Alpha Centauri 2

Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri & Alien Crossfire => The Theory of Everything => Topic started by: Yitzi on August 28, 2015, 03:26:48 AM

Title: Rules for sensors and Geosynchronous Survey Pod combat bonuses
Post by: Yitzi on August 28, 2015, 03:26:48 AM

The following is how the game determines when to apply these bonuses.  Some of it seems very strange, so feel free to use this thread to discuss what is and is not a bug and what should happen instead.

For each square within 2 of the defender (assuming the defender is not native-owned* and is on a land square**), check the following:
-First check if the square has a sensor array.  If it does, then if it is valid (defined below) it grants the "sensor" bonus but not the "GSP" bonus (even if it would grant both bonuses if it didn't have the sensor).
-Next, find the closest base (ties go to whichever one was built more recently).  If that base has a geosynchronous survey pod, and the square being tested is in its radius, and the square being tested has the same color as it under a checkerboard pattern***, then if it is valid it grants both the "sensor" bonus and the "GSP" bonus (for a total bonus of 56.25% assuming the default sensor bonus of 25%).
-Validity is defined differently for land and sea squares: A land square is considered valid if it is either in the defending faction's territory, or in no faction's territory ("unowned" sensor arrays will happily help any faction's defender in combat, but draw the line at Planet's own forces).  A sea square is considered valid if the nearest base (again, ties go to the most recent) belongs to the defending faction.


*If the defender is native-owned, it does not test any squares, but for some reason still checks whether any squares were "hits".  This is strange, but has no effect; practically, native-owned units never benefit from these bonuses.

**Land units and air units flying over land benefit from sensors and GSPs; sea units and air units flying over the sea never do.

***So marking the base square with B, all the X squares in the following diagram, plus the base square itself, benefit from the geosynchronous survey pod, unless there is a closer base (which "blocks" the effect of the GSP even if the "blocking" base does not have a GSP):

**X**
*X*X*
X*B*X
*X*X*
**X**