Turns of AXT043 game in Apolyton PBEM Tournament

[Tau Ceti]

The players of this game:

• Rastapopoulos, Planet Cult, flogae@web.de
• cbn, University, sharris41@hotmail.com
• Anunikoba, Hive, koba@home.com
• The Commodore, Cyborgs, jbgibson@iol-12.net

The AI factions are the Peacekeepers, the Drones and the Gaians.
Difficulty level: Thinker.

Please, read and obey the rules posted on the thread PBEM Tournament Rules and Results.

You should post turn administration/notification messages below.

[cbn]

Hello to all. I'm hoping for a good game with a fast turn rate. I know this one will be different for me as lately all I have played are the economically challenged factions. Might be fun to have some tech for a change.

I assume the turn is with Rastapopoulos since I have seen nothing on this yet.

[The Commodore]

Nor I...I see I'm last AGAIN...oh well...

[Tau Ceti]

Well, I figured that it could be useful to have the same internal order of the players that are in both this and AXT041. Depending on how often you check your email, it might speed up the game a bit...

[Rastapopoulos]

Hello, y'all. Looking forward to this one.
I have sent the turn to UoP, at the same time notified Tau Ceti that something seemed rather strange with the files. It had all the faction colors and pictures and names in the Commlink and faction Status windows comletely mixed up (Lovely Prime Function Commodore was looking at me with Marr's face, quit a change from her usual look...)
I say, if we have the slightest doubt that something is wrong with the game, we should rather start anew now than being forced to do it after 50 years or so. Even if I like my starting location very well so far...


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May the fungus be with you...

[Tau Ceti]

Whoops, forgot to inform you in the game start mail. The below paragraphs should have been there...

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When you play the game, you will probably not get the correct faction colour and graphics. There is a bug in SMACX that means that any game started as a scenario ignores the intended settings and uses the colour and graphics of the faction that is currently listed in the corresponding slot in your Alpha Centauri.ini file. This changes every time you start a new game.

It only affects the graphics, not the gameplay. You will still have all the characteristics of your 'real' faction, but it can be a bit confusing. Unfortunately, there is nothing that can be done to fix it. There is a workaround of sorts, but it involves a lot of file swapping to have a correct version of the .ini-file at all times, and most people do not bother. If you want the full procedure, let me know.

[cbn]

2102 passed to the Hive (who I think look like the cyborgs)

It is weird. I look like Domai even though my name and my default city name were correct for the uni. This will take a little mental shift each time but no real difficulty. All my other games (all set up by Tau) have correct colors so I wonder what different stuff is in this one. . . hmmmmm.

[Sarxis]

I sent the turn to commodore (2102), but my stuff is all Spartans style (black unit icons with Spartan looking base). I checked my SE, and it shows Hive bonuses and options. Very wierd, so hopefully it will clear up by next turn.

Be wary!

[The Commodore]

Turn #2 to the Cult, poor chaps...

lol...3 of the same guys in two games...

[Tau Ceti]

Just to calrify a couple of things:

The problem will not go away. The graphics will be those of the factions used in the last game you started, which may change from turn to turn if you start new games in the meantime. The only way to get the correct graphics is to start a game with the factions in the same order, ie.

1. Cult
2. Peacekeepers
3. University
4. Drones
5. Hive
6. Gaians
7. Cyborgs

Doing this every time is, of course, a pain, which is why few players bother with it.

Now, what is different about this game? It was set up as a scenario. I try to avoid making SMACX games scenarios if I can, because of this bug, but that means I am at the mercy of the random starting position generator, which is notoriously bad at selecting balanced starting sites. Therefore, when I start normal SMACX games, I have to play 10-15 turns of each promising candidate (where the player factions do not start right next to each other) to see if all positions are reasonable and none are significantly better than the others.

As you understand, this is a very time-consuming process, and I get tired after the 4th or 5th failed attempt, at which point I usually give up and make the game a scenario instead (which of course gives me full control of locations, terrain etc). That is what happened here.

If you think this is a major problem, then I can make another attempt to get a reasonably balanced random start. However, I am quite busy at the moment, and it is unlikely that I could do it before Friday.

[cbn]

Thanks for clarifying that Tau. I was wondering why this game was different than the other 3 you set up. So if I understand you, my graphics will change each and every turn depending on the last game I played. If I want correct graphics I should create a game with the factions in the order listed and always enter that game before I play AXT043. That would "fix" it for me that turn but the next player would have a totally different set of graphics depending on the game they played before entering AXT043.

So any player who wants "correct" graphics can get them for themselves at the cost of a couple of minutes effort (Load a pre-set correct faction game, exit and load this game). Personally, I don't mind the different graphics. It might be amusing even. Later, when turns get longer I might use the fix you suggest to make things clearer.

So I'm ok playing the game the way it is. The idea of balanced starts is more important to me than faction graphics. Anyone have any problems/issues continuing?

Commodore

yeah -this looks a lot like AXT 041-- 3 players in the same turn order but we have all switched factions so I think it could be a lot of fun. It will also probably make for quick turns in our games.

[The Commodore]

Oh, trust me, I don't mind...I know from exp. that the Cyborgs are VERY different from the Pirates...allthough both suffer growth-wise.

I just found it interesting...BTW, when I played, I wasn't the bug, Marr , and my graphics were Cyborg-norm.

[cbn]

Rastapopolous

I think once you press "turn complete" the comm link stuff goes to the next player's settings. I did the same thing once in my very first MP game on my first turn since I realized (after hitting turn complete) that I had not looked at the MP communications interface . I immediately realized that I must be looking at the next players settings. All the human players including myself were listed EXCEPT for the next player in the turn order. I immediately saved and exited since I figured this was not an intended feature (Don't know if you can go further and open up the comm boxes and see communications or not ).

So you were looking at someone else's comm settings-- mine or an intervening computer player I would guess. I'm not sure how all this works and it might be different since this is a scenario.

I have not heard of a rule on this before but I would say it must be a cheat to use this. Your experience with this was the same as mine, pure inadvertance but the moral of the story is once you hit turn complete we should not do ANYTHING else other than save and exit.

Tau is this a known bug?? I read the bug list once but don't recall this one.

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I have the turn and will play when I get home tonight (unfortunately not until about 10pm Apolyton time
[This message has been edited by cbn (edited March 13, 2001).]
[This message has been edited by cbn (edited March 13, 2001).]

[Tau Ceti]

Re the faction graphics issue:

cbn, that is close, but it is not quite that easy. The settings in Alpha Centauri.ini do not change when you open a previously saved game, only when you start a new one, so that is what you would have to do. One alternative is to save a correct version of the .ini and copy it in when you are about to play your turn in this game. But it is still a lot of work.

Re the comms stuff:

Now that you mention it, I have heard of it before (a looooong time ago), but never tested it myself. But yes, apparently it is a bug, and using it is not allowed (which should be pretty obvious).

[This message has been edited by Tau Ceti (edited March 13, 2001).]

[Rastapopoulos]

2103 on its way to the Provost...
Well, yes , it seems the game should be ok the way it is with that little bug. I have contacted the Chairman to test if interfaction comm is working alright, without conducting any diplomatic business, of course.
One thing funny for you, Tau Ceti:
After pressing Turn Complete when the save or exit screen shows, I can still open the Commlink menu and on this ocassion it shows my own name and an additional faction (Lal). Strange, isn't it? Otherwise, the colours and names are constant though, so no sweat, everything skould be ok.

Alright so I'm facing three players who are already playing in another game, let's see...I can't wait to see how Cha Dawn will work for me, never used him before in MP.




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May the fungus be with you...