"Very Difficult Choice" Mod, irc channel: irc.quakenet.org/vdc

[Catalyst_Kh]

New mapgen.exe in VDC_mod_43b.rar doesn't runs anymore: it demands dos4gw.exe and runs only after adding this file to moo2 folder.

[Catalyst_Kh]

There is some strange glitch with Antarans in 43b. I played short fast-click game with AI to test new improvements and there was two Antaran's doomstars (!) attacking at move 62. Of course I picked very slow race, but I can't imagine how anyone can hold two doomstars at move 62 with any race. Here are the saves.

EDIT:
Forgot to mention, doomstars showed up at move 61 with eta 1, at move 60 there was nothing yet. If eta 1 is supposed to be, then please tell why is that so? I mean why not give player more turns to gather all his fleet (and refit it, buy more, etc) for defense?

[tf8]

I have updated mapgen.exe
1. Tried to recompile to avoid DOS4GW maybe it would help, please download new version from http://moomapgen.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/mapgen.exe

2. Added pager to help (-h) output.

[Catalyst_Kh]

Very good -h option, long time needed! Now works perfectly, thank you.

Irakly, there is another minor thing: when trying to pick more than -11 race points it says “Racial penalties are only allowed up to -10 picks.” Could be confusing for newcomers, especially when you have "- new 41 points race picks balance;" written at the first post of this forum. I guess offset for this message is unknown, to change it for -11, but maybe you already know where to look...

[Overlord2]

I don't know where this info is kept, otherwise I'd have changed it long time ago. Whenever I find, I'll fix that.

About Antarans - yes, looks like I overdid it, some parameters are wrong, gotta optimize them. The problem is it's not clear to me how it defines the fleet strength. I'll look further into it.
Edit: I have no idea how it defines ETA either. Sometimes it's 4 turns, sometimes 1 or 2 turns. So that's another thing to look up.

[Catalyst_Kh]

Edit: I have no idea how it defines ETA either. Sometimes it's 4 turns, sometimes 1 or 2 turns. So that's another thing to look up.

If i remember correctly, in original (or 1.40) Antarans always had eta 4 or 5 at least at first several attacks, but maybe even always 4-5.

[Mustard]

There is some strange glitch with Antarans in 43b. I played short fast-click game with AI to test new improvements and there was two Antaran's doomstars (!) attacking at move 62. Of course I picked very slow race, but I can't imagine how anyone can hold two doomstars at move 62 with any race. Here are the saves.

EDIT:
Forgot to mention, doomstars showed up at move 61 with eta 1, at move 60 there was nothing yet. If eta 1 is supposed to be, then please tell why is that so? I mean why not give player more turns to gather all his fleet (and refit it, buy more, etc) for defense?

How do you access these save games? I don't know how to import them into my install

[Spitina]

Hi,
been playing this mode for a while, really enjoyed it , only thing is if you could improve the AI for uncreative, often they are stuck, once I had a game where darklocks had whole time 1 planet with 200+ transport ships(was around 180 turn) . Also my favorite race is +60pop, -1/2 food, +2prod,+1 research, -20def,-20ground, dict, rich hw,large hw, sub,cyb, charm, f-trader and lucky, I know that it is not the best setup for multi ,but still I like it . Also one question how many spies do you have around 50 turn or do you just switch when you first contact a new opponent?

[Overlord2]

How do you access these save games? I don't know how to import them into my install

The archive is broken. Ask Catalyst to upload again.

Hi,
been playing this mode for a while, really enjoyed it , only thing is if you could improve the AI for uncreative, often they are stuck, once I had a game where darklocks had whole time 1 planet with 200+ transport ships(was around 180 turn) . Also my favorite race is +60pop, -1/2 food, +2prod,+1 research, -20def,-20ground, dict, rich hw,large hw, sub,cyb, charm, f-trader and lucky, I know that it is not the best setup for multi ,but still I like it . Also one question how many spies do you have around 50 turn or do you just switch when you first contact a new opponent?

Hi,
Thanks for positive feedback.
About uncreative darlock, please upload the save, so I could see what's the problem. About the race - not a bad race for 8 players setup, but for a duel or 4-way it will be slow due to 60 pop growth - better to switch +1 research to 100 pop. I sometimes use this race myself, but skipping f-trader and lucky, leaving 2 extra points for mutation to take transdimensional or else. About spies - in MP games contact occurs by about t100-115. Sometimes later. In 8 players setup contact occurs immediately so, it's useful to start building spies right after you finish colony bases and begin research.

[Catalyst_Kh]

The archive is not broken, just downloaded and tested it. It opens in all my archivers. It was created/compressed in 7z software, could be that 7z archiver is using non-standard zip method, very sad if so. First time since nineties I hear zip archive cannot be opened. Anyway, here are the saves again:
Save1.gam
Save2.gam
EDIT: played once again with the same galaxy/setup, but different race, again at move 61 two Antaran's doomstars popped up, with eta 2 this time.

[Mustard]

The archive is not broken, just downloaded and tested it. It opens in all my archivers. It was created/compressed in 7z software, could be that 7z archiver is using non-standard zip method, very sad if so. First time since nineties I hear zip archive cannot be opened. Anyway, here are the saves again:
Save1.gam
Save2.gam
EDIT: played once again with the same galaxy/setup, but different race, again at move 61 two Antaran's doomstars popped up, with eta 2 this time.

I meant how to get them into the game... I can extract them fine.. I just can't play them...

[Catalyst_Kh]

Put those files directly to the game folder. Possible folder locations:
C:\Program Files\Microprose\Orion2
C:\Program Files (x86)\Microprose\Orion2
C:\MPS\ORION2
C:\Games\Master of Orion 2
D:\Games\MOO2
E:\Games\Orion2

[Catalyst_Kh]

Irakly, please suggest what are current regulations for using this ship designs in MP games?
Slot 3
Slot 4
Slot 5
When starting new game in VDC those designs are available to build and use from the first turn and they are way overpowered, so some doubts...

[Darza]

Well, what you want, "Irakla emperor" is overeager with random updates and pathologically unable to do even most basic tests. Join IRC in case you need something constructive, forums not the best place for conversation, man.

[Overlord2]

Irakly, please suggest what are current regulations for using this ship designs in MP games?
When starting new game in VDC those designs are available to build and use from the first turn and they are way overpowered, so some doubts...

These are auto designs by AI, they use +50% space of the hull. Well, they are not well enough optimized for multiplayer, though at some instances could be powerful indeed. No one uses autodesigns anyway

@Darza - please don't spamm the thread with offtopic, if you have something to say on the mod, please say. Not going to comment on pointless statements.