Alpha Centauri 2

Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri & Alien Crossfire => The Theory of Everything => Topic started by: gwillybj on October 07, 2014, 12:53:20 AM

Title: Help Needed with New Options
Post by: gwillybj on October 07, 2014, 12:53:20 AM

Some of the new options might need clarification for those of us not always grasping the meaning in the definitions.

My question is about the upgrading cost options:

Quote

10,      ; Upgrade cost per row of new unit (plus per square of rows if not prototyped) {-32768 to 32767}
0,       ; Upgrade discount per row of old unit {-32768 to 32767}
0,       ; Upgrade cost per 1/16 square of new unit rows {-32768 to 32767}
0,       ; Upgrade discount per 1/16 square of old unit rows {-32768 to 32767}
10,      ; Upgrade cost per weapon difference {-32768 to 32767}
10,      ; Upgrade cost per armor difference {-32768 to 32767}

My understanding is that these are the stock values.
Leaving them as they are, I sometimes get an astronomical amount to upgrade to an unprototyped design. I'll never forget nearly falling out of my chair laughing when the game told me I needed nearly 500,000 EC to upgrade a unit. Not all of the units I had of the type, just one of them!
An example of what I'm wondering about:
The "1/16 square" lines. If I use the "cost per 1/16 square of new unit rows" line, should I change the first line to zero? or a number between 1-10?

Title: Re: Help Needed with New Options
Post by: Buster's Uncle on October 07, 2014, 01:07:12 AM

Is this YitziPatch stuff or what?

Title: Re: Help Needed with New Options
Post by: gwillybj on October 07, 2014, 01:13:04 AM

Quote from: BUncle on October 07, 2014, 01:07:12 AM

Is this YitziPatch stuff or what?

Yes. I wasn't entirely sure if it should go here or in the bug/patch discussion section, since it's not a bug needing patching, just a Q about the new options.

Title: Re: Help Needed with New Options
Post by: Yitzi on October 07, 2014, 04:00:29 AM

Quote from: gwillybj on October 07, 2014, 12:53:20 AM

Some of the new options might need clarification for those of us not always grasping the meaning in the definitions.

My question is about the upgrading cost options:

Quote

10,      ; Upgrade cost per row of new unit (plus per square of rows if not prototyped) {-32768 to 32767}
0,       ; Upgrade discount per row of old unit {-32768 to 32767}
0,       ; Upgrade cost per 1/16 square of new unit rows {-32768 to 32767}
0,       ; Upgrade discount per 1/16 square of old unit rows {-32768 to 32767}
10,      ; Upgrade cost per weapon difference {-32768 to 32767}
10,      ; Upgrade cost per armor difference {-32768 to 32767}

My understanding is that these are the stock values.
Leaving them as they are, I sometimes get an astronomical amount to upgrade to an unprototyped design. I'll never forget nearly falling out of my chair laughing when the game told me I needed nearly 500,000 EC to upgrade a unit. Not all of the units I had of the type, just one of them!

That sounds like it might be a bug (though I can't think what could possibly result in something in that area); if you can provide the next savegame where it happens, I would appreciate it.  Leaving them as they are should give the same costs as if you didn't use my patch...

Quote

An example of what I'm wondering about:
The "1/16 square" lines. If I use the "cost per 1/16 square of new unit rows" line, should I change the first line to zero? or a number between 1-10?

Depends what sort of upgrade cost formula you want.  The formula for the cost of an unprototyped unit* is:
line1XnewCost-
line2XoldCost+
line3X(newCost^2)/16-
line4X(oldCost^2)/16+
line5X(newWeapon-oldWeapon)+
line6X(newArmor-oldArmor).  So when upgrading to cheap units the first line will tend to be more important, whereas when upgrading to more expensive units the third line will be a bigger contributor.  (All costs are in rows of minerals.)

*For a prototyped unit, you add line1X(newCost^2), and use the unprototyped cost, which is why it gets so expensive.

Title: Re: Help Needed with New Options
Post by: gwillybj on October 08, 2014, 12:36:24 AM

I'm fairly certain those wild numbers show up when I'm trying to upgrade over 2 or 3 levels of weapon and/or armor without prototyping, so I'm not surprised by them any more.
Thanks for the light shed on the options. When I get back into the game I'll play with them.

Title: Re: Help Needed with New Options
Post by: Yitzi on October 08, 2014, 03:25:10 AM

Quote from: gwillybj on October 08, 2014, 12:36:24 AM

I'm fairly certain those wild numbers show up when I'm trying to upgrade over 2 or 3 levels of weapon and/or armor without prototyping, so I'm not surprised by them any more.

Even that shouldn't get that high, I think...over a thousand, maybe, but not half a million...