Babylon 5 Mod - Page 331

Timstone · #**3301** July 8th, 2003, 11:50 AM

I saw I had an oportunity to post message number 3300, so I just did it! Yeah!! I got post 3300!! Wohoo! What a sensation!

grumbler · #**3302** July 9th, 2003, 12:49 AM

Tim,

A couple of thoughts. If you give the homeworld hub a space yard ability, I think that means you won't get the regular shipyard in the initial build, and I know it means that you cannot build the shipyard later, as there is a limit of one space yard per planet.

Also, one of the things I liked in another mod was the idea of something like the Homeworld hubs, only perhaps "suburbs" that had the same values but not the one-time abilities, and cost a bit less. Then, you could slowly convert your homeworld into a more "urban" place by replacing the resource colonies with "urban" ones.

Also, I think the HH needs to improve planet conditions. The slowly growing races, like the Minbari and Centauri, are really screwed compared to the fast-growing races like the Narn because their populations don't grow at all on an unpleasant planet (and the homeworlds are all unpleasant at the start, I believe). Having the HH make the planet more pleasant over time makes these races much more competitive later in the game, as their homeworlds start to grow back in population and they get the production and generation bonuses.

Re the palace for the Trading port: are you sure the AI_Construction_Facilties is calling for it to be built first (i.e. that you are using my Version)? Have you tried moving the racial AI_C_F files to a temprary folder and putting the AI_C_F I uploaded into the AI folder as Generic_AI_Contruction_Facilities.txt, so that all races use it?

Try that, and allow 50 or so turns to go by so that the AI players have a chance to start a colony in a new system, and see if the AI is building a Trading Port.

I cannot see how this would work for me and not for you!

If all else fails, you can just make all races "Natural Merchants" and eliminate the Space Port ability from the game entirely.

grumbler · #**3303** July 9th, 2003, 01:01 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Timstone:
I saw I had an oportunity to post message number 3300, so I just did it! Yeah!! I got post 3300!! Wohoo! What a sensation!

Even more interestinmg is that the "ever-changing Name Thread" lost a LOT of Posts and is way behind now, not more than a coupla weeks after celebrating their "hard work" in overtaking this thread in length.

I just wonder....

grumbler · #**3304** July 9th, 2003, 01:02 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Suicide Junkie:
Abilities.txt is not read by the game...
It is merely a reference file for modders, like the history and readme.txt files.

I think I knew that once upon a time... But time steals away bits of info like that.

Fyron · #**3305** July 9th, 2003, 08:59 AM

Quote:

and the homeworlds are all unpleasant at the start, I believe

They are random. They range from unpleasant to optimal.

Timstone · #**3306** July 9th, 2003, 11:23 AM

Okay, we don't seem to get anything done this way (not too many replies besides Grumbler, way to go Grumbler). So I'll ask the question again in the hopes of getting more replies.

We have 2 facilities with the Spaceport ability (Homeworld Hub (HH) and the Trading Port (TP)). Each starting planet must have a Spaceport, a Supply Depot and a Ship Yard. The HH is the most expensive of the 2, so we want each starting planet to have a HH and each planet you colonize thereafter must start building a TP (otherwise the colony takes ages to be build).
Who has a good idea on how to do this?! For the abilities of the HH and the TP, see a few Messages down.

Maybe this question will help too.
Based on what does the computer make the decisions to put which building on your starting planets?

I really hope we get some more replies on these 2 questions. Maybe even a good sollution, would be great.

grumbler · #**3307** July 9th, 2003, 10:16 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Imperator Fyron:
They are random. They range from unpleasant to optimal.

Are you sure that is true when each race starts with one planet? I have never seen anything but unpleasant on one-planet starts, even when looking through the Ai races. Haven't checked enough to be positive, but in the game I am currently in, of 15 races, 15 have unpleasant homeworlds!

grumbler · #**3308** July 9th, 2003, 10:31 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Timstone:
We have 2 facilities with the Spaceport ability (Homeworld Hub (HH) and the Trading Port (TP)). Each starting planet must have a Spaceport, a Supply Depot and a Ship Yard. The HH is the most expensive of the 2, so we want each starting planet to have a HH and each planet you colonize thereafter must start building a TP (otherwise the colony takes ages to be build).
Who has a good idea on how to do this?! For the abilities of the HH and the TP, see a few Messages down.

Do you really want every planet to build a TP? If so, then you should give it construction abilities... in which case you have the manufacturing facility! Maybe the key here is to make the MF cheaper and then have each world build that first, obviating the need to build TPs at all. This might be a bit much for smaller domed worlds, though. They take forever to build anything (because even their max pop is so small it has only a few hundred build points at best)and can only build a few facilities.

Quote:

Maybe this question will help too.
Based on what does the computer make the decisions to put which building on your starting planets?

I can answer this. The AI_Construction_Facilities lists all the facilities to build, in order. Facilities are identified by abilities rather than name because that way ancient and nomad races build the right facilties using the same file, and because that way the AI will always build the most advanced facility available with that ability. System-wide facilties already built or building within the system are ignored, as are all facilities that require tech you don't have.

The AI_C_F files tells the AI how many facilities to build in each "step" before moving to the next step. When the planet is full, the AI stops. You will note that the Last entry is always "build 100 of this type" which just means finish filling out the planet.

I am looking to see if the AI will acccept more colony types than those listed. It doesn't look like it, though. Default_AI_Planet_Types.txt seems to preclude any but the existing nine colony types. If there CAN be more than nine, then we can make specialized building lists for planet sizes, and the larger planets can start on shipyards earlier (which is more efficient).

Timstone · #**3309** July 9th, 2003, 10:56 PM

I've messed around with the facilities again and I now got the computer so far to build a Trading Port, a Ship Yard and a Homeworld Hub on my homeplanets. I haven't got around to testing yet, but I will. The setup works with the low and medium tech setups. It cost me afternoon, but it's well worth it.

Grumbler, thanks again for the endless enthusiasm and the boundless energy.

Hmm... it seems to me this thread is losing members. Where are it's core-members? Hope it's the holidays. I sure miss them. Hope I'm not to blame for this...

grumbler · #**3310** July 10th, 2003, 12:04 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Timstone:
Hmm... it seems to me this thread is losing members. Where are it's core-members? Hope it's the holidays. I sure miss them. Hope I'm not to blame for this...

Nah, I think everyone, including me, has walked away from this for a while. They'll be back, I think, and I think it is very useful to rehash some of the thoughts behind the choices made.

I'm almost done with my Minbari weapons analysis. I'm still trying to work out a few measures of effectiveness. Once that's done, the others should be a lot easier.