All 14 Factions in one Game?

Royale · February 28, 2004, 20:13

Is it possible to have all 14 factions in one SP game? can you hack or is there a mod out to do this?

Skanky Burns · February 29, 2004, 01:02

No.

Skanky Burns · February 29, 2004, 01:03

Or for a more in-depth answer:

Quote:

Originally posted by gwillybj
You would have to do a lot more than hack it. You would have to cut, split, deliver, and stack it

.
The most basic reason you can't have more factions has been mentioned in these threads before: Binary Numbers, as in decimal 7 = 111 binary. Only three placeholders for faction IDs. There is a zero placeholder, 000, and it is Planet. You would have to force a fourth digit, 1111 binary, or 15 decimal, in order to have more factions in play.
The system would have to keep track of all those additional bases and units. Not a roadblock, but a lot more complexity in their reaction and interaction.
You have a lot more than double the overall complexity, though.
For one example, the game would become quite a bit slower with all the added diplomacy as the turns pass, and all the more so after all Comm Frequencies have been revealed.

With 7 factions, you have 6+5+4+3+2+1=21 pairs, with 42 paths. In single-player, you control only 6. The system has to control the other 36.
With 14 factions, this grows to 13+12+11+10+9+8+7+6+5+4+3+2+1=91 pairs, with 182 paths. In single-player, you control only 13 of these. The system would have to control 169 paths

, almost five times the current number! (edit: math)
Imagine how much longer a multiplayer game would be, especially PBEM, with 13 people to wait for!

Also, what size map would you propose? None of the standard sizes would be anywhere near suitable for every faction to have half a chance of surviving beyond the first 100 turns, if that long. At least half would be eradicated one way or another by then. It would require huge maps of at least 256x256 to give them all the slimmest of chances. More than 500x500 would be needed for epic-length massive-empire-building games, although I would love that option for such humongous 500x500 (or 1000x1000) maps now.

Mr. Harley · March 1, 2004, 07:53

Actually with a modern system the computation probably wouldn't load the system down excessively - the new Athalon 64 processors come to mind, and I strongly suspect that both the faster Pentium 4 and Athalon XP's would do quite well (I have played a 256x256 map on a Thunderbird 900 mhz with quite satisfactory speed - it is a little slow when doing rapid placement of Condensors for scenario building). A single change in the placeholding would be relatively easy if the program was designed/documented properly. However, many people are given to understand there are extensive sections of essentially kludged code that would make any kind of alteration difficult. Plus Firaxis won't release the code, and the Digital Millenium Copyright Act precludes any US citizens from decompiling the program.

Frankychan · March 3, 2004, 23:06

Sheesh, the guy asks a simple question and gets answer the theory of relativity.

Simple answer----Nope.....and many of us wish that we could.

Skanky Burns · March 4, 2004, 02:02

How did your answer differ to my first answer - besides being many times longer than mine?

Frankychan · March 4, 2004, 02:17

wisea**.

Skanky Burns · March 4, 2004, 02:30

I aim to please.

Mart · March 30, 2004, 08:56

We need SMAC2

Skanky Burns · March 30, 2004, 09:37

True, dat.

Jamski · March 30, 2004, 10:58

No. We need SMAC2.

-Jam

Commy · March 30, 2004, 11:35

Well, if any of you computer pros do manage to figure it out, tell me. I'd appreciate it.

But also don't forget the fact that all the graphics would have to change. The commlink screen would have to have a scroll bar or be extended. Planetary council would be much bigger, and the screen that lets you choose your faction would have to be huge. However, since Civilization is designed by the same people, and has 16 civilizations playing in one game, perhaps the coding is similiar and can be fixed. But, it's still a longshot.

Mart · March 30, 2004, 11:41

the highest resolution in smac/x is 1024x768
We have screens now kinda 1280x1024 or 1600x1200, soon standard maybe. There is probably no need to worry about lack of pixels.
We just need a good algorythm. Coding is relatively easy compared to it. If it was different, then every game on the market would be "The Greatest Game Ever"