[Feature request] Being able to actually pause the game when playing against the AI

The time management feature to go back in time to see what happened is pretty neat. But a real pause function would be great when playing against the AI. Just dim out the screen and freeze the game until it's resumed again. It's no fun getting wiped out just because the phone rang or there was someone at the door.

The game is currently always-online, it's impossible to add a pause.
Once offline mode is added, pause will be.

not to mention the ability to watch a replay and take over from any point again and play it through. I think I heard that somewhere!

Whoa, seriously?!
That sounds awesome!

That would be a feature that I would like to see.

This is not related. A pause function is also very very needed in multiplayer and makes perfect sense to implement right now. ...

How is it not related? You can't pause online multiplayer, period. How would they implement it now if they literally can't?

It is possible, but it would be very difficult to implement. You'd be better off with a "save game" feature, like the one in SINS.

Just pause the sim? That is definitely possible. I don't even think it would be very hard to implement. It is worth noting that I have never played an RTS game that couldn't be paused in multiplayer. I'm sure they are planning this, but just haven't had a chance to do it yet.

Really?
I've never heard of it being possible before.
Hm. I stand corrected, then.

Warcraft 3, Starcraft 1&2, HoN, Dota are all pausable multiplayer games that spring to mind in the first seconds.
Where did you get the idea that it is not possible?!?

Essentially what SINS did, was allow any player to save the game at any point, and it would also keep autosaving the game to the host's client. Anyone could leave the game at any time, and they would be replaced by an AI. The saved game could then be hosted at a later date, but any "unsaved events" would not have happend yet.

Games like Dark Souls, where the game doesn't pause because of the drop-in.
I guess I never really used pausing in RTS games, mostly because when I start a game against someone I usually want to go through it in one, uninterrupted go.

Not to mention: TA and FA.
From a technical standpoint a pause function should be trivial to implement.

Sins has a limit on the number of times a player can pause the game during a match to prevent trolling, and any player has the ability to un-pause. TA, SupCom, FA and many others all allow pausing in multiplayer, but usually there are settings for it. I think SupCom let you disable pausing, limit it to 3 pauses per game, or unlimited, although I would only turn unlimited on if you're playing with friends.

The only issue is that a pause function in multiplayer could be a bit problematic if not implemented properly. I would hate to be playing a game, just to have my opponent pause it and walk away for two hours, to go do something else. At that point, I would probably just quit.

yes. I've fought for this on the forum in the past.

They already have that feature! Build a couple thousand units and watch the sim lock up.

But really, I think the sim/network lockups shows that the client already knows how to stop And wait when the server stops sending updates.

Usually any player can unpause it. Otherwise that one troll in a 10 player FFA would be a big problem.

Check out Brian's FAQ for info and source (from an early livestream, so who knows how relevant it still is).