Additional Random Events - Alpha Centauri Forums

  Alpha Centauri Forums
  The Game
  Additional Random Events

profile | register | prefs | faq | search

Author Topic:   Additional Random Events

Singularity posted 03-28-99 05:19 PM ET
I think there should be additional random events for the 2 highest levels of difficulty. These could be added to the next patch. Things like Total Economic Collapses (all players reduced to 10 credits), Mount Planet exploding (global cooling from dust in atmosphere), Asteroid Impact (extremely rare, but severe you can imagine), and maybe an electromagnetic pulse from detonating planet busters (completely obliterates all knowledge in all factions, everyone right back to square one).
Singularity posted 03-28-99 08:11 PM ET
Anyone with an opinion on this, please respond, I want to know what other people think.
yin26 posted 03-28-99 09:06 PM ET
Sounds great to me.
Along those lines, since we presumably don't know much about Planet's weather patterns, it would be fun if Sun-Spot activity could go hay-wire sometimes and completely dry up the water within 100 turns or so. This could lead to dramatic changes in strategy as land units come to have access to the entire map and nutrients dry up to such a degree that everybody's cities (except maybe for cities in the Jungle) can no longer support a size beyond 3-4.
Or, converesly, a monsoon completely covers the whole map in water within 100 turns or so.
We sort of have these now, but not to such a dramatic degree and not beyond the factions' control.
I would make these an option that can be turned off.
Shining1 posted 03-28-99 09:23 PM ET
Yeah, I like the sunspots one - but maybe the other way around, so that you have to build pressure domes in every city within 20 turns or something. And it would also make the 'launch solar shade' option more popular with the council!
Also, rebalance the Stockmarket collapse one. This is an energy economy we're talking about - you can't just loose 300 megajoules of energy overnight, at least not without hurting someone

mooman posted 03-28-99 10:26 PM ET
I think EXTREMELY rare random events should be included. Something like easter eggs. Make you want to keep on playing.
Pericles posted 03-29-99 09:28 AM ET
I think that this is a good idea, as long as these are VERY rare occurances. And there already are asteroid impacts in the game. I once lost my best base to an asteroid. In 2250, Monitoring Station had 4 secret projects and lots of infrastructure with abundant terraforming. One turn later, it was a new Garland Crater. Everything was gone.
So let's not have the occurances as being too severe. They should make you want to play the game, not scream in frustration at the computer.
edromia posted 03-29-99 03:16 PM ET
How about a trusted administrator defects to/from your faction from/to another? Taking with him a modest sum of energy credits or some valuable research data?
Purple posted 03-29-99 04:17 PM ET
I like Edromia's suggestion of defection. It might be better, though, if it were triggered (or the possibility of it enhanced) by certain conditions, the number of bases having riots, for example.
Michael G posted 03-29-99 06:17 PM ET
I have one idea. In Civilization 1, there would be revolts. Its like drone riots, but if your city is unhappy for along time, it revolts and becomes barbarian or joins another empire. I hated when this happened to me, but loved it when it happened to others. This would be cool in SMAC because in one game, the Spartins had drone riots in almost every city for 50 turns.
CyberSpyder posted 03-29-99 08:25 PM ET
Yeah, that's the thing in C:CTP that sounds really cool, defection of bases. I think it's quite doable. If a base gets too unhappy, let's say, 3 times as many drones as talents, or something, then they defect to to the faction whose territory is nearest to them. Or if they're a captured base, they overwhelm your armies and become whatever that faction was again.
Kedryn posted 03-29-99 10:50 PM ET
Bases in Alpha Centauri can revolt and join another faction if you let your drone riots go on for too long.
yin26 posted 03-30-99 12:18 AM ET
Cities in SMAC will join another faction if left in poor shape long enough? Really?
A person must basically have to FORCE a city to do that, because it's pathetically easy to manipulate one's population in SMAC.
In fact, except as a measure of city size, population was implemented so poorly in this game that they should have left it out completely.
In its place should have been a simple "stability" rating that takes into account the city's overall progress and status. Isn't that how it works in the "real world"?
Thus, for example, a city's stability rating might start to drop if all the cities resources are focussed on building military units or science. Cities should logically want a balanced progress that benefits all its citizens and not just the manipulative tactics of its leader.
I think this kind of system, in addition to being more intuitive and time-saving, would help limit the "This city is a breeder colony" and "That city produces only hover tanks" syndrome that only (for me) undercuts the notion that these are real cities that require some kind of real development in order to thrive.
Thus, though not a random event per se, I would have cities be much more vocal about their needs to the point that not building the hospital or something makes the city much more unstable.
Governments should reflect this--A Democracy is quite stable at the city level but its citizens are quite demanding in terms of the stuff they want you to build. Fundamentalist governments, on the other hand, have far less demanding citizens, but they never reach a completely stable status because it is the nature of Fundamentalism to eventually turn on itself--i.e. other factions can influence your cities very easily with enough gold and propoganda.
A fun random event, then (trying to tie this back into the topic), would be an alliance among a NUMBER of your cities--not just one--such that they all strike or threaten to disband as result of allegations made against you. At which point, you will have to spend a great deal of energy credits to uncover the traitors/spies or pay off the governors.
Otherwise--BAM!--you lose 5 cities to another faction or they form a new faction entirely!
Imagine having to fight 5 of your own cities, protected by your own well-planned defences, guarded by units of your own design. Could make for some fun twists in the game, particularly if you are the Military type who doesn't keep money around for emergencies. This might also end up restoring some balance to the side of the Builders here among us.
Actually, perhaps none of this should be a random event at all, but the natural consequence of unbalanced development.
Kedryn posted 03-30-99 01:17 AM ET
In some ways I am forced, or persuaded rather, to build the hospital, biology lab, energy bank, network node and, umm... something else, I can't remember. Without the research hospital the Prometheus Virus can get you. Without the biology lab, planet blight can kill all your organic land improvements. Riots can happen if you have no Creche, you can lose a load of research if you have no node, and another load of your reserves if a base has no bank. The random events in this game can be particularly nasty. I've heard of the asteroid event which always just makes me want to disable events. In my current game, I have had one nasty event in 150 years... which makes me think the game is saving up for that asteroid.
Off topic... I kinda like that 'stability rating' thing.
Purple posted 03-30-99 02:15 PM ET
Back to random events, specifically asteroids. I haven't experienced any, but I wonder whether they only land on, well, land. If they do strike water, they should create a huge tsunami, wiping out (or severely damaging) the coastal cities on the surrounding landmasses.
Has anyone seen a tsunami?
Singularity posted 09-06-99 06:49 PM ET
Ah, my first thread. Well, any opinions?
To close this thread, click here (moderator or admin only).


Hop to:

Contact Us | Alpha Centauri Home

Powered by: Ultimate Bulletin Board, Version 5.18
© Madrona Park, Inc., 1998.

Author	Topic: Additional Random Events
Singularity	posted 03-28-99 05:19 PM ET I think there should be additional random events for the 2 highest levels of difficulty. These could be added to the next patch. Things like Total Economic Collapses (all players reduced to 10 credits), Mount Planet exploding (global cooling from dust in atmosphere), Asteroid Impact (extremely rare, but severe you can imagine), and maybe an electromagnetic pulse from detonating planet busters (completely obliterates all knowledge in all factions, everyone right back to square one).
Singularity	posted 03-28-99 08:11 PM ET Anyone with an opinion on this, please respond, I want to know what other people think.
yin26	posted 03-28-99 09:06 PM ET Sounds great to me. Along those lines, since we presumably don't know much about Planet's weather patterns, it would be fun if Sun-Spot activity could go hay-wire sometimes and completely dry up the water within 100 turns or so. This could lead to dramatic changes in strategy as land units come to have access to the entire map and nutrients dry up to such a degree that everybody's cities (except maybe for cities in the Jungle) can no longer support a size beyond 3-4. Or, converesly, a monsoon completely covers the whole map in water within 100 turns or so. We sort of have these now, but not to such a dramatic degree and not beyond the factions' control. I would make these an option that can be turned off.
Shining1	posted 03-28-99 09:23 PM ET Yeah, I like the sunspots one - but maybe the other way around, so that you have to build pressure domes in every city within 20 turns or something. And it would also make the 'launch solar shade' option more popular with the council! Also, rebalance the Stockmarket collapse one. This is an energy economy we're talking about - you can't just loose 300 megajoules of energy overnight, at least not without hurting someone
mooman	posted 03-28-99 10:26 PM ET I think EXTREMELY rare random events should be included. Something like easter eggs. Make you want to keep on playing.
Pericles	posted 03-29-99 09:28 AM ET I think that this is a good idea, as long as these are VERY rare occurances. And there already are asteroid impacts in the game. I once lost my best base to an asteroid. In 2250, Monitoring Station had 4 secret projects and lots of infrastructure with abundant terraforming. One turn later, it was a new Garland Crater. Everything was gone. So let's not have the occurances as being too severe. They should make you want to play the game, not scream in frustration at the computer.
edromia	posted 03-29-99 03:16 PM ET How about a trusted administrator defects to/from your faction from/to another? Taking with him a modest sum of energy credits or some valuable research data?
Purple	posted 03-29-99 04:17 PM ET I like Edromia's suggestion of defection. It might be better, though, if it were triggered (or the possibility of it enhanced) by certain conditions, the number of bases having riots, for example.
Michael G	posted 03-29-99 06:17 PM ET I have one idea. In Civilization 1, there would be revolts. Its like drone riots, but if your city is unhappy for along time, it revolts and becomes barbarian or joins another empire. I hated when this happened to me, but loved it when it happened to others. This would be cool in SMAC because in one game, the Spartins had drone riots in almost every city for 50 turns.
CyberSpyder	posted 03-29-99 08:25 PM ET Yeah, that's the thing in C:CTP that sounds really cool, defection of bases. I think it's quite doable. If a base gets too unhappy, let's say, 3 times as many drones as talents, or something, then they defect to to the faction whose territory is nearest to them. Or if they're a captured base, they overwhelm your armies and become whatever that faction was again.
Kedryn	posted 03-29-99 10:50 PM ET Bases in Alpha Centauri can revolt and join another faction if you let your drone riots go on for too long.
yin26	posted 03-30-99 12:18 AM ET Cities in SMAC will join another faction if left in poor shape long enough? Really? A person must basically have to FORCE a city to do that, because it's pathetically easy to manipulate one's population in SMAC. In fact, except as a measure of city size, population was implemented so poorly in this game that they should have left it out completely. In its place should have been a simple "stability" rating that takes into account the city's overall progress and status. Isn't that how it works in the "real world"? Thus, for example, a city's stability rating might start to drop if all the cities resources are focussed on building military units or science. Cities should logically want a balanced progress that benefits all its citizens and not just the manipulative tactics of its leader. I think this kind of system, in addition to being more intuitive and time-saving, would help limit the "This city is a breeder colony" and "That city produces only hover tanks" syndrome that only (for me) undercuts the notion that these are real cities that require some kind of real development in order to thrive. Thus, though not a random event per se, I would have cities be much more vocal about their needs to the point that not building the hospital or something makes the city much more unstable. Governments should reflect this--A Democracy is quite stable at the city level but its citizens are quite demanding in terms of the stuff they want you to build. Fundamentalist governments, on the other hand, have far less demanding citizens, but they never reach a completely stable status because it is the nature of Fundamentalism to eventually turn on itself--i.e. other factions can influence your cities very easily with enough gold and propoganda. A fun random event, then (trying to tie this back into the topic), would be an alliance among a NUMBER of your cities--not just one--such that they all strike or threaten to disband as result of allegations made against you. At which point, you will have to spend a great deal of energy credits to uncover the traitors/spies or pay off the governors. Otherwise--BAM!--you lose 5 cities to another faction or they form a new faction entirely! Imagine having to fight 5 of your own cities, protected by your own well-planned defences, guarded by units of your own design. Could make for some fun twists in the game, particularly if you are the Military type who doesn't keep money around for emergencies. This might also end up restoring some balance to the side of the Builders here among us. Actually, perhaps none of this should be a random event at all, but the natural consequence of unbalanced development.
Kedryn	posted 03-30-99 01:17 AM ET In some ways I am forced, or persuaded rather, to build the hospital, biology lab, energy bank, network node and, umm... something else, I can't remember. Without the research hospital the Prometheus Virus can get you. Without the biology lab, planet blight can kill all your organic land improvements. Riots can happen if you have no Creche, you can lose a load of research if you have no node, and another load of your reserves if a base has no bank. The random events in this game can be particularly nasty. I've heard of the asteroid event which always just makes me want to disable events. In my current game, I have had one nasty event in 150 years... which makes me think the game is saving up for that asteroid. Off topic... I kinda like that 'stability rating' thing.
Purple	posted 03-30-99 02:15 PM ET Back to random events, specifically asteroids. I haven't experienced any, but I wonder whether they only land on, well, land. If they do strike water, they should create a huge tsunami, wiping out (or severely damaging) the coastal cities on the surrounding landmasses. Has anyone seen a tsunami?
Singularity	posted 09-06-99 06:49 PM ET Ah, my first thread. Well, any opinions?