Hey everyone, Yes, I am new to the forums but I've probably read almost every post on this board. I get bored at work,what can I say? Anyways, my point is I just had a brief question. I'm learning more about programming and I'm trying to gear up to make a TBS one of these days (galactic civilizations type game) and I was wondering how everyone feels about how long a TBS should take? I played MOO3 here recently and holy hell!!!!! it took FOREVER!!! and I was still weak. Go figure. But, it's not about how I feel how long a TBS should take, it's about the masses. So, on average how long should a TBS take? P.S.- Please don't crucify me, I'm fragile. :-D

In my opinion a turn based strategy game should take a fair while to complete. The whole point is that you should be able to build up your empire from scratch and control everything.

--Ter'Lenth

Define a fair while, 2 hours? three hours? 10 hours? Gimme a plus or minus 5 radius if at all possible. I'm thinking 10 hours personally in a big universe. But that could be just me... :: shrugs::

10 hours of game play? I think that's pretty reasonable. Most people, like myself, would most likely split that up into a couple hours a day of play. I'd almost say 10 hours might be sort of the medium time, seeing that there always will be those extremists out there.

--Ter'Lenth

Is there replay value?

In good-old Spaceward Ho!, games could be from 20 minutes to 3 hours. It supported AI opponents, and live PvP play. It was a great game. You could start a small galaxy if you had half an hour, and still complete the game.

10 hours seems way too long if I'm supposed to re-play the game. I should be able to finish a game in a single setting, because coming back to a saved galaxy takes a lot of time to get back into the specifics of that particular situation.

However, if it's a story-driven campaign, and not a randomly generated map, then it should take longer, because you're usually "done" once you're done with the story.

I was saying ten hours in a large galaxy. Maybe have a huge galaxy for our left wing extremists:-D I don't know about a story line at the moment to be honest. I hardly EVER touch a story line in a TBS. I go straight to random play features. I just love sandbox mode but that's just me. Maybe a campaign would go nicely but at the same time I have to incorporate that "I made all of this an dI am master of my universe feeling". Realize I am just getting feedback at the moment, trying to shape all of this in my head. Would you believe there was a time I thought I'd be able to just pop out a game? Ten minutes in I realized what an idiot I was. Lots of work. Main reason I'm focused on TBS is because
a) Obviously it's my favorite genre.
b) Here lately I just haven't been able to find one that ensnared mein its grip. I think BOTF got the closest but even then..it seemed lacking in features...

edit: This joke was too lame, even for me...

I like 'em longer. Three hours a night for 5 days sounds like a good length. Gives you time to "get into" the game and make progress. Also a long game reduces the chances of having one bad turn ruining the whole game.

Hmm. Another random thought...

Shouldn't there be some type of recap whenever you load a saved game? Something like you've conquered htese planets, made these treaties.. Something like that. Becaues hplus made a really good point about it taking a while to get back into saved games because sometimes you don't remember what on earth was going on. I've had the same problem with TBS if I can't finish them in one sitting... Hmm... :: scratches at his chin while pondering.:: :-D

Ugh, the idea of spending 15 hours at something turn based... you guys have infinitely more patience than me. [grin]