The UBC

[DilithiumDad]

I would take issue witht he requirement for random maps. Huge Map of Planet or its offspring, The Ultimate Builder Map, should be allowed. Totally custom maps consisting of all Monsoon Jungle with a monolith in every tile just might be cheating

The base trading bug seems to be fixed in patch 4.0. The AI is very reluctant to trade bases, e en when you offer a larger and better developed base to them.


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Creator of the Ultimate Builder Map, based on the Huge Map of Planet

[Sikander]

D-Dad,

What is the Ultimate Builder Map? I see that you are it's creator, so I'm sure you can fill me in or point me to a copy of it.

My concern is that a map which isn't generated by the game (and the huge map of planet is ok by me) will not provide a level playing field. I want everyone to be able to fire up SMAC/X and take their shot at this if they wish, by merely setting the normal parameters of the game, and without having to compete with someone's overly advantageous set-piece game map. (Not that the UBM is that.)

Btw, I'm experimenting with an accelerated start (in comparison to my usual) in order to start the point-racking as early as possible. Once I feel good about my technique, I will be starting my first attempt. I will keep you all abreast of developments.

Keep on Scoring!

[DilithiumDad]

I did finally get the UBM on a web site. It's a new small site --I will see. I submitted it to Apoloyton over a year ago and they have yet to post it. I have sent e-mail to complain, but have just been ignored. I think they just have not updated the Files or the Hall of Fame section since late '99.

Meanwhile, just e-mail me at pre@po.cwru.edu and I will send it to you along with my scenario "The AI's Revenge" (so far unbeaten!).

To create the UBM, I started with the Huge Map of Planet, added the Manifold Nexus in the empty space below the Inland Sea, and put the Borehole Cluster up north of the Great Dunes. Then I played a huge number of 10-20 move games and noticed which factions were #1, #2 etc relative to their landing site. HMOP has 11 possible landing sites, but they are not equal. Landing near Monsoon Jungle was way better than getting the tiny Isle of Deinaria. I added 4-tile mini-jungles to each landing site, shrunk the Monsoon Jungle, and added monoliths and Unity pods to the weaker sites until all the sites were balanced. I added additional land tiles where needed and riased a new island start site I call Great Northern Island so that there are 13 landing sites that are all equally likely to be selected by the landing site alogrhythm. All are equally favorable as shown by AI performance. (It's a testament to how poor the AI plays, but there is no particualr site that favors one faction but not another, with the exception of the Pholus Ridge/The Ruins site which favors the Gaians).

The HMOP is good about separating start sites. The UBM is even better. The closest your HQ will be to another faction's HQ is 20 tiles, and more often it's twice that. Plus, I added extra fungus tiles to separate landing sites. The closer you get to your neighbor's territory, the more fungus there is and the more mind worms you will encounter. (Certain patterns of fungus tend to propagate worms)

So, the UBM is recognizable as the HMOP with some extra land, the minijungles at start sites, and (even) more fungus. The UBM has been used in all the games I have CMN'd over on ACOL (a few have complained about all the fungus, I must admit) and others have used it too.


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Creator of the Ultimate Builder Map, based on the Huge Map of Planet

[Misotu]

I'd like to give your scenario a go DiDad - I've emailed you to request this and your map (which I've played on in AIR3 as you know, and found to be good. No problems with the fungus personally - mind you, I was the Gaians in that game ).

[Sikander]

Dilithium Dad,

I've sent a request to get the UBM. It sounds interesting. At least it's been well playtested, unlike some other set maps.

[DilithiumDad]

Map of Planet was tested by the beta testers; UBM was modified from that. Not only did I test it but also I modified it based on play results, including early multiplayer results. It really cheeses me off that Apolyton won't post it.

Of the maps in the Apoloyton vault, I have tried Large Realistic Map and it is quite well balanced, certainly better balanced than a random map.

[DilithiumDad]

Interim results from UBC

On UBM, as U of P, landing site is north shore of Inland Sea. Nearest neighbor is Miriam (naturally) on the north Pholus Ridge landing site. She expanded rapidly down to our border, securing her claim to all of Pholus Ridge (curently in Truce). Santiago has Monsoon Jungle and the entire eastern mega-continent (including the Borehole Cluster) and is #1 in might (have treaty). Deirdre has Great Northern Island and is #2 of the AI factions (have vendetta that has yet to be acted upon). Lal has Uranium Flats (treaty), Morgan has Garland Crater (pact), and Yang is safely isolated on the Isle of Deinaria (truce), from where he is making amphibious raids on Lal and Santiago. The Manifold Nexus and Mt. Planet are up for grabs.

Here's AC scores. Note that I shifted from Demo/Planned to Demo/FM in 2204.

Year 2200 2202 2204 2206 2208
Population 150 169 188 191 195
Commerce 73 75 93 113 117
Tech 22 23 24 25 26
SP's 175 200 200 200 200
TOTAL 842 934 1010 1058 1076

TOTAL include Ironman bonus.

So, Demo/planned pop booming gives you the highest score, but FM moves you up the tech tree faster for more tech and SP's and quicker acquisition of things like hybrid forests, orbitals and hab domes to boost your pop. (Although actually, you can see that I was getting breakthrough about every 2 years regardless).