Updating the Datalinks Update

I was intending to fix a few of the typos in and generally tidy up my own copy of the Comprehensive Datalinks Update by GooglyBoogly (originally Rubin), but when I saw that scient had returned and intended to include an updated version of the datalinks in the next patch thought I may as well stop by the IRC channel and see if I could help. scient sent me a version with a few tweaks and I have been going through and improving them were I can. The problem is that I'm very far from an expert on Alpha Centuri, having only played single player, never been involved with the community, and rediscovered the game only a few months ago. Always loved it though, especially the story, setting and datalinks. There are quite a few things which I think it would be nice to clarify or add to the datalinks which I am unsure about and you guys probably know, or at least can point me in the right direction to find.

So, yes. This thread is mainly for two things. For me to post questions, and for anyone else to post answers or other things which need fixing. Seems like a fun project.

Hello people.

Cross posted on Civgaming, Apolyton, Civfanatics, and Weplayciv

Note: Some of these I can test myself and will probably get around to it if no one else has the info handy, but it would be easier to not have to test everything. If other people know answers or where to find them (or are willing to test) it would speed things up greatly.

For the Altitude and Heavy Artillery entries, how exactly does the bonus to heavy artillery from altitude work? How much altitude is required, does it max out? Interaction with sea based guns?

Current datalinks (source: manual) said:

{Conquering a base} destroys a random number of the base's facilities

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How is this determined? Even a rough idea of how it works out what is destroyed would be good.

Unity Pod event chances! What are the chances for each, what effects them? Non combat units popping pods boosts the chance of worms? How much later in the game do more advanced Battle Ogres start appearing, and how does map size impact this?

Some wild lifeforms may be captured if your faction possess a positive $LINK<PLANET=130007> rating, if you control too many natives of any type (regardless of how they were acquired) you will be unable to capture any more until either you lose control of some or you increase your PLANET rating further.

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Capture chances for different Planet ratings? Max native count for different Planet ratings?

Nice project! Regarding your question about unity pods, you might want to look at this thread. This was the preliminary discussion of the topic, which eventually resulted in GB's datalinks entry. You also could search this forum for other threads started by GooglyBoogly. IIRC, the appearance of Battle Ogres Mark II and III depends on the discovery of certain techs. I know there are threads somewhere; I'll try to find them.

Right off-hand, I can't think of any hard data on the other issues you raised. I'll think about it, however.

Thanks for working on this!

Petek

ete said:

Note: Some of these I can test myself and will probably get around to it if no one else has the info handy, but it would be easier to not have to test everything. If other people know answers or where to find them (or are willing to test) it would speed things up greatly.

For the Altitude and Heavy Artillery entries, how exactly does the bonus to heavy artillery from altitude work? How much altitude is required, does it max out? Interaction with sea based guns?

Click to expand...

Artillery combat is covered on p. 101 of the manual:

ARTILLERY COMBAT MODIFIERS
• Artillery units get a +25% bonus for each level of altitude (see Energy
(Elevation), p. 38) they are above the target.
• Land-based artillery gets a +50% bonus when attacking naval units.
• A unit in smooth or rolling terrain gets a +50% defensive bonus against
artillery attacks to represent maneuverability as a defensive measure against artillery.

If you don't have a paper of the manual, cheeck your disc. It might contain a pdf copy.

How is this determined? Even a rough idea of how it works out what is destroyed would be good.

Unity Pod event chances! What are the chances for each, what effects them? Non combat units popping pods boosts the chance of worms? How much later in the game do more advanced Battle Ogres start appearing, and how does map size impact this?

Capture chances for different Planet ratings? Max native count for different Planet ratings?

Click to expand...

Thanks for the support and thread, I think Googly included most of the information there but there are a few extras to add and minor clarifications.

Artillery info is also great, will add. I'll look for the manual.

current datalinks said:

Bombardment has the advantage of potentially damaging every enemy unit in a particular square and the disadvantage that land units can never be reduced below 50% damage by bombardment.

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I'm sure I've taken non-combat units down to well below half life, and seem to recall doing 70% to non-armored speeders at least once. Also, it does not mention damage to sea units from bombardment or anything about how weapon/armor/psy interacts with damage dealt.

The 50% damage limit only holds for targets in bases (possibly bunkers, too). Outside of bases there is no limit except that artillery will never kill a non-artillery unit.

Please don't take any information from the manual. It's full of mistakes.

Thanks, and noted.

edit: for my own reference:

[02:51] Kilkakon Attitude bonus... I'll see if there's anything about that in rules
[02:52] Kilkakon Combat % -> Artillery bonus per level of altitude
[02:52] Kilkakon At a guess I'd say a "level of altitude" was every 1000m as that is what's used for energy.
[02:52] Kilkakon I wouldn't know for sure though
[02:53] ete 25% per level from manual
[02:53] Kilkakon Yeah it's 25% in mine but I couldn't remember if I had changed it hah
[02:53] ete wondering if it stacks with the land based guns bonus
[02:55] Kilkakon I've seen bits of it and was happy that somebody else had as crazy a mod as me haha
[02:57] Kilkakon As far as I can tell ete Land Based Guns doesn't stack with altitude
[02:57] ete you've tested?
[02:58] ete or seen info with a test?
[02:58] Kilkakon I think that native capture is 25% per Planet, max 75%, chance goes down with every native unit you control
[02:58] Kilkakon Yes
[02:58] ete cool
[02:58] Kilkakon I just threw a ballista down and shot a coastal and didn't see altitude kick in
[02:59] ete was it more than lowest land level up?
[02:59] Kilkakon It was at 1010 m
[02:59] ete right, thanks
[03:00] Kilkakon The advanced Battle Ogres, from memory, require other factions to have discovered the prerequisite reactor