Free Facilities

[Curiosity]

Mmmm, I do think the free command centre will be too unbalancing.

Why; well, research social psych and SotHB and you've got fundie. No, with a monolith upgrade, *all* land units are Elite... Even their scout patrols will have two moves and the attack vs a base of a green recon rover. All prototypes will be Elite even without fundie.

Free reycling tanks, for any of the original factions, is IMHO crazy. Especially for Gaians or PKs, both of whom are very strong in the first place.

The Believer's free Rec Commons could be nice, they're the one original faction which really needs a boost. They'd gain incredible ICSing power, which would work well with their +2 support.

[gwillybj]

In multiplayer games, yes, those facilities could create balance issues (not really problems), especially on the smaller map sizes typically used. In soloplay on larger maps, they become less relevant (but admittedly not irrelevant).

I've played several games as each of the seven factions with the free facilities as described above. With my alpha.txt changes, the games played very well, with no outrageous bounty falling to any one faction. Did the early game change? Most definitely! and for the better! But the mid-to-late-game and end-game weren't all that much different from the results experienced when played with the unedited alpha.txt and unedited factions.

Something about my editing and such: I play exclusively solo.
I am in no hurry to smash and bull my way to "Game Over" in under 100 turns, so the methods used by many players toward that end aren't used by me. My games generally take at least a week to play through; sometimes 3 or 4 weeks (in my alpha.txt, the retirement year is 3100 instead of 2500, but I've never reached it).
Because I role-play my games, I don't exploit the obvious advantages or any of the "features"; but I don't hobble myself with extreme artificial prohibitions, either. I play for my own entertainment - keyword: fun - and I couldn't care less about score or rating, or even whether I win , lose , or draw .

[Mr. President]

Originally posted by gwillybj

I am in no hurry to smash and bull my way to "Game Over" in under 100 turns, so the methods used by many players toward that end aren't used by me. My games generally take at least a week to play through; sometimes 3 or 4 weeks (in my alpha.txt, the retirement year is 3100 instead of 2500, but I've never reached it).
Because I role-play my games, I don't exploit the obvious advantages or any of the "features"; but I don't hobble myself with extreme artificial prohibitions, either. I play for my own entertainment - keyword: fun - and I couldn't care less about score or rating, or even whether I win , lose , or draw .

God bless you, sir. That was like a breath of fresh air amid the constant talk about nuts and mins and noodles and PBEM and energy parks.

[Curiosity]

Lol, g, that's fine. If you enjoy playing the game the way you've modded it then it's all good.

But, by posting it up here, I assume you're looking to spread the mod and have others try it. For most people left on this site, a game needs to be balanced to be interesting. So I'm just tryin' to help give an insight into how to make the mod have a wider appeal.

[gwillybj]

Dif'rent strokes for dif'rent folks

You'll notice this thread sat here without comment for ten months after Mr. President's comment last September following two weeks of intermittent input by only three people: him and Taz (both of whom are far more active in this forum than myself) and me. Even the little tech logo was downloaded only 6 times. I'll assume, then, that these ideas were observed and dismissed by the vast majority at that time. I'll also venture to assume that the number of us here at Apolyton who are solo players is a very small minority, and the number who take to such modifications is smaller still.

Does any of that invalidate the alterations? Not in my humble opinion. The game was made moddable so people could tweak it to suit their personal taste. Some mods are intended to make it highly competitive for multiplayer. Other mods completely change the flavor, the character, the venue. Some simply make small changes just to inject a little spice.

Hoping to spread the mod? Sure, but I'm not disappointed it didn't get more comments. Looking for wide appeal? I wasn't, even by linking to this thread recently. Of course I hoped people would look, but I rather expected not a lot of takers. If I had considered this a blockbuster "mod" I certainly would have been much more concerned about keeping the discussion alive, maybe even setting up a web page somewhere to promote it. Instead, I let it lie. Interesting? It sure livened things up for me. If anyone else liked it and didn't comment, that's perfectly fine with me. Have fun with it. I'm sure it's not the first mod to be overlooked or dismissed; it won't be the last.

As to balance, I freely admitted: "In multiplayer games, yes, those facilities could create balance issues." But I don't play multi, so it's a non-issue for me. I really don't want a perfectly balanced game. That's dull. If I wanted that I'd play every game with seven clones of one faction so everybody has exactly the same starting situation.

I included some concerns with the ideas in the post with the full list. Then, with the insertion of the Centauri Awareness tech, an adjustment was made in the facilities assigned. Since then, I have played many games as each faction and have experienced no untoward results. By implementing the entire list at the same time, each faction is given a very specific advantage. The job for the player is to do what is necessary to overcome those advantages by utilizing the advantage of the faction being played.

Please forgive me, Mr. President, if it appears I have taken over your idea. That is not my intent. Your initial post lit a fire in my mind that still won't go out!

Have A Nice Day
~willyb~

[DilithiumDad]

Well, fortunately others have taken up the torch and are modding your mod for multiplayer! That's great.