News and Announcements about PlanetsCentral

[Posting] Server Maintenance
Thread opener
Posted Mon, 2024-04-15 16:40 GMT

The ISP has announced maintenance in the night from 17th to 18th of April (Wednesday to Thursday). During that time, the server will not be available.

Because many turns were scheduled to run that night, I have set them all to skip to avoid that you miss a turn because the server is not available when you want to submit it.

--Stefan

[Posting] Re: Server Maintenance
Posted Sat, 2024-04-20 20:59 GMT

Hey :smile:

First, thank you Stefan for being so foresightful. There might have been quite a couple of turns missed (including mine) if host would have proceeded as usual.

Second, I hope you will be able to set a record straight (and I also hope I did not ask this question already and forgot about the solution :lol:): When a schedule is skipped and host will run only when all turns are in, what will happen when the last turn missing is submitted right before the actual due date? Will the next host run immediately at the imminent due date or will autohost have mercy and wait until the next due date?

Thanks & Cheers,
Mike

[Posting] Re: Server Maintenance
Thread opener
Posted Sun, 2024-04-21 14:05 GMT

Second, I hope you will be able to set a record straight (and I also hope I did not ask this question already and forgot about the solution :lol:): When a schedule is skipped and host will run only when all turns are in, what will happen when the last turn missing is submitted right before the actual due date? Will the next host run immediately at the imminent due date or will autohost have mercy and wait until the next due date?

A Thursday/Sunday schedule means: you will have a Thursday-to-Sunday interval or a Sunday-to-Thursday interval to play your turn.

If host runs early, say, on Wednesday, next scheduled host will NOT run on Thursday (unless all turns are in, of course) because then you'd not have a Sun-Thu interval, so it will give you the entire Thu-Sun interval instead.

Likewise, if host runs late (e.g. "all turns in" condition fulfilled Thursday night when host time would be noon), the Thu-Sun interval has been shortened too much, so the server gives you a Sun-Thu interval instead. The maximum acceptable shortening is 90 minutes. (It used to be 6 hours; we discussed shortening it a while ago, and it seems some games in the database are still using 6 hours; fixed those.)

Long story short: if you look at the schedule at the beginning of a game, and pick a time "I will reserve these times for doing my turns every week", server will try its best to make that possible, and not force you to react on emergencies. The whole point of VGAP is to play it at a convenient pace, no need to do an overnighter to avoid someone raiding your base.

--Stefan

[Posting] Re: Server Maintenance
Posted Sun, 2024-04-21 21:27 GMT

Second, I hope you will be able to set a record straight (and I also hope I did not ask this question already and forgot about the solution :lol:): When a schedule is skipped and host will run only when all turns are in, what will happen when the last turn missing is submitted right before the actual due date? Will the next host run immediately at the imminent due date or will autohost have mercy and wait until the next due date?

A Thursday/Sunday schedule means: you will have a Thursday-to-Sunday interval or a Sunday-to-Thursday interval to play your turn.

If host runs early, say, on Wednesday, next scheduled host will NOT run on Thursday (unless all turns are in, of course) because then you'd not have a Sun-Thu interval, so it will give you the entire Thu-Sun interval instead.

Likewise, if host runs late (e.g. "all turns in" condition fulfilled Thursday night when host time would be noon), the Thu-Sun interval has been shortened too much, so the server gives you a Sun-Thu interval instead. The maximum acceptable shortening is 90 minutes. (It used to be 6 hours; we discussed shortening it a while ago, and it seems some games in the database are still using 6 hours; fixed those.)

Long story short: if you look at the schedule at the beginning of a game, and pick a time "I will reserve these times for doing my turns every week", server will try its best to make that possible, and not force you to react on emergencies. The whole point of VGAP is to play it at a convenient pace, no need to do an overnighter to avoid someone raiding your base.

--Stefan

Thanks for this clarification :smile: