Worth Playign Without Viable Internet?

from Sins Forums

Hey, I've not got the game yet but I'm thinking of downloading the demo.  I've played GalCivII and I will either return to that or do this one (have only played Dread Lords, not Dark Avatar or anything more advanced).  I'm trying to NOT get something that will eat all my time away as I don't have a ton to feasibly spend on games, but I really like the looks of this game.  For one thing I'm a sci-fi nut and I have always loved the idea of commanding a real space fleet (one reason I liked galciv was designing my own ships... I already know you can't here, but that doesn't matter that much).

This is my main concern, though: when I used to play Star Craft, I never even got far on the campaign for the thrill of multiplayer.  Playing against AI is fun only so much.  How long does a multi-player game usually last and can it be played over Satellite (I have WildBlue internet through our TV satellite company)?  I'm thinking "no," due to lag time, but maybe the half-second or so won't be as big a deal here???

strategy
5,692 views 13 replies
Reply #1 from Sins Forums Top
I've played online with a 28.8 dialup connection. So I can safely say that you should be able to play online w/ sattelite.

Multiplayer games can last anywhere from 30 mins to days... depends on the size of the map you play. Not as fast as starcraft, but if you stick to 1v1 or 2v2 maps its not that long either.

Hope I helped :)
Star Control: Origins
Reply #3 from Sins Forums Top
You can save games a pick them up with said players again later.
Reply #5 from Sins Forums Top
for the sanity of yourself and others, dont try to play anything more than a 4 player game on a large map. Once the number of ships grows large enough your connection just wont handle it.

Dialup is really only an option for 2v2 or smaller.
Reply #6 from Sins Forums Top
I've played someone 1v1 when they were on satellite - sometimes it was laggy but it worked.
Reply #7 from Sins Forums Top
Even if internet play doesen't quite work, you can still play against the AI. Compared with the Starcraft AI, this one is really 10 years ahead. It only cheats on the hardest (unfair) difficulty, so if you play on hard you have a non cheating, pretty competent opponent. What I like the most, it actually plays a bit like a human, not like in Starcraft, where it simply builds lots of units with cheated resources and then attacks.

And if you need a bigger challenge, simply add more AI's.
Reply #8 from Sins Forums Top
It's actually still pretty fun against the AI.

I'd reccomend it.
Reply #9 from Sins Forums Top
I play all my games against the AI. The only time I ever go online at all is when my friends want to play against the AI with me.

It's a blast :)
Reply #10 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting Simonster, reply 7
Even if internet play doesen't quite work, you can still play against the AI. Compared with the Starcraft AI, this one is really 10 years ahead. It only cheats on the hardest (unfair) difficulty, so if you play on hard you have a non cheating, pretty competent opponent. What I like the most, it actually plays a bit like a human, not like in Starcraft, where it simply builds lots of units with cheated resources and then attacks.

And if you need a bigger challenge, simply add more AI's.
End of Simonster's quote

 

Starcraft AI doesnt cheat in that sense... only in map settings maps.  In any other regular game it just knows where you are, thats all... which is cheating I suppose,  but hard to avoid... at least in the days of starcraft it was.

Reply #11 from Sins Forums Top

Bad Greek, no necroposting!

Reply #12 from Sins Forums Top

I've got satellite also... and I can't even play starcraft online, except for the occasional 1v1 or 2v2 where the lag is bearable.  I've tried playing about 3 games of SoaSE online and was simply disconnected right near the beginning.  And what's even weirder is that when we still had dial up, I tried using it instead, and it was in fact had less latency than when I played using the satellite connection.  Does anyone know if there's anything that could be wrong with it or something that I could fix or change to make it have less latency?

Reply #13 from Sins Forums Top

Satellite connections are notorious for their very high latency, while the worst constraint of dial-up is bandwith.