How do I remove sea colonies from SMAC?

[Mister Pleasant]

Another forum mentioned how to disallow the AI from building sea colonizers in SMAX, but I would like to know how to do this in SMAC. Has anybody done this successfully?

[Sindai]

Look in the alphax.txt file and find the section that says the following:

quote: ; ; Basic Units - Units predesigned for all players ; ; Name, Chassis, Weapon, Armor, Plan, Cost, Carry, Preq, Icon, Abil ; ; Name = Name of unit ; Chassis = Chassis type (index to CHASSIS list, above) ; Weapon = Weapon/package (index to WEAPONS list, above) ; Armor = Armor (index to ARMOR list, above) ; ; Plan = Unit "plan" for AI purposes: ; -1 = Auto Calculate ; 0 = Offensive ; 1 = Combat ; 2 = Defensive ; 3 = Reconnaisance ; 4 = Air Superiority ; 5 = Planet Buster ; 6 = Naval Superiority ; 7 = Naval Transport ; 8 = Colonization ; 9 = Terraforming ; 10 = Supply Convoy ; 11 = Info Warfare ; 12 = Alien Artifact ; Cost = Cost in minerals (0 = Autocalculate) ; Carry = Carrying capacity (0 = Autocalculate) ; Preq = Technology prerequisite (see TECHNOLOGY, above) ; Icon = Special icon, if any ; Abil = Special ability flags ; #UNITS 23 Colony Pod, Infantry, Colony Pod, Scout, 8, 0, 0, None, -1, 00000000000000000000000000 Formers, Infantry, Formers, Scout, 9, 0, 0, Ecology, -1, 00000000000000000000000000 Scout Patrol, Infantry, Gun, Scout, 3, 0, 0, None, -1, 00000000000000000000000000 Transport Foil, Foil, Transport, Scout, 7, 0, 0, DocFlex, -1, 00000000000000000000000000 *Sea Formers, Foil, Formers, Scout, 9, 0, 0, Disable, -1, 00000000000000000000000000 Supply Crawler, Infantry, Supply, Scout, 10, 0, 0, IndAuto, -1, 00000000000000000000000000 Probe Team, Speeder, Probe Team, Scout, 11, 0, 0, PlaNets, -1, 00000000000000000000000000 Alien Artifact, Infantry, Artifact, Scout, 12,10, 0, Disable, 2, 00000000000000000000000000 Mind Worms, Infantry, Psi, Psi, 1, 5, 0, CentEmp, 3, 00000000000000000000000000 Isle of the Deep, Foil, Psi, Psi, 7, 8, 4, CentMed, -1, 00000000000000000000000000 Locusts of Chiron, Gravship, Psi, Psi, 4,10, 0, CentGen, -1, 00000000000000000000100000 Unity Rover, Speeder, Gun, Scout, 3, 0, 0, Disable, -1, 00000000000000000000000000 Unity Scout Chopper, Copter, Gun, Scout, 4, 0, 0, Disable, -1, 00000000000000000000100000 Unity Foil, Foil, Transport, Scout, 7, 0, 0, Disable, -1, 00100000000000000000000000 Sealurk, Foil, Psi, Psi, 6, 6, 0, CentPsi, 4, 00000000000000000001000000 Spore Launcher, Infantry, Psi, Psi, 0, 5, 0, Bioadap, 5, 00000000001000000000000000 Battle Ogre MK1, Infantry, R-Laser, 3-Res, 0,10, 0, Disable, 6, 00010000000000000000000000 Battle Ogre MK2, Infantry, R-Bolt, 8-Res, 0,15, 0, Disable, 6, 10010000000000000000000000 Battle Ogre MK3, Speeder, String, Stasis, 0,20, 0, Disable, 6, 10010000000000000000000000 Fungal Tower, Infantry, Psi, Psi, 3, 0, 0, Disable, 1, 00000000000000000000000000 Unity Mining Laser, Infantry, Laser, Scout, 0, 0, 0, Disable, -1, 00000000000000000000000000 Sea Escape Pod, Foil, Colony Pod, Scout, 8, 0, 0, Disable, -1, 00000000000000000000000000 Unity Gunship, Foil, Gun, Scout, -1, 0, 0, Disable, -1, 00000000000000000000000000

Set the # at the top (below the "#UNITS" line) to "22" and delete the line containing "Sea Escape Pod." Now the sea colony pod is gone from the list of default units and the AI should never design one, though you still can if you go in and do it manually. I think....I'm not certain, but this is what I've gathered from reading other posts and my own small experience with editing the txt files.
[This message has been edited by Sindai (edited April 10, 2001).]

[Mister Pleasant]

I'm not using SMAX, so I've got an alpha.txt file which is different. Anybody know how to manage it?

[curtadams]

I don't think deleting the colony escape pod is the way to do it. SMAC doesn't even *have* sea colony escape pod but the computer still builds sea colonies.

I altered the required technology for colony pods (in the list of unit features) from "None" to "Disable". This makes it impossible to honestly design colony pods. You can still build standard colony pods since the colony pod *unit* remains in the list of default units you cite. The effect is like having probe teams before rovers - you get to build the unit even though you can't design it.

A human could still reverse-engineer a sea colony pod. To mess that up, I changed the cost of colony pod improvements to "99" rows. Then I changed to cost of the colony pod *unit* to its normal (3 rows, I think). That makes a redesigned colonizer prohibitively expensive while the standard one remains standard. But you probably don't need to do this - I'm working on a mod pack; you just need a modicum of self-control.

[Mister Pleasant]

Brilliant ideas curtadams! I'll have to try them out. Thanks alot.

[Locus]

I started a thread similar to this the other day. I have to agree that removing the "sea colony escape pod" line in the alpha.txt or alphax.txt files DOES NOT disable sea colony pods. I was very disappointed to be about 150 turns into a new game, all excited about playing a game the way I want, just to spot a sea colony pod cruise by one of by coastal cities. I was very upset. I will try the other method and let you guys know if it works.


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Brother Locus of the Peacekeepers

[Chowlett]

The disadvantage of the second method of course is that, should you ever want to build a rover pod that will be prohibitively expensive. Also, I suspect the AI is not sensible enough to ignore a se colony design, and will probably just take a few centuries to build them.

[Locus]

Alright fellas, I think I got this figured out.

I tried the "delete the 'sea colony escape pod' line" and "change the number of units to one less" method...that doesn't work.

I tried the "'disable' the colony pod" option that curtadams recommended from the "none" default for tech prerequisite...that doesn't work, either. (Sorry curtadams if in my stupidity I didn't follow your directions correctly but I think I did).

Now the solution that works for me...I played 200 turns last night and turned on the scenario editor so I could view the world map to make sure I am not totally talking out of my a$$: Instead of trying to manipulate the unit listing that Sindai so kindly pasted above, you need to find the section of the alpha.txt or alphax.txt file the lists "hand weapons". Change the prerequisite tech for colony pods to "disable" from "none". This worked for me. Similar to the reasoning above, the AI technically shouldn't be able to build any sort of colony pod, but like rover probe teams, you can build it without the technology being there. So curtadams is right, you just have disable colony pods under handweapons not units.

To clarify, I am playing SMAX with the original seven factions with both game patches (Damn, I miss those missile sounds!).

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Brother Locus of the Peacekeepers

[Sindai]

Well....oops. Ah well, I was only guessing from a fuzzy memory anyways....

[name]

After a marathon of searching the forums, I found this thread to answer my own question. I bumped it in case anyone else wanted to know.