Map: Poke in the Eye

[Gandalf Parker]

Yes that type of thing pops up in chaos.

The chaos program does no decent sanity checks at all. The random selections are all numeric involving the range from zero to the maximum choices. It cant examine or judge the choices based on any criteria. The best it does is that I do kep the choices of troops and bodyguards within a a short range from the initial choice.

So it picks a commander from the full list then adds units and bodyguards from somewhere fairly close to that. All that does is make use of the order that units were added to the game. That way the units MIGHT be at least from the same nation or the same theme (lizard, undead, summons).

As to the provinces you saw, the game does do random ownership of some of the provinces. It picks provinces and randomly adds castle, temple, lab in various combinations and sometimes it randomly gives it an owner. That means that a far province might pop up as being owned/operated by Ermor even if Ermor isnt in the game. On the other hand, sometimes a far province shows up at the start of the game assigned to you. Its also worth noting that other unusual things are the random assignment of unrest and PD. Also that scattered castles have both inside and outside defenders.

Future considerations for adding to the chaos program is more random to the maps (such as colors) such as seen in numbers 31-40 of these map runs.
http://www.dom3minions.com/RandomizedMaps.htm
And possibly some clearing of provinces such as used in the NI maps. And maybe re-ading that scattered castles might start out under siege by a random nation in rare occurances.

[Gandalf Parker]

Basically, chaos means that there arent many "bugs". Its meant to be an exploration of violating every standard expectation in a totally random manner. Created by a burnout for other burnouts.

Its also great publicity for the use of the SemiRandom program by Ballbarian. Almost every complaint about the chaos games is fixed in SemiRand. The units are more logically assigned and the AIs have smarter god choices. Also the provinces are themed (lycanthrope village, forest of fowls, dragons dessert) use of reasonable naming, guard units, and what you can recruit based on what was guarding the province. You can even design and add your own special provinces (in fact, please do)

[chrispedersen]

Hmm... it wouldn't be that hard to make a table that said
this leader can lead the following troops.

Actually gandalf, edi's database already does this.
It tells you if troop is demon, undead or magical.
So, all you would have to do is a pretty simple case.

Check each troop type vs the table.
If troop 1 or troop2 or troop three = magic, include 1-2 std magic leaders.

If troop 1 or troop2 or troop 3 = undead, include 1-2 std undead leaders

same for demons...

Now, more spiffy would be to use tailored leaders and troops.
But also more work.

[Gandalf Parker]

I thought about incorporating Edi's database. Id have to port it over to text or csv each time he updates.

It would also help with other problems such as that the totally random routine also throws land units into the water and water units onto the land. This is mostly unfair for the water since most of them drown leaving very few with any specials at all.

Id probably be more motivated if SemiRand didnt solve nearly all the problems with Chaos. And the fact that Im in basically a zero-motivation phase right now (both virtual and rl)

[Doo]

Bump

Great map. Fun to face more interesting indies.

[Gandalf Parker]

Thanks.
Remember that like the other regen'd maps, this one is recreated daily on my site. So if it starts feeling old, like you already know whats in certain provinces, just download it again to get new surprises. Or if you feel that certain key locations are blocked by something too strong since that can happen sometimes when things are so totally random.

[Gandalf Parker]

Thanks.
And keep in mind that like the other regen'd maps, this one is recreated daily on my site. So if it starts feeling old, like you already know whats in certain provinces, just download it again to get new surprises. Or if you feel that certain key locations are blocked by something too strong since that can happen sometimes when things are so totally random.