Sometime soon, possibly this weekend, Cruncher will be hosting an edit I've been working on called Equilibrium. Eventually the edit will include custom ships, but first I want to get the planets right.

The inspiration behind Equilibrium is the fact that today's game is no longer a builder's game. Between advances in hunting techniques and the trend toward more turns, it is virtually guaranteed that a blue builder's planets will be found and invaded before they reach level 4.

To combat this, I've completely customized the planets. The biggest change is that the minimum construction time to reach level 2 and level 4 has been approximately cut in half. This allows the turns to be kept at a number people will hopefully consider reasonable.

This will be the very first play test, so the game settings are a bit of a shot in the dark. I'm going to start with 500 turns, 20,000 sectors, and 3 players per corp.

I want to see what happens with two corps going head to head with different strategies, because that's what I'm interested in balancing. One corp should be all blue, focused on building defensible planets, and the other should be mixed red-blue, focused on cashing and hunting. I want to see both corps organized early in the game, so I'm using this post as kind of a sign-up roster to gauge interest and give everyone a heads-up about the upcoming bang.

I intend to play, and I've invited Cruncher to play, even though it's her own server. This game is about putting my edit to the test, not proving who's top dog.

I've sent the TWA to Cruncher. The game will open when she feels like opening it.

The game description provides a brief overview of the planets. Here's a slightly more detailed version.

M - Terrestrial
Advantage: Most stable population, fastest citadel construction
Characterized by a rocky or rocky-metallic composition, an abundance of liquid water on the surface, and a thick nitrogen-oxygen atmosphere. Earth is a class M planet.

H - Geothermal
Advantage: Simplest production logistics, third most valuable production per colonist
Class H planets are geologically young, with a thin, rocky crust and an active, molten mantle. They are often tectonically and volcanically violent, and their surfaces are rich in metal ores and rare earth elements.

K - Desert
Advantage: Highest maximum shields and fighters, highest fighter production per colonist
Characterized by rocky composition, thin atmosphere, and little or no surface water. Subsurface water may be present, allowing for settlement. Mars is a class K planet.

U - Gas Giant
Advantage: Most valuable production per colonist, highest Fuel Ore production and capacity
Rich in the hydrogen isotopes used to power fusion drives, class U planets are the universe's gas stations. Colonies on class U planets take the form of floating cities and gas mining platforms. Having no solid surface, class U planets are limited to level 3 citadels. This makes it impractical to sell the vast amounts of Fuel Ore they are capable of producing. Neptune and Uranus are class U planets.

O - Pelagic
Advantage: Second most valuable production per colonist
Similar to a terrestrial world, but mostly or completely covered in liquid water. Rich in easily-harvested organic compounds.

C - Glaciated
Advantage: Highest citadel interest rate
Similar to a terrestrial world, but covered in a thick layer of water ice. Glaciated worlds are popular locations for corporate archives and data centers because of their isolation, limited population, and cheap air conditioning, but the common joke is that their popularity has more to do with their similarity to bankers' stony, frozen hearts.

k - Sulfuric
Uninhabitable
Characterized by an extremely thick, reducing atmosphere, often accompanied by violent electrical storms and extreme temperatures generated by a runaway greenhouse effect. Venus is a class k planet.



Game configuration - differences from Gold stock

20,000 sectors
3 planets per sector
3 players per corp
500 turns
3 day turn bank
planet trades 80%
max port production 30,000
180 minutes/day
minimum login 15 min
unoccupied podless captures
capture fail 20%

Okey dokey, it's up to Mongoose now.

Looks like a fun game, I'll let him remote in and give it a look over to make sure it's what he wanted, then we'll decide on a game time to start.

Probably some time tomorrow. I'm editing the menus now.

Thanks, Cruncher!

Like I said, I'll be playing the game myself, or at least poking around a bit to see if everything looks right. I don't expect anyone will have a problem with that, since this game is about testing the edit, not proving who's top dog. However, I will not attack any other player, their ships, or their planets. I will only destroy grid fighters as necessary to move around. I do not expect the same concession from anyone else!

There's one thing in particular I want feedback on. The advantages of some of the planet types involve them having the most of something. For example, class K holds the most shields and fighters, class U holds the most fuel ore, etc. These kinds of advantages are useless unless people actually come up against the limits on the other planet types. So let me know if you do or don't.

If nothing else, stop in and check out Mongoose's game description, he did a great job, looks cool and I finally figured out how to get it to display as an ansi thanks to Micro.

Here's the warspect file, I ran 4 passes with cherokee's ZTM.

I stopped in and checked on the Info screen, very
nicely done. Looking at the game settings, however,
and looks like I'll pass. Best of luck.


That info screen makes me want to get into some
ansi art. Is there a size limit to the file?

That's a good question. Cosby, have you downloaded TWGS 2.11 yet to play locally? You could test your designs there.

The field is all blue. We need some reds to hunt us for this to be a proper test!

I'm just waiting for you to get your ISS and start colonzing, then I'll bring my L4 over and thank you for all the colos!

Muahahahaha.....

Well, I got my ISS last night... but I'm kind of waiting for a red to show up before I start building planets.

Let me show you something about your settings and how they're deffinately slanted toward blue players...

Turn Base=500 Turns - A tad low for a 20k sector universe, reds would have to use the turn bank to get a good SDT run. Once you take into account the turns needed to tow the Colts out and stow them, there aren't many turns left for actual "crimes".
Clear Bust Days=7 Days - If you want reds, clear busts daily
Steal Factor=100% - 30% exp vs. 21% exp in MBBS Mode
Rob Factor=100% - 3% exp vs 6% exp in MBBS Mode
I like to play red, so I prerfer MBBS mode, but turn Mega Rob off to help keep the game balanced for blue players.
Production Rate=25 - OK, this is good for reds, but not so good for blues
Ship Delay=Third (1/3 s/t) - Not many like ship delay, change this to constant 250ms.
7,600 ports are open for business - Ports are too sparse for a 20k sector universe with only 500 turns. Low turn games need more ports.

You have remote sysop privilages, you can reset this game if you'd like or let it play out a bit longer with these settings. Have you decided on ship edits yet?

Enlighten me - why would SDT require setup? AFAIK, there are two ways to run SDT: with mobile planets, or on baby planets without cits. For the latter, you need a minimum of either two reds and three ports, or three reds and two ports. But you can leave the ships parked over the ports.

I realized pretty quickly when making this edit that red cashing is eventually going to outpace blue cashing no matter what I did with the planets. PT will never outcash SDT. The idea is to restrict red cashing in the early days of the game, making it take longer and cost more to get started, and requiring more coordination between corp members. Reds will need to dedicate a significant fraction of their early cash to hunting if they expect to find the blues before they begin PT. But even with these challenges, I think red still has a slight advantage.

Also AFAIK, it's not reds who would benefit most from higher port density; they normally set up in a bubble or tunnel and constantly work the same ports, often player-built ones. It's the blues who need more pairs for PPT and routes for PT.

Right now it's just you and me. No blues hauling red ships... for me to play solo red, I need to SST/SDT near a 0 port to refurb. I don't have the luxury of being pampered and waited on by blues.

Your idea has worked, you've restriced red cashing, yet you're wondering where the red players are?

I designed the edit for 2- or 3-player corps, not solos. I don't think it's possible to balance an edit for both solo and team play, because blue cashing scales linearly with corp size but red cashing increases dramatically when bust clearing and furbing are available. If it's balanced for solo, it would have to be limited to solo. Red or mixed corps would wreck it.

OK then, increase the turns and the port density, leave everything else the way it is and introduce some of the ship edits you had in mind. Red cashing increases dramatically with Mega Rob, that's why I run MBBS Mode for battle odds and port maxes, and because we can cash a bit earlier.

Oh, one more change, loose the ship delay. Use Constant setting at 250ms. Ship delay is just annoying.

I really do like your planets and I'd like to see them fully develop, but 500 turns in a 20k universe is a little slow. Just my opinion.