Order of Event explained by Jeff McBride - 27 Jun 1996

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To: stars-l...@umich.edu

From: <Jeff_McBr...@msn.com>

Date: Thu, 27 Jun 96 08:13:46 UT

Cc: s...@webmap.com


Is this how it works for everyone? Or are there people who can click and drag immediately??


Okay, let me see if I can explain this. If you click on an object in the Scanner pane you select that object into the Summary pane. If you want to add a waypoint at that object you hold down the SHIFT key, changing the cursor to a + and click. There is no way to suppress the snapping on the initial ADD of the waypoint. Once the waypoint exists the cursor changes to a hand when over the waypoint. Clicking and dragging will move the waypoint. While moving waypoints you can suppress snapping by holding down the SHIFT key. I will review all of the scanner keyboard functions between now and version 3 to see if I can make things a little more consistent.


Them that don't learn from history....


it's only possible to steal one tech each turn ### Yup. This was being seriously abused in 2.0 by friends sending single ship fleets to each other by the dozen to be slaughtered in order to give each other tech.


What post movement tasks are we talking about? ### Ah. It is time for the "how does turn generation work and in what order are things done in?" talk. I'm leaving out some of the nitty gritty details but here we go.... I'll fill it in some more and put it on our web site soon.


Each turn the host loads the .hst file setting everything to exactly the condition it was in at the end of the last turn. It then loads the .x# file for each player and applies their change orders. The only interesting part of this is what happens if two or more players try to grab the same stuff. For example if two players are both at the location of some salvage and each one tries to transfer all of the minerals to their freighter by hand. When each player was taking their turn we could not know what the other players were going to be doing so we had to pretend the by-hand transfer was going to succeed. During turn gen we flip a coin when multiple players are going for the same thing. This is why sometimes things that you were SURE you did by hand turn out to have been day dreams by the next year.


At this point we allow all waypoint zero tasks to be completed. This is whatever task each fleet has at its current location. When processing transport orders we fulfill all unload operations before any load operations to ensure that exchanges work correctly. If you sent a colonization fleet to a planet and forgot to give a Colonize task at that the destination waypoint your fleet will be in orbit of that planet waiting for orders. I'm sure you all have done this at least once. So, when you give a Colonize task at the current location it is a Waypoint Zero task. It happens at the beginning of the year. Waypoint zero tasks can not be prevented by battle (this was not true in version 1 as we had a pre-movement battle phase and a post movement battle phase). There is no difference between using the Cargo dialog to load up with stuff by hand and giving a Transport task at waypoint zero.


Now the Mystery Traders and existing mass packets move. All fleets with waypoints on a mass packet or MT get their orders updated to point to the new locations.


All fleets move if not blocked by waypoint zero tasks that could not be completed (Wait for...). If fleet A has fleet B as its destination waypoint and fleet B is moving then the movement of fleet A is postponed until fleet B is done moving. If fleet B is following fleet C then it too is postponed until fleet C has moved. If fleet C is chasing fleet A then (we detect a circular case) and allow each fleet to move 1/10th of it's total movement value and repeat 10 times. This causes these fleets that are chasing each other in a circle to spiral in on each other. This is also where fleets hit minefields, run out of fuel, go through wormholes, stargates and so on.


Inner Strength colonists grow in fleets. In theory, this was happening while the fleets were moving. Mass packets and salvage decays.


Mining. Production. It is assumed that production takes all year and that the minerals are not needed all up front but "on demand" throughout the year. This means that all minerals mined one year can be used in production that same year. Population growth. Research. Random Events (like comet strikes...)


Battles occur now. Notice that the destination waypoint tasks have not yet occurred. For example you have a remote mining planet with some fighters in orbit and I send a fleet to colonize that planet. When I arrive at the planet you get a chance to kill me before I can fulfill my colonize orders. These are the "post movement" tasks that Rogier was confused by. All tasks assigned at destination waypoints are post movement tasks. They sure can't happen before you arrive. Contrast this to the case where my colonizer was already in orbit and you send a fighter after me. I give my fleet a colonize task at the current location (waypoint zero). The waypoint zero tasks happen before movement (I'm already there) so by the time your fleet shows up (post movement) the planet is already mine. Indeed this is where battle MUST happen for many many reasons.


Any attacking fleets with bombers or troops to be unloaded can do so if not blocked by starbases. Note: people have asked why fleets in orbit can't prevent bombing and invasions. That' s because the starbase is actually in orbit of your major population center and can stop all incoming bombs and shuttles. Fleets in the system are considered to be anywhere (or everywhere) in the star system. Only the starbase is guaranteed to be in the right place to prevent bombing and invasion. Your fleet captains jobs are to kill the damned things before they get close.


Post movement (destination) waypoint tasks. Minesweeping. Ship/Starbase repair.


All old files get copied or moved to the backup directory and the new .m# files and .hst file get written out. Done.