14-06-2004 11:52									#1
	World Size Got spare money?

Can I alter the maximum world size by tweaking the number in the alpha.txt file where it says #WORLDSIZE?
Thanx.

	14-06-2004 16:18									#2
	Lose 30 kilos (of popups)

Yes, you can, but dont set it to more than 128:256 -> game can crush or your CPU may handle that size at snails pace..

	14-06-2004 16:56									#3
	Put an end to popups!

Actually you can go higher, if you have the CPU to handle it. But you need to add to the earlier block of txt where the ratio is set out. here's mine:

quote: extracted from Googlie's alphax.txt etc etc 10, ; Beach (Encourages wider beaches) 10, ; Hills (Encourages hills x TIDAL selection) 25, ; Peaks (Encourages peaks) 1, ; Fungus (Fungus coefficient based on LIFE selection) 3,6,12,18,24,36,72,108 ; Ratio (Continent size ratios) 108, ; Islands (Higher # increases island count) #WORLDSIZE 7 Tiny planet|(early conflict), 24, 48 Small planet, 32, 64 Standard planet, 40, 80 Large planet, 48, 96 Huge planet, 64, 128 Giant planet, 128, 256 Humungous planet|(late conflict), 192, 384

Trouble is, the game will often cram the seven factions together in a single quadrant of the map, so I develop a new tactic - load a trannie with 2 colony pods then send it on a "go to" command halfway round the planet. Found 2 new colonies around 2250 and you have some insurance if the AI get too stroppy.

Another good idea with these maps is to play tech stag, and reset the # turns to maybe 3000 instead of the 2500 ususally there for transcend level

And you prolly want to make it 90% water as well - the Game engine finds it easier to run its algorithms over water than over land (with the latter's much greater number of variables)

They do tend to be great games, though, so worth a try.

(my rig is P4 at 1.8)

G.

	18-06-2004 09:09									#4
	Tired of ads?

Is that 1.8 gigahertz, as in speed of processor? Mine is XP, 2.0 gh, and honestly, turns can take a while even on a huge map when waiting for the AI to move. Just imagine having 14 factions...

YOu could wait for hours just for the AI to move. It'd be just as slow as PBEM games...

	18-06-2004 10:37									#5
	Get a bigger avatar today!

PBEM games tend to be a fair bit slower than that.

	05-07-2004 05:17									#6
	Increase the size of your Attachments

I regularly use tweaked-random 208x256 maps on my li'l ol' 266MHz AMD K6 with only 32MB RAM. Sure, some AI turns take a while, but I've caught up on a lot of reading
Most of my maps are at least 65% land and the landing sites are suitably dispersed. Similar to Googlie's recommendations, my alpha/x.txt is edited in these lines (among many other edits)…

50, ; Technology discovery rate as a percentage of standard
4, 3 ; Numerator/Denominator for frequency of global warming…
(sometimes I set that to 7, 5)
3300 ; Normal ending year for lowest 3 difficulty levels
3100 ; Normal ending year for highest 3 difficulty levels

I always have tech stagnation on, even with the slowed discovery rate. Otherwise, you're 1/3 up the tech tree before ever seeing another faction's units.

	05-07-2004 05:45									#7
	Avatar Enlargement: We've got the solution

gwillyjb:
266? 32?
Please tell me you have a better computer than that.

	12-07-2004 01:04									#8
	Support Apolyton, buy Civilization III: Complete

I know what you mean, but that's the be$t I can do for now until the Computer Fairy leaves me a new one. My neck is getting sore with this thing under my pillow
Although it imposes some limits on what other games I might consider, I've had no problem with it running SMAC/X at a satisfactory pace.
It's not as if I have anywhere to go. Can't drive. Can't work. I'll keep it short with the phrases "failing health" and "zero income". Nobody really wants to hear me blat and cry here. I'm hoping things will straighten out in the next few months, then I'll look into stepping up to something with a little more gut$.
In the meantime, I keep trying new ideas in SMAC/X, tweaking and testing this and that, but most of all just having fun with the game!

	12-07-2004 01:47									#9
	Help yourself to an AD-FREE life

But what about tiny maps? Really, really tiny maps. Like 1 x 1? Or how about a 16 X 256 map? I did that once, and it was, well, interesting...

	14-07-2004 08:01									#10
	Browse Apolyton AD-FREE

I don't like that maps larger than 64 x 128 get truncated in the support view of the base screen.

	14-07-2004 08:11									#11
	Support Apolyton, buy Civilization III: Complete

16x16 is as small as it gets

	15-07-2004 01:46									#12
	Inflate your Upload Space

Reminds me, I like the idea of polar caps, but you should be able to wander "north", and come out in the respective side some(0.5*mapWidth) squares later.

	15-07-2004 02:19									#13
	Increase the size of your Attachments

quote: Originally posted by Commy But what about tiny maps? Really, really tiny maps. Like 1 x 1? Or how about a 16 X 256 map? I did that once, and it was, well, interesting...

16 x 256 sounds weirdly interesting. The map is so narrow that its what, one big straight line. hmm could be interesting if you put an AI at each end and then human controlled and then 3 AIs in the middle

	15-07-2004 03:03									#14
	Inflate your Upload Space

Better: all on one side - racetrack of human development.

A whole new meaning to "race"!