PlanetsCentral

Hi people!
I propose in this thread to discuss the game and share my impressions and suggestions for improving gameplay.

I'll start.
What I didn’t really like at the beginning and put me a little at a standstill is the map and the location of the planets on it. My home was located on the very edge of the cluster (and I was probably lucky), while the homeworlds of both of my neighbors were on lonely planets (the planets closest to them were at a distance of more than 81 light years).

Under such initial conditions, it is very difficult to develop, unless you have extensive experience in the game. If a newcomer falls into such a situation, it may lead to a decision to quit the game (and we all want to attract new players and not scare them away).

The map consists of large gaps of empty space and dense star clusters, some of which were undeveloped even during the 50th turn of the game (I think that they were equidistant from other players who, due to the complexity of the initial development, could not colonize these systems on time).

So the first wish is to make the process of creating a map more responsible or public (by posting the image of the map before the start of the game, so that players can evaluate it and possibly comment on it)

The second wish for the game settings. Due to the fact that we are playing a short format of games here on the Panetscenter (the duration of the games does not exceed 80 turns), I suggest changing the ExperienceLevels parameter so that by the end of the game some ships can really earn the Ultra Elite title, i.e.:
ExperienceLevels = 500,1000,2000,4000
instead
ExperienceLevels = 750,1500,3000,6000

What I didn’t really like at the beginning and put me a little at a standstill is the map and the location of the planets on it. My home was located on the very edge of the cluster (and I was probably lucky), while the homeworlds of both of my neighbors were on lonely planets (the planets closest to them were at a distance of more than 81 light years).

The map in Titan 8X was random, so this is a case of bad/good luck. We can play with the planet density (i.e. make the map smaller). Also, being at the edge of the map shouldn't be an issue because the map wraps.

So the first wish is to make the process of creating a map more responsible or public (by posting the image of the map before the start of the game, so that players can evaluate it and possibly comment on it)

If there is a fixed map, you can see the map beforehand, for example, like this.

A random map is not generated until Turn 1 is hosted. There just isn't anything to show.

AMaster will try to make the initial conditions somewhat comparable, but I did indeed relax the conditions a bit. The stricter I make the conditions, the longer it runs, and I don't want a host run to take a day. This server runs automatic and there is normally no human to intervene if something takes too long.

The second wish for the game settings. Due to the fact that we are playing a short format of games here on the Panetscenter (the duration of the games does not exceed 80 turns), I suggest changing the ExperienceLevels parameter so that by the end of the game some ships can really earn the Ultra Elite title, i.e.:
ExperienceLevels = 500,1000,2000,4000
instead
ExperienceLevels = 750,1500,3000,6000

Given that I believe only few games with standard ship list and experience have ever been run, I appreciate feedback of this type and I am open to change the standard configuration with this regard.

The more interesting question is whether we'll do a Titan 8X successor The "regular" Titans don't have experience.

--Stefan

The map in Titan 8X was random --Stefan

Really???

What if I said I knew this map from the middle of 90th?

HW of my very first game was at Pyxis (#100) and my very first colonized planet was Jaws3D. Trust me, the truth of 146%!

streu in Re: results of the Titan 8X...:

The map in Titan 8X was random --Stefan

Really???

What if I said I knew this map from the middle of 90th?

Indeed, you are right. This means I probably set up more of this game by hand than I recall. It's been a while.

If there is no map configured on the game, the server normally automatically makes one. However, if someone (=me) places an xyplan.dat file in the game directory before master runs, it will be used. This seems to have been done here and I don't have the slightest idea why...

The Echo Cluster map isn't particularly well balanced. I guess you know that since the 90's as well

--Stefan