From: gvbraun@vipunen.hut.fi (Toni Kotinurmi)
Subject: Suggestion for production etc ( rather long )
Summary: Read at least from '4)' on...
Originator: gvbraun@vipunen.hut.fi
Keywords: 1) resource 2) tech 3) VP 4) Sum it up
Organization: Helsinki University of Technology
Date: Fri, 11 Sep 1992 10:58:51 GMT


  There was sometimes lots of talk about reducing & modifying production-
rates here; this is a suggestion Garfel and I thought about the other day...

( I state first what it would look like to the player, then a suggestion
  for programming it -- Garrett, when you get, and I hope soon, a new
  account to finish the code, I'll check if I can try to make this mod to
  the code and test it. It interests me quite a bit... )

Comments on these please:

1) Resource production

Resource is produced just by the same formula as currently, except:
-Each player on a planet can get a maximum resources of RES_PER_SECT
 which could be, say, 3. 3*100-seccie-planet=300 res
-This has no effect but to limit the max resources produced by any planet,
 and so you'd have to wait rather long and have very many updates to get
 lots of resources. On the other hand, you'd like to populate as many
 sectors as possible. Here we cut the exponential growth-curve currently
 happening.
-Encourages transporting of resources to production-places ( it _can_ be
 a pain but at least you would have to think what to build, and to send
 a cargo-ship from each main planet you own is not too much a drag after all )

Example; a desert with player A who has 100 sects and player B who has 15
sects; player A could produce a maximum of 600 res an update, player B 45.

//go to '2)' if you don't wish to see the programming-suggestion of this;

1.1 Programming; a structure that has following variables:( s=0..max_sectors )
( s=the sector number this player owns )
x[s] int (long), number of a sector on a planet owned by current
              player&producer. ( needed for rand_int not to be used too often )
              this variable only has the number of the sector calculated as:
              sector(x)+sector(y)*(1+planet_width(horizontally)).
r[s] int, number of resources produced _by_ sector x[s] ( if any prod ).

r would be total on the planet as usually, summing up as r[0..sectors]

So there will be only one more data-structure which is the size of
the biggest planet in galaxy ( easy to determine ). To every sector of this
planet ( remember, these same variables can be used with every planet and
every player, successively ) there is x and r. This does lenghten the update
but not at all too much ( I think ). It uses almost no memory at all.

Then, if r(total_on_this_planet) > r(RES_PER_SECT * sectors_owned) get

 RI=rand_int(0,sectors_owned).
 If (r(RI) > extra_res) then r(RI)=r(RI)-extra_res, go to next planet
                        else r(RI) = 0, empty another seccie ( start this
                                        again from RI=rand... )

So; easy to program, the testing of this is the only problem.
Hmm. I represented this rather hastily and in a difficult way, but I hope
_someone_ figured out what I meant. :)

--
2) Tech

Collection of ideas:
2.1) Make R's start at tech 30 or so; that way when R's get useful
     ( nowdays, say, about tech 110-130 or so minimum ) techies still
     have enough tech-difference to most metas in order to get _some_
     planets back from those high-ground-fight-metas
2.2) Maybe in addition to 2.1 make R's cheaper ( half-price ? )
2.3) Increase laser-tech to about 175 and CEW to 200 OR the other
     way around. ( argue this... )
--
3) Morale & VP

3.1) Make victory points more dependent on value of the ships. Now metas
     can just build 5K of pods and get VP's more than anyone.

--
4) Sum it up

These mods would ( I certainly hope so ) make GB more playable;
nowdays many metas have too much an advantage, with these mods the advantage
might go to techies but in the long run NOT ( I hope ). And even if it does,
GB has now been meta-friendly and it might as well be techie-friendly for a
while :). And the mods would be always modifiable. ( defines ).

 The original idea of the game might have been just what this post is
trying to suggest to do to the game:

Stage(Timeline) 1-4;
#1 In the early stages metas use pods and have an advantage in getting
   themselves on many planets.
#2 Techies gain tech and start kicking metas away from their planets.
#3 Metas reach the the tech-level of normals and at this point an
   average meta SHOULD be in same situation as an average techie OR a bit
   lower in planet-number.
   This means--same resources, same tech etc...
#4 Metas pass techies in tech and maybe planets soon so techies will have
   to be in defense ( If they haven't kicked metas around in #2 enough ).

Now #2 is not happening ( it goes to #3 and #4 so fast techies do NOT yet
have the resources nor tech to get any planets from high-fight metas ).

So if a techie wants to win he must win in stage #2 or kick meta(s) away
in such a scale the techie can then just outnumber the meta in ships and
population. Meta has to hurry in #1 to get enough planets to be able to hold
some of them until #3 and then start kicking techies butt.

Blocks are an attempt to make tech-meta-alliances but they just don't work
too well. Not that I am not using them because I do.
--
Remember, these are just ideas which have not been tested nor installed
in any (test) game ( don't say thank-god ;))

Keskiolut, Gar Von Braun

( Toni Kotinurmi, k38144n@puukko.hut.fi )
--
Newsgroups: alt.games.gb