posted 03-16-99 12:03 PM ET     

I'm not talking about bug fixes or things you wish were different; I'm talking about the
stuff we can change *now* using the .txt files. For example, someone just mentioned
making the planes and 'copters more expensive to alleviate the "air rush" phenomenon
halfway through the game. I agree with him: I've yet to play a game in which
hovertanks even made an appearance, much less gravships.

I put in a tweak that gives a -25% penalty to units attacking uphill, which has made
base-storming significantly more interesting, particularly when playing on no-erosion
mode.

What are some other ideas?

-M.

posted 03-16-99 04:17 PM ET            

Disabled ALL the wonders save the Voice and the Ascent (without fail, the vast majority of them fall into my hands anyway).

Set sensor defense to 50% and base defense to 200%! Granted, this helps me out as well, but given the AI's single-minded attack plans, I think it makes it more challenging to the player. I used to be able to take out six, seven, eight, or more cities in a single blow, causing the AI to short circuit. No more. You REALLY have to fight to take over a city now... (I also increased the early armors (synthmetal-?) by 1, and the last three or so by 2.)

Halved all terraforming times (dropping fractions). Given the inefficient terraforming AI, I felt this would help the CP's develop their industrial might.

Increased population limits for hab complexes and hab domes to 10 & 20 (the CP rarely gets around to building these soon enough if at all...).

Changed all of the faction behavior settings to -1, 0, 0, 1, 0 (pacifist, low power, low discover, high build, low explore -- not sure about the order). I did this because I noticed that out of all the CP's only Morgan seemed to develop his cities' infrastructure. Most seemed to build a coupla-three buildings then immediately begin to crank out military units. Might be challenging in the beginning if you get off to a slow start, but it absolutely kills the CPs in the mid-late game. Heck, late game MIRIAM was leading in tech going into the end game and quite a few very impressive cities with nanohospitals, quantum labs, the works (she was even leading in commerce! -- well ahead of me (Morgan) and Yang was in second!!)

Removed the faction's "pet peeves" or agendas. I find it too easy to manipulate the CPs when you cater to their agendas. They also get into too many unproductive wars.

It was a fun game. It ended with me rush-building the last few turns of the Ascent (I let Santiago build the Voice) with all of the CPs within 2-9 turns away (I could tell they were rush-building in increments also, as I would notice leaps in build progress).

I was playing the game on Librarian level, to test it out -- level playing field and all that. I was pleasantly surprised, however, to see the CPs in the running towards the finish line. No wonders also made things a bit "fairer" for the CPs. No hiding behind the Hunter-Seeker, no Cloning Vats, Telepathic-Matrix, none of that.

Anyway, that was my little experiment.

posted 03-16-99 05:28 PM ET            

I have to admit that Gebhard's tweaks "pique" my own interest as well. Seems like an effective combination of rebalancing to make rush tactics too costly, while profoundly changing AI base development behavior. If game balance can be improved to this extent by tweaking alpha.txt, I'm intensely interested in the specifics.

posted 03-16-99 05:53 PM ET            

And yes, the early conquest is usually the easiest win, but IMO the least satisfying. I find that I know if I have a game won or lost (at the higher difficulty levels) within ~120 years just by looking at the state of my civ. If I am getting crushed or have been hemmed in badly, I've pretty much lost; but if I still have a strong developed core of 8-10 cities (and/or reduced most of the competition to servile pacts) then I'm pretty much assured a victory. Touch and go (and fun!) at first, but smooth (and boring) sailing if you can get past that initial hump.

I'm trying to see if I can make the CPs more competitive over the long haul. Tonight, when I get home, I'm going to give it a try on Transcend level and see if the CP can win a game in the last 120 years as opposed to just the first.

And Pique: Sure, I'll upload it tonight and give the URL here.

posted 03-19-99 07:34 AM ET            

I can see some sense in making the AIPs low Explore, to encourage them to Build the few citie sthat they have, but doesn't that also limit their territory?

Is there any way to prod the AI into expanding fast early, then consolidating?

posted 03-20-99 08:03 AM ET            

I'd like to see what you're up to. Thanks. (You'll have to explain your changes, though, because I'm just gettin' in to the customization business).

posted 03-20-99 10:18 AM ET            

The first game was played on a very nice map of the Earth that someone (named Sparky?) made that I picked up somewhere on line. Lots of wide open spaces to expand on that map, so that might have played a part, but the CPs did the land grab thing pretty well. I think the CPs will expand no matter what -- however, I think warlike CPs would rather expand by conquest while builder CPs will more readily colonize islands and the sea.

I had also spent most of that first Librarian game sitting back, automating everything, and watching the CPs play. It was fun because I got a kick out of seeing the CPs (esp. Miriam and Yang) actually get along with everyone (relatively), and building thriving Civs as opposed to their usual war machines.

Reason why I felt the experiment was a failure was that I think it made the game less challenging, not more. Maybe if I had made them all erratic, and not peaceful, it would have been better. Dunno. The way I had it though made all of the faction leaders so sickeningly nice. As they were interested in "build" (and pacifist to boot) they were all very agreeable to pacts and treaties (didn't want to lose that commerce income I guess...) so all I had to do (even in the Transcend game -- a level which I usually find pretty rough in the first few hundred turns at least) was coast until the Voice was complete and rush build the Transcendence.

I'm thinking I shouldn't have made them all pacifist. If I try it again I think I'll just change their interests to build and their personality to erratic. Also, while the bolstered defenses made it tougher for me to take cities, it _really_ made it almost impossible for the CP to take them from me (though I did lose one to a probe after I got lazy and wasn't quick enough with the reinforcements). Finally, I think I should have disabled the Transcendence victory (just too easy to complete with rush-building & caravans, if you've made it that far). But then, no one would have had a chance at winning by conquest (not in the time limit), economic (you would not believe how much energy that required), or diplomatic (populations were off the chart).

All in all, I think the game is excellent as is. Only problem I have is that the first half of the game is always so much more exciting than the second half. Oh well. I think it will be long while 'til I'm bored with this game, no biggie.