Order delay

[LDiCesare]

On another thread, although they were talking of IFPs ( http://apolyton.net/forums/showthrea...threadid=41387) I thought that delays for orders would be a nice thing:

I think I saw things like that in some model somewhere, but can't find it or a relevant thread here, so here I go:

It is unrealistic to be able to give orders fast to units (or regions) both sides of a vast empire and have them executed at once.
There should be a delay between the time an order is issued and the time it is executed.
The delay would depend on distance and information infrastructure and tech (roads, messenger pigeons, radio, satellites).
I think it is quite easy to code and could give good feedback for econ orders. It might be frustrating for military orders until we are able to give high level orders like patrol region, fight civ X, and such, so that between orders, the armies keep doing worthwhile things, but a one turn delay would probably not be too much to bear and could be put in the demo. It would also be an incentive to build infrastructure (roads) and research techs.
Does it sound OK?
I feel like it shouldn't be hard to code.

[Mark_Everson]

Hi Laurent:

I think this is too potentially confusing to put in at this point. People are already confused by Many factors in the demo, and I don't think its a good time to add more. IMO this is an issue that will divide players in a very polarized fashion with some loving it, and others hating it. Personally, I think this is a feature to test out much later.

I think we discussed this in the multiplayer thread. IIRC it was in conjunction with the possibility of the player even having a not-current world map. The game info just represented what knowledge was available of the world rather than a godlike precision view. This was one idea to both make things more realistic, and make micromanagement not terribly worthwhile.

[Richard Bruns]

I think that this is an area where realism must bow out ot fun. If we were really simulating an ancient empire, the player would watch the army walk out the palace and not get any news about them until a messenger rides back a few years later with nes about what happened. That woud be sort of dull.

These are called "god games" for a reason. The player does have god-like precision views of the board, and the ability to communicate instantly. Its an accepted part of the genre, one that there isn't really a good reason to change.

[Blakis Maximus]

I have to agree with Richard. I don't think it would be much fun to wait around for more than one turn before your orders are implemented. You could always make it an option later on for those that do want a more realistic communication system...