New PBEM offered - 4 Pirate factions

[Googlie]

At another forum Scipio Centaurus set up a PBEM with the Pirates and 3 clone factions that he developed. We were on a 70% to 90% water world and played around 80 turns or so before the game got discontinued.

We'd played enough, though, to establish that this game was somewhat different - no AI, unique playing style as the Pirates - but against other pirates.

I'll CMN one if there is enough interest - 4 players needed. Scipio, if you want to play I'll set it up with your 3 cloned factions, and if not, I'll respect the 'copyright' and use 3 that I created.

Any takers?

Googlie

[vitamin j]

Hey Googlie!
That sounds really cool, count me in. Gotta love them pirates. Props to Scipio for the idea. Do you mind telling me what happened to the game you mentioned, why it was discontinued?
Also, I'd be interested in looking at a save from that game if you have one and it's cool. Thanks.

vitamin j

[Scipio Centaurus]

Sure. Count me in. You can use the Pirate clones I created if you want.

Since they are Pirate faction clones, would the game have to be SMAX? I'm not sure if SMAC terran.exe can recognize certain faction file attributes like the AQUATIC attribute.

There was no AI in WW01 because I created a SMAX WaterWorld scenario [SC file] based on a alphax.txt file with only the 4 human controlled factions in it. I don't know about the rest of you players from WW01, but I got faction file parse errors every time I loaded a game turn, because terranx.exe expects to find 7 factions specified in alphax.txt. Didn't affect play, though.

For a true all Pirates pickup game with no AI, I think you would need all 7 factions under human control. i.e. You would need 3 more Pirate clone factions. Or you could just let SMAX pick AI factions at random, like some of the Apolyton tournament games.

Otherwise, you might have to do what I did - create a custom scenario with AI factions removed by modifyng the alphax.txt file

Maybe there's some simple workaround I'm unaware of?

- Scipio

PS. To whoever asked why the WaterWorld game died... it died the "Death of a Thousand Delays".

[Googlie]

Scipio:

In the Scenario editor itself you can eliminate factions so that you are left with just the loaded ones (so you can set up anything from a 2-player to a 7-player game). Also you don't need to alter the alphax.txt to get a custom faction in the game if you are using the Scenario Editor (There's a "reload factions" command that lets you drop a faction and add another)

In smax's alphax there is an empty section called "Custom factions" - you can load up to six factions there and then when selecting from the game menu for factions in the game these choices appear - also selecting 'random' will let the computer choose from among these as well.

Using the 'reload factions' command, the leaders' pics that are displayed are the ones that were in the last game you played (so one clone leader might be Aki, if the cyborgs were the last regular faction in that slot before you changed it in the Scenario Editor). Loading through adding the factions to the 'Custom Factions' in the alphax.txt will default to the gaians pics if no changes have been made to the 'namefaction2' and 'namefaction3' graphics.

And while you can load the factions to SMAC - the pirates attributes aren't carried over (eg don't get the mineral from shelf tiles, etc)

So my guess would be it needs to be played on a smax platform.

vitamin j ;

I'll fire you off my last WW01 saved turn with the password

Googlie

[Scipio Centaurus]

Originally posted by Googlie
In the Scenario editor itself you can eliminate factions so that you are left with just the loaded ones...

I tried 'eradicating' various factions from the editor, but they always showed up in my test runs anyway. Hopefully you'll have better luck.

Also you don't need to alter the alphax.txt to get a custom faction in the game if you are using the Scenario Editor (There's a "reload factions" command that lets you drop a faction and add another) In smax's alphax there is an empty section called "Custom factions" - you can load up to six factions there and then when selecting from the game menu for factions in the game these choices appear - also selecting 'random' will let the computer choose from among these as well.

Right. My 'regular' alphax.txt does list the Pirate factions in the custom factions section and it does behave exactly as you say. But I must always have 7 factions when I start a pickup game that way. What Firaxis forgot to put into the faction load screen was an option to select NONE for one or more factions in the 7 faction slots. That would make pure Pirate vs. Pirate or Hive vs. Hive style games much easier.

BTW, it's kinda fun to play a pickup game against the Pirate clone factions from time to time because you get to see the altered dialog for each faction. You don't get to see that in the MP Pirate games, though the new base names do still come into play. Feel free to pass out my Pirate clone TXT files to anyone who wants to play solo against [or with] them.

Using the 'reload factions' command, the leaders' pics that are displayed are the ones that were in the last game you played (so one clone leader might be Aki, if the cyborgs were the last regular faction in that slot before you changed it in the Scenario Editor). Loading through adding the factions to the 'Custom Factions' in the alphax.txt will default to the gaians pics if no changes have been made to the 'namefaction2' and 'namefaction3' graphics.

Yea. This is a niusance bug. Control of faction graphics is via the Alpha Centauri.ini file. There are several cures, but I won't get into the details here.

And while you can load the factions to SMAC - the pirates attributes aren't carried over (eg don't get the mineral from shelf tiles, etc) So my guess would be it needs to be played on a smax platform. Googlie

Thought so. I'll bet it's that AQUATIC=0 [or whatever] faction attribute that tells the terranx.exe engine to give ocean shelf MIN bonuses and start the faction with a sea colony pod in the ocean, etc.

- Scipio

[Maniac]

Short question: what are the pro's/con's of the Pirate variations?

[Scipio Centaurus]

Let's see how many I can remember.

>Aquatic factions [Pirates are aquatic] start with sea colony pod[s]
>Aquatic factions get 2 unit prototypes free: Sea Colony Pod & Sea Former
>Aquatic factions get +1 mineral bonus in ocean shelf [coastal] tiles
>Aquatic factions can build enhancements [mining platforms/tidal harnesses] in ocean and ocean trench tiles after learning AdvEcolEng
>Pirates are -1 efficiency & -1 growth
>Pirates get 2 free techs: DocMob & DocFlex
>Pirates get free Naval Yards in every base after learning DocInit
>Pirates get free Marine detachments on every combat boat after learning AdapDoc

- Scipio

[H0bbes]

I'm in.

[SITS]

I've lost count but add me if there is a place with the fishes...

[Googlie]

Originally posted by Scipio Centaurus


I tried 'eradicating' various factions from the editor, but they always showed up in my test runs anyway. Hopefully you'll have better luck.



- Scipio

I think it all depends when you hit the "reset all factions" button (to activate their SE settings). If you make this the last thing that you do before signing off on the scenario it'll re-instate the eliminated factions. (If you just don't give them a colony pod they'll become the famous "phantom factions" that will deny anyone a council election 'cos the commlinks can never be had)

So I always now make the "eliminate factions" the last thing I do pre save. That way I never get more in my scenarios than I want.

G.

[Googlie]

Well. by my count we have 4 confirmed:

vitamin j
Scipio Centaurus
Hobbes
SITS

with M@ni@c posing a question.

M@ni@c, if you'd like to join I can add one of my clones to Scipio's 3 plus the original pirates and you can have a five-player game. I'll start the mapping and placements pending your response.

Pirates Galore will soon be underway.

G.

[Qantaga]

Hmm... This game sounds like a lot of fun. I certainly don't want to slow down the game by trying to turn it into a six player game.

However, if M@ni@c doesn't want to participate, I would like to be the fifth Pirate (if the original four don't mind expanding to five players). I can assure you that I am good for at least a turn a day, so I should be able to keep up the pace.

[SITS]

I'm not sure I followed the setting up of the game but an idea that strikes me is why not have the factions not being played by humans set up on a single land square that way they won't play any big part in the game.

[Black Sunrise]

If you guys wind up w/o a player, I'd like in.
I'm sorta desperate to pick up another game.
Indra
Black Sunrise
indra@blacksunrise.com
PS, the fireaxis people made 7 player games on purpose. It has to do with game theory. 7 people will never agree on anything, therefore there will always be dissent and trouble. Makes for a fun game.

[Googlie]

We actually have seven pirate and clone factions, so if you guys would like a 7-human game I can set that up (my experience - and I'm in five 7-human games - is that they go really slow if all seven aren't dedicated to the game. In 2 of my games I see a trun about every ten days, so we'll still be playing them in 2004 at this rate. One of my five turns pretty regularly, no less frequently than once a week unles someone is ill or on vacation without a substitute arranged.

G.