PC riot factor?

[finbar]

Test result. On the Mac version, under Despotism, got to 8 cities - 2 size 2, 6 size 1 - before the 9th city produced an unhappy first citizen. Went into Monarchy, no unhappiness problems.

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finbar
Mono Rules!
#33984591
[This message has been edited by finbar (edited July 12, 2000).]

[DaveV]

Finbar - what size map did you use for your test? And what difficulty level?

[finbar]

Large, Deity. I'll run some more tests on different size maps.

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finbar
Mono Rules!
#33984591

[finbar]

Test #2. Small map, Deity. (On a Mac version of the game) None of the cities linked by roads, as they weren't in the first test on the large map. All cities within 6 or 7 squares of each other.

Under Despotism, the 6th city built produced an unhappy citizen. At that point, I had 1 city size 2, and 4 size 1. It was the last city built - obviously a size 1 - that went into revolt. I corrected the unhappiness. Next turn, another size 1 city and the size 2 city went into revolt. The size 2 city had a defender in it, so it wasn't a martial law problem.

Under Monarchy, the 8th city built produced an unhappy citizen, and a size 2 city (with a defender in it) went into revolt.

Which only really tells us, I suppose, that map sizes could have an impact on the equation.

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finbar
Mono Rules!
#33984591
[This message has been edited by finbar (edited July 12, 2000).]

[finbar]

Test #3. Medium map, Deity. Everything else the same as before.

Under Despotism, the 6th city produced an unhappy citizen.

Under Monarchy, the 8th city built produced a content citizen, but a size 2 city (with a defender in it) went into revolt.

Make of all of this what you will.

While I'm at it, I might as well do another large map test to see what happens under Monarchy.

Um .... maybe in the morning.

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finbar
Mono Rules!
#33984591
<font size=1 face=Arial color=444444>[This message has been edited by finbar (edited July 12, 2000).]</font>
[This message has been edited by finbar (edited July 12, 2000).]

[DaveV]

finbar - could you check how many cities you can build in Monarchy before having happy problems? I know, it's a lot easier to ask someone else to do the work than to do it.

[finbar]

Which size map?

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finbar
Mono Rules!
#33984591

[finbar]

The only Monarchy test I hadn't done was on the large map. Just did it. My 11th city produced a content citizen, but another size 1 city went into revolt, as did another size 2 city with a defender in it. So 10 was the limit.

My findings, based on an entirely unscientific series of tests:

Small Map - 7 cities in Monarchy before unhappiness

Medium Map - the same

Large Map - 10 cities in Monarchy before unhappiness

So large maps certainly seem to give you leeway in city numbers.

This, remember, is the Mac version of the game. I have the PC version, which I bought before the Mac version was ported, and I played on the Mac via SoftWindows. I'll open up the PC version and give it a try.

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finbar
Mono Rules!
#33984591
<font size=1 face=Arial color=444444>[This message has been edited by finbar (edited July 12, 2000).]</font>
[This message has been edited by finbar (edited July 12, 2000).]

[finbar]

I think I should get a life. But anyway ...

Did some tests with the PC version, playing it on my Mac via SoftWindows. And I'd forgotten how different the interfaces are. The OK and Cancel buttons are reversed on the PC version, which meant I was automatically hitting the wrong button from time to time. And you also get a little bell/chime sound when you build a city in the PC version. How endearing. The script/font used in the PC version is more elegant, too.

Anyway ...

1. Small Map - under Monarchy, the 7th city produced an unhappy chappie.

2. Medium Map - this was interesting. My first map gave me a small island. Bastards. But I had a go anyway. Under Despotism, my 5th city produced an unhappy chappie. I didn't have the space to build any more cities. Abandoned the attempt.

Second attempt. Under Monarchy, my 7th city produced an unhappy chappie.

3. Large Map - Under Monarchy, my 10th city produced an unhappy chappie.

So map size certainly plays a part in the equation. And the PC version - on the basis of these immensely unscientific tests, anyway - allowed one less city before unhappiness under Monarchy than the Mac version. You'd have to do a lot more tests to make that a given, methinks.

That summary:

MAC
Small Map - 7 (before unhappiness)
Medium Map - 7
Large Map - 10

PC
Small - 6
Medium - 6
Large - 9

But, given my results, Smash's unhappiness factor - after 4 cities - does seem a bit odd.

Now I'll go and get a life.

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finbar
Mono Rules!
#33984591
[This message has been edited by finbar (edited July 12, 2000).]

[Taian]

My experience agrees with that...the only other thing that may affect it is the timeline. I think those numbers change as the game progresses.

[finbar]

Unless someone's found an incredibly sneaky alternative, the host's rules should apply to everyone.

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finbar
Mono Rules!
#33984591

[Carolus Rex]

A question related to Smash's original post.

What happens if a player changes the game parametres in MP? Is it possible for a player to cheat by increasing the riot factor, for exampe?

What about the host, can he do it? How can you detect if someone has done such a thing, do the host's settings apply to all players? Or do "individual" settings apply? How do you detect it in that case?

Carolus