Mystery Flight

[George Garrett]

Hi Folks,

Long time no "at sea" - but I am on this one. I just played my first space race game, at Chieftan, I launched at the "Okay to launch, 100% chance of success" message, last evening, and if I hadn't hit the "escape" button, this darn thing would be flying, this a.m.
I call it a "thing" advisedly, cos it looked so strange
with a barely-begun nose assembly.

Not my fault that I sent it out half-completed, I was willing to build the Spacecraft by rush-buying components from my 255 Science cities (I was doing rather well in this game) especially the structural bits, but, as a space novice I had no idea how many parts the structure required, altho the number 39 at
which the dialogue box assured me that the structure was complete, seemed odd to me:-)

So...my question is : Did I do wrong, or is there a bug in my version of Civ2? By the way, my game was abruptly terminated, by a Final Score (1500+) in 1905 -
I hadn't achieved 2020 nor World Domination, so how come I was terminated? Did my space-craft land, after all? (It couldn't be that the AI won the space race -it was far behind in technology}.

I don't know if anyone has suggested this for Civ3, but while watching my half-finished spacecraft on its fruitless forever flight thro the stars, I would have appreciated some idea of its progression towards A.C.

Perhaps a glimmer gradually growing larger as the ship nears the target?

------------------

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Hi George. I always choose to build a spaceship, and here's what I know (which is to say, what I've learned here):

The smallest ship you can build that will have a 100% chance of getting to AC requires 15 structurals, 6 components (3 of each type), and 3 mods (1 of each type): let's call this a 15/6/3 ship. If you've discovered fusion, it will get you to AC in 15 years. The fastest ship you can build is a 33/16/3; you'll get to AC in 5 years. The biggest ship you can build is a 39/16/12; I think this will get you to AC in 8 years, but I'm not sure; it will also add 400 points to your final score, rather than the 100 points of the other two ships (points are based on # of colonists).

As for the game ending abruptly, that's less clear. Landing on AC is its own reward: it ends the game, and you win (assuming no one else lands first, and that your capital doesn't get sacked). When you launch, you're told the year you will land. I would assume the game ended bcause you landed, but there should have been a movie telling you this. The only other explanation I can think of would be if you were playing Test of Time and researching future technology; that sometimes triggers and "event" that ends the game.

Does that help? I hope so.

------------------
Dig trenches, with our men being killed off like flies? There isn't time to dig trenches. We'll have to buy them ready made. Here, run out and get some trenches.
-- Rufus T. Firefly, the original rush-builder

[Ribannah]

The smallest ship that will make it to AC is the 15/2/3 in 36 years. They tell you it only has a chance of 79%, but it never fails.

------------------
If you have no feet, don't walk on fire

[George Garrett]

Excuse me, Ribannah, I've just noticed your designation
as "Princess", and there was I addressing you as "Gent"
and "Fellah" - my apologies, I'm still out there in space.

I've always thought of Civ as a game for us little boys, assuming that women would be put off by "Bloodlust", and bored with space-technology, but I've always thought that world-rule was within their realm-if you'll pardon the pun - in our push-button age, as distinct from the masculine brute-
- strength - and - ignorance of yore.

I must look up some of your past posts, to see if I can
divine how you play this grand game - much better than
I, in all probability - doesn't everyone?

[George Garrett]

Thank you, gentlemen,
I finally figured what happened - my spacecraft MUST have landed...the estimate given at launch was for 5.9 years i.e." touchdown in 1905" My game ended in 1906, and I noticed that one of the headings in the final score read "Spacecraft 100%"

I failed to get the picture(in every way)cos I didn't have the gamedisk in the drive at the time (That way no
tiresome videos of the AI marching into city after city of mine)

So...I did good, even if I didn't know what I was doing
- look out if I ever get to learn how to play this game! If my score sounds good to you, I owe it all to going Fundy ASAP, then building libraries, univerities,
banks, and stock exchanges to keep the science turns down (4 at game end, and remember Fundy halves one's Science), and the bank balance up.

Stupid me, to sit staring at the picture for a good half-hour waiting for 1905 to arrive - the Civ years go by, only if one actually PLAYS the game!
Guess, I must adopt a new User name, "Charlie Chucklehead" (George Garrett, of course, is not my real
name, which is, in fact, Napoleon)

Thanks, again, fellas, for your helpful input, and - happy landings!

[Roman]

I have never won by AC, always through conquest.

[zyxpsilon]

Space flight?

33/8/1 fusionned takes 5.>7< years!

Knowing that... launch it exactly at 2014.>3< (??!??)
100 points only(!) but more population in many 21+ cities gives much more "satisfying" scoring.
Make peace as long as possible (more points), a few Future-techs (even more), clean-up the act (unpolluted), All of the Wonders (adds up)...
And keep your Capital!

It is NOT how much points you get but rather HOW you manage to increase 'hem through times.

[George Garrett]

Roman, try reaching for the stars, you may like it, as I did...I like world conquest, too, but I enjoy building cities more than taking 'em. I wonder if its possible to achieve AC and world conquest in the same game?

Zyxpsilon, mine was a mandatory 39/8/8(?),had no choice in the making, the computer tole me "Your rocket is ready, Sire", and that was that.... probably, could have waited longer to launch it, the AI were nowhere with their techs,,but didn't realise that my game would be terminated once my rocket reached AC, lots of good stuff that I felt I could have achieved
I'm with you on eternal peace, grabbing all the futures I could get, try to have the top five cities.
be #1 in all the demographics, I don't get all the Wonders, cos I tend to lay off early ones to make sure
I get GL, Leo and Fundy (SofL). I also build cities till the game ends (or runs out of cities), and abolish taxes so that I can up the luxuries during the last 20 years of my "reign"

When you say, "It's not the points, but how you score 'em",do you mean that in my next game I could score fewer points, but get a higher percentage?

Anyway, for my next flight, I'll wait until the nearest AI cometitor is about tto apply the match to the tail of its rocket, ere I launch mine

Thank you for your input, both.

Altho the game I spoke of, was my best ever (1500 points, 67%, if I remember correctly), I was did

[rah]

When I played the nomad challange. I didn't know which victory condition to choose so I did both.

After I launched, I went on a rampage and completed conquest the year before landing.

RAH

[jcarkey]

Bloodlust is the best IMHO. Build up a good military and your adversaries will see stars!

------------------
If someone doesn't agree with you, you haven't explained yourself well enough-Luther Ely Smith

She turned me into a newt...well I got better- Monty Python and the Quest for the Holy Grail

How many boards could the Mongols horde, if the Mongol hordes got bored?- jcarkey

[Rufus T. Firefly]

quote: Originally posted by zyxpsilon on 02-17-2001 02:04 PM Space flight? 33/8/1 fusionned takes 5.>7< years!

This is what I'm calling 33/16/3; 8 of each component = 16, 1 of eadch module = 3.

quote: Knowing that... launch it exactly at 2014.>3< (??!??)

I know that's a joke , but it may be confusing. As with all other decimals, the game rounds down here; since there's no months in Civs, a ship launched in 1900 and listed as taking 5.7 years to arrive will always arrive at the beginning of 1905. I stress "at the beginning" because it affects the other good advice zyxpsilon gave. Once you launch, you should spend your remaining time getting your house in order for maximum score, but know that you will only have until the end of the year before you land to do so. The most important thing is to max out your luxuries and make as many happy people as possible. If I've got the cash and oppportunity, I may also use spies to subvert cities with wonders in them, especially happiness wonders. Alternatively, if I'm a democracy, now is the time to rush-build courthouses in the cities that don't have them. Defend the capital, clean up pollution, and I'm home free.

------------------
Dig trenches, with our men being killed off like flies? There isn't time to dig trenches. We'll have to buy them ready made. Here, run out and get some trenches.
-- Rufus T. Firefly, the original rush-builder

[This message has been edited by Rufus T. Firefly (edited February 20, 2001).]

[George Garrett]

Thank you Rah, Rufus...can anyone point me toward the
"Nomad challenge", so that I may examine it?(Then probably run away and hide if it's meant to be played at any level above Chieftan!)
[This message has been edited by George Garrett (edited February 20, 2001).]