Re: VGA-Planets: Who knows best?

From: wws@wwssun.att.com (Bill Stoll)

Date: Fri, 05 Mar 1993 18:46:14 +0000

holgi@fantasy.comlink.de writes: >> quoted stuff,
nowakowsky@JANUS.ARC.AB.CA writes: > quoted stuff

>>Hello everybody outside!
>>First of all: Is there any connection between the number of
>>defence-plots on a planet and the number of fighters/lasers it
>>has in a battle and if yes, has anyone figured it out yet?
>
>Yes, there is a correlation between defense posts and fighters/beams.  It
>appears to be the square root of the defense.  This is only my guestimate but
>it is a good rule of thumb.

In version 3.0 (due to come out in April), the author documents the
connection between defense-plots and the number of fighters/lasers.
I think the formula is similar if not the same in version 2.x.  If N
is the number of defenses on the planet, and M is the number of defenses
on the base (if any):

#fighters = sqrt(N)
		(if planet has base, add the base's fighters to this)

#fighter_bays = sqrt(N)
		(5 extra bays if planet has a starbase)

tech_level_of_planet_beams =
		MAX( 0.5 * sqrt(N), tech_level_of_base's_beams )

#beam_weapons_on_planet = sqrt( N + M ) * 0.3

>>Second: Is there any chance to determin which ships will be
>>confronted first in a multi-ship-battle?
>The ship with the lowest ID numbers fighter first, then you work up the scale.
>Freighters with low ID numbers are not good.  On the other hand a ship with a
>lower ID number can intercept a ship with a higher but not vice versa.

This is not quite right.  In a multi-ship battle, the ship with the
lowest ID will indeed fight first.  It will fight each of the other
ships at the same location, from lowest id# to highest id#.  Of course,
it won't initiate a fight unless it has mission KILL, or has primary
enemy set to an enemy who has a ship at the same location.

But the point about intercepts is wrong.  Ships with low ID numbers
move before ships with higher IDs, and all ships get a chance to move
before any battles take place.  If my ship has a higher ID # than yours,
yours will never be able to intercept me as long as I keep moving.
This is because you move first (to my coords), then I move away, then
any ship-to-ship battles are executed.

This has been corrected in version 3.0; no matter what your ID # is,
you will be able to intercept.  I figure he implemented this by moving
all ships with mission other than INTERCEPT, and then moving the ships
with mission INTERCEPT.

>>Third: Is the Lizard-race really THAT bad?
>
>Actually I rather like the lizards, if you have the registered version.  They
>have a battleship that is very cheap and very effective.  Any race with a
>massive ship is good.  The race I dislike is the Privateers.  They have no
>ships over 150 mass.  The very best race for individual ships is the Evil
>Empire and then the Cyborgs (Borgs).  They both have Super Duper ships of over
>900 mass.  The next largest ship is the Fed NOVA class at 560 (or so).  Mass =
>Defense.  Any empire with a massive fighter carrier is also very effective.  I
>am in a game as the Evil Empire and the Gorbie BattleCarrier (Death Star) is
>nearly unstoppable.  The Feds need 5 of their largest ships on the same turn ot
>even have a chance of winning.

I gotta throw my 2 cents in here.  I've never played the Lizards, but
they don't look too bad to me.  I HAVE played the Privateers, and won
fairly easily.  You can't build anything huge, but you can build a very
nice ship with 7 beams + fighters for a pittance.  It pays off to
be aggressive early, keeping the enemy too off-balance to accumulate
enough resources to build a "tech 10 momma ship" and whomp you.

In version 3.0, the Lizards will be much more powerful.  They have a special
Cosmic-Encounter-like race ability called the HSSSSS mission that allows
them to calm down rioting races.  Also, they extract 2x the minerals
per turn that the other races do, and in ground combat, one lizard clan
can outfight nineteen of any other race (I'm beta-testing version 3.0).
All the races have special powers, but the Lizards seem particularly good.

I wish I had access to alt.games.vga-planets.  I wonder if anyone could
post stuff for me there, and maybe forward interesting stuff...

Bill
--
Bill Stoll		"The German word for bassoon (Fagott) translates
wws@cblpd.att.com	 to ``bundle of sticks''.  This is because people
			 who try to play it often wind up using it for
			 firewood instead."	-- Peter Schickele

References

Re: VGA-Planets: Who knows best?
nowakowsky@JANUS.ARC.AB.CA
Thu, 04 Mar 1993 21:16:02 +0000
VGA-Planets: Who knows best?
holgi@fantasy.comlink.de
Fri, 26 Feb 1993 20:43:00 +0000