31-07-2005 08:35									#31
	Opposites Attract? Support Apolyton, buy Civilization: The Boardgame

quote: Originally posted by Chaos Theory I found the distribution to be really odd. Since the game insists on integers for energy allocation, with 5 energy and a 90/0/10 split, 5/0/0 and 4/0/1 would be equally near the desired split, and either would be acceptable. To throw a leftover point into labs is absolutely silly, and reveals sloppy programming, but that wouldn't be unprecedented in Alpha Centauri. Fortunately, the game is so good that it partially transcends its implementation.

I have run into similar situations in the past where I am left scratching my head. One thing that seems to be a theme is that the opposite happens from what I anticipated. Your example of the Believers receiving an extra Lab point is a prime example of what I have experienced (question here: is this a human controlled or AI controlled Believer Faction?), as the last place the Believers would allocate an extra EC would be to Labs, right? On a related note why in the game I'm working on right now the Gaians repeatedly voted not to intervene to stop the effects of Global Warming - I couldn't even bribe them on this!?!

This sort of thing leads me to believe that there is an algorhythm at work that is compensating for a Faction's natural tendencies, and we are seeing the end results manifested in some of the finer nuances of the game.


D

	31-07-2005 09:41									#32
	Get a bigger avatar today!

The faction is controlled by me, in fact in an active PBEM.

	31-07-2005 16:31									#33
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Didn't Tassadar have a screenie where he was being attacked by some Borg looking unit? I believe it was controlled by Planet too, it looked like a whole bunch of blocks and stuff.

The only thing I've ever encountered is the Hive running Police State/Planned/Power and I've gotten +1 Planet.

	31-07-2005 16:48									#34
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quote: Originally posted by Frankychan Didn't Tassadar have a screenie where he was being attacked by some Borg looking unit? I believe it was controlled by Planet too, it looked like a whole bunch of blocks and stuff.

Attached is a screenie of the various pics you can insert for units in the game. In the upper left hand corner you will see the unit Tassadar was talking about. I believe Firaxis was intending for it to be a Cloudbase (there is some hardcoding in place for it as well), but it didn't make the final cut.

quote: Originally posted by Frankychan The only thing I've ever encountered is the Hive running Police State/Planned/Power and I've gotten +1 Planet.

You lead a very boring life, FC.....


D

	31-07-2005 17:20									#35
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Frankychan: sounds like you controlled the Manifold Nexus.

	01-08-2005 06:46									#36
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Indeed

	01-08-2005 11:23									#37
	Support Apolyton, buy Galactic Civilizations: Deluxe Edition

There, on the upper left hand corner! That's the thing I remember him talking about.

quote: Originally posted by Darsnan You lead a very boring life, FC.....

Hey hey hey...sometimes I spice it up and use Wealth sometimes. Crazy, no?

As for the +1 Planet, it occured when I was on the landmass with the Freshwater Lake. I didn't even have any territory near the Manifold Nexus...weird. *shrug*

	01-08-2005 14:05									#38
	Increase Your PM Length

You hippie ! i bet you had no ecodamage aswell !!

	01-08-2005 15:44									#39
	Increase Your PM Length

quote: Originally posted by Frankychan There, on the upper left hand corner! That's the thing I remember him talking about.

Yeah, I use the pic in some of my Single Player Challenges that I set up. Below is an example:

	01-08-2005 15:55									#40
	Support Apolyton, buy Galactic Civilizations: Deluxe Edition

Darsnan, your screenie is very unqualitative.

Advice is to have both the picture editor and SMACX running simultaneously, then open SMACX, click Print Screen, Alt_Tab to pic editor, paste the screenie.

That way you should get normal colors in your pics.

	01-08-2005 17:16									#41
	Inflate your Upload Space

That not always works. It has something to do with windows color palette replacement or smth like that.

What I found working is to add in Alphacentauri.ini under:
[Alpha Centuri]
DirectDraw=0

As in readme.txt:

quote: Settings this to 0 disables DirectDraw. This disables the automatic window resolution resizing during program launch.

And it also allows for play in any resolution higher than 1024x768. I have currently 1400x1050. Can't imagine going any lower

	01-08-2005 19:44									#42
	Lose 30 kilos (of popups)

I have it zero and it works, just don't close the SMAC or DirectDraw will reset colors and the pasted picture colors will be messed.

	02-08-2005 02:13									#43
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quote: Originally posted by binTravkin Darsnan, your screenie is very unqualitative.

Humph! If your going to be that way, then I won't post pics - I'll just tell you what I saw. Essentially I'm running Green and had a sealurk next to an airbase, which had an NL sitting on it. Just for fun I attacked the NL unit, expecting to get the reply that "its not allowed". To my surprise I captured the NL unit! Anyone have that happen to them before?


D

	07-08-2005 04:13									#44
	Increase Your PM Length

quote: Originally posted by Lazerus You hippie ! i bet you had no ecodamage aswell !!

Hey, give me some credit. I had a bunch of ecodamage, but I still can't quite get a handle on those massive mindworm boils that come out.


But here's a screenie that I thought would be (sarcastically) funny. Lal just contacted me, praising my accomplishments and asked for my help in attacking Miriam. With a little bribe, the deal was sealed and now I'm embroiled in a little war with Miriam...this will give me a foothold on the only continent I don't have a base.

And for me to spread the word of Yang.

	07-08-2005 04:21									#45
	Avatar Enlargement: We've got the solution

Sorry for the fuzziness, when I resized the image, it lost some clarity.

Apolyton doesn't like it when you post things bigger than 800x(whatever).

	07-08-2005 17:46									#46
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You lead an even borying live then I first thought, Frankychan. Planetmap?

	08-08-2005 05:19									#47
	An oldie but a goodie.... Tired of ads?

OK, here's something I encountered back in 2003. Anyone else ever encounter a unit with a weapon class of 3?

Attachment: class 3 weapon.jpg
This has been downloaded 121 time(s).

	08-08-2005 05:37									#48
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One could always be modded in, which given the very odd unit, seems quite possible.

	08-08-2005 05:58									#49
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quote: Originally posted by Chaos Theory One could always be modded in, which given the very odd unit, seems quite possible.

True, but not what happened here. Essentially in this case I took a Spore Launcher, gave it a rover chassis, and then gave it a Chaos Gun. However there is some hardcoding in place that essentially says that you cannot give NL's a higher weapons class than (IIRC) class 4 weapons.
FYI in case you try to do the same in the future CT.


D

	08-08-2005 07:23									#50
	Support Apolyton, buy Alpha Centauri

quote: Originally posted by Datajack Franit how?

A transcendi specialist gives +2 econ and +4 labs (and +2 psych)...so, even if you had 0% economy allocation and 0% labs, that base would still get +2 econ and +4 labs...SE energy allocation only affects raw energy that is produced from workers, commerce, etc...often times, in the late game, you can have 0% labs and still be getting a tech every 3 or 4 turns simply because of your specialists...

	08-08-2005 18:38									#51
	Tired of ads?

[daydream mode ON]
It would be great if the game automatically transformed the excedent 1 psych in lab point when you have a resulting odd number of psych.
[daydream mode OFF]

	11-08-2005 01:11									#52
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What, HR give up budget to the Research department??

Never!!

	12-08-2005 02:56									#53
	Another moment where you just go, "What the!?!" Suffering from ads?

*** Flubber: no reading till your done playtesting! ***


So I've recently been experimenting with new types of NL's. Today while playtesting with them I had the opportunity to nerve gas one of these new NL units. To my surprise I received 10 years of sanctions
for this!?!
I'm still trying to rationalize the reason the game is hardcoded this way. Anyone have any ideas on this?


D

	12-08-2005 17:55									#54
	Put an end to popups!

I guess gassing a dormant sentient lifeform (or parts of it anyway) counts quite hard on Lal-influenced planetary policies.

(btw, what did you change then that the nerve gas ability could be used in psych combat? )

	13-08-2005 13:54									#55
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Darsnan

Irfan view is a great tool for screenies

	13-08-2005 23:15									#56
	Increase Your PM Length

I have a couple of really packed in city grids that are so yellow that you shouldn't look directly at them.

	15-08-2005 02:13									#57
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Don't, please...

	15-08-2005 04:04									#58
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quote: Originally posted by Whoha I have a couple of really packed in city grids that are so yellow that you shouldn't look directly at them.

Sounds like the buttcrack of a plumber.