SMAX - The Will to Power - mod

[Alpha Centauri Bear]

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.

There is a special flag disallowing ability for probe teams. And, as you can see, it is not set in vanilla and WTP.

; Flags  =
;          000000000001 = Allowed for Land units
;          000000000010 = Allowed for Sea units
;          000000000100 = Allowed for Air units
;          000000001000 = Allowed for Combat units
;          000000010000 = Allowed for Terraformer units
;          000000100000 = Allowed for Noncombat units (non-terraformer)
;          000001000000 = Not allowed for probe teams
;          000010000000 = Not allowed for psi units
;          000100000000 = Transport units only
;          001000000000 = Not allowed for fast-moving units
;          010000000000 = Cost increased for land units
;          100000000000 = Only allowed on probe teams


I also remember being able to build amphibious probes as well. Let me retest it when I come back from vacation.

[bvanevery]

If you have a save right before that happened that will help but it is not mandatory. I'll probably can simulate one.

Details production reset by loss of ally

production reset by loss of ally

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

If you go back to the original post via the quote link, it had a saved game attached.  It may not be at a precise point of phenomenon demonstration, but the battle in the southeast corner of the map where it kept occurring, was ongoing.

I assume it changes production to some defensive unit?

Per the screenshot, it was making a Trance Scout Patrol.

[bvanevery]

Details the imperfect circle

the imperfect circle

This is my attempt at doing a better job of early "perfect circle" settlement.  I was semi-thwarted in my agenda by a large fungal patch east of my capitol.  I expanded in other directions according to best resource benefits at the time.  I allied with the Gaians and we formed a border.  They were rather nosy about intruding into "my" forests, and seemed to be determined to form a "candy coated shell" around my empire.  The Cult briefly made war but we were too far away to have much happen.  I started out Fundamentalist but went Democratic Green once the Gaians made Centauri Empathy available to me.  It was politic for the region, didn't make me grow any less than Fundamentalist, and solved my weakness to Planet problem.

I just finally met Lal.  Nobody else had previously met him, despite us all knowing his general whereabouts for quite some time.  Despite my Democratic government he's cagey, so we only have a Truce.  Just as well, as my entire horde of various kinds of untrained Scouts are intending to pop pods in his vicinity.  If he had made war, I figured they might have done some righteous pillaging and starvation tactics.

Only fairly recently have I obtained Fungicidal Tanks.  My bigger cities that have "completed stuff", are cranking out Fungicidal Rover Formers.  I want all this junk out of my way, so I can perfect my circle.  Maybe I'll eventually go Free Market.  Fundamentalist too, that would be cute, I could make war with all my neighbors at once!

The University has been at war with me since the beginning, owing to Gaian instigation.  I sailed into at least 1 sea base a long time ago, destroying it.  Otherwise there's not really any interaction.  The Data Angels allied with me, digging my jazzy Democratic.  The Morganites haven't freaked out about my Green yet, but I don't talk to them.

I haven't really committed to a location for my capitol.  New Jerusalem is slightly off-center, owing to the fungal impediment at game start.  I didn't begin the Merchant Exchange anywhere.  Instead I threw all my Artifacts at the Human Genome Project, which is going to complete in a few turns.  It's far more valuable, and actually needed now, as my size 7 cities are starting to have drones in them.

For the "long division of colonization", I'm at the point where my HGP SP is a bit in conflict with "colonize the drones".  I often run into this problem where I've made people too happy, so I start building only facilities.  I'm going to try to remember not to do that this time, until I complete the perfect circle.

[bvanevery]

Details the ellipse

the ellipse

76 years later I finally plunk down the last city of my perfect "circle".  My capitol is still off-center as I never got hostile with my neighbors.  Democratic Green Cybernetic seemed to work well enough so I kept going with it.  I don't think I've done any eco-damage in umpteen zillion years.  Only recently did I start building Robotic Assembly Plants.  I totally skipped Genejack Factories.  Don't need the unhappiness.  I'm still on only a 50-10-40 budget.

Details the lion's share

the lion's share

Details yet more

yet more

I can build.  The AI mostly can't.  It really needs to quit it with the colonizing.  Basically, nothing has happened.  Zhakarov has never done a darned thing to me, and I keep sending a Cruiser Probe Team to steal his techs.  My allies give me techs.  Morgan eventually declared war on me, but who cares.

[bvanevery]

Details drop compliance

drop compliance

This is the point at which I began orbital insertion warfare.  I think I got Applied Gravitonics a couple of turns ago, but I forgot that that's when orbital insertion becomes available.  Previously I'd made 5 of the cheapest possible drop units, with the goal of getting "orbital walk-ins" once I was capable.  It took 3 such drop-ins in 1 turn, to bring Morgan to heel.  Then I dropped the last 2 to pop pods, capturing a mindworm in the process.

I've finished building all the facilities I consider worth building.  I'm now spending surplus money on completing SPs.  I am utterly dominating that.  Cities that are not working on the last few SPs, I'm cranking out AAA Neutronium Garrisons to make a modern defense.  Nobody's ever attacked me in any way, but I'd like to keep it that way.

I was about to steal from Zhakarov when he agreed to a Treaty as well.  I got him to stop his longstanding war with Deirdre.  The Cult is the only troublemaker left.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do with myself, once the SPs get finished.  Previously I was disbanding Needlejets given to me by Deirdre, as I didn't want anyone becoming unhappy.  But subsequently, I completed the Ascetic Virtues so my POLICE is only -2.  I've got 2 donated Copters shooting at the Cult.  There's no value in overrunning them, but I might do it for sake of form.

I believe this turn, we started to get the 1st global warming.  Not my fault.  My eco-damage has been 0 since forever.  The game mostly blamed the Data Angels.  Hmm, maybe I should conquer the Free Market factions.

This is feeling a bit sandboxy.  I'm not sure if anyone's in danger of finishing the tech tree.  I'll finally be able to infiltrate Lal in a minute here, as I completed the Nethack Terminus and automatically get algorithmic enhancement.  I only have 1 probe team, which should be fine for infiltration.  Even if someone finishes the tree, I seriously doubt anyone has the capacity to finish the Voice of Planet or the Ascent to Transcendence.  I pretty much own SPs.  I haven't taken a peek at anyone's mineral output, but I suspect I'm the only one doing it seriously.

[bvanevery]

Details redundant notification

redundant notification

This keeps flashing between turns, typically 9 times in a row.  I don't need that much notification.

[Alpha Centauri Bear]

This is a vanilla notification. It flashes as many times as they set a treaty. The fact that they check and set same treaty type multiple times is beyond my control.
I just enabled it for non pact factions.

[bvanevery]

Details edit it correctly

edit it correctly

I was slightly disappointed to complete the Cloning Vats and find they've been toned down, but I'm not at all surprised.  The documentation of this is a mess.  Please eliminate the spurious lines of text that are not pertinent to WTP.

Your entire description should now pretty much be "Gives +2 GROWTH".

[Alpha Centauri Bear]

Yeah. I was tried to keep original description just so people can compare them but you are right. There is no need.

[bvanevery]

Details cheap armageddon

cheap armageddon

Why is a Singularity Planet Buster so darned cheap?  Alternately, why are Fungal and Tectonic Missiles so darned expensive?  SPBs cost about what a tough garrison unit would, so I don't even know why I'm playing the game anymore.  Switching all production to SPBs.  I'll wipe out everyone in 1 turn and declare victory.

Edit: in MY 2321, sunspots are upon us.  Plan B is to wipe out the Peacekeepers before anyone knows what has happened!

[bvanevery]

Details how can it be profitable

how can it be profitable

Uuuuh the Morganites have drawn first blood in nuclear armageddon.  I would not have anticipated that.  I don't think this is aimed at me, because we're not at war.  Probably frying the Data Angels.  But man.
 

I wonder if this is a direct consequence of SPBs being so cheap.

Details Angel Lake

Angel Lake

I've almost got beachfront property now.  That was a close call.  I hope the back and forth doesn't catch me in the envelope of one of the nukes.  Those Singularities put out a pretty big bang.  Unfortunately I still haven't discovered Orbital Defense Pod technology, although it has to be Real Soon Now, because I've brought all these Artifacts home via Drop Transports.  In the interim I'm making Flechette Defense Systems, hoping it helps a little.

[Alpha Centauri Bear]

Details cheap armageddon

cheap armageddon

Why is a Singularity Planet Buster so darned cheap?  Alternately, why are Fungal and Tectonic Missiles so darned expensive?  SPBs cost about what a tough garrison unit would, so I don't even know why I'm playing the game anymore.  Switching all production to SPBs.  I'll wipe out everyone in 1 turn and declare victory.

Could be chassis cost. What do you think it should cost? What do you think all missile units should cost? I'll adjust them.

[bvanevery]

In my own mod, I don't have as precise a control over costs.  So I had to do things with the cost halvings of the fission fusion quantum singularity progression.  Although there is some stiffness to my SP costs, it's not remotely as onerous as in your mod.  You can spend money to complete SPs without feeling like you're wasting it, as I have the original game's 4:1 ratio for SP minerals, unlike your 6:1 ratio.  Also, although supply crawlers come rather late, you do get them eventually.  So I have a lot more alternatives for winning in the late game than you do.  You're kinda like, heading down a chute where nukes are the very tempting finish to everything.

In MY 2325 the year after I posted, I got my Artifacts home and completed the tech tree.  I can start making Orbital Defense Pods, but I find myself really wanting Psi Gates, since it's so hard to get around the map.  I've almost finished the Space Elevator, having gone back to it in my capitol again, instead of the Network Backbone.  With a completed tech tree, getting the police penalty for Cybernetic removed isn't so compelling, as far as the super expensive projects go.  And meanwhile, the AI has basically no chance to build them.

One starts to wonder, with advanced weapons and armors being very expensive, why one wouldn't always build a nuke?  Like if it's 8 turns for an advanced conventional weapon, even if you raise the nuke to take 8 turns, clearly you should pick nuke.  An expensive conventional unit just has you waiting around forever, probably only kills 1 unit unless it's like a Chopper, and basically makes the game take a looooong time to get done.  Exacerbated further by the degree to which WTP fills the map up with base spam.

Making bigger factories to crank out units faster, seems very dangerous.  I've done ok this game, but only because I stayed +2 PLANET for most of the game.  Previous game, the whole world was turning to crap.  Not so much sinking, as rivers just changing directions and completely ruining all my hand crafted rails systems.  That's part of why I quit.  Well maybe that was 2 games ago, I forget.

So a major question is, just how do you expect a human player to win, other than sit around for Transcend?  I could do that now.  I'm not going to do it now, because generally speaking, I'm morally opposed to Transcend victory in this game.  I don't want to become one with Planet.  I like humanity as it is.  I'd be killing Planet.

I just checked the cost of Cornering The Global Energy Market.  It's in excess of 800k credits.  Granted, I'm not Free Market Wealth Eudaimonic, but I can't imagine why I would be.

If I wipe out Lal without using nukes, during the sunspots, then possibly I could win by Diplomatic Victory.  I might need to figure out some real growth.  Despite having a lot of infrastructure, cranking my growth to +6 was surprisingly ineffective in all sorts of places.  A lot of places would have 1 drone no matter how high I cranked up my PSYCH.  So I'm not entirely sure if big growth, is even possible in WTP.

So I don't really know what nukes "should be" in your mod, because it's not clear how one is supposed to win anyways.  I guess in a few more years I'll have more of an answer.

Like, after all this time, is it trivial or exceedingly difficult to wipe out Lal?  I'd like to think that genetic plague + X String Choppers will reduce him to nothing, but who knows.  I also have a lot of weak Empath units for taking out pesky mindworms, at least in isolation.  I don't have any decent gun Empath units because those are more expensive to build.  TBH I thought I might have to fight my ally Deirdre, after I changed from Green to Planned.  Now I'm back to Fundamentalist Green Power Cybernetic, so she'll be happy if the sunspots lift.

[bvanevery]

Details didn't think he had it in him

didn't think he had it in him

I've just been laughing at the poor silly AI, building all these rails up to the cities I'm actually gonna keep.  The whole thing is sort of like this big death plan.  Well surprise surprise, he got ornery enough to draw first blood!  I wonder what he's got in him?  Is it going to be the usual "AI hardly does anything" show?  He's not gonna like my counterstroke.  I haven't completely built out my X String Choppers, but many of them are already forward positioned in my lead city.  So unless he nukes it...

Lal is a complete weenie.  He only killed a few of my hover formers.  This is gonna be rude.

Details crushing the flat footed

crushing the flat footed

This is a sample of the havoc I'm wreaking upon the Peacekeepers.  I'm really surprised that air units can ride on mag tubes.  It means that a rail network is a really really good air umbrella, like almost a giant carrier deck.  That's pretty powerful compared to the original game.  It has allowed me to bring air units from very far back in my empire, that otherwise would have stayed put on some kind of nominal garrison duty.  Even though nobody's attacking me.

I haven't even started on the main Secret Project objectives yet.  I took a shell of fairly large Peacekeeper sea bases that were off my coast.  I figure I don't need to commit atrocities just yet.  I can use the population if it's close to home.  Getting farther afield though, and smaller bases, they're gonna be toast.

Glad I wrote this up.  Accidentally used my nerve gas on the Hunter-Seeker Algorithm base.  Choppers flying along mag tubes to the end of the line are pretty overpowered.  They get like a gazillion strikes against weak enemies.

Next year, Lal had basically no answer for all the stuff I did to him.  I lost 1 unit to a Conventional Missile, and 1 cheap Interceptor to some kind of expensive counterattacking Interceptor.  That's it.  I got away with everything.

[bvanevery]

Details Lal's big nothing

Lal's big nothing

For some reason the turn counter didn't advance between turns.  I'm still in MY 2327.  I've seen this problem before.  I don't know what causes it.