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Random Bee Checks

Posted: Wed Apr 28, 2010 6:25 pm
by Oromis
Been having an issue of late that was little more than an annoyance previously, now it is a problem and I want to get word to see if it is treatable on my side if anyone knows. Essentially my beehives which were all placed down at the same time (albeit the few seconds between each for the time required to double click) and yet now they are moving further and further apart with their refresh times. What is worse is the collective will randomly jump times as well. When I planted them they started going through growth checks all at the same time at approximately 1300 my time (live in Tennesse, new here still a bit cloudy on what the time zone is called :D). Then they started going off from 1700 (the first) to approximately 1830 (the last), which I put off on a glitch from the time change for daylight savings. Now I am not sure what time they are refreshing, most of them are currently done at 1921, but some of them are yet to check ><. This was not a problem when I was unemployed since it was little more than a hindrance, but now that I am working 10 and 12 hour shifts this could quickly spell the doom of all my beehives (since sleep, clothes washing, showers, etc are taking up the small window of time I have). If anyone knows what might be causing this, let me know because I am utterly confused. And before anyone asks, I am not putting this in the "Bugs" section because I don't know for a fact it is a bug and not simply something I am causing.

Thanks in advance.

Re: Random Bee Checks

Posted: Wed Apr 28, 2010 9:15 pm
by Cutlass
I noticed this too, but didn't take much care into it. Some of me beehives refresh at different times, because I'll be putting potions in them and some of them already have potions from the other day.

Re: Random Bee Checks

Posted: Wed Apr 28, 2010 11:35 pm
by Orbit Storm
Aye, I've experienced similar issues. I noticed that after 3-4 weeks, about half of my 20 some beehives would start refreshing at different times; some with an entire day's difference.

I think some of the of the factors stem from hive age, the disease algorithm, etc. The older the hive, the more susceptible they become to diseases an infestation; as mentioned in the Wiki. However, most of the diseases are random, formed from lack of food, water, or excessive amounts in both categories; and of course, the most obvious being improper usage of potions.

It's aggravating in general at times; but it also adds to the experience. I wouldn't mind getting an answer as to why there is disparity in the refresh times even if placed all within a minute. Whether it be reasons I listed, or something that directly affects it; it'd be nice to even see a deed to prevent dysfunctional refresh times; but that is better for the suggestion forum.

Re: Random Bee Checks

Posted: Thu Apr 29, 2010 12:55 am
by Qualance
i placed about 20 hive at a time and other in different, one part refreshed aproximately 22:00pm at my time another part 01:00
after the day saving, one of them goes morning 09:00 i cannot observe another one so i can say that 3-5 am (at my time). aproximatelly 2 weeks ago all of hives start to change their refresh times, when i clicked samo of hive had potion some of them gone sick, finally i put all of my hives at thrivng state than i didnt look them one day so almost all of them gone sick, after that it looks like all of hives refreshed at same time :).
So i can say that sometimes i miss one or two hive looks like it effects their refresh time.

Re: Random Bee Checks

Posted: Thu Apr 29, 2010 2:24 am
by Kaiana
Qualance wrote:i placed about 20 hive at a time and other in different, one part refreshed aproximately 22:00pm at my time another part 01:00
after the day saving, one of them goes morning 09:00 i cannot observe another one so i can say that 3-5 am (at my time). aproximatelly 2 weeks ago all of hives start to change their refresh times, when i clicked samo of hive had potion some of them gone sick, finally i put all of my hives at thrivng state than i didnt look them one day so almost all of them gone sick, after that it looks like all of hives refreshed at same time .
So i can say that sometimes i miss one or two hive looks like it effects their refresh time.
To also quote Tracy Morgan, "I don't know what the H*** you just said little man, but you special. You reached out, and you touched my heart."

To add my two cents, I ran hives for around six months and I also noticed the times wandering or becoming later and later, and I came to the hypothesis (still untested) that when you access the hives with a potion, depending on how long after the refresh time it is, the refresh time is moved in the direction of the time you potioned them. But like I said, this is just a guess. Initially I thought the hives refreshed 24 hours from the last time you put a potion in them, but that didn't seem to pan out in testing.

Re: Random Bee Checks

Posted: Thu Apr 29, 2010 2:28 am
by Kaiana
You know, random thought, but it could also be that the server save times (those 8-10 seconds these days) could be gradually pushing the time back somehow. No idea how the interaction of hive programming and colibri programming may be affecting them, but it's an idea....that would cause it to get moved by a few minutes a day if you total all the saves.

Re: Random Bee Checks

Posted: Thu Apr 29, 2010 4:05 am
by Orbit Storm
Your last little diddy there actually makes a ton of sense. Goes along with the world's rotation going off orbit by millimeters; time in a day fading by milliseconds; perfect logic lol. :shock:

Re: Random Bee Checks

Posted: Thu Apr 29, 2010 7:54 am
by Lust
Experienced a similar but not as severe issue. All my bees still refresh at the same time however it seems as though the check time has moved later into the day. I always potion them all at once and do a double check while extracting the materials everyday. Yesterday it seemed off an hour or two because instead of being able to potion right after I get home from work, but instead I had to wait until after dinner and some play time before I was able to potion them. I don't mind the spontaneity since they've more than paid their share and if worse comes to worse I'll just redo all them from scratch.

Re: Random Bee Checks

Posted: Fri Apr 30, 2010 2:28 am
by Undertaker
Kaiana wrote:You know, random thought, but it could also be that the server save times (those 8-10 seconds these days) could be gradually pushing the time back somehow. No idea how the interaction of hive programming and colibri programming may be affecting them, but it's an idea....that would cause it to get moved by a few minutes a day if you total all the saves.

Can Colibri verify this thought?

Re: Random Bee Checks

Posted: Fri Apr 30, 2010 2:59 am
by Tael
My hives are 280 days old and the refresh times have changed a lot during that time -- I'd say I've lost several days from the refresh times wrapping around the clock. I've had a few different theories on why this happens, but I have to admit that I don't really know. I don't think it's a big problem, though, since bees are easy money, and a bit of unpredictability doesn't seem all that much of a burden.

Re: Random Bee Checks

Posted: Fri Apr 30, 2010 3:56 am
by Kaiana
I definitely see your point about them being easy money and a little unpredictability not being that bad.

I actually no longer run bees since I was gone for about six months and just came back, but I remember the bees being one of the reasons I couldn't keep playing. The unpredictability got out of control when I was spending waaaay too much time trying to take care of my bees and thus shunting real life responsibilities. I kind of relied on them refreshing at a certain time and when that shifted, they started getting sick a lot which meant extra upkeep costs to keep them generating and oftentimes losses of profits. I simply didn't have the time to keep track of when they were all refreshing and to try and stay on top of them. Logging on once every day at the same time while I was in school would have been no problem, but since the times shifted I simply couldn't keep up.

The random thought I had earlier could very well be the reason...the more I think about it, the more sense it makes. The effect would be several minutes a day, which translates to around 20 minutes per week, and over time that could completely throw off the cycle. In a month, it's already an hour and a half later. In two, three hours.

But then again, that's only if I'm right. And who knows. Maybe I'll take a look at the hive code when I have time. (Btw, what hive code do we use, so I CAN look at it?)

Re: Random Bee Checks

Posted: Sun May 02, 2010 3:46 pm
by Orbit Storm
Bumping this because I'm extremely curious myself, as to whether or not this is a bug; or if there are variables that we as players are somehow altering. :displeased:

Re: Random Bee Checks

Posted: Thu May 13, 2010 3:48 am
by Undertaker
Im upset at my own bees.... i have 3 diff sets at 3 diff times, i cant always get on certain times of the day, so one set goes sickly...

A suggestion to Colibri, is it possible to have the 24 hr cycle done at the 24 hr mark of server time? this way everyone gets a chance to log on at some point of the day befor the next day server cycle, an take care of these bees... this is the 3rd time this week they've gone sickly... few dying... :verymad: :verymad: :verymad: .... *sigh*


Thank you for your, uh, future time/assistance? lol :mrgreen:

Re: Random Bee Checks

Posted: Thu May 13, 2010 1:17 pm
by ticketguru
Another possible solution could be to add a feature that would allow a house owner to synch all the bees in a house so that they will all check at the same time.

Re: Random Bee Checks

Posted: Thu May 13, 2010 3:00 pm
by Undertaker
Or, just have them reset at server time. Automatically :wink: