Great starts gone worng

[livid imp]

I like small islands, they are easy to defend. Of course normally you would have a unity foil to get to other islands so I can see where this one would be a problem. This base placement is why I always play "look first".

[kelvinhole]

Originally posted by Chaos Theory
Here's a start worth giving up. Stupid faction placement algorithm...

That is funny. Wish you had a save to send me!

[Frankychan]

Originally posted by Chaos Theory
Here's a start worth giving up. Stupid faction placement algorithm...

This gets my vote for the Funny pic of the month.

[airyland]

Has anyone else been going great guns and been hit with a meteor? It took out about 6 cities, most of my advance troops and decimated about 6 more. Then I had to build a bunch of transports to even continue my attack due to the huge water filled crater. It couldn't have done anymore damage to me, due to its perfect placement. It was nearly an Extinction Level Event for my side. Miriam used the time to trade for a bunch of new tech even though she was about a goner when I got hit. I've never seen the A.I. use that trick since.

[Quango]

Originally posted by airyland
Has anyone else been going great guns and been hit with a meteor? It took out about 6 cities, most of my advance troops and decimated about 6 more. Then I had to build a bunch of transports to even continue my attack due to the huge water filled crater. It couldn't have done anymore damage to me, due to its perfect placement. It was nearly an Extinction Level Event for my side. Miriam used the time to trade for a bunch of new tech even though she was about a goner when I got hit. I've never seen the A.I. use that trick since.

That sounds like a planetbuster. The games version of a massive nuclear bomb.

[Qwerty88]

Originally posted by Quango


That sounds like a planetbuster. The games version of a massive nuclear bomb.

No, There can acually be meteor hits, they create a new crater and demolish bases, they also cas dust clouds that lower global energy production by 1/sq.

[smacksim]

No, it's not a PB. There really is a meteor event, with a popup window and everything:

Provost, a gigantic rock just fell on our empire. Should we save the lab equipment or the xenobannanas?

But really, it has happened to me, albeit with different wording.

I've only been hit with a meteor once as well. It happened to be a game where I was really crushing the AI in terms of building. I think that event is there to level the playing field when things get really lopsided. For me, it left a crater I believe, much like Garland Crater. That start really went worng . There are several balancing mechanisms in the game, most obviously the AI diplomacy. There are subtler things as well.

Does anyone have compelling evidence one way or another that the non-Bell Curve type events (disease, planet blight, +1 Nuts, -1 Nuts, etc.) are either random or are used to level the playing field? My own experience is that I only get the positive events when I'm level or behind an AI in the power charts, and vice-versa.

-Smack

[gwillybj]

smacksim wants to know…
Does anyone have compelling evidence one way or another that the non-Bell Curve type events (disease, planet blight, +1 Nuts, -1 Nuts, etc.) are either random or are used to level the playing field? My own experience is that I only get the positive events when I'm level or behind an AI in the power charts, and vice-versa.

the Prima guide says (but whether it's compelling you be the judge)…
At the basic level, all events are "equally likely" except as marked (in the Events List on the same page), but in practice if you roll a really good event when you're already ahead or a really bad event when you're already behind, it will tend to ignore the event and do nothing instead.

btw, it's not a meteor that wipes out the bases, it's an asteroid:

from both script.txt and xscript.txt…
#EATTHIS
#xs 440
#caption Chief Planetologist
Major Asteroid Strike near $BASENAME0! Massive casualties! Dust clouds will reduce global energy production for next ten years.

and the Prima guide mentions these two criteria:

This never occurs before Turn 75, and only if the base's faction is in first place.

I've seen this in nearly every game, sometimes twice. The base that is hit is most often the one with the highest population. If the Headquarters is among two or more tied for that spot, it is always the base that is hit.

[Dis]

buidling an HQ doesn't take too long. Although I've only done it once. It's not like Civ3 palaces.

[Enigma_Nova]

So you'd better have everyone beat into submission well before 2175, then.

[Hydro]

If you want a little more challenge try Time Warp. You may end up with a not-so-great SP (like ME), and the AI controls all the other useful ones (WP, VW, HGP, CN, PTS, and WP). Then you’ll have to spend time preventing your bases from starving and rioting, un-doing idiotic AI terraforming, and trying to dig yourself out of a research hole. While doing all of this you’re desperately trying to get your economy in order, get a few colony pods done, and disbanding hordes of 1-1-1 scouts the AI has burdened your support rating with.

I’ve found it to be fun since I have to work a bit, and I don’t have the crutch of all those great early SPs to lean on.

It is also a massive bummer when one of the aliens, Santiago, or Yang shows up while you’re in damage control mode with impact weaponry and you are far away from any decent defensive or offensive weaponry (I play non-directed research). THEN you really have to be creative.

Hydro

[smacksim]

Like Timewarp Dude

No Bill....Time Wart

Happy 4th, to those with liberties.

[Dis]

I tried time warp. I didn't like it. But I really do want to try again just for the challenge. I'm just real anal about where I put my bases

[ESpark]

Some of the best games are when the AI steals the SP you really wanted, and you plan your whole game around getting it back, or where you start in a crappy corner on the Dunes, and when you meet everyone else they already have Fusion, and you have to claw your way into the game...

I dunno about you, but being helplessly boned in a game ain't fun at all.

in SP, the AI never beats you. You beat you.

I'm pretty sure I didn't open a Unity pod with 8 worms in it. There's a reason why I save before every pod, before every colony pod or former in the early game walks into a fungus square, and it ain't "you beating you".

[Enigma_Nova]

Originally posted by Hydro
the AI controls all the other useful ones (WP, VW, HGP, CN, PTS, and WP)

/me slaps Hydro around a bit with a large trout
CDF should be in there somewhere.