Treasure in the middle - revised

posted on June 5th, 2010, 8:29 pm

Treasure in the middle - revised

Made with 3.1.2

Two large 8-player maps ( 36000 X 36000 )

The starting locations now have less resources.

Both are variations of “Treasure in the middle” and differ on the starting locations.
Version 2 : 2 dilithium, 1 tritanium  moons
Version 3 : 1 dilithium, 1 tritanium  moons

Therefore more moons are spread on the maps.
Have fun fighting for them.

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treasure_in_the_middle_2.txt

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treasure_in_the_middle_3.txt

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posted on August 27th, 2010, 2:07 pm

I very much like the v3. Only problem is, the PC does not fly in the middle comming from lower side. All ships enter the middle over the upper opening. Even if you park a vessel inside the green nebula and tell it to fly to the middle it takes all the way arround.

And... it loves to crash on 3.1.3

posted on October 3rd, 2010, 1:54 pm

Hi,

I looked into your problems. Sad to say, there is not much what can be done.

The crashing issue: I have played all 3 versions of the maps for some time now without any kinds of crash.
But I reinstalled the mod totally new. It had a crashing issue after I just installed 3.1.3, I got fed up and made a new install without 3.1.2.(Just used 3.1.0 and went directly to 3.1.3)
Maybe that helps.


The pathing problem:
I toyed around with my map a bit and came to the conclusion that not much can be done.

It all depends on how the AI reads the map and makes its decision on the preferred route.

Following findings:

On a map with no nebula the AI will prefer the larger opening in the asteroid belt. Just a tiny change and it will switch preferences. I guess the distance to an obstacle is the deciding factor here.
On a map with nebula it prefers the route that will allow the largest distance to hindrances or damaging nebula. It will prefer a route where it can use / fly through the beneficial nebulae.
So adding a crystal d (beneficial) nebula can change the preference.
The AI also will prefer that route which allows it to fly through a nebula in a straight line.

So as you can see, it is totally impossible to achieve a map where the AI will use different paths with equal chances.
To achieve that you would have to make a map where all positions and nebula would have to be exactly mirrored.
Impossible for a human.

posted on October 5th, 2010, 4:37 am

Actually, if you double-click on a nebula you can set its x/y/z axis location so they CAN be perfectly positioned.  But I expect the AI would just round the numbers and still choose one or the other.

I like V3, I'll have to play it before I can say for sure but it looks promising.  The 2 dilithium 1 tritanium idea seems good at first, but it actually makes certain strategies harder than others and unbalances the game (for example, assimilate borg is handicapped)

posted on January 4th, 2011, 4:02 pm

Would you be so nice, to convert this into a 3.15 Map? Maybe Optec or Doca can be convinced to make it a stock map?

posted on January 8th, 2011, 3:53 pm

Forget my last post. My FO Install 3.14 crahsed with the old treasure in the middle, but 3.15 works just fine with it. The only annoying thing is pathfinding from the lower parts of the map into the middle. Will you fix this issue any time soon? I don't want to work on your map ...

posted on March 2nd, 2011, 5:46 pm

Hi,

sometimes it is nice when you have to correct yourself.

At first I thought that it is “totally impossible to achieve a map where the AI will use different paths with equal chances” to quote myself.

Well I have to belay those words, after a longer time of trial and error (and frustration) I think I have found a solution.

Here now are corrected and hopefully final versions of the maps plus some new variations.

All are made with 3.1.3

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treasure_in_the_middle.txt

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treasure_in_the_middle_2.txt

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treasure_in_the_middle_3.txt

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posted on March 2nd, 2011, 5:49 pm

the new variations

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treasure_in_the_middle_4.txt

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posted on March 2nd, 2011, 10:59 pm

I think the only playable version is the one with just one pair of moons in the starting base. At least against AI - otherwise you'll be spammed to death in minutes

posted on March 3rd, 2011, 8:21 am

Can happen, I got crushed several times myself.

It depends on your strategy. I have played these maps as Federation, Klingon and Dominion.

The only thing that helps is to send out construction ships to get more resources, forget about most research and build up a massive defence.

As an example:
Playing as Federation (Mayson):
Step 1
Send one of your construction ships into the middle immediately when the game starts. Build at least 3 more construction ships at your home base.
Build a mining station on each moon at your home base, only then the rest of your infrastructure.
And have 3 miners at each moon to speed up resource gathering.

Step 2
At  that point you should have 4 construction ships at your home base. Use 2 to build your Research Stations Yards etc.
Use the other 2 to build turrets at the entry of your base, use the asteroid belt to your advantage.  And when I say turrets I mean lots of them. Add 2 Outposts to guard the entrance also. By the way build only torpedo turrets. The others are a waste of resources.
Step 3
After securing our home base with a lot of turrets  Start to build a lot of excelsior to aid your defence.