B-Drones and Dr. Z

Ned · July 27, 2001, 10:57

In other threads I reported that giving away bases did not effectively reduce the number of bases against the bureaucracy drone count. I believe I may have been mistaken.

In addition, I believe Dr. Z gets only one extra b-drone as he passes the size 4 limit. He does not get additional drones at size 8, 12, 16, etc.

I say this because of what happened in my just completed game. Let me firts set the table:

I did not have the HGP. I am playing on a 120x80 map. The b-warning level for this map is 10.

All measurements were at efficiency + 4. This raised the b-warning to 20. All main bases were size 16. Each had a Brood Pit. Police +1 from the AV. All had 3 police units. Pysch is at 20%, but all bases were producing well above the usable limit of 16x2=32. In addition, each base had a Rec Commons, a Holo and a Research Hospital. This combination should pacify 9 + 5 = 14 drones.

I also have the Longevity SP and am running Green. This should add another reduction in one.

I am playing Dr. Z. Transcend.

After a period of conquest, I had 47 bases. None, including my home base, were in GA, although they all were in GA when I started out.

Checking drones, I saw 17 per base before modifiers (one drone was a super drone). This is consistent with 2 extra drones per base. (I checked using a base's psych tab.)

One of these had to be a b-drone, which is consistent with a base count just over the second b-warning.

The second appears to be Dr. Z's extra drone for a size 4 base. However, there do not appear to additional drones for the bases having reached size 8, 12 and 16.

So, the factions with whom I am at war surrender. I give them their bases back and return to 17 bases. All my bases, excluding the three new small sea bases I had just founded, now go into GA. This tells me immediately that my b-drone problem has been reduced.

Checking, I find only 16 drones per base. Indeed a drop of one. This is consistent with no b-drones and only one extra drone from Dr. Z's size 4 base count. This is what you expect with the base count under the first b-warning.

So, the bottom line: unless Dr. Z is unique, giving those bases away does indeed reduce your b-drone problems.

Also, clearly the Datalinks is wrong about Dr. Z's having an extra drone each time a base passes a multiple of 4. He instead gets just one extra drone at size 4.

Ned

Ned · July 27, 2001, 11:19

Just one more thing, and maybe this requires a new thread. But checking the psych button, it appears that facilities convert only four drones to content citizens, not 5. I loaded games with Santiago just to check. Both show the facilities effect at 4.

Again I have a rec commons, a holo and res. hosp. in each base.

Ned

Kassiopeia · July 27, 2001, 16:56

What's the difference between "drones" and "super drones"?

EtheMind · July 27, 2001, 17:27

Well, as far as I know, the game doesn't even have such a possibility described in Zak's profile. You can only add drones with positive DRONE setting, but no way to make sophisticated tweaks.

Super Drones...like the Drones wouldn't be enough! I've noticed these little more reddish drones but I've wondered their effect. Do they increase the risk of defection or keep more noise about themselves, are they immune to The Gas, or what?

Ned · July 27, 2001, 20:32

Super drones are brighter red. They count as two. You get them when all other citizens are drones and you get additional drones from bureaucracy and the like, or when you have negative police and build an air assault unit or send an armed unit outside your borders.

If you look at the pysch screen, you will see a number of lines. Not all the lines will appear in every display. Additional lines display only as necessary. In order the lines are

- unmodified
- psych
- facilities
- police
- secret projects

The first line describes the base without any modifiers. However it will tell you if the base is captured. If it is, you get a captured-base drone.

Normally in transcend, you get one content citizen. Every other citizen starts out as a drone. When you increase the number of bases beyond the first b-warning, you get additional drones, By the time you reach the second b-warning, each base has one additional drone. There is a pattern to the bases that get the drones which I have reported in a separate thread.

If you continue to build or capture bases, you get more drones. By the time you reach the third b-warning, each base will have two b-drones. And so on.

Zak also gets an extra drone when his bases reach size 4.

Finally you get one or two drones, depending, when you have negative police for armed units outside your borders or for air assault units.

When the first citizen, starting out content, has been converted to a drone, all citizens will now be drones. The next drone you receive will appear as a super drone - bright red - to the far right in the row. Additional drones turn additional drones bright red, right to left.

The second line in the Psych tab relates to Psych. This applied first, prior to applying other modifiers. However there is a limit to pysch. The limit is base size times two. As it takes two psych to convert a drone to the next higher level, the maximum psych can do is convert 1/2 your drones to talents. This is sufficient for GA - assuming you can pacifiy all other drones with facilities, SP's and Police.

However, if you have ANY super drones, you will not be able to get 1/2 your drones converted to talents. Instead, you will get a number of content citizens equal to the number of super drones. This will effectively prevent you from getting into GA UNLESS you have the HGP, Clinical Immortality SPs or a Paradise Garden.

One can instantly see just how valuable the HGP is. It is, IMHO, the most important initial SP.

The next line down shows how your facilities are affecting drones. This is where I have the problem, noted above, b/c the pysch screen is showing that only 4 drones are made content using facilities which should make 5 content. On further investigation, I have found that a Rec Commons converts just one, not two, drones to content if the first four drones are content or talents.

Next, you have a line that shows the effects of police. Police can switch up to 9 drones to content.

The last line is for SP's. Among the SP's that affect drones/talents are the previously mentioned SP's and the Longevity SP. The latter quells two or one drone depending on whether your SE is Planned or Green.

Neither police, nor facilities other than a Paradise Garden, convert contents into talents.

To GA, you have to have half your citizens as talents and no drones. If what I see about Rec Commons is correct, for most of the early game one can convert only four drones to content if the first four drones are talents or content. Thus, anyone running FM should not be able to get a size 9 base into GA without some SP assistance because police are unavailable.

One uses GA to pop boom for AKI, Morgan, Yang or Sven: AKI and SVEN due to their inherent -1 Growth; Morgan and Yang because they cannot run a critical +2 growth SE, Planned in Morgan's case, Demo in Yang's case.

One also uses GA in combination with Wealth for most factions to get to a +2 econ without using FM. This SE setting permits the use of units away from the faction's borders and the creation of air offensive units without creating further drones.

I hope some of this helps.

Ned

Avenoct · July 27, 2001, 21:31

On the 'Psych Tab':

I've noticed that using the Psych Tab / Psych view of your citizens is the only quasi-accurate way to view your drone situation. I'm not sure if you posted that in your other thread Ned, but I thought I'd add that in here. Looking at the citizens in the bottom of your typical city-screen, you may notice some that are drones that actually are not drones. Cities may appear that they should be in revolt that play quite normally. I don't have any theory as to the why of this, but one should consult the psych-tab to get a more accurate picture.

The main cases where I find this misinformation are when I have the PTS or VW. I may have a size three city that shows one content citizen and two drones in the main display, but, opening the psych-view, I see that all three are content via 'facilities'. I hope that future editions of the game will show which facilities, but it's easy to calculate if you remember the effects of the various special projects in conjunction with your psych facilities.

-Smack

Ned · July 27, 2001, 22:55

SMACK, I have always found the Psych tab info to be accurate. That is what I was talking about.

I rewrote portions of the note to deal with Rec Commons. It affect is diminished if the first four citizens are contents or talents. Did anyone notice this before?

Ned

Avenoct · July 28, 2001, 01:34

No, hadn't noticed that. You mean, if some of your citizens are already content or talents from other sources, rec commons doesn't affect those drones further down the line as well?

WRT the Psych tab. Maybe I was confusing. I just meant that the Psych tab is more accurate than the general base screen view for drones.

Looks like the B-drone article and formula is going to be possibly more complex than the ecodamage! Good luck with it Ned.

-Smack