SMAC Feature Updates - Alpha Centauri Forums

  Alpha Centauri Forums
  Messages from Firaxis and Beta Testers
  SMAC Feature Updates

profile | register | prefs | faq | search

Author Topic:   SMAC Feature Updates

The Thomas A Stobie posted 01-26-99 12:30 PM ET
This was posted elsewhere, but I felt it deserved special attention:
Here's Brian's full posting from usenet.
------------------------------------
Hi Everyone,
Just wanted to announce that Alpha Centauri -will- support hotseat
play and play-by-email. This will be available in our first free
download enhancement, which we hope to have ready for download as soon
as the product is in stores.
A lot of people asked us about hotseat and PBEM, so we figured it was worth taking a look at the possibility, and ... surprise! ... it only took me about 8 hours of coding to put them in. :-)
Here are some of the features:
* 2-7 players supported for hotseat/email games
* FULL diplomatic support, including full negotiations w/ other human
players. The multiplayer negotiation screen (a la net games) is used;
you put your offers on the chart; the other player, once his/her turn
rolls around, sees your offers, puts his/her offers up (and can click
"agree" or "decline" if desired). On your next turn you see the full
deal and can agree/decline. If you both agree, deal is resolved;
otherwise deal can be modified (negotiations continue) or cancelled.
Deal can be for tech, energy, attack-my-enemy, truce, treaty, pact.
Gifts are also allowed.
* Yes, the PLANETARY COUNCIL is also supported in hotseat/PBEM; works
on the same general model as human-to-human diplomacy.
* "Chat" messages are saved from turn to turn in diplomacy window, so
you can type private messages for another player to read.
* You can "drop" from a hotseat/e-mail game if your position is
hopeless-- the AI takes over your position and the game stops
prompting for your turns.
* Your faction can be "password protected".
* Saved games are tamper-resistant.
* Saved games are "save/reload" cheat resistant. (Someone up here suggested an excellent algorithm for this; now that I've implemented it I won't discuss in further detail).
We've also added quite a few miscellaneous features, as requested by player here. I'll list a few of them here to tantalize... :-)
* Made "custom map size" much easier to do; maximum map size limited only by your computer's sanity (& AI's ability to comprehend it all). A 256x256 map ran fine for me (65000+ squares, compared to 3200 in a standard map and ~9000 in a "huge" map). 1000x1000 (1,000,000 squares) took the AI so long to find paths it was pretty hard to play.
* You can see the destination of a unit (i.e. the whole path) whenever you highlight it.
* You can release mindworms "into the wild" (i.e. they turn 'red' again). Great way to wreak havoc in opponent's area w/o incurring overt diplomatic penalties).
* Probe teams don't have colored flags (harder to tell whose they are).
* As you already know, both hi-res and lo-res unit graphics will be available.
* We're working on a "color-blind-friendly" alternate palette, which we hope to have ready by then.
I don't actually have my list with me, so that'll have to do for now.
I'm going to be out of town for a week so my posts may diminish or cease until 1st week of February.
Brian Reynolds
Alpha Centauri Designer
FIRAXIS Games
The Thomas A Stobie posted 01-26-99 12:35 PM ET
A couple of comments on big maps. I tried a number of very large maps. You want to turn autosave off, or you have significant delays whenever it saves. The save file get very large. The standard huge map requires 1/2 Meg per file. It goes up from there, if you double each dimension, you are up to 2 Meg files and so on.
The AI times go up geometrically becuase of the additional area to be included. In the early game, this makes little difference, later on a big difference.
Contact with other factions is significantly reduced. Contacting the other factions becomes important, so either build the right secret project, or send out long rang fast scouts to find the other factions.
Brian Reynolds FIRAXIS posted 01-30-99 03:15 PM ET
With super-large maps, the memory and processing requirements can increase geometrically. This effect becomes particularly noticeable once you get beyond 256x256 maps or so.
Alpha Centauri requires upwards of 50 bytes per map square (for terrain, path finding, what-players-have-seen masks, and so forth). So a 1000x1000 map (1,000,000 squares!) would require over 50 megabytes of memory to store! Not to mention the geometric increase in processing time required for AI and other algorithms.
So we've done our best to allow maps to become as large as possible, but there are still technological limits.
Brian Reynolds
Alpha Centauri Designer
FIRAXIS Games
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: SMAC Feature Updates
The Thomas A Stobie	posted 01-26-99 12:30 PM ET This was posted elsewhere, but I felt it deserved special attention: Here's Brian's full posting from usenet. ------------------------------------ Hi Everyone, Just wanted to announce that Alpha Centauri -will- support hotseat play and play-by-email. This will be available in our first free download enhancement, which we hope to have ready for download as soon as the product is in stores. A lot of people asked us about hotseat and PBEM, so we figured it was worth taking a look at the possibility, and ... surprise! ... it only took me about 8 hours of coding to put them in. :-) Here are some of the features: * 2-7 players supported for hotseat/email games * FULL diplomatic support, including full negotiations w/ other human players. The multiplayer negotiation screen (a la net games) is used; you put your offers on the chart; the other player, once his/her turn rolls around, sees your offers, puts his/her offers up (and can click "agree" or "decline" if desired). On your next turn you see the full deal and can agree/decline. If you both agree, deal is resolved; otherwise deal can be modified (negotiations continue) or cancelled. Deal can be for tech, energy, attack-my-enemy, truce, treaty, pact. Gifts are also allowed. * Yes, the PLANETARY COUNCIL is also supported in hotseat/PBEM; works on the same general model as human-to-human diplomacy. * "Chat" messages are saved from turn to turn in diplomacy window, so you can type private messages for another player to read. * You can "drop" from a hotseat/e-mail game if your position is hopeless-- the AI takes over your position and the game stops prompting for your turns. * Your faction can be "password protected". * Saved games are tamper-resistant. * Saved games are "save/reload" cheat resistant. (Someone up here suggested an excellent algorithm for this; now that I've implemented it I won't discuss in further detail). We've also added quite a few miscellaneous features, as requested by player here. I'll list a few of them here to tantalize... :-) * Made "custom map size" much easier to do; maximum map size limited only by your computer's sanity (& AI's ability to comprehend it all). A 256x256 map ran fine for me (65000+ squares, compared to 3200 in a standard map and ~9000 in a "huge" map). 1000x1000 (1,000,000 squares) took the AI so long to find paths it was pretty hard to play. * You can see the destination of a unit (i.e. the whole path) whenever you highlight it. * You can release mindworms "into the wild" (i.e. they turn 'red' again). Great way to wreak havoc in opponent's area w/o incurring overt diplomatic penalties). * Probe teams don't have colored flags (harder to tell whose they are). * As you already know, both hi-res and lo-res unit graphics will be available. * We're working on a "color-blind-friendly" alternate palette, which we hope to have ready by then. I don't actually have my list with me, so that'll have to do for now. I'm going to be out of town for a week so my posts may diminish or cease until 1st week of February. Brian Reynolds Alpha Centauri Designer FIRAXIS Games
The Thomas A Stobie	posted 01-26-99 12:35 PM ET A couple of comments on big maps. I tried a number of very large maps. You want to turn autosave off, or you have significant delays whenever it saves. The save file get very large. The standard huge map requires 1/2 Meg per file. It goes up from there, if you double each dimension, you are up to 2 Meg files and so on. The AI times go up geometrically becuase of the additional area to be included. In the early game, this makes little difference, later on a big difference. Contact with other factions is significantly reduced. Contacting the other factions becomes important, so either build the right secret project, or send out long rang fast scouts to find the other factions.
Brian Reynolds FIRAXIS	posted 01-30-99 03:15 PM ET With super-large maps, the memory and processing requirements can increase geometrically. This effect becomes particularly noticeable once you get beyond 256x256 maps or so. Alpha Centauri requires upwards of 50 bytes per map square (for terrain, path finding, what-players-have-seen masks, and so forth). So a 1000x1000 map (1,000,000 squares!) would require over 50 megabytes of memory to store! Not to mention the geometric increase in processing time required for AI and other algorithms. So we've done our best to allow maps to become as large as possible, but there are still technological limits. Brian Reynolds Alpha Centauri Designer FIRAXIS Games