BRE Updates and Travel Times
From
Rastus@411:411/1 to
All on Saturday, October 19, 2019 13:39:07
There has been some concern with the frequency that scores are being updated and the timing as to when game data packets are transferred and processed. So much so that one individual refuses to believe that the games are working properly.
About The Games:
Barren Realms Elite, Falcon's Eye, and The Arcadia Legends DO NOT run in REAL-TIME. These games are FTN style Inter-BBS games that were written in the early 1990's. On CombatNet, to avoid the pitfalls of a real IBBS network, all but one node operates within what I call a Virtual-IBBS Network. The games are located on the CBNET Servers and data packets are transferred within the confines of our local network.
Update Times:
The games do not execute network updates at exactly the same time each hour, and sometimes a hourly update is skipped. There are several things that can happen to alter the 'Travel Times' of game data packets (attacks, messages, trade deals, etc). I'll try to explain this....
1. Game maintenance is scheduled to run 24 times a day. But not on a set schedule. If the BBS or the Server is re-started the maintenance schedule is reset and the maintenance program runs shortly thereafter. However, the server is seldom restarted unless there is a system update that requires it; moreover, since this system runs Linux few restarts are required. After the initial maintenance has completed next and subsequent maintenance runs an hour plus one minute since the last time it finished. So if the first run is at 1:00 and it took it 5 minutes to finish the next event will be at 1:06 and so on....
2. These games require that no player is online when the game maintenance runs. Since it would be very disruptive to stop all game-play each hour while all planetary maintenance is completed: if a individual game is being played, that hours maintenance is skipped. This can cause a lengthy pause between maintenance runs if players just happen to be taking turns each hour on the same planet over the period of several hours. There are several ways that I could remedy this situation, but this unlikely situation adds a random factor similar to what might happen in real life.. ie.. ship breakdowns, meteor showers, etc. Yes it might be desirable to know that an attack will return at a set time, but life doesn't work that way most of the time and I don't think the game should either.. as they say.. S*it happens and delay is inevitable.
3. If the Central Hub, 'L/C's Planet', is in use at the time the global maintenance is run, then all planets will miss a maintenance run. I try to avoid this situation by checking when the next run is scheduled. But sometimes I forget to check. This can lead to a double whammy where maintenance packets and scores don't update for many hours, but this a very rare occurrence.
4. System Errors. Linux is a very stable Operating System, errors are few and far between, especially here because the servers do little more than run the BBS and they run on a Commercial VPS. That said, on rare occasions errors do occur caused by such things as an equipment or power failure. I also make mistakes from time to time when upgrading things or adding a new node. The batch files that control this network are getting very long and complicated. It's easy to make a mistake and since I can't test each node individually, I rely on everyone else to report errors and problems. Sometimes, actually most of the time, errors go unreported. When I do find something broken I typically go through the logs to see if anyone tried to use the thing that was broken... if they did but failed to leave feedback.. well.. let's just say I get pissed off.. I don't get paid to do this.. I do expect a little help..
5. Lastly, these are old games. They have not been updated since the 90's.. BRE, FE and TAL have a few issues and annoyances. One such annoyance is the method the games use to calculate Travel Times.. it takes several days for the Travel Times to become accurate and the TT Screen show "No Data" even though data is flowing as it should.. I always get questions about this and even when it clears some players continue to think that the game is broken.. they won't take 'no.. it's not broken' for an answer.
Did you know that BRE is still at version .988 which is a beta designation? Nope, it never made it out of the testing phase before it was sold and it's development stopped. Oh well, it's still a fun game....
Hope that helps everyone understand the travel time, update thing.. I'm tried of typing so that'll have to do!
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* Origin: Electronic Warfare BBS | bbs.ewbbs.net | CBNET HQ (411:411/1)