SinglePlayer League, SPL-01 Game

[Mart]

IMPORTANT:
Update of submission rules:

Please submit your game in the following way:

1) Send the save (in .zip format) to:

which is:
smac [TOD] spl [TA] gmail [TOD] com

2) Post a short message here, that you sent such email (so there is a confirmation in case of problems, like spam filters, etc.)
Your message should not contain any info about how well you performed! Like MY year or score.
This is in order not to influence players, that submit after you.

==========
Submissions:
Mart
binTravkin

This is to list players that have submitted the game.
Exact score and place will be given after deadline.
It is still extended, but as we get more submissions, this long extension will have termination date given.

==========

This is the first game of SMACX-SPL, SinglePlayer League.
Faction played: University of Planet (original from SMAC)
Game of SMAX (Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri - Alien Crossfire)
Version: Yitzi patch 3.3
(check version by keys:  <CTRL> + <F4> when in the game)

Deadline: Extended till some time in the future.
Due to circumstances the deadline will be determined later and it will be noted here
as soon as it is known...
(Some month some day, some year, GMT-12, midnight.)
Submit save (a rule for now): by attaching the save to this thread.

NOTE: This game is specially designed, please read how to play it.

Rules are in this thread, first post, where you can also discuss them:
Link

Please use this thread for technical issues only and for submissions.
Spoiler SPL-01 game thread is here:
Link

Game settings in detail are in the second post.

How to play:
After downloading the game and putting it in your usual, standard SMACX game folder,
start the game, the expansion Alien Crossfire and choose:
Multiplayer > Hotseat/PBEM > Load multiplayer
Load the game, the password is:
<SPACE>
(it is a single space character)

Notes:
- The game, although multiplayer technically, is in fact single-player, because there is only one human faction declared.
- You can save the game, as in multiplayer, but then the game quits, as "iron man" mode is always enabled in multiplayer.
- At the end of each turn you need to press <ENTER> <SPACE> <ENTER>, which is only a little more than in standard
single player game with feature enabled "wait at the end of  turn."
- You cannot enable scenario editor in such game.
- If you restart a game from a save file, that you have already loaded before, there is a warning for you, as in regular multiplayer game.

IMPORTANT:
- If by mistake you load the game in single-player game mode, it will load, but it will be played by AI, you will soon notice this.
Please quit such game in order not to "view the future." Restart from your save, that was saved from multiplayer mode.


_

[Mart]

Factions:
1. Gaians
2. Hive
-> University (human)
3. Morganites
4. Spartans
5. Believers
6. Peacekeepers

MAP - CUSTOM MAP
Size	46x92 (a tile above large)
Planetary orbit	90 million miles (medium)
Ocean coverage	50-70%
Erosive forces	Average
Native life	Abundant
Cloud cover	Dense
Difficulty	Transcend
VICTORIES
Transcendence	ON
Conquest	-
Diplomatic	ON
Economic	ON
Cooperative	-
GAME SETTINGS
Do or die	ON
Look first	ON
Tech stagnation	-
Spoils of war	-
Blind research	-
Intense rivalry	-
No Unity survey	ON
No Unity scattering	-
No random events	-
Time warp	-
Iron man	-
Randomize personalities]	-
Randomize agendas	-

Modifications to AI Strategy
None

Modifications to AI Personality
None

[Mart]

Submission, game won by supreme leader voting.
MY 2266
score: 2320

Turn save, after loading start voting for a supreme leader.
---
I had a game crash once and maybe twice did not save properly, so I needed to reload in these cases. Nothing serious influencing the game.

[Mart]

Anyone here playing with intention of game submission?
The deadline can be extended some days.

[Kirov]

I only barely registered that there is SPL around. Why the fuss with a multiplayer game? Maybe I could give the game a shot with an extended deadline, although it's hard to enjoy standard SP games. A hard scenario would be my cup of tea much more.

[Mart]

I only barely registered that there is SPL around. Why the fuss with a multiplayer game?

Multiplayer here is for "iron man +", which is harder than only iron man.

Maybe I could give the game a shot with an extended deadline, although it's hard to enjoy standard SP games.

It is SP for less direct competition. Although, players, for example, in civ4, where I played few similar games, can compete quite fiercely for the score.
There is part of gamers, who do not like multiplayer competition so much, but still want to compete with other human players. This is an opportunity to do so.
As for me, I find it interesting to see how other players did in the same scenario, that is in addition to compete against them.

A hard scenario would be my cup of tea much more.

Ok, just win it in extreme small number of turns. The aim can be just for you only, e.g. victory before MY 2200. But that you set for yourself, in addition to do it faster than anyone else for gold medal.

[Mart]

And here, something I haven't set in the rules - submissions actually should be hidden and shown for others after deadline.
When I posted my score in 2266, I already gave others some aim to do better than this, thus taking better place in the ranking.

This could be in subsequent games, if we want to have such stricter competition.

[Kirov]

What is more important, the MY or the score? I think Transcendence takes longer but yields more points than other conditions, as far as I remember.

[Mart]

SMACX Single Player League
(SMACX-SPL)
In preparation to launch the League:

RANKING TYPES
- Total number of gold medals. [SPL-G]
- Total number of medals. [SPL-M]
- Best score (one game). [SPL-S1]
- Best score (five games average). [SPL-S5]
...

RULES
...
- Possible victory types are:
-- Transcendence
-- Conquest
-- Diplomatic
-- Economic
Cooperative victory is always off.
- A game has one to four victory types selected, game is won by any of the enabled type in the smallest number of turns. In case of a tie, score decides.
First three players receive gold, silver and bronze medals.
- A score is always noted for score-based standing types.
...

There are different ranking types, as mentioned, gold medal is for fastest MY (with score breaking ties)
Score has 2 rankings ( one-game and 5-game based)

Sometimes it may be, the same game has fastest MY and largest score, sometimes they will be two different submissions.
So one has to decide what to pursue if not able both.

In practice, I think, score takes more micromanaging...

[Mart]

Posted a training save game.
It is prepared in a regular way, but with no deadline and effect on ranking. For training purposes.
Link

[Kirov]

I started to play and have a save but I just don't know when I'll be able to finish it, maybe next week. 

[Mart]

No problem, I think I will extend the deadline even further.
(The number of submissions overwhelmed me...)

[Kirov]

I've just lost an hour of playing due to a crash ('zoom and erase' with a forest expand message). *sigh* I understand Iron Man, but autosave is sure useful every now and then.

[Mart]

I've just lost an hour of playing due to a crash ('zoom and erase' with a forest expand message). *sigh* I understand Iron Man, but autosave is sure useful every now and then.

Iron man somewhat helps to avoid reloads, in intention of game creators. But saving now and then is a good practice. One has to accept loading the game again to load a save.
On recent windows it takes like few seconds.
It is like making midsave in multiplayer game. Heavily used practice in demogames.

How about lack of "base maintenance run"? Something useful, or rather annoying feature in such singleplayer?

[Kirov]

How about lack of "base maintenance run"? Something useful, or rather annoying feature in such singleplayer?

More of the latter; I stick to the 'zoom and erase' option, but it is time-consuming.

Darn, I played some, but got stuck with ICS. I remember now that single player seems to be mostly about former management...