Alpha Centauri 2

Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri & Alien Crossfire => Modding => Bug/Patch Discussion => Topic started by: Mart on July 13, 2015, 07:13:41 PM

Title: Punishment Sphere in Yitzi 3.4
Post by: Mart on July 13, 2015, 07:13:41 PM

How actually Punishment sphere is supposed to work? I'm doing tests with it in a mod, but when I can see no drones and no talents, it looks like the labs output is not effected, and should go down to 50%.
Am I missing something?

Title: Re: Punishment Sphere in Yitzi 3.4
Post by: Yitzi on July 13, 2015, 11:11:46 PM

This bug appears to happen in Kyrub's version too, so I didn't do it...that said, it is clearly a bug, and a fairly significant one, so I'll add it to the list for 3.5.

Title: Re: Punishment Sphere in Yitzi 3.4
Post by: Mart on July 13, 2015, 11:15:04 PM

Can you replicate it? Can you see it in a game, that you start?

Title: Re: Punishment Sphere in Yitzi 3.4
Post by: Yitzi on July 13, 2015, 11:15:48 PM

Quote from: Mart on July 13, 2015, 11:15:04 PM

Can you replicate it? Can you see it in a game, that you start?

Easily.  I just used the scenario editor to make a base with a Punishment Sphere.

Title: Re: Punishment Sphere in Yitzi 3.4
Post by: Dio on July 13, 2015, 11:59:33 PM

Quote from: Mart on July 13, 2015, 07:13:41 PM

How actually Punishment sphere is supposed to work? I'm doing tests with it in a mod, but when I can see no drones and no talents, it looks like the labs output is not effected, and should go down to 50%.
Am I missing something?

The Punishment  Research Penalty only appears in the Laboratory Summary Screen when the value from Labs Output Column gets added to the Tech Accumulated column at the start of each turn. In other words, the penalty applies as stated in the facility description except it never appears in any of the calculations for the displays.

Title: Re: Punishment Sphere in Yitzi 3.4
Post by: Lord Avalon on July 14, 2015, 12:35:42 AM

Wait - all this time I could've had no drones and full labs?! Agony booths FTW!

Title: Re: Punishment Sphere in Yitzi 3.4
Post by: Dio on July 14, 2015, 12:52:45 AM

Quote from: Lord Avalon on July 14, 2015, 12:35:42 AM

Wait - all this time I could've had no drones and full labs?! Agony booths FTW!

Incorrect. The penalty applies as stated in the Facility Description. However, this penalty never shows up in the display and only effects the value that gets added to the Research Accumulated each turn. As an example, say the hive has two bases with a lab output of +2 and one base has a punishment sphere. The base with the punishment only actually contributes +1 to the Labs Ouput of the faction (even though it shows it as contributing the full value). Therefore, the actual lab output of the faction is +3 per turn even though it displays it as +4.

Title: Re: Punishment Sphere in Yitzi 3.4
Post by: Lord Avalon on July 14, 2015, 01:21:55 AM

Rats!

Title: Re: Punishment Sphere in Yitzi 3.4
Post by: Mart on July 14, 2015, 01:22:29 AM

Quote from: Dio on July 13, 2015, 11:59:33 PM

...
The Punishment  Research Penalty only appears in the Laboratory Summary Screen when the value from Labs Output Column gets added to the Tech Accumulated column at the start of each turn. In other words, the penalty applies as stated in the facility description except it never appears in any of the calculations for the displays.

Ok, I took a closer look, and it seems, punishment sphere works. Rounding, like "down" rather than "up"
I had 3 bases with science output: 5,1,1
and from 9 accumulated labs went to 13 next turn, not 16.
2.5 was apparently rounded down.
Another turn, from 14 to 18 (not +7, but +4).

So punishment sphere works.
Now I remember, that probably I am bringing it for the second time.
Maybe it is worth placing a remark in patch "readme" stating that displaying halfed labs for punishment sphere do not show?
This way, it should not pop out this way in a year or two.

Title: Re: Punishment Sphere in Yitzi 3.4
Post by: Yitzi on July 14, 2015, 02:30:17 AM

Nah; while not a bug demanding immediate attention like "punishment spheres don't work at all" would be, the penalty to labs not showing is still clearly a bug, so let's leave it marked as such and then people can decide where to prioritize it in terms of bugfixes.