Deactivating Mind Worms/Fungus

[Decx]

How could I stop SMAC from producing fungus? I mean that, whenyour eco damage gets to high, SMAC automatically starts creating fungus squares around your bases and sending loads of Mind worms at the base.

How could I stop this? I want to basically get the mind worms and the fungus COMPLETLY out of the game, so that no matter what happens, the player will never have to deal with mind worms and fungus.

I guess 2 ways could be to delete the alien units from Alpha.txt, but then you would still have to deal with the fungus. The other would be to to lower the eco damage of a facility to 0, but that would prevent global warming, and I dwant global warming to be active.

Yes, I know having forests/forest buildings/preserves/etc lowers eco damage. This is transcend tho, so that doesnt mean squat, they still attack. Putting on rare native life forms from the create world menu doesnt do much either.

Thanx,
Decx

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Chaos, panic, & disorder - my work here is done.

[AlexanderIII]

There are a few things you can do:

1. Change these lines in #RULES in alpha.txt to:
None, ; Technology to improve fungus squares
None, ; Technology to ease fungus movement
None, ; Technology to build roads in fungus

So that even if fungus does appear, it does not hamper anything in any way.

2. Change these lines in #TERRAIN in alpha.txt to:
Fungus, None, Sea Fungus, None, 0, Remove $STR0, F, F
Fungus, Disable, Sea Fungus, Disable, 6, Plant $STR0, F, Ctrl+F

This disallowes you from planting fungus, and makes removal of existing fungus take no time at all.

3. Change these lines in #WORLDBUILDER in alpha.txt to:
0, ; Fungus (Fungus coefficient based on LIFE selection)

This ensures that no fungus will appear on the map (I think) no matter the fungus selection at game start.

4. Change the whole of #UNITS in alpha.txt to:
#UNITS
29
Colony Pod, Infantry, Colony Pod, Scout, 8, 0, 0, None, -1, 00000000000000000000000000
Formers, Infantry, Formers, Scout, 9, 0, 0, Ecology, -1, 00000000000000000000000000
Scout Patrol, Infantry, Gun, Scout, 3, 0, 0, None, -1, 00000000000000000000000000
Transport Foil, Foil, Transport, Scout, 7, 0, 0, DocFlex, -1, 00000000000000000000000000
*Sea Formers, Foil, Formers, Scout, 9, 0, 0, Disable, -1, 00000000000000000000000000
Supply Crawler, Infantry, Supply, Scout, 10, 0, 0, IndAuto, -1, 00000000000000000000000000
Probe Team, Speeder, Probe Team, Scout, 11, 0, 0, PlaNets, -1, 00000000000000000000000000
Alien Artifact, Infantry, Artifact, Scout, 12,10, 0, Disable, 2, 00000000000000000000000000
Mind Worms, Infantry, Gun, Scout, 1, 5, 0, Disable, 3, 00000000000000000000000000
Isle of the Deep, Foil, Gun, Scout, 7, 8, 4, Disable, -1, 00000000000000000000000000
Locusts of Chiron, Gravship, Gun, Scout, 4,10, 0, Disable, -1, 00000000000000000000000000
Unity Rover, Speeder, Gun, Scout, 3, 0, 0, Disable, -1, 00000000000000000000000000
Unity Scout Chopper, Copter, Gun, Scout, 4, 0, 0, Disable, -1, 00000000000000000000100000
Unity Foil, Foil, Transport, Scout, 7, 0, 0, Disable, -1, 00100000000000000000000000
Sealurk, Foil, Gun, Scout, 6, 6, 0, Disable, 4, 00000000000000000000000000
Spore Launcher, Infantry, Gun, Scout, 0, 5, 0, Disable, 5, 00000000000000000000000000
Battle Ogre MK1, Infantry, R-Laser, 3-Res, 0,10, 0, Disable, 6, 00010000000000000000000000
Battle Ogre MK2, Infantry, R-Bolt, 8-Res, 0,15, 0, Disable, 6, 10010000000000000000000000
Battle Ogre MK3, Speeder, String, Stasis, 0,20, 0, Disable, 6, 10010000000000000000000000
Fungal Tower, Infantry, Gun, Scout, 3, 0, 0, Disable, 1, 00000000000000000000000000
Unity Mining Laser, Infantry, Laser, Scout, 0, 0, 0, Disable, -1, 00000000000000000000000000
Sea Escape Pod, Foil, Colony Pod, Scout, 8, 0, 0, Disable, -1, 00000000000000000000000000
Unity Gunship, Foil, Gun, Scout, -1, 0, 0, Disable, -1, 00000000000000000000000000
Mind Worms, Infantry, Psi, Psi, 1, 5, 0, CentEmp, 3, 00000000000000000000000000
Isle of the Deep, Foil, Psi, Psi, 7, 8, 4, CentMed, -1, 00000000000000000000000000
Locusts of Chiron, Gravship, Psi, Psi, 4,10, 0, CentGen, -1, 00000000000000000000100000
Sealurk, Foil, Psi, Psi, 6, 6, 0, CentPsi, 4, 00000000000000000001000000
Spore Launcher, Infantry, Psi, Psi, 0, 5, 0, Bioadap, 5, 00000000001000000000000000
Fungal Tower, Infantry, Psi, Psi, 3, 0, 0, CentPsi, 1, 00000000000000000000000000


What this does is reposition the fungal/alien psi units elsewhere so the players/factions can build them, but because the units in their original position have been removed of their psi and abilities, they are effectively no longer any threat at all, even if they do pop up, which cannot be helped, alas. Putting Disable in the tech of the original units disallows the players or factions from building the impotent units. In addition, the player/factions may now even build the Fungal Tower at the Centauri Psi tech. You may wish to remove the ability for the players/factions to build these units, in which case you would delete the last six lines and keep the first two lines as
#UNITS
23

Other than that I cannot see what much can be done. Fungus will still pop up with increased eco damage, though it won't hamper movement and the mind worms it produces will not be a threat. The Ruins will still have lots of fungus around it, though it should not matter either. Fungus will still retain its camouflaging properties, though.

[Kamchak]

Well, you could take one of the the Maps of Planet (either one, your choice), hack out all the fungus manually with the map editor, and use all the settings in the previous message. That would remove your fungal woes: No fungus to start with, no fungus planting, fungus generated by eco-damage 'Mind Worm Boils from Hell' can be removed instantly and poses no movement penalty. That's as close as you can get to a fungus-free game.

Kamchak was Here

[Urban Ranger]

It doesn't make any sense to have SMAC without the native lifeforms. That's what makes it so alien.

Without these lifeforms, SMAC is just another Civ2 scenario.

Imagine what playing XCOM is like without the aliens...
[This message has been edited by Urban Ranger (edited January 03, 2000).]

[AlexanderIII]

I tend to agree with Urban Ranger here. When I'm not playtesting a mod, I usually play High Fungus games, and modify the alpha.txt to reduce time to clear the fungus. More interesting that way. Even the wimpiest faction, after meeting and defeating a few mind worms in early game, by the time they meet another faction they already have a handful of battle-hardened units rearin' for battle. And with High Fungus, the temptation to get cocky with your game play or disregard ecological damage is reduced, cause the planet can litterally kill you! Also sending out those Colony Pods always requires an escort or two, and leaving a garrison behind... just in case. But each to their own.

[Urban Ranger]

Come to think of it, having no fugus and other native life forms will give momentum players an unfair advantage.

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Finding problems in places where none has existed before.

[zsozso]

Even though, this is not a global solution, but for a single game/scenario:

The scneario editor has an option within the Scenario menu to set special rules. There you can disable all kinds of native life forms including fungus. I never tried it, but from the text of the menu it seems like what you are looking for. But as I've not tested it I do not know if it has effect on eco-damage fungus growth or not.