Bug... or intentional... mindworm capture?

[Famyn]

I have noticed this in the last few games I have been playing. Both games, my Planet has been max mindworm capture.

After I get about 20 or so mindworms, my ability to capture more drops to around nil. I maybe capture 1 in 20, not even. I like to have little 'mindworm farms,' patches of fungus patrolled by worms to kick up more worms and launchers so I can harvest credits. After doing this for a few hundred turns, both games, I began to notice that the percentage to capture more native life decreases dramatically the more native life I had.

Anyone else notice this? Is this a bug, or some feature that I'm not aware of?

[Velociryx]

Right bud....that's by design, to prevent a mammoth early-game worm rush. Each worm you capture knocks your percent chance to catch the next one down by ten, to a minimum of 10% per try. In the first version of the game, the Gaians were all but unstoppable cos the percentages never went down

-=Vel=-

[joer]

I'm curious now: How did you guys find out the chances of catching more worms?
Did you just approximate them over time, or is there some way one can see what the chances of capturing another worm are?
-joer.

[Velociryx]

I pulled my initial information from both the datalinks (raw percentages based on planet rating) and from a discussion in one of the (Firaxis?) now defunct game threads (regarding the coding change, etc.). That prompted me to re-load the game, totally unpatched, and play the Gaians, and as promised, it wasn't even close. by something like 2143 I had more worms than I needed to run roughshod over the entire planet....

-=Vel=-

[kaz]

The thing that really blows is that the percentage is based on your number of worms, not the number of worms that you have captured.

Meaning that if you build worms, you lessen your chances of gaining worms.

[LoD]

LOL. And some say Gaians were underpowered .

It's very good that they've implemented the limit 'though. Imagine an army of mind worms to disposal of a player of Vel's caliber...
:shudder:

LoD

[Velociryx]

::

Thanks for the nod, LoD, but one thing I've been finding out of late is that all it really makes me is a great big target!

-=Vel=-
(who is practicing the art of how not to be seen in his most recent SMACX games! LOL)

[Alinestra Covelia]

I am not a multiplayer veteran, so I don't know much about the scene, but if SMAC is so popular, could its Multiplayer mode go commercial?

My point: Thresh did it with Quake - so why can't Velocyrix et al do it with Alpha Centauri? Firaxis might not be quite as established as Id Software, but it would be nice to see Vel receive some actual recognition.

Let's face it, that strat guide has now become my bible, and the £9.99 Prima guide I bought is now mouldering in the depths of my room. The way I see it, Vel should get credit for it.

------------------
"In all creation, there can be no task more onerous or tedious than that of playing God." - Stephen Fry, 'The Liar'.

Homepage http://www.enixine.dabsol.co.uk (Shared)

[LoD]

Velocyrix: Just being sincere, that's all . Target? Do you mean the Cage Match? Or have you become a victim of a PB ?

LoD

[Paul]

You can find Vel's guide at http://apolyton.net/forums/Forum31/HTML/000049.html

[Chowlett]

And once again, where can I find that strat guide?