How is your score calculated?

[Taro]

Here's a question for all you experts out there.

How does the computer calculate the score for an empire. How much points is given per population, tech level, resourses, blah blah blah?

What better way to increase your score than to know how it is calculated. Am I right?

[Krakenup]

quote:

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Originally posted by Taro:
How does the computer calculate the score for an empire. How much points is given per population, tech level, resourses, blah blah blah?

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200 points per Tech level
1 point per resource/research/intell point
10 points per kT for ships/bases
no points for units/pop/colonies/systems

So a colony ship (300kT) is worth 3000 points until you use it to colonize a planet - then your score drops by 3000 points. I'm not sure about points for other facilities (space ports, etc.) on a planet, but all facility/resource points for that planet drop to zero if you blockade it - that is, have a ship (or moon) in that sector.

Edit: Proposed Scoring System

I really don't think that this is a good system because it doesn't accurately represent who is ahead. Ships count too much and Technology too little. Also, units, population and colonies should count for something directly. I would propose:

1 point per resource/research/intell point
500 points per Tech level
2 points per kT for ships/bases and units
1 point for every 10 resource points in storage
1 point per million population

500 points per colony
100 points in addition for every facility slot on that colony - a tiny domed colony would be worth 500+100 = 600 points (the same as a colony ship at 2x300kT), and a huge, breathable colony would be worth 500+2500 = 3000 points.




[This message has been edited by Krakenup (edited 12 July 2001).]

[Quikngruvn]

If nothing else, your score would not go down after you build and use a colony ship (unless it gets shot down).

Colonize anything besides a tiny unbreathable planet, and your score goes up, which sounds much more realistic IMHO.

Quikngruvn

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"That which does not kill you will make you stronger." -- Nietzsche

[This message has been edited by Quikngruvn (edited 13 July 2001).]

[capnq]

quote:

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200 points per Tech level
1 point per resource/research/intell point
10 points per kT for ships/bases
no points for units/pop/colonies/systems

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Where did you get these numbers, and how confident are you in them? AFAIK, the scoring formula has never been documented.

Note that colonies and their population indirectly add to the score by producing the resource/research/intelligence points.

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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"

[Krakenup]

quote:

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Originally posted by capnq:
Where did you get these numbers, and how confident are you in them? AFAIK, the scoring formula has never been documented.

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It's pretty simple. You look at the scores, go kill something, and then look at the scores again. Unless I made a typo or something, I'm very confident.

quote:

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Note that colonies and their population indirectly add to the score by producing the resource/research/intelligence points.

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Yes, but a fully developed, breathable colony bristling with WP's and satellites with an enemy transport in orbit counts the same as, well, nothing. It's far too easy to reduce an enemy's score down to where they surrender.

[raynor]

I'm in complete agreement with the idea of including units in the score. Building tons of fighters instead of ships is an extremely easy way to beat the AI at all levels of difficulty and bonus because you can so readily avoid ever being seen as a threat by the AI.

If I were designing a better formula for score, I would probably weight the score based upon the firepower of the ships instead of just the raw tonnage.