In Game Save Feature for Galactic War

Hi All,

I am sure that this has been asked a million times but when will we see an ingame save feature for the galactic war and AI skirmish.

This would be of particular use for me as i cannot always be sat there for upto 3 hours having one battle and it would be good to save if i need to leave the game. It would be a shame to start the battle all over again after investing so much time.

I understand that a save feature cannot be implemented for multi player but i cannot see what the problem would be with implementing this to the Galactic war or AI Skirmish.

Thanks

There's no date yet, but it is indeed in the pipe line. It's more complicated than it seems. The replays already contain a fair chunk of the information that is needed for a save, but on top of that you also need to save the AI brain state, the build orders and probably more that I'm not even aware off. It won't be for a while, I'm afraid. Certainly not for the next patch on the 18th.

So how is this any more complicated than other RTS games that use complicated scripts for AI? e.g SC, SC FA

Because of the way that ChronoCam works.

This seems to have come up a lot this week, hopefully the below can provide a bit more info: https://www.reddit.com/r/planetaryannihilation/comments/2nwmut/is_saving_a_thing/cmhzxb8

Its almost like the game developers didnt even consider that this feature wouldnt be asked for or needed when developing the game in the first place!

You'd rather we didn't have the Chronocam?

To be fair i only started playing last night so the term is a little lost on me no doubt. But i am a long time fan of RTS games so i will reserve judgement until i understand ChronoCam better.

Is that the one where they are yet to implement the 'rewind' feature?

Apologies for the somewhat sharp tone in my previous replies - it's been a long day.

Chronocam allows you, as a player or a spectator, to rewind the game while it is still in progress to see things that have already happened.

As an example, you send a radar satellite to another planet and it is destroyed within 5 seconds. You can then rewind the game to see that five second window again and take a good detailed look at what was seen.

It's an incredibly powerful feature and definitely well worth the wait for the save feature in lieu.

EDIT: There's a bit of Chronocam usage and explanation here:
(scrub to 8 minutes)

Also, after one has been thoroughly beaten, you can review the game and see where one messed up so badly. After the game has ended, you get full vision of your opponents. It's a great learning tool.

(Sorry if that was mentioned in the video, I didn't watch it. )

I would like to suggest that while waiting for the awesome Chronocam Save feature maybe we could get a less awesome save feature that's not tied into the chronocam? Just a regular old save feature like RTS games have had since RTS games have been around? I would much rather have unbalanced units that can't find their way around and be able to play the game than have balanced units and great pathing in a game that I can't play, or at least, can't finish. I talk this game up to my friends and coworkers (got my supervisor to buy it this week) but I hardly ever get to play it because I can't save. It's like having a delicious sandwich with bacon and ranch dressing but not being allowed to eat the last 1/4. I want to eat the bacon! Do it for the bacon! Ok, returning to sanity...

I'd just like to add that I know NOTHING about coding or making games so I don't know how difficult or easy this would be. Don't want to sound like a jerk

Thank you for the great feedback in regards to Chrono. i understand the usage of it much better now. I do very much agree with the sandwich explanation though, not having a save feature mid game is a little game breaking for me but i can understand why it has not yet been implemented.

Knowing that i cannot save at any point during a battle tends to make me rush the base building and nuking up at the first possible point, rather than sitting back and really investigating time in the game a i know investing time can be the undoing of my hard work.

The million dollar question i guess is when will this be available?

I'm afraid this is one of the features we don't have a timeline for. That reddit comment I linked earlier was the latest dev input I've seen on it.

EDIT: Thought I should actually respond to:

I don't believe this is possible because the data that would be used to actually store a game state is not actually available in any form other than that which is fed into the chronocam. As I understand it, Chronocam doesn't run alongside a more traditional data structure for a game, it completely replaces it, so the only way to implement saving would be in tandem with the Chronocam.

Caveat - I'm not a coder either and may be wrong, but that's my understanding.

Uber is working hard on the requested features that were missing at launch, so I bet it will be here in a few months. It is known that they have been working on it, but it takes a long time to implement with 100% functionality.

But now the five main things are here/coming, Offline play, Competitive play/ranking, Uber Cannon, rebalance, tutorial. I bet the save feature will be next

Lets just hope its sooner rather than later hey guys

OK ive decided to leave the game alone and only go back once the save feature has been implemented. I dont want to ruin it for myself before then. I have enjoyed what i have played so far though .

Wow, ok. I did not know you could use chronocam during the game. That's really, really nifty. Now, if only there was a way to say to orbital radars what part of the planet you want them to go to, rather than them all emerging at the same point.

I feel this feature ought to be advertised more! Somehow. That's really useful. Thanks for showing this.

The next patch is supposed to include significant advancements in the 'new user experience' - showcasing powerful features like this I'd hope will take pride of place

Same here.

I can't say I consciously made the decision to do this but it has been the end result. When I have a little time to fire up a game I think about Planetary Annihilation and then play X-Com or FTL. Having to abandon every game I start is just too disappointing.

Thanks Bud. Any more news on a specific save feature?