Stealth Armor

[Gryphin]

Cynapse,
Yes I want to trace the series of techs required to get to "Stealth Armor". What would also be helpful is how to do it on my own. That is: What files to I need to check and cross reffrance in order to put together this "path" or "Tech Tree"
I just can't put it together in my head.

BTW: I am a newbie when it comes to trying to learn the Tech Trees. Up to now I have just played and tryed to remember them. that was because I was playing against the AI. Now I have to get serious to play competatively against humans in Play By Web.

SJ,
Thanks, I apriciate the help. Now lets see if I can use it effectively.

EDIT 2: I guess what I mean is there a general concept for deriving a tech tree? What file/s do I read and how do I read them.

[ 15 March 2002: Message edited by: Gryphin ]

[Cylapse]

Oh okay *LOL* Aside from using the built in tech tree in research, I check the TechAreas text file as well as Components.... Im pretty sure that for stealth armor all ya need is Armor 4 or above... (or is it 3?) Coz I noticed that emissive, stealth, and scattering armor all seem to come around the same time... Level 5 gets you II in all 3 armors, and Level 6 I think gets you model III... Tracing it was easy from the built in tree, but crawling thru the TechAreas, while tedious, is a good way to figure out what opens what...coz each one has certain "Requirements".. and those requirements can be defined easilly in the file... Offhand I dont think there is a field for "open this tech up..." but rather, on the tech you want it to open up, you need to have a the "Requirement" field say that the other tech be a certain level... Am I making sense? My buzz is gone so I should be a little more clarified *LOL*

PS - If I still am nowhere near the mark, then I am not buzzed ENOUGH. So therein would lie the problem

Careful though, I added a custom tech to be found on planets, and I positioned in the file below Massive Shielding and Above Solar Sails, and since it was an existing game, my solar sails disappeared *LOL* Now I only append new stuff to the end of the data files... Id rather not gut them and play with the order of components... I cant be without my sails now....

EDIT - TechAreas has the requirements of all tech areas and tech levels bunched together, I think... Its a hefty file.

[ 15 March 2002: Message edited by: Cynapse ]

[Suicide Junkie]

Cynapse:
When your solar sails dissapeared, that was probably because you inserted a double blank line when pasting in your new components.

SE4 quits reading as soon as it hits two blank lines in a row.


If you know what you want to research:
1) open components.txt
- search for the component in question
- look at the tech requirements
2) open techareas.txt
- search for the tech areas mentioned in #1
3) Follow the requirements for step #2 recursively.

Amongst all the other projects I'm doing, I'll see about creating a quick graphical tech tree this weekend.

[Gryphin]

Cynapse,
Almost there, (and can I have some of what you are smoking?) My doc won't let me have beer.
If I were to search through the TechAreas.txt,
What proccess would I use to backtrack from a given tech to get to the desired tech?
I love / hate the written American Language. Want to meet in Tuscon next February? We can discuss it then.

[Gryphin]

Suicide Junkie
Our post crossed.
Thanks, that is exactly what I was looking for.
Maybe if my sweetheart lets me, I'll do the tree.

EDIT: SJ, admit it, you have a team of 3 or 4 working with you on these things, right? Please say yes, (for my egos sake).
And thanks for all the help.

[ 15 March 2002: Message edited by: Gryphin ]

[Cylapse]

SJ - Yeah I saw some extra lines and just deleted them... coz at first it would spit out errors "Cannot find Stellar Harnessing tech" etc... I fixed that and the sails were still missing, so afterwards I just moved it to the end of the file to be safe *LOL* I cant help but love the way everything is a text file... brilliant. I'd hate to be forced to use some graphical editor - dont get me wrong, they're great, but sometimes troubleshooting has to be taken down to the raw data level ...

Thanks for jumping in and saving the day SJ, I almost had to share some of my stash with Gryphin!! *LOL*

PS - You actually come around Tuscon much Gryphin?

[Gryphin]

Cynapse ,
I try to get to Tucson every other February. I love hiking in Tanke Verde mountains and others.