seed? eh?

[skorn]

with the new 1.12 beta patch, there is an option for seed. could someone explain to me what exactly it does? the readme file wasn't too much help:

---------------- Features --------------------
* Implemented ability to enter a seed value on
the world setup screen. It is located in the
upper-right corner. Any character can be entered
as the seed. If the seed is 0 (the default), it
will generate the world normally. If every
character is a number, the value is interpreted
as the seed value and used to generate the
world. In all other cases, a hash table formula
is applied to the string to generate a unique
value that is used to generate the world. While
it is technically possible for two different
strings to evaluate to the same seed, it is
unlikely (i.e., SEED is not the same as DEES --
upper- and lower-case letters will yield
different results as well).



there's no key or anything as to what characters might represent if the seed is used, so what's the point? is it, like, to use the same world, over and over again, with different civs, etc? thats cool I guess, but I was kinda hoping it was to somehow control the # of resources etc on any given map.

thx in advance for your response.

 

[tomart109]

As I understand it, this will vary the world generation, in a sort of random way (we have no idea what effect a string would have, so YRMV is a useful thing here.) (Your Results May Vary)

 

[Capt Buttkick]

Like Tom said: the seed varies with world generation. If you play a random map and want your friend to try it because it was cool, just start a new game, but choose start on last played map (or whatever the option is called...). The seed of your game should appear, so jot it down and your friend can play the same game as you without the trouoble of switching saves etc. I guess you should make sure you've patched the game the same way though

Also: try playing your own nick
CptButkick on huge archipelago (80%), normal, normal, 5 billion is a really cool map

 

[skorn]

sweet. thx.

 

[Rameau's Nephew]

But does entering a seed value override your preferences (landmass, water, age, etc.) or integrate them? The readme was unclear.

 

[Frimlin]

It integrates them. The seed is a "base" and the other options change that base. So if you tell your friend to play the "Frimlin" world, it'll only be the same if your friend also has the same world size, landmass type, world age...etc

I imagine if the only differences were something like temperature or moisture, the world would still look much the same but would have either more or less desert and rainforest.

Also, even if you have exactly the same map settings, and exactly the same enemy Civs listed in the same order, the Civs might not necessarily be in the same starting locations -- but that might need to be confirmed for definite.