ACDG4 Game One: The Sword of the Righteous

[Mart]

I can play a few turns, I'll post beginning of 2304

[Mart]

Now I have problems with saving the auto save, something we did not get last time we checked.

[vyeh]

Originally posted by mart7x5
Now I have problems with saving the auto save, something we did not get last time we checked.

I ran into this problem when I was turn player for ACDGIII. Kody posted a program which fixed the problem on the ACDGIII turn thread. It was for SMAX MP, but maybe it would work for SMAC SP. If not, maybe Kody can quickly modify the fix.

These are the only loose ends:
#2: Repair all units on the monolith. (The lone II can be moved next to the monolith by the intel unit).
UN Equality Village: The elite intel is there to infiltrate the Hive (Mead has wanted that since the beginning). I was thinking of moving the new CP from Plex Anthill to UN Equality Village by loading it onto the intel there and dropping it to UN Equality Village. Then the intel could load it and found a base where Morgan Energy Monopoly was.
UN Information Agency: The II there is currently homed to Plex Anthill. It should be rehomed to UN Information Agency. That will save us a min of support cost, if the colony pod isn't immediately used to found a base.

[Mart]

single player saves are not encrypted. we need to know only where to modify the save file. we can use hex editor

[vyeh]

Originally posted by mart7x5
single player saves are not encrypted. we need to know only where to modify the save file. we can use hex editor

Below is a comment by Sperber from the ACDGIII last turn tracking thread. Try "08FF" in the hex editor.

Originally posted by Sperber
Hi! I was made aware by Kody of your problem. I can't do too much right now as I'm not at home with my notes and my programs, but if this problem is really related to the unusual macintosh savefile names, I can offer you a quick'n'dirty solution for now:

Take any hex editor, open the file from the max and go to byte a position "08FF". Alter that to hex code "00". What it does is to put an early stop marker (zero bytes mark end of strings) to the savefile's name that is stored there in encrypted form.

So instead of the previous filename being "EZQuest HD:MacHD52605:Applications (Mac OS 9):Alpha Centauri:Saves:ACDG3:acdg3-Spartans-2203-4" which works fine for Mac but contains a tad few too many :'s for Windows, you'll end up with it just being "EZQue" (the game appends '.SAV' automatically).

I hope that helps. If not, I could give you a method to replace the string with something more complete like "C:\dummy" once I got home, but I think it's really just the :'s that give Windows a problem.


If I ever get around to making a pbem-between-turn-processing program for SMAC, I'll add "retrieve, save and restore individual player's prefered save directory on their turn files" to the feature list.

I've also attached the source code of Kody's program, so you can see what his program did.

[Mart]

Problem solved. Thank you for the quote from Sperber. I edited first colon from the mac file path and the save file box in windows prompted correctly. I will later post how to do it. Position 08FF is for encrypted smax, in our save the position is different, but very easy to find, since you can just read it in hex editor.

I guess we will need restore the path for you again Vyeh? Or the problem is not existing when going back to mac? Anyway, it should be the same easy to fix again.

I'll prepare the turn report meanwhile.

[vyeh]

Originally posted by mart7x5
Problem solved. Thank you for the quote from Sperber. I edited first colon from the mac file path and the save file box in windows prompted correctly. I will later post how to do it. Position 08FF is for encrypted smax, in our save the position is different, but very easy to find, since you can just read it in hex editor.

I guess we will need restore the path for you again Vyeh? Or the problem is not existing when going back to mac? Anyway, it should be the same easy to fix again.

I'll prepare the turn report meanwhile.

The problem is one way. I never had a problem using an ACDGIII file nor using one of your files during our test run.

Please document what you had to do to fix the problem and post for future reference.

I can help you with some aspects of the turn report (e.g. screenies, status of infiltrated and pacted factions). Let me know. The only thing I can't do is report any events that occur between turns (expansion of forests, combat, secret project construction, diplomatic exchanges, research completion).

Some things I picked up:
(1) The deep radar of the CBU is activated when the unit becomes active. Enemy units 2 sq. away do not appear unless you activate the unit. In particular, a CBU on a transport does not see 2 sq. If you want to scout along a road, you need to unload it every square (and then reload it and move the transport another square)

(2) When there is more than one transport unit (TT or intel), it sometimes takes a bit of finangling to get the unit you want transported on the right transport. (Sometimes by first activating the transport, then the transportee; sometimes by going through several cycles of board transport and cancel orders until the right transport is loaded; or sometimes by tying up the wrong transport by loading another unit on the wrong transport, then loading the unit you want on the right transport, then unloading the other unit.)

(3) Although the intel units are suppose to have police ability, they don't pacify any drones.

(4) It is possible to load an already moved unit, but you can't do it by selecting the unit on the unit screen.

(5) I have battle odds calculations on. It is inaccuate. Hypothetically, suppose you have equal strengths after all modifiers are taken into account. Suppose in each round, the losing unit incurs 20% damage. If one unit is undamaged and the other unit is 80% damaged, the battle odds calculator says the odds are 5-1. Actually, for the weaker unit to win, it has to win 5 rounds. The odds of that is (1/2) x (1/2) x (1/2) x (1/2) x (1/2) or 1/32, so the odds are really 31-1.

(6) The deep radar ability of the CBU is only dependable when the CBU has all of its movement points.

(7) A CBU which has moved 1/3 or 2/3 mp still bombards at full strength.

(8) A loaded transport automatically unloads when it moves into a base if you're moving square by square.

(9) If there is a unit in a base which is sleep/board transport and an unloaded transport moves into the base, the transport loses an additional movement point.

(10) Occupying a bunker uses up the remaining movement points of the occupying unit. Once you've occupied a bunker, other units move into the bunker using normal movement points.

(11) When you occupy an enemy base, you gain labs in addition to the ec's announced by the game.

[Mart]

The initial 2304 turn
We defended several times, i made screen snapshots, but some got corrupted. All won, iirc:
once spartans and univ, twice sotr.

Below is short report of the events and then save file.

[Mart]

Save file below. I will prepare unit movements with a screnie, there is a lot to decide.

[vyeh]

Here are some suggestions (some of the movement of the previous turn were done to develop these options):

#1: Bombard the SotR stack south of #1 with the CBU. Attack the SotR stack north of #1 with the TT. If the TT still has a mp left and the odds are favorable (at least 3-2), attack the southern stack with the TT. Attack the survivor of the northern stack with the O if the odds are favorable. Upgrade the synth police.

#2: Repair or upgrade all combat units on the monolith. (Use the intel to move the nonadjacent II next to the monolith, so that unit can move onto the monolith.) Leave the monolith where it currently is (will help in shuttling units next turn).

Plex Anthill: Load the colony pod onto the intel. Use the drop ability of the intel to move to UN Equality Village. Rehome the colony pod to UN Equality Village. Load the colony pod onto the elite intel and move to 1 sq. NE of Factory Maze. This starts the colony pod on its journey to the site of Morgan Energy Monopoly. Move the scout patrol on the adjacent monolith to U.N Planetary Trust and rehome. This garrisons UN Planetary Trust. Move the CBU in Plex Anthill and the CBU on the adjacent monolith to the UN Information Agency to garrison/drone control.

UN Equality Village: Change production to recycling tank.

UN Information Agency: Re-home the II, which is currently homed to Plex Anthill. Currently, Plex Anthill is spending a min on support. This will free up the min. Move the II to Working Man Hold, load it onto a TT, then move the loaded TT along the road NE of the bunker E of Working Man Hold to see if there are any more enemy units trying to approach us from the eastern flank.

Working Man Hold: Rush build the colony pod for 41 ec. Next turn, we can move the colony pod to Plex Anthill and start it on its journey to #1 to establish a forward base.
(bunker E) Move the two damaged units to the monolith next to Plex Anthill for repair.
(bunker SSE). Attack that damaged 60% dam. Uni IR with the 60% dam. O. The odds are 9-2 and the O still has enough hit points remaining that it can't be destroyed by one lucky hit from the IR. After the Uni IR has been cleared, load the CBU onto a TT and move it to the spot formerly occupied by the Uni IR. There was 2 SotR synth police and a Uni IR that were on the bonus nutrient tile 2 sq. SW of the bunker. Unloading the CBU on this square should determine where these units have moved (the IR was so damaged it could only move one square). Load the O's onto the remaining TT's and move it to the northern tip of the magtube square. This square is within drop range of Working Man Hold. We can reinforce the O with the intel units at Working Man Hold and UN Information Agency loaded with two CBU's currently in the eastern bunker. Depending on what we find, we can drop the two O's in Plex Anthill and the remaining TT in Working Man Hold.


Worker's Nest: Move the scout patrol homed to Worker's Nest to UN Planetary Authority and rehome. This garrisons UN Planetary Authority.

UN Planetary Authority: Move the intel to Plex Anthill. Use the remaining 2/3 mp to move the repaired O on the monolith into the base for drone control. Next turn the intel can move the colony pod coming from Working Man Hold to UN Equality Village via drop. We will have an intel at UN Equality Village with 2 mps. The colony pod can be loaded on that intel and start its journey to #1.

[vyeh]

Originally posted by mart7x5
Problem solved. Thank you for the quote from Sperber. I edited first colon from the mac file path and the save file box in windows prompted correctly. I will later post how to do it. Position 08FF is for encrypted smax, in our save the position is different, but very easy to find, since you can just read it in hex editor.

Could you post the procedure. I'd like to try my hand at it. Thanks.

[vyeh]

Here is the 2304 sitrep.

Notes:

Current world map

(1) H founded Watcher's Eye 1 sq. SE of #1.

Current faction dominance

(2) (tech acquired since last turn; labs required/labs accumulated/labs being produced each turn; tech currently being researched, number of turns to acquire tech) PK: None; 96/38/30; Industrial Automation, 2. G: Centauri Ecology; 84/1/13; Social Psych, 7. H: None; 108/8/25; Doctrine: Flexibility, 4. SotR: None; 140/88/32.8; Industrial Economics, 2.
(3) (number of ec's, ec produced per turn) PK: 42, 20. G: 130, 9. H: 142, 25. SotR: 915, 25.
(4) (+ units gained - units lost since the end of the last turn) PK: + CP +2 ScP. G: - ScP. H: - CP- 2 ScP + IR + II. SotR: - 2 ScP - PR - TT - IR + II + IS (impact squad, 4-1-1).
(5) The SotR is currently constructing an II Mk2 (4/3/1) and is expected to finish construction in three turns.

Tactical situation around #1

(6) (*shown, all coordinates relative to #1) 1 sq. N: SotR IR* (Vet), TT (Vet). 2 sq. WNW: SotR IR* (30% dam.). 2 sq. W: Sp II* (50% dam.). 1 sq. S: SotR IR*, TT (80% dam.), TT, PR, MW (pre-boil), synth police (SyP).

Tactical situation around #2

(7) (*shown, all coordinates relative to #2) at #2: H SS*. 2 sq. SE: H ScP*, H SyP. 1 sq. E: PK CBU*, TT (40% dam.), IR (40% dam.), O (50% dam), SyP (40% dam.), intel (I). 2 sq. E: PK II* (20% dam.); H PT, PR.

Tactical situation around UN Equality Village

(8) (*shown, all coordinates relative to UN Equality Village) 2 sq. NW: H PR* (70% dam.).

Tactical situation around Working Man Hold

(9) (*shown, all coordinates relative to bunker) 1 sq. S: U IR* (60% dam.). 2 sq. E: U II* (10% dam.).

If there are no comments in 24 hours, I'll implement the suggested moves in post #160 (the second post above) and post a mid-turn save.

[vyeh]

Posted 2304 first mid-turn save.

Notes:
#1

(1) CBU-stack 1 sq. S, SotR IR, 20% dam., TT 90% dam., TT 0% dam., PR 30% dam., synth police (SyP) 10% dam., MW 50% dam.
(2) TT-SotR TT 1 sq. N, 9-4, 30% dam., SotR IR 30% dam. TT-SotR SyP 1 sq. S, 7-4, 40% dam., SotR TT also destroyed, SotR IR 50% dam., TT 30% dam., PR 60% dam., MW 80% dam.
(3) O-SotR IR, 18-7, 50% dam., IR 70% dam. and disengaged 1 sq. N.

#2

(4) Hive AA revealed 1 sq. S of #2.

UN Equality Village

(5) 50% dam. H TT revealed 1 sq. SW of Deep Passages. H SF revealed 2 sq. NNW of Deep Passages with 6 turns remaining to mine the square. 90% dam. wild MW 2 sq. NNE of Deep Passages.

(6) H LI revealed 1 sq. SE of Factory Maze. H SyP revealed on monolith 2 sq. SSE of Factory Maze.

Working Man Hold

(7) U PT revealed 1 sq. N of submerged monolith 4 sq. E of Working Man Hold.
(8) 60% dam. O-U IR, 9-2, remains 60% dam.
(9) U/SotR stack revealed 3 sq. SW of monolith S of Working Man Hold: U PR (shown), PT; SotR SyP, 30% dam. SyP.
(10) U PT revealed 4 sq. SE of monolith. In attempting to move past the U PT, 90% dam. U IR revealed 1 sq. S of PT.

Proposed moves:

#1: Repair SyP. End turn intel.
#2: End turn intel.
UN Equality Village: Hold scout.
UN Planning Authority: Move scout to monolith (1/3 mp) and upgrade.
Plex Anthill: Hardened O airdropped 2 sq. SSE of S. bunker and attack PT.
east of Working Man Hold: Unload II, attack U PT, load II, move loaded TT 2 sq. SW (2/3 mp).
south of Working Man Hold:
(1) Unload Veteran O, move O 1 sq. SE (1/3 mp) and hasty attack IR.
(2) Bombard U/SotR stack 3 sq. SW of monolith with CBU, load CBU onto TT, move TT 2 sq. SE (2/3 mp), unload CBU, load veteran O and move 1 sq. SE (1/3 mp).
(3) Load hardened O onto empty TT and move both loaded TT's 2 sq. SE (2/3 mp).

If there are no comments within 24 hours, I'll implement and post a mid-turn save.

[vyeh]

Posted 2304 second mid-turn save.

Notes:
Working Man Hold

(east)
(1) II-U PT: 2880-5, 0% dam.
(south)
(2) CBU-U/SotR stack 3 sq. SW of monolith: U PR 40% dam., PT 90% dam.; SotR SyP 30% dam., SyP 60% dam.
(3) O-U PT: 1152-5, 20% dam.
(4) O-U IR: 51-2, 50% dam.

Proposed moves:

Plex Anthill: Commando O airdrop 1 sq. E of U/SotR stack 3 sq. SW of monolith S of Working Man Hold and attack U/SotR stack.
UN Information Agency: Load CBU onto intel and airdrop loaded intel 3 sq. N of Academgorodok.
Working Man Hold:
(E. bunker) Move both CBU to base (0 mp), load CBU onto intel and airdrop loaded intel 3 sq. N of Academgorodok.
(base) Move TT to E. bunker (0 mp), load II, move loaded TT back to base (0 mp), airdrop loaded TT 3 sq. N of Academgorodok, unload II, move unloaded TT along magrail (0 mp), move TT back to 3 sq. N of Academgorodok (0 mp), move 1 sq. N (1/3 mp), 1 sq. E (1/3 mp), 1 sq. N (1/3 mp), and back to 3 sq. N of Academgorodok (1 mp). Intent: scout.

If there are no comments within 24 hours, I'll implement and post a mid-turn save.

[vyeh]

Flubber, Hercules & any other "lurkers,"

If there is anything I can do to make your lurking experience easier or more enjoyable, please post.

While I expect people are busy with the Christmas holidays, I PM'ed Illuminatus and we are generally in agreement that the best way to entice people to particiipate in this thread after the New Year is to have activity before the New Year.

I've been using an extensive amounts of imageshack.com "thumbnails" (click on them to see the full picture). For my connection, it is a good compromise between loading time and illustrating what is going on, so you gentlemen don't need to download the turn to see what is going on.

Am I showing enough? (Although the thumbnails are the same size, the bigger the image, the longer it takes to upload to imageshack and the greater the chance that I have to try again.)

Thank you for your interest.