quote: Original post by TechnoGoth
After reading your last your response I had an idea, for a way you can use simple rules to abstract complex situations, using resource points.

Thx! Just came across the need for this this morning. I realized I needed something to clamp actions like conflict and expansion so that they don't go on forever. Resource points looks like a good bet right now.

{quote]
A faction has a number of Resource points in different fields.
Diplomacy
Economy
Security
Military
Science
Infrastructure
Population


D'oh, forgot security, thx! It's cool to see that you put infrastructure, as that I think should determine whether or spreading affects even get to a location. If a place is isolated, it doesn't get or give points.

quote:
Entities generate different amounts resource points in different fields and/or consume resource points. Events/mission also provide a change to resource points depending on the mission.

Perfect, although I'm going with a much more inert approach so that the simulation does not need to be run all the time. Nodes contain the points, and we assume that a functional faction/empire manages to manage both production and consumption somehow. What you expect to happen to them depends on how much you know about their state, how much you've affected it, and how long it's been since you've interacted with them.

Nodes closest to you have to be processed more often because you'll expect to see the changes. Nodes farther away, however, aren't exactly apparent. You don't know if something got in the way of the effect or not, and so within reason I'm less obligated to propigate your change throughout the entire game world on all levels. If you want a butterfly affect, you'll have to directly impact key game objects, and you'll have to do it through missions or scavenging if you want to get paid for it.

quote:
The player then destroys one of their jump gates, which cause a loss of 250,000 security points and a loss of 250,000 infrastructure points.

However that’s only the immediate result. The effect ripples through the faction, the faction was receiving 50,000 economy points and 15,000 diplomacy points each month from the jump gate, which is gone now. Also their tourisms income which is (infrastructure + (average (diplomacy, security))/1000 economy points a month. The ripple continues and the factions trade income, which is based on infrastructure decreases, and their trade expenses increase. That change in income can then go on to effect military and science spending.

This is cool. A slight variation on the approach, though, that doesn't require continuously processing the entire simulation is using timers. If the faction has 100,000 credits in the bank, and your change now costs them 25,000 creds a month, the game can set a time that causes something bad to happen to them in 4 months.

Timers may only be slightly more efficient than running the whole sim, but if that turns out to be the case I'll do my best and leave the rest to semi-random determination. After all, you're not the only thing in the game universe that would react to this, and how do you know that a sudden sympathetic alliance doesn't arise from your change?

quote:
So depending on the rules you create an actions effect can be created easily and yet that effect can have a far-reaching major impact on the faction.

*cross fingers*
My hope is that even if you don't get exactly the result you want when you change something, you'll be intrigued by dealing with the changes. And specific changes are where missions come in.

quote:
The change in resource points would also affect the player, since you mission would be based on those resource points. Decreased security means an increase in criminal related missions, decreased infrastructure would mean a greater demand for infrastructure related missions such trade, and transport. Decreased economy would mean lower wages and higher prices.

Yes, great points. At some point I'd like to post about this part specifically, rather than the general, because I think the real meat is in how these factors interrelate.

quote:
You could even allow the player to be evil and devious, so that rather then creating a supply to match a demand the player can create a demand to match a supply. Have a fleet of cargo ships doing nothing? Destroy a factions jump gate and then take advantage of valuable trade deals that result.

Haha, yes, that would be very cool. I'm committed to some changes creating an exact cause and effect, but they're mostly related to the map you're on, rather than the maps above or below or around it. Constant piracy, for instance, should up the military stat in the system IF the empire or faction can support it, and DEFINITELY either decrease or fortify incoming traffic.

Your impacts will be limited to not being able to control the EXACT cause and effect, though. After all, destroying a jump gate could lead to the people developing a subsistence economy, which defeats your purpose. This is almost like a random response (semi-random, really). Since it's not a strategy game, where this sort of lack of control is a no-no, I think this is okay.

I'll bet players will be blowing up alot of things to see what happens nonetheless.

--------------------
Just waiting for the mothership...


[edited by - Wavinator on June 7, 2004 8:22:02 PM]