Planetfall

[Maniac]

Patch 12d for Planetfall, the Alpha Centauri total conversion mod for Civ4 BtS, has been released. This patch needs to be applied on top of the main v12 file of Planetfall. It breaks savegames from previous versions and patches.

Please post interesting screenshots of your games in this thread.



Changelog:

1. Updated to Better AI 82 by jdog5000.
2. German translation updated by Lord Tirian.
3. New Heal button by Slvynn.
4. The Affinity Gene and the Pholus Mutagen have switched positions in the tech tree.
5. Personality Transcription is now a level 8 instead of 9 tech, enabled by the Affinity Gene or Mind-Machine Interface.
6. The Commune improvement is now enabled by the Transcendence tech.
7. The Sea Commune improvement is now enabled by the Pholus Mutagen tech.
8. The Planetmind promotion is now enabled by the Affinity Gene.
9. The native Empath Song promotion provides +25% combat strength versus other natives, rather than a general +25% psi attack bonus.
10. Cryogenics leads to Antimatter.
11. The first faction to research Pressure Dome gets a free Sea Colony Pod.
12. Morgan can hurry unit production with credits.
13. There is no longer a 50% increase in cost when hurrying production without any minerals accumumated yet.
14. Bases with Cloning Vats can draft units. You can draft Genites (1 pop), InVitros (2 pops), and Cyborgs (3 pops). Drafting causes one unhappy citizen for ten turns. You can only draft in unblockaded bases which are at least 50% of your culture.
15. Drafted units will start with normal instead of halved experience. Instead they will start with the Light special ability (provided they were eligible to get any special abilities at all). Exception: Spartan conscripts will get the usual expected # of special ability slots.
16. The Planned civic gives +10% nutrient instead of mineral production.
17. The Wealth civic now gives +15% building production speed and +1 Health.
18. The Free Market civic now gives +1 trade route per base and 1 happy per 10% credit slider spending.
19. The Knowledge civic now gives +1 science per specialist in addition to its previous effects.

 

[darkedone02]

That will probably effect the AI as well, as far as I understand and might hurt it. Not from an economic perspective, there are better choices on ressource tiles (even on most others), but Bunkers in Planetfall also offer a lot of defensive strength (bombardment!), especially if it comes to defending vs. native life. I don't trust automation at all, but if I would, I would just check the option I mentioned and build my forts manually.

Or have I misunderstood you and you coded a new logic, which makes the AI buildings bunkers only on endangered spots? That could be really interesting for PF, because for my taste they go a bit overboard with building them (though I still think no AI bunkers at all would be worse)

All I did is go to the unit former in the unit listing thingy and delete the BUILD_BUNKER, now my workers will no longer mass build the bunkers, the only bunkers that can be build is in the cities.

For a cheater like me, I like to have all my cities protected by one type of unit that I can fortify my cities, my workers like to build too many forts that I don't even need at all, but I end up promoting them all the way up but sometimes I cannot when I suffer from such heavy lag that make promotion selecting hard and end up clicking out of the unit when I accidentally hit explore or end up cheat researched my tech that I was working on. Also my Bunkers do not destroy the enemy, and most of my enemies usually come from by seas... so if they are close to my cities and a cheat promote all of my units with mobility that add extra movement points and annihilate the enemy before they pillage one of my improvements.

Civilization 4 itself is too damn slow, I can hardly run Fall Further on my computer. Sometimes when my turn is here, half of my units did not move completely, and when I was busy promoting my units, those that did not finish now finish and auto clicked out of my unit that I've been promoting or accidentally hit the explore button and wasted his movement points.

So Yeah, I dislike Bunkers because they don't kill the enemy unless the bunker get attacked by the AI... so barrage is useless to me and I just use the most powerful units that got a good high movement points and strength and got good promotions as well. I hardly use any artillery or anything else.

 

[limboldt]

Is it correct that I do not only need Archeology to use Monoliths?
There a two ways to research archeology, but when you choose the "wrong" one you can still not use Monoliths before you researched the missing tech.
Is this as it should be?

I have one base that can "save energy" and transfers it into income (200 % of Production), all my other bases only can transfer their production into 100 % research. It is not clear to me what makes that one base so special, is it a bug or a feature?

Kind regards to the hardworking Planetfall-Team,

enjoying your game: Limboldt

 

[Pfeffersack]

Is it correct that I do not only need Archeology to use Monoliths?
There a two ways to research archeology, but when you choose the "wrong" one you can still not use Monoliths before you researched the missing tech.
Is this as it should be?

You need Xenobiology as well, because that is the tech which allows you to work tiles with "Planet-providing" ressources. In fact Xenobiology alone is enough to reap the extra yield, while Mobility and Archeology together do nothing in regard to using aMonolith. Interesting find. I honestly don't know if Maniac intended that (IIRC, Xenobiology's effect on making pro-planet ressources possible at all was added later), but it could be intended, as Archeology offers other benefits as well (and you could say that someone accessing it via Mobility should not gain the goodies from the "Green Research part")

I have one base that can "save energy" and transfers it into income (200 % of Production), all my other bases only can transfer their production into 100 % research. It is not clear to me what makes that one base so special, is it a bug or a feature?

Kind regards to the hardworking Planetfall-Team,

enjoying your game: Limboldt

The favorable conversion rate (1:2) of the maintenance process is restricted to covering your expenses for units and base upkeep. Technically this is solved by disabling the process for any base, in which choosing it would cause ou to exceed this limitation. So you might in fact optimize the situation by using two less productive bases compared to one very productive (because then you might come closer to the limit without crossing it)

 

[limboldt]

Thank you again very much, Pfeffersack, very helpful information and very fast answers.

So in any "too strong" city it is not possible to choose the energy saving feature because of a kind of global restriction?
In earlier games I never took a closer look, because I thought these features are similiar to Civ, appearing with special technologies.
And I can only influence that by building more cities?
Because at first sight I could not see what makes that one city different to the others, in both games the only similarities were that the city was small and it was the second city I built.
So there is no "button" to change the city that should gain the feature, the game decides more or less with a little influence of myself where it appears?

 

[Pfeffersack]

So in any "too strong" city it is not possible to choose the energy saving feature because of a kind of global restriction?

Correct. If you should have a city which produces so many hammers that converting them with a ratio of 1:2 into Credits will exceed your overall upkeep expenses, then you cannot run the maintenance process in that city (even if you run the process in no other city). This might sometimes happen in an earlier stage of the game or if you run certain maintenance-saving SE choices (like Police State, Hybrid, Autarky)

And I can only influence that by building more cities?

Indirectly yes. More upkeep means lifting the restriction. More units "help" as well.

Because at first sight I could not see what makes that one city different to the others, in both games the only similarities were that the city was small and it was the second city I built.

It is the hammer output.

So there is no "button" to change the city that should gain the feature, the game decides more or less with a little influence of myself where it appears?

No. Unless a city falls under the circumstances described in the first paragraph of this post post, you can make the button appear by stopping running the process in one or more other cities - you just have to have enough costs left, then you can run it (nearly, again exception above) anywhere. Technically, the game keeps track what the bases currently running the process cover already from your expenses and disables then the process in every city, where you would gain excess credits by using it.

 

[limboldt]

Thany you very much , still learning more and more what a wonderful and complex game this is, I wonder how I could become sucessful in the earlier tries
But I think the better AI is to blame for the necessity to use really all possibilities to gain an advantage

 

[Maniac]

Patch 12f for Planetfall, the Alpha Centauri total conversion mod for Civ4 BtS, has been released. This patch needs to be applied on top of the main v12 file of Planetfall. It does not break savegames from patch 'd', but it breaks savegames from versions and patches older than that.

Please post interesting screenshots of your games in this thread.



Changelog:

1. Improved interface, by Lord Tirian.
2. German translation updated by Lord Tirian.
3. New Assembly Hall building graphic by unknown CivCraft guy and Lord Tirian.
4. New main menu by Lord Tirian.
5. Switching to the Member civic never causes anarchy.
6. The popup to switch to the Member civic now shows up as intended when the Planetary Council is built.
7. Vanguard units can pick the Plasma Shard special ability.

 

[arkham4269]

Was playing a new game yesterday (that I'll never finish due to the new patch ) and I just wanted to ask if there has been a change to the planet counter that tracks how "green" you are. I've been playing Diedre a lot lately and trying to go the hybrid route after getting tired fighting Planet on the terraformed route.

For the most part as Diedre I seem to recall starting at at least 5 and being able to quickly get to 7 and then steadily get to 10 before a new patch would cause me to abandon a game. My most recent game had me start at 2 and after about 150 turns and doing similar things, I barely got to 3. It just seems that building the 'green' buildings and not building mines and the like has lost a big kick.

Also, with the council, you often get a chance to get missionaries. While great, often times I get them and don't need them. Normally I hold onto them till I create a new base, but I was wondering if perhaps that missionaries could have a secondary function of the 'entertainer' that a lot of mods have where you could use them in a base to give it a bit of culture/happiness boast. This would be nice against the AI (especially AI Yang) who seems to like building cities right up against the border but often has civics (or a closed border) so converting them isn't an option, but culture bombing them would help.

 

[darkedone02]

I know they will be doing Alien Crossfire after they get done with doing the whole Planetfall stuff... can't wait till they do a whole concept on the two aliens out there that are always on vendetta with each other.

 

[Pfeffersack]

Was playing a new game yesterday (that I'll never finish due to the new patch ) and I just wanted to ask if there has been a change to the planet counter that tracks how "green" you are.

Pach 11 k) made this change:

3. Hybrid Forests only provide +1.25 instead of +1.5 Planet.

Also the latest patchest brought some slight reworking for the pro-planet buildings (but nothing too serious)

Also, with the council, you often get a chance to get missionaries. While great, often times I get them and don't need them. Normally I hold onto them till I create a new base, but I was wondering if perhaps that missionaries could have a secondary function of the 'entertainer' that a lot of mods have where you could use them in a base to give it a bit of culture/happiness boast. This would be nice against the AI (especially AI Yang) who seems to like building cities right up against the border but often has civics (or a closed border) so converting them isn't an option, but culture bombing them would help.

Don't forget that you can use them as medic support units for your troops.

 

[Tholish]

How do you get the AI to settle on water?

 

[Maniac]

Patch 12g for Planetfall, the Alpha Centauri total conversion mod for Civ4 BtS, has been released. This patch needs to be applied on top of the main v12 file of Planetfall. It does not break savegames from patch d or f, but it breaks savegames from versions and patches older than that.



This is a bugfix patch. It also adds the following gameplay change:

1. You can only capture other factions' bases captured by barbarians/native life if a) the population is smaller than three or b) you're at war with the previous owner.
2. Bases captured by native life will now gradually decrease in population. Native life will spawn in the base while there are humans left to feed on, meaning if the population is higher than 1.

How do you get the AI to settle on water?

Look for UNITAI_SEA_COLONY

 

[limboldt]

I cannot remove Fungus on fields with bunkers without raiding the bunker?

 

[GoodGame]

Great mod so far! I have a slight complaint about Gaia though. It seems exceptionally weak, given that they don't modify the terrain, yet have to do so much research for relative weak native forces, and a long delay before they can plant fungus.

 

[Maniac]

I cannot remove Fungus on fields with bunkers without raiding the bunker?

How did you end up with a bunker and fungus on a plot at the same time? That shouldn't happen.

Great mod so far! I have a slight complaint about Gaia though. It seems exceptionally weak, given that they don't modify the terrain, yet have to do so much research for relative weak native forces, and a long delay before they can plant fungus.

In my experience they aren't weak. Both when playing them or when the AI is. In my current game for instance they have the largest unit and base count.

 

[Lord Tirian]

Great mod so far! I have a slight complaint about Gaia though. It seems exceptionally weak, given that they don't modify the terrain, yet have to do so much research for relative weak native forces, and a long delay before they can plant fungus.

Huh? Try to research the techs for the Empath Song special ability, then you can capture native life. Since Gaians start with a positive planet modifier, they can catch and support natives early on and the positive planet attitude also makes native life ignore their territory largely, allowing them to make better use of their resources... besides, there's enough fungus out there, just found bases closer to it (just as you'd seek out rivers/coast with other factions).

Cheers, LT.

 

[Cmcastl]

I know you brush this off every time, Maniac, but, at least at the lesser levels of difficulty, could you please, please consider make the Psi and anti-native qualities of human units more powerful. I do, do, DO think that the game is unbalanced in comparison with SMAC - the Psi and anti-native enhancements would keep things in check there, as I believe they should. I just don't accept your argument that you have to research long and deep to do that. Otherwise, every new MOD is just fine and dandy.

Live long and prosper.

 

[limboldt]

How did you end up with a bunker and fungus on a plot at the same time? That shouldn't happen.



In my experience they aren't weak. Both when playing them or when the AI is. In my current game for instance they have the largest unit and base count.

I built a bunker and short time after, there was a fungus bloom nearby. I thought: Crazy, good defense, but also not bad for attacking Worms, so I wanted to clean the mess, then I thought: Ups...

I also think that "Green" is not really weak, especially after the tuning (Forest defense etc.).
And they are very displeasing neighbors ("culture").
When I play against her, I normally have minus points in fighting against Centauri Creatures, perhaps for that reason I had to much respect...
When I play green myself, they are nearly unbeatable.
OK, I think the "problem" is that the "green AI" does not use "Combined Forces" as a human player would do.
But all in all it is true that in my games the only really really powerful Leadery as AI opponents (Emperor, huge maps) were Zakharov (Bunkers, Bunkers, modern troops, Mass Catapults), Morgan (Tanks, modern Troops and Power) and Miriam (big and well defended).
Could it be that mainly Zakharov builds Bunkers and the others often build not even one?
Yang, Lal, Santiago and Deirdre were never as powerful as the others and Deirdre most of the time had problems to be liked by the others
Santiago could be dangerous when met to early and when they have more powerful infantery in early game. But same here: Santiago played by me makes the AI very unhappy, so her advantage is not really weak

For my games I could say that perhaps huge maps are "confusing" for the AI-opponents. I never found it "to easy", it was hard enough to keep up with the others, I had a lot of exciting fun , but most of the time the same two fractions were the most powerful ones (Morgan or Zakharov) and most of the time an early (Pre-Bunker) war with early vasalls was a good choice to become a nearly unbeatable fraction.
Especially early tank-rushs are a problem for the AI.
The other way around I have the feeling that the AI does not alway see or use military advantage, unless their power is overwhelming or they have many allies.

Different subject :
As "non green" I find it very very difficult to use the oceans (trade, improvements) because the "Psi-Isles" are very strong and there are so many because they have more time and peace to grow there and it takes very long to research and build a good marine. On huge maps I succesful ignored the ocean for a very long time and concentrated my forces to conquer the continent while the AI often wasted many units there.
But I do not know if there should be anything changed, there are many unique ressources as appeal. I always saw it as an "green privilege" to have an "early Ocean-Bonus" and Units in Planetfall are cheap, and so when you want to go somewhere you could send many...

 

[sherbz]

grrrrr. I cant get this to work. It just comes up with an error message when i try to launch either through the planetfall logo or by trying to initialise the mod in BTS. Am i doing anything wrong? Ive downloaded and installed the main v 12 and the 12g patch. Am i missing something?