Siege Worms on Parade ...

[vorlon_mi]

Saw something last night I'd never seen before. A colossal alien... embarked... When I moused over, the tool tip even showed "alien worm"

 

[legalizefreedom]

I don't think that is a thing. Must be a mod interaction or something.

 

[vorlon_mi]

No mods; just BERT. I've never seen it before in 1300 hours of play.

 

[legalizefreedom]

Hmmm. Agreed. I don't believe I've ever seen that and I have over 1300 hours as well.

They must have spawned in the water somehow. I would be interested to see if they were stuck in the water or if they were able to move onto land.

 

[vorlon_mi]

I killed one, just to see if I got the bonus science and culture.

For the other, I did see some Chungsu troops fighting one on land a few turns later.

In most of my games, siege worms stop spawning after the early game. I see a lot of Makaras as the colossal aliens in the late game, since they seem to be able to spawn out of alien nests that occur in the ocean or one-tile islands. For the few times I have seen worms after turn 150, they pop up in tracts of unsettled land far away from my cities or the AI cities. I don't know enough to dig into the Lua or XML to learn if there are spawning restrictions for the different types of colossal aliens.

 

[Protok St]

I killed one, just to see if I got the bonus science and culture.

For the other, I did see some Chungsu troops fighting one on land a few turns later.

In most of my games, siege worms stop spawning after the early game. I see a lot of Makaras as the colossal aliens in the late game, since they seem to be able to spawn out of alien nests that occur in the ocean or one-tile islands. For the few times I have seen worms after turn 150, they pop up in tracts of unsettled land far away from my cities or the AI cities. I don't know enough to dig into the Lua or XML to learn if there are spawning restrictions for the different types of colossal aliens.

There is a rate and affinity condition to spawn Colossal.

-- Governs how many colossal units are maintained per game phase
local COLOSSAL_LAND_UNIT_RATIOS : table = {
    [1] = { 0.00, 32, },
    [2] = { 0.35, 26, },
    [3] = { 0.65, 20, },
};

local COLOSSAL_SEA_UNIT_RATIOS : table = {
    [1] = { 0.00, 36, },
    [2] = { 0.35, 30, },
    [3] = { 0.65, 24, },
};

First number is an "averageAffinityProgress" which is bugged and always return 0. I have fixed it in AC DLC.
Second number is a rate of normal aliens to 1 colossal.
So for LAND on 0 affinity progress game will spawn 1 coloss for each 32 normal aliens. Etc.

 

[Tiberiu]

I have also not seen embarked land alien. I think it must have thought something that did not work as intended.

So for LAND on 0 affinity progress game will spawn 1 coloss for each 32 normal aliens. Etc.

Please, can you give a bit more information? @Protok St

Affinity progress of whom? Is this calculated for the highest amount of affinity of any faction present in the game? If you want the game to spawn more siege worms, you can try to increase affinity level as much as possible? I understood right?

I thought that Siege Worms spawn in higher numbers if aliens are attacked, probably that is another factor that contributes to the game's formula, no?

 

[vorlon_mi]

Although I haven't modded the game or looked at the code, here's my guess. The table appears to show the probability of spawning a colossal alien from a nest. That probability goes up as more affinity is gained.

That's consistent with my experience, where I see a lot more Makaras later in the game than I see in the first 150 turns.
What's interesting to me is that I tend to see more Krakens early-to-mid game, when my ships are still fragile. I rarely see Krakens after turn 200; perhaps that AI ships (who are also enhanced) are killing them off more efficiently?
Similarly, I rarely see Siege Worms after turn 200. The alien nests on land keep spawning beetles, raptor bugs, and manticores.

 

[Protok St]

Although I haven't modded the game or looked at the code, here's my guess. The table appears to show the probability of spawning a colossal alien from a nest. That probability goes up as more affinity is gained.

That's consistent with my experience, where I see a lot more Makaras later in the game than I see in the first 150 turns.
What's interesting to me is that I tend to see more Krakens early-to-mid game, when my ships are still fragile. I rarely see Krakens after turn 200; perhaps that AI ships (who are also enhanced) are killing them off more efficiently?
Similarly, I rarely see Siege Worms after turn 200. The alien nests on land keep spawning beetles, raptor bugs, and manticores.

In original game code Makaras spawns from the table of normal units spawning. But they still counts as colossus. Thats why later game is lots of Makaras and less of Krakens.
Game spawn Makaras as normal units, but when it is trying to spawn colossus the Rate between normal and colossus units is not enough, because to many Makaras is already spawned.

 

[Protok St]

I have also not seen embarked land alien. I think it must have thought something that did not work as intended.


Please, can you give a bit more information? @Protok St

Affinity progress of whom? Is this calculated for the highest amount of affinity of any faction present in the game? If you want the game to spawn more siege worms, you can try to increase affinity level as much as possible? I understood right?

I thought that Siege Worms spawn in higher numbers if aliens are attacked, probably that is another factor that contributes to the game's formula, no?

not seen embarked land alien

Alien Land_Domain units type cant embark. Makara is Amphibiuos_Domain type.

Affinity progress

As I told in original game this core game function is not working and always return 0.00. So you can put it off from your calculations.

Please, can you give a bit more information?

There is a rate and affinity condition to spawn Colossal.

-- Governs how many colossal units are maintained per game phase
local COLOSSAL_LAND_UNIT_RATIOS : table = {
    [1] = { 0.00, 32, },
    [2] = { 0.35, 26, },
    [3] = { 0.65, 20, },
};

local COLOSSAL_SEA_UNIT_RATIOS : table = {
    [1] = { 0.00, 36, },
    [2] = { 0.35, 30, },
    [3] = { 0.65, 24, },
};

First number is an "averageAffinityProgress" which is bugged and always return 0. I have fixed it in AC DLC.
Second number is a rate of normal aliens to 1 colossal.
So for LAND on 0 affinity progress game will spawn 1 coloss for each 32 normal aliens. Etc.

I can give an example.
Turn 10.
Alien player start it's turn.
It's take the value of averageAffinityProgress and receives 0.00.
It opens table COLOSSAL_LAND_UNIT_RATIOS and look inside.
It compares the first value of each pair with the received averageAffinityProgress (0.00).
The first pair [1] = { 0.00, 32, }, corresponds with this value, it takes it and go on.
Take the second value of pair as rate (32) and calculate how many colossus can be spawned on a map right now.
Formula: Value of Normal Land Units Number / 32 = X
If X = 1(before 2) it means that there can be 1 colossus unit on Land.
If X = 2(before 3) it means that there can be 2 colossus units on Land.
etc.
Than it compares current number of Colossus units on a Land (CL) right now with the received X value.
If CL < X then game will try to spawn atleast 1 Land Colossus this turn.

All the same goes for water with it's own table COLOSSAL_SEA_UNIT_RATIOS.