Combat and Fountain of Youth Bugs

[shirleyrocks]

I recently hauled out my DOS version of Colonization (version 3.0) and installed it on WinXP. Using compatibility mode the game works pretty well...the sound doesn't work, but the game is very stable, so I can't complain. I have run into a couple of bugs though, and I wondered if anyone else has noticed these...

1) Combat 'streak' bug - I still haven't figured out the specifics on this, but I'm positive it exists. What happens is, during a given turn, you will win every single battle (at least those that you initiate...I'm not sure about battles the AI starts) *or* you will lose every single battle. I think moving on to the next turn 'resets' the streak, but a new win or loss streak will start right up on the next turn. This bug is a gamebreaker because after the first battle of any turn, you can predict the outcome of all other battles with 100% accuracy.

2) Fountain of Youth bug - I'm not sure if having William Brewster effects this either way, but when you're given the choice of 3 different colonists to choose from after discovering the Fountain of Youth, they will always be replaced in line by a simple Free Colonist. Example...you discover the fountain and your choice of 3 people pop up...an Elder Statesman, a Master Farmer and a Free Colonist. So, you pick the Statesman first. He'll be replaced by a Free Colonist...ALWAYS. Now your choice is a Colonist, a Farmer or another Colonist. Take the Farmer and now you have a choice between 3 colonists until the cycle ends.

I was curious if anybody else had noticed these bugs and/or if they know of a way around them. Especially the combat streak bug. It makes the game unplayable

 

[dalgo]

I have noticed the same two problems but I don't know how to fix them. I am also running ver 3.0 under XP.

The Fountain of Youth isn't so much of a worry, even if you only get colonists it's still a bonus. However if you do get a Fountain of Youth before you have Brewster in Congress then you get all criminals - and that is rather a big drawback. I make sure I get him early in the game.

The combat 'streak' does affect gameplay, you either get all wins or all losses. I play more of a building game so it affects me mostly after Independance. By then I have such a strong army I can afford to wait until the streak is on my side and clean up then. It's still a nuisance though and I hope someone can come up with the answer.

 

[Rheinmetall]

The windows version of colonization doesn't have the combat streak problem.

 

[Akane]

Huh. I thought it was a natural outgrowth of the game that you received some specialists but also some non-specialists (FCs, Ind., or Prisoners) no matter what. Even if you're gaining religious emigrations. I never thought of it as a "bug"... to me it seemed that the game was attempting to make sure that you had to put some effort into training your colonists yourself instead of getting every last one of them at an advantage.

Is the Windows version any different on the ratio? I'd estimate that the ratio between trained and untrained goes almost 1:1 for colonists to be recruited/religious emigration/Fountain emigration.

 

[dalgo]

When the Fountain of Youth problem does occur it's not that you get some colonists, you get ALL colonists. No specialists at all. And as I said if you don't have Brewster in Congress you only get criminals, which is a real pain.

It could be these two problems are related (both involve some kind of random factor) so if I run into it again I might try the patch from Brut to see if it fixes this problem as well (see 'combats' thread for details).

 

[Gelion]

Here's an intersing bug: every turn the "gold" will give you the same results. i.e one turn you get colonists for every "gold" found the other turn "gold, the other "vanishes". Same may work for FoYs

 

[shirleyrocks]

Just to let anyone reading this thread know, Brut has solved and fixed BOTH the combat streak bug and the fountain of youth bug! Turns out they were both due to a problem related to generating random numbers. Brut explains how to 'patch' your game in this thread...

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=97381

 

[MXB]

I definitely have never had those problems with the fountain of youth. I get a perfectly fine assortment of colonists including specialists.
As for the combat streak I'm not sure. It certainly steams me to lose several battles in a row but that's psychology not a bug. One merely recalls such frustration better than when things are running "smoothly".

 

[Öjevind Lång]

I definitely have never had those problems with the fountain of youth. I get a perfectly fine assortment of colonists including specialists.

My experience is that as the game progresses, the number of specialist emigrants constantly decreases. If you get the Fountain of Youth early, without Brewster, you'll get at lest some specialists, and if you get it early with Brewster you'll get a mixture of specialists and ordinary colonists.