PBW Game: Big Fat Zero

[Quikngruvn]

I will probably regret this later, but I have created a new PBW game, Big Fat Zero. We can use this thread to discuss which AI's to include and other BFZ-realted topics.

Game description
I created this game as a backlash to all the games I've seen where you start with so much stuff you really can't use it all. Thus, BIG FAT ZERO.

Big Fat Zero is about what you'll start with. One bad planet. 5000 resources. ZERO racial points (but with no intel, it's really like 800 points). Low starting tech at a high cost. In other words, you start out with the SEIV equivalent of Jack. MUAH-HAH-HAH-HAH!

But I digress.

For added amusement, I will add ten TDM AI's into the mix, for a grand total of twenty empires in the quadrant. I'll have to do some tweaking to their empire files to get them to zero points, but I'll try to keep each race as it was intended to be (no, the Rage will NOT become cute and cuddly teddy bears). Just so no one cries "Foul" that I'll be privy to the AI races, I'll post the modified .emp files on the Shrapnel forum for everyone to view. There we can discuss which races to include and how their .emp files should be modified. The AI's will be chosen to get a good mix of disposition, atmosphere, home planet type, and racial techs.

The AI races will be: Rage, Pyrochette, Praetorian, Norak, and six others to be determined (maybe also Xi'Chung, Cryslonite, and, heck, I don't know).

A few important notes:
1. When creating your empire, drop your Cunning to -50% to start with 800 racial points. You're going to need all you can get!
2. The game will start with a 48 turn interval. As the game progresses and the turns get more complex, the interval may be increased later.
3. Since you'll start with nearly nothing and will be played in a large quadrant, I expect this game to Last a LONG time. So, if you don't think you'll be able to keep with it for the long haul, please do not sign up.

Anyone else, who wants a change from starting with the world on a silver platter, come on in!

--*--

Starting resources: 5000
Starting planets: 1
Home planet value: Bad
Score display: Allied
Technology level: Low
Racial points: 0 (Really 800 after minimizing Cunning)
Quadrant type: Mid-life
Quadrant size: Large
Event frequency: Low
Event severity: Catastrophic
Technology cost: High
Victory conditions: 500% of second place, or galaxy at peace for three years, or Last species standing (effective after five years)
Maximum units: Maximum
Maximum ships: Maximum (for massive fleet battles in the middle and endgame)
Computer players: 10
Computer difficulty: High
Computer player bonus: High
Neutral empires: No
Other game settings: No intelligence. Tech tree on. No map saving.

Max players: 10
Turn duration: 48 hours
Turn automation: Fully automatic turns
SE4 Version: v1.41 + TDM ModPack 1.72

Quikngruvn

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Stay alert. Trust no one. Keep your laser handy.
--from the RPG Paranoia, now my PBW mantra

[geoschmo]

Quik,

It sounds very interesting. I wanted to point out a couple things though that may affect the game.

There is a bug with the 1.41 Version of Se4 that affects the command line mod support for games. What this means is that the TDM modpack that we intended to support on PBW doesn't really work right. The game will function fine, but the ai races will act like the default races in the game, not the TDM races. Unless you run the turns offline. That's a little extra work as the game owner. If you are interested I can explain how it's done.

You might instead want to just keep it the regular ai but give them High bonus or something like that. Just a suggestion. On high bonus the ai put up a pretty stiff challange. Especially since the players won't be able to go all out against them the way they would in a single player game cause that would open up weaknesses that the ai wouldn't take advantage of, but the other human players in the game might.

The other thing is I noticed you were going to set the game to 0 racial points and modify the ai races to use 0 points. You could limit the human players to zero points, and still use the ai at there regular point levels. This would simplify the setup, and also give you an additional bit of toughness to the game. Simply set the game settings to 0, add the human players, then change the racial points back to 2000 and then add the ai races. The game lets players use less than the limit, just not more.

Geoschmo

[Quikngruvn]

Geo, I was unaware of the AI bug. I do need some clarification on it, tho.

Say, for example, I add the Xi'Chung. I assume, even if selected from TDM, that they will use the stock AI files for their race. But, if I add the Rage, they will use, what, the generic bloodthirsty AI files? If so, how much less difficult will they be, assuming they get max bonuses and more racial points?

I was already planning on maxing out the AI's difficulty and bonus, but I like the idea of the AI having 2000 racial points vs. 0 for humans. I'm still tempted to tweak the AI .emp files to get more points after minimizing Cunning, but if and how can be decided by consensus.

I'm too unreliable to run the turns offline, so I will most likely go with your suggestions for the game, particularly the racial points. But, I'm going to stand firm on zero racial points for humans. Yes, including myself! If anyone doesn't trust me (and shame on you if you don't! ), then I can send my .emp to an outside arbiter (a non-player) for verification.

Quikngruvn

[LazarusLong42]

<blinks>

Oh dear... I hadn't thought about it enough to realize the problem was that bad. That means my Menagerie game is going to be... well, perhaps, way too easy. Ah well.

LL

[Quikngruvn]

quote:

---

Originally posted by LazarusLong42:
<blinks>

Oh dear... I hadn't thought about it enough to realize the problem was that bad. That means my Menagerie game is going to be... well, perhaps, way too easy. Ah well.

---

LL, apparently no one informed the Klingons. 'Sides, there's still nine humans trying to keep each other from winning. That should be entertaining enough in itself.

After some thought and some Kahlua, I decided on the ten AI races and to hell with tweaking 'em! Your 2000 pt AI races will be:

Abbidon, Amon'krie, Cryslonite, Krill, Norak, Praetorian, Pyrochette, Rage, Sergetti, and Ukra-Tal.

Here's the breakdown:
Planet: 2 gas, 2 ice, 6 rock
Atmos: 3 O2, 2 CO2, 2 CH4, 2 H2, 1 none
Demeanor: 2 Serene, 1 Honorable, 1 Neutral, 1 Impulsive, 2 Aggressive, 2 Violent, 1 Psychotic
Racial Tech: each appears once

Basically, no schemers or races with Cunning bonuses, and the list isn't completely O2 rocks.

And, if the bug gets worked out and the AI races actually use their AI files...

Anywhich, lemme update the game description right quick.

Quikngruvn

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Stay alert. Trust no one. Keep your laser handy.
--from the RPG Paranoia, now my PBW mantra

[dumbluck]

I'm in. But I have one suggestion.

Put event frequency on high. It makes games much more interesting!

BTW, that is a wise PBW Mantra you've got there.

[capnq]

If I had time to add another PBW game, I'd be interested in this one, but I'm already spending too much time there. I couldn't let this comment go unchallenged, though:

quote:

---

Put event frequency on high. It makes games much more interesting!

---

I've only played one solo game with event frequency set to medium instead of low, and I quickly found that rate to be downright annoying. I don't think seeing two planets blow up from core instabilities within less than five years is very interesting at all. IMO, if event frequency goes up, event severity needs to go down to compensate.

------------------
Cap'n Q

The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the
human mind to correlate all of its contents. We live on a placid
island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was
not meant that we should go far. -- HP Lovecraft, "The Call of Cthulhu"

[dumbluck]

yea, that's what makes it interesting. Or at least it will keep you on your toes!

[Quikngruvn]

If I raise the event frequency, I will be dropping the severity. Right now that's still a big 'if'. Personally, I think everyone's gonna have enough to worry about, between starting an empire from scratch, dealing with nine other human players, and dealing with enhance computer empires, without having to worry every turn if their homeworld's start is going to go nova. (I usually play on high severity.)

But, in the spirit of democracy, anyone in the game can vote for either low frequency and catastrophic severity, OR medium frequency and high severity.

Cap'n, I learned that mantra the hard way. I started my empire focusing more on infrastructure than defense when an agressive warmongering empire showed up in my home system. Being woefully underdefended, I was easy pickings for 'em. I was effectively out of the game within the first YEAR (though I've Lasted another year to taunt the invaders, wait for the inevitable, and pray for a miracle). Trust me, it will not happen again!

Five players so far: the game is half-full, or half-empty, depending on your point of view.

Quikngruvn

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Stay alert. Trust no one. Keep your laser handy.
--from the RPG Paranoia, now my PBW mantra

[Alpha Kodiak]

I think this game is going to be really tough, even without a lot of random events happening. I usually turn random events off in my single player games so that the AI is not adversely hit by them, since the AI is less able to compensate than I am.

I'm OK with having random events, but I would rather keep them to a minimum.