Next Gen Feature Request: Time Machine!

Ok, actually it may not be next gen at all. But I've never seen what I am proposing in a RTS before.

I don't even know if it is technically possible. But since we have the Chrono Cam already and therefore, at any given time, we can go back in time and see what happened before, all the necessary data for it to work are already stored in memory. Or in a database. Or in a database in memory (more likely).

As a note, what I am proposing could only work when playing in solo against one or more AI. So let's keep this in mind.

So, let's go.

In turn based strategy games playing against the AI is preparatory for acquiring skills to better competing against other humans. In the game of Chess, if I suspect that I made a mistake three moves earlier, I can usually go back three or four moves, make a different choice, and proceed from there.

In doing so I am experimenting new options and strategies, adopting different solutions to a problem, and ultimately I am improving my skill set.

In PA it could work in a similar way.

Let's say that at minute 20' I get nuked and very frustrated about. I could Chrono back 3 or 5 minutes, pause and tell now the game that I want to proceed from there.

Now I can start building the Anti nuke that I negligently forgot to build before, and perhaps the AI will make a similar choice trying to nuke me, or perhaps the game will take a very different path altogether.

Anyway in doing so I created an alternative path. A parallel universe. Basically this feature would add a fifth dimension to the four we are playing already, X, Y, Z, Time and now A (for Alternative path - I don't know how we could call it).

What do you think about? Would you use such a feature to better improve your strategy? Would be possible to implement it? Would PA and its players benefit from it?

I'm curious to know your opinion about

Seems like it could be cool.

As far as i know, the Chronocam ensures that every second of your game is saved. So yes, such a system is very much possible and only the "continue from here" part needs to be implemented. The biggest concern would be the huge amount of data sent over multiplayer (which, with the current server setup, even a singleplayer game IS) whenever such a call is made, as it would require wiping all the data points past this point. (assuming it's done real-time).

However, from a pure savegame POV i don't see why you can't implement a dropdown system for the time at which the save starts, allowing you to continue the game.

That's one of their plans, yeah. At first I thought you were talking about Achron.

Never hear about that one. Interesting. Thanks for posting it.

Not surprisingly, Godde is really good at it. I can't even follow what's going on.

If a save feature is ever implemented, you could probably make an autosave mod that saves ever minute or so automatically. Then you can "go back in time" by just reloading whichever save is closest to where you want to go. Although depending on how long it takes to save the game, it could get annoying saving the game very often.

Sorry your idea was so awesome I went back in time three years to make it happen. And yes redoing nukes is cool and yes time travel opens a deep dimension to strategy (and twists your sense of time like portals twists the sense of space). Too bad that game didn't pick up (yet) enough for there to really be a proscene. But it isnot limited against AI either you can totally do PvP.

However making a PA scale game with timetravel is subject to very tight technical restrictions. Currently our best bet is to wait for quantum computers. When planetary annihiliatino uses CPU to make 8 times larger groups and maps Achron has 8 times more timelines. Mixing those requires 64 times the CPU. So not a trivial change but I can only dream off what it would be like to play Timeline Annhilation. Do try to ship Uber Entertainment and Hazardous Software to make something awesome together.

With save/load implemented *and* the ability to "resume" a replay from anypoint implemented then you could consider a replay file an infinite save file. That'd also be a large file so there's value in having much smaller save "snapshots" that let you load a game from only a single moment.

But sorry folks, no Terminator 2 or Back to the Future timeline mixing and matching here folks. We wouldn't want anyone killing their own mother or being their owner father!

Hey, paradox warfare is actually fun and awesome! Speak for yourself, I like it. In making a timetravel engine you have to solidify the timetravel rules that can handle arbitrary situations. I have to point out that figuring a consistent set of rules is not impossible like the Achron's Resequence shows. However you do kinda make non-realistic non-obvious amendments to ontology where Multiple Worlds Interpretation seems a lot less hypothetical. It's one thing to back out of a challenge too hard than not being able to recognise that it can be overcome.

Ah! Too bad.

But fair enough. I know that my proposals can sometimes be too much *into the future*

mmm..... like this game? http://www.achrongame.com/site/

I thought it was planned to have an option to press play in chronocam and just resume the game from that point

Apparently a free-timeline is the new black, these days. Just saw this one.

Super T.I.M.E. Force