View Issue Details
| ID | Project | Category | Date Submitted | Last Update | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0002266 | AI War 1 / Classic | Suggestion - Game Mechanics | Jan 6, 2011 5:22 pm | Jan 7, 2011 1:29 pm | |
| Reporter | Red Spot | Assigned To | Chris_McElligottPark | ||
| Status | resolved | Resolution | fixed | ||
| Product Version | 4.059 | ||||
| Fixed in Version | 4.063 | ||||
| Summary | 0002266: Trader starting location | ||||
| Description | Based on my last 5 or 6 games, in 4.059, well at least the start of those games. It seems the traders always start somewhere near your homeplanet, allowing me to get a Z-powergenerator before the 1min mark of the game. Far far far from a great deal, and hardly really usefull at that stage of the game. I do however think it would feel a bit better if this would be randomised a bit more. (if I am now not being fooled by real random generators ...) | ||||
| Tags | No tags attached. | ||||
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I actually had been thinking the same thing, but looking at the code I see it's completely random. Go figure, fooled us both. ;) |
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Thank you for looking into it :) |
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You bet! |
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Other than the visit to the home-worlds they do near the beginning of every game, is their behavior pretty much random? |
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It's always random...ish. They alternate between a random human and a random AI world. Since they always start on an AI world, they tend to start for the human worlds pretty soon on in. Hmm, actually that's the problem right there. Hold on... * The Zenith Trader previously flipped back and forth between visiting one player planet and one AI planet. This led to the trader always showing up very early in the game, and returning pretty frequently. Now the trader only moves between AI planets, never intentionally going to a human planet. This means that the human players need to place themselves in the path between two AI planets that the trader will go between in order for the trader to visit them. This in turn will make Trader visits comparably more rare, and something that is more interesting as a way to capitalize on (as often you won't get as good of positioning for the stuff they will sell you). * The Zenith Trader now has a 20% chance of leaving goodies for the AI players on each planet, rather than a 10% chance. |
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...What, have I done? :O |
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:D |
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Woa, woa, woa! I never suggested these changes explicitly, so can you thank me for pointing out the oddity of the old behavior instead? I really don't want the community to think this was directly my fault. ;) Same thing for Red Spot too. |
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Adjusted so you're safe: ** Thanks to Red Spot and TechSY730 for unintentionally inspiring this change with an innocent query they now regret ("what have I done?" was the exact wording). |
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Wouldn't this make it almost impossible to ever get the trader if you placed yourself at the end of a snake map or any other single-wormhole start? Feels like being punished for picking a defensible position... perhaps the trader could just pick a planet completely at random? |
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True, but why would the trader bother trying to target human buyers? The AI is where the money is at, by a HUGE margin at that too. If you can catch one just wandering around, then they will be happy to let you buy things so you can give them your stuff, but they wouldn't make it a major goal. It is smart, business wise at least, but annoying for the "niche" market (us). |
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Speaking as a blackhearted advocate for the AI, thank you. It's always bugged me a bit how easily accessible trader stuff was, and how rare the trader helping the AI was. It seemed like a pure benefit faction for the player, and a mighty big one at that. I wasn't actually going to complain, because I can always leave it off if I want, but these changes will make me far happier to turn it on! |
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Also, is that 20% per planet actually correct? That seems like a HUGE chance of the Trader dropping something off (didn't it used to be 1%?). Feels like the trader is becoming another 90% drawback/10% benefit faction... |
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It used to be 10% I think, but when the AI did buy things, most of the time they would be things that aren't really all that threatening (special forces guard posts, force fields, other trivial stuff). Only rarely would you see them buying something awesome like a fortress or something. That's probably what is going to keep that 20% from being completely out of hand. |
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Assuming that you planet hop, you can still get the trader even then. Defensible positions are great, but the trader won't help you defend corner pockets (which was part of my goal, honestly). |
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Thanks to Red Spot and TechSY730 for unintentionally inspiring this change with an innocent query they now regret ("what have I done?" was the exact wording). I am sorry to give you an extra workload ..... not :) |
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;) |
| Date Modified | Username | Field | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 6, 2011 5:22 pm | Red Spot | New Issue | |
| Jan 6, 2011 5:23 pm | Chris_McElligottPark | Note Added: 0007605 | |
| Jan 6, 2011 5:23 pm | Chris_McElligottPark | Status | new => closed |
| Jan 6, 2011 5:23 pm | Chris_McElligottPark | Assigned To | => Chris_McElligottPark |
| Jan 6, 2011 5:23 pm | Chris_McElligottPark | Resolution | open => no change required |
| Jan 6, 2011 5:25 pm | Red Spot | Note Added: 0007608 | |
| Jan 6, 2011 5:27 pm | Chris_McElligottPark | Note Added: 0007610 | |
| Jan 6, 2011 7:24 pm | TechSY730 | Note Added: 0007629 | |
| Jan 6, 2011 9:16 pm | Chris_McElligottPark | Note Added: 0007645 | |
| Jan 6, 2011 9:16 pm | Chris_McElligottPark | Status | closed => resolved |
| Jan 6, 2011 9:16 pm | Chris_McElligottPark | Resolution | no change required => fixed |
| Jan 6, 2011 9:16 pm | Chris_McElligottPark | Fixed in Version | => 4.063 |
| Jan 6, 2011 9:16 pm | Chris_McElligottPark | Note Edited: 0007645 | |
| Jan 6, 2011 9:23 pm | TechSY730 | Note Added: 0007650 | |
| Jan 6, 2011 9:23 pm | Chris_McElligottPark | Note Added: 0007652 | |
| Jan 6, 2011 9:29 pm | TechSY730 | Note Added: 0007657 | |
| Jan 6, 2011 9:29 pm | TechSY730 | Note Edited: 0007657 | |
| Jan 6, 2011 9:31 pm | TechSY730 | Note Edited: 0007657 | |
| Jan 6, 2011 9:42 pm | Chris_McElligottPark | Note Added: 0007675 | |
| Jan 6, 2011 9:47 pm | MaxAstro | Note Added: 0007680 | |
| Jan 6, 2011 9:50 pm | TechSY730 | Note Added: 0007682 | |
| Jan 6, 2011 9:50 pm | TechSY730 | Note Edited: 0007682 | |
| Jan 6, 2011 9:53 pm | Vinraith | Note Added: 0007683 | |
| Jan 6, 2011 9:54 pm | MaxAstro | Note Added: 0007685 | |
| Jan 6, 2011 9:57 pm | TechSY730 | Note Added: 0007686 | |
| Jan 6, 2011 9:57 pm | TechSY730 | Note Edited: 0007686 | |
| Jan 6, 2011 10:08 pm | Chris_McElligottPark | Note Added: 0007687 | |
| Jan 7, 2011 1:22 pm | Red Spot | Note Added: 0007705 | |
| Jan 7, 2011 1:29 pm | Chris_McElligottPark | Note Added: 0007713 |
