Sister Miriam and the Nine Vestibules of Hell

[Buster's Uncle]

Sister Miriam and the Nine Vestibules of Hell

http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?action=downloads;sa=view;down=212

Scenario Name: September 2009 Game of the Month (GotM)  "Sister Miriam and the Nine Vestibules of Hell"
SMAC/ SMAX: SMAX
Author: Darsnan
Date of original posting: 12/1/09
Original host site: WePlayCiv

Usually I accompany my scenarios with a backstory, and usually that
story focuses on whichever faction(s) the game revolves around. In this
case though I am going to discuss the solar system, and specifically the
planet, this game takes place in.

Premise: shortly after the fall of the Progenitor empire approximately
thirty thousand years ago, a rogue neutron star plowed through this
solar system, its immense gravitational pull altering the orbits of the
planets as well as many of the smaller planetoids, asteroids, and other
orbital debris that comprised the solar system. While this event was not
catastrophic in itself, over the ensuing millennia the Progenitor
colony on the one habitable planet slowly lost its civilization as it
was continuously pummeled by falling debris from the sky, to the point
where all of the major landmasses were destroyed, and all that is left
are the impact craters from previous asteroid strikes. And then came the
Von Neuman probes commonly referred to as the Sentinels, who’s
pre-programmed mission is to terraform a planet to specified parameters.
However because of the severity and multitude of the meteor strikes on
this world, the Sentinels are continually being provoked into
re-terraforming the planet in an attempt to keep it within their
pre-defined parameters. Add to this volatile mix the survivors from a
human exploration spaceship, and you have a recipe for disaster: welcome
to the planet the inhabitants would shortly come to call Hell…..


Directions

1) In your Scenarios subdirectory create a folder called "9V", and download and unzip the “9V” files into it.
2) Start up SMAX, then select "Scenario", "Play Scenario", and then go
to the subdirectory "9V" and choose the scenario. The game will load up
with the Believers.



Changelog

The alphax.txt file for this game has been heavily modified, with some of the more notable modifications as follows:

#RULES

- Artillery Numerator/ Denominator is at 15/7: with arty, it is much better to give than receive!
- Max artillery range is set to 3. Note that if you aren’t using
scient’s patch to the terranx.exe file, that only the AI will be able to
bombard from 3 tiles away).
- Max airdrop = 6 tiles.
- Base defense has been increased to 40%: since the AI is typically on the defensive, then this will assist the AI moreso.
- 10% penalty for attacking from a lower elevation.
- Global Warming has been changed from 1,1 to 1,4: this effectively
stops global warming, the reason for this is that the AIs typically do
poorly in response to the effects of global warming.
- Size of base for Subspace Generator: 6. This, combined with several
other changes, should hopefully bring this facet of the game into play.

#TERRAIN

- Plant/ remove xenoflora has no prerequisite: this change was made specifically for the Autochthone alien faction.
- Raise/ Lower Land changed to 20 turns, and now available at Ecological Engineering 2.


#RESOURCE INFO

- forest squares produce 2 nutrients: this is a nutrient rich environment.
- Ocean squares give a 1,1,1: rationale for this is that the AIs
typically do a poor job of base placement. By having ocean squares
produce a 1/1/1, this then helps compensate the AIs for this. This
change also makes aquatic factions much more viable.
- Monoliths give 2/3/2.
- Borehole squares give a -3 nutrients (note that if you are not using
scient’s patch to the terranx.exe file you won’t see this effect).

#TECHNOLOGY
There are several tweaks here to the tech tree. Please consult your datalinks when considering your beeline strategies.

#CHASSIS

- Needlejet and copters now move 6 squares: since the AIs generally
don’t handle units based on these chassis well, then this is to the AIs
advantage.

- Speeder chassis has been disabled: note there is a speeder unit
available with Nonlinear Mathematics, so this can be reverse-engineered
in order to fill any needs you might have for speeder based units.

- Gravships move 5 squares, and are now available with Monopole Magnets.
These changes are twofold: first, by bringing the gravship chassis to a
tech adjacent MMI, this then makes Monopole Magnets more of a viable
research branch (as opposed to the typical beeline for MMI). Second, the
gravship movement has been reduced to 5 squares: this makes the unit
competitively viable at this point in the tech tree (i.e. its not
overpowering).

- Hovertankchassis has been moved to Fusion: here again by bringing the
hovertank chassis to a tech opposite MMI, this then presents another
viable research option.


#WEAPONS

- From Fusion weapons on out, weapon values have been reduced. See the
datalinks for exact values. This idea originated with Maniac, and the
idea is to make the weapons-to-armor ratio more balanced.

#DEFENSES

- beginning with Resonance armor, the defensive values have been
increased by one, and some of the costs for specific armor types have
been reduced. See datalinks for specifics. Here again, this idea
originated with Maniac.


#ABILITIES

- Deep Pressure Hull moved to Superconductor: AIs don’t design any units
with this, but they will build pre-designed subs, which are a PIA to
deal with!
- Empath Song replaced by Nannite Accelerant: all facets of Alpha Centauri/ Planet have been removed from this mod.
- Hypnotic Trance replaced by Nannite Shield.
- Heavy Artillery costs zero, and is not allowed on fast moving units.

#UNITS

- There are 39 units spread throughout the tech tree. For the most part
these units have been vetted. The other reason for so many is that it
pears back the number of poor designs the AI builds (although it still
tries to screw the pooch on occasion with crap units). Some of the units
are as follows:

- Several gravship and hovertank designs: part of this is to act as a
counter to the human's use of AC and choppers. The AI builds aircraft
but doesn't handle them very well (although I have gotten to employ them
slightly better in this scenario), however they do a better job with
gravships and hovertanks.

- Aircraft carriers, Probe ships, and subs.

- You will now have to prototype your first crawler.

- All NL units replaced with Sentinel units.

#FACILITIES

- Geosynchronous Survey Pod and Flechette Defense: available with DocAir. Both cost 8 rows.
- Nessus Mining Station available with Doc:Air.

- Empath Guild: moved to Eudomania
- Virtual World: moved to Social Psych. Trying to water down the beeline to Industrial Auto.

- Cloudbase Academy: moved to Monopole Magnets. Because of the CBA's
worth (i.e. free aerospace complex in each city), then this, along with
the gravship chassis at Monopole Magnets, now makes for an interesting
choice: does the player beeline for MMI and choppers, or does the player
now beeline for Monopole Magnets?

- There are other changes to the overall system, but the above are the most notable IMO.

Game setup options

- NL level set to high: Sentinels are continually being provoked into action by asteroid strikes

- Steal Tech is on: this is to encourage the players to go forth,
proselytize, and convert your fellow inhabitants of this world.


Enjoy!

D