I have written an alien ship cap routine, primarily directed at Sub Zero edits to obviously capture the alien ships w/o blowing them up. The script will use either one or two ships automatically after popping a corp planet.

# alienCap.ts: --- alien ship cap - assuming ship IG is on or sector is surrounded
# Automaticaly use a second ship, if available sets IG on -- comment out that line if no IG
# ----- Original script: Promethius
# ----- Edit script:
# ----- Edit changes:
# ----- Suggested changes:
# ----- Add detection for 1st ship ig and turn on if necessary
# ----- Add detection for 2nd ship IG - script assumes it has one
# ----- Read ck's ship stats for odds/shields, have to add alien
# ----- ships and include routine to calc figs necessary to
# --- destroy shields.

# CAUTION!!!!!!! This script has NOT been tested and has not even
# been fired up!!!! It is for YOU to debug as necessary and add to.
# Read the script comments!!!

With that information, if you want the script, all I ask is you let me know how and if it works. http://members.cox.net/twars/alienCap.ts

               / Promethius / Enigma / Wolfen /

"A man who has no skills can be taught, a man who has no honor has nothing."

After playing at Cyanides I wrote a alien capture script too.
Man that game was messed up.

Is it really worthwhile to capture Alien/Ferrengi ships? I was under the impression that Alien ships almost never yield enough resale value at StarDock to recoup the cost of the figs you expend in capturing them. Killing ferrengi ships yields EXP and Alignment points, and cash bonuses from the Feds in some early versions of the game, but there are easier ways (planet busting) to get EXP that don't cost figs.

generally its not worth capturing alien ships.
for ex: in subzero edits its only worth capturing 2 ships. 1 for an attack ship and 1 for a tholian. unless of course they have low figs on them, then it could be worth it, but really, its more trouble than its worth in most edits. however, some edits give aliens ridiculously expensive ships in which case capturing them is the most lucradive form of cashing. games like cyanides do not constitute being called subzero edits. ships and planets are nothing close to balanced, and the aliens are the idea of someone on LCD. but you are correct, for the most part, capturing alien ships is pointless unless they have a ship that you are going to use, and they are incredibly easy to cap w/o a script.

Slim

I think you're too hard on Cyanide's game, Slim. The aliens are worth so much because the games are intended to be quick and dirty. There is a few days of truce so corps can get some planets going and build up a cash reserve, then its all out combat. There are no cashing or turn conservation strategies, just pure unlim combat. Its certainly not the style of game for everyone, but it has its place. And it sure is fun to wade into a huge melee sometimes

Psion

quote:Originally posted by lcharlot

Is it really worthwhile to capture Alien/Ferrengi ships? I was under the impression that Alien ships almost never yield enough resale value at StarDock to recoup the cost of the figs you expend in capturing them. Killing ferrengi ships yields EXP and Alignment points, and cash bonuses from the Feds in some early versions of the game, but there are easier ways (planet busting) to get EXP that don't cost figs.


It depends on the edits of the game and the game that I recently saw on maxrij (not sure if that is correct) had alien ship prices very high. Another sub zero edit had a ship that was worth 40 mil and usually had just a few thousand fighters at most. So it became SSM for 35 minutes taking a chance on getting hit, or wait for the alien ship to hit the grid and then go cap it.

I really dislike these types of games, but some enjoy them. I wrote the script for the heck of it and maybe let someone go in and find the bugs and the person learn a bit about scripting in the process. Turn-key scripts are nice to have, but they do little to help a person learn about twars. The code has to be able to handle different situations and you only know the situations through game knowledge.

The script that I posted "should" work, but as the cautions indicate - it has not been tested or even compiled. It should give a basis for the player to build on and learn with.

               / Promethius / Enigma / Wolfen /

"A man who has no skills can be taught, a man who has no honor has nothing."

quote:Originally posted by Psion

I think you're too hard on Cyanide's game, Slim. The aliens are worth so much because the games are intended to be quick and dirty. There is a few days of truce so corps can get some planets going and build up a cash reserve, then its all out combat. There are no cashing or turn conservation strategies, just pure unlim combat. Its certainly not the style of game for everyone, but it has its place. And it sure is fun to wade into a huge melee sometimes

Psion


How do you have a quick and dirty pure unlim combat game with a truce?

How do you have a quick and dirty pure unlim combat game with a truce? Well thats a good point Harley. It does seem a little contradictory. I played in several games on Cyanide's server, and the truce was generally only three or four days, and the games themselves were usually over in about a week. Certainly some other games have ended sooner than that, but I feel a weeklong game to be on the shortside, hence quick. As to dirty, heh. Play one and see what I mean

Slim - thanks for the informative reply. I had never thought of deliberating setting extremely high cash values for the Alien ships in TEDIT. I can see how this would add an interesting new dimension to the Aliens, who I never had much use for. Another similar thing I have seen done is where the gameop creates some extra Alien or Rogue planets in unused dead ends or tunnels with maximum defenses, and in the back of the tunnel MIGHT be a planet with a HUGE treasury, as much as 100 billion or even 1 trillion credits. If a player or corp can find the planet and break through the defenses, the reward is considerable. This should only be done in non-photon games, to make it difficult to cap the treasure planet.

I think games w/high cash aliens are lopsided. They require very little talent (unless u start two days late ) and truces are a load of crap. In this scenario I can see: (3 day truce)

make a bill in an hour from aliens
pop 30 planets and lev up to lev 5
make a couple more bill in a couple of hours from aliens
fill planets w/figs & shields
grid for an hour or two
pdrop

blah. Personally after playing for a couple of months I am starting to feel unimpressed w/unlim games. Maybe more bored. I played a little while at max's server and it might been fun for some. But a truce is boring. What good is having a ship full of figs if u can't drop it on someone for 3 days. The most fun I've had in weeks was chasing some guy around in a game that keep adj. photoning me. lol... Thats bad.

But, thats just my personal take. I may be turning into a low turn player.

--LD--

I think Slim is on LCD!

I believe its LSD, unless Slim has went portable.

To an extent, I think you're right Lucky. I played there for awhile, and got bored with it. It is kind of fun to build up big bases and a ton of cash, then go all out. It loses it's charm though. I'm finding myself shying away from unlims and towards lower turn games myself. Unlims aren't really very hard to play, it seems to me there is much more strategy and technique in lower turn games.

Very much more strategy and technique Psion. After playing unlimited games for quite a while try playing a 2000 or less stock game. Talk about a change of pace. You have to be able to do more with less. Lots of players wssm script for a couple of hours and get big ships and full figs and then wssm all night. Of course (they could be newbie's) and they will still be setting pretty especially w/0 day builds. With low turn games you develop more techniques of planet farming and port upgrading to develop cash and also SST/SDT (if red). That is just what I have found over the last few months.

I feel that unlims just evade skill. (which is why I vow to pod all the wssm sleepers )

--LD--

Well, I don't know that unlims actually evade skill. I would say that unlims are much easier to get started in, and to play. There is definately skill involved in high-level unlim competition, the skills are just different from those used in low turn games. Its the nature of things that you will always be limited by the resource that is present in the least quantity. In low turn games, obviously this is turns, you must get the best possible usage out of each and every turn. In unlims, turns are irrelevant, so you are scraping to get the best possible usage out of the time you have. That being said, I firmly believe that playing low turns is harder, and requires much more strategy and knowledge to play competently.

Oh, and podding the afk scripters is fun in ANY game, high or low turn