Modifying alphax.txt to expand terraforming into the sea

[vyeh]

I originally posted a version of this at 'poly. I thought chuft might be interested in this information as he develops a new mod:

I was seeing which terraforming improvements could be translated from land to sea.

It turns out that a sea forest doesn't show up, but it gives -1 energy to the square. Furthermore the negative value does show up in the base screen.

The following improvements show up:

Sensors, condensors, echelon mirror and boreholes; however, sea echelon mirrors don't have an effect on either tidal harnesses or adjacent solar collectors.

The following improvements don't show up, but do have an effect:

Soil enricher (turns kelp from 3 nutrients to 4 nutrients and kelp + condensor from 4 nutrients to 6 nutrients)

Bunker (50% defense bonus)

Airbase (chopper can end turn here without damage)

Most, if not all, of these except for sea forests, have been used in mods before.

By the way, I did my testing from a SMAniaC alphax.txt file that I modified.

Note the base screen. Unlike Darsnan recent scenario where -2 nutrient showed up as +1 nutrient, here the - 1 energy shows up as a single energy with a null sign through it.

Please note that AlexanderIII did an advanced hydromechanics tech patch for ShiNing1's Alpha Centauri v1.2. Both of these can be found in the SMAC section at 'poly. (Use the files tab and go to modpacks.)

The AC Creation subforum at 'poly is a good resource and there may still be some modders that check the subforum occasionally so you might consider posting there,

I assume you are also aware of Darsnan/Rubin's article Alpha/x Guide (v. 1.3).

I have not determined if sea forests will spread on their own. (Since kelp spreads, it is possible sea forests do not spread.)

 

[chuft]

Interesting. I have seen sensors at sea before that the AI planted somehow.

If you enable them for the sea, do they provide the same benefits as on land?

The idea of boreholes at sea seems very strange. They would look like land. In fact a borehole on a 1 tile island takes up the entire square, would you be able to tell a one tile land borehole from a sea borehole? I assume sea units could move through the sea borehole.

 

[vyeh]

Interesting. I have seen sensors at sea before that the AI planted somehow.

You must have had a modified alphax.txt file. Sea sensors are disabled in the regular alphax.txt file.

#TERRAIN
Farm,             None,    Kelp Farm,        None,     4,  Cultivate $STR0, f, F
Soil Enricher,    EcoEng2, Soil Enricher,    Disable,  8,  Construct $STR0, f, F
Mine,             None,    Mining Platform,  None,     8,  Construct $STR0, M, M
Solar Collector,  None,    Tidal Harness,    None,     4,  Construct $STR0, S, S
Forest,           None,    ...,              Disable,  4,  Plant $STR0,     F, Shift+F
Road,             None,    Road,             Disable,  1,  Build $STR0,     R, R
Mag Tube,         Magnets, Mag Tube,         Disable,  3,  Build $STR0,     R, R
Bunker,           MilAlg,  Bunker,           Disable,  5,  Construct $STR0, K, K
Airbase,          DocAir,  Airbase,          Disable,  10, Construct $STR0, ., .
Sensor Array,     None,    Sensor Array,     [b]Disable[/b],  4,  Construct $STR0, O, O
Fungus,           None,    Sea Fungus,       None,     6,  Remove $STR0,    F, F
Fungus,           EcoEng,  Sea Fungus,       EcoEng,   6,  Plant $STR0,     F, Ctrl+F
Condenser,        EcoEng,  Condenser,        Disable,  12, Construct $STR0, N, N
Echelon Mirror,   EcoEng,  Echelon Mirror,   Disable,  12, Construct $STR0, E, Shift+E
Thermal Borehole, EcoEng,  Thermal Borehole, Disable,  24, Construct $STR0, B, Shift+B
Aquifer,          EcoEng,  Aquifer,          Disable,  18, Drill to $STR0,  Q, Q
Raise Land,       EnvEcon, Raise Sea Floor,  EnvEcon,  12, Terraform UP,    ], ]]
Lower Land,       EnvEcon, Lower Sea Floor,  EnvEcon,  12, Terraform DOWN,  [, [[
Level Terrain,    None,    Level Terrain,    Disable,  8,  Terraform LEVEL, _, _
Monolith,         Disable, Monolith,         Disable,  8,  Place Monolith,  ?, ?, (this is here for map editor)

If you enable them for the sea, do they provide the same benefits as on land?

I'm not really sure. Normally, sea units don't get the benefit of sensors. Maybe land units would get a bonus and the sensors could spot sea lurkers in neighboring sea fungus. I'm sure you could easily test it with a modified alphax.txt file and the scenario editor.

The idea of boreholes at sea seems very strange. They would look like land. In fact a borehole on a 1 tile island takes up the entire square, would you be able to tell a one tile land borehole from a sea borehole?

The boreholes are the same graphics. I suspect a borehole on a 1 tile island would have a ring of land.

I assume sea units could move through the sea borehole.

Yes, sea units can move through the boreholes.

 

[chuft]

Nope, my alphax says

Sensor Array, None, Sensor Array, Disable, 4, Construct $STR0, O, O

and my sea formers can't build them. But the AI does. I have heard that a human former put on automatic will build them too sometimes.

 

[vyeh]

That is very interesting. Could you post that as a bug thread at CGN? If you have a save showing a sea sensor, it would be nice if you could post it. If you don't have a save, I'll see about creating a scenario to replicate it.

We have observed AI being able to raise/lower land before Advanced Ecological Engineeering.

I don't believe there has been any reports of boreholes, condensors or echelon mirrors.

 

[Petek]

I've seen even my own sea formers build sensors. It happens when you automate a sea formers to improve its home base. If the sea formers runs out of improvements (because, say, most of the sea tiles are trenches), it will build a sensor. Also, IIRC, sea sensors do not confer a defensive bonus, but they do extend visibility. I'll see if I can reproduce this and, if so, will post a save on CGN.

I just confirmed what I said above about automated sea formers building sensors. Will post a save and a bug report at CGN.

More Information: I realized that I have a modified Alphax.txt that might allow sea sensors to be built. Will have to check on this further before posting at CGN.

Even more information: I confirmed the bug using a vanilla Alphax.txt. Will now post at CGN.

Petek

 

[vyeh]

I confirm (I'll repost at CGN when I have time) that there is no defensive bonus when amphibious scout attacks base defender.

However, I placed a sealurk (use omniscient view to find the square); yet it is not visible.

 

[chuft]

Is it because the sealurk is not moving?

I have noticed that I have built sensors before to reveal pesky spore launchers hiding in the fungus and they did not reveal the spore launcher because it was not moving. Only when it moved did it appear. Maybe your sealurk hasn't moved yet.

 

[vyeh]

During the update phase, if you watch carefully, you can often see units move though the map squares that are revealed to you. At the beginning, they are invisible (unless you have already spotted them) and at the end they are invisible (unless they are within range of your units), but you can see them move. They barely appear. This may be a bug, but it was something that we urge turnplayers to do for demogames.

I did some more testing. I found that if the sealurk is right next to a base or unit in a square, it does show up.

Note

#;SENSOR
#HELPTERRALAND9
A {Sensor Array} watches surrounding territory for intruders. Sensor
Arrays can see any enemy unit within two squares.
^
Data from Sensor Arrays also increases defense readiness: any unit
in a land square within two squares of a friendly sensor array
gains +25% to its defense.

I placed a sea sensor next to land and confirmed that a land unit next to the sensor got the+25% defense bonus and it affected visibility. (See sea sensor affects land, 2111.)

I was also able to determine that for conventional sea units, the sea sensor did extend the range of visibility for the base by two squares from the sea sensor (even though the sea sensor I created was in an uncovered square it still worked). (See sea sensor extends sight, 2111.)

At this point, it looks like the only bug is that sea sensors can be built.

(1) Except for sealurks, which observe the submarine rules, sea sensors do extend the visibility to cover enemy naval units.

(2) Sea sensors also extend the visibility for land.

(3) Sea sensors add a bonus for any unit in a land square within two squares of a friendly sensor array. (There is one caveat. See Sea sensor near land base, 2111. I have placed a sea sensor within the territorial waters of Merchantman Run. It does not spot the Hive transport that is two squares away, although there is a Pirate transport on top of it.)