Random Events

[RichardY]

I have only recently started playing with the "Random Events (Bell Curve)" option swithed on.

I have so far experienced Planet Blight, Climate Variance and a couple of others which I can't remember (one of which gave me extra energy).

The questions I have are:

1. Is there a list anywhere of all the events (favourable and adverse) either in the game files or in the forum?.

2. Which facilities (if any) are required to combat them?

3. Do the events occur often enough in a game to justify building these facilities? As far as I can remember I don't think the same event has occured twice in the same game.

[Sikander]

I vaguely remembered a list of random events on a SMAC site, perhaps the {Chironian League?}. Check out the list of links here on Apolyton, it may have the one with the list. Otherwise try Google or something. I'm sure one exists.

[John Paul Jones]

There's a list of them in the Script.txt file. I've copied & pasted them here 'cos i'd nothing better to do . There may be other effects i'm not sure 'cos i never play with them off. (these are from the SMAC v.4):


#INFLATION
Energy Market crash reduces credit reserves to $NUM0!

#ENERGYBOOM
Energy Market boom increases credit reserves to $NUM0!

#KELPWIPE
Sea Beetle infestation wipes out all kelp farms near $BASENAME0!

#PLATFORMWIPE
Tidal Wave wipes out all mining platforms near $BASENAME0!

#BIGFATVOLCANO
Major Volcanic Eruption near $BASENAME0! Massive
casualties and property damage! Dust clouds will
reduce global energy production for next ten years.

#EATTHIS
Major Asteroid Strike near $BASENAME0! Massive
casualties! Dust clouds will reduce global energy
production for next ten years.

#NOMOREDUST
Dust clouds have abated; energy production has
returned to normal.

#BLIGHT
PlanetBlight destroys all farms and forests near $BASENAME0!
Perhaps we should build more Biology Labs to contain such outbreaks.

#BLIGHT1
Biology Lab at $BASENAME0 discovers beneficial bacterium! $BASENAME0
gets +1 NUTRIENT in every square for next $NUM0 turns.

#SURGE
Power surge destroys all mines near $BASENAME0!
Perhaps we should build more Energy Banks to better distribute our
energy.

#SURGE1
Energy Bank at $BASENAME0 absorbs major power surge! 50 energy
credits added to reserves!

#CRECHE
Citizens of $BASENAME0 protest lack of Children's Creche! Drone
activity increased.

#CRECHE1
Children's Creche at $BASENAME0 reports major population surge!

#NETCRASH
Network overload at $BASENAME0 has erased all of our accumulated
research! Perhaps we should build more Network Nodes to provide
backup storage.

#NETBONUS
Network Node at $BASENAME0 experiences major research breakthrough!
#VOLCANO
#xs 440
#caption Chief Planetologist
$TITLE0 $NAME1! Our seismic readouts have just shot off the chart!
It appears a new volcano has erupted!

#BUMPER
Bumper crops at $BASENAME0. $BASENAME0 gets +1 NUTRIENT in every
square for next $NUM0 years.

#FAMINE
Climactic variance causes severe crop failures at $BASENAME0.
$BASENAME0 gets -1 NUTRIENT in every square for next $NUM0 years!

#INDUSTRY
Industrial Boom at $BASENAME0. +1 MINERALS in every square for
next $NUM0 years!

#BUST
Industrial Collapse at $BASENAME0. -1 MINERALS in every square for
next $NUM0 years!

#HEATWAVE
Heat Wave at $BASENAME0! +1 ENERGY in every square for next $NUM0 years!

#CLOUDCOVER
Severe Haze and Clouds at $BASENAME0! -1 ENERGY in every square for next
$NUM0 years!

#PROMETHEUS0
Prometheus Virus epidemic breaks out at $BASENAME0!
All bases within $NUM1 squares of $BASENAME0 affected,
except those with Hospitals or other advanced medical
facilities! (Radius of effect equals half base's population).

#PROMETHEUS1
Prometheus Virus epidemic at $BASENAME0!
Researchers at $FACILITYNAME1 successfully contain the outbreak!

#PROMETHEUS2
Prometheus Virus epidemic at $BASENAME0!
$PROJECTNAME1 prevents spread of disease!

#PETERSOUT
$RESOURCETYPE1 resource peters out near $BASENAME0.

#NEWRESOURCE
New $RESOURCETYPE1 resources discovered near $BASENAME0!

#SOLARFLARE
Solar flares on Alpha Prime! All bases produce triple energy
NEXT turn!

#SOLARSTORM
Major Solar Storm on Alpha Prime! All Orbital Power Transmitters
and Orbital Defense Pods destroyed! Bases produce triple energy
NEXT turn!

#ASTEROID
Major Asteroid Strike on Nessus Prime! All Nessus Mining Stations
destroyed!

[Marid Audran]

Beyond John Paul Jones's list, here is an excerpt from the AC Prima Strategy Guide, originally posted by Googlie from a dead thread in the topic boneyard, reprinted for posterity. It goes a little into the logisitics behind the "randomness" of the events, and basically supports notions that the leaders of the pack in the Power Charts have the dice loaded against them. Probability Mechanics, you know.

Prima's Guide says:
Random Events
No random events occur before Turn (75 - (diff x 10)). i.e. 75 minus the diff level of the game times 10 where Citizen is 0 diff and Transcend is 5. Thus at Citizen level, random events kick in no earlier than Turn 75 while at Transcend they can show up as early as Turn 25.
Each turn, the game randomly picks a base. If there are fewer than 100 bases in total on Planet, it picks a number from 0 - 99, and if no base corresponds to that number (e.g. if it picked Base 80, where there are only 20 bases in total) then there is no random event.
If the selected base is les than size 4, or if it is the only base of its faction, or if it is already under the effects of a random event (e.g. famine), then no event takes place.
After all the conditions are fulfilled, one of the following events is randomly picked ( ... but not quite sure where AC's observation re reloads fits in here ... Googlie ) At the basic level, all events are equally likely except as itemized below, but in practice if you "roll" a really good event when you are already ahead, or a bad event when behind, it will tend to ignore the event and do nothing. If an event is picked that would have no impact (e.g. "Asteroid strikes Nessus Prime" when no-one has a mining base) there is no event that turn.

Event list

(sample)

Asteroid strikes base: never before turn 75, and only if faction is in first place
Biology lab: if no Lab at base, then blight destroys all farms and forests. If lab, then 10 year nutrient bonus
Energy Crash/boom: if less than 1000 credits, 75% reduction. If at least 500 credits, and in fourth place or lower, reserves are doubled
Hail Storms: never before Turn 75
Volcano: No effect before Turn 75. Never happens unless faction is in first or second place.
Asteroid strikes Nessus Prime: if chosen as event, 20% chance of it happening
Solar Storm/Flare: if chosen, 20% chance of it happening:

Hope it helps.

[RichardY]

Thanks for the replies. I checked the equivalent file in SMAX and there appears to be 1 extra event - HAILSTORMS wipe out all Solar Collectors at base.

Having looked at all the (very bad) negative events I was wondering why anybody plays with the Random Events switched on. Then I read Skanderberg's thread about Asteroids wiping out his best cities and I'm even more convinced they are weighted too much against the player.

[WhiteElephants]

The only one that ever really burned my britches was the inflatioin event that would wipe out my energy reserves. A tough defiect to overcome when your shooting for economic victory.

[Clear Skies]

I hate the Enrgy Market crash too - I was once reduced from over 8000 credits to just 50! So damn irritating!
The other ones I hate are the Sunspot Activity disrupting communications (very annoying - you can't talk to anyone for about 20 years) and the wiping out of all research. I remember I was trying to beat Zakharov to SotHB, and I got every last joule (or whatever) of research deleted!
I still beat him to it though...

[cbn]

I hate the one that wipes out your energy sats-- but I still play with this feature ON in SP. I would not want it on in MP though.

[Earwicker]

I occasionally play with it on for a little variety. The worst thing is living in fear of that asteroid strike, which makes you have to really spread around your SP's. I like the resources appear/ peter out feature moreso than the others. For the most part the effects are just minor annoyances.

[Basil]

I always play with it on (even, when I have a choice, in multiplayer). It's not weighted against the player, it's weighted against whomever's in the lead. In SP that's usually me, granted, but then again, if I'm first in SP then extra challenge is good. I alter my play style knowing that random events are on, since most of the bad events are neutralized by facilities and most of the good events require facilities. Unless you're playing a rather unusual game, random events are the main reason for building biology labs, for example.

Incidentally, the event which destroys your energy satellites also destroys your orbital defence pods... it's never made a difference to me, but could theoretically be the more important effect of the two! .

[DilithiumDad]

Random events are great in both single and multiplayer. They help to level the playing field, helping out the downtrodden factions. They also favor builders heavily, because for many of them there are negative effects if you lack a facility and positive effects if you have one. For example, if you have a network node you can get a free breakthrough but if you didn't build one you can lose all accumulated research points or have all your mines destroyed. Best is the Planet Blight. If you don't have a Biology Lab it desotrys all farms and forests which leads to massive starvation. If you do have one, you get +1 nutrients per square for 10 turns. My son builds a Bio Lab in every base for this reason alone (they also give you 2 free research points and serve as a command center for native life).

[b&i_c]

I played with random events on once, and that was enough for me, and all I had was the nutrient/energy shorteges, and also a solar flare. Now that I've read all the other bad things that can happen to you, I can that it is extremely weighted against the player, so I think I might put them back on when I start getting bored on Transcend because it is too easy...but I don't think that will be for a while