What is "seed"?

[chadinark]

Could someone please explain the "seed" concept to me and how it works (or direct me to an appropriate thread)?

What does the seed data field on the map creation screen do?

thanks in advance
chad

[Solomwi]

It is basically the raw form of a particular map. IOW, the same seed with the same settings will give you the same map. The same seed with different settings (i.e. water percentage, size, climate, etc.), will give you two similar maps adjusted according to the settings.

[Dis]

I thought it had to do with resources?

[Solomwi]

In a sense, it does, but it also has to do with landmasses and terrain.

[vmxa1]

Solomwi is correct. It is an attempt to let you use the same map over again or let someone else start the game that you played.

It will not be exactly the same if you do not have all the settings the same.

[Epistax]

Random Seed:
The random seed allows you to always get the exact same series of numbers out of a random number generator.

What this means: Usually when a random number generator is initialized it is given a seed of (In windows API) GetTickCount() which is the number of milliseconds that have passed since the computer has booted up. Since this number is virtually guaranteed to be different for any given call twice (unless you start Civ 3 in exactly the same amount of time from bootup on two separate occasions). This GetTickCount might also enter some arithmetic if it happens to be too large for the given randomization routine. Anyway this seed can also be specified into the random generator making it so that every random call reveals the same "random" order. However as soon as a single random call is made in one run that was not made in the previous the number generation will be off track and things will be different.

[vmxa1]

Epistax I think he was refering to the WorldSeed in the INI.

[alva]

Originally posted by vmxa1
Epistax I think he was refering to the WorldSeed in the INI.

It's not that different from what Epistax is talking about, is it. Exect the world seed being 'fixed' random.

[gunkulator]

Originally posted by Epistax
Random Seed:
The random seed allows you to always get the exact same series of numbers out of a random number generator.

To be a bit anal, it would be more correct to say that a seed produces the same sequence of numbers out of the RNG. Mathematically, the term series is used to describe a sequence of numbers summed together.

[Epistax]

Originally posted by gunkulator


To be a bit anal, it would be more correct to say that a seed produces the same sequence of numbers out of the RNG. Mathematically, the term series is used to describe a sequence of numbers summed together.

Yeah you're right, I copied that portion (copy-paste) from an almost-definition. I was very surprised that the dictionary (which I checked) didn't have it listed under "seed". The normal definition for the nature term doesn't cut it because two identical seeds will not yield two identical plants due to much of the matter being decided by soil condition, sunlight, whereas with a random seed there are no other variables. I don’t know why I brought this up just now I think I’m just rambling.

[Kuciwalker]

seed
n. pl. seeds or seed

1. A ripened plant ovule containing an embryo.
2. A propagative part of a plant, as a tuber or spore.
3. Seeds considered as a group.
4. The seed-bearing stage of a plant.
5. Something that resembles a seed, as a tiny bubble in a piece of glass.
6.
1. A small amount of material used to start a chemical reaction.
2. A small crystal used to start a crystallization process.
7. Medicine. A form of a radioactive isotope that is used to localize and concentrate the amount of radiation administered to a body site, such as a tumor.
8. A source or beginning; a germ.
9. Offspring; progeny.
10. Family stock; ancestry.
11. Sperm; semen.
12. A seed oyster or oysters; spat.
13. Sports. A player who has been seeded for a tournament, often at a given rank: a top seed.


v. seed·ed, seed·ing, seeds
v. tr.

1. To plant seeds in (land, for example); sow.
2. To plant in soil.
3. To remove the seeds from (fruit).
4. To furnish with something that grows or stimulates growth or development: a bioreactor seeded with bacteria.
5. Medicine. To cause (cells or a tumor, for example) to grow or multiply.
6. Meteorology. To sprinkle (a cloud) with particles, as of silver iodide, in order to disperse it or to produce precipitation.
7. Sports.
1. To arrange (the drawing for positions in a tournament) so that the more skilled contestants meet in the later rounds.
2. To rank (a contestant) in this way.
8. To help (a business, for example) in its early development.


v. intr.

1. To sow seed.
2. To go to seed.
3. Medicine. To grow or multiply, as a tumor.


adj.

1. Set aside for planting a new crop: seed corn; seed wheat.
2. Intended to help in early stages: provided seed capital for a fledgling business.


Idiom:
go/run to seed

1. To pass into the seed-bearing stage.
2. To become weak or devitalized; deteriorate: The old neighborhood has gone to seed.

[Dis]

this thread is complicated.

What I want to know is what happens when you set the number to 100.

I did that because I thought it would give me more strategic resources. And it did appear to work. I managed to actually get iron for once! And my neighbor on another continent south of me got two sources of iron.

[Epistax]

Unless they tweaked the way the number is entered into the random number generator, you won't see anything special for any number. 100 is on the low end. Try 2^32 -1 (if the field allows a number that big). The only thing you can truely get out of the seed is putting in 100 again will give you the same map (assuming all generation settings are the same).

[Gramphos]

The seed field in the map pages also allows for strings, that are converted to numbers in a way.

The only reaon to enter a seed is if you want to play the same map again. Basicly. if you have the same settings for the world (Size/Landmass/Climate/Age/Type) and the same seed the world will be the same.

[Barinthus]

If I was to leave the seed value at default (0), the map will be different everytime?