SE4 Map analyser

[Suicide Junkie]

Originally posted by Ruatha:
What are you writing it in for language? C#/++ or VB or Delphi? Just curious!

If started from a Run commando does it take any parameters?..... (I e if I make a plug-in text file for the companion to start it should I send any parameters, ie paths or such?)

I think it looks real good, and it will help settle all those discussion (You had more planets, facilities, huges ones etc once and for all )

Will it show asteroids and special systems aswell?

Its in VB. Not overly efficient, but it works.
I don't look at commandline parameters... You'll want to look at the charts and graphs and numbers when its done.
I figure the best way to use it is to run through the analysis, tweak the mod, and then re-analyse the parts you changed.
Repeat until your maps are fairly balanced

Asteroids and special systems don't contribute to any of the current stats (# colonies, # facility slots, population max, etc)

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The actual maps will vary from the average statistics, of course, but at least you will know that, on average, your mod will produce fair maps.

[Ruatha]

It's just that I've been in discussions as to "How many asteroids" are thjer in this map, and in the game there is no way to find out except counting them manually.
And it would be good too see how many special systems are produced, to see if they are too many or too few, perhaps an extra page
Black holes : 1
Nebulae: 2

etc, if it's doable. (No pressure, just a suggestion, disregard at will )

About commandline parameters, I just wondered how one loads a map into it, is there a "open dialog" or do you run it with "Mapanalyzer.exe c:\se4\mods\AImod\mymap.map" or whatever..
Like in SE4 you can start it with "SE4.exe savegames\mygame.gam" or something like that.

I think VB is quite efficient these days, it was different when it was an interpretating language instead of compiling as it is today!

[ July 30, 2004, 19:24: Message edited by: Ruatha ]

[Suicide Junkie]

http://imagemodserver.mine.nu/other/...E4mapstats.rar
Here we go!
There are some extra options available on the pie charts, even!

Note: All stats are PER SYSTEM.

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Ok, you're confused as to the nature of the program
This thing looks at data files, and calculates what the stats of the average map are from systemtypes.txt, planetsize.txt, and such.

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BTW, I did improve the efficiency by about a factor of 10...
The systemtypes analysis still takes a minute or two, but its not insane anymore.

I've added a progress bar so you can tell that the system analysis is actually working



The tree shows you the dependencies, just click the button corresponding to the things you've changed, to update the stats. Green lines show things that have been completed, yellow is in progress, and red is incomplete items.

Once you get down to the quadrant types analysis button, it will open a new window, and tally up the stats for that quadrant type. You'll see the numbers roll for about 5 seconds, then they will be rounded off and steady.
Click the option buttons to switch between pie graph view, and the numerical chart view.

[ July 31, 2004, 00:55: Message edited by: Suicide Junkie ]

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Yaay!

[Ruatha]

Ahh, now I get it.
It's not what I thought but it's still nice.
So then there's still a niche open for an "existing map" analayzer.

[Suicide Junkie]

New Version of the Map Analyser ( http://imagemodserver.mine.nu/other/...E4mapstats.rar )
I'm not sure if the previous Version had the 4th pie graph mode, but this one does, and fixes a bug with vaccuum/gas/tiny planet stats.

"Common Max" is a very handy mode, and lets you compare different surface types effectively.
It sets 360 degrees to be the maximum of all three surface types, so surface types that have lower scores than the others will have a black slice of pie taken out.


As you can see here, in stock, the Gas Giant races have only half the potential planetary construction rate that Rock races do.
And Ice is only about 120% of Gas and 60% of the Rock rate.

[Xentropy]

In which data files is the information on what random chances each possibility is assigned? I looked around for this a while back and couldn't find it. I assumed "Any" in a system setup was an equal chance of all possibilities, but obviously I was wrong since (for example) there are more rock planets than ice in a normal mid-life quadrant.

Also, is it a bug in your program's analysis or are rock/methanes slightly more common than average rock worlds and ice/methanes slightly less? I ask because it's the only non-vacuum data point that shows a difference in probabilities between atmospheric types.

Great program! My friend and I will definitely be rethinking our co-op strategy (currently we play gas/hydrogen and ice/methane because rock/oxygen and CO2 are relatively easier to gain from AI's...but if ice really do suck as much as these graphs show, I'll be switching to rock/methane ASAP!). Thanks a ton for posting this!

[Suicide Junkie]

In stock SE4, there is actually one extra small/rock/methane planet, and one missing small/ice/methane planet.
That is what you are seeing in the methane stats.

To decide an "any" option, the game looks through the sectortypes.txt file, and picks a random planet that matches all of the requirements. (And "constructed" planets like ring/sphereworlds never get randomly chosen - see planetsize.txt for which sizes have constructed := true )

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PS:
If you're planning to capture rock colonization tech early on anyways, sticking with Ice is probably a good idea.
That way you get all three fast, instead of having to hunt down the elusive ice race or spend the 500k points to research it.

[ July 31, 2004, 20:44: Message edited by: Suicide Junkie ]

[Xentropy]

Ah ha, excellent information. Could be just what my friend and I need to solve our medium bonus problem http://www.shrapnelgames.com/cgi-bin...;f=23;t=012210

I have more questions, though (aren't you glad? ), if you don't mind.

First, what units are "spaceyard rate" in, and what is the calculation based on?

Second, what is resource rate based on? Just assuming all facility slots are used for mines, or are the planetary value %'s different for each type as well (rather than just a random value from 0-150 for all planets, ignoring asteroids)?

Lastly, how are the vacuum/gas giant statistics non-zero? I didn't think it was possible for a planet to be GG/none.

Thanks for putting up with my curiousity

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Edit:

PS:
If you're planning to capture rock colonization tech early on anyways, sticking with Ice is probably a good idea.
That way you get all three fast, instead of having to hunt down the elusive ice race or spend the 500k points to research it.

Well, I definitely noted a severe drop in my expansion rate when I switched from rock/oxy to ice/meth. I think I may be taking too large a hit from having crappy worlds early on to make up for the fact I could have ice/gas to start and all 3 on turn 25 instead of rock/gas to start and all 3 on turn 45.. Not having those beautiful rock worlds is painful to both research and resource generation.

[ July 31, 2004, 21:16: Message edited by: Xentropy ]

[Suicide Junkie]

Spaceyard rate is in %
One planet with a max population such that it gets no bonuses or penalties, would have 100.0

Spaceyard rate = Chance of Planet * build rate modifier (at max population) for this planetsize

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Planet qualities all average out to the same ((max+min) /2), so they are ignored.

The production rate = Chance of Planet * facility limit * production modifier (at max population)

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The Gas/None stats are what a Vaccuum breathing race would get if they had gas giant colonization tech. All their planets would be domed, but they would still have some facilities/pop/etc.

Unless the mod is fairly extreme, they would also have ice or rock tech, but that is beside the point.