Comprehensive Datalinks Update

To clarify: I only intend to remove credits in the datalinks entries themselves (where it seems intrusive and unnecessary), those in the header (changelog) will remain and all included in the datalinks but not header will be moved. I have spoken to scient and will be updating and proofreading this to be included with his patch (I've already spent a few hours on it, fixed dozens of typos and some other more important things, he sent me a version with some changes of his own). I will post a thread shortly with unanswered questions and an invitation for suggestions here and on other boards.
 
I have returned.

Sorry, everyone - but I can only spare a minute or two, so I can't answer your questions right now.
I will endeavour to check up on what has been going on and reply to you all within 7 days.
 
This seems like a very cool project/idea, always loved the datalinks but they never seemed quite right. This seems like an excellent start, however as a bit of a grammar nazi I could not help but notice a fairly large number of typos, and general state of untidiness, so will be correcting my own version (and removing credits, it's annoying to have those ingame. having them in the download post is enough.). If anyone else is interested in a copy or has additional things to improve I'm more than willing to play around a bit and fix this. I would have spoken to GooglyBoogly first but he's not signed in for over five months, so probably not going to get anywhere too fast with that.

Hi ete. It's great to hear that more work is being done.

I wish I could actively collaborate, but Real World commitments mean that I'll have other priorities for the next few months.

Before removing the credits from the individual entries I would recommend you at least try PMing each person who is credited, in case they object. I don't think I have credited myself from within any entries. I will PM you a list of the users and which forum(s) I received their help from.

Could you please post a link to your project here? That way when I do have the time I can come back to this thread and check the work you have done.
 
I posted the project here, and on other forums linked from that post.

Unfortunately my time is also limited right now and in the near future so won't be done with the things I'd like quickly. Would be good to be able to work with you sometime though if real life eases up on us both.

I had considered PMing users but it seemed unnecessary, firstly most of the users have not logged into any of the SMAC/X forums I've seen for months if not years (getting closer to decades in some cases) so are highly unlikely to get the message or care. Secondly, the credit for their work is not being removed, just moved to a more appropriate place. Like.. wikipedia credits don't show up on the actual page, that would make the final product much less useful. The attribution for everyone's work would remain, but it would be in a place only people who cared about attribution, rather than the average user who just sees it as a pointless distraction, will see. However, if you insist on trying to get permission or think that any of the people you worked with are likely to have good reason for a strong objection to moving the credits, then I will try to contact them before proceeding with edits when I get a chance to get back to this.
 
I want to point out a couple of errors that crept into GB's datalinks update. The issue was raised in this thread by Bailey on 'poly.

The Random Events entry under Basic Concepts states that the Asteroid Strikes Base event won't happen to your HQ. Bailey reports that an asteroid did strike his HQ (and the Prima Strategy Guide lists no such exception). Also, the Random Events entry under Advanced Concepts states that random events won't occur in bases of size 4 or less. Again, Bailey reports getting a random event in a base of size 4. The Prima guide states that random events don't occur if the base is of size less than 4.

These errors were probably carried over from this post by Googlie on CGN. Googlie, later in that thread, retracted the statement about the HQ being immune to a strike, but didn't edit his original post.

Perhaps ete, or someone else, will take up this project again and make these corrections.
 
I did some more on this today. Fixed and tested a few things, corrected a lot of little formatting and spelling issues.
 
This project has been revived by ete. New developments may be found here.

I will un-sticky and close this thread since it's no longer active.
 
Thread is being stickied again, since ete's update to this project is currently in limbo.
 
Is it just me or does the datalinks not mention any of the special terrain types? E.G. Geothermal shallows.

It doesn't mention the special items you can get from the unity wreckage either.
 
The special terrain types are covered in the section of the datalinks titled Landmarks, Volcanos, Etc.. I couldn't find documentation about the unity wreckage, however. It definitely should have been included.
 
I just started a game as usurpers, researched ethical calculas but could not switch my SE to Democratic. Is this normal? Theres no mention of not being able to use democratic in the usurper faction entry....

Oh and boreholes take 14 turns to build with weather paradigm. Is this normal? 50% faster should equal half terraform times right?
 
I just started a game as usurpers, researched ethical calculas but could not switch my SE to Democratic. Is this normal? Theres no mention of not being able to use democratic in the usurper faction entry....

Oh and boreholes take 14 turns to build with weather paradigm. Is this normal? 50% faster should equal half terraform times right?

Correct about the Usurpers: They can't run Demo. This omission is in the original datalinks and was apparently carried over by GB.

Boreholes actually take 16 turns to build by a regular former if you have the WP. Here's how I calculate that number (there could be other ways): Without the WP, a BH takes 24 turns to build. That's the same as saying that a former builds 1/24th of a BH each turn. 50% faster means that it builds (1/24)*(1.5)th = 1/16th of a BH each turn, so it takes 16 turns.
 
Hi question! Petek is correct (as usual ).
Re: ursurpers yes, this is definitely different from the documentation.
The datalink files don't store that information though, it's stored in the faction profiles. If I ever resurrect this I would certainly consider reviewing those as well.

Re: terraforming, a 50% bonus is equivalent to a 1 third decrease in terraforming times.
It would need to be a 100% boost to halve the time needed (excluding rounding)
 
Ah, i see.

Does anyone happen to know if air psi combat excludes the effects of stuff like empath song? Again, not included in the datalinks, but if you use locusts of chiron to attack anything, both sides have very low psi combat values and only stuff like morale and planet values seem to factor in.
 
A mine reduces the nutrient output of a square by 1, but never below 1

Apparently a forest also has this reduction. Edit: Or rather, it overrides the rockiness and moisture of the underlying terrain.

Also, the entry for Hybrid Forest doesn't say how many clean minerals it increases (I think it's one?)
 
Does the GOG version already have this info built in, or should I update my datalinks with 1.3, or should I update itwith something else.

If it needs updating, do I just replace the wo files with the versions here?
 
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