Questions on Scoring
 

I love this game but there are two things I'd like to address, one is scoring and the other is content which I will address in another post later. I love to squeeze out my highest score possible and that's half of what keeps me playing over and over, the other half is finding new things. So here's my questions:

Are you mission goals actually important or do they just affect the way items are priced? i.e. If its a science mission and I have a gun worth 3 gold and a alien worth 3 gold is the alien worth more at the end of the game?

Are two 2 gold items always worth the same or can some items be secretly 2.1 and others 2.4 but get rounded. i.e. If weapon X and weapon Y are worth 2 gold to a pirate but X is 2 for military and Y is 3 for military, is weapon Y worth more points for a pirate?

Assuming I eventually come back to this aliens home and make peace, is it worth more points to destroy their fleet in combat and then make peace or just make peace right away? Is this answer different for a fleet away from their home world? If I use the mirror to forcefully conquer a home world is this the same points as a violent victory?

I assume you get points for visiting a star before it nova's and then more points for visiting the destroyed remains? or are the original points lost when the star is destroyed? Is finding a new black hole worth points or only if you directly visit it? Are any of these answers different if not on a science mission?

Are surplus gold at golry worth points? i.e. should I sell them extra stuff of value I dont have room in my hold for?

Are there any bonus points for returning early?

I finally figured out where all those tiny little -bonus points were coming from, are there any positive bonuses besides the 2 'special fights'?

Would the following plan get you maximum points for all missions (if you could pull it off in time):
Get all extra ships on the map
Have the most expensive ship components available installed in these ships
Destroy all ships in the entire galaxy besides the Trader guys (Klax'ons or whatever)
Make peace with all races that can be pacified
Have your cargo hold filled with the most expensive items in pure gold coin value
Have every ambassador (and that other person http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif) in your ship
Discover every black hole and have every location on you map the green visited color
Get all the bonus points you can (you don't have to reveal these of course)
return on any day before your deadline

If there is anything unnecessary in there or something necessary missing let me know.

Thanks in advance for all the info, sorry if this got wordy.

Re: Questions on Scoring
 

some of this you can see in the mission.ini and in the item ini's.

For example, a pirate has "SCOR lifeforms 128" and a scientist has 512. A Piranha Bee has "COST 130 lifeforms"

I take these to be multipliers, so to get the cash value of a PB, a Pirate would multiply 1.3 by 1.28 and round. A scientist would multiply 1.3 by 5.12 and round.

of course, i could be totally wrong. im just guessing. I too have many questions about points values. Most specificially, do you get points for selling objects back to Glory, or just having them in your hold? Are there different points for conquering vs making peace? do you get diplomacy points for selling your ambassadors back to Glory, or is the score based on whats in your hold?

I'd also like to point out that, without modding, you cant BOTH have a treaty AND destroy all of someones fleets:

There will always be a fleet orbiting their homeworld, and if you mirror it away then the homeworld counts as conquered. Even if you have a native pilot in your fleet, and the cloak of Bab. If you show up at someones homeworld when there are no fleets in orbit, you get the conquer message - and no ambassador.

Re: Questions on Scoring
 

The beta testers were given a chart that shows how much everything is worth in points at the end of them game but I don't know if we are able to share that.

Re: Questions on Scoring
 

You can dig up the point values from .ini files, but it's kind of a spoiler... The prices are intentionally a bit vague in the game so that there's more to it than just comparing exact numbers.

Re: Questions on Scoring
 

How about what is being scored? Only what is in a cargo hold and equipped?

Re: Questions on Scoring
 

cargo hold vs equipped would be good to know, as well as items equipped on other ships in your fleet. I guess it could be figured out through a few test games..

Re: Questions on Scoring
 

Fearless Tester here...

Are you mission goals actually important or do they just affect the way items are priced? i.e. If its a science mission and I have a gun worth 3 gold and a alien worth 3 gold is the alien worth more at the end of the game?

Depends. They're both given numeric values and the coins are rounding.

You can get some idea by looking at the coin breaks in other settings - like you say in your next question. For instance, the frigate says lots of guns are worth three points - but if you have the science ship, you see that the plasma blaster, the micrometorite gun, and the fusion rocket launcher are worth two instead of one. So those three are better to keep.

(The pirate has 'natural' values, so that's a good one to cross-check with.)

Are two 2 gold items always worth the same or can some items be secretly 2.1 and others 2.4 but get rounded. i.e. If weapon X and weapon Y are worth 2 gold to a pirate but X is 2 for military and Y is 3 for military, is weapon Y worth more points for a pirate?

Yes, Virginia, there is rounding. And yes, you're right.

Assuming I eventually come back to this aliens home and make peace, is it worth more points to destroy their fleet in combat and then make peace or just make peace right away?

Well, you get points for hull damage, and you get points for making peace. When I'm being a point-monster, I try to destroy all but one fighter (if possible) from the race, and THEN make peace with them.

I assume if you go hostile again, you lose the 'at peace' bonus.

Is this answer different for a fleet away from their home world?

Not as far as I know.

If I use the mirror to forcefully conquer a home world is this the same points as a violent victory?

The Mirror/Homeworld text is a bug. It's not worth points at all, as far as I know - just the killin', ma'am.

I assume you get points for visiting a star before it nova's and then more points for visiting the destroyed remains? or are the original points lost when the star is destroyed?

Yes on one, no on two.

Is finding a new black hole worth points or only if you directly visit it? Are any of these answers different if not on a science mission?

Finding is worth some, exploring MUCH more. And science mission even more so.

Are surplus gold at golry worth points? i.e. should I sell them extra stuff of value I dont have room in my hold for?

As far as I know, coins 'deposited' at any of the 'banks' get nationalized when you retire - ie, you get squat.

Make sure that every slot is full. And know that two two-coin things are worth a LOT less than one four-coin thingy.

Are there any bonus points for returning early?

Nope!

I finally figured out where all those tiny little -bonus points were coming from, are there any positive bonuses besides the 2 'special fights'?

Capturing Esmerelda, I think.

Would the following plan get you maximum points for all missions (if you could pull it off in time):
Get all extra ships on the map

Not only all, but which ones! Capital ships are worth more than fighters.

Have the most expensive ship components available installed in these ships

Always a good idea.

Destroy all ships in the entire galaxy besides the Trader guys (Klax'ons or whatever)

Except for those three fighters and one little space potato (Tchorak) you made peace with.

Make peace with all races that can be pacified

Yep.

Have your cargo hold filled with the most expensive items in pure gold coin value

Yep.

Have every ambassador (and that other person ) in your ship

All four of them. Kinda crowded in the shower in the morning. Make the Muktian shower LAST.


Discover every black hole and have every location on you map the green visited color

Yep. This can be hard if one of them is off any spacelane.

Get all the bonus points you can (you don't have to reveal these of course)

Yep.

return on any day before your deadline

Any day before will do.

Re: Questions on Scoring
 

Thank you very much for all the info nihilix.

And I did not realize that 2x 2 gold was worth different then 1x 4 gold item. Guess I'm never opening that golden canister again besides on a science mission.

Re: Questions on Scoring
 

confirmed. neither are surplus items delivered to Glory worth anything.