SMAX - The Will to Power - mod

[Alpha Centauri Bear]

This base keeps resetting the production to stuff I don't want, typically a low grade military unit.

What do you mean keeps resetting? Is it under your control? Does it overrides your build queue items?

[bvanevery]

This base keeps resetting the production to stuff I don't want, typically a low grade military unit.

What do you mean keeps resetting? Is it under your control?

Nope.

Does it overrides your build queue items?

Yep.

[bvanevery]

I think probe teams should be allowed to have amphibious pods.  I'm playing a game of extreme landlocked isolation, where there are almost no land bases near my cities.  But there are a few coastal cities, still far away, but reachable by hovertank.

Details no amphibious pods for probe team

no amphibious pods for probe team

[bvanevery]

Details the small empire

the small empire

This is the point in the game where I finally completed the Space Elevator, only to discover that I'm not allowed drop pods yet anyways.  That's a bit of a drag, considering how long it has been.  I started the game in extreme landlocked isolation, and only now has anyone even begun to encroach anywhere near my home territory.  I went vertical very early and completed various SPs before the AI even had a chance.  This enabled me to keep people happy and keep going vertically.  There really has been no happiness reason to expand.

Details how secret is it

how secret is it

The power graph says I suck, but I've built 12 SPs, more than any other faction.  Lal, the hegemon of the game, has built 8.  The Cult has built 2.  This is further evidence that the AI spends way too much time colonizing.  The only reason it worked out for Lal, is he started literally on the Monsoon Jungle.

Details air vs ground

air vs ground

I've been trying to get a probe team up to this 1 land base near me, so far without success.  My initial rush of amphibious unarmored hovertanks, Lal cut to pieces with his air force.  I was surprised at that display of competence.  It can't happen again, given that I'm advancing with heavily armored AAA units.  The sea bases I've taken, they're AAA garrisoned.  Lal's defenses are pitiful, just Scouts.  If it weren't for the air force, I'd own this region already.  I've now got my own Shard Interceptors that are starting to go to work.

Details growth and troops

growth and troops

I played Fundamentalist Green earlier in the game.  Once I got Cybernetic, I captured a lot of mindworms with the extra PLANET friendliness.  At some point after learning Knowledge, I switched to Fundamentalist Planned Knowledge Cybernetic for a long time, trying to get a little growth and better industry.  That's how I got all the SPs done.  Having completed the Space Elevator, I've finally transitioned to Democratic Planned Power Cybernetic.  I used to have a lot of hovertank formers, but they've gotten trashed by all the rivers shifting around from floods.  The eco-damage wasn't previously my doing, it was mostly Lal's fault.  Now I've got a fair amount of my own.  I'm not too crazy about the game mechanics of this, but I wouldn't want the game nerfed like Thinker mod does either.  If the world finally turns into a puddle, I did build the Maritime Control Center a long time ago, against that contingency.

I thought I was going to be beginning orbital insertion warfare at this point, but it's not to be yet.  I don't know how long it's going to take to research or steal drop pod tech.  Lack of amphibious probe teams is a real cramp in my side.  Mag tubes are pretty useless for logistics in WTP.  2x movement speed amounts to only slightly better local defense, which gets trashed by global warming anyways.

Allies gave or sold me techs for a long time, once again demonstrating the pointlessness of research in WTP.  Finally my changing politics ended those alliances.  So even in the absence of any neighbors to steal from, you can get pretty much all the tech you want.

[bvanevery]

Details unreasonable eco damage

unreasonable eco damage

Ok, a mere 3 years later, I'm quitting this game.  The amount of eco-damage abuse I'm receiving from merely having dropped 1 PLANET rating, is totally unreasonable.  I'm still at +1 PLANET, this shouldn't be happening.  What is the scale pegged on now?  This is crazy.  Every turn, hordes show up over and over again.  I am being "rewarded" for having spent a very long game building up my stuff, going vertically.  Not any real population, only Recycling Tanks and Genejack Factories.  Going Democratic Planned was supposed to be the time where I finally got to "fill in" my underdeveloped cities.

This isn't any fun.  If I had wanted to play "everybody getting overrun and starting to sink" game, with rivers destroying everything I build every other turn, I would have done an After Action Report about it.  In my own mod.  I don't need to fire up WTP for this experience.

I've only started to have a real fight with Lal now, and only because he's ahead of me.  I don't feel that being subjected to this much global warming, mostly his doing initially but now me too, is something to wait around and build up a game for.  In the original game, you'd put up with this stuff because at least you could make a lot of money off of it.  Now, all I do is get abused.  There's no value in it.

If I had known the long term endgame was always going to be total, vicious global warming and mindworms everywhere, I would have started the game as an eco-damager from the get-go.  It's totally pointless building up a lot of terrain improvements that are going to be trashed like this.  Granted... I'm not sure of the fungal pop "calming down" formulations in WTP.  In the original game, you'd just want to get the fungal pops over with, so you could reach some kind of point of stability.  I hope you didn't decide to deprive the player of relief in that regard, because this isn't worth putting mouseclicks into.

This is reminding me somewhat of what it's like when Planet gets mad at you for committing atrocities.  It's not quite that bad and I've written AARs about that sort of thing, even survived it.  But it's very premeditated, to put up with that level of abuse.

It should me noted that destroying mag tubes in river floods, as well as mag tubes being way slower than original game mag tubes, makes it very hard to defend one's empire from all of this.  Pretty soon, every city gets hit in isolation because the roads all get cut off, and units can't move fast enough.  And by "empire" I mean 6 friggin' cities.  The only way to deal with this, would be if I already knew I had to deal with this, and had built all kinds of anti-mindworm ordinance.  And based on plenty of stock game binary experience, it would still probably be a real drag, when I'm supposed to finally be getting into a fight with Lal.

[bvanevery]

I notice that something called a Police Garrison is proudly displayed as a capability of The Will To Power tech, but Non-Lethal Methods is available via Intellectual Integrity much earlier.

[bvanevery]

Details difficult logistics

difficult logistics

This is the point at which I lost interest in this game.  My position is viable, but my previous warmongering actions in the game seem completely pointless.  The Believer enclaves, I took over rather a long time ago.  Even making a large number of Rover Formers, and conscientiously acquiring mag tubes via directed research, I've been unable to link these captured cities with my own empire.  Now the Believers have been given some planes from their ally, and decided to declare war on me again.  They're killing formers that took me a long time to get going in those isolated places.  Why bother?  There was no strategic value in ever conquering these cities.

Although I'm a Planet-friendly power, the Cult seems to be better at it than I am, making my mindworms somewhat ineffective.  They're getting bigger and bigger because I completed the Xenoempathy Dome and the Pholus mutagen.  If I continued, I'd have Brood Pits soon.  Meanwhile, my Chaos ECM Silksteel Dragoons are expensive to produce and don't hold up well in combat.  They seem to be fairly vulnerable to artillery fire, which surprises me, given that they're armored.  There has been nothing satisfying about dealing with the Cult at all.  Once again, they are outside of my meaningful logistical range.  I might occasionally wipe out a brand new colony they just settled, but there's just no point in stretching for territorial claims.

It seems the only correct play, on land, is to wait until one's empires are actually touching.

On water, previous games have established that the greater mobility of ships, coupled with the AI's blase about defending itself, do make it appropriate to seize sea bases.  Of course, that wasn't this game.

Even directed research felt pretty pointless.  I bought most of my techs from my ally Roze.  I wonder if I would have done just as well going Fundamentalist.

I had intended to test the "eco-damaging lifestyle" but it was inappropriate for a Planet-friendly faction.

[bvanevery]

Details modestly sized empire

modestly sized empire

This is the point in the game where I transitioned from a strictly Planned society, to a Democratic Green Wealth society.  We had sunspots for awhile.  They ended, and I did a lot of catch-up trading.  This resulted in the acquisition of Wealth, which made the loss of +2 GROWTH seem more attractive.  Also I was finally getting to the point where people were unnecessarily unhappy.  I will soon be founding my 14th city.  It's not a lot of cities, but it's more than I've done in previous games.

Details most worthwhile SPs

most worthwhile SPs

I built a fair number of Genejack Factories early this time, in cities that weren't going to grow too much, so that I wouldn't have to deal with additional unhappiness too soon.  This has enabled me to complete a fair number of SPs compared to the competition.  I used my Artifacts to almost rush the Human Genome Project.  Other Artifacts as they've come in, have helped a few other SPs along, although not much.  My governmental transition is also timed about at the end of exploring the map.  I've popped nearly every supply pod available.

Details border connection

border connection

This is where my next city will go.  The Spartans are allies, but that may change now that I've chosen Wealth.  I don't find myself worried as the game considers them Feeble.  The Peacekeepers are also allies, which could change if I get into a war with the Spartans, as I'd probably go Fundamentalist.  Neither has anything of value though.  Probably I would just spend time "completing the perfect circle" around my capitol, which would be pretty much at the Spartans' expense.

The Usurpers are currently allies and so far doing the best with SPs.  They will not like my transition from Planned to Green.  Previous games have demonstrated that absent orbital insertion, they're too far away to invade.  The Cult is similarly far away from me, and immune to my mindworms and isles, same as last game.  Now that I'm Green they may eventually come around to my point of view.  I know that in the original game, the Gaians and the Cult are hardwired to hate each other a bit.  The logic of it is somewhere deep in the binary code.

Details sea products

sea products

The Pirates, I imagine they'll get tired of my Wealth as well.  I'm happy to take a few of their sea bases to round out the "perfect circle" around my capitol, Autumn Grove.  They'll probably view them as acceptable losses and beg off.

So, the game plan is just to "make the circle", then see if I ever arrive at a position of overwhelming dominance.  Or do I just end up in a kind of stalemate, all the way to the end of the tech tree?  I'm doubting the Spartans will manage a good offensive, as I've not previously seen that out of the AI.  There's nothing wrong with my mindworms, and they can be pretty potent if I decide to get serious and go to war.  Also I have the Xenoempathy Dome.

[Alpha Centauri Bear]

This base keeps resetting the production to stuff I don't want, typically a low grade military unit.

What do you mean keeps resetting? Is it under your control?

Nope.

Does it overrides your build queue items?

Yep.

I meant whether the base is yours so you can set the production yourself. If it is yours but production queue items gets overridden by something else that is definitely a serious issue. If it is not yours then why do you care what it produces?

[Alpha Centauri Bear]

I think probe teams should be allowed to have amphibious pods.  I'm playing a game of extreme landlocked isolation, where there are almost no land bases near my cities.  But there are a few coastal cities, still far away, but reachable by hovertank.

That is weird. It is not disallowed for probe teams neither in vanilla nor in my version.

Amphibious Pods,        1, DocInit,  Amphibious,000000001001, Attacks from ship

[Alpha Centauri Bear]

I notice that something called a Police Garrison is proudly displayed as a capability of The Will To Power tech, but Non-Lethal Methods is available via Intellectual Integrity much earlier.

Uh-oh. Definitely a mishap. I should correct it.

[bvanevery]

I meant whether the base is yours so you can set the production yourself. If it is yours but production queue items gets overridden by something else that is definitely a serious issue.

Yes it is.  I believe production gets reset when my ally is attacked in my base.  I think the game treats it like my ally's base.

If it is not yours then why do you care what it produces?

You need to remember that I'm the best Q.A. person you're ever going to get, and would not be calling a bug to your attention, if it weren't happening.  I'm not "casual" about making these reports.

[bvanevery]

That is weird. It is not disallowed for probe teams neither in vanilla nor in my version.

Amphibious Pods,        1, DocInit,  Amphibious,000000001001, Attacks from ship

Note how flags in my own mod differ.

Code: [Select]

Amphibious Pods,1,AdapDoc,Amphibious,000000111001, Attacks from shipI have the additional codes:

• Allowed for Terraformer units
• Allowed for Noncombat units (non-terraformer)

I think a probe team is a Noncombat unit.

[bvanevery]

Details modestly sized empire

modestly sized empire

This is the point in the game where I transitioned from a strictly Planned society, to a Democratic Green Wealth society. 

Details stopped settling

stopped settling

22 years later, this is the point at which I totally lost interest in playing.  Somehow I should have kept settling my vacant gaps "judiciously", but I just didn't.  I keep getting distracted by building more facilities.  Nothing happened on the war front either.  I took a few cities by walk-in to make various factions stop squawking at me.  No real battle.  So it all gets really duuuuuuuuuuull.

In a sense I play the game as though it's long division, done by hand.  Another facility here or there, or another colony, is like another digit in the long division.  The problem is, my decision basis for whether I should make a colony or make people happy, is off.  So I end up with this empire with holes in it.  Which makes me itch.  And since nothing's going on, I just quit SimCity style.  The empire is "not a good city".

There must be quite a lack of pressure, if I'm treating this as a sandbox builder game.

I don't really try to steal any techs.  Making probe teams is expensive and I'm going to buy everything from allies soon enough anyways.  If others are getting farther ahead of me in tech, they're not expressing it with any meaningful practical application.  Like, they're not producing Secret Projects faster than I am, or sending military units my way that I can't handle.  Mostly they just waste their time colonizing pointlessly and endlessly, giving me all the time in the world to do whatever.

I think part of my problem, is there's clearly a profit incentive to sweep the pods off the map.  Once those are gone though, it's like, why bother to do anything in particular?  I've merely assigned myself an aesthetic of "perfect circle" development.  War is pointless.  Unless you happen to be right next to someone who has produced valuable SPs.  Usually, that SP producing faction is far away.

[Alpha Centauri Bear]

I meant whether the base is yours so you can set the production yourself. If it is yours but production queue items gets overridden by something else that is definitely a serious issue.

Yes it is.  I believe production gets reset when my ally is attacked in my base.  I think the game treats it like my ally's base.

Aha. That makes sense. I need to check this code to see if this indeed may happen in vanilla of if it is something I have introduced. If you have a save right before that happened that will help but it is not mandatory. I'll probably can simulate one.

I assume it changes production to some defensive unit?

If it is not yours then why do you care what it produces?

You need to remember that I'm the best Q.A. person you're ever going to get, and would not be calling a bug to your attention, if it weren't happening.  I'm not "casual" about making these reports.

Sorry, I didn't mean to diminish your observation. I do appreciate all the things you notice.

What I meant is that AI changes their production all the time in their bases and why this particular would caught your attention? I guess we can end discussion here because this is not the option that happened.