need help testing new map idea.

just dl and play and give me your thoughts!

http://www.mediafire.com/?ynmzdninmkd

ok, now I realize this is not really a mod thing... but I had an idea.. and so I wanted to see what the community thought about it.... but its kinda does the same thing as a mod, cause it creates very different game (hopefully)

SO... basicly... I wanted to create a set of maps that might be semi-realistic... and may be able to bring "multi-star" maps to multiplayer... and if it works out ok... maybe i can make a few and stick them in that community map pack thing (if i manage to find the time for it all... between school, and life, and making maps takes a nice little while)

so... features (of my test map, and maybe any maps to come depending on what you all think):

1. multiple stars systems.  theses systems are kinda small... not because most star systems are small... but for gameplay reasons... having star systems dominated by gas giants and astroids (like real life star systems as far as we can tell) is not really balanced... consider the planets you see in my map... as sort of the "important" objects... the ones worth fighting over.

2. no phase lanes to the stars. In... erm... "rl" a starship as close to a star as starships in sins get to stars... would mean toasty crews... so I wont let you get close to stars. mostly because cause i am mean... and I dont want you using long range jumps.

3. all planets within the starsystem are connected to eachother... basicly... the choke points are now between stars instead of between planets... kinda like sword of the stars with the human ftl drive... i think... more imporantly... it plays kiinda a bit more like a tbs... unfortunatly... the map set up really makes culture flipping another star system preety much impossible... fortunatly... it makes refinaries a better choice than trade ports (mostish of the time) due to a very short maximum trade chain length... (in order to extend it to something actually reasonable, you have the option to extend your trade chain from your starting galaxy through a wormhole to your second "astroid" galaxy. (explained later)

3. at the edge of the star systems... the point where the solar wind of the star hits the radation of intersteller space... called the heliopause in real life... I have tried to simulate... in order to go from one star system to another your ships must pass through the chaos that happens at the heliopause using normal engines... once they cross the magnetic storm, they can use their phase drives.

4. random! I used the spawn probability setting on many elements in my map so that the map will be different every time... sometimes a system will have quite a few planets and stuff floating in it... some times it may just have a single planet... sometimes THE ENTIRE SYSTEM WONT EXIST AT ALL.   (now... in order to make sure the map will always be playable... about 1/2 of the map is not random... most importantly... the starting solar systems... and the... what i kinda called the "astroid" solar systems... basicly... just like in a random map, you have your starting hw, and a roid right next to it... i have a starting solar system, and a slightly smaller starting solar system right next to it, which, just like that roid, is designed to be your first thing to colonize (after your starting system, of course)... its random enough to be kinda differnt each time (you will recognise it all after a game or 2)... but kinda the same too, and most importantly, never unplayable.

5. semi-realistic! I did my best to try to make it... what i would imagine solar systems to look like... the only terran planets in my test map is the starting homeworlds, (face it... "green" just... does... not happen... very often... at all) planets close to the sun are volcanic... planets far away are ice.... planets dont occupy the same orbits (if they orbited)  the "moons" (roids) are unfortunally farther away from their planets than they should be... but this is because too close means that we get vertical phase lanes... and ugly wierd stuff... a nono... if i tried to compensate... phase lane travel takes FOREVER... another nono.  After you play it, you will prolly end up googling "lagrangian point"

 

I have seen a bug... once... but i think it had to do with galaxy forge and saving the map, and sins being up at the same time and wierd stuff like that... but... if you see odd phase lanes from your homeplanet reaching to some other point in any other star system... or other seemingly rouge phase lanes... please tell me.

Now... i think i made this map a bit too big... it will prolly end up being a long game... but its supposed to be a different sort of game play... I just kinda want your all's input on it, see if you have any ideas to make it better, and see if you would like to see larger maps (like a 3v3 or a 5v5 map) using this same sort of semi-realistic, semi-random, multiple small star system approach.

so, please, take a look at it, and tell me what you think.

 

http://www.mediafire.com/?ynmzdninmkd

18,135 views 14 replies
Reply #1 Top

This map is great, I like the way it plays and the rationale behind it. 'No phase lanes to the stars' makes sense, who would want to visit the furnace at the centre of a solar system?

I'm playing / testing the '7 deadly sins Alpha E' at the moment using this map. So far I haven't come accross any funny phase lanes between planets. Will let you know if something pops up.

Reply #2 Top

I'd be willing to check out the map....I noticed it isn't up for download anymore.

Reply #3 Top

I also would like to test the map, but there are ZERO files found at the link.

harpo

Reply #4 Top

Has there been anything done with this? I would like to download it but the download links have not been fixed?

Reply #5 Top

bump

+1 Loading…
Reply #6 Top

holly shizznits guys! Ima sorry... hell, i didnt even realize anyone downloaded it, or even tried to. (there were 0 replies for a nice little while so I got discouraged and didnt bother messing with it... but now... i am sorely tempted to make a bigger one!... assuming it plays the way I think it does... if you see me on ICO... jump up and down, seriously... cause i would love to test this all with you.)

Let me try and find that file for you... Ok links fixed.  Thanks for pming me and telling me about this, boshimi.

+1 Loading…
Reply #7 Top

It is a very fast map.  Seems very balanced.  I changed it to allow for 10 players.

I liked this map except when zooming out and having the stars glow washing out detail.  This is a minor problem with having so many stars close together. 

Reply #8 Top

That my good friend can be fixed by using the Multiple Stars Graphics Mod that I made! :-) It removes the 'glow' feature and simply keeps the star itself, no galaxy animations! I'd like to turn it into 2d sprites somehow as well, but I have yet to figure that out.

 

https://forums.sinsofasolarempire.com/348205

+1 Loading…
Reply #9 Top

boshimi

your mod works great.  improves playablity of pbhead map tons.

thanks for the link

Reply #10 Top

Not a problem! The complaint you posted above is the exact reason why I asked around and managed to put it together! The cool thing about it is that you can play people that don't have it enabled as well.

 

Now i'm just waiting for Pbhead to make a bigger multiplayer map, say ... 4-6 players? Maybe 10? :-O

 

I'm in the process of trying to put together a 178 star map with small small small number of planets per star and very few militias (to save on processor power). I'm hoping that mixing these aspects with the graphics mod along with the smaller number of planets (i.e. less resources incomming / smaller fleets / Diplomacy victories) it will be somewhat playable for very longer term games. At the very least, i'll have the info for whenever Sins 2 comes out! :-)

Reply #11 Top

Bump!!!

 

PBhead, shoot me a pm. You interested in testing a large map I'm making in about a month or so?

 

I've also updated my Multiple Stars Graphics Mod. It's current for all releases of Sins.

Reply #12 Top

Necromonger!!

Reply #13 Top

:pout:

Reply #14 Top

gah!

 

Ehh, try pming me first to contact me... I almost never look in the modding forum.