What's the point in having time dilation?

The game might as well just crash and put us out of our misery!!!! This game is awesome in theory, but it doesn't work...

I want to like this game, I really do, but it causes me more frustration than anything.

Because its a better way to deal with lag/low sim than having it look all choppy and having units teleporting everywhere.

How is it better? Both options are unplayable. Basically they have created a game which doesn't work. Yes we could play on single planet systems, but that goes against what this game is all about.

Slow motion is better than stuttering.

When a game comes to a complete halt (slow motion), you think that is better. I'm not saying stutter is better, I'm just saying slow motion is not better. Neither is good in my books.

That's why the game either needs to be better optimized, impose hard caps, or the servers/ your computer needs to be upgraded

You do realize even if it didn't have time dilation the game would still move at half speed, correct? Time dilation just smooths it out. I wish I could go find that easy to understand chart.

Yeah, i think you have a slight misconception about time dilation. TD isn't the issue, but a tool to make the symptoms of the real issue less annoying and keep the game smooth.

You're talking about the slowdown, which is purely a performance issue. Something you cannot avoid in a game with a potentially unlimited number of units. When the stuff going on overburdens the server, the game automatically runs slower, and that point will be reached.

That said, the point when the slowdown starts is determined by the game's optimization and server-hardware. And that's definitly to soon at the moment. Offline/server-executable, Uber's server upgrade and optimization hopefully allow a lot more units than the current games.

I'm honestly not sure why it's hard to understand in the first place. It's kinda like g-sync.

Slow motion better.

If the game slows slightly (not hugely, just slightly), you can get stuttering, or you can get unnoticeable time dilation. Better.

I don't want to sound like a snob, but buy a better PC. It's not the developer's fault you don't the right hardware. Optimisation will improve playability, but if you have an old pc, it probably won't be by much.

No its not. Yesterday i was in a game where every ingame second took about 10 real life seconds until a server crash took us out of our missery.
If the game is stuttering you loose the ability to micro, if the game goes into super slow motion it just becomes unplayable.
Time dialation is what ruined supcom completely and i am pretty sure that there were statements it would not be a thing in pa because of the way servers and clients interact. I couldnt give a **** about most of the "promises" uber made for the release version of the game and didnt keep, but having the game run at 1/10 of the real time with just a few thousand units is simply not acceptable. How the hell are 40 player games supposed to look?

Come to think of it i would very much like a statement from uber regarding what actualy causes the slowdown. If it is simply the server unable to keep up, well get better servers or finaly release the server to the public so we can use our own servers.
If it realy is time dialations, meaning the game is slowed down by the slowest pc, take that out of the game or at least make it optional.

If the game is stuttering, it's not only stuttering but also calculating the game at the same speed as with time dilation. That is, removing Time dilation will not speed up the game, it will just be jumpy.

Time dilation in PA is not at all like in Sup Com. It's only about the speed of the server; if the clients can't keep up, then those clients will experience lag, but won't affect the rest.

Unlike SupCom, PA is Client-Server based. No lowest common denominator.

Contratry to what the OP seems to believe, the server is not going into slow motion to annoy him. It is going into slow motion BECAUSE THERE ARE JUST TOO MANY UNITS.
It does not matter how fast you want something to be processed, it is processed as fast as the laws of physics say it is. There is a programmatic upper limit to the number of SimFrames per second (usual rate-limit code), but if it is slower it is slower, it is slower and no amount of wishing will change that.

Any autoamtic that just closes the game would suck. You can just declare it a draw or give up and be done whit it.
If you get that regulary your maps are designed for that. Many small planets that are easy to protect with airforce and thus hard to invade will just result in units adding up without atrition.
A few larger planets were the units are actually used is so much better.

Just compare teh 1st and second match between Realm and PA Gods:
http://exodusesports.com/tournament/clanwars/matches/

The first map (4 moons) was forcing server slowdown due to design (albeit unintentionally) wich resulted in the match being decalred a draw.
The second was desinged to be decided quickly, with fewer bigger planets where units were actually "used up" instead of piling up.

Moderator: Removed inappropriate content.​

Fixed that for you.

Unfortunately you have not, extra planets require extra CLIENT side hardware.

If it's not the planets, but the unit spam... then stop spamming units.

He is right that pathing and most other stuff is done on the Server. So if Sim Speed slows down that is the server/not enough optimisation. But then again with just enough units you can bring down ANY computer. The programmatical unit limit is propably around 2^64 (that is a pretty huge number). We will run out of adressable memory for a x64 Computer before we ever reach that limit.

You do need quite a bit of RAM to display the systems on your end, but that will not affect SimSpeed.

I think someone made a balance mod that made each unit 4 times as much worth, so you can play with same scale but less units/metal.
Even the normal AI is now smart enough to stop spamming units and start the Nuclear race if it is home alone.

It's a server side problem. Nothing to do with my PC.

How is that like g-sync (syncing the refresh rate to the fps of the gpu output)?