Finite resources or not?

couslee · #1 January 26th, 2003, 10:41 AM

I saw a couple of comments, am curious just how many players are on each side of the board.

For me personally, I hate unlimited resources. I tried that back when I played Stars! and felt it unbalanced the game. I feel the same way with SEIVg. It makes the game too easy. If you never run out of minerals, why bother with storage facilities. With finite, if you don't watch your storage capacities, you may have to scrap some extractors to keep from not only losing the surplus, but losing the ability on that plantet altogether. Thats why there are value improvement plants are in the game.
If you think the SP game is too easy and you use infinite resources, perhaps you should try some harder settings.

Phoenix-D · #2 January 26th, 2003, 10:46 AM

"If you think the SP game is too easy and you use infinite resources, perhaps you should try some harder settings."

The AI doesn't handle finite resources very well, so actually that setting could make the game -easier-.

Phoenix-D

Arkcon · #3 January 26th, 2003, 03:55 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by couslee:
But in my current game, I don't see that as an AI defect.

See, I have. It was hard to build up enough of a fleet to take a planet from the AI. It kept beating me back. When I finally could however, I saw it had nothing left. I took over all the AI's and saw they were broke. And this was on high AI bonus. Most people have seen the same. Results are summarized here: Wiki

Bottom line, it only seems like a challange, after a small amount of planning, it's only a slighty different game.

If you want a challange, play "can only colonize owm planet type/atmospheres" and hand pick TDM-Modpack races. My favorite:"Romulans, Klingons, Praetorian, Sergetti" set them all to rock/oxy except for Sergetti, and I play terrans. Give them High bonus. I still can't win on that. Ohh think I'll try again this morning. See you all in a couple of days. Heh

[ January 26, 2003, 14:00: Message edited by: Arkcon ]

Ragnarok · #4 January 26th, 2003, 05:41 PM

First of all I can't stand finite resources.

"too bad thay can't put out a special patch that would put all of us on the same page. (IE upgrade 1.49 to 1.78 gold, or whatever the current patch # will be). I am a little supprized they didn't do that when the "gold" was released. "Gold" should be the final Version of a game, not a new Version. The gold should have been called SEV, and they would be working on SE6 now. It just strikes me as odd."

Reason they didn't make a patch from 1.49 to gold is there are too many hard code changes to the game. In other words all changes are not made just in the data files like most of the patches. There were changes in the exe file.
To me it makes perfect sense to do it this way. If they would've made Gold, SEV. I wouldn't like it probably. I mean when you go from IV to V you should have alot of big changes, interface changes or what have you. Just as III did when it went to IV, or II did when it went to III. There just wasn't enough big changes to validate it being SEV IMO.

minipol · #5 January 26th, 2003, 08:15 PM

If i were to play against humans, i would choose finite because it's more realistic. Against TDM races i always choose infinite resources otherwise the AI is to much weakened by this.

Grandpa Kim · #6 January 26th, 2003, 08:27 PM

I prefer infinite. I think the resources disappear much too fast in finite games. How can you suck a planet dry in less than 20 years? In terms of time, infinite if realistic.

Dobian · #7 January 26th, 2003, 09:14 PM

Having completed (just) four games, I think finite resources would hurt the AI more than myself, because I know how to take advantage of the asteroid fields and the AI doesn't.

Captain Kwok · #8 January 26th, 2003, 09:21 PM

I think finite resources can be fun if you are playing against other human players. The AI is not so good at handling it. It also helps to increase the finite amounts in settings.txt to extend a finite game - or just use FQM with all those plentiful asteroid fields.

Phoenix-D · #9 January 27th, 2003, 12:14 AM

"I have noticed some people are playing SEIV gold, and others are playing SEIV 1.49. Lots of threads about what people would like to see in the next patch, too bad thay can't put out a special patch that would put all of us on the same page. (IE upgrade 1.49 to 1.78 gold, or whatever the current patch # will be). I am a little supprized they didn't do that when the "gold" was released. "Gold" should be the final Version of a game, not a new Version. The gold should have been called SEV, and they would be working on SE6 now. It just strikes me as odd."

Gold was essentially an expansion pack to SE4. It was sold the way it was because if you sell it stand-alone, the coding is easier AND you can attract new players easier. Classic doesn't get any patches anymore because all the focus is on Gold (like how SEIII doesn't get any patches anymore), and no upgrade patch because then Malfador wouldn't get paid. Which they deserve every penny of IMO.

Phoenix-D

Fyron · #10 January 27th, 2003, 12:39 AM

Gold does not mean a new game, it means an expansion of the original game. Normally, a lot of new features are included in the Gold, but it is not enough to be considered a new game.