Host vs. players' data files for Infinite Chaos

Ed Kolis · #1 July 4th, 2003, 04:38 AM

I just want to get this straight... the PLAYERS have to be using the same data files that the HOST used to process the Last turn, and not the other way around, right? So if I wanted to change the data files on the players after 10 turns, I would have to process the 11th turn with the new data files even though the players had to use the old ones when actually entering their orders? I suppose I could send them the new data files along with the 11th .gam file, but it would be kind of odd for them to have to remember which things have changed while they play their turn... or I could change the data files a turn early (before processing turn 10) but not send them to the players until after turn 10 is processed like before and explain it all away by saying that things ordered in one turn don't really happen until the next turn, so the players have to guess at what is going to happen... if any of this makes sense...

edit: oh wait, that second plan was exactly the same as the first, only things happened a turn early... hmmm... how am I going to do this???

[ July 04, 2003, 03:41: Message edited by: Ed Kolis ]

narf poit chez BOOM · #2 July 4th, 2003, 08:04 AM

Ed Kolis · #3 July 5th, 2003, 12:03 AM

But the players still have to play a turn "blind", though? (i.e. they are submitting their orders for 2402.5 with the old mod, but those orders are processed with the new mod)

I suppose I could fix that by giving the players the new mod ahead of time and telling them to wait a turn before installing it, but that would get confusing...

Suicide Junkie · #4 July 5th, 2003, 01:58 AM

1) All players submit turns using the old mod for game date 2402.5.
2) The host uses the NEW mod to process the turn from 2402.5 to 2402.6
3) The players use the new mod to play their turns for 2402.6

Nobody has to miss any turns or anything. As long as the new mod is similar to the old one, things will go smoothly.

Suicide Junkie · #5 July 5th, 2003, 07:21 AM

How different is the new mod??

Are you totally changing the game or just tweaking some bug?

But, yes, the players will give old-mod-orders that process using new-mod-rules

Ed Kolis · #6 July 5th, 2003, 10:48 PM

Depends on what you mean by "totally changing the game"... any given tweak might be as little as decreasing all weapon ranges by half, or it might be as big as introducing QNP into the game... well, OK, I probably won't go with the full-fledged QNP, because that would really mess people up, if they were previously limited to 6 engines on a ship and suddenly they needed 8 just to make it move anywhere at all

Just don't make me come up with any more examples, you're running me out of ideas and the game hasn't even started yet!

I guess if the changes are small enough, though, then the players should just know to expect something out of the ordinary but not TOO weird to happen at that certain time interval

Jack Simth · #7 July 6th, 2003, 07:18 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Ed Kolis:
Just don't make me come up with any more examples, you're running me out of ideas and the game hasn't even started yet!

If you want a way to come up with lots & lots of possibilities, I have a suggestion. Get some dice (or a good random number generation program - many of the better Texas Instrument calculators have a random function built in, as do many programming Languages), and make lists of all the classes of stuff in the game: components, facilities, planets, hulls, et cetera - anything & everything moddable. Make more lists for each class of thing, listing all the possible effects that type of thing can have. Also make a list of every entry in your data files in that class of thing. Next, make a list of things that can happen: swap effects with..., more effect, lesser effect, more cost, less cost, new effect, remove effect, et cetera - everything you can think of. Number all of the lists. Then, use dice to select what to change: roll once to get the overall Category of thing you are changing (components, facilities, planets, et cetera), again to select the specific item that gets changed (engine, bridge, Master computer, et cetera), roll again to see what to do to it (More effect, lesser effect, more cost, less cost, new effect, remove effect, et cetera), then change it accordingly. (Note, for swap effect with.... you will want to roll from the same overall Category to select the thing to swap with; for new effect you roll on the list of possible effects for that class of thing, for remove effect you roll on the effects the thing has, for +/- effectiveness you roll for the amount and for which effect it has that gets changed and how much it gets changed by, et cetera - I'm sure you get the idea). Lastly, make the actual change.

This will provide you with a virtually unlimited number of possible changes, and it will do so quite chaotically (if you have fair dice, that is). If you like, you can start out by rolling a die to see how many times you run this procedure that cycle.