Why IFP?

[Stormhound]

Be glad you have to wait a quarter, you want us to get all this stuff right.

Another resource you might want to check is the series of GameSpy Developer Diaries that we did. It starts here and includes more info on diplomacy and espionage, among other things.

a) You'll find more about diplomacy above. All agreements are between 2 parties only.

b) He's your main means of influencing how things happen in your civilization. Of course, he may not be an emperor, depending upon what kind of government you have. You can't move him around the map, no. He'll be in his job for a fair amount of time (no details right now, sorry), and his replacement will very likely come from one of the people in the level of government immediately below him (there's a picture that I can't give out right now that will illustrate this when you get to see it).

c) I don't think we're looking for outside programmers. It's hard enough being an outside designer when I don't have direct access to anything inside the firewall; I know that with all the security and checking code in and out, it'd be a real hassle to have an outside programmer.

d) Espionage is also covered in the Diary series in as much detail as we're giving right now.

[Xeovar]

Originally posted by Stormhound
Be glad you have to wait a quarter, you want us to get all this stuff right.

Well, yeah, but you know how hard it just to wait

Another resource you might want to check is the series of GameSpy Developer Diaries that we did. It starts here and includes more info on diplomacy and espionage, among other things.

Thanks, I'll check this one.

a) You'll find more about diplomacy above. All agreements are between 2 parties only.

That's bad. IMO really bad. Why ? Because that's main flaw of all TBSes and it's still in

c) I don't think we're looking for outside programmers. It's hard enough being an outside designer when I don't have direct access to anything inside the firewall; I know that with all the security and checking code in and out, it'd be a real hassle to have an outside programmer.

I know that, so no surprise. But if you need some kind of help (for example alpha/beta testing ) I'll be willing to. I'll even sign any form of NDA

[LDiCesare]

I wonder how one will diagnose where to spend one's IFPs. How do you "scan" your empire to check that your subordinates are not corrupted/not doing silly things? Such scanning will be needed at first when learning the game, so you put the correct leaders in the correct places, but shouldn't be abused (every turn) since it is a kind of micromanagement (checking all planets to see which ones need attention). Will there be a scan/report option that allows reporting of all planetary activities, and will it cost IFPs?

[Stormhound]

You'll have a SitRep (SITuation REPort) every turn that will tell you the important things that are happening in your empire; it will be at least (and I hope more than just) somewhat configurable to allow you to decide whether you want to see just the really hot items, the moderately hot stuff, or every darn detail. Looking at stuff in the SitRep costs nothing.

In addition, you can go out to different government offices, or to different planets, and look at the details there...again, for free.

With the lone exception of just watching a space battle, it's only when you choose to make things happen that you pay IFP. If your underlings make a decision and you approve, you pay nothing. If you overturn it, you pay.

It should be easy enough to get the info you need to learn how to run your empire.

[Sammual]

If the IFP system works out as intended and MOO3 is a hit I expect to see a major change to the way games are created. Micromanagement has been a problem (Or at least a challenge) for many of the better games out there for some time now. The IFP system seems to be a way to solve both Micromanagment (Let the player manage only what they want) and to allow newer players to ease their way into a complex game. And there is nothing like a new way of doing things that widens the target audience for the product for making a publisher happy.

Sammual

[Comrade Tribune]

The IFP concept is exactly how any large-scale TBS game should be managed. I wonder why it took so long for a developer to finally recognize that.

[Stormhound]

The IFP concept is exactly how any large-scale TBS game should be managed. I wonder why it took so long for a developer to finally recognize that.

You will find it common throughout life that until a problem becomes so great that one literally cannot continue without solving it, it will remain unsolved.

MOO3 could not have been designed as was done had the problem not been addressed. We hope to have our solution prove a successful one.

[Zealot]

Originally posted by Stormhound
MOO3 could not have been designed as was done had the problem not been addressed. We hope to have our solution prove a successful one.

So do we (gamers)!

[Comrade Tribune]

Originally posted by Stormhound
You will find it common throughout life that until a problem becomes so great that one literally cannot continue without solving it, it will remain unsolved.

Stormhound, you are a philosopher.

And yes, you are absolutely right, of course. If your ideas find their way into the game mechanics -and I have a hunch they will-, this is another reason to look forward to MoO3.

[Stormhound]

No, just a realist.

And whole heaping chunks of the design are mine. I did practically the whole tech research thing; I designed it based on a picture that Bill and Alan had drawn about how they wanted to divide up technologies...it's probably what secured my employment with QS. Other hands have helped it since, but the praise (or blame!) for the core concept starts here. (I think I've told the whole story elsewhere, but if anyone really wants to be bored with it, I can always use another ego-stroke. )

Fortunately, Alan and Tom and Floyd and I (and Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice) have a highly compatible design style, and that has helped a lot. We work with each other's ideas, bat around suggestions, and generally strengthen things. Tom and I keep Alan's math honest.

[Spectrex]

IFP's?

Forgive my ignorance, but what exactly is the "IFP system"?

[Stormhound]

IFP = Imperial Focus Points

IFP are your way of influencing/changing things, issuing orders, and so on. (Getting info is free, making things happen isn't.) You get a limited number of IFP each turn, and once you use them up you're done...no more changes that turn. It's part of our take on cutting out the micromanagement hell that these games can become (the other major part is our macromanagement system, which lets you group worlds in a number of ways, and give orders to whole groups at a time).

[Spectrex]

Hmm.. frankly that seems like sort of a strange way to reduce micromanagement. People who like micromanagement will be forced to change their ways (and possible forced away from the game), while those who don't like it will either find it merely inconvenient or won't notice the differnence at all.

IMHO you should simply provide the tools (planetary governors, etc.) but let the player choose what playing style they like.

At the very least I'd let the player set the amount of IFP points as one of the game options (e.g. few, average, many) and make 'unlimited' an option.

[loinburger]

IIRC, the intent is to reduce late-game micromanagement for those who don't enjoy clicking on every single colony every turn (a working governor system could have taken care of that), but the intent is also to change the role of the gamer, to force the micromanagers to pick and choose the areas that they are going to focus on. In other words, the intent is to have micromanagers change their ways.

[Sencho]

Originally posted by Spectrex
Hmm.. frankly that seems like sort of a strange way to reduce micromanagement. People who like micromanagement will be forced to change their ways (and possible forced away from the game), while those who don't like it will either find it merely inconvenient or won't notice the differnence at all.

IMHO you should simply provide the tools (planetary governors, etc.) but let the player choose what playing style they like.

At the very least I'd let the player set the amount of IFP points as one of the game options (e.g. few, average, many) and make 'unlimited' an option.

Moo3 will most likely crash with unlimited IFPs, and isn't being built with such an option even envisioned. Simply put you, and the up to 32 other empires, would all get the 'benefit.' Further, some items (like the 'speeches') grow in power the more IFPs you add. So, you could do all the Speeches, at infinite power, plus touch on everything, every turn. And so could your opponents.

IFPs allow for micromanagement, but you must choose where you wish to micromanage each turn. With up to 12,000 planets available for colonization, the old build que cycling would take hours of time to complete a single turn. Even with a small empire.

So players can micromanage, but not everything every turn. It's currently looking like 7-9 IFPs per turn, and considering that something like designing as many different ship types as you want consumes just 1, I hope it'd be less of an issue than you believe.