Pitboss 18 IT and Tech Issues Thread

[novice]

Ah, crap, I didn't know that, I figured there would be saves for each player's end of turn.

That's my pet peeve with pitboss, that should really be the case. But there are only autosaves when you log in. Also the autosaves overwrite old autosaves, but you can work around that by logging in with a different name.

[GermanJoey]

Thank you very much for pausing, and my apologies to everyone for inconveniencing y'all.

[Fintourist]

Aaah, I was wondering why the game is paused. Let's hope caledorn can reload soon. And great news zanth (although a huge pity that darrell is downgrading his participation)

[plako]

In principle I'm against a reload for minor misclicks and this really sounds like one. However I didn't do anything RNG related this turn so I could could easily replay in case reload is done.

[Lord Parkin]

I note Caledorn didn't play last turn, and hasn't logged into the game in 34 hours. It may still be a while before he turns up again.

It's a tricky situation because in a game of this magnitude there are a huge number of other players you're inconveniencing by requesting a reload (unless the host happens to be online and can respond immediately to your request). So you really do have to consider how serious the effects of a misclick are and how much you can just make do.

I do know a bit more about the situation, and as far as moving a unit out of a city goes the consequences are pretty badly timed. Hopefully Caledorn turns up soon and solves the issue of waiting any further.

Bear in mind though that other players in the game have missed whole turns, or had subs make unintended actions which have set back their plans. For instance, the first time I subbed for one particular player I couldn't find his meticulous 20+ advance turn plan - which turned out to be linked at another site - and consequently sent most of his Workers in the wrong direction, worked the wrong tiles, and delayed several buildings and growths by 2 turns. He kindly forgave the blunder and rewrote his plan to fit the mismoves. So other players have experienced worse and still played on.

[Old Harry]

In the Poll for pause behaviour thread I wrote this:

I've not mentioned reloads for mis-clicks as there was only space for 20 options and I think that's usually an admin decision.

Which no-one quibbled with at the time or since, so as our de facto admins I'm happy with whatever LP and/or Commodore decide for German Jojo.

(If Caledorn isn't around for a quick reload I'd prefer no long pause, but I dunno how to tell if he's around...)

[Lord Parkin]

Well, given that the game's already been paused for a while, we may as well wait a little longer for Caledorn. The turn flip will be pushed ahead several hours by now whether there's a reload or not, which puts it at a less convenient time for me. Due to the nature of my role, we'll likely end up pausing until the turn flip gets back to a time where I can play as soon as there's another unfinished turn to play (in all probability no more than 1-2 turns in the future).

So at this point the game is probably delayed by about a day whether there's a reload or not. My suggestion is to wait for up to ~24 hours from the timestamp of GermanJojo's post for Caledorn to respond. (Hopefully it'll be much shorter than that.) If Caledorn hasn't turned up by then, you should probably consider unpausing and continuing to play. If you wait much longer than that, you'll effectively end up delaying the game another day or so in order for the turn flip to roll around to a convenient time for me again.

* * * * * * * * *

In future, I'd advise all players to make do with all but the most serious blunders they make. (Serious in my view = on par with losing a city due to a misclick.) We all know it's annoying as hell when screw-ups occur, but these things happen to most players from time to time. In a game with this many players it's simply not feasible to grant reloads for anything other than the most serious mismoves. Consider that if each player asks for a reload for 1 turn in 200 - just once or twice in the whole game - with 34 players that still means we're reloading on average every 5-6 turns (subtracting at least 1 turn every week). Even just asking about whether a reload is possible in the public thread is often enough to delay the game by a whole day.

Suggestion: if you're really annoyed about a non-critical (non-city losing) mismove, privately message the host to see if he's online. If he is, your move may well be reloaded instantly with no fuss and bother; if he isn't, you can bear with it and make the best of the situation. This avoids the mass confusion and disarray following a public request, which has the bonus of not losing 30+ people a day of playing time for a non-critical (non-city losing) reload request.

Remember that in such a huge game with deliberately swingy "fun" options (like continents, huts and events), geography will be more likely to dictate eventual victory than good play. So misclicks are vastly less important than in a regular game anyway.

[Lord Parkin]

Made a few adjustments to the post above, final version now.

[spacetyrantxenu]

I had an ugly misclick earlier. I had a giant sand worm poised to strike at Cyneheard's House Atreides, feeling relatively sure I could swallow him in one giant sandy gulp. Then my mouse hand had a spasm that sent the worm into a coast tile where it obviously drowned. I doubt I'll ever acquire enough spice to summon another worm that size. Play on I guess.

[WilliamLP]

This game has kind of become a PYFT competition, where part of the game is having a solid network connection and flexible personal life. And after getting used to the idea I am getting to like that! As Parkin said well above, this isn't a game primarily about fair competitive balance, if anyone expected it would be then they weren't thinking very hard. So it's a game where you if you aren't prompt and proactive you risk having your turn be played in a way that isn't exactly to your liking.

And whatever you say about the last couple of weeks, the turns sure roll on time!

Also, thanks Zanth for stepping in! I'm sure I'm not the only one who would be pretty sad if this game just fell apart completely.