Alpha Centauri 2

Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri & Alien Crossfire => Modding => Topic started by: GlassDeviant on March 24, 2019, 02:31:42 AM

Title: Unity pod drop table
Post by: GlassDeviant on March 24, 2019, 02:31:42 AM

Is there a text file for this, or is it hard coded into the game? i.e.: something I *can* edit vs. something I don't want to even think of touching.

Title: Re: Unity pod drop table
Post by: Vidsek on March 24, 2019, 03:25:20 AM

   The answer is yes and no.  :P

  Yes, in that you *can* select whether or not some of the pod contents will occur in the Preferences sections of the Menu.  *But* you have to activate the Scenario Editor to get to the set of Preferences that has them.  Not a problem if you don't mind the game labeling you a CHEATER!!!!!  And why should you if you're playing a solo game?  :D
  The items you can chose to have or not have drop are: Artifacts, Monoliths, Vehicles, Tech, and Bonus Resources.

  Any drops that are not in that preference list are wired in the code and not available to change until some code artist makes them so.  It was one of the requests to Yitzi for inclusion in his next version (or the one after) of his patch/mod but sadly, he was snagged away by RL before he could put out any more work on his mod.

  Some of the ones you can't currently change are also ones I wish most I *could* change.  Like that 'you're suddenly surrounded by eight worms and death is certain' one....

  Others, like the space warp/tsunami, the map reveal, the 'earthquake' land upthrust, etc. are liked by some folks and not by others (as is true of the few you *can* change).  Having the option to include or remove them to suit your playstyle, or to fit the parameters of a given game or scenario would be a very nice addition.
 Why they weren't included with the ones they did make selectable is baffling to me.

Title: Re: Unity pod drop table
Post by: GlassDeviant on March 24, 2019, 03:52:11 AM

Exactly my perspective, the whole thing should be in a table that you can alter in whatever way you desire. The biggest one for me is exactly what you mentioned: being suddenly surrounded by 8 "barbarian units" (going by the original civ)/alien life forms. On the far edge I'd like to be able to have artifacts in the table, but if you already have one in play then you can't get another until that one is "used up".

I wish I had the motivation to decompile the exe and figure out just wth is going on in there, but I haven't had anything like that in 40 years and precious little at all in the last 10.

Title: Re: Unity pod drop table
Post by: Vidsek on March 24, 2019, 05:33:24 AM

    If or when I'm feeling particularly peeved with the drops my tedious and dirty workaround is to save before opening them and if a 'wrong' one happens, reloading.  I *do* try to stay honest to myself and *only* reload if one on my "banned drops" list happens.

   There actually is some work slowly proceeding on a decompileation, with several folks contributing.  I believe Scient is keeping it gathered up from the many forum threads it's scattered in, as well as being a major contributor.
Induktio is also doing a lot of .exe mod work at this time and has shed light on parts of the code.
  Scient, at least, should be worth contacting if you want to see where it stands and if it might be within your atrophied skills (at 65, I'm a club member of the Geriatric Degenerates too).   To my regret, I never learned coding back when I was young and chipper so it'd be a pretty steep learning curve now.  I do get a hankering to take some classes from time to time nonetheless.

   Simply adding all the drop options to a preference list with a yes/no choice would be nice.  Even better for an OCD customizer like myself would be the ability to set the weighting on the chance of each - at least to common/normal/rare bins.

   Games are, first and foremost, supposed to be fun (however you personally define that).  Having annoying little irritations niggling at you does not help achieve that even if they *are* just minor issues that do not actually affect gameplay.

Title: Re: Unity pod drop table
Post by: bvanevery on March 24, 2019, 05:45:47 PM

Quote from: Vidsek on March 24, 2019, 05:33:24 AM

   Games are, first and foremost, supposed to be fun (however you personally define that). 

It's part of the great philosophical "what are games for, as a medium?" debate.  But I have no doubt whatsoever that the concept of fun applies to SMAC and was part of its original design.  If it's not fun, especially if it's a real PITA drag, it's failing at something.

Quote

Having annoying little irritations niggling at you does not help achieve that even if they *are* just minor issues that do not actually affect gameplay.

Game developers often call that "friction".