The utter incompetence is astounding

[FrankJones]

This is ridiculous. Can you people at asmodee fix the game and make some useful changes?


The animations and timers are a joke. I had two forfeits recently - one occurred AFTER THE GAME WAS OVER during the plant conversion stage. Noe even mine - I had no plants to convert. It happened while I was forced to watch my opponent's animations of his end stage greeneries.


Today, I had a time forfeit in a won game because I need to watch my opponent's endless animations and blue card actions.


STOP THE TIMERS WHEN IT'S NOT MY TURN! My turn does NOT start until I CAN CONTROL MY MOUSE AND MAKE MOVES! It's NOT my turn while I'm needlessly being forced to watch my opponent's animation. I DON'T CARE WHAT HIS MOVES OR ANIMATIOMS ARE!

Just let me MAKE MY MOVES AND PASS!!!!!!!!!!!!! AND STOP THE CLOCK IF I DO NOT HAVE OCNTROL OF THE MOUSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!


and FIX POWEER INFRASTRCTURE, DAMNIT!!!!!!!!!!


The stunning incompetence and indifference of the programmers and developers is infuriating!!!!

But hey, at least the corporation flags have bright colors, and there's a flashing wave banner going across the screen every 15 seconds...…. Because, that's what people wanted - as evidenced by the ZERO POSTS EVER in which anyone asked for either of those.

Oh, and the game log was moved - so that it covers the global parameters.

What a joke. The entire company and anyone involved should be embarrassed. This is shameful pathetic display of ineptitude.

[zolib]

I cannot agree with you more, I had several games recently when I forfeited because of my timers was ticking when I was watching someone's else turn. Shame...

Asmodee, could you, please (pretty please) do what WE (you know the so-called customers) want? I know that we won't pay for it more, but you still owe us with a properly working game.
Thank you for your understanding and help in advance.

[stubar]

+100

This needs to be fixed. The timer should only be ticking down for the player that actually has control of the game. If no one has control then the timer shouldn't tick down for anyone. Must be fixed.

[FrankJones]

I just had a game in which my opponent either quit immediately, or left the keyboard, or something. His clock ticked all the way down. Meanwhile, I was doing other things. By the time it finally got to zero, it still wouldn't do anything or let me do anything.

After reloading it several times, I was able to finish the game against the AI that took over.

I forfeited on time, during the plant conversion stage, after placing my greenery with enough time to spare (barely) - except, I had herbivores. I needed to "confirm" that I was adding an animal to herbivores, and while that was happening, I forfeited on time. SO, both my opponent and I got a forfeit.

This is nonsense. It also affects the ratings system. There should never be a game where both players receive a "0" and lose ratings points.



The timers, the animations, the idiotic "confirming" of resources being added to things. It's absurd. Playing a green green (plant animal or microbe) card when having viral enhancers, decomposers, and ecological zone results in an endless series of animations that take 15 seconds alone, just for that ONE action. That's absolutely ridiculous in a game that can last 14 generations and have hundreds of actions.



FIX IT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Backseatgamern]

There should also be a turn timer for about 5 minutes which passes the player for the rest of the generation (not counting the animations from enemy rounds as stated by OP). I'm currently in a game with 3 people, one has been away for half an hour so me and the other guy can do nothing but wait for another 26 minutes when we (hopefully) can continue the game with a bot.

[Mountain Goat]

Get hold of Jacob and BGG.

[memories]

I agree with Frank. Lost several clearly winning games (over 30+ points margin) due to timeout from extremely slow animations. My timer was down to the last minute and I had to pass very early, skipping about 15+ remaining possible actions in the final generation due to the insane lag and slowness of animations. Still forfeited on time due to being forced to watch my opponent's plant conversion phase animations.

For clarity, disabling the confirmation step hardly helps. There are still endlessly time consuming animations even with the "VERY FAST" speed option selected.

Like everyone else here I've noticed that my timer continues running even when it is not my turn, and it is especially evident in the final minute when you can see the literal seconds trickling down. For instance, the timer continues to run while:

1) Waiting for animations after drafting

2) Waiting for animations in between turns (e.g. "Green player's turn")

3) Watching my opponent's turn (this is by far the worst, with all the slow animations and getting your timer penalized when you're not even the one taking an action)

4) Watching your opponent place greenery in the final conversion phase (your time continues to be deducted even AFTER you have passed)

This is a HUGE issue that affects the enjoyment of online play, and the only way to handle it at the moment is to pick "5 hours" for time control, which is highly unrealistic.

My $0.02: Your timer should only run when it is actually your turn and you are actively thinking about or performing actions. As many others have stated, there is no reason to run down your clock watching both yours and your opponents' many animations.

Speaking as a fellow software developer, if it's impossible to quickly remove/disable animations, some possible short term fixes could be:

(1) Add 3-5 mins to each player's clock after each turn to compensate for the "wasted time". This could be done in a way such that a player's total time can never exceed the allotted time per player in the room's settings (e.g. 30 mins / 1 hour)

(2) Freeze all players' timers in between turns and at endgame plant conversion phase

(3) Time the plant conversion phase separately from the main game (e.g. give 3-5 mins per player)

(4) Add an extra 10 mins of grace time if the player's initial allotted time has run out

(5) Increase the fastest animation speed setting from 2.5x to 5x

(6) Introduce additional time control options for 3 hours and 4 hours per player. Not the most preferable, but it will mitigate some of the problems for the time being

[stubar]

Your timer also goes down during production phase of ALL players if you're the new first player...

[FrankJones]

Originally posted by memories:

I agree with Frank. Lost several clearly winning games (over 30+ points margin) due to timeout from extremely slow animations. My timer was down to the last minute and I had to pass very early, skipping about 15+ remaining possible actions in the final generation due to the insane lag and slowness of animations. Still forfeited on time due to being forced to watch my opponent's plant conversion phase animations.

For clarity, disabling the confirmation step hardly helps. There are still endlessly time consuming animations even with the "VERY FAST" speed option selected.

Like everyone else here I've noticed that my timer continues running even when it is not my turn, and it is especially evident in the final minute when you can see the literal seconds trickling down. For instance, the timer continues to run while:

1) Waiting for animations after drafting

2) Waiting for animations in between turns (e.g. "Green player's turn")

3) Watching my opponent's turn (this is by far the worst, with all the slow animations and getting your timer penalized when you're not even the one taking an action)

4) Watching your opponent place greenery in the final conversion phase (your time continues to be deducted even AFTER you have passed)

This is a HUGE issue that affects the enjoyment of online play, and the only way to handle it at the moment is to pick "5 hours" for time control, which is highly unrealistic.

My $0.02: Your timer should only run when it is actually your turn and you are actively thinking about or performing actions. As many others have stated, there is no reason to run down your clock watching both yours and your opponents' many animations.

Speaking as a fellow software developer, if it's impossible to quickly remove/disable animations, some possible short term fixes could be:

(1) Add 3-5 mins to each player's clock after each turn to compensate for the "wasted time". This could be done in a way such that a player's total time can never exceed the allotted time per player in the room's settings (e.g. 30 mins / 1 hour)

(2) Freeze all players' timers in between turns and at endgame plant conversion phase

(3) Time the plant conversion phase separately from the main game (e.g. give 3-5 mins per player)

(4) Add an extra 10 mins of grace time if the player's initial allotted time has run out

(5) Increase the fastest animation speed setting from 2.5x to 5x

(6) Introduce additional time control options for 3 hours and 4 hours per player. Not the most preferable, but it will mitigate some of the problems for the time being

other solutions:

1) an option (that can be turned on and off mid-game) to disable ALL animations for either player.

2) AN option to ENTIRELY SKIP THE TURN REVIEW of other players. When my timer is at 4 minutes, I don't care what they did; I don't need to see it.

3) Add an incremental timer like chess. I think member "Memories" was saying something about this. Even if it's just 15 seconds per move added on, that will cancel out the delays of the animations.

4) Add a "request 10 minutes additional time" button that a player can click. The other player would have the right to decline, but in the spirit of sportsmanship, I'm sure a lot of people would accept. Or, do it this way: When an opponent runs out of time, a pop-up should appear: "Your opponent's clock has expired. Do you wish to force forfeit, or grant the opponent 5 minutes additional clock time."

5) Add more game time options, as "Memories" said, but it doesn't have to be 3H or 4H. Just add 15 increments between 1 and 2h: 75 minutes, 90 minutes, 105 minutes. every time I have forfeited on time, it was in a 1h game and I only needed 3 extra minutes.

6) This was said above, but I'll reiterate it. FREEZE THE TIMERS WHEN IT IS NOT OUR TURN, or when it IS OUR TURN BT We're being forced to watch needless animations. Freeze all timers during production and turn order change and generation incrementor. There's no reason for anyone's clock to run during this.

7) GET RID OF THE STUPID CONFIRMATIONS for things for which there is no "option" other than to simply click "confirm." What is WRONG WITH YOU PROGRAMMERS at Asmodee? Are you really this clueless? Why do we need to click "confirm" to an action that has no other choice? When I place a greenery just add an animal to herbivores! NO NEED TO CONFIRM!





THIS STUFF IS PROGRAMMING 101 !!!!!! What is wrong with you guys??? Players have been clamoring for these changes SINCE LITERALLY DAY ONE!

And what do we get? A flashing wave banner that distractingly goes across the top of the screen every 15 seconds, and more brightly colored corporation emblems !???? Seriously???



The programming of this game is a sad joke.

AND GET THE DAMN CARDS FIXED!

And stop making us put down a 10th ocean sometimes !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!