maximum number of races

chewy027 · #1 March 10th, 2001, 03:45 PM

I was wondering if anyone knows how to tweak the game to play with more than 20 races at a time? Is this feature hardcoded or can it be changed? Does anyone else think there should be no limit to the number of races in a galaxy? Thanks for your time!
Chewy027

Baron Munchausen · #2 March 10th, 2001, 06:30 PM

Ack! There are some serious problems with handling just 10 you know! The diplomatic screen only holds 4 race images at a time and you have to scroll it back and forth quite a bit. And, worst of all, the very small limit on the number of intelligence projects you can run is often over-whelmed when trying to defend against many races launching projects against you. An increase in the number of intel projects allowed at once might help some, but with 20 races in a game I think you'd need a limit of 50 or more to be able to counter all of your opponents at one one time. Then there's the question of how long you are willing to wait for each turn to process as each race has to be run sequentially. What benefit do you see in more than 20 races in a game?

chewy027 · #3 March 11th, 2001, 03:40 PM

I realize there would br a lot more to handle intelligence wise, but to me this makes the game that much more challenging and interesting. Simultaneous movement can take care of the waiting between parts and overall the diplomatic part of the game would be a lot more intricate. Instead of there being one or two empires that expand and become huge there would be many small empires. Many of wich would form alliances and create, in essence, a large empire. There would be a delicate ballance of power. So if you were to go to war with say four other empires. It would really be equal to one in a twenty race game. What do you think?

Windborne · #4 March 13th, 2001, 04:02 AM

I'd be willing to read a book or watch a show between turns late in the game for an interesting universe, give me more computer opponents, especially ones that happen "historically" in the game, breaking off from fallen nations, rebelling against huge imperial powers, etc . . .

jc173 · #5 March 13th, 2001, 04:56 AM

Granted I'm still pretty new to the game (only owned it for about a month). But so far in my experience it seems that in the end all the AI's hate you. Act like Santa Clause or Atilla the Hun but it seems like I always end up fighting the entire galaxy, that's before I even trigger the mega evil empire flag too. I do use a number of mods so that might be part of it.

[This message has been edited by jc173 (edited 13 March 2001).]

chewy027 · #6 March 13th, 2001, 05:29 PM

The mega evil empire settings can be altered, but I forget in which data folder those settings are in. Maybe the settings folder. Anyway, the thing that would be great about all those empires would be the fact that you would HAVE to stay on good terms with at least some of them. I believe this makes the game more realistic anyway. Granted the computer may just be dumb and not like you, but again that can be alterd in a races general AI. If they become to bothersome just close up the warp points leading to their systems and concentrate on however many you want at a time.

And yes I agree that empires should be able to split; they should be able to go through a type of civil war. Perhaps if their homeworld is captured or something like that. This would not only add another race to play against, but also give added importance to capturing a rival empires homeworld or whatever it would be to trigger such an event. Another way this could be done is through intelligence. Instead of stirring up just one planet, you could create an entire political movement in an empire causing some sort of schism. But enough about that. This is an entirely different topic.

Chewy027

chewy027 · #7 April 5th, 2001, 01:31 AM

Actually having the empires be able to split is a good way to get new empires in the game. We just have to make sure that they become full blown empires not neutrals.

For more info and discussion got to the intergalactic civil war thread. Give us your input and tell us what you think.

Lucanos · #8 April 5th, 2001, 03:03 AM

quote:
Originally posted by chewy027:
Many of wich would form alliances and create, in essence, a large empire. There would be a delicate ballance of power. So if you were to go to war with say four other empires. It would really be equal to one in a twenty race game. What do you think?

I see what you mean. But the problem isn't the number of races - it's the number of their IQ.

Victory conditions:
"Quadrant is completly at peace..."

...is underestimated by the computer. In my oppinion, the AI is too aggessive - like a mindless barbarian. It's not like I'm complaining about the difficulty - I could have beaten the game if I ever finished one.

If you ask me:
"The AI doesn't know when to stop!"

mottlee · #9 April 5th, 2001, 03:13 AM

OK so it might be COOL to have more AI to fight with, I for one would like the ones there to be a "little" smarter you know sending ship after ship into a mine field is DUMB. The Idea of if you take out there home world civl war Cool IF they give up no
just my $0.02 worth

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chewy027 · #10 April 5th, 2001, 03:13 AM

So Lucanos do you think that there should be no limit to the number of races? I mean sure everyone wants the AI improved, and I agree that the AI should be more peaceful and not always go to a murderous state with you. I'm sure this will all be corrected in some upcoming patch. But do you think the no limit on # of races should be implemented.