoted nerd is the best.  Although I do like the idea, coordinated attacks will add honor and respect to the alliance that can pull them off rather than the alliance that can simply set in an "attack by" date/time.
"Side? I am on nobody's side because nobody is on my side" ~LoTR
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Points: 1269 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18 Mar 2012 at 15:16
A "delay by x hours" to make the units move slow, x being less than 24 seems a good option.

coordinated attacks could thus become a part of strategy rather than a display of nerdiness and a criss cross of sitter accounts. 

Also you wouldn't be able to figure out the race of diplo units from their speed.
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dunnoob View Drop Down
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Points: 800 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18 Mar 2012 at 14:28
Originally posted by JimJams JimJams wrote:


There is also no reason to make ETA calculation hard. Having people forced to use out of game tools to do calculation is stupid, makes the game less fun, don't add any value to it.

It's okay for troops and diplos, I abuse the "recall" feature to get a cheap ETA calculator.  Sadly this does not work for empty (= harvesting) vans, and the "send van" form is a major disgrace.   
 
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We need the ability to set/change the time of arrival of our units.

Very good idea.  A "delayed launch" (0..20000 minutes) timer in the style of the existing occupy timer could do the trick.
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JimJams View Drop Down
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Points: 496 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: 18 Mar 2012 at 09:55
You can be surprised, but I usually sleep every night. You too? Good!

This proposal is about units movement, any unit.

AS IS
Actually we can launch a unit at any moment. We have limited way to know the ETA (Estimated Time of Arrival) of the unit, but it is easy to calculate it using distance and velocity.
Coordinated attacks are not so hard to do, all we need is have all the people doing some calculation and launch their units at the appropriate start time.
But people are spread in the game map and spread on the real world map, so some of them need to wake up in the heart of the night to launch their units.
So, actually, a coordinated attack is not the demonstration of great ability, but only say how much nerd players you have.

TO BE
I don't want to wake up in the night to launch my units.
There is also no reason to make ETA calculation hard. Having people forced to use out of game tools to do calculation is stupid, makes the game less fun, don't add any value to it.
We need the ability to set/change the time of arrival of our units. The program could delay the real start (and we could be able to cancel the order until it start) OR start immediately using an appropriate reduced speed (I like this second option more because it adds also some nice tactic effect to the game).
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