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1500 Archers on a 28.8: Network Programming in Age of Empires and Beyond
- krakensden 18y agoThey're right too- AOE and AOK were very playable on a dialup connection. It's interesting to me that they wound up doing the synchronized message processing model, and that its brittleness became a strength in the war against cheaters. It makes sense, but it's not something I would have anticipated.
- xenophanes 18y ago> We also metered the users demands on the system -- they would typically issue commands (move, attack, chop trees) averaging about every 1.5 to 2 seconds 30 to 40 apm? That's extremely slow. I play warcraft 3 -- not very well, and definitely not very fast -- and my apm is more like 80 or 90. Starcraft pros play at 300apm.
- tsally 18y agoYou have to remember that these games were made a long time ago, before the popular professional gaming events even existed. 30-40 does seem a bit low, but I doubt they had any conception of the actual upper threshold (300+). Also, AOE is much different than Starcraft/Warcraft. There is much less microing involved.
- JacobAldridge 18y agoAgree. I recently reinstalled AoE on my machine (my gaming never really evolved past 1998), and I can truly spend 2 minutes without issuing a single directive. In a 90 minute game, the first 15 minutes might involve very little instruction at all - quite different to more modern expectations of game play.
- rms 18y agoCheck out Rise of Nations (gaming circa 2003): it took the Age of Empires style to its logical conclusion by crossing it with Civilization, and it includes lots and lots of features to minimize micromanagement. Things like idle workers automatically finding a nearby resource node to work.