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RichardY
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Sutton Coldfield, England
May 2001
time: 05:14
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I have only recently started playing with the "Random Events (Bell Curve)" option swithed on.
I have so far experienced Planet Blight, Climate Variance and a couple of others which I can't remember (one of which gave me extra energy).
The questions I have are:
1. Is there a list anywhere of all the events (favourable and adverse) either in the game files or in the forum?.
2. Which facilities (if any) are required to combat them?
3. Do the events occur often enough in a game to justify building these facilities? As far as I can remember I don't think the same event has occured twice in the same game.
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Marid Audran
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Salt Lake City, Utah
May 2001
time: 22:14
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Beyond John Paul Jones's list, here is an excerpt from the AC Prima Strategy Guide, originally posted by Googlie from a dead thread in the topic boneyard, reprinted for posterity. It goes a little into the logisitics behind the "randomness" of the events, and basically supports notions that the leaders of the pack in the Power Charts have the dice loaded against them. Probability Mechanics, you know. 
Prima's Guide says:
Random Events
No random events occur before Turn (75 - (diff x 10)). i.e. 75 minus the diff level of the game times 10 where Citizen is 0 diff and Transcend is 5. Thus at Citizen level, random events kick in no earlier than Turn 75 while at Transcend they can show up as early as Turn 25.
Each turn, the game randomly picks a base. If there are fewer than 100 bases in total on Planet, it picks a number from 0 - 99, and if no base corresponds to that number (e.g. if it picked Base 80, where there are only 20 bases in total) then there is no random event.
If the selected base is les than size 4, or if it is the only base of its faction, or if it is already under the effects of a random event (e.g. famine), then no event takes place.
After all the conditions are fulfilled, one of the following events is randomly picked ( ... but not quite sure where AC's observation re reloads fits in here ... Googlie ) At the basic level, all events are equally likely except as itemized below, but in practice if you "roll" a really good event when you are already ahead, or a bad event when behind, it will tend to ignore the event and do nothing. If an event is picked that would have no impact (e.g. "Asteroid strikes Nessus Prime" when no-one has a mining base) there is no event that turn.
Event list
(sample)
Asteroid strikes base: never before turn 75, and only if faction is in first place
Biology lab: if no Lab at base, then blight destroys all farms and forests. If lab, then 10 year nutrient bonus
Energy Crash/boom: if less than 1000 credits, 75% reduction. If at least 500 credits, and in fourth place or lower, reserves are doubled
Hail Storms: never before Turn 75
Volcano: No effect before Turn 75. Never happens unless faction is in first or second place.
Asteroid strikes Nessus Prime: if chosen as event, 20% chance of it happening
Solar Storm/Flare: if chosen, 20% chance of it happening:
Hope it helps.
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RichardY
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Sutton Coldfield, England
May 2001
time: 05:14
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Thanks for the replies. I checked the equivalent file in SMAX and there appears to be 1 extra event - HAILSTORMS wipe out all Solar Collectors at base.
Having looked at all the (very bad) negative events I was wondering why anybody plays with the Random Events switched on. Then I read Skanderberg's thread about Asteroids wiping out his best cities and I'm even more convinced they are weighted too much against the player.
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Basil
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Vancouver, B.C., Canada
Apr 2000
time: 21:14
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I always play with it on (even, when I have a choice, in multiplayer). It's not weighted against the player, it's weighted against whomever's in the lead. In SP that's usually me, granted, but then again, if I'm first in SP then extra challenge is good. I alter my play style knowing that random events are on, since most of the bad events are neutralized by facilities and most of the good events require facilities. Unless you're playing a rather unusual game, random events are the main reason for building biology labs, for example.
Incidentally, the event which destroys your energy satellites also destroys your orbital defence pods... it's never made a difference to me, but could theoretically be the more important effect of the two!  .
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DilithiumDad
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Random events are great in both single and multiplayer. They help to level the playing field, helping out the downtrodden factions. They also favor builders heavily, because for many of them there are negative effects if you lack a facility and positive effects if you have one. For example, if you have a network node you can get a free breakthrough but if you didn't build one you can lose all accumulated research points or have all your mines destroyed. Best is the Planet Blight. If you don't have a Biology Lab it desotrys all farms and forests which leads to massive starvation. If you do have one, you get +1 nutrients per square for 10 turns. My son builds a Bio Lab in every base for this reason alone (they also give you 2 free research points and serve as a command center for native life).
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10-06-2001 03:02
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