Questions about Creating Planets
 

In Master Belisarius' AI contest my EEE uses a create planet ship. When they get the Stellar Manipulation tech they already had researched all colonization techs. They created 21 rock or ice planets (12 rock, 9 ice), the 22nd (at Last) was a Gas Giant. It was almost too late...
The description of the device says: Can create a [....] planet with a random atmosphere and type. Well, 12-9-0 doesn't look like "random".

Now my questions:
Is is actually completely random which type of planet is created?
or
Does the planet type depend on your available colonization tech? If you have only rock colonization tech a new planet will be automatically a rock planet? What if you have all colonization techs?

Let the EEE use this kind of tech without actually testing its effects. Lousy…

Re: Questions about Creating Planets
 

What SIZE were the asteroid fields?
I think that the SIZE doesn't change. So if you have tiny or small asteroids you will not get gas planets. (the smallest size gas planets are medium)

Re: Questions about Creating Planets
 

It is random, however there are no small or tiny gas giants. So if the AI was creating planets out of small or tiny asteroids then they will never get any gas giants. There is no way to tell the AI which asteroid to pick to make a planet out of. Their may be some harcoded programing which tells the AI which asteroids to do in which order, but the modders have no access to it.

Geoschmo

(EDIT: Slow typing. Taz beat me to it. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif )

[ December 02, 2002, 14:00: Message edited by: geoschmo ]

Re: Questions about Creating Planets
 

Wow, that were quick answers.
Thanks a lot.

EDIT: Just checked MB's map. All asteroid fields the EEE used for their new planets were huge. It was either bad luck or a hardcoded pattern (if it exists) that treats gas giant races badly.

[ December 02, 2002, 14:59: Message edited by: Rexxx ]

Re: Questions about Creating Planets
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Yes, but did they use the planet creator level 1? That can only make medium or smaller planets. If the AI is set to use a certain technology, it will tend not to wait for the best type, but start right away.

More comments are available here and also here

OT: Golly, I really like this Wiki app.. I went totally spaz on it over the holiday.

[ December 02, 2002, 15:18: Message edited by: Arkcon ]

Re: Questions about Creating Planets
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">But what are the new planets sizes ? - there is a catch: if EEE uses low level planet creator (tiny to medium planets) on huge asteroid belt, it will create medium planet ! At least this is how I remember this. May be I am mistaken though.

Re: Questions about Creating Planets
 

Hmm, I was beaten with the answer http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Re: Questions about Creating Planets
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Sorry Oleg, I figure it has something to do with time zone. I was once editing at exactly the same time, and still beat someone to it. Cheers.

[ December 02, 2002, 15:20: Message edited by: Arkcon ]

Re: Questions about Creating Planets
 

Arkcon:
Yes, they did use the level 1 creator.

Yeah, I know. But for the Version of the EEE used in the contest I hadn't decided which technology I should use for the "MUST HAVE" call in the ship design to define the time the ship is actually designed. Now - after altering the research file accordingly - they build their Create Planet ship with a level 3 device and Master Computer.

Oleg:
Yes, they created only medium planets out of the huge asteroid fields.

Thanks a lot for your answers.

Maybe I will run some tests using a create planet ship, hopefully I can figure out if there is a pattern at all. This 12-9-0 result is just unfair. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

[ December 02, 2002, 16:17: Message edited by: Rexxx ]

Re: Questions about Creating Planets
 

But even a level one planet creator will make gas giants. There are medium gas giants. If you use level one planet creator on a huge asteroid field, the result will be a medium planet which has a random atmosphere and type.

Therefore if the question is why didn't the EEE in this case get any gas giants, the tech level of the creator is irrelevant. The only question that matters is what size were the asteroids they were creating the planets out of.

Geoschmo