
1500 Archers on a 28.8: Network Programming in Age of Empires and Beyond - tsally
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3094/1500_archers_on_a_288_network_.php
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krakensden
They'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.

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xenophanes
> 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.

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tsally
You 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.

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JacobAldridge
Agree. 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.

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rms
Check 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.

