It's like Mirrorland, but it's not mirrored. So:

* Seamless toroidal wrap!
* Interesting bodies of water!
* Lots of expansion options!
* Opponents on all sides!

But:

* Everyone faces their own unique situation!
* Every part of the map is unknown until you explore it!
* Other players might have resources you don't!
* Map dimensions can be whatever you want!*

It's TORUSLAND! (Download here)


* In Mirrorland, a 5-player game for example has to be 40x40 or 20x20, or it's not correctly mirrorable. But 20x20 is absurdly cramped, while 40x40 is a bit far on the roomy side.

2319 start into colony ship (1 sliver too little for two turns which goes into production to factory up while gathering ship materials for more industry at the end of the build)
2323 colony ship
2326 first new colony & made first scout
2327 25 colonists transported and 2nd scout
2328 first fighter
2329 decided to finish industry on meklon (at least up to population) since the nearest stars are now 'reserved' while sending 15 population when meklar gets to the 83 population mark. That seems to be where the free base growth slows down)
2331 hold the phone, the silicoids are taking Helos. Max population growth on meklar and hey, free colony. The already have marretta
2333 fighter arives at helos, 33 transports on the way.
2334 Scout arrives at beta ceti
2335 scout arrives at nitzer. Chased a scout from helos. Working on a colony ship
2337 threatened the Silicoid (they were relaxed) since I was about to invade anyways. A free 375bc goes into my economy. I figure that I'll break contact before they can declare war, so hopefully when I reinitiate contact, they will still be neutral. I switch to range 4 either way. We'll see.
2338 still have contact after taking helos, but that's fine. I'll get range 4 and go invading.
2339 split tech because I like 1 in 4 chances.
2340 sakkra have 8 systems. I have my first tech. Hehe. Starting to pump population from Meklon
2344 maretta is mine, but its going to be a hot potatoe
2345 chase 3 sakkra small ships and a colony ship away
2353 chased 5 sakkra small ships and a colon ship away
2357 maretta has a large ship chase my fighter off and loses 1 factory. I beg to no avail.
2358 Sequential begging seems to help. Even though more ships and transports are on the way, the de jure war ends and the silicoids are only tense.
2359 one of use asked the other for a NAP and trade but apparently only the trade came through. I decided I'd stick with it and not backstab them. After all they gave me peace when I wanted it.
2360 Finally got improved eco restoration
2362 Got range 5 since the artifacts world still seems safe
2368 founded beta ceti but saw a very large fleet 1 turn away. Since contact was given that turn and they were uneasy even after the largest 275bc/turn trading, gave them reduced waste 80% and asked for a NAP To my surprise they accepted. They really needed reduced waste, huh?
2372 After several turns of trying to chase of my scout from my own system (With NAP??) I threatened the sakkra and they gave me 350. Then they removed their ships too.
2373 Settled Berel. 15 transports attacked beta ceti. They were launched during the NAP. Um... Got Gatling Laser
2374 Got class II Deflector Shields
2376 Settled collossa. Sending transports at warp 1 hurts. NAP sakkra colony ships means something big enough had to be built to scare off their scouts. Started a large gattler at meklon
2379 chased away a darlok colony ship and resumed scouting north west. Sakkra went the wrong way with that worrisome colony ship. Whew.
2380 Silicoid finally are only at unease.
2383 Realized that the gatler wasn't helpful at all because even on neutral systems I can't scare off the sakkra. Silicoid went neutral so I traded the gatling gun for ECM1. Sakkra appear to have Vox which I did want but its only size 20. They are amiable so I am okay with them. They have an alliance with the Sillicoid.
2390 lots of scouting and some nominal teching. Only some infernal and radiated planets left. I'm purposely not giving the silicoid range 5, just in case.
2393 Personal deflectors seem important considering the sakkra chased me out of one of my colonies (we still have a NAP!) and then are sending transports. Ug. They ignored my first threats but then gave 275 once they saw my gatler on the way. Grabbed a NAP with the silicoids since I saw a large ship running around. I'm definately going for the 'build up' like computer meklars seem to do.
2394 Their ship still didn't leave so I complained at them so they went neutral. The 475 seemed worth it.
2399 transports hit my tundra but atleast the ship dissappeared. Scrapped I suppose. An erie calm sets in. Its probably because I'm purposely not getting scanner technology. I don't want to meat the darlocks.
2403 2nd missile tech stolen from the silicoids but they noticed and became uneasy.
2404 Silicoids are now wary
2408 silicoids are now uneasy
2409 "" neutral
2411 sakra still have an awfully close colony but they threw 375 to me so it will stay. At least until the infernos are settled
2414 900 trade to the sakkras and traded battle mark 4 for inertial stabilizer. I figure the spying bonus will help more.
2416 The gamble paid off. Major haul of Robotic Controls 5!!! I didn't get caught either. Twenty turns of spying finally paid off -- this was the one thing I was after.
2417 inferno and ion rifle
2419 2 colony ships (with 3 lasers) are headed to the inferno planets.
2420 I stole Robotics 3 from the Sakkra but since it was obsolete, they only became restless. Though there other things I wanted, none was a gauranteed 'win' like the computer category. I'm just trying to catch up so I can spy on the things I actually want. Besides I have 900BC in trade and a NAP. The sakkra will forgive.
2421 My strategy paid off. Full penetration and I still go for computer tech. Now with BM3 I have all caught up with the sakkra in computing. They didn't notice and are now wary.
2422 Darlocks finally get a space scanner so they found me. I won't put any points into security until I find out what they got and then only if they have a computer advantage.
2426 Finally I can tell that the darloks do have that lead. I thought one of the complaints about the AI is that the darlocks don't focus on computers. Maybe the patch made them smarter.
2430 Nitzer got hit with a test bomber from the darlocks. I stole 40% waste reduction but the sakkra noticed it and are now troubled. I'll have to give them a break for a while...
2432 Darlocks send their fleet (about a hundred ships) to my UPoor. I yell at them to see if they are down with, you know, not killing that colony. They give me money which I naturally use to buy my defenses.
2433 It totally worked. They didn't engage and immediately turned around. I was going to not like them, but I guess I can't dislike them for testing my defenses and also simply being darlok.
2434 Stole range 7 from sakkra but got caught. They will probably disband the NAP soon.
2440 2300+BC placeholder ship in 3 turns. I suppose I'll have to get automated repair soon. Sakkra finally at restless. Darlock give BM5 for inertial stabilizer so they are only 1 ahead of me and I can take down my beefed up security. They still refuse to trade and leave as always. Noticed they were in an alliance with the sakkra who are no long allied with the silicoids. Upped trade with them to 350.
2441 Sakkra at wary.
2443 Sakra unease and I framed the Alkari for stealing their 4BC Factory plans.
2444 Darlock FINALY agree to a tiny bit of trade.
2445 Stole 6BC factories from the sakkra and frammed the silicoid for it. Oddly, they are still allies
2446 A maxed out huge heavy blast cannon ship will be online next turn, harrased the silicoids to see if they were my next target. They gave me death spores so I'll bid my time.
2447 1675BC with the now neutral sakkra and they still remember my early game gift. Aw.
2448 Stole battle suits from the silicoid and framed the sakkra for it. I love being meklar.
2450 Darlock abstain and so do I so sakkra do not win via vote.
2452 Finally got the Silicoid's dulluroy armor. That took a while. They noticed and are uneasy. Meh.
2454 Stole merculite missiles from the silicoids without them knowing about it.
2460 The Darlocks sent a sizable fleet to Helos which I cut in half. Since we have trade and they are neutral I yelled at them for it. They gave me neutron pellet gun, so I guess I won't fight back.
2462 1075BC with the darloks now and traded rather useless biological protection for improved eco restoration. Yes! Also they sent a test fleet that they chose not to engage with.
2463 Got robotics 5.
2465 2 huge antimatter bombers come out and I'm again considering invading. The silicoid and only just stopped being neutral and are my weakest trading partner but they give nothing
2467 2 more huge bombers and the Sakkra give 1175BC and the darlocks give andronium armor but the silicoids give nothing so I break my NAP and mobilize.
2469 tole the obsolete tech the silicoids refused to give: terraforming +30. Framed the Sakkra
2470 too over paranar. Got Range 9.
2475 I abstain but the sakkra are getting close to winning by vote. I'm aware I could just start a war and bomb a planet but that feels cheesy. The bears ask for some trade so I accept. The sakkra break our long-standing NAP since I didn't vote for them.
2476 I trade that anti biological weapons technology for an outdated computer scanner. Every little bit helps. I also get fusion rifles (okay) for the biological weapons which we're immune to.anyways.
2477 cryslon is mine but I encountered a game-hanging bug. 1 ship left that was slowed to a stop and 3 other ships with beam weapons: I hit auto and they didn't move nor could I un-auto. Good thing I save constantly.
2480 Alkari demolish the silicoid (I lost contact when they gained a sneaky bottom left colony)
2487 The sakkra's very slow but very large fleet makes it to rhana. All I have are bomber and pushers but they have high energy focus so there is little point in using my ships. They take out about 50% (18) bases but now I have a consolidated fleet. I get 5 BC factories from the bears and ECM 5 from the darloks (they must have stolen it recently). But the sakkra despite killing 5 million meklars, don't apologize. And I would attack them immediately but that have Deflect 11 and Planetary Shields XX. Wtf? So I scrapped most of my bombers. I might as well apply that money towards tech.
2493 Stole impulse drives from the bears and framed the lizards. I've had star gates for a while though...
2496 Stole deflector shields VI from the bears
2498 Its too quiet. I still fear the lizards and want to attack the bears but they gave me an exoskeleton, so...
2499 The sakkra are so ahead in tech they are letting useful but not very powerful higher tech for much lower level things they are missing.
2500 no vote and I can tell my Urich planet keeps threatening to use its built-up BC, so I know the darlock are raising discontentment. So I yelled at them (does that stop spying?) and they gave me 20% waste reduction. I'm still going to make bombers. I don't trust the darlock.
2503 Exis goes fertile but it doesn't matter this late. Traded so obsolete techs with the sakkra
2504 Stole autoblaster from the sakkra. Meh
2505 Stole Battle Mark 9 from the Sakkra and they didn't notice. Nice. Met the surprisingly nice birds.
2506 Traded the lizards a neutron blasters for Subspace interdictor.
2507 Stole powered armor from the lizards then traded obsolete range 9 for subspace teleporters.
2509 Stole toxic bases from the birds without them noticing.
2512 Took reticuli from the bears. They should have given me something. Hehe
2515 Took Ursa
2517 5875 BC in trade now with the sakkra. They are amiable.
2521 4 turns until a vote so I can't commit genocide just yet. The stupid bears refused peace at one U-Poor planet. Signed a NAP with the birds.
2525 vote where everyone but the sakkra abstains. Bears have 1 planet and vote sakkra. THe darlock afterwards declare war randomly. And we had long-term trade too!
2527 bears gone. Alkari hate me now and the sakkra are tense
2529 first darlock colony. They seem to have no fleet. After adding their technologies I'm tied with the sakkra.
2530 major earthquake hit my Upoor right when I was going to use it for population. 50+ million dead and 500+ factories. Wow.
2533 Finished the southern end of the darlok empire and the sakkra break the NAP. Darn. Guess I'll rush maxing out force fields before they bring their death squad.
2535 Scrapping very outdated ships and consolidating at my middle 'point' colony of beta ceti
2540 survived the death fleet and invaded the first alkari world. The sakkra had 32 thousand small ships with nuclear missiles. I think that's a bug because they had much better tech and should have known that nuclear missiles won't do anything 240 turns in...
2544 had to split my forces. I kept 1 alkari planet alive. All the systems were colonized but orion, which I normally don't do so screw it and settled orion easily. I got bad techs anyways. I really only did it for the population so I could win by vote faster.
2550 So I'm off by 2% on the vote and I figure 25 turns will be less than having to rip through the sakkra... Unless I glass everything. That's not my style and the lizards have been nice enough to no outright conquer me through most of the game. I'm going to try this the non-violent way.
2552 got full terraforming. I think that does'er.
2570s took a few sakkra planets just for the tech but... I couldn't get them all. The last two very old planets (full factories) gave nothing!
2575 Voted myself the winner

Final thoughts. This one was very long. I just really sick at the end (hence my tardiness) and also I have 2 "bug" save games. I am using the patch. The first is with a negative factory amount for a U-Rich planet. The second results in a hang if you slow the enemies' warp drives and then hit auto. Or atleast it did once. I don't know what to do with them so I'll just attach it all.

Attached Files

  Saves.zip (Size: 35.7 KB / Downloads: 1)

I've always wanted to be able to change the picks at start for myself or even customize enemy wizards. Has anyone ever made a mod to do any of this?

I've played around with a save game editor before (But changing the amount of books I or other wizards had there didn't effect learn-able spells at all)

I just found out that Steve Jackson's adventure gamebook series is coming to iOS and I am totally hyped!
The younger forum members may not remember, but about 20 years ago adventure gamebooks were quite popular where I live. The books usually consisted of ~400 paragraphs where a certain decision of yours would make you continue at an associated paragraph number. I especially remember the "Fighting Fantasy" series by Jackson and Livingstone!
But to my mind, the best was the 4-book series "Sorcery!" also known as "Analand-Saga" here in Germany. At the time I read/played it the books were already out of print and I could never get my hands on books 3 & 4.

And now the first book has been re-released as app with the other ones to follow later this year!
http://appadvice.com/appnn/2013/05/what-...ry-for-ios

like title, when you use itemmake.exe to create item. if you enchant chain mail and plate mail, you pay more for extra defense but you cannot get it (+1 DEF for chain mail and +2 DEF for plate mail.)
Anyone know how to fix it, or if it made by intention cause I found it make same result since in MOM 1.31.

This is the IT and Tech Issues Thread for RBP11, a 'greens' game featuring some players with less experience in the MP scene. The organizing thread for the game can be found here.

The game is now live. If this is your first time connecting please read this entire post carefully. Text in Red will be of interest to veterans.

Access the game via DirectIP connection to sunrise089.dyndns.org:2063. No password is needed (nor will one permit a successful connection) when connecting to the game. Make 100% sure there are no spaces in the field or you'll get an error. Spaces love to crop up unexpectedly, so please double-check this before posting that you can't connect.

The first time a player logs into the game they will be asked to set and confirm a password. This is non-trivial to change, so please make sure you know what it is, can remember it, etc.

In-game you can play as normal. This game is played via simultaneous turns, so you can queue unit actions and builds like normal, even after you end turn. I get asked sometimes, so I'll note you press TAB to chat in-game. When you're done playing please log out via Exit to Main Menu, not Exit to Desktop (which can create connectivity/lag issues).

I have set a 48 hour timer per team for the first turn. Starting next turn (if I remember ) the timer will switch to approximate 24 real life hours based on how fast things are moving in game. Of course in the future the timer can be tweaked according to the wishes of the players.

This game uses Civstats to track the turns and other info. This game is here. If you want to register via Civstats and claim your civ the password for each civ is "sirian."

From now on, please let me know if you have any technical concerns in this thread. I can be reached infrequently via forum PM, and easily via email at sunrise089 at gmail dot com and IM at sunrise089 on either AIM or GChat.

[It looks like there is a pretty good overview in the organizing thread, but if want anything here like team emails or rules just let me know]

Okay. Just had to get a few things off my chest here.

Yes I know Master of Orion's random number generator (RNG) is supposed to introduce an element of unpredictability into games. But does it sometimes just seem like you're really fighting the RNG and not the computer races?

I've been trying to play a "beam-only" game suggested by Sullla in another thread. I've had two games now though where it gets screwed up and I can't really gauge how difficult it would really be or how my strategies should change, due to the random effects in those games.

In both games I decided to play as the Mrrshan to take advantage of the weapon bonus, on impossible difficulty.

Game 1:
This starts out pretty decent. I start out near some nebulae, and one of the stars inside one of them is a colonizable desert rich, just 4 parsecs away. So I expand and start researching range 4 upgrade as well.

In 2323, I encounter the Darloks. They declined to trade technologies, and they declined to make a trade agreement. But at the beginning of the very next turn, they declare war on me without provocation. Okay, fine. I let them colonize some of the planets around me, so that I can then invade those planets, to get Darloks to want peace, and so that I don't have to make colony ships for those stars. So for a while we're trading troops back and forth on those planets.

Now the colonies were strung out somewhat like an hourglass. The center of the hourglass is Antares, a size 30 planet, with the bulk of my colonies north of it, and the bulk of Darlok colonies south of it. In 2335, I captured Antares, so I started sending troops into Darlok territory from my other colonies. I had 32 troops remaining and captured 19 factories but didn't get any techs from it. Oh well.

But in 2343, I see:

   

The Darloks had just sent a large transport filled with 35 troops at my Antares. Because of the radiation, the planet's population size was reduced to 15. I got hand lasers quickly (in 2343 actually) to help my troops, and put some stuff on Antares (what's available in the area) to decrease their number of troops.

When their troops arrived in 2346, 33 of their 35 troops survived, and the battle ended up with:

   

Yes, their 3 remaining troops captured the same 19 factories but they get hand lasers out of it. True, my 15 troops killed 30 of theirs so my troops did better than average ("average" would have been killing 22 of their troops), but I had so few troops due to the radiation accident in the first place, and worse, because it's now a radiation planet, I was no longer able to send any troops to it. So their 3 troops could slowly build up the planet all they want without me being able capture them. I couldn't sent troops to any other Darlok colonies because they're all too far away; Antares was my opening to their other colonies. So the random event basically shut down the advance into the Darloks right there, specifically at the very turn that advantages the Darloks the most (i.e. right after they sent their troops, so their troops still get to arrive, but my colonists have died down to the max radiated population by the time their troops arrive).

During this time, in 2338, I encountered the Sakkra. Just like the Darlok, they declined trade agreement, and declared war on me the very next turn without any provocation.

In 2352, the first council was held. It was between me and the Sakkra. Most of the computers voted for the Sakkra (only the humans abstained), so the game ended with final war right there.

Game 2:
Just like the first game, this one started out pretty well. I was in the south part of the map. In 2319 GNN said the Silicoid already had 6 colonies so they seem to be the frontrunner. A while later, I found that they were to my east, and they happened to have an artifact planet as well as an inferno ultra rich planet. They declined trade agreement though. I had the Alkari relatively close to me to the north, but to my surprise, they never declared war on me even though they were restless with me ever since I encountered them. I tried to do a trade agreement with them every so often, but they rejected every time.

In 2355 we had the first council. It was between me and Meklar, but there were quite a few abstentions. The Alkari voted for the Meklar, so I voted for the Meklar too, to improve relations, but they still rejected my trade agreements afterward. Computer Alkari and Mrrshan seem to have no trouble allying with each other (they were allied in my Imperium 36 gentle game), but I guess it's just between the player or something that the Mrrshan and Alkari don't get along.

In 2373, there was a random event: a wealthy merchant! Unfortunately, the target of their largesse was the Silicoid, even though at this point they were the frontrunner. At the council the following turn, the Silicoid had 7 votes, I had 6, while the Alkari and Meklar had 5 each and the Psilon and Sakkra had 2 each. Because people abstained, I voted for the Silicoid, but even so, even though they were "relaxed" toward me, they still declined my trade agreement offerings.

In 2380, the Alkari finally declared war on me, having been restless with me all this time. When they launched their fleet at one of my colonies though, my 1 missile base was able to take care of it, because their fleet was still using lasers and heavy lasers.

In 2393, my spies on Alkari finally succeeded. I had the choice of tech categories available to me, and chose propulsion, hoping for their warp dissipator, but got range 7 instead. In retrospect, this was a big mistake; I knew their construction would have been duralloy, and getting duralloy for sure would have been much, much better than the chance of getting warp dissipator, because it would've increased my bases' hp by 50% and strengthened my transport ships and ground troops. Oh well.

On my first invasion on an Alkari colony, they survived it with 2 troops remaining. So I really should've chosen duralloy when I had the chance. Silicoid also took the opportunity to declare war on me, although they were off-and-on allied with the Alkari, and I'm not sure if they were allied with the Alkari at this point.

Anyway, at my next invasion in 2404, I ended up having 97 troops remaining, and captured 76 factories, but got no techs at all. Not a single one, even though the Alkari had more techs than me in every single tech field:

   

The capture meant I was in contact with the Meklar. They accepted my trade agreement. In the meantime, the Silicoid fleet arrived at one of my colonies. Their huge ships had something like 8 hp left when they destroyed my bases. Sigh.

A few turns later, in 2406, the Meklar declared war on me without provocation. It certainly wasn't because of my dealings with the Alkari, because they were at war with the Alkari too. Anyway, I start my invasion of Alkari's Xendalla.

Except in 2411, I notice that Xendalla was now Meklar's. Hopefully this means that there won't be many bases/ships in the way, since I was sending in troops unescorted.

In 2412, the Meklar fleet destroyed my bases just before I destroyed one of their ships. Sigh. The difference is that if their fleet is sufficiently weakened, then the bases that I make, even if destroyed, will gradually weaken their fleet. But if they have too many ships (i.e. too much firepower), then the 1 base I build every few turns won't destroy any ships before it's destroyed. So yeah not having duralloy is really hurting, although it's just bad luck that I'm having multiple battles where they're down to a few hp when my stuff gets destroyed. I do finally steal duralloy from the Alkari soon after, but it's already a bit too late.

Also in 2412, the Silicoid capture one of my colonies. Although they capture the colony's 72 factories with only 23 troops, they nevertheless made off with 3 of my technologies. Also, even though I had multiple colonies being besieged by the frontrunner Silicoid, a comet decides to go for one of my colonies:

   

Moro is (was) one of my "safe" colonies in the back that sends troops to the front lines when needed and does research when not. It was fully developed (had maxed factories). At this point, I don't have much of a fleet to speak of, and no way am I going to get one to Moro in time with the Silicoid fleets still on my bases. So the colony is effectively lost.

Hopefully things will get better though. In 2413, the Alkari sued for peace. I rejected to capture more of their planets (their planets were relatively weak), but they counteroffered with 1025 BC so I decided to take it and use that on my colonies. And in 2414, my troops arrived at the now-Meklar Xendalla.

Originally I had expected to land my troops unescorted through several Alkari bases, so I had sent a total of 263 troops to Xendalla. But since the Meklar had taken care of them, 250 of my troops got through the Meklar ships to land on Xendalla. 205 of those remained to take over Xendalla's factories. Hopefully I get something good with all those troops!

I ended up getting: battle computer 2.

A turn later, the Meklar captured my Dolz, which I had taken from Alkari and was still fortifying. My 97 troops captured 76 factories on it but didn't find anything; the 14 surviving Meklars captured 13 factories and managed to take inferno, one of my highest techs.

I manage to recapture Silicoid's Willow, with 15 surviving troops and 72 factories. This time I did get something: class 5 shields, which is a good boost. However, I found on subsequent turns that my missile bases were still using class 2 shields, not class 5 shields; I have no idea why. I was building bases (i.e. not pre-existing ones, but new ones), and was putting research into force fields.

I retake Dolz from Meklar, with 28 surviving troops taking 23 factories. I get...absolutely nothing from it. Meanwhile, the Silicoids recapture Willow, with 27 troops and 72 factories, and got my ion rifle, my most recent tech.

Is it just me or do my troops seem to have trouble finding techs, while the computers races have no problem getting techs from me? I don't think I've ever played a game where I capture so many planets and yet get so little, while the computers are able to take my best techs with ease. And this is on impossible difficulty, where the computer usually out-techs the player and so a few techs from computer races can really help out the player (and a computer race will usually have many techs to take). In fact, Meklar's techs the turn after I got battle computer 2 from them (with 205 troops on 16 factories) was:

   

I don't really know how the tech capturing works (other than "more surviving troops" and "more factories" increase chances/quantity of techs), nor how random events work (other than that it's supposed to help the underdog), but these are games where the player really didn't get much from tech-swapping in ground invasions while the computer races get a lot, and the random events favor the computer races even when they're leading already. Not to mention how the computer AI declares war randomly.

It's difficult to really get the flavor of variant rules (such as beam-only) when random stuff seems to outweigh the player's strategies sometimes -- in effect, playing a sophisticated version of roulette rather than a game whose outcome depends on the player's strategies. I'm guessing this is why a good deal of Imperium games restrict random events to be after year XXXX, or perhaps no random events at all, although this wouldn't affect how the computer vs player gets techs from invasions or how the computer races decide to declare war.

Anyone have some insight on how this stuff works, in terms of how the code rolls for the different random stuff in the game? I'd be interested to see if the code really does purposely screw the player on higher difficulties more often with respect to random events and techs from ground invasions, or if I'm just getting a bad streak. I'm using Kyrub's patch to generate new games and playing them unmodified.

Recap of the ground invasions:

Today, PB12; tomorrow, the world!

Settings:

Don't look. Really, don't look. :P