balancing Pirate minerals

[bvanevery]

Details half of Pirate colonies survive mindworms

half of Pirate colonies survive mindworms

MY 2164.  Because the Pirates are Socialist and not Capitalist, and they've got Trance Scouts, only half of the colonists heading westwards got killed.  The cities that they already made, survived.  It's wasteful but they're still brute forcing along.

Details Pirates subvert Usurpers

Pirates subvert Usurpers

MY 2174.  The Pirates use a probe team to achieve what I think was the first conquest on Planet.  They are still dominating but have some Secret Project competition now.

The AI stops working for some reason.  I switch to watching the Usurpers for a bit to get it going again, then back to the Pirates.

Details University gets stuff done first

University gets stuff done first

MY 2200.  I don't know exactly when the University finished these projects, as I've had a duct tape bar of pennies sitting on my Enter key to make things run without me.  Actually watching this game is as exciting as watching paint dry.  I was going to quit at MY 2200, but the somewhat unexpected result of seeing a different faction finish SPs first, will keep me running the thing a bit longer.  Maybe getting the Weather Paradigm isn't quite such a done deal or game determinant as I supposed.  In my mod I do make it more expensive than other SPs, 400 minerals.  That's to delay its completion and give a human player a larger window of opportunity to wrest it for themselves.  There's no question it's an exceedingly overpowered projects in the hands of a Thinker AI, but even if gained, it takes a fair amount of time to actually build the Condensers and Boreholes.  That's because I doubled their turn cost.

Details Spartans catching up

Spartans catching up

The Spartans are actually catching up to the Pirates.  If this were the stock AI, I'd attribute it to changing their research foci to Explore, Conquer.  In versions 1.20 through 1.28 of my mod, they were only Conquer, and it hurt their performance.  Previous to that, they seemed overpowered.  Now I expect that Thinker mod completely ignores the Explore stimulus as part of running its AI.  Unlike the stock binary, which actually moves and settles differently if the faction is Explore focused.  But it could be that the hybrid of researching Explore and Conquer in my tech tree, is substantially better for faction growth than researching Conquer alone.  The only faction I have left that only researches Conquer, is the Usurpers.  They've never seemed to need a boost.

I wouldn't call this an exactly shocking result.  In my mod, Explore is interpreted to mean "colonization, growth, and Psi combat techs", not exploring per se.  Anything that makes people happy, whether a Rec Commons or Non-Lethal Methods, is an Explore tech.  My basic philosophy is that in the future, you can be happy and poor at the same time.  Consider a Hive Police State for instance.  Everyone's miserable and forced to be "happy" by the police.  That faction can still grow like mad and crush you.

[bvanevery]

Details upset by the Cyborgs

upset by the Cyborgs

MY 2209.  Dang.  At some point the Cyborgs completed the Weather Paradigm and they're the 2nd weakest faction of the game, only in front of the stillborn Caretakers.  I did not expect that.  What was their secret?  The base that did it, Omicron Quadrangle, was fairly unexceptional with a 1-4-1 forest mineral boost.

I am tempted to say this is not because of the Cyborgs having better productivity.  Rather, I'm going to guess that the Pirates switched their project to something else that they thought was more valuable.  This could potentially be my fault in the Secret Project weights.  I'll need to take a look at that.  The Pirates did finish the Merchant Exchange, and they're working on 3 other Secret Projects.  The Planetary Energy Grid is of course very very valuable.

I look at the Cybernetic monuments and it says they completed the Weather Paradigm in MY 2207.  The Pirates completed the Merchant Exchange in MY 2208.  The Pirate sea base that built it has 9 minerals productivity.  The Cyborg land base has 7 minerals.  This is not easy to explain from a head-to-head competition standpoint.  Does Thinker mod know how to rush Secret Projects now?  Or is it a more traditional mechanic, the Pirates near completion of the Weather Paradigm, then the Cyborgs intervene to rush it?  I'm not clear on when or why the AI will intervene like that, only that it happens.

Looking at auto saved games, it seems that in MY 2206 the Cyborgs had 8 minerals production.  The Pirates only had 7 minerals, due to several units sucking up support.  The Cyborgs may have simply beaten the Pirates in a straight race.  Going back to MY 2205, they're 2 turns away from completion and only have 118 credits.  They didn't rush.  The Pirates were 9 turns away from completion and had the cash to rush.  They simply didn't do it, they let it go.
 
Ok, this establishes that the Pirates can be in the lead, yet still subject to random stupidity that fails to capitalize on their advantage.  I guess that's fine if you're in the lead, having your brain fall out of your head.  Time to see if -INDUSTRY -SUPPORT Pirates perform any worse, or whether the golden start the Pirates got is pretty much the determining factor.

[bvanevery]

Details nerfed Pirates

nerfed Pirates

I edited my pirates.txt file.  I added some labels that would help me identify the new Pirate faction as being in the game.  I found that after loading the saved Spartan turn 1 game, my Pirate changes weren't in there.  I had to select "Scenario.. Reload Faction.. Pirates" to get them to take.  The Pirates have not moved yet.  Once again the AI hasn't taken over for some reason, so I switch my view to the University.  Huh, that's not working either.  I switch to the Peacekeepers, and that doesn't work either.  Wow this is weird.  I switch back to the Spartans.  That works, Sparta Command get settled.  Now I switch to the Pirates and things are like the previous game.

Details nerfed Pirates start the same way

nerfed Pirates start the same way

[bvanevery]

Details nerfed Pirates make landfall way earlier

nerfed Pirates make landfall way earlier

MY 2115.  The nerfed Pirates make landfall.  It took the normal Pirates until MY 2131 to do this.  Did they pop a pod that completed a Transport?  Random events might dominate this most basic act of settlement.  If so, it's a good argument in favor of starting all factions with 4 colonists.

[bvanevery]

Details nerfed Pirates are Capitalist not Socialist

nerfed Pirates are Capitalist not Socialist

MY 2120.  The nerfed Pirates happen to research B2 Synthetic Fossil Fuels, the tech that allows Capitalist.  This is quite within ordinary Pirate capabilities as they are an Explore, Build focused faction.  They actually take Capitalist, I suppose because they can, and no other option is available.  This should help them, provided they don't run into too many mindworms.

No other sea bases have been settled yet.  I wonder if the nerfing caused the AI to build a land colony earlier, because it thought it could afford a land colony better?  Counterintuitively, that could turn out to be a better strategy.  But it's not clear yet, because we haven't seen the Pirates actually settle the land and walk around yet.  By MY 2137, the normal Pirates had 7 sea bases, 2 land bases, and 4 land colonists milling about somewhat pointlessly.  We'll see what the nerfed Pirates managed.  Could less be more?

[bvanevery]

Details better on land, worse at sea

better on land, worse at sea

MY 2137.  On land, the nerfed Pirates have gained the same 2 bases, even down to the same locations.  They have 2 land colonists moving westwards, in a better position than the 4 clustered colonists the normal Pirates had.  On the water, they have only settled 5 sea bases.  The normal Pirates had managed 7.  The nerfed Pirates are not dominating the graph.

[bvanevery]

Details Caretakers ok

Caretakers ok

MY 2137.  The Caretakers have done ok this game, they are not completely stunted.  They have managed 4 cities with a 5th imminent.  They are near some nutrients.  Is that the 2 nutrient faction start bonus, or just supply pods that got popped?  Is there something about saving and reloading games that would cause the 2 nutrient starting bonus to kick in?  Is there just some random bug, manifesting or not?

Details before the Caretakers

before the Caretakers

Those nutrients all correspond to supply pod positions. I say they did not get any nutrient bonus from faction placement.  They just got lucky popping pods.

Details Usurpers get lucky

Usurpers get lucky

The Usurpers are given an even better start this game.  They land near the Monsoon Jungle and soon take it.  They have fewer cities, only 6 compared to 8 in the previous game, but I think they're not going to mind!  I do not see any obvious nutrient bonus at Courage To Question. 

Details Usurper auto save 30 turns ago

Usurper auto save 30 turns ago

Possibly they walked away from their original starting location.  Let's look at an old auto save to check.

Details before Usurpers landed

before Usurpers landed

Looks to me like they simply popped 3 supply pods that all happened to turn into nutrients.  They had good luck, but they were not given a 2 nutrient starting bonus.

[bvanevery]

MY 2143.  The Pirates gain the ability to go Green, but they stay Capitalist.

Details earthquake increases eastern land spread

earthquake increases eastern land spread

An earthquake narrows the channel a little and lifts a sea base onto land, increasing the land footprint.  They will eventually meet the Cyborgs on this land mass.  The Pirates are even on the graph with the Spartans and the University.

[bvanevery]

Details nerfed Pirates explode mindworms

nerfed Pirates explode mindworms

MY 2148.  The nerfed Pirates explode a pod full of mindworms, similiar to the normal Pirates in MY 2150.  However the normal Pirates were farther west when it happened.  Let's see if the nerfed Pirates have trouble with it.  They did learn Trance 5 years ago, so they could do ok.  However they are Capitalist with a -3 PLANET rating. 

MY 2150.  They lose a newly settled base.  They also have a colony pod walking stupidly towards the danger.

Details nerfed Pirates seeking environmental mastery

nerfed Pirates seeking environmental mastery

MY 2151.  The nerfed Pirates gain B3 Ecological Engineering but do not start the Weather Paradigm.  The normal Pirates started it in MY 2158.

MY 2153.  The nerfed Pirates foolishly lose a 2nd western city.  They could have garrisoned that.

Details make mo money

make mo money

MY 2159.  The nerfed Pirates gain Industrial Base and the ability to go Democratic.  In my mod that makes more money.  They choose to do so, at the expense of their POLICE rating.  Their budget is now 50-10-40.  I don't know what it was before.

[bvanevery]

MY 2163.  They lose another colonist to a western mindworm.

MY 2163.  They lose another colonist to the same western mindworm.  They don't seem to have a concept of avoiding obvious danger.  They just plow forwards.  The mindworm is almost dead though, so it's not going to kill another.

MY 2164.  I spoke too soon!  That barely alive mindworm kills another colonist.  Lambs to the slaughter.

MY 2167.  The mindworm finally dies.  2 colonists remain heading west.

Details Weather Paradigm underway

Weather Paradigm underway

MY 2170.  A Pirate city has been working on the Weather Paradigm for 4 or 5 turns.  Its production is unexceptional, a mere 6 minerals.  -1 SUPPORT probably ensures a slight additional burden on the city.  Let's say it began in 2166.  The normal Pirates began in 2158.

[bvanevery]

Details Pirate commies

Pirate commies

MY 2171.  They learn E2 Adaptive Economics, which enables Socialist economy.  They prefer it to Capitalist and switch.  This will make the Weather Paradigm take longer.  Is getting +2 GROWTH going to cause them to catch up to where the normal Pirates were by now?

[bvanevery]

Details nerfed Pirates Secret Projects

nerfed Pirates Secret Projects

MY 2200.  Ok how have the nerfed Pirates done?  They haven't finished anything.  Other factions have.  However, nobody's been in competition for the Weather Paradigm either.

Details nerfed Pirates graph

nerfed Pirates graph

The Pirates are back up to being the leading faction, having crossed the trajectory of the Monsoon Jungle powered Usurpers.  Probably corresponds to going Socialist and growing faster.  These Pirates do have competition though.  They're not a runaway.  They only need 2 turns to complete the Weather Paradigm though, and they do not have any competitors for it.

[bvanevery]

Details nerfed Pirates at 2009

nerfed Pirates at 2009

MY 2209.  The Pirates completed the Weather Paradigm when expected.  They haven't started anything else.  I'm not inclined to see the nerfing as making a big difference in Pirate performance.

Details nerfed Pirate ranking

nerfed Pirate ranking

The nerfed Pirates are Unsurpassed, but they have near competitors.  One is happenstancical, just the Usurpers being placed near the Monsoon Jungle.  That didn't happen in the game with the normal Pirates.  The Peacekeepers are doing well this game for unclear reasons.

Details Usurper murderers

Usurper murderers

The payoff of sitting on the Monsoon Jungle, is the Usurpers get to murder the Spartans.

Details Spartans catching up

Spartans catching up

Notice how much better the Spartans did in the previous game with the normal Pirates.  They almost matched the Pirates on the graph.  I think this says whoever moved into the land region near the Monsoon Jungle, was going to do well.  In the 2nd game all that's changed is who does well.  It's about that geography.

So, -INDUSTRY -SUPPORT doesn't appear to balance the Pirates in any substantial or important way.  It's also not clear that the Pirates need to be balanced.  I will just ship the 1.29 version of my mod without changing them and be happy about it.  I can revisit the question of Pirate balance at some point in the future if more people seem to think they're out of whack.  Maybe it's all really down to the accidents of starting locations, early pod poppings, and who gets what tech first.

Another way to interpret these results, is to say "Pirates do as well as a Monsoon Jungle faction".  Doesn't matter if you nerf them the way I did.  The original game nerfed them with -1 EFFIC -1 GROWTH.  Maybe I'll revisit that concept sometime, but I have my doubts that it will matter.