SMAX - The Will to Power - mod

[Alpha Centauri Bear]

Something didn't work out. Let me fix it. Thank you for testing it on such short notice.

[bvanevery]

Well it was in the way of me running the game.  Lucky for you, I'm unlikely to have any modding work I need to do this month.  I may finally be DONE.

I have verified that removing the #CUSTOMFACTIONS entries, does solve the problem.  Faction selection menus appear as they're supposed to, in both terranx.exe and terranx_mod.exe.

You'll want to edit your post on r/4Xgaming appropriately.  Such as linking to new stuff.

[Buster's Uncle]

-ninja'd-

I believe that's indeed a custom faction problem - probably the #FACTIONNAME in a faction's file not agreeing exactly with the ID line under #CUSTOMFACTIONS in Alphax.txt, or maybe just the filename.  Naturally, you only need to check any recently installed factions...

[Alpha Centauri Bear]

Sorry, guys. I was playing with Binary Dawn factions in my play directory not in my development one but somehow it got transferred there. Apparently, I didn't experienced this bug because I do have these factions installed in my directory.
I believe I have to abandon any other mods tryout while in development. Thank you for quick help!
Removed all custom factions from alphax.txt. Repackaged release 148. Deleted also all custom faction files from AC directory. Now it seems to launch without problems. Please verify.

I don't think I need to change links in post since I just replaced same exactly files. Just downloaded by the link, unpacked, and all customfactions are gone. So it should be good. In fact you may try to download it by this link and verify.

[bvanevery]

The general way one deals with this development problem, is to make different development or play directories for every combo of components that you're trying out.  With a clean install of (say) a GOG binary as the starting basis for all such permutations.  I learned this drill back when targeting multiple operating systems and development environments for a 3-pass Scheme compiler bootstrap project.  One of my great claims to buildmaster fame that ultimately led me to live out of a car.   

A way these errors creep in, is when you open multiple copies of alphax.txt to visually compare differences between sections.  It's pretty easy to get mixed up about which file you're looking at, editing, and saving.  I try to exercise "close out discipline".  My default habit is to close everything, then only open 1 file at a time, presuming I can get things done that way.  It's the state I always try to return to.  But people make mistakes.

Currently watching paint dry with "C:\Will To Power 148 revised" installation directory.  Will edit upon results.

Also you'd need to edit version 149.  I found that when originally looking to see if you had solved a bug.

Went to r/4Xgaming and clicked on link in your original post.  Verified that alphax.txt lacks any entries for #CUSTOMFACTION.

Installed /core only to "..revised" directory.  Copied my previous Alpha Centauri.ini so I don't have to keep futzing that.  Firing up terranx_mod.exe.  Faction selection menu does come up, no problem.

Will now try adding /factions.  Started over, avoided Quick Start, did the usual specification drill.  Faction menu comes up.  I set everything to RANDOM again.  I draw Zhakarov, and you drop me on the Monsoon Jungle???  I'm totally gonna playtest this one.

Details the giveaway

the giveaway

[Alpha Centauri Bear]

Also you'd need to edit version 149.  I found that when originally looking to see if you had solved a bug.

I have repackaged it too already. It obviously had same problem.

[bvanevery]

Yeah figured.

These factions do not appear to be modded at all.  At least, their Help descriptions are those of unmodded factions.  What if anything has changed?  I mean I installed from /factions, so I was expecting changes.

I can't believe you earthquaked the nice land around  my capitol.

Details quality completion scumming

quality completion scumming

In my mod, I've become rather used to completing Recycling Tanks by popping pods, as an early game strategy.  Well I didn't have them available.  But a Pressure Dome has the same value!  Sure you want to be giving that away immediately?  I've never thought about it in my own mod either, but then I tend to have Recycling Tanks available quickly.  That said, I think I started with Doctrine Flexibility as my bonus tech.  My mod doesn't have any bonus techs, except I give that to the Pirates.  I make everyone work for their baseline.

Actually it doesn't look like my Pressure Dome completion provided the benefit of a Recycling Tank.  How did you pull that off?  Or have I never noticed that the original game lies about it?  Or does it only provide the equivalent of a Recycling Tank when at sea?  That must be it.  There goes my completion scumming career.

Details lousy fungal towers

lousy fungal towers

MY 2119.  I lost 4 Scouts trying to take out a really minor Fungal Tower.  The usual "use 3" drill clearly doesn't work.  I'm quitting this game.  I got put in a rockfight with the Data Angels breathing down my neck.  I got lucky with a Battle Ogre, just happened to get one as their Battle Ogre was coming to my 2nd city to do it in.  I'm not used to the close infighting of Standard maps anymore, it's been awhile.  And I can't very well throw all my forces away on a freakin' fungal button.  Colonists also take noticeably longer to produce.  I'll probably be able to completion scum some of them, just like I do with expensive Sea Colony Pods in a normal game.  But I'll tell you, having an earthquake on my nice capitol start was really irritating.  I will regroup with lessons learned.  "Don't count on the land".

[bvanevery]

Details invisible helpers

invisible helpers

Ok this is pretty obnoxious.  Forests take twice as long to build.  I figured they're still worth it anyways, especially since at the beginning of this mod, I don't have to work to make any Formers to get started.  But what is the point of making them, if lots of mindworms and spore launchers are going to immediately get stirred up and destroy them?  I certainly don't have enough Scout coverage to prevent these incursions, so this feels like a real ass pull.  Well I guess we'll see.

I was gonna settle Mount Planet.  And the Morganites had to be sitting on it already, right next to me.  I'm really not used to Standard maps, where anything that's any good, has someone already crawling right on top of it.  In fact I almost wonder if the faction placement algorithm is designed to put deliberate stress on these worthwhile terrain features?  I wouldn't put it past it.  I had an inkling that something lame was about to happen, as I'd seen a supply pod just west of me, disappear.  I didn't have to advance towards it, but like a moth to a flame, I did anyways.

So I met Morgan.  And because I'm really a wuss, I made peace with him.  More to the point, because I don't know what the hell is going on with this game, and I fear the unknown.  I might need Morgan's generous supply of free units at some point.  Although this jerk isn't trading me any tech in the short term.  I guess we're not doing the Tier 3 Secret Project thing in this mod, so factions will be more guarded about early stuff.

Somehow I've already got Lasers available.  And obviously, not the slightest bit of productivity to actually build them.  So I don't see much point.

I'm leaving my faction's research at the default settings, to see what the AI gets to experience.  Does the tech tree make sense from their standpoint?  Or does it seem weird, and interfere with their progress?

[bvanevery]

Details lost in transit

lost in transit

The amount of fungus is obnoxious, because the mindworms and spore launchers are so dangerous.  I've been wandering around trying to find somewhere "clear", as the territory next to the Morganites, was not suitable.  This is obviously an absolutely lousy "strategy" / development.  Optimal strategy would be settling the 2 colonists on defensible land as quickly as possible.  Did it with my capitol, but obviously not with my 2nd.  And fungus in front of me, was a factor in that continuing westward movement as well.  This is really cramped and dangerous.

So to add icing to the cake, the fully non-nerfed Caretakers are north of me.  And bellicose, demanding my blood.  They are probably going to kill my 2nd colonist because I can't get back across the fungal gap fast enough.  And I didn't have a hope of wiping out that feeble fungal tower.  This is probably again going to turn into one of these "lessons learned" games.  The only thing I've done well so far, is completion scum a Command Center.

[bvanevery]

I finally establish a fungus free coastal base, just up a river from my capitol.  I only did a 120 degree radial arc from my capitol to find this spot.  More if you count the backtracking due to the Caretakers.

Details weird nauticality

weird nauticality

I look at my production options and at a glance, I find myself wondering why I can't make a Transport.  Well it seems I don't have Doctrine Flexibility.  And that makes me wonder why I can make a Sea Former.

Details design scumming

design scumming

To punish the game for punishing me, I design an armored Impact Foil, using the Sea Former chassis as my transformative base.  I mean, I'm going to need every trick in the book to come back from this lousy start, right?  Not that I can afford to build the thing, but I am an arch completion scummer.  It would be interesting to see a binary modder put limits on my abuse, although it remains to be seen if I can actually get far enough ahead with such tactics, to make up for the strategic realities.  I'm not exactly confident.

What am I doing with Impact weapons already anyways?  That was awfully quick.  I only just built my 2nd city!  Maybe I could completion scum some awesome units and really clean up.  Then again, I don't know how powerful an Impact weapon is in this combat system.

In my mod, I don't give a Sea Former predefined unit right off the bat with Centauri Ecology.  I wait until a Tier 3 tech, when I lift the Nutrient restriction.  And I'm only giving it as a safeguard against a game bug.  The game is supposed to design a Sea Former unit for the AI, but sometimes it fails to do so.  I have a Clean Sea Former as a fallback, in case the game doesn't, and at a time when it's useful to have such a thing.  There's really not a lot of point in sea development before then.  Unless you're the Pirates, in which case as an AQUATIC faction, you got those units already hardwired designed anyways.  So I don't have to do anything for that case.

[bvanevery]

Details quite the early food

quite the early food

That's a shockingly high amount of food and minerals to get from a coastal minerals special.  I'm not done with the mine yet.  I guess we'll see if this turns to any real advantage.  After all, I'm mainly relying on completion scumming to get anything done.  I just picked up a Battle Ogre and landed it on the Caretaker capitol.  It is defended by 2 Scouts, so I'm supposing that Tim nuked all the Resonance Armor stuff.  I remember he doesn't like it?  Well my Aliens don't start out with any special armor either, so we agree on that.  I hope I can wipe these jerks out.  Wonder when chemical weapons are available?  I would definitely use them with impunity on the Caretakers and Usurpers, both in this game.

Um, my odds against an in-base hatchling were only 24%, so I had to retreat.  At least I should be able to tear up their land with this chunk of armor.

I thought I was brilliant shooting at a Colonist, with 83% odds to win.  And I died from that?  Well if this happens often, I'm going to say the odds calculator is lying.  I'm noticing these alien territory defense bonuses.  Whatever.

I'm also getting swamped by seaborne mindworms, clearly from someone else's pot stirring.  Why should I be so lucky with my position.  It keeps me making trained Scouts just to deal with them, instead of making Colonists and founding new cities.  I actually had to leave my capitol vacant, to kill off a weak one that was threatening my precious independent Former.

[bvanevery]

Details the spam

the spam

Well that's about enough of that.  Morgan had the good graces to reveal more of the map to me.  Which makes me feel so basically dejected at my utterly paltry position, that I really can't see continuing with this one.  Sleep, or anything else really, sounds more appealing at 2:30 AM.  The AI spams cities like crazy, and I'm back on barely trying to produce Scouts!  Which at least are sorta working, but I have this sinking feeling by the time I get up to the Caretakers, they're just gonna execute me.  I'll pass.

A bad wandering with the 2nd colony pod, clearly makes this game untenable, due to the AI's base settling spam.  Activating the Scenario Editor and revealing the map, I can also see there's clearly not enough land, for what I've been up to.  This is not a Huge map.  Looks like I'd have to be awfully pushy and/or spammy myself, to make headway.  And playing on a 50%..70% water map, might be a mistake.  Not enough land.

Another thing I'm noticing from the map reveal, is many of the supply pods are gone.  I'm wondering very much why the oceanic ones, seemed to be popped at my expense.   Just showering me with mindworms.  Why don't they go somewhere else?

[bvanevery]

Details 25 percent loss

25 percent loss

Look, that's 1/4 of my civilization you just wiped out there.  It takes a long time to make colony pods, and you've got raging mindworms.  I'm trying to get all of 5 feet to settle another city.  It's only MY 2129, kinda early to be completely taking the piss out of me.  I've been spamming Scouts non-stop too.  They do prevail often enough, I think the combat is ok compared to several months ago.  I'm a bit shocked that Formers seem to be the hardiest things in the universe against even Battle Ogres but whatever.  But having to do continuous Scout spam to keep the mindworms off and pop the pods, doesn't exactly leave a lot of production left over for Colonists.  Which are massively expensive.

Details how the spammers do

how the spammers do

Most factions have managed 4 cities by now.  1 has 3, 1 has 5.  Everyone's better than I am.  The moral of this story seems to be that they're getting a free pass and I'm not.  A leading Scout is clearly required for even the shortest settlement trip.  I sent my colonist out on its own, due to the pressure of fighting so many mindworms and having been in pretty much armed conflict with them the whole time.   So plenty of dead Scouts.

Quitting this game.  We'll see if I do better in some future one, but this is looking grossly unfair as far as what the AI factions have to deal with, vs. what I have to.  Why aren't the mindworms destroying them left, right, and center?  Do I have a mindworm magnet on me?

Details magic walkers

magic walkers

How is it that none of the AI factions have lost a single colonist?  Total units lost in general: Free Drones (me) 4, Datatech 4 (1 is an Ogre), Spartans 2 (1 Ogre), University 5, Cyborgs 2 (11 active Scout patrols!), Hive 3, Usurpers 6 (1 Ogre).  The pattern is Ogres are always gonna die.  I gotta wonder though, does the AI have some pathfinding cheat where it always knows where mindworms are, and steers the colonists out of harm's way?  It would explain a lot.  I sure don't believe that the AI is pushing out Scouts any harder than I am.

[Alpha Centauri Bear]

These factions do not appear to be modded at all.  At least, their Help descriptions are those of unmodded factions.  What if anything has changed?  I mean I installed from /factions, so I was expecting changes.

Which factions are you talking about? Those in /factions folder? They are modded but just slightly. Some tech and units and could be even innate SE are different for them. However, since some point I deemphasized faction modding leaving it to others.

In my mod, I've become rather used to completing Recycling Tanks by popping pods, as an early game strategy.  Well I didn't have them available.  But a Pressure Dome has the same value!  Sure you want to be giving that away immediately?  I've never thought about it in my own mod either, but then I tend to have Recycling Tanks available quickly.  That said, I think I started with Doctrine Flexibility as my bonus tech.  My mod doesn't have any bonus techs, except I give that to the Pirates.  I make everyone work for their baseline.

Actually it doesn't look like my Pressure Dome completion provided the benefit of a Recycling Tank.  How did you pull that off?  Or have I never noticed that the original game lies about it?  Or does it only provide the equivalent of a Recycling Tank when at sea?  That must be it.  There goes my completion scumming career.

RT now multiplies minerals as other factories. PD does not give RT benefits anymore. Read a description for details.

Ok this is pretty obnoxious.  Forests take twice as long to build.  I figured they're still worth it anyways, especially since at the beginning of this mod, I don't have to work to make any Formers to get started.  But what is the point of making them, if lots of mindworms and spore launchers are going to immediately get stirred up and destroy them?  I certainly don't have enough Scout coverage to prevent these incursions, so this feels like a real ass pull.  Well I guess we'll see.

There is somewhere more native life but not to the level when they destroy improvement faster than you build them. This actually applies to all improvements, not forests only.

This mod does play different than vanilla and out of all people out there you should be aware of this. 🙂
So yes, some difference in approach and strategy is expected.

[bvanevery]

/factions, yes.  I could not tell any obvious difference.  Descriptions were as I remember them from vanilla.

To me the measure of "plays differently" will be if the AI consistently cheats.  Which can mean in-practice phenomena that the AI doesn't have to pay for, that the human player does.  The one I'm most watching in this regard, is whether the AIs are magically immune to having their colonies killed by the hordes of mindworms.  I will be firing up Scenario Editor to review the AI's casualties after every game that I quit.  If the AI simply doesn't take colonist casualties, that's awfully suspicious.  Especially compared to the stock binary, where moving colonists badly and leaving cities in places where they routinely get killed, is de rigueur.  Yes I'd like an AI that colonizes "better", but I don't want it given a huge cheat to do it.