Opening strategies

Krill · March 14, 2004, 13:28

How long do turns take on your PC?

I normally play on a normal map, but when the AI hits the industrial age the turns take about ~3 minutes to compute. The amount of time taken per turn when I enter the industrial era does not change, It is just the AI that messes it up.
If I play to the modern era, then the time taken triples.
It is becoming very annoying.

My spec: 1.4Gz Athlon, 256Mb DDR RAM, onboard graphics card.

Krill · March 14, 2004, 14:14

PS. The title got changed in the forum. I don't know how, but sorry if anybody turns up looking for a thread on that topic.

Theseus · March 14, 2004, 14:23

Have you tried turning off animations?

Krill · March 14, 2004, 14:40

Yes, because if I don't it takes closer to 10 minutes per turn. Animations are good for the early game, and hell at the end

vmxa1 · March 14, 2004, 14:52

Depends on the map. If it has lots of islands and lots of civs it is much worse.

If a contient or pangea, then some civs will be gone and the number of wars is low, so it will take no time at all.

3.066GH with 1GB, 9800 PRO with raptor drive on XP PRO.

I have a 1.7GH with 512MB and turns take twice as long on it.

Oncle Boris · March 15, 2004, 03:08

Turns used to be really slow on my 1.4 GHz Athlon with 256 MB (like 5 mins) but now they are fine (rarely more than 1 min) with my 1.8GHz and 512 MB.

I think it may have more to do with the crap that was plaguing the OS install of the first than the hardware upgrade.

DrSpike · March 15, 2004, 07:50

I have a ninja PC and turns can still lag for a few seconds in the endgame, particularly with a large map. Civ3 is prone to this to an extent no matter what the specs.

You need more RAM, and onboard graphics eugh.

Krill · March 15, 2004, 13:39

Quote:

You need more RAM, and onboard graphics eugh.

I would love to upgrade my PC, but at my age that isn't possible. I live in the middle of nowhere, and can not get a paper round, since I get home from school about an hour later that everyone else. There are literally, no jobs open to me at the moment. (Though I did get paid £50 for working for my dad last month).

DrSpike · March 15, 2004, 14:24

Do you know anyone with an old card? Anything really, an old Geforce card (or a low end Radeon) that's been replaced perhaps. That would improve your computer no end. You can pick them up new for £50, and if you can find one second hand it'll be very cheap. That's the obvious thing to improve; the RAM upgrade can wait.

Having said that your problem is with slow processing of moves. Have you tried reinstalling the game? Also make sure your motherboard drivers are up to date, and DirectX. If it's been a while since you installed windows that might also be worth considering.

Krill · March 15, 2004, 15:19

I'm only 15. Would you trust me to re-install an OS? I'm competant enough to re-install software and basic hardware, nothing more. I would get my dad to do it, watch, and learn.
DirectX 9.1, Civ re-installed 4 times, 3 of them in January, defrag hard disk every fortnight, and virus check afterwards.

bongo · March 16, 2004, 04:20

Take a look at your system tray(normally bottom left). If it has more than 15 objects, then it is cleaning time.

My comp is a P3@450MHz,256MB RAM, wait-time between turns is less than yours.

notyoueither · March 16, 2004, 04:24

More than 15? Hahahahahahaha. Did you mean more than 4 or 5?

notyoueither · March 16, 2004, 04:25

I have 3, btw.

bongo · March 16, 2004, 05:05

Well, it's just that people who have that kind of problems usually have more than 15 objects there.

3 is a bit on the low side though. Personally I rather have only the system clock there but there's so much you actually *need*, all with their own little icon (virusscanner, popup-killer, network-status, mail-status, icq etc...)

Skog · March 16, 2004, 18:26

I have huge problems playing my current game.

I am playing a huge map, lots of islands, 12 civs left, modern age. I usually calculate a minimum of 45 minutes per turn, in peace time that is.

Around 30 minutes is used for administrational purposes, like managing my cities and moving workers. (and no, I NEVER EVER UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES automate workers, that is the worst sin one can do... as long as there is anything useful whatsoever left for the workers to do, they should never be automized...)

I estimate approx. 15-20 minutes for the AI to take its turn. The most annoying thing is when the program needs to recalculate the map, for instance if new trade routes are created of if there is a cultural expansion. Such events take a few minutes to complete. That is the major reason why the AI turn takes such a long time.

This is REALLY annoying, I am thinking about buying a new computer... (Mine is an old P3-500 / 512 MB / Geforce2)

vmxa1 · March 16, 2004, 21:54

It is nearly all cpu bound. So a fast processor will really help.

If you want to post a save I will run a turn and see how long it takes.

binyo66 · March 17, 2004, 00:24

A fast CPU will help, but it appears multiple CPU wont do any good (if you just run OS and CivIII). I am hoping CivIII could support multiple CPUs

Elias · March 18, 2004, 13:58

One of the mods that came with PTW had a huge map I dont rember the deminsons but it was bigger then a Huge map. plus it had about 32 civs. Back then I had a 500mhz with 128 MB of ram it took 20 minuets to end my turn even in ancient times. it was a great sen too would have played it but 30 in ancient times imagine modern times it would take days. lol P.S now I have 2.6GHZ with 264 MB of ram still not good enough though never is.

vmxa1 · March 18, 2004, 17:08

264 is too low for that system. 512 would help. You should be able to handle that map for the first half of the game. It will then tend to get to be slow on turns with war or cities being founded or razed. You could look on pricegrabber am find 256mb pretty cheap, unless you go for expensive DDR.

bongo · March 18, 2004, 17:09

264MB ram??

oh well, I'm sure you really means 256MB...

A map that size needs lots of RAM....I'm getting a new comp in a months time with 1GB of RAM

I'll try out maps of that size then

Krill · March 18, 2004, 17:11

DDR helps to boost the speed even more, because the bandwidth is doubled, so theoretically (sp?) the memory is doubled. It helps to stop the memory becoming the bootleneck of the system.
If I've understood that wrong, would someone point it out to me.

alva · March 18, 2004, 17:47

Hmm, it's not really double memory though.
Dang, I understand how it works, however to explain it might be a little too much.

Traditional RAM performed one task(reading or writing) each clockpulse while DDR does 2 (theoretical), hence the name Double Data Ram.

DrSpike · March 18, 2004, 17:52

DDR RAM is faster sure, but not twice as fast. You're talking a much lower performance increase. (Edit: Alva beat me.

)

These days 512MB of PC2700 or better is a must. I have 1GB PC3200 and I don't regret it ever. If anyone is upgrading RAM make sure to get a sort compatible with your board.

Krill · March 18, 2004, 17:59

Thank you. I understand it better now.
And thats why I wrote theoretically.

spy14 · March 18, 2004, 18:31

RAM is the important factor in a game like Civ, along with the Processor. I have 1gb DDR Ram with a 2.1 ghz AMD processor, and huge maps in the modern age dont take an annoyingly huge amount of time.

If anyone finds the game unbearably slow the most cost-effective speed up will be to increase the RAM, RAM is dirt cheap nowadays in comparison with most computer parts.

spy14 · March 18, 2004, 18:32

Quote:

Originally posted by Doc
DDR RAM is faster sure, but not twice as fast. You're talking a much lower performance increase. (Edit: Alva beat me.

)

These days 512MB of PC2700 or better is a must. I have 1GB PC3200 and I don't regret it ever. If anyone is upgrading RAM make sure to get a sort compatible with your board.

And like a ditz I forgot to re-iterate the above point

vmxa1 · March 19, 2004, 00:09

I use 1GB of PC3200 as well, but the game never seems to use more than about 300-400MB.

DDR is better it your rig can use it, but it cost more.

Rasputin · March 19, 2004, 01:13

another problem with civ3 and memory is that the game doesnt release all the memory it using when it exits...

many a time i end up with a frozen IE and outlook after closing down civ3ptw ..

things get reaaly bad if you want to then play a c3c game it locks up big time,....

vmxa1 · March 19, 2004, 03:11

I have not seen that. I ran with it up non stop for about a week, in fact I just took it down the other day. I mean all day, no exit 24/7.

Was it Win98SE?

Rasputin · March 19, 2004, 03:35

nope win XP .. the problem only arises when you finsih the game not during the game, i play lots of pbem games and i used to exit between games but found the freezaing of IE and outlook wasnt worth it and jsut alt-tab to get to outlook now when playing pbem..
i also dontplay ptw pbem an c3c pbem on same days for same reason,. the computer jsut freezes when changing exiting on and starting th eother.

1.2 Gghz machine 512MB RAM

80gig hard drive