SMAC(X) Wiki faction and graphics news thread

[Dio]

I have decided to help ete by making a faction editing guide. Stay tuned for more news.

[ete]

Excellent, looking forward to having a guide which explains all the obscure interactions and clarifies things like what exactly penalty can be used on (loads of factions use it for Planet, not a SE choice), the way the pop modifier works, techshare/sharetech, talent bonuses, etc.

[Dio]

Ete, attached to this post is a draft of the guide.

[ete]

That was quick , and already very detailed!

There's a few minor tweaks I'd like to make:
It'd be good to have the format of social bonuses of more than +/-1 clarified, just so people are doing ++GROWTH not +2GROWTH or similar which I've seen in a few bugged files.
Since it'll be on wiki, rather than giving the details of each social parameter, we can just link to the pages, so rather than having the contents of http://alphacentauri2.info/wiki/Planet in the guide we just need a link to it.
You refer to Social Category, I've mostly used Society Effects (we both have pretty much the same for social models).
I'm not sure about calling them major and minor bonuses, because some of the minor bonuses can be extremely significant and some readers may misunderstand the section and think they are unimportant. Perhaps Limited and Unlimited bonuses (or effects rather than bonuses maybe)?
Rather than "Note: The parameter is ignored." perhaps "Any parameter gives the effect.", to avoid confusion with some readers maybe thinking the entire bonus is ignored.
Generally, a different format to Note: would be a little nicer to read imo.
Some grammar nazi fixes which I can do on wiki.

Also some questions:
Have you tested the negative values for all the things you've said work with negative values? There's a lot which I've never seen used as negatives, though that may just be lack of people using them that way.
The terraform bonus applies only to raising/lowering land is new to me, you have tested it?

[Dio]

All of the things that I have noted as working when negative have been tested by me. Also, I think society effects are the bonuses and penalties you get from social models.

[Sigma]

All of the things that I have noted as working when negative have been tested by me. Also, I think society effects are the bonuses and penalties you get from social models.

So the -Psi attack actually works? I was asking about that earlier in my faction thread, since having a negative % isn't an option in the Facedit.

[Dio]

All of the things that I have noted as working when negative have been tested by me. Also, I think society effects are the bonuses and penalties you get from social models.

So the -Psi attack actually works? I was asking about that earlier in my faction thread, since having a negative % isn't an option in the Facedit.

It is not just psi attack but also psi defense. Yes it does work. However, this rule appears as gaian psi. The name can be changed by going into labels.txt and searching for gaian psi.

[Dio]

ete, I have made some changes to the file.

1. I removed most of the notes and simply left the relevant information.

2. I changed the labels at the top of each section.

3. I removed the section that shows all of the social effects except for Research. The reason for this is that I think my version is much more clear about its effect.

4. Changed parameter is ignored to any parameter gives the effect.

[Geo]

Now I see how I could add more then 8 benefits to factions which were all implemented ingame! Some of those were minor benefits! Good to know!

[ete]

Looks good!

I'll format and upload it to the wiki, you can make future changes directly to it on site? I'll also integrate your description of research (and some others) into the relevant pages, crediting you in the edit reasons.

[ete]

Uploaded it . Questions!
"Also, do not try to give satellites or secret projects through this ability."
What happens if you do?

"This rule reduces the cost of your faction's probe team actions by a specific percentage. For example, PROBECOST, 75, would mean that your probe team actions would cost 75% of normal. The standard cost is 100%."
Does it work for over 100% too?

Offense and Defense work for negative values, right?

"As far as I know, setting this to a negative number does not give a penalty to energy gained from treaties and pacts."
This would be good to test sometime, mostly putting it here for my own reference.

"For example, TALENT, 4, means each size 1 base starts with a talent and gets an additional talent for every four population it has (e.g. the base at sizes 5, 10, 15, 20 and so on, would get another talent)."
The difference between each of those numbers is 5, not 4? Maybe you mean 5, 9, 13, 17?

"Also, do not attempt to put a negative number in the parameter. This causes a bug to occur."
What bug?

"Mindworms act control an additional drone when used as police."
Does this apply to other native life forms?

I also added a load of effects to Aquatic and Alien which it would be good for you to check.

You can check all changes I've made while uploading here: http://alphacentauri2.info/wiki/index.php?title=Faction.txt_editing_guide&action=historysubmit&diff=5832&oldid=5829 and edit the page here http://alphacentauri2.info/wiki/index.php?title=Faction.txt_editing_guide&action=edit

[Dio]

Okay I just tested Probe Cost. It does work when above 100%. For example, it costed 150 energy credits for a faction without the increased cost to subvert a scout patrol. It had cost the faction with the cost increase 187 energy credits to subvert the same scout patrol.

[Dio]

So I just tried wormpolice. It appears as though their is no difference between a faction with that ability and one without it. Could it be a bug?

[Dio]

If you try to give satellites or secret projects through the free facility bonus, the game freezes right after you select your faction.

[Dio]

When you put a negative number in the parameter for either the talent or drone faction abilities, it causes the citizen display at each base to become glitchy and blacked out.