Cheat questions

[Snowflake]

Anybody could explain to me what these are?

the Stockpile Energy Bug
retro-engineering
the Googlie probe cruiser tweak

Thanks!

[BustaMike]

1. After a building is created, the game will give you energy as if you had the build orders set to stockpile energy (which is what it reverts back to when the building is done). The game counts both the building completion and the stockpile energy in the same turn, giving you extra energy. This is ALWAYS on. If you use the build queue, this will not happen unless you insert a stockpile energy in between each improvement you want to build.

2. If you discover planetary networks before mobility you can make rovers even though you don't have the technology to. Simply open up a probe team in the design workshop and change the weapon.

3. I dunno what this one is. Is Googlie around?

[Jamski]

The AI are set to build probe cruisers somehow (by modifying the alpha.txt)

-Jam

[Darsnan]

Originally posted by HongHu
Anybody could explain to me what these are?

the Googlie probe cruiser tweak
Thanks!

The "Googlie Probe tweak" is simply that Googlie has added a line to his Alphax.txt , to writ:

One of the features of a scenario start is that it embeds the alphax.txt of the creator.

I have this line in my #UNITS list:

Foil Probe, Cruiser, Probe Team, Scout, 11, 0, 0, DocInit, -1, 00000000000000000000000000

(if you add it, remember to increase the actual number of units itself)

In many of my SP games the covert war becomes awesome

(I also have this line, and the AI will build them:

Foil Supply, Foil, Supply, Scout, 10, 0, 0, AdapDoc, -1, 00000000000000000000000000

but it doesn't put them on tidal barrage tiles - usually on a kelp improved nutrient tile - better than nothing I suppose).


Here is the thread it was from:

http://www.civgaming.net/forums/show...&threadid=2464


FYI.

D

[Maniac]

I explained it here in the poll we had before the AXDG started about special house rules. I'll ask TKG to link to that thread in the FAQ.
I said this about the stockpile energy bug and retro-engineering:

Any SMAC owner knows that minerals not needed for the production of the current unit/facility/SP are transferred to the next project, with an upper limit of ten mins. The Stockpile Energy Bug means that, besides being kept for the next production, those excess minerals are also transferred to energy credits IF Stockpile Energy has been put in the build queue. For example, if a base produces 10 minerals per turn and is two minerals away from completing an impact rover, 8 minerals will be transferred to the next project, which is Stockpile Energy in the build queue. Stockpiling energy transfers these 8 minerals into 4 energy. When one changes production to a tree farm on the same turn the impact rover is complete, the 8 minerals are kept, but you have gained four free credits out of nowhere. This is an obvious bug and normal procedure would be to not exploit it.
However the problem is that, unless you put something in the build queue other than StEn, the production automatically switches to Stockpile Energy Bug after you have completed a facility or SP. IIRC this is not true for units, where the production of a second unit of the same type is started and thus no free credits are gained. This gives an unfair benefit for builders over warmongers, and therefore using the Stockpile Energy bug is allowed in any PBEM game I’ve played. [Note this is no longer true today 31-5-03.]

A second issue is retro-engineering. When a unit is probed, it appears in the Unit Workshop. This allows the unit components to be modified and used in other unit designs. No problem with that of course, unless the unit probed has an ability, armour, weapon etcetera you haven’t researched yourself. Discussion among players is whether it is allowed to use that unresearched component when designing and building other units.

Please note that what BustaMike describes about probes and speeders is a special case of retro-engineering, which isn't allowed in the AXDG either. What we voted to allow, is for example when you mind control a unit equipped with a chaos gun, you can use that chaos gun in all your unit designs, even if you haven't researched the prerequisite tech Superstring Theory yet. You gotta love those engineers!

[Mongoose]

The above summary of the stockpiling effect is incorrect. When a base facility or SP is completed with no item queued thereafter or when a unit is completed when SE IS queued thereafter (this part WAS correct, I simply restate) the entire net production of the base in question is treated by the game as having been dedicated to SE for that turn, not merely the amount of minerals that might have been carried forward in excess of current production requirements.

In the above example, the minerals that would be treated as stockpiling would be ten if the rover being completed would require no mineral support, nine if it would require supporting. (Oddly, the new unit's support cost is counted against the production being treated as having been stockpiled. I believe the entire effect is caused by the sequence of events in the interturn process.)

[Maniac]

Really? Wow! I didn't know that. That makes the "bug" even more powerful than I thought.