New PBEM Classic SMAC

[vyeh]

Let's go with mmontgomery. No crawlers, 2 CP, 2 scout, 1 former unless someone objects.

FYI, Mart designed crawler droids that can be cashed in for 1 row of minerals.

Please review rules carefully. I copied them and have no particular attachment.

I'd like to hear from anyone objecting to banning copters and planetbusters.

Note that the stockpile energy bug was not addressed in the rules I copied.

I would like to know if mmontgomery has a favorite starting location. (Vet's map is symmetrical; everybody will get a symmetric start.)

Are there any other requests?

Edit: I will add this to the notes: florin79c will have to convert the scenario posted by the CMN.

[mmontgomery]

I think the intended starting location is the spot of jungle just at the top of the bit of road. Of course, players can always move the CPs from there to anywhere they want.

[zsozso]

I understand that the multi-attack feature makes the copters way too powerful. However, complete ban of the copter chassis seems too harsh to me. There are other nice advantages (e.g. long range with 3 crash-landings) which can allow long-range scouting, air-transport usage etc. Isn't there a way to disable multi-attack via alphax.txt and allow copters that way ? I would prefer that solution.

[vyeh]

I believe multi-attack is part of the characteristic of the chassis (just like speeders and hovertanks can make multiple attacks). There are no flags in alphax.txt to disable multiple attacks.

[vyeh]

I have run into a slight glitch. I am following Googlie's procedure and I have come to the following paragraph:

"If the University is one of the factions, you will either need to set the mission year to 2100 (thus the turn you “play” will be 2100, and the send to the first player is actually 2101, thus giving the UoP player his choice of a free tech) or find out in advance what he wants as a free tech and give it through the scenario/edit tech process. Be careful that you don’t end up giving 2 techs plus a free tech as well. Trial and error a couple of times is often needed to get this one right."

I seem unable to set the mission year to 2100. When I go in and try, it ends up as 2101. Obviously, mmontgomery could PM me with his choice of tech, but I'd like to PM Mart and Darsnan.

[florin79c]

Do so

[vyeh]

I got passed the glitch. Ironically, when you try to set the mission year to 2100, the application sets it to 2101. If you leave it alone, it remains at 2100.

[vyeh]

Game has started.

These are the only differences from SMAX with SMAC 7 factions:

(1) All factions, including AI, start with an extra colony pod, scout and former.

(2) Map is veterans map modified by Mart.

(3) No planetbusters.

(4) No copters.

Because this is a custom map, the number of minerals or nutrients in a row will look like a standard game.

I set up a turn tracking thread (TTT). Please use this thread, not the TTT, to report any problems. In testing, I noticed a problem with missing techs. Mart reported that this is a known problem with no solutions.

If this is a problem for anyone, we can restart the game and I will select the tech of your choice. (Now that I figured out the perverse effect of setting mission year in my Mac software, I can restart the game in about half an hour.)

[St Jon]

Game has started.

I set up a turn tracking thread (TTT). Please use this thread, not the TTT, to report any problems. In testing, I noticed a problem with missing techs. Mart reported that this is a known problem with no solutions.

If this is a problem for anyone, we can restart the game and I will select the tech of your choice. (Now that I figured out the perverse effect of setting mission year in my Mac software, I can restart the game in about half an hour.)

Thanks, for all your work Vyeh it is much appreciated. I do have a query over the 'missing techs'. Do you mean that Factions are launching without their default starting Tech or that we have a situation where the Tech tree itself is missing a bunch of Techs? The 2 situations would be very different in so far as it will disadvantage us all at the beginning but not, at least for me, be critical however when plotting my developement I would find it very frustrating if a pivitol Tech I had been working towards were simply not be there. Obviously it would be different for us all as to which Techs were missing and perhaps much more frustrating for the Gaians to find they started without Centauri Ecology than for Morgan to have to research Industrial Economics at the start.

[vyeh]

You all should have the correct starting tech since I put it in myself and checked to see that it was there.

What Mart reported was that in a multiplayer game, the Hive did not get the option to choose Centauri Ecology as its first tech to research. He had to give the Hive the tech to research. After you have researched the first tech, you will get to choose your techs subject to the modulo 3 feature.

The missing tech is only from your first tech choice. After that, the missing tech will be available later as normal.

I only raised the point because I had been reading mmontgomery's issues with being "sidetracked" in another game and I was deliberately looking at his tech choices and noticed a tech missing.

A little research showed that it was known. It may be that no one wants a tech that is missing.

Edit: I gather from the TTT that there was no problem using the Mac to Win converter.

[florin79c]

No problem there and i could pick Centauri Ecology so we are good


Thx

[vyeh]

It wasn't the Hive this time. The problem probably has to do with slot assignments.

[mmontgomery]

The one game I got sidetracked I knew something was wrong from the first turn since I could not pick Planetary Networks. As soon as I get this turn, I will know and report.

Out of half a dozen games played on the modified vets map, I have only seen the tech sidetracking once.

Who has the turn right now?

[mmontgomery]

OK, University is definitely sidetracked. I was not able to pick Planetary Networks as either my free pick or as my first tech pick. Can we fix this and restart? It may mean that my faction has to be moved to a different slot. If so, this is OK.

[vyeh]

That was my experience in testing. I used the tech predictor. You can get to IA with the current slot position by choosing IB as your free pick, then IE, then PN and finally IA, so I did not see it as a sidetrack.

If you want a restart, do I switch you with slot #2 (FriendlyFire) or with slot #4 (zsozso)?

It looks like you and FriendlyFire have the same local time.

I'm going to switch the two of you.