atmosphere / type of world handicap

[trooper]

I think that some races have a natural bonus due to their homeworld conditions. The couple no atmosphere/rock world gives the best chances to find suitable planetes (even if no atmosphere life form should be rare...) because of the moons. the worse couple is perhaps gas world or liquid world and no atmosphere...

The race I'm creating would come from a liquid world, with methane or hydrogen atmosphere. don't you think it's a hard start world for a game ?

[Fyron]

All planet atmospheres and types are mostly balanced. Rock and Ice are definitely equal in appearance for all atmospheres save None, which does get all the moons. But, None can't be used for Gas Giants, so that is balanced out.

The game places planets based on the entries in SectType.txt. The atmospheres and planet types are balanced in there, so they are balanced in-game.

[ January 25, 2003, 21:16: Message edited by: Imperator Fyron ]

[Phoenix-D]

The planets are distributed differently. Rock/none gets planets, sure, but a lot of them are small moons. And unlike any other atmophere, None races can't convert Gas Giants. In a long game that leaves them at a serious disadvantage.

Phoenix-D

[trooper]

Oups, I've forgotten that there were no liquid worlds in SE, thought I was was still playing MOO2...

So rock and Ice give the same chances, but gas can be terraformed. So it will be a rock/methane race (think that methane homeworlds are less common than oxygen or carbon dioxyde ones).

[Andrés]

Rock and Ice are definitely equal in appearance for...<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Actually in the stock game ice planets are only slightly more common than gas giants and of the same size that rock ones, so being native of ice planets is a serious handicap.

Also rock-methane has a slight advantage over and ice-methane a slight disadvantage over other atmospheres.

I had made calculations of chances of appereance and planet sizes long ago, search for a thread called "are gas giants really an advantage"

I don't know if mods such as the FQM attempt improve that balance, by forcing some planets to be ice in the system files, or in case of the deluxe Version by adding more ice planets sector types.

[Arkcon]

Hey there, I tried to summarize Andres work in the Encyclopedia Malfadorica here: (http://www.invirtuo.cc/phpwiki/index.php/planet)

I'm fighting a bad cold, so if it's not cohereant, someone please edit it. Or you could all take antihistamines and enjoy the world in 7 dimensions like I do. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

[Taera]

rock/methane is NOT rare.
i've been playing as rock/methane for a while and i can say that rock/methane planets are a little rarier than the rock/oxygen but they're always either very big or very rich. Rock/methane is a great combo, and its in no way a handicap.
ice/hydrogen though seems to be the rariest in all my games.

[trooper]

I was speakinbg about methane breather races, which are rarer than oxygen or carbon dioxyde breathers. I tried to create a race that doesn't use the classic planet conditions... I

[Fyron]

No, Andres, there are exactly as many Ice planets as Rock planets in the standard game. Go count them in SectType.txt if you don't believe me. I think there are either a few more of the larger Gas Giants, or some specific calls for Huge ones in SystemTypes.txt. Either way, they aren't at a serious handicap. The only fuzzy area is the None atmosphere planets, with a lot more tinies, but no Gas planets.

Originally posted by trooper:
I was speakinbg about methane breather races, which are rarer than oxygen or carbon dioxyde breathers. I tried to create a race that doesn't use the classic planet conditions... I<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Do you mean the methane planets, or the number of races that breathe methane? There is a huge difference, and I am beginning to suspect it was the latter....

[ January 26, 2003, 21:00: Message edited by: Imperator Fyron ]

[Taera]

trooper: both of my alien races are ice/Co2 and rock/CH4. glad to see im not the only one http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/tongue.gif

[PvK]

I'd say the best choice from a "competetive edge" perspective, would be to figure out the least popular combo, so you have the least competition. Of course, the random variation is going to drown out any minor difference that might exist, and if any did have an agreed edge, more players would choose it and end up struggling over it. Not that it often makes all that much difference in the unmodded game, anyway, unless you choose the options restricting colonization, because colony tech and colonists are so easy to steal or trade.

PvK

[Desdinova]

it would seem gas giants would be a safe way to go. i havent encountered very many races that use that, most seem to be rock.