Alpha Centauri 2

Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri & Alien Crossfire => Modding => Bug/Patch Discussion => Topic started by: Yitzi on May 30, 2013, 10:37:12 PM

Title: Are these bugs?
Post by: Yitzi on May 30, 2013, 10:37:12 PM
Two irregularities I found regarding drone calculations:

1. Consider a base that, before facilities and psych, has 2 normal drones, 2 superdrones, no talents, and no workers.  (The number of specialists doesn't matter.)  It has a rec commons, a paradise garden, and no relevant projects.  What are its (nonspecialist) citizens in the end?

The actual answer turns out to be "1 talent, 1 worker, 1 normal drone, 1 superdrone".  Essentially, one of the talents cancels out a superdrone, but the other one does not.

More specifically, talents will cancel out superdrones until the number of workers is at least as high as the number of superdrones.

Question is: Is this a bug, and it's only supposed to cancel out when there would be negative workers (i.e. adding up talents and both types of drones gives more than the number of nonspecialists)?  Or is this actually supposed to happen?

2. The Self-Aware Colony gives you a free virtual police unit in all your bases.  However, this virtual police unit does not have the non-lethal methods ability; worse yet, it takes precedence over units that do.  Thus, getting the project can actually make your drone problems worse, as the project's virtual police replaces a more effective actual police unit.  Is this a bug?
Title: Re: Are these bugs?
Post by: Seleuceia on June 01, 2013, 06:06:50 PM
The second is a bug no doubt...

The first in my opinion is not...the problem with all talents cancelling out drones is that if you did swap a worker for a specialist, it would be harder to get a golden age...I may be missing a detail but if your base had four population and the stats as above I think you would get a golden age if you swapped one worker for a doctor (or something with psych)...but if both talents just cancelled both super drones, swapping one worker would not get you a golden age...I would imagine if you invested in psych via the sliders, similar situations would crop up where the current system would be more favorable...
Title: Re: Are these bugs?
Post by: Lord Avalon on June 02, 2013, 03:34:35 AM
1) Two talents, 1 worker, 1 drone.  Rec Commons turns a superdrone into a worker, and apply the Paradise Garden last to turn a superdrone and a drone into talents.

2) If you have nonlethal methods, the extra police capacity should, too.
Title: Re: Are these bugs?
Post by: Yitzi on June 02, 2013, 03:45:48 AM
The first in my opinion is not...the problem with all talents cancelling out drones is that if you did swap a worker for a specialist, it would be harder to get a golden age

Nobody's proposing that all talents cancel out all drones.  The question is whether the base in question should be 1 talent/1 worker/1 drone/1 superdrone (i.e. 1 talent cancels out 1 superdrone) or should it be 2 talents/2 superdrones.  In other words, should the rule for cancellation be "when talents+drones of both types is more than nonspecialists", or "when talents+drones of both types+superdrones is more than nonspecialists"?

1) Two talents, 1 worker, 1 drone.  Rec Commons turns a superdrone into a worker, and apply the Paradise Garden last to turn a superdrone and a drone into talents.

Why should the Paradise Garden turn a drone into a talent and a superdrone into a talent?  That's five steps of improvement, and paradise garden is only worth two.
Also, the rec commons will go after the normal drones first, so it turns it into 2 workers 2 superdrones, then the paradise garden makes it into 2 talents 2 superdrones; the only question is whether one of those talents should then cancel a superdrone to make a worker and a normal drone.

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2) If you have nonlethal methods, the extra police capacity should, too.

I assume you mean it should apply, and the Self-Aware Colony should not take its place?
Title: Re: Are these bugs?
Post by: Seleuceia on June 02, 2013, 04:08:36 AM
@Yitzi

Okay I think understand where you are going...I would say that the alternative system (2,0,0,2) is better than the current system (1,1,1,1)...

In both cases, you need to swap 2 for specialists in order to get a golden age (or at least possibility of one) if you don't have other psych options...

However, let's consider the other psych options....let's say you add some psych (maybe via the slider), enough to add one more talent...under the current system (if I'm interpreting it correctly), you would be at 2,0,1,1 while under the alternative system you would be at 2,1,0,1...if I've interpreted all that correctly (and that's a big if), then it seems like the alternative would be making talents more powerful than they are, and I'm actually happy with that (anything that makes it easier to play without abusing crawlers and specialists)...

But now I'm really confused and may have completely botched that whole analysis so I'll just say this...if I'm thinking clearly, it's equally easy to deal with drones (and get golden ages) in both systems if you are swapping for specialists, but harder with the current system if you are relying on the slider....I could sum up my feelings by saying that I would prefer the system that makes psych (via the slider and facilities) more viable and therefore does not incline the player as much to abuse the crawler/specialist strategy....
Title: Re: Are these bugs?
Post by: Yitzi on June 02, 2013, 05:03:59 AM
@Yitzi

Okay I think understand where you are going...I would say that the alternative system (2,0,0,2) is better than the current system (1,1,1,1)...

In both cases, you need to swap 2 for specialists in order to get a golden age (or at least possibility of one) if you don't have other psych options...

I don't think you could get a golden age at all without more psych or facilities; you've effectively got 6 drones, and only 4 points of drone control from facilities; a superdrone removed by a facility will still cancel out one paradise garden talent, so 2 specialists would only be enough to prevent drone riots.

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However, let's consider the other psych options....let's say you add some psych (maybe via the slider), enough to add one more talent...under the current system (if I'm interpreting it correctly), you would be at 2,0,1,1 while under the alternative system you would be at 2,1,0,1

Not quite.  If you add one more psych, then that creates a talent, which cancels out one superdrone (makes it into a normal drone), so then facilities bring it down to 2 talents, 1 superdrone, 1 normal drone, so under the current system a talent cancels out a superdrone and you're left with 1 talent and 2 normal drones, whereas under the alternative system you'd still have 2 talents, 1 superdrone, 1 normal drone.

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...if I've interpreted all that correctly (and that's a big if), then it seems like the alternative would be making talents more powerful than they are, and I'm actually happy with that (anything that makes it easier to play without abusing crawlers and specialists)...

In the absence of a paradise garden or talent-creating secret projects, there is actually no difference.  You only get a difference if:
1. After applying psych, you still have superdrones left (which means no talents and no workers, just drones and superdrones.)
2. You get both drone control facilities/projects and talents from facilities/projects
Probably the simplest cases where you actually get a practical difference would be:
1. You have one drone and one superdrone (plus however many specialists) after applying psych.  You have a research hospital and the Human Genome Project.
Under the old system, you end up with 1 worker and 1 drone, and hence drone riots; under the new one you end up with 1 talent and 1 superdrone, so no drone riots.
2. You have two drones and one superdrone (plus at most one specialist) after applying psych.  You have a paradise garden, a recreation commons, and the Longevity Vaccine (and are running anything other than Free Market).
Under the old system, you end up with 1 talent and no drones, so no golden age; under the new system you end up with 2 talents and no drones, so yes golden age.

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But now I'm really confused and may have completely botched that whole analysis so I'll just say this...if I'm thinking clearly, it's equally easy to deal with drones (and get golden ages) in both systems if you are swapping for specialists, but harder with the current system if you are relying on the slider

Other way around.  When relying on the slider, it's no different; when relying on facilities, police, and projects it's somewhat easier (essentially one specialist's worth in certain cases).

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....I could sum up my feelings by saying that I would prefer the system that makes psych (via the slider and facilities) more viable and therefore does not incline the player as much to abuse the crawler/specialist strategy....

There are better ways of knocking out the crawler/specialist strategy, and I intend to include one as an option in patch 2.1; this is a separate matter.
Title: Re: Are these bugs?
Post by: Lord Avalon on June 02, 2013, 05:04:56 AM
Paradise Garden turns anything into two talents.
Title: Re: Are these bugs?
Post by: Yitzi on June 02, 2013, 05:07:55 AM
Paradise Garden turns anything into two talents.

Incorrect.  If you have drones, it'll turn one into a worker and then a talent; if you have more superdrones than workers it'll turn two of them into normal drones (or one if that means you then have as many superdrones as workers, and then it'll turn the worker into a talent).

Basically, it makes two talents, and then applies the usual rule of "if talents+total drones+superdrones>nonspecialists, turn a talent into a worker and a superdrone into a drone or drone into a worker."
Title: Re: Are these bugs?
Post by: Seleuceia on June 02, 2013, 07:31:57 PM
This topic has officially boggled my mind...since it seems that the affect on gameplay is almost the same, I dont have a strong opinion either way...the alternative method seems simpler to understand and so I'm inclined to go with it, if only so my head hurts less...
Title: Re: Are these bugs?
Post by: Lord Avalon on June 02, 2013, 09:55:10 PM
Paradise Garden turns anything into two talents.

Incorrect.  If you have drones, it'll turn one into a worker and then a talent; if you have more superdrones than workers it'll turn two of them into normal drones (or one if that means you then have as many superdrones as workers, and then it'll turn the worker into a talent).

Basically, it makes two talents, and then applies the usual rule of "if talents+total drones+superdrones>nonspecialists, turn a talent into a worker and a superdrone into a drone or drone into a worker."
What I'm saying is the description says you get two talents, it's a Project, so you should end up with two talents.
Title: Re: Are these bugs?
Post by: Yitzi on June 03, 2013, 12:07:46 AM
Paradise Garden turns anything into two talents.

Incorrect.  If you have drones, it'll turn one into a worker and then a talent; if you have more superdrones than workers it'll turn two of them into normal drones (or one if that means you then have as many superdrones as workers, and then it'll turn the worker into a talent).

Basically, it makes two talents, and then applies the usual rule of "if talents+total drones+superdrones>nonspecialists, turn a talent into a worker and a superdrone into a drone or drone into a worker."
What I'm saying is the description says you get two talents, it's a Project, so you should end up with two talents.

4 psych also gives you 2 talents...but if there are no workers, then the talents cancel with drones.  (Also, Paradise Garden is a facility, not a project.)
Title: Re: Are these bugs?
Post by: Lord Avalon on June 03, 2013, 12:47:30 AM
Oops, I was mixing PG with Clinical Immortality (that's what I get for staying up so late).  So I think that if you have Clinical Immortality, a base should end up with at least one talent.

Going back to 1) is the order apply talents, then apply facilities?  So two talents turn a superdrone into a worker, the Rec Commons turns the other superdrone into a worker, and you end up with two workers, two drones.  Or am I missing something else?
Title: Re: Are these bugs?
Post by: Yitzi on June 03, 2013, 04:53:11 AM
Oops, I was mixing PG with Clinical Immortality (that's what I get for staying up so late).  So I think that if you have Clinical Immortality, a base should end up with at least one talent.

Why?

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Going back to 1) is the order apply talents, then apply facilities?

No; the order is psych and then facilities; talents can come from Lal/TALENT, or psych, or facilities, or projects, and at each step they'll cancel out drones if talents+drones+superdrones>nonspecialists.

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So two talents turn a superdrone into a worker, the Rec Commons turns the other superdrone into a worker, and you end up with two workers, two drones.  Or am I missing something else?

Talents don't always cancel out drones; they only do if there aren't enough nonspecialists to fit in talents+drones+superdrones.  (Superdrones count in "drones" as well, meaning they get counted twice; do you think that's a bug?)
Title: Re: Are these bugs?
Post by: Lord Avalon on June 03, 2013, 06:21:36 AM
Oops, I was mixing PG with Clinical Immortality (that's what I get for staying up so late).  So I think that if you have Clinical Immortality, a base should end up with at least one talent.

Why?

It's a Project.  It overrides the usual rules and gives you a talent.

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Going back to 1) is the order apply talents, then apply facilities?

No; the order is psych and then facilities; talents can come from Lal/TALENT, or psych, or facilities, or projects, and at each step they'll cancel out drones if talents+drones+superdrones>nonspecialists.

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So two talents turn a superdrone into a worker, the Rec Commons turns the other superdrone into a worker, and you end up with two workers, two drones.  Or am I missing something else?

Talents don't always cancel out drones; they only do if there aren't enough nonspecialists to fit in talents+drones+superdrones.  (Superdrones count in "drones" as well, meaning they get counted twice; do you think that's a bug?)
OK, I'm not understanding why talents don't always cancel out drones.  What do you mean by "they only do if there aren't enough nonspecialists to fit in talents+drones+superdrones"?  And yes, a bug - I don't think superdrones should get counted twice.
Title: Re: Are these bugs?
Post by: Yitzi on June 03, 2013, 12:44:48 PM
It's a Project.  It overrides the usual rules and gives you a talent.

I don't see any reason the a project should override the usual rules, rather than just applying to every base you own.  In fact, it does not.

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OK, I'm not understanding why talents don't always cancel out drones.  What do you mean by "they only do if there aren't enough nonspecialists to fit in talents+drones+superdrones"?

Ok...let's leave out superdrones because of the bug about them being counted twice and say there are just talents, workers, drones, and specialists.

(By the way, you can test everything I'm saying by using the scenario editor.)

So say you're playing on Librarian, and you have a base of size 6.  That base will have 3 drones and 3 workers.  So if you have 2 psych, one worker will be turned into a talent.  4 psych, two workers become talents.  With 6 psych, all 3 workers become talents.  In all of these cases they don't cancel drones; you just have both talents and drones.

But if you have 8 psych, you can't turn 4 workers into talents, because you only have 3, so you turn 3 workers into talents and one drone into a worker.  With 10 psych, you'd turn 3 workers into talents and 1 drone into a worker and then a talent.

If one of those workers were a technician instead, then you'd only have 2 workers, so 6 psych would turn 2 workers into talents and 1 drone into a worker, and 8 psych would turn 2 workers into talents and 1 drone into a worker and then a talent.

Paradise Garden and projects and even TALENT rating and Lal's talents work the same way: When there are no superdrones, it first tries to turn workers (not talents or drones) into talents, and if there aren't any it turns a drone into a worker (and then into a talent before going to the next drone.)

If there are superdrones, it's supposed to first turn workers into talents, then superdrones into normal drones, then normal drones into workers and then talents, but because of the double-counting bug it will sometimes turn a superdrone into a normal drone when there are still workers who can be turned into talents instead.

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And yes, a bug - I don't think superdrones should get counted twice.

That's really all I wanted to know.  Because if it's a bug, I can fix it.
Title: Re: Are these bugs?
Post by: Lord Avalon on June 04, 2013, 06:04:15 AM
It's a Project.  It overrides the usual rules and gives you a talent.

I don't see any reason the a project should override the usual rules, rather than just applying to every base you own.  In fact, it does not.
I don't care that it doesn't, I just think it should, because it's a Project, and therefore special.  Why should a Project reduce your terraforming time, or give you immunity to probes, or give you population that you didn't grow, etc., etc., etc.?

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(By the way, you can test everything I'm saying by using the scenario editor.)
Yes, but I'm not that familiar in using the editor, and my playing around won't necessarily result my understanding the order in which citizens get improved, like you stated.

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If there are superdrones, it's supposed to first turn workers into talents, then superdrones into normal drones, then normal drones into workers and then talents, but because of the double-counting bug it will sometimes turn a superdrone into a normal drone when there are still workers who can be turned into talents instead.

So that would mean the two talents turn two superdrones into drones, which makes four drones, then the Rec Commons turns two drones into workers, so two workers, two drones (which is the answer I had before, by the wrong method).  Isn't that the way it's "supposed" to be?
Title: Re: Are these bugs?
Post by: Yitzi on June 04, 2013, 12:42:42 PM
I don't care that it doesn't, I just think it should, because it's a Project, and therefore special.  Why should a Project reduce your terraforming time, or give you immunity to probes, or give you population that you didn't grow, etc., etc., etc.?

Or give you bonuses even in other bases?

However, if you want, when I start taking requests for changes you can submit "Project-based talents can replace drones".  Not sure what you'd do with the -1 or -2 drones from the Longevity Vaccine to make it special, though.

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So that would mean the two talents turn two superdrones into drones, which makes four drones, then the Rec Commons turns two drones into workers, so two workers, two drones (which is the answer I had before, by the wrong method).  Isn't that the way it's "supposed" to be?

Not quite.  If it were 4 psych and the rec commons you'd be correct, but with a paradise garden the rec commons turns two drones into workers first (actually simultaneously, but the workers are available to be turned into talents), so then the paradise garden has workers to turn into talents.
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