Postby Belix » Fri Apr 29, 2016 4:05 pm
Impressive patch. I have to admit I didn't expect to see any more significant work put into improving or enhancing the core game any more after so long. I read the documentation and have played around with some of the new features. Nice stuff!
I've been using Lord Brazen's v1.4 patch for many years and put some of its new features to good use, particularly NoReport to make play against computers more challenging. But these changes made me realize there are some other things I wished Master of Orion II could do, and that I'd better offer them as suggestions while there is active development, so here's some ideas that others will hopefully share interest in and wouldn't be too difficult to implement:
/nooriontech - Orion yields no techs when captured
/noorionship - Orion yields neither Lochnar nor his ship [with nooriontech, you just get the system]
/nocustomraces - In multiplayer, the Custom Race option will be unavailable - stock races only
/compsally - AI players ally each other but declare war on Human Players [so you can 3v3c, 1v7c, 2v6c, etc.] *see note
/alliedvision - Allied fleets become visible, and you can see any fleets their ships or scanners see
/allieddesigns - Can right-click the ships of allied players and see their ship designs.
/noallyattack - Human players cannot attack allies without declaring war first; no prompts to attack fleets or colonies if only allies are present in that system
/noplayertechgifts - Humans cannot gift techs.
/noplayertechtrade - Humans cannot exchange techs.
/noplayertechsteal - Humans cannot steal techs. [With all 3, humans must research pretty much everything themselves.]
And a couple miscellaneous things:
1) If not already possible, an option to adjust self destruct chance for Quantum Detonator. Personally I'd like to set it at 100% to make Antaran vessels much harder to capture, requiring the Detonator to be damaged before capture is even possible. Presently it is far too easy to capture Antaran vessels with a pack of Assault Shuttles and some decent rifles.
2) Option to disable some custom racial traits entirely for the purpose of MP games, particularly Repulsive, Omniscient and Stealthy Ships.
3) Change the behavior of the picks=# command as follows:
-maxpicks=#, a new parameter that sets a limit for picks in MP games. This way you can prevent others from using 14 picks if you wish. It should probably default to 10.
-picks=# should have a lower limit of 0, so a player can handicap themselves to 0 if they so wish. A higher maximum (20-30) for anyone who wants to use that makes sense, too, when combined with the above maxpicks feature.
4) A switch that lets you control what races the AI picks when the game starts. Example syntax: /airaces psilon silicoid sakkra klackon -- each computer taking its turn would take races in that order, so comp #1 would be Psilon, and so forth.
I realize of course that 'cheaters' could break some of these rules easily, but the purpose for things like maxpicks etc. is not to prevent cheating, just to arrange a game with a specific set of rules easier among multiple players. It's easier to abide by the rules when everyone is playing by the same rules instead of just being asked not to use trait X or not exceed Y picks.
Thanks for the consideration, and my appreciation and gratitude to Rocco, Lord Brazen, and anyone else who may have been involved with this. You rock!
*EDIT: I should elaborate on AI alliances. Comps shouldn't ally magically at game start - this might lead to bizarre situations like trying to send Colony Ships stupidly far away, or to attack a player on the opposite side of a Huge galaxy on turn 20. Ideally they start with Non-Aggression and can form Alliances later of their own volition, or are encouraged somehow to do so.