Patch priority: What you see is what you get (drone riots/ecodamage)

[Nexii]

Thanks!

I recently got into SMAC again having DLed it cheap from GOG.  I had played it a lot when it was new (1999).  I was searching around for patches and came across the board.

[Earthmichael]

I agree.  The check for drone riots should come after growth and effects from new facilities/projects.

Does the same bug benefit for Golden Age (i.e. the Golden Age is checked after new facilities/projects/growth)?  Probably minor and on a tangent, but something to consider. (Edit: ITT, oh well)

Nexii, the actual check for drone riots already comes after growth and effects from new facilities/projects.

I am arguing that the actual check should occur before this so it matches the psych summary screen for each city.  This way if the summary screens show no drone riot, you actually have no drone riots next turn, i.e. what you see (on the summary screen) is what you get (next turn).

As for the situation that can cause 3 new drones in one turn, if you have pop growth (1 new drone) that pushes University to a multiple of 4 pop (1 more new drone) at the same time you complete a Genejack Factory, you can get 3 new drones in one turn.

[Nexii]

Typo, I meant before .  I had 'after' in my mind as that's how it is now.  Anyways besides the UI reasons, it just doesn't seem logical that population just born can riot in the same year.

[Yitzi]

Typo, I meant before .  I had 'after' in my mind as that's how it is now.  Anyways besides the UI reasons, it just doesn't seem logical that population just born can riot in the same year.

Actually, when you put it that way, it makes perfect sense that they should. 

[testdummy653]

baby drones. 

[Nexii]

Lol well baby drones would be easy to pacify if nothing else.  Send em to the punishment sphere!

[Buster's Uncle]

Nexii, you're a live one - I like that.

[Yitzi]

I am pleased to announce that this will be an option in version 2.1 of my patch.  However, there are a few caveats:
1. It will be based on the state of your empire at the beginning of your turn, rather than the end of the previous turn.  That means that if an enemy probe team destroys your rec commons, you might get unplanned-for drone riots.  I think this will enhance the game anyway, by making for more interesting approaches to such things.
2. A base can also be affected by what happened earlier that turn in another base.  Usually the effects of this will be positive; the only exceptions I can see are:
-Scrapping (voluntarily or not) ecological facilities will affect clean minerals in later bases.
-The Bulk Matter Transmitter, Singularity Inductor, and Manifold Harmonics will affect ecodamage in later bases.  So three times in a game (at most) you'll have to do a more careful calculation for ecodamage (though for Manifold Harmonics to have an effect on production means that you've got good PLANET anyway and probably don't particularly mind having more fungus).
-I'm not sure, but the Planetary Transit System might rarely cause drone riots in later bases by instantly growing them from size 1 to size 3.  This also will remain.
3. If it's set to "what you see is what you get" mode, then if you save or load in the middle of the base sequence, it will cause bugs.  Of course, things get fairly buggy when you do that anyway, so it should be an acceptable price.

[Green1]

How about this:

radial button under game preferences:

X Supply crawlers limited to number of bases.,
X Copters 2 attacks per round.

[Earthmichael]

I think these are all very acceptable caveats.  This will be a huge help for the minor stuff, like population growth and production.  I really look forward to your patch!  Thanks for the effort!

1. Enemy actions should be able to destabilize your cities, such as using probe team to incite drone riots or sabotage a rec commons.

2. I could see the PTS instant shift to size 3 would still cause drone riots if your cities were not ready.  Unanticipated ecodamage after completing a SP is fine.

3. There are already problems saving or loading in the starting sequence for a turn.  Once should always wait until you get a unit ready for orders, so no real change there.

It all sounds great! Thanks!

I am pleased to announce that this will be an option in version 2.1 of my patch.  However, there are a few caveats:
1. It will be based on the state of your empire at the beginning of your turn, rather than the end of the previous turn.  That means that if an enemy probe team destroys your rec commons, you might get unplanned-for drone riots.  I think this will enhance the game anyway, by making for more interesting approaches to such things.
2. A base can also be affected by what happened earlier that turn in another base.  Usually the effects of this will be positive; the only exceptions I can see are:
-Scrapping (voluntarily or not) ecological facilities will affect clean minerals in later bases.
-The Bulk Matter Transmitter, Singularity Inductor, and Manifold Harmonics will affect ecodamage in later bases.  So three times in a game (at most) you'll have to do a more careful calculation for ecodamage (though for Manifold Harmonics to have an effect on production means that you've got good PLANET anyway and probably don't particularly mind having more fungus).
-I'm not sure, but the Planetary Transit System might rarely cause drone riots in later bases by instantly growing them from size 1 to size 3.  This also will remain.
3. If it's set to "what you see is what you get" mode, then if you save or load in the middle of the base sequence, it will cause bugs.  Of course, things get fairly buggy when you do that anyway, so it should be an acceptable price.

[Yitzi]

How about this:

radial button under game preferences:

X Supply crawlers limited to number of bases.,
X Copters 2 attacks per round.

That would be way too difficult to code, for a number of reasons; if you want those sorts of limitations it's probably better just to houserule them in.  (The AI won't listen, but at the level where they may be necessary, the AI needs the help anyway.)