Probe value bug (unbeatable probes encountered)

[Gregurabi]

You can get to +4 Probe in SMAC with Fundy + Thought Control. However, I haven't tested this yet, so I don't know whether this bug happens there.

[Zoetrope]

Rollover in 3 bit variables is inexcusable, as there's no reason to treat them as other than normal signed byte quantities when there are less than 100 of these social engineering variables in the entire savefile.

Why do programmers do this?

[Aredhran]

Because they work for Firaxis...

[Gregurabi]

It may not be simple 3-bit rollover. If it's rollover, and the probe rating is stored in a 3-bit field (treated as signed, 2's complement), then we'd have a range of -4 to +3. A probe rating of +4 would then be treated as -4, +5 would be treated as -3, etc. Likewise, a probe rating of -5 would be treated as +3, etc. (But I don't think it's possible to get a probe rating that low.)

If probe ratings of +4 and higher are actually being treated as 0, then it's something different.

Also, the fact that the value is correctly displayed on the SE screen tends to rule out such a simple explanation.

I still haven't tested this myself, yet. I've got a SMAC hotseat game against myself going, but it's slow....

[Googlie]

^^

(For the Angels in the next ACDG)

[Barinthus]

I've gotten "unbeatable probe" message or something like that when I tried to use Morganite probe team to subvert a Believer unit.

[Googlie]

Yeah - miriam starts off with a +1 probe rating for her faction, and if she changes to Fundy she moves to a +3 rating, which gives her units and bases immunity to mind control unless the prober has the algorithmic enhancement

The big debate, though, is what happens when she switches to Thought Control (another +2 rating) or a base builds a Covert Ops Center (giving that base a nother +2 rating) The clock "ticks back" from 3 instead of adding on, so the base and the faction essentially have now a +1 rating, rendering them probable and controllable

[GeoModder]

I wonder, if I made a custom faction with +1 probe, and later in the game construct Covert Ops Centers or goes Fundy so +3 probe comes up, if my bases then can be mindcontrolled as well.

I readed that except Myriam all other factions can be mindcontrolled. But for a custom faction? Would it make a difference if one remade a smac faction with Miri's .txt faction file, or a custom one of that?

[Barinthus]

Time to experiment perhaps

[GeoModder]

Barinthus, I do have a Queen to entertain, you know