Introducing Moose - the MOO Sidekick Enhancement spreadsheet

[Zygot]

Hi all, I've found sargon0's ship design spreadsheet very useful since I found out about it last year. I've been thinking it would be handy to have better insight on some other aspects of the game as well.

You can find the MOOSE strategy spreadsheet at:

http://www.expertoforion.com

Bug reports and feedback are welcomed here.

[Ianus]

What an absolutely fantastic resource! I made myself a tech list giving levels of each tech, but having a list divided by tiers is wonderful!

I notice two issues:
1. The research costs at Simple difficulty are the same as those at Impossible, all other levels appear to work well, and numbers appear accurate to within ~10 or 20 research points.
2. Overall tech level values at the top of the spreadsheet are 1 value higher than the tech levels given in the game. I see that there is a +1 in the formula calculating these values so maybe remove that? I don't know enough about the game's calculations to say more.

Thank you for this! I've seen references to various spreadsheet calculators but I've never found working links to any of them. Could anyone who has any resources perhaps make them available in this thread?

[Zygot]

Thanks Ianus. I reproduced your issues and I think I've resolved them.

1. My formula error (fixed by implementing a VLOOKUP).
2. Either an error in OSG, or I misunderstand the explanation on page 215. In any case, taking out the +1 fixes it and matches the in-game value. I was so confident the OSG had it right that I didn't even bother to test against the in-game value. (It seems this extra +1 is only needed on a fresh, unresearched category, to get the starting value of 1).

I plan to post the next version in a few days. It will have the above fixes plus:

1. Advanced category techs (tech levels 51+). A little bit of testing leads to the theory that these are at the top of each tier, for example Tech Levels 55, 60, 65, etc until you reach a category score of 99.
2. Ground combat. The goal is to have it automatically calculate combat odds and allow what-if scenarios.

Right now, the file is a bit of broken work-in-progress while I make changes, so I can't easily post just the fixes.

Also it would help me to know the answers to some questions:

1. What platform you're using the file on (OS and app)?
2. If you click for example on any of the Unknowns in the Research tab, do you get a pop-up box to pick the other values (like Owned, Researching, etc)?
3. Do you get color changes when you do so (green for Owned, yellow for Researching, red for Missing, white for Available, white for blanks in a tier you have knowledge of)?

[Ianus]

1. What platform you're using the file on (OS and app)?
2. If you click for example on any of the Unknowns in the Research tab, do you get a pop-up box to pick the other values (like Owned, Researching, etc)?
3. Do you get color changes when you do so (green for Owned, yellow for Researching, red for Missing, white for Available, white for blanks in a tier you have knowledge of)?

1. I'm on Windows 7 Enterprise SP1 and using Excel 2013.

2. The drop-down menu appears to work in all fields. I don't know how it is for you (I get the feeling you on on a different OS) but I don't get the automatic menu. There is a little arrow on the right edge of the box which when clicked opens the drop-down. I don't think that this is an issue with the spreadsheet but rather the way Excel handles this sort of thing.

3. Color changes all seem to work as intended. I was originally going to make a comment about how blank boxes in a tier turn white when I make a change to anything in that tier, thinking that it was some sort of bug, but I see that you intended it that way and after playing with it I like it that way. So yes, that all appears to work correctly.

[Zygot]

Thanks Ianus for your OS/app report. It sounds like everything is working as intended.

Here is version 0.2.0. I made the reported fixes, added the Advanced research tiers, and added a first version of ground combat.

[Zygot]

Updated first post with version 0.3.0 which features a planner for what techs to get from your limited research list in order to build a basic standard long range colony ship.

[Zygot]

What's next? I've started planning out an economy dashboard. The kind of thing that will show you how much it costs you to build a factory or population unit, and how much production or research it will give you. Probably include stuff like show you your current waste penalties, and allow input of your current maintenance costs, to show actual bottom-line results. I've found it's interesting and illuminating to see what you're truly getting versus what the theoretical maximums are! (And just like with taxes, sometimes depressing).

After that, I have some ideas about little stuff like trade route profitability, maybe it's even possible to predict election results. The big project I'm saving for the end is a comprehensive ship design planner; I've got ideas about pitting two designs against each other, and analyzing cost efficiency versus a target ship type or missile base.

Basically, just things to help make good strategic decisions. Anything you'd like to see?

[Caboose]

Nice!

[bjg]

The LibreOffice version would be appreciated.

[Zygot]

The LibreOffice version would be appreciated.

I've been working on the next version with the economy sidekick. It's proven to be a bit trickier than the others, both in terms of design and the math. I will be releasing a tested LibreOffice native file along with the Excel file, and plan to continue doing so going forward. Aiming for release within a week.