> Hey Tyler, thanks for the quick reply. I'm afraid this has only made
> me more bloodthirsty (for knowledge, of course!) ;)
A likely story.
> > - Everyone can always see all star systems. Fleets only travel to
> > star systems, not planets.
>
> Once in the star-system, I assume they can then "home-in" on planets
> or enemy fleet? Also, how do battles occur?
At the end of a turn any fleets in a system fight it out to the death.
(Or withdraw - I don't know if that is implemented however). Allies.. sod
that.
> Now if it's a-2 or b-2, and there are forces currently being built to
> defend against attackers, will they be ready in time for battle?
> Did I miss anything?
That's dependant on the turn order, but construction completes before battles
I believe. So on turn N you build a pair of mark Is, it finishes in turn N+1
and gets blown out of the sky by the 47 Mark IVs in orbit.
> > Each turn you gain updated information on
> > all plants(and resources), and fleets, at each star system that you
> > have a fleet orbiting.
>
> Is there any "error-margin" as to the size of enemy forces, or do I
> have accurate knowledge about them?
It's all or nothing. Your information received on any turn is complete.
> Also, with battles, what is the formula for, say, n opposing fleets
> fighting for a planet? Is there some non-linear advantage to being
> stronger? what about more numerous? What about "home-turf" advantage?
Yes to all of the above in the original game, although it was intentionally
not specified. Many more ships are more useful then higher tech, but higher tech
nearly always beats lower tech of similar numbers. Check xdotx's code for the
specific details. ;-)
> > Note you do not lose information about the
> > system after you leave it, it's just not up-to-date.
>
> Ok, cool.
I believe the original client cached the data BTW.
> > Currently there's
> > no information available about free roaming fleets.
Fleets in hyperspace (travelling) are totally unreachable in the original
game. Even the owner couldn't see them or give new orders. Long journeys were
really dangerous... the star may nova when you arrive...
>> IIRC, you can
> > only see orders for objects you own.
This is generally always the case for all rulesets I belive.
> > > B) Game:
> > > ~ How can I quarry the server as to where am I at in the 3-turn
> > > cycle? Perhaps it has a fixed start in every game, so I can do a
> > > calculation based on the current turn number?
> > If you have access to the turn number it's just turn % 3.
>
> That's what I needed to know )) Now i'm afraid that with TP03 i
> might not have access to it (I'll take a look tomorrow, where there's
> a will, there's a way!), but that's only temporary :)
It's in the galaxy object. Extra data there ;-)
> Do I get charged for a production order when I issue it, or when it
> executes? Also, with production orders that take more than 1 turn to
> execute, do I get charged upfront, or relative to the amount of work
> being done each turn?
Executes... not sure about multi turn... is there multi turn?
> > > C) Technology:
> > > ~ Is the technology level global, or is it local to each planet?
> > Global.
>
> Ok, that was important to know :)
> OH, what about Resource Points? Are they global??
There are local ones and global ones. Buying globals cost 2:1. (Spending
still one for one). Globals earn interest, but can only be accessed if there
are no enemy fleets in orbit. (Else the are interdicted).
> > > ~ What is the tech-threshold to the construction of PDB's?
> > You get level 1 PDBs and Marks automatically.
>
> Right, so afaics, for max. strength PDBs you only need level 3, right?
Yes, PDBs don't go to 4. Which makes them doubly useless ;-) Most human
players I know didn't use them - early game the few extra RPs you save from
maintenance are gold, mid game you too expensive to build, late game useless
against 200 MarkIVs anyway.
> > > ~ Do ships carry over the damage they have gained from battles,
> > > or do they come out "like new"? If they carry over damage, then
> > > what is the "auto-heal" ratio/constant-factor?
> > Hmm. It should carry over, no healing. (maybe they should?).
>
> Hm, ok. Now, is damage a property of ships, or of the fleet as a
> "total"? (as in, a fleet of 3 Mk.4 ships, with overall health 30%)
I'm pretty sure it used to be ships were either in perfect health or
destroyed. Once the battle is over, auto heal.
> > I'll get back / update the wiki page on the fleet/PDB strengths. One
> > reason for dodging is because I doubt it's well tuned/balanced atm.
>
> Right, so it's quite possible that the optimal strategy would be to
> stay in level 2 and opt for numbers, or go to level 4 as quickly as
> possible, and have substantially higher quality armies. But this is
> what I need to know ;)
Actually it used to be a horrible combination of both. Basically you want
comparable numbers, slightly weighted at the heavy end.
So things like 4 mark Is vs 1 mark IV the mark IV would generally win. 16
mark I vs 4 mark IV and mr mark IV would be going home in tears (or not at
all). But say 16 mark Is vs 5 mark I and 3 Mark IVs and the mark I only fleet
would be in pain.
It's a bit hard to explain but after a while you started to get a good feel
for it.
> Not really for the sake of making an impossibly
> hard, but uninteresting robot to play against, but really for the sake
> of making an ~interesting~ robot to play against. Or even just for the
> sake of knowing why the hell Hypothetical_robot_c3p0 beats
> Hypothetical_robot_c3p1 in 20 rounds :)))
20 rounds would be damn good in RFTS ;-)
nash
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