This section describes some features I consider important for Stellar Crisis, and which weren't in SC 2.8.6.1, the last version of the "classic" 2.8.x thread. I'll also show which of them are supported by the current versions of Stellar Crisis, namely 3.2.x (x=17) and Almonaster (Build 619 beta 10). Please tell me if I made any mistake.
| Description | The map is not generated until every player has joined. That means: no late comers. What happens is that when the game reaches its minimum # of players, a waiting period starts which allows more players to join. Then the game starts and the map is generated as soon as the maximum # of players is reached or as soon as the waiting period ends (whichever event occurs first). |
|---|---|
| Reason | That's because someone joining first would be more likely to be in the middle than someone joining last, unless the map is generated once. And doing this should not prevent games from starting with a variable number of players (for instance 4 if few players are around, 7 if more are). |
| 3.2.x | N/A |
| Almo | N/A (but would be pretty easy to do, just add a boolean option to the series definition and use the first update delay value as the waiting period) |
| Description | In grudges, everyone has about the same amount of resources available. In multiplayer (3+ players) games, noone is lucky enough to have only one neighbor or front. I have a whole page dedicated to this very important topic. |
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| Reason | To avoid that some players be virtually dead before the first update. Even the original author of Stellar Crisis, Sylvan Clebsch, recognized that the 2.x map generation system had to be improved. |
| 3.2.x | Partial (done for grudges, see Cluster-Balanced Map Generation Algorithm) |
| Almo | N/A (but would not be very complicated, thanks to the map generation plugin system) |
| Description | The game becomes really turn-based. Changes in builds, current population, max populations, economy, military, and diplomatic settings are acknowledged by the other players only when an update occurs. |
|---|---|
| Reason | It's not useful anymore to be a "I don't end turn first" lamer. |
| 3.2.x | Partial (diplomatic setting changes are visible between updates) |
| Almo | Series conf. |
| Description | You can't ally in the whole game with more than (N-2)/2 players. |
|---|---|
| Reason | To avoid gang-bangers or whiners wanting to ally out. |
| 3.2.x | N/A (there is a limit in the number of allies but it doesn't depends on how many players actually joined this game nor does it prevent people to successively ally every player in the game). |
| Almo | Series conf. |
| Description | Players in grudges can draw ; players in multiplayer games cannot. |
|---|---|
| Reason | Since drawing doesn't affect the scores, it should be allowed, except in multiplayer games, because then it would ruin the whole point of limiting allies (for instance two or more people might agree to draw a blood in case they manage to get rid of the others players). |
| 3.2.x | Series conf. |
| Almo | Series conf. |
| Description | Good enough empires are able to define their own series, which other people can play just like a server configured series. |
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| Reason | A series is defined by so many parameters that it's almost impossible to find exactly the series you want to play in the default screen (right # of players, systems, allies, sys resources, entry requirements, delay between updates...). This makes series configurable parameters more interesting. |
| 3.2.x | N/A |
| Almo | OK |
| Description | You are told when a link is opened / closed if you can see either system. You are also told about gated ships. |
|---|---|
| Reason | To avoid wasting your precious time checking the whole map carefully at each update. |
| 3.2.x | N/A |
| Almo | OK |
| Description | The last finished games are listed on the server, with their results and the maps at the beginning and at the end of the game. Games are also saved permanently on the server. You can also check the nuke diary of a particular empire (who he has nuked or been nuked by lately). |
|---|---|
| Reason | Well, it's pretty nice to see who has nuked whom lately. It also allows nuked empires to check whether it was because of the map or not. And you can prove you actually won against a well-known player ;) |
| 3.2.x | Partial (no nuke diary, no map saved at the beginning of the game, maybe because late comers are possible) |
| Almo | Partial (finished games are not listed nor saved, but this is planned) |
| Description | You can use a custom icon for any empire you own. |
|---|---|
| Reason | Well, there aren't that many default icons to choose from, so you would run into empires that have chosen the same sooner or later. So a custom icon looks more personal ;) |
| 3.2.x | OK |
| Almo | OK |
| Description | You can surrender and only surrender when two players are left. It's the same as being nuked by the other player. Your opponent can't refuse the surrender. |
|---|---|
| Reason | Not allowing surrenders when only two players remain is a waste of time. Allowing surrenders when more players remain poses several problems, when lamers decide to surrender to someone not deserving it (their ally for instance), or making you miss a nuke if the nuke/nuked symmetry is not automatically kept. |
| 3.2.x | Partial (there are surrenders, but they are far too permissive: you basically have to downgrade to trade with your former allies so that you don't miss nukes if the lamers that face you all decide to surrender at the same time - don't laugh, this happened to me !) |
| Almo | Partial (there are "two players left" style surrenders, but your opponent doesn't have to accept it, which might force you to ruin if you have to leave and surrender for some reason and your opponent is a lamer) |
| Description | While there are 2+ players alive, idlers [auto-updaters] are left in the game until they are nuked (in which case they also ruin). If there is only one player alive, the game stops: all the idlers are considered as nuked by the active player and they also ruin. If there are only idlers left, they all ruin. To score ruins themselves, have a look there. |
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| Reason | Ruins were designed to speed up the game, but the original idea broke the nukes/nuked parity (you weren't nuked when you ruined), which raised some scoring problems (you were penalized for ruining, but you also prevented your opponent from getting a nuke). Now there are no (scoring) reason to fall into ruin anymore. |
| 3.2.x | N/A (the original idea is kept) |
| Almo | Partial (the "No ruins" option keeps the nukes/nuked parity, but if you're the only alive player, then you'll waste valuable time spotting then nuking the idlers' homewords) |
| Description | The points you get/lose for nuking/getting nuked depend of the relative strength of the empires, but also on the accuracy of their ratings. See my page on this topic. It's more designed for grudges than multiplayer games though. |
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| Reason | If you're a good established player and you lose against an average player, you'll lose more points if he is established than if it's his first game, because in the latter case it could be a very good empire playing his first games on that particular server. |
| 3.2.x | Series conf. (grudges only) |
| Almo | Series conf. (grudges only ; there is also the good Almonaster scoring system for multiplayer games, which also takes into account the accuracy of the ratings) |
| Tell me (replace localhost by agt-the-walker.net) if you have comments / suggestions / etc. about this page, since feedback is always appreciated ! | |
| Last Update: 2006/01/18 23:31:29 |