SMACX AI Growth mod

[Vidsek]

     Concerning the map I'm currently using (which I attached to my post of a few days ago) I realized that I omitted an important bit of instruction for it.

   If you load a map made with special conditions set, but have a different set of conditions stored in your copy of the game, the map editor will automatically redraw it to match your settings.  You need to go into the Scenario/Map Editor and match the construction settings to see it as intended.

   Here is a copy of the same map made with all the pertinent parameters set to average/default (which I suppose most folks leave them at):

[bvanevery]

   Does the AI ever actually use Tectonic missiles?  Or Fungal ones for that matter.

I've never seen it, so the answer might be no.  However, I've never tried making a predefined unit available.  Also the cost of weapons does affect whether they'll get used.  Making Conventional Missiles more expensive is how I keep from being pestered by a continuous rain of them.

   At the very least, they should have an equal chance of lowering the land, or lowering one side and raising the other.
   Just as unrealistic, but more fun, would be if they caused a volcano to erupt, complete with active lava flows that damage units crossing them 

Since game mechanically a Planet Buster lowers land, they surely figured you have the missile based editing tools at your disposal to do whatever you wish.

[bvanevery]

I've realized that the Planet Buster is not a predefined unit.  I'm not sure why I had that in my head.  So the cost of a PB is inherent to that kind of warhead.  Making predefined missile units isn't going to make their costs constant.  Also if I make predefined missiles, they don't have to be prototyped when the appropriate technology is discovered.  Typically I've delayed the predefined unit by 1 tech to overcome that problem, but I don't want that for missiles.  They are so expensive that I actually want the prototype to be built, and not just wait for a tech to provide the prototype.

So, I'm not happy that Tectonic Missiles become pretty cheap at the end of the game, but it's not worth fighting the cost formulas at the modding level.  If I were committed to shipping a binary patch, and I'm not, I'd definitely put changing these formulas on the list of things to tweak, along with probe team takeover costs.

Details apocalyptic inventory

apocalyptic inventory

MY 2399.  I have 41 Singularity Planet Busters in my arsenal.  It's time to launch!  However this is going to be a bit of a hybrid finish.

I'm starting to understand what it means to completely overkill a game, as last turn I kicked Zhakarov off his continent by conventional means alone.  I used Singularity troops to do it, but nothing stronger than a R-Bolt.  Mindworms that I had Psi Gated to the front, were just as effective at clearing his cities.  Which definitely makes me wonder about bothering to build expensive units.  I didn't build new forces to make my invasion, I just used my standing forces.  I guess I was feeling overprotective earlier, and a series of expensive cash upgrades made those units more effective over time.

I belatedly remembered that I didn't need to research anything anymore, so I switched my budget to 70-20-10.  I'm making 8900 credits per turn.  Now I'm belatedly remembering that I built the Telepathic Matrix, so I'm switching my budget to 80-10-10.  Now I'm making 9400 credits per turn.

Between the conventional forces, and the money, I should be able to take the biggest population centers intact.  I'll fry the rest.  As a precaution for the aftermath, I've been building Pressure Domes everywhere.  Planet has already been sinking a lot as is, and it has gotten difficult to track which cities are ready for the flood.  So from now on, all of them have to be.  I'm also building piles of Empath Trance Gravships to deal with any Locusts that show up.  I don't know how effective they will be.   If they aren't, I could always just build my own Locusts, which are a lot cheaper.

Details most of the world

most of the world

The game doesn't quite want to show me the whole map at a reasonable blowup.  Mainly missing is a continent full of weak Drones.  I am the yellow bits.  The first thing that's going away is the white bits, since I'm at war with them.  That shouldn't actually take all that many nukes, as it's just some sea bases and the blast radius is 4.

[bvanevery]

Details witness the conflagration

witness the conflagration

Everyone declares war on me.  Zhakarov has no nukes, so I don't need to worry about him retaliating.  Free Drones have 1 Quantum Planet Buster.  Spartans don't have any, I think I destroyed their limited inventory in a ground assault awhile back.  The Peacekeepers somehow lost 7 Quantum Planet Busters.  Wonder how they managed that?  The Believers have 1 Fission Planet Buster and somehow lost 13.  The Usurpers are extinct.  Well it's not going to take much to end everyone's ability to resist!

Details seabase schmeebase

seabase schmeebase

So far I've got good groupings on the destroyed cities.  To my knowledge I haven't wiped anyone but the University.  But I'm not checking for units inside cities before I light them up, nor for innocent units within within the rather large blast radius.  But hey there are no innocents anymore!  We will follow in the footsteps of Daenerys Targaryen and 'liberate' them all!

Details close to port

close to port

I have to be careful what I shoot at.  Some of these cities are close enough to my own to take them out in the blast.  I'm going to need Marines, ships, air units coming from Psi Gates, something, to clean up the few stragglers.

Details tight grouping

tight grouping

I've gotta show the before and after of this one.

Details the one that got away

the one that got away

So far my challenge has been to navigate my missiles to the farthest extent of their 41 square range.  They can stay aloft forever, but it's better to strike targets in 1 turn than 2 turns.  Things might get interesting if the 2 enemy Planet Busters are not within range of my own first strike.  But that's what Psi Gates are for!

[bvanevery]

Details choose your neighbors carefully

choose your neighbors carefully

The University is down to scraps, with only a few isolated cities here and there rather than groupings.  I have 37 missiles remaining!  Man can these things cover.  I guess it's what I've been missing all these years, and I'd probably continue to, if the sunspots hadn't arrived.  Now I can't kill University Base and others without hitting someone 'innocent'.  Oh wait, there are no innocents.  Let's liberate them!

Details corner shot

corner shot

I clicked on the wrong city when measuring my distances, so now I have 1 PB aloft that doesn't have a target yet.  Wouldn't you feel lucky if you lived in Theta Sector?  Of course there's more than one Theta Sector so the name alone can't protect you.

Details divine intervention

divine intervention

Pity about the Uranium Flats.  They were sinking anyways, and what's left will be even more radioactive!

Details Jehovah is merciful

Jehovah is merciful

This is a lot like bowling.  It's even like the old bowling video games, because I have to push the Prnt Scrn button at just the right time to capture the mushroom clouds going up.

Details Spartans get their turn

Spartans get their turn

I don't have anything against them lately but eh, range.  It's easiest to take out the cities nearest me, using the missiles from my rearmost cities.  They were in the way of me wiping the Believers.  Who were in the way of me wiping the University.  I'm following the continental outlines man!  If they wanted safety they should have settled differently.

Details that's a tall one

that's a tall one

You can see it looks a little intimidating when done near your own cities.

[Vidsek]

   I'm in awe!!   I may start ending every game like that!

[bvanevery]

I know right?  This is like the best!

Details d'oh!

d'oh!

I forgot that the Free Drones are the only faction to deploy an Orbital Defense Pod.  They had a few more a long time ago, but they lost them attacking my ODPs I think.  Pity, I had made all these Conventional Missiles to fool the ODP into discharging.  Totally forgot to do it.

Details d'oh! d'oh!

d'oh! d'oh!

I guess my orbital kung fu is weak.  I didn't realize they got another chance with an expended ODP.  At least they can't do it again.  That's 2 of my precious PBs they wasted.  I only have 30 left, how am I ever going to destroy the world at this rate?!?   

Details die properly

die properly

By careful targeting I got 3 mining platforms out of the deal too.  I could have taken out more cities by hitting an Isle at sea, but I wanted the mines.  Also it would take a 2nd nuke to clear the southern cities anyways, so I couldn't actually save on my missile count.  You just gotta feel the edge of your borders man!

Details remnants be gone

remnants be gone

3 more mines out of that one too.

[bvanevery]

Details keep your mindworms tidy

keep your mindworms tidy

The Free Drones lost an isolated city because they left one of their mindworms lazing about.  I was trying to destroy the Believers but couldn't resist the opportunity to include them in the blast radius.

Details vapor hole

vapor hole

I wonder if I'll capture every frame of the animation by the time I'm done with this.

Details when does Planet get pissed

when does Planet get pissed

25 nukes remaining.  I'm starting to think this won't be enough to do the job.  I'm ok with mopping up conventionally.  Gives Planet a chance to have a say in the matter.

Details Isle of the very deep

Isle of the very deep

I have finally located the Believer city with the nuke in it.  It's to the north.  I didn't like the city groupings, as the best spread would hit a Peacekeeper city.  I think I've previously avoided committing any atrocities against them, and would prefer to save them for a conventional cleanup since they're farthest away.  Although for all I know, some of their stray units could be collateral damage already and it may not matter.  Anyways a stray Isle gave me the targeting I needed on 3 cities.

Details and now their nuke is ended

and now their nuke is ended

Only the Free Drone nuke remains.

[bvanevery]

Details peaceful sea chain

peaceful sea chain

Ah what the heck, I can't resist a good grouping!  They're allied with the Spartans and the University and have probably already gotten one of their units fried anyways.

Details poof

poof

I'd like to think that by destroying the smallest, most inconvenient cities, I'm sparing lives.

Details the most flat Isle

the most flat Isle

There was nothing out there.  I got clicking on the arrow keys too fast, trying to hustle my nuke up north, and ran into an Isle.  1st time I've made that mistake.  I'll try to slow down now.  Maybe it had to do with the cup of coffee I started drinking.  20 nukes left, so I've expended half my inventory.

Details proper

proper

You know I've been Democratic most of the game.  Yet Lal has been a jerk for a very long time.  It just goes to show how wound up people are around here.

Details bank shot

bank shot

as in the bank of a river.  Or maybe that's the ocean.  The big city had the Free Drone nuke in it, so that's that!

[Buster's Uncle]

This is so much better than a ragequit...

[bvanevery]

I wonder what the shortest timeframe I can take successful vengeance is?  Granted, I'm not yet proven successful.  I could be patting myself on the back, and next turn, could be more Locusts than anyone could possibly handle.  We shall see!  But if 41 Singularity nukes is not enough, wow, that really says something.  I mean I could easily double that just waiting a few more turns, but should I have to??!

Details orange roughy

orange roughy

Friends don't let friends grow up to be mindworms.

Details makin' craters

makin' craters

Details try to say goodbye

try to say goodbye

Details tip tap

tip tap

The Free Drones are roaming so many units around in their hinterland, that I can almost count on a unit to be in the perfect position to take out the maximum number of cities.

Details Monsoon crater

Monsoon crater

The ecological loss caused midlevel executives the world over to weep profusely.  Oh they had the most delicious fruits!  But we need stable markets and can't very well have this random violence the other factions are constantly precipitating.  It's as though they don't basically respect the strength of our balance sheets.

[bvanevery]

Details ding dong

ding dong

Details it's like basketball

it's like basketball

Details just tip it in

just tip it in

Details tiddlywinks

tiddlywinks

I've used Psi Gates to completely devastate the Drones, whose continent was farthest away from me.  I have 9 PBs remaining and it's down to last choices.  The Peacekeepers are the only faction with a substantial number of cities remaining.  The Spartans have more than one would expect, by virtue of them being scattered and small to begin with.  Otherwise, it's crumbs.  The humans other than myself are done for.

[bvanevery]

Details we don' need no steenkin' coast

we don' need no steenkin' coast

Details tiptoe through the fungus

tiptoe through the fungus

Details yippie kai yai yay

yippie kai yai yay

Details blueberry ghost

blueberry ghost

I've run out of PBs that can pass through Psi Gates, since they stop their movement upon entering a new city.  I can only gate them when they start in a city with a gate, and only 1 can pass through per turn.  Some cities had multiple PBs and didn't manage to find a good target grouping within immediate range, so that's that.  I've decided to expend my remaining nukes on scraps close to home, rather than bother with saving them for next turn.

[bvanevery]

Details don't stand next to the Former

don't stand next to the Former

Details trying to be fair

trying to be fair

Details blubber

blubber

Details whoosh

whoosh

I blew up 1 more city, but spaced out saving the screenshot of it.  Well it's not like I don't have enough nuke porn!  Sorry if the positions tend to look the same.  Some lessons here about the entertainment value of holocaust photos.  Might be interesting to design a game that features prurient screenshots of things dying.

I still haven't finished my turn.  Next phase is mopping up the Peacekeepers using conventional forces.  I won't be able to eliminate them as I don't have enough naval, air, or gravship units and I'm out of nukes.  But close enough!

[bvanevery]

Details democratic remnant

democratic remnant

I kicked Lal in the teeth a little bit more, but my Conventional Missiles couldn't reach any targets.  I left them hovering, on the presumption that Lal's air force is toast, if he ever had one.  I could have bought the big city but balked at spending 9K on it.  Even with my wealth, that's a lot.  What you're seeing here is mostly what Lal has left, aside from a few small sea bases offscreen.  Other factions have hardly anything left at all, 1 to 3 cities, and I thought some had none.  Maybe when I start my next turn I'll get some Faction Eradicated notices.

Details energetic march of capitalism

energetic march of capitalism

I'm actually Green but it's the thought that counts.  Green actually makes me more money, I think partly from the Manifold Harmonics, partly from +1 JUSTICE, and partly because you don't get much (any?) Commerce from factions in a Truce.  The world is a little more yellow from my conventional takeovers.  Mostly what's notable about the world now, is what's missing.

Details most of the world

most of the world

Here is what it used to look like.  I don't know what kind of flooding I'll get next year.  I changed my Gravship production to make an assortment of units of different costs, so that almost everything will complete next year.  I will also get 3 more nukes.  Even if the whole map becomes mindworm hell, this should be enough to wipe out all remaining humans and declare a Conquest victory.  As long as there isn't some rule about surviving "one more turn" before being handed the victory award.  The amount of eco-damage my cities are now projected to have, is quite frightening.  Previously most of my cities did no damage, and a tiny number were in the teens.  Now the highest I see is 116, from dropping all these nukes.