Exploding stars...
 

I have never encountered it before, but usually how much warning do you get for a star that is about to explode?

Re: Exploding stars...
 

Three years. Hopefully enough time to evacuate!

Quikngruvn

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Stay alert. Trust no one. Keep your laser handy.
--from the RPG Paranoia, now my PBW mantra

Re: Exploding stars...
 

I think that when you start in orbit of a collapsing star, it is a sign that god is against you and wants to see your species dead. Isn't that right, Geo?

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"...the green, sticky spawn of the stars"
(with apologies to H.P.L.)

Re: Exploding stars...
 

Maybe it would be a cool scenario to have everyone start in a system with a star about to go nova in three years. You'd sure have to scramble in those first three years.

Or maybe the "Starflight" scenario with a wave of supernovas moving across the quadrant (or, ok, less destructive 'flare ups' that irradiate all planets -- MM would have to make this option available) and you'd have to maneuver your race to survive as well as struggle with the others.

Re: Exploding stars...
 

Cheap trick to make a star explode when you want it:

Make a new component. Give it the star destroying (or nebula, black hole) ability, 1 standard move, extremely high cloak, master computer, and quantum reactor abilities. Make it extremely cheap and put in on an escort. Load up the first turn, create these escorts as needed, order then to cloak, move to star, decloak, and attack. Then abandon that players planets.

Instant unstoppable death machines..

Phoenix-D

Re: Exploding stars...
 

Empire of the Exploding Suns?

Talk about time to use Emergency Build... or planetary engines. http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/ima...ons/icon12.gif

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-- The thing that goes bump in the night

Re: Exploding stars...
 

Alright I noticed two different comments for explosive stars:

"Star is unstable and could collapse at any time"
"Star is prone to violent eruptions and has an unstable core"

Interesting. Would the former indicates that the star would blow within 3 years, while the later means it will not happen within the next 3 years?


[This message has been edited by CW (edited 05 September 2001).]

Re: Exploding stars...
 

No. Because right now, it doesn't DO anything! For one, the values for those abilities are set to zero..for two, cranking them up doesn't help.

Phoenix-D

Re: Exploding stars...
 

everytime it has happened to me it is 30 turns

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L? GdX $ Fr C++ SdT T+ Sf* Tcp+ A M++ MpTM ROTS Pw+ Fq+ Nd Rp++ G+

Re: Exploding stars...
 

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>"Star is unstable and could collapse at any time"
"Star is prone to violent eruptions and has an unstable core"

Interesting. Would the former indicates that the star would blow within 3 years, while the
later means it will not happen within the next 3 years?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>No, I think both of those descriptors mean the star is a candidate to blow at some undefined point. AFAIK, a star without one of those two warnings will never blow without some technological "help".

The Event Log entry warning that the star will blow is always three years beforehand. Single planets with core instabilities blow in one year, and the firestorm warning gives you three months to evacuate.

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Cap'n Q

The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the
human mind to correlate all of its contents. We live on a placid
island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was
not meant that we should go far. -- HP Lovecraft, "The Call of Cthulhu"

Re: Exploding stars...
 

capnq, both of those, in the abilities.txt file, have descriptions that say "value 1: chance the star will explode per year".

I don't think it's supposed to have anything to do with events, unless he changed it and forgot to change the abilities.txt file. In any case, by default all the values for these two abilities are set to *0*, and even if you crank it up nothing happens, so if the description is correct they don't do anything.

Phoenix-D

Re: Exploding stars...
 

Phoenix, I assume you turned the value all the way up to 1000 (since the percentage stuff is sometimes measured in tenths), and let it run for a full year?

Of course, the feature could have been disabled in the hard code during beta testing, since it could cause serious trouble early in the game, and skill would have nothing to do with winning or losing at that point. If it had a setting where the game didn't check for star explosions until, say, turn 30, it might be OK. Even then sometimes it's tricky to abandon homeworld-sized planets and resettle the population somewhere else (especially if you can't FIND a comparable world...).

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L++ GdY $ Fr&gt;Fr++ C++ SdS T-- Sf Tcp? A%% M- Mp! RTH!P Pw Fq--&gt;Fq+ Nd&gt;Nd+++++ Rp++ G+

[This message has been edited by DirectorTsaarx (edited 05 September 2001).]

Re: Exploding stars...
 

in 1.35 there were two abilities and one of them worked. you could set value 1 to 100 and there was a 100% chance that that star would start its 30 year countdown on the first turn of the game.

now, in 1.41, there is only one ability called "star unstable" or something. it does not work, set to 100, set to 1000, or set to anything else. it does not work on the first turn, nor 100 turns in on high/catastrophic events. it be broke.

a map saved from the 1.35 map editor with working exploding stars does not work on 1.41 of the game, either.


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"...the green, sticky spawn of the stars"
(with apologies to H.P.L.)

Re: Exploding stars...
 

Ah. Another undocumented feature. Interesting...

Maybe someone should inform MM, with suggestions as to how we prefer it to work...

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L++ GdY $ Fr&gt;Fr++ C++ SdS T-- Sf Tcp? A%% M- Mp! RTH!P Pw Fq--&gt;Fq+ Nd&gt;Nd+++++ Rp++ G+

Re: Exploding stars...
 

If a star is going to explode in 3 years, will you get a message every turn about the star exploding, or do you get only one message 3 years before the actual explosion? If you get only one message, people who take over races as replacement players can be in for some nasty surprises http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Re: Exploding stars...
 

I also wish there was some buildable or researchable component that could prevent such things.

Re: Exploding stars...
 

You can prevent your stars from exploding by building a sphereworld or ringworld around it.

Re: Exploding stars...
 

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr>If a star is going to explode in 3 years, will you get a message every turn about the star exploding, or do you get only one message 3 years before the actual explosion?<hr></blockquote>You just get one message.

Re: Exploding stars...
 

I turned the thing off. Just a pain. One game I had 4 stars explode in 50 turns. Kind of puts a damper on the game and does not seem real.

Re: Exploding stars...
 

I think the game really should give a count down every turn if a star is going to explode. One little message is just too easy to miss or forget.

Re: Exploding stars...
 

Totally agree with exploding deal countdown. Check out SJ's Homecoming scenario. Also, i don't think it is possible to build a ringworld (preventative exploding) around a star when you get the warning. even with advanced space yards tech.

Re: Exploding stars...
 

Pirates&Nomads V2.3b The original Version that Homecoming was made with.

Pirates&Nomads V2.3c R2 The latest Version which should be compatible with Homecoming.

For the actual scenario itself, see below:

EDIT: to update the FTL-map link

[ 18 December 2001: Message edited by: suicide_junkie ]</p>

Re: Exploding stars...
 

SJ, i can't seem to get your FTL map from the link listed in your sig. please help. I have a question posted as well, under 'HELPDefensive' i am about to be raped by one of hte most interesting empires ever, VOrlon under Imperator Fyron.

Re: Exploding stars...
 

Try this.