posted 06-12-99 02:15 AM ET        

No, I'm not claiming I wrote a new version. This is just the alternative alpha/faction edit I use when I want to play a 'builder' game instead of a 'conqueror' one. Given the imbalances between the two styles in the original game, I thought I could do a bit of rebalancing by myself. Seems to have worked, so far.

Anyone who wants a copy of the actual game files can email me. This is simply a condensed list of all the changes.

Updated 12.6.99

Goal:
* Restore some balance between 'builder' factions and 'conqueror' factions.
* Eliminate effective early game 'rushes', i.e any major attacks that occur within the first 40 turns of play.
* Lessen the effects of ICS (Infinite city sprawl)
* Rebalance factions in light of current tactical knowledge.
* Tune up midgame interest (a little bit, anyway).

Alpha.txt changes

* Starting energy reserves for each faction increased to 50
(allows factions with early social engineering - Morgan, Hive, Believers - to use this ability)
* Intrinsic base defense increased to 50% from 25% (VERY significant!)
* Hab Complex lifted to 8, Hab dome lifted to 15 (significant increase, esp for Morgan)
* Bonus vs. ship in port reduced to 50%
* Tech for improved Sea Mines changed to DocInit
(same tech as for Cruisers, makes sea bases properly viable when discovered)
* Tech for 3+ minerals changed to IndAuto
* Min turns between council reduced to 8
* Retool strictness loosened - now first 20 minerals are exempt (A.I Boost, adds to early game).
* Minerals from harvesting forest increased to 10
* Centauri Ecology no longer increases nutrients production in fungus (replaced by genesplicing)
* Tech for 3+ nutrients from terrain changed from Gene splicing to Biogenetics (occurs earlier)
* Terraforming: Condensor and Farm now require Centauri Ecology, Condensor cost now 10
(allows 'builder' factions to reap the rewards of early terraforming)
* Terraforming: Mines now require Industrial base to build
* Terraforming: Aquifier cost now 12
* Terraforming: Solar Array now requires Applied Physics to build
(further penalises the 'non builder' factions, gives logical prereqs)
* Terraforming: Borehole changed to 0,4,4 and 16 turns, requires Industrial Automation
(occurs later, balanced vs. rocky terrain + mineral patch or high altitude echelon mirror)
* Base square now 3,0,2 (city square produces NO minerals - partial ICS counter)
* Recycling tanks now gives 1,0,1
* Forest now gives 1,2,0
* Units: Prereq for hovertanks changed to Monopole Magnets, carrying capacity increased to foil level (available earlier in game, allows mass movement of ground units)
* Needle jets now cost 12, and are renamed as Fighters
* Copters now move 4 and cost 14 (balancing multiple attack ability)
* Missiles now move 12
* Terraforming package/Former unit now has no prereq technology (see above changes)
* Colony pod cost reduced to former equivilent
* Clean reactor now requires Superconductor
(occurs earlier, balances new mineral rules, but at cost of special abilities)
[* Particle Impactor and Gatling laser strength each reduced by 1 point
(attack strength now 3 and 4 respectively !BUG! )]
* Super former ability made more expensive
* Polymorphic encryption cost reduced to zero
* Plasma Shard prereq changed to frictionless surfaces
(later in game, no longer so close to Fusion lasers)
* Facilities: Perimeter defense, Biology lab each reduced to 40 minerals, Childrens Creche and
Rec Commons reduced to 30 minerals each, Recycling tanks reduced to 20 minerals.
* Projects: Universal Translator requires Polymorphic software to build, cost now 300 minerals
(occurs much earlier, artifacts ability now relevant on standard maps)
* Fundamentalist politics prereq changed to Social Psych
* Librarian level renamed Engineer

** 'Free' terraforming options are aquifier, forest, road, level terrain, clear fungus

Labels.txt
* 'Gaian Psi' changed to 'Faction Psi' for new University and Spartan mind power adjustment.
(This is less than 2/5th of the way down the list)

Help.txt
* Recycling tanks description made consistant with new rules.
* Borehole info changed to 4m, 4e, as above.

ALL FACTIONS:
* Gain an extra former from the beginning (added Unit, 1) to each file
* Now start with 50 energy (from alpha.txt changes)

BELIEVE.txt

Vision:
The Believers, much maligned for their ugly leader and poor research, never the less are a faction favoured by skilled players for their rush tactics and supremely effective probe teams.

Little has been altered, save to bring them a little more back into the public domain (free morale and probe for fundamentalist), and to scale back slightly their ability to create huge legions within the first 50 turns.

Changes:
* Added 'Impunity, Fundamentalist' (no research penalty from this government choice)
* Benefit from change of fundamentalist prereq to Social psych (alpha.txt change)
* Changed 'social, ++support 'social, +support'

Datalinks Info:
^+25% bonus when attacking, from strength of belief
^+1 PROBE: {Devout followers difficult to brainwash}
^+1 SUPPORT: {Citizens eager to defend faith}
^-2 RESEARCH: {Suspicious of secular science}
^-1 PLANET: {Believe Planet is their promised land}
^Suffers no negative effects from Fundamentalist politics
^Accumulates NO research points until MY 2110
^{May not use Knowledge value in Social Engineering}

GAIANS.txt
* Added 'Unit, 7' (free alien artifact at beginning)

No datalinks changes

HIVE.txt

Vision:
The faction most in need of rebalancing, the Hive was easily the most powerful of the original factions, especially after the first patch.

The Hive has been changed to favour a more population based approach to planet domination, with the hugely advantagous +1 INDUSTRY removed entirely. The original 'Enhanced Communist China' vision has been restored - a huge, hardworking, but somewhat unhappy population in a brutal but philosophical ditatorship.

Changes:
* Added 'Drone, 4' (reflecting Yang's unwilling workforce) - taken from Uni
* Removed +1 Industry (massively unbalancing factor)
* Increased Growth to +2 (allows population boom w. Planned and creche)
* Added 'Pop, -2' (hab restrictions lifted to 10 per base) - taken from Peace.

Datalinks info:
^+2 GROWTH: {Rapid population increase}
^-2 ECONOMY: {Little political freedom}
^Disciplined followers: {Efficiency cannot fall below zero}
^Underground bunkers: {Free PERIMETER DEFENSE at each base}
^Close habitation: {may exceed hab restrictions by 2}
^Hardship: {Extra DRONE for every 4 citizens}
^{May not use Democratic politics.}

MORGAN.txt

Vision: Definitely the weakest of the original factions, morgan has been upgraded to a more reasonable level of unbridled capitalist power. Now able to maintain a normal army, and with no real dependance on outside trade for energy production, Morgan's only worry is a crippling lack of growth.

* Changed starting tech to Industrial economics (allows Free market immediately)
* Added 'Facility, 7' (free energy bank at each base)
* Increased starting energy to 200 (balance against change in alpha.txt to initial energy)
* Changed 'Social, -Support' to 'Social, -Growth'

Datalinks info:
^TECH: {Industrial Economics}

^+1 ECONOMY: {Industrial conglomerate}
^-1 GROWTH: {Hedonistic lifestyle}
^+1 COMMERCE: {Increases value of treaties & pacts}
^Free ENERGY BANK at each base
^Begins with 200 extra energy credits.
^Lavish Housing: {Need HAB COMPLEX for bases to exceed size 5}
^{May not use Planned Economics.}

PEACE.txt

Vision: While not actually weak in the original, the PeaceKeepers weren't much more successful than the modern day U.N when it came to actual conflict. They gain 2 new abilities, a sharetech upgrade (reflecting their global influence and the original vision for the 'Keepers of Wisdom'), and a semi-immunity to negative support, making democracy a less painful option than previously.

* Added 'Sharetech, 3' (gains any tech owned by three other factions)
* Added 'Robust, Support' (support penalties reduced)
* Removed 'Pop, -2' (no extra population) - given to Hive

Datalinks info
^-1 EFFICIENCY: {U.N. style bureaucracy}
^Intellectual Elite: {Extra TALENT for every four citizens}
^Military readiness: {Support penalties halved}
^Unity Archivists: {Gains any TECHNOLOGY known by three other factions}
^Receives DOUBLE votes in elections for Planetary Governor and Supreme Leader.
^{May not use Police State Politics.}

SPARTANS.txt

Vision: Somewhat altered, the spartans lose their crippling industry penalty in exchange for slightly lowered morale and a new Psi combat penalty. A powerful military machine, especially when faced with human rivals, but prone to panic when confronted with the alien terrors of Planet.

* Changed 'Social, ++Morale', to 'Social, +Morale' (slightly weaker on defense)
* Added 'Psi, -25' (Psi combat penalty)
* Removed 'Social, -Industry' (no industry penalty)

Datalinks info:
^+1 MORALE: {Well-armed survivalist movement}
^+1 POLICE: {Highly disciplined followers}
^Prototype units do not cost extra minerals.
^Fear of Planet: {-25% penalty to Psi combat}
^{May not use Wealth value in Social Engineering.}

UNIV.txt

Vision: Not quite as dark and hostile as the original university, this version offers a more academic vision of the UoP - good research, poor security, a reluctance to support military endeavors, and a new resistance to psychic attack. This new benefit adds a new dimension to the UoP, and allows a green university to better combat its religious and military rivals.

Changes:
* Added 'Social, -Support' to list of abilities (disadvantage to having large army)
* Removed Drone, 4 (incompatible with new support penalty, bad anyway)
* Added 'Psi, 20' (+20 bonus to Psi combat)

Datalinks info:
^+20% bonus to Psi Combat, from intellectual discipline
^+2 RESEARCH: {Brilliant scientists}
^-1 SUPPORT: {Researchers skeptical of military worth}
^-2 PROBE: {Academic networks vulnerable to infiltration}
^Military readiness: {Support penalties halved}
^Free NETWORK NODE at every base
^One BONUS TECH at beginning of game
^{May not use Fundamentalist Politics.}

END OF LIST.

If good for nothing else, I hope this will reopen some debate on the merits of each faction, and the general design of the game - heavily suited to conqueror rush type tactics.

posted 07-07-99 02:13 PM ET         

I presume there's nothing in the v 4.0 txt that makes redundant any of your changes (will need to re-enter them after overriding, of course)

posted 07-07-99 09:01 PM ET            

1. The University is *way* too powerful. They already were very powerful, and the psi bonus is one of the best in the game. That and the removal of DRONE, 4 doesn't even come close to balancing them out -- especially since polymorphic encryption is *free*. Once you get polymorphic software, the -2 probe has vanished.

2. The Morganites were balanced eariler -- Economy is the most powerful social factor in the game. The AI sucked when using them, but when played correctly they get energy and technology out of their ears. That's also why free market isn't too weak -- +2 economy does wonders. Anyhow, now they are decidedly overpowered instead of mediocre. Suggestion: Remove the free energy bank.

3. The peacekeepers are also *way* too powerful. Efficiency is admittedly a rather large loss, especially on the large maps, but sharetech, 3 is a *huge* bonus. Combined with the talent, 4 (another biggie), the votes, and the support bonus, they are unstoppable.

4. The Hive weren't *that* over-powered, but they were strong though, and toning them down a little was a good move. And I like your version better .

5. The Gaians and the Spartans were balanced earlier IMHO but they're still balanced now.

Also IMHO (this can be debated a *lot*) the game wasn't biased towards the conquerers. At worst, it was slightly more biased in MP (in SP it's not a challenge to keep the conquerers at bay, given the A-not-I). The +50% base was good becuase it's more realistic anyway, but beyond that I wouldn't do that much else to strengthen the builders.

The ships in port penalty should stay at 100%. Ships in port are almost completely useless, as they usually don't have even a skeleton crew on them. Remember Pearl Harbor.

While removing the extra mineral in a base square is a good idea, the problem is that it's possible to found a base that doesn't have any minerals at all! This especially happens in sea bases.

If you want to reduce the boreholes to 0,4,4 then you probably want to keep them at 8 turns. 0,4,4 isn't much better than normal squares, so boreholes shouldn't take 4 times (or more) as long as normal squares.

Making polymorphic encryption free was a *very* bad move in my opinion. Probe teams are already on the weak side, and this makes your new University faction invincible.

posted 07-08-99 05:00 AM ET            

Hmmm. I don't find the UoP to be that much use in the SP game. And remember, they have a -1 Support added - now that, and the Drone problems, WAS IMPOSSIBLE to play on Transcend level. -1 Support is very bad at the start of the game, and the Psi helps to balance this.

Secondly, their tech advantage is moderately to completely negated by use of probe teams. If you're used to getting the hunker seeker first, then I can see why you may have forgotten this. But there is a simple rule for all competing factions to follow in SMAC - BUILD THE HS BEFORE ZAK DOES. This should be #2 of the ten commandments to PBEM, right after 'Trust no-one, sucker.'

So no, I don't agree that the UoP is way too powerful, because the tech advantage is easy to negate against the UoP. Which makes them usually quite weak, and weaker still with the support penalty, so the Psi helps to balance things.

About the Morganites, I'm not so sure. Their massive economy is checked by their low population, and they receive no military benefits, so money is the only recourse they have. Morgan CANNOT population boom - ever.

And freemarket social engineering gets a new penalty under the mod, since Planet now carries a +/- 20% to Psi combat. So a freemarket, which causes worm production to increase anyhow, also makes your bases more succeptible to worms - you need the extra troop movement allowed under -3 police to fight them.

The peacekeepers get interesting under the mod file. Sharetech isn't such a great bonus, since the tech cost in Civ and SMAC is determined solely on how many techs you have. So trying to focus on early research of any particular field gets to be very difficult - in effect, everyone else decides for you. And as a result, the PK's virtually never lead the tech tree, which mean they are virtually always the third or fourth to get needle jets. Couple that with the effic penalty... well, it's just as well you have a happy population and can live in the governor's seat permanently.

I personally NEVER lost with the Hive on Transcend. Not once. It was ridiculously powerful.

And I'm not sure how you define builders vs. conquerors, but from my experience, a good conqueror rush was by far the best tactic to use in SMAC. 4-1-1 infantry, and lots of them, upgrading to 8-1-1 if necessary. And don't build much else.

Bases with no minerals: exactly! This is the intention. It never happens though - you build a former with your 20 free minerals and build some forest, for a 2 2 3 income at size 1. As for sea bases, these must be near the shore until you discover Doc:Initiative, which gives you improved sea mines EARLIER than the original. Then your sea bases really take off.

And 8 turns for a borehole at 0 4 4? The same as a normal mine that produces 2 2 0? No, I don't think so. Anyway, they're up to 0 5 5 and 20 turns for version 1.2, so there should be no problem.

As for polymorphic encryption, it has to compete with the other special abilities available to units, which usually justified it's exclusion (personally, I don't think I ever used it). Since a stack of two units makes probe team capture impossible anyway, having drop X chaos hovertanks or artillery with radar or ships with radar and AAA or anything cheap with clean reactor, polymorphic encryption was usually a very low priority.

posted 07-08-99 07:53 AM ET            

As it stands, I have made quite a few changes since the first version AND the 1.1 version as well. SOOO, since SMAC 4.0 is out, I Suggest you hold fire on any translation of alpha.txt until I A) manage to download, install and redo the mod pack for version 4.0 and B) get around to finishing a test game after doing A. This, at current rate, should take around two years . Or at least a week, since exams have finished and thus sleep is now option (though HOMM3 is not).

The rest of the file 'Blurb.txt', TechLongs, Techshorts, etc, shouldn't be affected by the new changes. After all, it's not as if Firaxis updated them last time or anything .

posted 07-08-99 11:25 AM ET            

I'll be downloading the v4.0 *patch* (not enhancement) now and am looking forward to some degree of improvement in the game (this being the event that brought me back. I'm also going to save your top post in this thread in a little text file, for future reference in modifying the rules.txt file.

Would you believe that in the entire time I've been away, I've been SMAC free? My initial impulse was simply to set the game aside for a week or two to catch up on other projects neglected in my first rush of SMACing. I discovered, however, that I did not miss the game at all. Perhaps v4.0 and the Shining1 mod-SNAC will rekindle that flame.

posted 07-08-99 12:16 PM ET            

It's good to have you back... It's been what, two months ? Three ?

I'm still there, and most of the others too, plus a few new faces.

A lot of people are now moving to Alpha Centauri On-Line (http://www.an.i-dentity.com/ac.cgi), because people are pissed off because JKM banned Trippin Daily. Darkstar is already busy finding the new bugs in Patch 4...

I think you shouldn't set your expectations too high... You're bound to be disappointed.

posted 07-08-99 01:06 PM ET            

Shining1, how does the Manifold Nexus affect your balance? It gives a +1 Planet rating to whatever faction that holds it. It SERIOUSLY affects certain stages of my play by being present, and if my current game is any guide, it a big draw for the Green Ho, Ms. Skye. (Although it may have been the Op Eng's natural attraction for all resources. Just because she turned a flat spot into the tallest mountain on Chiron to form a land bridge to get to it, rather than a simple pulling on the coastline to close the one tile channel doesn't mean much, does it?)

And where have you posted SNAC in its incarnations (other than this thread)? Is the whole thing zipped anywhere for easy distribution to the wanton masses?

posted 07-08-99 03:07 PM ET            

As for the current banning controversey, if you remember my own style, you might not be surprised if I don't express a lot of sympathy for people who cannot express disagreements with civility. I, myself, created a thread with some of the harshest indictments of this product ever posted on this forum (titled, IIRC, "Reasonable Criticism for Brother Greg and Firaxis"). I did that post in the midst of the flame wars stirred up by Yin26's fire-breathing entrance into this forum. BUT because my own crtique, while harsh, was entirely civil, everything that followed in that thread was civil as well. That thread was monitored by at least one Firaxian (who posted in it), but despite the fact that it was highly critical of their product, was never deleted and no one was ever banned because of it. Indeed, when the facts of criticsm were stripped from invective, even people like Imran had to begrudgingly admit it was a good thread and that the criticisms were valid. The only shame is that not more of the criticism in that thread have been adressed in subsequent patches.

Now, I think that Firaxis could do a better job operating their forum from the point of view of the concept that something like this forum should be treated as a marketing resource, but if they don't, that hurts them more than it hurts me. My bottom line is that people who cannot rise above obnoxious, boorish, vulgar behavior have no cause for complaint about what (rather mild in this case) consequences might come their way. Further, if one laces otherwise sound thoughts with profanity and sarcastic taunts, one should not complain that the recipient failed to search in the mud for the nuggets of ore.

What most of the people who wish to condemn Firaxis are failing to recognize is that personal responsibility is the flip side of the personal freedom coin. The two cannot be separated, ever, anywhere. The internet is not a magical anarchist playground where nothing one does ever has consequences. I will not weep for anyone whose fate is no more than suffering the ignomy of being reminded that breaking rules can have consequences.

posted 07-09-99 01:39 AM ET            

Welcome back, though. Once I download the next patch, it shouldn't take more than 15 minutes to fix up alpha for the above changes.

Darkstar:
Well, the manifold nexus gives +1 Planet, right. So, it might have a significant effect on the Psi combat ratings of some units, since the bonus for these is doubled (A green Deirdre with the nexus would get an 80% bonus to psi combat and virtual impunity from mineral damage).

However, like the borehole cluster, the nexus is just a nice thing to have, rather than an innate rule of the game. So I doubt it will seriously unbalance the mod file to any degree. Heh heh. Maybe you can even alter it's effect in alpha?

posted 07-12-99 08:38 AM ET            

"Ugh, Ugh Ugh!

For the first time, I've been hit with the "this patch made my game worse, not better" syndrome. In all the versions of the game, I've never had any basic problems with the program, such as the audio tatic/feedback, crashing, etc. reported by others. In just a few sessions since installing the patch, I've had the game lock up at start, experienced several audio glitches (voiceovers infected with loud buzzing sounds) and had a crash on exit. I'm also experiencing the much longer load times reported by others.

Looks like I'm going to have to uninstall and revert to version 3.0. Very Dissapointing. *sigh*"