How to be powerful in solo game...
 

How can you have all techs researched for only one player? Even when I put high research on player settings, and then make only one player empire (me), and then use ai controlled empires, all the ai have the same stuff I have. Even neutral empires have stellar tech and dreadnoughts! I am just wondering, because I usually play all the way through the research, and would like to know what it would be like to start out as an "ancient" race like the Shadows or Vorlons from Babylon 5. I think it would be a really fun, new experience for me in the game.

So any help would be appreciated...
Griffin Cloud

Re: How to be powerful in solo game...
 

You can not have different empires start with different levels of technology. However, you could mod in a new racial tech trait that gives copies of the most advanced items you wish to start with. I will call it Uber racial trait. Then, add a tech area, such as Uber Tech, which all of those components, facilities, etc. require. They only require Uber Tech. Set the Start Level of Uber Tech to 1, so you will start with level 1 in it. Thus, you will start with the equivalent to high level technology if you select this trait.

Re: How to be powerful in solo game...
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Create a map in the game, save it.
Load it in the map editor and choose a planet in your homesystem.
Give it some ruins and give those ruins ridicilus high number of techs, I don't know, 200 or so. You can count it in the techarea.txt file first.
Then start the game, colonize that planet and you'll have all tech.

[ February 29, 2004, 07:29: Message edited by: Ruatha ]

Re: How to be powerful in solo game...
 

That is probably an easier way to do it. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Re: How to be powerful in solo game...
 

Mod the game. Or do what Ruatha suggested. That is the fastest way to do it.

Re: How to be powerful in solo game...
 

Meh why would you wanna do something like that anyway? Absolutely no challenge at all, I love a good challenge where they are AT LEAST as advanced as you are and if you want a REAL fun game it's when they are slightly more advanced then you for a few months or years and you have to win on guts and wits alone http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif .

Re: How to be powerful in solo game...
 

You can also do it the hard way.

Enable cheats and type the money cheat in the "Empire Status Screen". You also
will get research points. It takes forever to get all of the techs and my hand nearly stiff up from crapping from typing this cheat to get the correct amount of research points per turn but you can do it. It's not perfect because you can only research 12 projects per turn. I think around year 4 or 5 you can have everything. It was cool roaming space in a Dreadnought, with full tech, when everyone else had only frigates.

[ February 29, 2004, 07:45: Message edited by: hicksz ]

Re: How to be powerful in solo game...
 

Or you could try out the Devnull Mod Gold and play as a Space Monster. It doesn't really give you all the tech, but the monster tech (hulls, facilities and components) will make you very powerful and you can slap around the other players at your leisure http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif .

Re: How to be powerful in solo game...
 

You can also edit your race's statistics so that you gain a large amount of resource points. I once gave a race 255% extra ability at research, but I don't remember exactly how...

Ah, wait. Alter the Cultures file by copying and pasting the following:

Name := (insert)
Description := (insert)
Production := 0
Research := 255
Intelligence := 0
Trade := 0
Space Combat := 0
Ground Combat := 0
Happiness := 0
Maintenance := 0
SY Rate := 0
Repair := 0

That should give you a large bonus in research, I believe. If I remember correctly, the A.I. shouldn't make use of it, provided it's name is not used in the A.I. set-up files.

Re: How to be powerful in solo game...
 

One more way to make yourself Uber-powerful:

Create a map and save it.
Modify map to add in a Sphereworld.
Make that sphereworld your HOME PLANET.

Now when you start the game, you will get a HUGE advantage in Mineral Resources and Research! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

Re: How to be powerful in solo game...
 

Edit the cultures.txt file. Add a new culture at the end with Research := 1000000 or some big number like that and call it "super-powerful race" (or something). When you set up your empire, choose that culture and you'll get tons of research points and be able to quickly get all the techs.

Re: How to be powerful in solo game...
 

Thanks so much guys! All of those are great ideas, can't wait to try it out.

Re: How to be powerful in solo game...
 

I was thinking about a similar topic recently, and how it related to 4X games in general and SEIVG and SEV in particular.

here goes (and forgive me for being verbose, I'm on my fifth pilsner Urquell and I tend to get stupid when drinking and writing at the same time):


I play SEIV and similar games for many reasons, but, above all, I have found that I enjoy the *politics* of these games. In particular, to put it in gaming terms, I find it fascinating to observe and participate in the interactions of unequal powers dealing with each other and their own goals...

The political world is not fair, nor is it equal. And yet, the "lesser" powers in any given unequal relationship can often influence the greater powers far beyond their inherent capacity. Witness the leverage Cuba had over the USSR during the COld War.

I remember, I used to play a PBM before computer gaming, and the backdrop was exactly the same as SEIV..EXCEPT there was a really big power next door to all of us that had mhigher tech yet was "sluggish" and rarely got involved in our affairs as we built up our empires and fought each other..

And, then, look at MOO2 - a great game (lets' be honest now) and one of the reasons it was challengeing, at least the first few times, was becuase the Orions always held the upper hand. You nevber knew when they were gonna sweep down on you.

And, now, I've started a game (zeta quadrant) in which I wanted a similar dynamic - one powerful race, against which all players must fight (as well as each other) to attain the victory conditions. Problem is...it's hard to make a single power much more powerful than the players in SEIVG.

The idea I am trying to convince you of is this: in SE V, it would be nice if you could set up empires that were unequal and/or had pre-controlled regions, planets, fleets, etc...

For example, do you remember the game Traveller? Remember the war game Spinward Marches in which the setting was a powerful Zhodani empire in close proximity to a bunch of small unorganized human empires and the Imperium? Or the game where it was energetic humans on earth (solomani) making contact with the pre-existing but corrupt and inefficient first Imperiumn empire?

It would be nice, great, to be able to model those situations.

But, to do so would require SEV allow setups that were, first off, unequal in characteristics and, second, pre-set in terms of planets, fleets, etc...

The possibilities for such a set up are pretty limitless if it is made moddable.

I mean, there are an amazing amount of space stories out there that start in the middle of their storylines that we could model if we could, at the start of a game, set an empire to whatever we wanted and then run it from there...

Think of it: not only could you have a Star Trek Mod, but you could have a Star Trek on the eve of the Dominion War, or The Star Wars Empire v. the Rebellion right after the Return of the Jedi movie, or anything...

OK, I'm now, officially, babbling. I should go post this in the SEV requests forum I guess....

thanks,

Alarik

Well, it would be nice to be able

Re: How to be powerful in solo game...
 

What you really want is a scenario creator. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/tongue.gif

Re: How to be powerful in solo game...
 

Ateually, a scenario cruton woold bee kicking-*** if you cold maneuer every speculation of the game, incolding these whatt have no yet bee thinked off.

(again in english)
Actually a scenario creator would be kick-*** if you could manipulate every aspect of the game, including those which have not yet been thought of.

I am HA......ving difficulty flatulating

[ March 01, 2004, 01:34: Message edited by: ChinMonster ]

Re: How to be powerful in solo game...
 

Alkariff, I think that it is possible to do so. For example, look at my example for the cultural modifiers: They can affect research, shipyard build rate, ect. Give a designated "Empire" player those bonuses and not allow the other players to have it. In effect, that player is already stronger then it's immediate neighbors.

Another way to go about is to raise the racial points of a game, and let only one player use 5000 points, while keeping the others to 2000.

The third method is to download a mod that allows a person to set-up the game so that specific players may be weaker then the others.(I am fairly sure it exists, I just don't recall the name.)

The fourth option is to create a specific map that favors a particular player. For example, give that player "optimal" planets and outside of the systems you wish the player to control, you make blackholes that prevent anyone entering or exiting the systems you wish to protect. By making a ring of such defensive blackholes, you can prevent contact for a period, and let the "Empire" player develop.

Re: How to be powerful in solo game...
 

OH WOW I PLAYED TRAVELLER!!!!

Yeah I loved that game, I specifically played MegaTraveller 1, but couldn't get past the part where you had to get a jump2 engine to reach the rest of the game. Resorted to piracy and after about 20 hours of just pirating ships got smacked down by imperial cruisers. Yeah, that game was awesome up to that point, then it sucked http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/tongue.gif
I get what you are saying, a way to scenario create something like that would be awesome, maybe the guys over at Malfador could add that in as a Last patch or something, nothing fixed, just the scenario editor. I did notice a part of the UI that had a "scenarios" folder in it and was wondering just what that was for?

Re: How to be powerful in solo game...
 

well, sure, you can tweak the current system, but the basic fundamental setup is always going to be based upon equality.

What I would like is an explicitly *unequal* setup . Among other things, this lends itself to more interesting politics and role playing...

I think.

EDIT: what I would like is the *option* to have an unequal pre-arrange setup, essentially, as mentioned a scenario editor. But, what I meant to emphasize, was that this would be an OPTION, and certainly not the norm...


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[ March 01, 2004, 01:47: Message edited by: alarikf ]

Re: How to be powerful in solo game...
 

There is actually another way to do this, without using a Mod of some sort. You should start up the game with all other Empires disabled (perhaps under AI control while the AI is disabled?) and then play on your own, bringing your Empire to the desired level. (Or another Empire for this matter)

This way you would have a much stronger Empire, and its advantages could go from a few turns to the whole tech tree and a hundred sphereworlds fully developed with Cultural Centers. There was a Scenario a bit along these lines, where you play an Empire with two mere planets against 18 other Empires at war with you. So you have to rebuild your Empire from scratch, and you can capture some of your old warships drifting in space. It is Awakening by Geoschmo if memory serves right. (I cannot even recall where I found this jewel. *Grumbles*)