Can engines be used without paying ducats?

 

This is possible if you load private engines on your own computers to be used by yourself. This is one of the ways to use the Engine Cloud. You can also use the engines of other users that are listed in the Booking Fee column as FREE.
 

 

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Can I offer a lower price than the currently asked price per minute? Can I negotiate a price?

 

You can always make an offer. The provider is informed and has the opportunity to lower the booking fee. If he does this the engine is automatically loaded. It is recommendable to load a board window with the position to be analysed in advance. If an engine is loaded while the user is away it immediately starts to analyse the position in the board window.

 

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Can the length of time for using an engine be limited?

 

This can be done by limiting the ducat budget for using an engine.
 

 

As soon as the limit is reached the Cloud Engine is unloaded and the current line including its evaluation is copied into the game notation.

 

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Can engine matches be carried out with Cloud Engines?

 

Yes. Engine Cloud offers an interesting type of autoplayer. You can load both engines from the Engine Cloud server, or you can load one engine to play against a local engine on your own computer. The Cloud Engines can be used for test suites, permanent analysis on the Let’s Check server or in the Machine Room on Playchess.com. If you use a Cloud Engine in this way you should use a fixed price. This makes sure that you will not be outbid and will be able to continue using the engine. If you lost an engine by being outbid you would lose a game.