Welcome to the club...

I share same concerns since game came out - and yes, so far, expansion makes it even longer

Saying that SP is getting better all the time and length is not exactly an issue since you can save the game...

As for MP - I pretty much stopped playing it since no way I can dedicate 3 hours or so for single round

Pretty much what's needed...

Handful of maps / game modes that would kinda fit single MP round within 45 minutes bracket...

So simple yet no sign of it on horizon

They said somewhere that I think in the final release of Entrenchment, or one of the expansions, that the current fast speed will be normal and they will add another faster option to it to increase gameplay....how much time this will cut? Who knows but I did see Blair or Craig say that...or it was in some interview with someone from IC.

-Phalnax

i do find the pace of sins to be painfully slow ;l

if im playing sins am also doing any combination of the following to cope with the down time involved: watching a movie, talking on the phone, folding clothes, cooking, playing guitar, studying

when 1.1 beta came out i was so excited that they beefed up the speed to be damn near unmanagable (in others words not mine) my only complaint with the speed was how it eventually slowed back down to the unbearable turtle speeds. we should all demand they add a higher lvl of speed, bring back insane speed and if ppl complain then they can play on current highest which i maintain to be painfully slow.

i enjoy the pace... i like watching DVDs while i play... at 1st its too slow... later i have to pause to find ships or frigit factories... any way to hot key your factories?

Have you tried using the the +/- buttons to speed up the game in singleplayer? Or are you only talking multiplayer?

I must be insane, because I'd actually like to see modes that allow for much longer matches.

High speed matches seem to have more sync issues and aren't as fun when it's reduced to a clickfest.

I thought maybe perhaps game start conditions that allow modification of starting tech, position and fleet could speed up the onset, but I'd also like to see modification of upper limits.. like no super weapons, or upper max limit to civ/military installations.

MULTIPLAYER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Honestly, this is nothing to do with SP at all - in fact, slow it even more down - I don't care!

But Mr. Fraser, your fantastic game is pretty much dead online for 1 reason alone:

Hours to complete single MP round!

MP aspect simply can't get far (or anywhere really) in its current form - it needs to be "expanded" to include smaller maps / faster game modes / other xy options in order to FIT single MP round within 45 minutes brackets MAX!!!

If you are looking for a faster game experience I would advise trying a different game. As long as Sins maintains a strategic aspect, you are never going to be playing the kind of game you speak of (you being those who wish something faster/quicker). This isn`t CounterStrike. They have a savegame feature. I realize it can be difficult to coordinate a return of the players of prior saved games, but thats a reality of any game endeavour.

You can already select small maps to play in. You can crank up all game mechanic speeds. I can`t imagine Sins in an even swifter form.

My old LAN group used to play Bugs (Birth) Of The Federation. That game was turn-based and could certainly take an entire evening, despite our collective adeptness at doing our turns. We enjoyed every minute & hour of it... except for the out-of-sync events.

Requesting of the developers more depth inherently lengthens game times. How can you have depth in a strategy game without necessitating time? Many moons from now with the third expansion`s release we are going to have a game that takes even longer to play - at least thats the potential which all elements point to.

I`d recommend trying to establish ties to reliable people for a recurrent game group. Right now I play for entire afternoons/evenings with a small crew in Left4Dead. The scenarios themselves are relatively short, but we play for hours upon hours continuously. Same chronological frame as one might encounter with a single run of Sins.

I'm just wondering, not too be critical, but people do have unique mental behaviours.

I often find the people that have this consistent boredom from anything slow, that want games to be quick, aren't often satisfied with sitting around on certain games for long anyway.

So as soon as stardock starts accomodating them they will be bored with it and 'need' to move on the the next new thing anyway.  The next new game that comes along offers temporary gratification until a change is needed again.

Granted, they will maybe play Starcraft on and off for years, or some other game they have found a liking to with friends of same tastes.  But I believe people with this need are here today and gone tomorrow when Starcraft2 comes out, etc.

Sins is not the answer to fast style gaming needs, no more so than a racing game should fly your car into space.  To try and make the game 20-30 minutes would take a completely different game, I don't see how people don't get that the core game would have to change completely.  Go and mod it I say, but trying to make the game into something it isn't doesn't seem to make sense to me.

If Sins was fast I wouldn't have spent 100's of hours playing it nor a dime to buy it.

I have actually seen games destroyed that started as one thing and the adamant people that wanted it faster/more tactical turned it into something else as devs catered to it, then those vocal folks were never satisfied anyway and the game went into the dump pleasing next to no one.

[quote who="-=XX=-Nephilim" reply="20" id="2056319"]
No offence man but I am truly SICK of this kind of politically correct posts...

NO ONE is asking of Sins to be "fast paced" online game - NO ONE!

But some, including myself, would like to be able to complete single MP game within "normal" time frame which is cca 45 minutes for a single round (and not 20 - 30 as you said)...

Not everyone who likes the game and wishes to play online has 3 hours + to spare...

How hard is to understand that!?!

And yes, I believe you can MOD this stuff and I am just about to join one such project (read above) but this will NOT revive online community as a whole which is pretty much dead - not due to infamous "sync" issues - but issues of dreadfully slow pace which often requires SICK amount of time to complete single MP game... 

...

Again, sorry about the tone of this post with hope things are bit clearer now

[/quote]

I have to agree with MadBoris and would be disappointed in permanent changes to the game to accommodate fast pace. My reason for stating this is that while you’re not advocating for permanent changes I don’t want a change to accommodate your request that will affect me.

I play Sins MP almost every night Sunday through Thursday (~20 hrs/wk).  You won’t see me online because I host the games for myself and my friends not through ICO. Using BF2, CoH and SC as examples I generally don’t like live MP games with people in 1v1 matches I don’t know. Many times the experience is poor sportsmanship through disconnects. I never got to know any of these people and personally I found it to be far more enjoyable to work with friends I know to defeat computer AI players in a team vs team setting. We chat, collaborate and win the game through a team effort. Most of us are content with saving the game and reloading when we can all be back on line together (typically Thursday nights). The fact that you play for a couple of hours and want more than one game to be completed sounds to me like your major enjoyment comes from how many people can you defeat in an evening; not in the journey of playing the game with friends.

Having said all that I’m willing to set you up with a login to my TS server and have you join us for a "comp stomp" game if you’re interested. The way it works is I might be in a 2v2 match and someone logs in so we save the current 2v2 match and either start or load an existing match that was saved that included the person who just joined. Assuming that person only has an hour when they need to leave I save that game and the person who was on and I then go back to the game we were playing. Send me a PM if you’re interested and I send you the information.

Again, on a small map with all speed settings set to their highest/fastest, I cannot understand how Sins cannot be a quick experience...

More than that and you`ve got a Starcraft skirmish.

As for political posts, if you want to fundamentally change the face of the game, which is necessary given your parameters, yes - you`re going to have to argue your point with others. Anyway, agree to disagree.

The speed of a multiplayer game is quite slow. Yes, a 1v1 can be done in a reasonable amount of time, but it'ws not nearly as enjoyable as a 2v2 map.

I enjoy the long matches, but I don't have time for them. Here are some suggestions on a faster settings (primarily for 2v2 and up):

1) Small maps harboring 2v2. Let's say the map holds only 4-12 planets with a single star.

2) Rapid Building: Buildings construct faster

3) Multi-Manufacture: Builds 2 units at once for the price of one. Both units would be finished at the same time with no need for additional facilities.

4) Asteroids: Players start on asteroids, and the map contains no planets. Since asteroids are easier to take out, the matches should be quicker.

5) Accelerated Beginning: Players start off with multiple planets/asterods and are given buildings, as well as resources, to start them off. Tech would probably have to be purchased.

6) Faster tech: Research is faster.

Some of these could be toggles for map creation and others are just map types. I'm just looking for some faster multiplayer options. I love SoaSE; It has great balance and style, but the maps are just too time consuming.