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The definition of territory when a pact ends

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  • The definition of territory when a pact ends

    For purposes of ending a pact, some restrictions in the definition of territory in the manual are ignored.

    According to the manual (Chapter 5, Territory, p. 131 in my (Windows) version), "Any squares which are nearer to one of your bases than to any other faction's base are considered your territory. Territory cannot extend more than seven squares out from a land base, or three squares out from a sea base, and must be on the same continent as the base claiming it."

    For the purposes of establishing bases near one's pactmate, a land base cannot claim sea squares (even those next to it) and a sea base cannot claim land squares as part of the faction's territory.

    In the ACDG5 game, Deidre and Morgan, who were our pactmates, ended the pact between MY 2187 and MY 2188.

    The messages that accompanied the ending of the pact informed us that "2 units removed from Gaian territory" and "2 units removed from Morganic territory." In comparing the positions of the units (the game saves are linked in the paragraph above):

    the two units that were removed from Gaian territory were:

    The Battery fusion cruiser probe team at (18, 30) (it was moved to E pus si mueve at (25, 31))

    Sea Harvest fungicidal sea former at (49, 13) (it was moved to Miriam's Last Stand at (41, 15)

    and the two units that were removed from Morganic territory were:

    Bunker Palace Hotel fusion sea colony pod at (47, 15) (it moved to this square between the save and the end of the turn; it was moved to Miriam's Last Stand at (41, 15))

    Syrtis fungicidal fusion sea former at (48, 48) (it was moved to Sunken City at (52, 48)).

    (1) Note that the nearest Gaian base to The Battery fusion cruiser probe team is Morganic Ocean Resources at (15, 35), which is a sea base and is 4 squares away from the fusion cruiser probe team (the boundary line is between the fusion cruiser probe and Morganic Ocean Resources. So the part about territory not extending more than three squares from a sea base doesn't apply for expulsions.

    (2) Note that for both the Bunker Palace Hotel fusion colony pod and the Syrtis fungicidal fusion sea former, the nearest Morganic bases are land bases and these were on sea squares. So the usual convention that land bases don't claim sea squares for territory doesn't seem to apply. If you look near Morgan Construction at (47, 45), you can see that there are no Morgan boundary lines in MY 2187 surrounding the Syrtis fungicidal fusion sea former (although the proximity of the Morgan Construction has pushed our territory back, consistent with the manual's statement, "Any squares which are nearer to one of your bases than to any other faction's base are considered your territory.")

    My conclusion: For purposes of expulsion when a pact ends, the game ignores the restriction about territory not extending more than three squares from a sea square and ignores the boundary lines that do take into account that land bases do not claim sea squares.

    This is a very fine point of the game. Obviously, it is too fine to expect the manual writer to cover. And there are good reasons not to let someone park and invasion force on a transport next to a port city, renounce the pact and invade the next turn.

    However, I think the fact that the sea base had a reach longer than the usual three square is probably more of a bug than undocumented game design.
    Unofficial SMAC/X Patches Version 1.0 @ Civilization Gaming Network
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