How do I decrease # of satellites?

[Zeiter]

Okay, I'm editing this scenario, and I wanted to give each faction 2 sky hydro labs. I figured out that you added satellites by right clickling on the number. But I accidentally added too many. How do I decrease the number of satellites? I would greatly appreciate any help on the matter.

[Googlie]

Good question - short of creating a bunch of ODPs and playing around until you get the final # you want, I dunno

[Zeiter]

Hmmmmmm, maybe if I take away orbital spaceflight from everyone, all of the satellites will reset to zero. If that doesn't work, I'm going to just have to reload Yang's faction. You see, I was thinking that the number would reset after you crossed a certain threshold. Well, I guess not. And, if you try to destroy them all, you still have left-over ODPs to deal with. And I certainly can't have Yang starting out with over 300 nessus mining stations! As if his industry wasn't huge already!

[Googlie]

No - you will still have the faction getting the energy/minerals/nutrient output from the satellites even if you remove orbital Spaceflight and self-aware machines (Nessus Mining stations) from the factions' techs

The F6 screen will be blank, but as soon as the faction discovers the tech the satellites appear on the screen again. In the meantime, the resources keep getting churned out for the faction

[Googlie]

Originally posted by Zeiter
And I certainly can't have Yang starting out with over 300 nessus mining stations! As if his industry wasn't huge already

Well of course he's limited to the size of his bases (so a size 10 base gets only 10 minerals per turn even if there are 300+ mining platforms in space - halved if the base doesn't have an aerospace complex) - but even that's a huge boost

But it is a better way to give an AI faction a minerals boost than creating forests and crawlers - in my experience the AI uses crawlers to explore (losing a lot to mindworms) and to rush build things - especially prototypes (but funnily enough, rarely SP's)

It's a pity that the faction gets the goody benefit even when you've disabled the tech after giving the satellites. It'd be a fabulous mid-game boost if they "lurked" until the tech were discovered, then kicked in 300 energy per turn - or whatever. (but the boost would be doubled as soon as the base built an aerospace complex - I wonder if the AI build algorithm would recognize this and rush the Cloudbase Academy?)

But your thread has given me ideas for beefing up the AI in scenarios that I build for PBEMs - thanks

[Darsnan]

Re: How do I decrease # of satellites?

Originally posted by Zeiter
Okay, I'm editing this scenario, and I wanted to give each faction 2 sky hydro labs. I figured out that you added satellites by right clickling on the number.

First off, right clicking on what number? This I gotta know!

Second, the best thing to give the AI is EC's. Essentially giving the AI nutrient bonuses just leads to early Drone problems. Giving the AI Mineral Bonuses just leads the AI to supporting more obsolete units. Giving the AI an added energy boost means that the AI can continually rush-build SP's, Facilities, and defenders, as well as being better suited for probing away lots of units and bases....

Regardless, awesome possibilities here! Good one Zeiter!


D

[Googlie]

Re: Re: How do I decrease # of satellites?

Originally posted by Darsnan
First off, right clicking on what number? This I gotta know!

Give a faction the tech "Orbital Spaceflight"

Now click F6. A spreadsheet comes up that lists the seven factions downwards and the 5 satellite options horizontally, with all zeros

Right click on any number and a satellite will be listed (even if that faction doesn't have Orbital Spaceflight). Continue right clicking and the number will increase.

*****Zeiter*****: shift and right click reduces the number of satellites

Now go back and disable the tech from the faction you gave it to. The resources that the sats were producing continue to accrue

Neat

G.

[GeoModder]

You could consider this an automatic addition to a well-planned and successfully planted new colony.

Imagine Unity arriving safe and sound in orbit, factions land on Planet but the ship held several kinds and numbers of satellites as well who are launched in orbit (or to Nessus) afterwards. Factions owning a certain kind of satellite depends then perhaps on the 'controlling' frequentie they brought with them.

[Zeiter]

Ah, shift and right click! Thanks!

And about my scenario: I'm not making a scenario that starts at planetfall. This one starts out about 140 years later, by which time all of the factions have about 30 bases, tachyon/fusion laser weapons, fusion power, (I'm even giving Santiago nanominiaturization. Her elite hovertanks will be quite a challenge to defend against) etc. Basically, I want to see what late-game combat would look like, and test out some strategies in dealing with drop pods, choppers, hovertanks, maybe even gravships if the game gets that far. Usually the AI is so far behind by this point that it isn't a challenge. I want to play a game that is more competitive at this level of the tech tree. Should be pretty cool when I finish it. But anyways, that's why I'm giving all of the factions 2 sky hydro labs.

However, I think you all may be on to something concerning giving the AI satellites at the beginning. That idea never occured to me before. It might enhance AI performance. Of course, it is still just handicapping the AI, not really improving its "gameplay." But still, could make SP games more interesting.

[binTravkin]

You could consider this an automatic addition to a well-planned and successfully planted new colony.

Imagine Unity arriving safe and sound in orbit, factions land on Planet but the ship held several kinds and numbers of satellites as well who are launched in orbit (or to Nessus) afterwards. Factions owning a certain kind of satellite depends then perhaps on the 'controlling' frequentie they brought with them.

Good fiction!

In the reality I think It should be used to boost the game, make it faster. Just give each fac number of each orb improvement (except ODP) equal to its max pop limit with AV SP & hab complexes and you got a beautiful almost 2fold faster start!

[Chaunk]

Does this reveal the world map for the ai in question? Of course the Ai already knows the whole map, but if the human player were to probe their map away, then that could be a problem...

[Maniac]

I guess you could always use the scenario editor to turn the AI map back into unexplored squares again.