game idea: junkyard wars

Puke · #1 July 9th, 2001, 08:33 AM

maybe its because I like improvisational engineering, or mad-max style makeshift-destruction. maybe its because there is something inside all guys that desires to root around a pile of industrial scrap and find some great treasure. or maybe its just some irrational attraction to girls with english accents, but here is a scenario idea that I thought was cool:

setup a game with Lots of ruins on the map. I mean tons of the buggers, a veritable graveyard (or junkyard, i should say) quadrant. give players medium starting tech, and DISABLE (yes, that means shut-off, as in, you cant use it in the game) Applied Research. so, you cant research ANYTHING. At all. Ever. Period.

I would go on to describe advantages and shortcomings of how I predict the gameplay would be, but I think the concept speaks for its self. I welcome comments, input, and suggestions. I will probably start a game like this on the PBW host, seiv.pbw.cc sometime in the next couple days if people want to swing over and check it out.

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"...the green, sticky spawn of the stars"
(with apologies to H.P.L.)

BeeDee10 · #2 July 9th, 2001, 08:54 AM

This is a very weird and very interesting idea. I like it.

I imagine that technology trading would become _very_ important, and whoever expanded the fastest would have a major advantage. But if only one player was lucky enough to score astrophysics and then a couple of levels of stellar manipulation in a row, I'm sure he could buy all the "mundane" techs he needed to make himself more well-rounded. Or he could just revel in being the only player in the game who can blow up planets, making it a sort of "racial" tech.

Getting enough levels of Applied Intelligence to steal technology would be a killer advantage. Considering the counterintelligence bug in 1.41, you might want to disable intelligence for this one.

Spoo · #3 July 9th, 2001, 11:43 PM

I think disabling trades and gifts would keep the game more in the spirit of "Junkyard Wars". Possibly intel should be disabled too (cause of the nasty bug).

Whoever gains ship capture first would have a definite advantage -unless another player has self-destruct devices...

I hope you do set this up as a PBW game.

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Assume you have a 1kg squirrel
E=mc^2
E=1kg(3x10^8m/s)^2=9x10^16J
which, if I'm not mistaken, is equivilent to roughly a 50 megaton nuclear bomb.
Fear the squirrel.

Spoo · #4 July 9th, 2001, 11:45 PM

Possible snag

Don't ruins give you extra levels in the tech you're researching? So what happens when you can't research anything?

------------------
Assume you have a 1kg squirrel
E=mc^2
E=1kg(3x10^8m/s)^2=9x10^16J
which, if I'm not mistaken, is equivilent to roughly a 50 megaton nuclear bomb.
Fear the squirrel.

Suicide Junkie · #5 July 10th, 2001, 12:51 AM

Nope.

I've had AIs get some things which they will never research.

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LazarusLong42 · #6 July 10th, 2001, 12:59 AM

If you do set this up, I'd recommend you click the "can only colonize home planet type". Otherwise, the first person to get a second colony type wins, basically.

I think we need a catalog of "Concept Games"--see my Menagerie game on PBW for another concept game.

LL http://seiv.pbw.cc/

Quikngruvn · #7 July 10th, 2001, 07:11 AM

I love this idea! It's already making my head spin....

Are the contents of ruins set when the map is generated, or does the game determine the ruins' contents when the planet is colonized? Also, are there redundant ruins (e.g. two different ruins have Gas Colonization), or are all ruins unique?

I agree with no intel, but I like the idea of being able to command high prices from your fellow aliens for plum techs....

As for 'only home planet type': I'm trying to decide if playing a Gas or Ice race like that would set you at a disadvantage (fewer planets) or advantage (less competition).

Just my ramblings. When it's up, I'm in! (Wait, that doesn't sound quite right....)

Quikngruvn

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"That which does not kill you will make you stronger." -- Nietzsche

[This message has been edited by Quikngruvn (edited 10 July 2001).]

Trachmyr · #8 July 10th, 2001, 12:22 PM

Another thought... to slow down the colonization rush, I suggest altering colony modules so they are very expensive AND add the "Modified Maintainence" tag and set it to 300! That means they'll cost 4x normal mainainence (w/o racial modifiers, they'll cost what it cost to build them every turn)... this way empires can only use/build a few colonizer at any one time.

And no you can't set what tech is in ruins (except unique tech), but you can set HOW MANY techs are found at any one ruins.

Gimboid · #9 July 10th, 2001, 03:52 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Trachmyr:
I suggest altering colony modules so they are very expensive AND add the "Modified Maintainence" tag and set it to 300!

An interesting suggestion, but one problem with that is that if the game is on PBW then u cant slightly modify files and use them like u could in a single player game or even a normal PBEM game.

Some mods are supported on PBW, but i dont think there are any plans to support small modifications such as the one u have suggested.

So to achieve the same effect u could always set the starting resources very low combined with a single homeworld. So that players cannot immediately build large masses of colony ships. It would slow them down, at least for the first few turns.

PS - if its ok with u Puke id like to be in on this game once u set it up.

Puke · #10 July 11th, 2001, 12:35 AM

This game is now accepting players. please go to seiv.pbw.cc to join. I added trading, but put a victory condition on that the first one to discover 85% of the techs wins. should make trading very interesting. settings follow:

Status: Game open to new players

Game description
Your race has been ripped from its home and deposited into the Junkyard Quadrant by the great god known as PBW. At the same time, all the great thinkers of your species were left behind. Your race will henceforth be completely incapable of research. Completely! That means none at all! Ever! Not even a little! None!

As fortune would have it, this quadrant is ripe with ruined civilizations. all you have to do, is colonize a planet with ruins, and take the tech you find. Your prophets have forewarned you that you will be competing against other races for these ruins, and they might not be friendly.

**SPECIAL RULES (PAY ATTENTION)**
NO RESEARCH
NO INTEL PROJECTS
you get 0 (ZERO) racial points. why? 'cause you will get plenty of points back once you take your research and cunning down to -50, since you wont be using them. (thought id point that out since a few people in the Furball game didnt quite piece it together)

Check out the special rules at the bottom. Game to start on 2001.07.20 (Friday) or when full. Special Thanks to all the guys on the Shrapnel Games message board who chimed in with lots of good ideas.

Starting resources: 5000
Starting planets: 1
Home planet value: Bad
Score display: Own
Technology level: Medium
Racial points: 0
Quadrant type: Cluster
Quadrant size: Medium
Event frequency: MEDIUM
Event severity: HIGH
Technology cost: n/a
Victory conditions: 85% of Techs discovered, 1st place lead by 300%
Maximum units: MAX
Maximum ships: MAX
Computer players: None
Computer difficulty: n/a
Computer player bonus: n/a
Neutral empires: No
Other game settings: Trading will be allowed! Colonize only home planet type! Colonize any atmosphere! No map saving!
Game information
Owner: puke
Turn number: Not Started
Players/max: 1/20
Last turn:
Next turn:
Turn duration: 72 hours
Turn automation: Fully automatic turns (key)
SE4 Version: Stock v1.41

------------------
"...the green, sticky spawn of the stars"
(with apologies to H.P.L.)