Reply With QuoteI also recieved an email about this game. I'm interested in joining any new game thats set up.
2102 e-mailed to bluetemplar.
I also recieved an email about this game. I'm interested in joining any new game thats set up.
Its all just zeroes and ones.
Would 3 players be enough or we need a 4th player?
I would be interested in playing in a 4 player game if you need another.
I have some ideas for the game:
- Land rush (official scenario)
- Archipelago map : max sea, min gravity, rainy, few native life & one pirate AI (plus 2 aliens?)
- "Keep your secrets" map : governorship/empath guild banned, in case that the AI starts the elections, no votes can go for the players. (does the player pacted with this IA will still get the intel?)
Alright, sounds fun. I don't see this listed among the official downloads. What size is the map?
there it is:
and for the other maps, I think standart is a good size... unless you want a HUGE 256*256 archipelago fight
Land Rush looks good except starting one faction in the Monsoon Jungle is way overpowered. It might be balanced if each location is tied to the starting faction, since the small map favors the spartans, who have the worst starting position, but are next to Morgan in the Jungle. If the start positions were tied to the factions, I'd be comfortable playing any of the four.
So what's happening now?
I would like to do the "keep your secrets" game, but I experienced that a non-"boosted" start is really a pain, so either we need someone other to make a map, either we lose something like 20 turns, or I make a map and we'll play knowing our relative positions... and terrain info.
I have also another idea about either making 6 colony pods for each player and placing them randomly at the map... or placing them in one BIG transport (don't know if the latter is possible, i'm testing it right now...)
Tested: the player doesn't receive the infiltration information when pacted with a governor...
Should we see if we can find a CMN? That might be best. Everyone knowing the map lose something in the gameplay.
CMN seem rare these days.
But...
I made some tests and now I know whant we can do:
I make a new scenario
I press Y so I can't see the map.
I randomly generate the map
I randomly generate 2 numbers for each player => starting coordinates.
On these coordinates I create one "Unity crash Pod" : Unity Transport Foil with X transport capability.
The I add all X units to the same square!
I think I will make all units hardened so that Santago don't receive the elite +1 movement bonus.
Not even I will see the map. Of course you have to trust me about the fact that I really didn't saw the map and that the placement is really random...
PS: The Planet Cult could maybe have a Slow Isle of the Deep instead of the transport foil...
For the Pirates: Since you can pretty much "guess" where is a large chunk of sea, I will place the Pirates there.
With rare native life, there is not much point in playing the Planet Cult, so I'd prefer, in descending order University, Morganites (if the starting units are independent), Data Angels or Spartans.
This is assuming that the Pirates are not allowed. I would think on such a map they would be over-powered because of the +1 mineral in shelf squares. Additionally, is it possible to disallow the Monsoon Jungle? That landmark, IMHO, imbalances random maps badly and distorts the game's results.
I agree with you about monsoon.
And yes I can remove any of the landmarks without seeing the map.
I've experimented a bit with the worldbuilder,and found that this kind of map would be interesting to play on:
(Achipelago and Keep Your Secrets are not really compatible I think due to the fact that it's easy to probe anyone using probe foils/probes in transports. A land-based probe operation is harder to set up.)
In this scenario I think it's also interesting to forbid The Hunter-Seeker Algorithm and Data Angels.
#WORLDBUILDER
100, ; Land base (Seeded land size of a standard world)
300, ; Land modifier (additional land from LAND selection: x0, x1, x2)
200, ; Continent base (Base size of a land mass seed)
50, ; Continent modif. (Increased size from LAND selection: x0, x1, x2)
3, ; Hills base (Base # of extra hills)
2, ; Hills modifier (additional hills from TIDAL selection: x0, x1, x2)
4, ; Plateau base (Basic plateau size)
8, ; Plateau modifier (Plateau modifier based on LAND selection: x0, x1, x2)
8, ; Rivers base (Basic # of rivers)
12, ; Rivers rain mod. (Additional rivers based on RAIN selection)
14, ; Solar Energy (Latitude DIVISOR for temperature based on HEAT) Smaller # increases effect of HEAT selection
14, ; Thermal band (Latitude DIVISOR for thermal banding) Smaller # widens hot bands
8, ; Thermal deviance (Latitude DIVISOR for thermal deviance) Smaller # increases randomness
8, ; Global Warming (Latitude DIVISOR for global warming) Smaller # increases effect of warming
5, ; Sea Level Rises (Magnitude of sea level changes from ice cap melting/freezing)
5, ; Cloudmass peaks (Size of cloud mass trapped by peaks)
3, ; Cloudmass hills (Size of cloud mass trapped by hills)
1, ; Rainfall coeff. (Multiplier for rainfall belts)
15, ; Deep water (Encourages fractal to grow deep water)
10, ; Shelf (Encourages fractal to grow shelf)
15, ; Plains (Encourages highland plains)
10, ; Beach (Encourages wider beaches)
10, ; Hills (Encourages hills x TIDAL selection)
25, ; Peaks (Encourages peaks)
1, ; Fungus (Fungus coefficient based on LIFE selection)
3,6,12,18,24 ; Ratio (Continent size ratios)
36 ; Islands (Higher # increases island count)
With settings:
30-50% ocean coverage
Weak erosive forces
Average Native Life Forms
Dense Cloud Cover
I will try to place everyone on the same continent here rather than using random numbers.
I will post each player coordinates in the forum thread.
What do you think?
Sounds good. With everyone on the same continent, I think I'd prefer the Free Drones, unless someone else wants them, in which case I'd also be happy with the University or the Human Hive.
I look forward to the new game
Should we e-mail or PM the other players to let them know what is going on?
If they don't post here today, yes...
Id like university or un faction.
Its all just zeroes and ones.
I'd like to play as the University.
So we have 4 player, no AI:
BlueTemplar: University
JustinSane: Drones
Corvi #6 : PeaceKeepers
Player99: Hive
MAP:
Size: Standart (40,80)
Geography: map with LOTS of land, and only few seas/lakes (cf WORLDBUILDER settings before).
Tidal Forces: map with LOTS of mountains.
Native life: Average
Cloud Cover: Dense
no Monsoon Jungle
Starting Parameters:
100 ec's each
4 colony pods
4 scouts
2 formers
(all units will be Commando)
All players start on the same continent.(It's really likely that there will be only ONE continent)
How do I make the map:
I make a new scenario
I press Y so I can't see the map.
I randomly generate the map
I randomly generate 2 numbers for each player => starting coordinates.
On these coordinates I create one "Unity crash Pod" : Unity Transport Foil with X transport capability.
The I add all X units to the same square!
RULES:
Bugs/Features:
http://www.civgaming.net/smac/acad_buglist.shtml
Default rules + :
no Do or Die
Random events
Non-Blind Research
Look First
-Starting positions communicated to all players.
-No governorship, Empath Guild banned.
-Hunter-Seeker authorised (the beeline to H-S is not really rich in useful techs, is should diversify the game a little bit...)
-No turn restarting
-No commlink before contact
-Only one SE change/turn/line
I think we should AUTHORISE these bugs/features:
http://www.civgaming.net/smac/acad_buglist.shtml
-18 (Reverse Engineering)
-21 (Unload in Flight)
-26 (no Vendetta after Stealing) : as Dreifeils wrote:
quote:
A probe team operation is a secret service operation and it's just the character of a secret service operation that the victim doesn't see / know it and has no possibility to act at once.
44/45 (Stockpile Energy Bug): It is still unclear to me WHEN exactly this bug appears:
-after a military unit?
-after a building?
63-(Upgrades in Workshop): OK, but without attacking the same turn!
Upgrade crawlers for SP's.
And FORBID these:
1-(Extra growth w/ColonyPod)
2-(Multiple AirDrop)
16-(Editor Cheating)
19-(Probe to Rover Reverse Engineering)
22-(Terraformer Move-Again Trick)
25-(AI Withdrawal)
27-(Erase Vendetta Trick)
50-(Facilities in Queue trick)
65-(Air Defense with Vendetta only): It should be also for Nothing/Truce/Treaty without the approval of the other side!
71-(Terraforming Credit Up)
72-(Spying on Commlink Communications)
74-(Instant Patrol Upgrade Cheat)
75-(Opponent's Citizens Remote Control)
ABOUT PEOPLE UNAVAILABLE TO PLAY THEIR TURN:
At the start of the game, everyone sends their passwords to smacpbem@archives.civgaming.net under the mail subject of "Keep Your Secrets - FactionName(PlayerName) - password"
cf http://www.civgaming.net/forums/showthread.php?t=5542
If a player didn't play his turn for a certain amount of time (I would say 48 hours), if he isn't joinable, if he hasn't advertised the other players about it, (or if he's unable to play the game for a cerain amount of time : I would say a week), and if all of the 3 other players agree on it, then they can ask a CMN who has access to the archive to skip this player's turn (of course the CMN could refuse to do it).
It would of course be kind of the other players to do not abuse of this turn to for instance launch a massive invasion in the player's territory...
Replacement limit:
If one player is unjoinable for a certain amount of time (I would say 1 week), and he didn't advertise any of the other players, then a replacement for this player will be sought.
If a player is unable to play his turns for a certain amount of time (I would say 3 weeks), then a replacement player will be sought.
What do you think of all this?
Last edited by bluetemplar; March 25, 2006 at 00:01.
Many of those bugs are new to me! Still, I dont see how you can effectively forbid some of them, such as the multi-airdrop and terraformer charge-up. Im not even sure the last one is a bug, and not a feature. Maybe it would be easier to simply disable the air-drop ability?
Its all just zeroes and ones.
Disallowing Do or Die on a map with no AIs makes conquest victory impossible, no?
Other than that it looks pretty good
The problem is Smacx is that you can't REALLY forbid most of the exploits, even in some cases it will be clear that a player is using them... (if you see that a drop unit has travelled half of the map in one turn without orbital insertion, you might have a strong suspicion)
That's why these rules are in fact for the most based on honor: If you win by cheating, will it not take a large part of the sweetness of the victory?
We simply agree not using them in order to make the game more fun, more balanced and sometimes more realistic.
About the terraformer credit-up: imagine that during 23 turns you former is drilling a huge borehole in Chiron's crust. Then after that you change your mind and drop this former on the other side of the continent and you "finish" the borehole! Doesn't it seems weird to you? Definitely a bug. But corrected now AFAIK.
I'm trying to find a way to create the starting units without knowing the starting positions. Maybe simply forgetting them will be enough, but I fear I have a good enough memory for numbers...
The other possibility would be to release the coordinates to everyone. As long as the information is equal, it is by definition fair.
Fair, yes, but I really appreciate finding out by myself the location of other players... it adds some of the thrill to the game when you might "bump" in a faction at any turn...
About do or die, I selected it "by default" because it's more fun vs the cpu... but it might be annoying when a player don't want to continue the game where he will clearly lose, even if in some cases you don't get restarted though...
Yes, I think Do or Die ON might be better...
In order to compensate a bug I wasn't aware of (tech cost gets updated when i give the techs using scenario editor "Edit Technology" function) I could give to all factions a bonus tech of your choice.
(This bug means that every faction will basically be X tech behind, with X being the number of their starting techs)
This is particulary important for the factions that have 2 starting techs : all those of SMACX minus the drones (i think it must be a
really awful malus for the Aliens) and the factions that have a research penalty : drones and believers, since for them one tech more or less is a tremendous difference at the start of the game.
P.S.: If i use Shift + F2 : Technological breakthrough, to give techs, it still updates so that the first tech counts in the tech cost... (with yang at least)
P.P.S.: I've found a way to have random locations AND so that not even me will know of the starting position.
(But you can't end up closer than 4 tiles to the poles)
PPPS: I'm against disabling the airdrop ability since IIRC it would require alphax.txt swappings, and don't really want to do it if it's the ONLY ONE thing to change in alphax.txt...
Last edited by bluetemplar; March 29, 2006 at 01:53.
Those rules sound fine to me. Lets play!
Ok, I'm making the game...
Since I don't know what bonus tech do you want, I'll give "tech for formers" (centauri ecology IIRC) to everyone...
Ok, at last, here we go!
WARNING : the first turn you're at 100% economy, you should change it in social engineering!
(ttt when i'll have the time...)
Corvi, I do not have your e-mail address, so here is the turn:
oops, did that wrong. Trying again!
EDIT: Couldn't remove Monsoon jungle without looking at the map in fact...
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