SMAX - The Will to Power - mod

[Alpha Centauri Bear]

# Version 74

* Base Square produces 4 nutrients;
* Reactor does not discount module cost.
* Foil chassis cost = 2 (same as infantry).
* Cruiser chassis cost = 3 (same as speeder).
* Colony Module cost = 4.
* The Cloning Vats does not grant impunities.
* The Cloning Vats help entry is updated.

[Hagen0]

That's interesting. Did you leave growth at 4 rows then?

[Alpha Centauri Bear]

That's interesting. Did you leave growth at 4 rows then?

No. I didn't change nutrient box. It is hardcoded everywhere and I don't want to mess with this mechanics. The fact that it is increases requirement with population makes perfect sense. More workers (theoretically) bring more food surplus. So increasing requirements counter increasing surplus. This doesn't work only at the very beginning and for new undeveloped bases when average food surplus per worked square is zero so the nutrient accumulation is defined by base square yield only and is constant. By doubling this yield we effectively double growth speed for early and new bases solving your development speed problem but this bonus dilutes when base growth and get land developed around it later on. So no breaking game in general. Neat! Isn't it? 😉

Try it out. It is already released.

[Hagen0]

Playing as Lal. Expanded to 8 bases. I met the Pirates and Aki. Currently rover-rushing Aki because I don't want to deal with her drones. Even against scout patrols the larger defense bonuses means the weaker Impact weapons sometimes lose. My first impact rover lost to a defending former.

Start with extra nutrients is pretty smooth with Lal but I'd guess it's a Nightmare with Morgan or Zak and annoying for most others. Since you reduced the food needed for growing to size 2 I'm not sure the extra base food is necessary. Formers and Colony Pods are still a bit expensive.

New tech tree looks pretty good but I'd have to play some more to form a deeper understanding.

Also there was an odd psych breakdown in one of my bases. This is Lal (so +2 psych from his ability) past the first bureaucracy limit (so should be at most -2 psych from that).

[Alpha Centauri Bear]

Cannot say anything by picture only. Please send a save.

You are mixing two different approaches: reduced growth requirement and extra food at base. Former is specially for your testing. It is not included into any other release. Latter is what I myself introduced to the latest release as an alternative to reduced growth requirement. They should not be in the same version together. Please check.

[Hagen0]

I downloaded version 74. Startting growth requires 2 rows and bases have 4 base nutrients.

[Alpha Centauri Bear]

I assume you are on highest difficulty level? If so then your breakdown is correct. +1 talent from Lal and +1 b-drone negate each other so your first citizen is content. The rest of them are drones as they should be.

[Hagen0]

It is correct on the first screen. The second is weird.

Edit: I think I understand what is going on there. The +2 psych from Lal's faction ability turns one drone into a citizen. Then that citizen is made into a doctor and I end up with the doctor, one drone and and a citizen due to the +2 psych from the doctor. This is really unintuitive behaviour. I should have +4 psych total but due to the way the layers of the drone control mechanic work I only get 2.

[Alpha Centauri Bear]

The second one is the same as first one except you turned one worker to doctor. It generates 2 psych and quell one drone. So you end up having 2-1 = 1 drone. What is exactly you see.

Why do you say it is not intuitive? When you transition from first screen to second you get plus one doctor and minus one drone as expected.

You do have +4 psych from Lal + doctor and -2 psych from bureaucracy = +2 which quells one drone. Now you have only one. Everything adds up.

[Hagen0]

It doesn't add up. I have +2 psych which should lead to 2 citizens, one default on Transcend, one from the +2 psych. I get what is going on there but the +2 psych from Lal's ability is wasted in this situation.

Did you change tech costs to be fixed, or dependent on tech level in some way?

[Alpha Centauri Bear]

It doesn't add up. I have +2 psych which should lead to 2 citizens, one default on Transcend, one from the +2 psych. I get what is going on there but the +2 psych from Lal's ability is wasted in this situation.

I see where is your source of confusion. Transcend doesn't give you 1 default citizen. The correct formula is: base on Transcend produces p-1 drones. That may sound exactly the same but it is not in case with specialists as on your second screen. Turning worker in specialist does not eliminate drone by itself! You can test it out yourself and turn this doctor to engineer and you'll end up with two drones as on screen 1.

So you 3 base produces 2 drones. Lal turns first citizen to talent. Then bureaucracy adds another drone to the base to make it total 3 drones.

On a first screen one drone turns talent back to content. So you see one content and two drones.

On a second screen doctor generates 2 psych those quell one drone. So you see just one.

[Alpha Centauri Bear]

Did you change tech costs to be fixed, or dependent on tech level in some way?

It's fixed by level.

[Alpha Centauri Bear]

# Version 75

* The Hunter-Seeker Algorithm prevents regular probe action but don't destroy it.
* Human probes cannot sabotage defensive facilities either by targetting them or by random sabotage.

[Alpha Centauri Bear]

Anybody has a problem with too many weapons in the game and wants to reduce it?

[Nevill]

Hello there. Nevill here.

I've been playing a WTP PBEM game with Tayta, and so far my experience is... a very mixed bag. There are mechanics changes I applaud, there are some choices I can understand that are clearly a matter of taste even though I am sceptical about them, and there are some design decisions that make me squint really hard at them when viewed through the prism of Player vs Player games. But all in due time.

Today's post was caused by a... bug, I think? We are using a version 66 of the mod due to another bug introduced in v67 and up. Not sure if it got fixed yet.

Zakharov suddenly got a minerals boost in his bases that I can't really explain by anything.

Here are his bases on turn 2211:
https://i.postimg.cc/QMnCxRQs/Zack-1.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/xCwdLMp4/Zack-2.jpg
And here are the same bases on turn 2212:
https://i.postimg.cc/xddqQ0bt/Zack-3.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/ydgdJvjR/Zack-4.jpg

You can clearly see he has 6 mineral rows instead of 8. His SE settings are the same though (PS+FM+P)...
https://i.postimg.cc/sXhjf1f9/Zack-5.jpg
...and even if they weren't, INDUSTRY changes should no longer work that way. They certainly don't for me.

Needless to say, with him getting a speedbump of 10 turns on every project, he wipes his shoes all over my long-term plans.

...not that he is making much use of his production. He doesn't even upgrade his defenders, which is how most of his bases are protected by 1-2+-1 ECM infantry. If it weren't for "don't touch AI bases" homerule, he'd have long fallen by now, and the new territory rules would mean he'd have no way of getting them back. But AI behavior is perhaps for another post.