That they are taking out HG, it is a good game i was on time or two, but none were on, IF any should happen to AOC, yes I am still playing it, on the role playing pvp server of Cimmeria my main toons are Onithia and Nashatheria. IF any are there.

LOLTH@SYMPATICO.CA

Regards
Maha'ret

P.S.
yes it is a console set up game, a very good one, not just a point and shoot.

Ok, so I'm bored enough and after mentioning something along the lines of wanting to change a few skills on vent during an AB session today, I figured "oh what the heck, why not?" So, here you have it, my own version of skill balance. I probably didn't think these through as fully as I maybe should have; but hey, this is my own little world we're talking about here, I don't have to think things through. Besides, this is more for fun than anything else. Also, my changes are based on the 1...12 listing like in the unofficial wiki since figuring out 1...12...15 numbers would take too long.

So, here's my laundry list for the warrior. Other classes to follow.

"For Great Justice!" - Change functionality to: For 20 seconds, you gain double adrenaline when you strike a foe.

"None Shall Pass!" - Reduce recharge to 30 seconds.

"On Your Knees!" - Change functionality to: If target foe is knocked down, that foe is crippled for 7 seconds.

"Retreat!" - Increase duration to 10...15 seconds, reduce recharge to 10 seconds.

"Shield's Up!" - Change functionality to: For 5...10 seconds, allies within earshot that are equipped with a shield have a 50% chance to block projectiles.

"Watch Yourself!" - Move to strength attribute, remove recharge time. Change functionality to: For 0...10 seconds, allies within earshot gain +20 armor.

"You Will Die!" - Increase recharge to 25 seconds. Change functionality to: Target foe suffers from cracked armor for 5...15 seconds. If that foe has less than 50% health, that foe is also crippled for 5...15 seconds.

Auspicious Blow - Increase damage to 10...34.

Axe Rake - Change functionality to: If this attack hits, it deals +1...12 damage. If it strikes a foe suffering from a Deep Wound, it deals an additional +1...12 damage and that foe is Crippled for 10 seconds.

Axe Twist - Change functionality to: If this attack hits, it deals +1...12 damage. If it strikes a foe suffering from a Deep Wound, it deals an additional +1...12 damage and that foe suffers from Cracked Armor for 15 seconds.

Decapitate - Skill should no longer remove all energy.

Fierce Blow - Increase conditional damage to +10...42. Increase non-conditional damage to +10...34.

Forceful Blow - Increase damage to 10...42.

Griffon's/Leviathan Sweep - Recude recharge to 5 seconds.

Headbutt - Reduce energy cost to 5, alter daze duration to 10 seconds.

Hundred Blades - The attacks can no longer be blocked.

Irresistible Blow - Increase damage (both bonus and if blocked) to 10...34.

Jaizhenju/Pure Strike - Decrease recharge to 4 seconds.

Keen Chop - Increase adrenaline cost to 4. Change functionality to: If this attack hits, it always results in a critical hit. If target foe is suffering from Cracked Armor, this attack cannot be blocked.

Knee Cutter - Remove adrenaline cost, increase energy cost to 5, increase recharge to 8 seconds.

Lacerating Chop - Increase damage to 10...22.

Lion's Comfort - Change functionality to: You gain 50...100 health and an additional 10...30 health for each signet you have equipped.

Magehunter Strike - Increase damage to 10...34.

Overbearing Smash - Increase damage to 10...34.

Penetrating Blow/Chop - Increase damage to 10...22.

Primal Rage - Change functionality to: For 1...10 seconds you move and attack 33% faster and your attacks have an additional 10...46% chance of being critical hits. When Primal Rage ends, you lose all adrenaline.

Quivering Blade - Increase adrenaline cost to 7. Change functionality to: If this attack hits, it deals an additional +1...32 damage and target foe begins bleeding for 10...22 seconds.

Rage of the Ntouka - Reduce duration to 7 seconds.

Renewing Smash - Reduce energy cost to 5.

Seeking Blade - Increase damage to 1...24.

Sever Artery - Reduce adrenaline cost to 3.

Shove - Increase energy cost to 10, skill should no longer remove all adrenaline.

Signet of Strength - Change functionality to: For 10...20 seconds, your attacks deal an additional 1...5 damage.

Skull Crack - Move to Strength attribute. Change functionality to: If this attack hits, it deals +10...34 damage and your target is interrupted. If that target was casting a spell, they are dazed for 15 seconds.

Soldier's Speed - Reduce recharge to 10 seconds.

Soldier's Stance - Reduce recharge to 4 seconds, increase duration to 5...10 seconds.

Standing Slash - Increase damage (conditional and non-conditional) to 1...20.

Steelfang Slash - Remove adrenaline cost, increase energy cost to 5, increase recharge to 10 seconds.

Swift Chop - Increase damage to 10...22.

Thrill of Victory - Change functionality to: If this attack hits, it deals an additional 10...34 damage. If it strikes a foe with less health than you, you gain 30...70 health.

Tiger Stance - Reduce recharge to 15 seconds.

Victory is Mine! - Increase recharge to 25 seconds. Change functionality to: If target foe is suffering from a condition, you gain 60...100 health and your attacks have an additional 10...20% chance of being critical hits for 5...10 seconds.

Warrior's Cunning - Reduce recharge to 45 seconds.

Wild Blow - Increase recharge to 10 seconds, skill should no longer remove all adrenaline.

Edit: added Headbutt changes.

Well a real weedy game design and it sounds like it would be fun. Keeping that in mind I didn't prepare a whole lot for it. I did recognise that once I found out about preserves adding happy faces I knew I wouldn't be limited so much due to happiness and I never thought health would be much of a concern with all the trees and deers and such. Since we're heading for a culture victory I figured religions would be important and would gamble on trying to grab one. With that in mind lets start it up.

I adopt enviromentalism as soon as I load up the game then move my settler 1S to settle and start mysticism. Bad move as I fail on Hinduism with 5 turns left to go.



I then get sorted out on expanding and land my 2nd city next to bronze. However it would take me a while to actually get it connected. I planted the city there as I would be planting one just WNW of there and there were grassland areas where I could road over to the river. This would connect with my other cities so that I could still have a trade network. See I did put some thought into my gameplay this time. There just happened to be some forests grow on those tiles before I could road them. DOH!


Next up was to land stonehenge. I know I know I didn't need it being creative and all but it gave a slight advantage in early border wars so why not?

Turns out it was a waste of hammers but oh well. Live and learn.

On the religion front I would land Confucianism which I believe is from the oracle. I can't quite remember and I didn't take many notes. Regardless that's the first personal religion I had founded. As you can see I'm building the pyramids in that shot. I started them late and figured I would just earn some cash with them but I actually had a really good shot at landing them. In the end I lost them by a 3 turns however I was planning on whipping them and just forgot to check earlier. Turns out they were mine for the taking and I just f ked it up. Early representation/caste system would have helped a lot. Oh well.


And here's a picture of the aforementioned forest ruining my plans for a decent trade network.


A prophet would land me christianity:

As you can see I'm suffering a turn of disorder due to that slavery event.

And here's the shot that pissed me off to no end and made me retire. Louis and Willem warred for much of the time allowing me to expand and build and I neglected a lot of my military. Well having a large enough tech lead I wasn't all that concerned but Louis had enough and he had large numbers so he upped and DOW on me. Not really a surprise but just with his large numbers he was able to take my GP farm. I did get it back but just as I did he took another city. I was about to take it back with and was having visions of wiping his french face off the planet when the apostolic palace intervened and stopped the war. So I'm stuck without what I was planning on my 2nd legendary city and can't get it back so I upped and retired right then and there. The game was really fun up to that point and I had plenty of time to finish the game I was just pissed at the AP and I'm just not that fond of it. Oh well. Great design overall and thanks to Sulla for the effort of organising it.

Retired in 980AD.

Been up since last night, but I waited for a proper reporting thread post. 8)

http://www.dos486.com/civ4/epic22/

Culture Vcitory in 1470 AD.

CV around 1780.

Lots of going on in this game, and I'll try to have a report up by the end of Tuesday.

:hippie:

Edit: not going to be able to get the report up in time, so here's a summary:

CV in 1782.

List of :

- Forgetting that Preserves give 1

- Building Globe when had plenty HR happy in NE city

- Fat-fingering cancel deals with Hatty

- Getting DoWd by Hatty & Louis (total bummer) :thumbsdow

- Nearly voting Gilgamesh to Apo victory (big hit on the bong there)

- Forgetting to trade-in Lib in order to adopt Free Speech

- Eating several hundred Mars bars

List of good moves:

- Was able to trigger all three cities to go Legendary on the same turn

Interesting idea, could definitely use some pregame analysis of how the economy will go. I generate an Arboria map to look around. It won't be quite as forested overall as the start, but still expect cities to have at least half of their land tiles be forests.

The big thing about the preserves is that they give +1 happy per city. The normal happiness limit in the early game is just totally gone, given enough workers to keep adding preserves. Since we have Environmentalism from the get go, along with Expansive and lots of forests, health won't be an issue either. We can get huge cities very early.

As far as the road restrictions - the good news is with such big health and happy boni, it won't matter if there are some happy/health resources we can't connect. Moving workers around though all the unroaded woods may be a pain though, as could military campaigns. I will probably ignore wars unless boxed in early or have a close neighbor that will likely fight later; a later war when the AI's have chopped a lot of forests near their cities seems against the variant spirit. Of course, wars after the early rush stage are generally not conducive to early culture wins.

For generating the culture, one city of course will eventually want the National Park for 16+ free artists. So I should plan to go to Liberalism + Biology. Other two will try for wonders and a hodgepodge of things. Good news is that on this pangaea-like map I should be able to get a lot of religions. The slider won't be terribly effective without many mature cottages but can probably help.

Finally, the best part of all is that I can likely finish the game entirely on the Industrial Age music

Time to find out once and for all (well, on this map, with these conditions, etc. ) - Which is the Greatest Person?

I see the reporting has already begun.

Here is my report ... really enjoyed this game ... let the game make the big decisions for me!

http://ruffhi.atspace.com/Epic22-1.html

Edit: Got the number wrong - and it will not let me change it ... duh

Ship Movement

Ship movement in MOO has always been a bit of a mystery to me. I struggled to gauge the distance between planets leading to many frustrations. Does MOO understand the Pythagorean theorem for measuring diagonals or does it just use a set figure like 1.5 as in Civ or some other method altogether? Of course early scouts help but can you reach that next planet outside scout range after settling closer? And can that other race reach that planet or even you? How do players do it – naked eye, ruler, captured image? So I decided to check it out. Before I lay out the rules, a puzzle for you. In this picture before any tech discoveries which human scout (warp 1) on the left will reach the yellow planet of Morrig on the right first?


Basics
For ship movement, galaxy size does not matter. The galaxy is built on a co-ordinate system (x,y where x is W-E, y is N-S) where the size of a parsec in points of the co-ordinate system is fixed. When I looked at co-ordinates of planets and ships moving between them in the savefile, I quickly saw that the maximum movement in one direction, when travelling at an acute angle, was 9 points. Also I could see that in addition to 9 points in one direction (say W-E), you could at the same time move a few points in the opposite axis (N-S). In fact it looks like MOO fully understands the Pythagorean theorem because I was able to build the following rules for a one turn of movement at warp 1:

1. You can move up to 9,4 (distance 9.849) any direction any multiple of times
2. You can move up to 8,5 (distance 9.434) any direction any multiple of times
3. You can move up to 7,7 (distance 9.899) any direction any multiple of times

Since a destination at 9,5 (distance 10.296) or 8,6 (distance 10) could not be travelled in one turn the formula used seemed fair, only dogged by the rounding down. However this was not the full story, but meanwhile how is our race to Morrig going, 4 turns in:

Still confident about the result? Or do you want the second scout’s engine tested?

Diagonal boost
Although you cannot reach a destination at 9,5 or 8,6 in one turn, you can travel these distances during longer travels. So my estimate for amended rules for one turn of movement in a journey of multiple turns:
[Edit] See PS for updated chart which is more accurate & more clear.

1a. If the greater turn movement W-E or N-S is 9 points then you can move one turn of 9,5 for any number of turns of 9,4 or 4 turns of 9,5 for each turn of 8,5.
2a. If the greater turn movement W-E or N-S is 8 points then you can move one turn of 8,6 for each 5 turns of 8,5 or 9 turns of 8,6 for each turn of 7,6.
3a. You can move 7,7 (distance 9.899) any direction any multiple of times.

Although individual turns can move greater than 10 points most journey’s average move is less but there are exceptions - eg. 44,25 in 5 turns via 4 x 9,5 + 1 x 8,5 is average 10.12 points per turn. Still seems a reasonably fair formula subject to rounding and the odd journey sneaking over 10 points per turn. However there was more which takes us back to our race. Have you decided? Well these were the journey times at the start:


Slipstream
So the second placed scout will overtake the nearer one and finish a turn earlier! The distances are 75,1 (distance 75.007) for the near scout and 88,0 for the far scout. So how can one scout travel 88 points faster than another can travel 75.007? Well apparently if you are exactly on the horizontal or vertical axis with your destination you can move at 11 points per turn! It is not actually quite that simple since the near scout moves 11 points its first turn only despite not being exactly on an axis. It appears you can move 11 points at very acute angles if the distance is large enough. I think journey’s exactly on an axis are very rare but be aware they can speed you up noticeably. Acute angles are more a possibility but you need long distances to benefit.

Warp speed & transports
I did not do any thorough checking of differences at higher speeds but ran a couple of tests. I believe warp 2 is simply twice warp 1 but do not quote me! I did quickly check those transport slowdowns at the Altair nebula in Imperium 13. Apparently transports at warp 1 in a nebula slow from the usual 9 points per turn to 4 points per turn, allowing 4,2 or 3,3 on individual turns. What slouches!

So there we have it. I still cannot judge distance but now I know why it is so hard – rounding down, boosted diagonal turns and the exceptional axis alignment slipstream!

[Edit]
PS. It might be easier to see this in diagrams or pictures.


Note I show North as positive movement, as usual, but game has 0,0 in top left NW corner and East & South are positive while West & North are negative in game co-ordinates.



So the greatest distance per turn is exactly N/E/S/W (0/90/180/270 degrees) but very rare to be exactly aligned like this. Otherwise distance per parsec increases as angle from horizontal (or from vertical) increases up to about 30 degrees, then reduces back down to past 40 degrees then peaks again at 45 degrees.
Note also that the 5 parsec grid (Alt+M) is actually 50 points wide & high. Since you nearly always travel a maximum of only 45 points in one direction for 5 parsecs it is a little decpetive. It is only really close to accuracy at maximum angled travel ie. at 30 or 45 degrees from horizontal or vertical.

Attached Files

  Ship movement chart.xls (Size: 36.5 KB / Downloads: 2)