Cecil Task times not matching list

Listed times for the April 25th tasks : 4-2-6-4 (from http://forum.ea.com/eaforum/posts/list/0/10328430.page)

My task times:

2 hours : Monsarno and Channel 6
2 hours : Channel 6 and Krustyburger
6 hours : Farm and Farm
4 hours : City Hall and Brown House

Once again the last 3 times I got match the last 3 from the list.

I started the first task about 3:15 AM or so (woke up to use the toilet, decided to get my first task out of the way).

I guess this kinda blows my theory about buildings out of the water. The only 4 hour Cecil task building I don't have is the Opera House, and it's not available yet...

But just for my own edification... Anybody who got the first 4 hour task from the list - where did it take place?

wadebear wrote:
Listed times for the April 25th tasks : 4-2-6-4 (from http://forum.ea.com/eaforum/posts/list/0/10328430.page)

My task times:

2 hours : Monsarno and Channel 6
2 hours : Channel 6 and Krustyburger
6 hours : Farm and Farm
4 hours : City Hall and Brown House

Once again the last 3 times I got match the last 3 from the list.

I started the first task about 3:15 AM or so (woke up to use the toilet, decided to get my first task out of the way).

I guess this kinda blows my theory about buildings out of the water. The only 4 hour Cecil task building I don't have is the Opera House, and it's not available yet...

But just for my own edification... Anybody who got the first 4 hour task from the list - where did it take place?

I was on schedule for 4/23 and 4/24, then it went off the list. My 4/25 was the same as yours in all 4 of my towns (2264 instead of 4264).
Today (4/26) it was listed as a 4121, but I started with a 1 hr task and the second task is 1 hr also.
All my towns follow the same schedule. All have different buildings. So I don't think it's the buildings you have. I think it's EA messing with us. :)

I'm still on the first job of the day (26th) as I slept in and for me it's a 4hr task (protect intellectual property ) and it's in the research building ,won't be completed for about another 1and a half hours so can't say what's next but will update post when I know, but so far I've followed LPN's posted list exactly so I've no clue why some people seem to be following a different time set unless it's a time zone issue.

EDIT: 2nd task is 1hr
3rd task is 2hr
4th task is 1hr so followed the list.

Donna4612 wrote:
[I was on schedule for 4/23 and 4/24, then it went off the list. My 4/25 was the same as yours in all 4 of my towns (2-2-6-4 instead of 4-2-6-4).
Today (4/26) it was listed as a 4-1-2-1, but I started with a 1 hr task and the second task is 1 hr also.
All my towns follow the same schedule. All have different buildings. So I don't think it's the buildings you have. I think it's EA messing with us. :)

As far as I know my task times have never matched the list, but my towns always match each other - although my towns are not identical in content.

My 26th tasks were 4-2-2-1, so they don't match yours either.
On the 27th I got 4-1-4-4 instead of 2-1-4-4.
Today's are 2-1-4-2 instead of 4-4-2-2.

I pretty much give up. Whatever's causing some of us to have different times must be so esoteric that I'll never figure it out...

wadebear wrote:

Donna4612 wrote:
[I was on schedule for 4/23 and 4/24, then it went off the list. My 4/25 was the same as yours in all 4 of my towns (2-2-6-4 instead of 4-2-6-4).
Today (4/26) it was listed as a 4-1-2-1, but I started with a 1 hr task and the second task is 1 hr also.
All my towns follow the same schedule. All have different buildings. So I don't think it's the buildings you have. I think it's EA messing with us. :)

As far as I know my task times have never matched the list, but my towns always match each other - although my towns are not identical in content.

My 26th tasks were 4-2-2-1, so they don't match yours either.
On the 27th I got 4-1-4-4 instead of 2-1-4-4.
Today's are 2-1-4-2 instead of 4-4-2-2.

I pretty much give up. Whatever's causing some of us to have different times must be so esoteric that I'll never figure it out...

There is a pattern to your times for the last three days - for the first two days, the first and second are the first and second times of the previous date, and the third and fourth are the third and fourth times of your expected date. For the third day (the 28th), the first three lengths match the previous date, and the fourth matches the expected date.

I think it works something like this:

The task number (1st, 2nd, 3rd, or 4th) resets to 1st at midnight in your timezone. It advances to 2nd, 3rd, and 4th as you complete tasks during the next 24 hours, but always resets to 1st at midnight regardless of whether you completed all four tasks.

When the game looks up the task length it should give you, it uses what it thinks is the current date and the current task number (1st, 2nd, 3rd, or 4th). However, the game uses a specific timezone to determine the current date, which may not match your timezone. I think (but am not sure) that timezone is pacific standard time (not pacific daylight saving time, even though daylight saving has started). So, for example, if your time zone is eastern daylight saving time, the period between midnight EDT and 4 am EDT are considered to still be the previous date for the purposes of this lookup, so any task lengths determined during that period will use the previous date's entries.

If this explanation is correct, that would mean that for the past three days your games obtained the first two task lengths (first three on 04/28) during the period between your timezone's midnight and the lookup process's midnight (between 12am EDT to 4am EDT in the above example), and obtained the remaining task lengths after that. Does that fit with your observations?

This also means that it's possible to get a given date's entry for the same task number twice. For example, you could get the 04/28 1st length on 04/28 at 9 am EDT, then get the 04/28 1st length again (instead of the 04/29 1st length) if the lookup happens on 04/29 between 12 am EDT and 4 am EDT.

dustandair wrote:
There is a pattern to your times for the last three days - for the first two days, the first and second are the first and second times of the previous date, and the third and fourth are the third and fourth times of your expected date. For the third day (the 28th), the first three lengths match the previous date, and the fourth matches the expected date.

I think it works something like this:

The task number (1st, 2nd, 3rd, or 4th) resets to 1st at midnight in your timezone. It advances to 2nd, 3rd, and 4th as you complete tasks during the next 24 hours, but always resets to 1st at midnight regardless of whether you completed all four tasks.

When the game looks up the task length it should give you, it uses what it thinks is the current date and the current task number (1st, 2nd, 3rd, or 4th). However, the game uses a specific timezone to determine the current date, which may not match your timezone. I think (but am not sure) that timezone is pacific standard time (not pacific daylight saving time, even though daylight saving has started). So, for example, if your time zone is eastern daylight saving time, the period between midnight EDT and 4 am EDT are considered to still be the previous date for the purposes of this lookup, so any task lengths determined during that period will use the previous date's entries.

If this explanation is correct, that would mean that for the past three days your games obtained the first two task lengths (first three on 04/28) during the period between your timezone's midnight and the lookup process's midnight (between 12am EDT to 4am EDT in the above example), and obtained the remaining task lengths after that. Does that fit with your observations?

This also means that it's possible to get a given date's entry for the same task number twice. For example, you could get the 04/28 1st length on 04/28 at 9 am EDT, then get the 04/28 1st length again (instead of the 04/29 1st length) if the lookup happens on 04/29 between 12 am EDT and 4 am EDT.

By George I think you've got it!

I'll check tomorrow's times and see if they match that pattern.

Hit me over the head enough times and I WILL start to listen.

dustandair wrote:

wadebear wrote:

Donna4612 wrote:
[I was on schedule for 4/23 and 4/24, then it went off the list. My 4/25 was the same as yours in all 4 of my towns (2-2-6-4 instead of 4-2-6-4).
Today (4/26) it was listed as a 4-1-2-1, but I started with a 1 hr task and the second task is 1 hr also.
All my towns follow the same schedule. All have different buildings. So I don't think it's the buildings you have. I think it's EA messing with us. :)

As far as I know my task times have never matched the list, but my towns always match each other - although my towns are not identical in content.

My 26th tasks were 4-2-2-1, so they don't match yours either.
On the 27th I got 4-1-4-4 instead of 2-1-4-4.
Today's are 2-1-4-2 instead of 4-4-2-2.

I pretty much give up. Whatever's causing some of us to have different times must be so esoteric that I'll never figure it out...

There is a pattern to your times for the last three days - for the first two days, the first and second are the first and second times of the previous date, and the third and fourth are the third and fourth times of your expected date. For the third day (the 28th), the first three lengths match the previous date, and the fourth matches the expected date.

I think it works something like this:

The task number (1st, 2nd, 3rd, or 4th) resets to 1st at midnight in your timezone. It advances to 2nd, 3rd, and 4th as you complete tasks during the next 24 hours, but always resets to 1st at midnight regardless of whether you completed all four tasks.

When the game looks up the task length it should give you, it uses what it thinks is the current date and the current task number (1st, 2nd, 3rd, or 4th). However, the game uses a specific timezone to determine the current date, which may not match your timezone. I think (but am not sure) that timezone is pacific standard time (not pacific daylight saving time, even though daylight saving has started). So, for example, if your time zone is eastern daylight saving time, the period between midnight EDT and 4 am EDT are considered to still be the previous date for the purposes of this lookup, so any task lengths determined during that period will use the previous date's entries.

If this explanation is correct, that would mean that for the past three days your games obtained the first two task lengths (first three on 04/28) during the period between your timezone's midnight and the lookup process's midnight (between 12am EDT to 4am EDT in the above example), and obtained the remaining task lengths after that. Does that fit with your observations?

This also means that it's possible to get a given date's entry for the same task number twice. For example, you could get the 04/28 1st length on 04/28 at 9 am EDT, then get the 04/28 1st length again (instead of the 04/29 1st length) if the lookup happens on 04/29 between 12 am EDT and 4 am EDT.

I'm not sure that pattern fits my schedule.
I am in the eastern time zone and most nights stay up til midnight to get the first one started (especially if the list shows 4 or 6 hrs). So here is what I have:
Date list my result
4/23 1241 1241 midnight start
4/24 2222 2222 morning start
4/25 4264 2264 midnight start
4/26 4121 1121 midnight start
4/27 2144 2144 midnight start
4/28 4422 2422 midnight start

We'll see what happens tomorrow.

Donna4612 wrote:
I'm not sure that pattern fits my schedule.
I am in the eastern time zone and most nights stay up til midnight to get the first one started (especially if the list shows 4 or 6 hrs). So here is what I have:
Date list my result

4/23 1241 1241 midnight start.... correct for the day
4/24 2222 2222 morning start.... correct for the day
4/25 4264 2264 midnight start.... fits dustandair's pattern shift
4/26 4121 1121 midnight start.... correct for the 15th
4/27 2144 2144 midnight start.... correct for the day
4/28 4422 2422 midnight start.... fits dustandair's pattern shift

Possibility: We know there is more than one server. We know they often behave erratically. You may have connected to different servers with different outputs.

On the 23rd, 24th, and 27th you connected to a server that gave the correct timings for your time zone.

On the 25th and 28th you connected to a server that gave you the the first time for the previous day.

On the 26th you connected to a server that gave you the times for the 15th.

That's the only thing I can come up with because all the times I have accurate data for fit the pattern that dustandair came up with.

I was completely out of synch and suspected it had something to with rushing with donuts and starting the daily tasks before I should have. I missed completing a day and now am back on track with the exception of the first task.

My pattern also matches your suspicion. Am in EDT and complete the first task right after midnight. My first task is from the day before on the list and my other 3 match now.

Here are my results since I started tracking. I know it's a bit messy, but I'm just keeping a simple text file.

date, task lengths, vs actual task lengths

22, 4,2,6,2
23, 1,2,4,1, v 4,2,6,1
24, 2,2,2,2, v 1,2,2,2
25, 4,2,6,4, v 2,2,6,4
26, 4,1,2,1, v 4,2,2,1
27, 2,1,4,4, v 4,1,2,4
28, 4,4,2,2, v 2,1,4,2

I thought it would be two from the previous day to start and then it transitions into the last two of the current day tasks. Of course the 27th was different and so was today. :roll:

It is just going to be a long grind to get everything.