Robbing minor races

This is a known issue that Stardock knows about. They've stated that fixing it would break things we don't want broken. Decide for yourself (and your morality) if you want to use this tactic.

Asmodean

Then why not put in msg that says .. in effect they'll accept this ridiculous offer but you are cheating... otherwise folks might not know, yah right.

by the way using that cheese sometimes seems to thrash other parts of the game, and can screw up the game totally.

'Then why not put in msg that says .. in effect they'll accept this ridiculous offer but you are cheating... otherwise folks might not know, yah right.'

Because of the reason it would break other things. It's caused by a value overflow, and it's very difficult, at best, to simply throw a check in there to catch it.

The easiest way to fix it would be to make it impossible to happen, and the easiest ways to do that are to make planets impossible to trade and limit durations on tributes; or to make eveything nearly worthless, as far as diplomatic/trade value goes.

The first would make groveling for peace pointless (why bother accepting peace when you can't get anything out of it?...), the second would make diplomacy as a whole pointless (if nothing has significant value the only way to get on the AI's good side is to give away your planets).

I just got to wonder. he vast majority of buyers know nothing about this cheese tactic, and the fact that it can ruin your game. Are there any plans to explain this in the finished game (maybe in an addendum to the manual) or will people have to discover this as they go along. If so, does Stardock have any worries about cries for a patch??

Asmodean

frogboy's been working on de-cheesing

And some problems that look like cheese to some of us are really bugs.

How does one know when one has "cheesed out" or not? If I offer one trade good and four techs for a planet and the AI says no, and then I offer two trade goods and eight techs for two planets and the AI says yes, have I invoked the cheese clause or not?

Actually we did fix this. Was bugging the heck out of us.

If you offer two trade goods for three planets and the AI says no, then you offer the same two trade goods for ten planets and the AI says yes, this is a bug. The Gamma builds are better about it, but I find I can still force a change from NO to YES if I load down my demands enough. I think this bug is turning out to be rather hard to fix. Maybe it has some twists and turns to it that have yet to be untangled and solved?

Jack, I agree that it's a bug. It sounds like if I don't want to be cheesy, I need to be very careful about the order I fill up the trading window with items.

Actually, I do occasionally loot a minor planet - trading them enough tech to clear their treasury (but with a one time payment) - right before invading. Makes it a bit more of a challenge to win, but hey, it helps the treasury.

What I don't understand is where all the money in an AI's treasury goes after you wipe its race out? Ordinarily I would think some of it would be captured.

"What I don't understand is where all the money in an AI's treasury goes after you wipe its race out? Ordinarily I would think some of it would be captured. "


Jack, that reminds me of an old game on compuserve called mega wars

If you can capture a races treasury, then you should also be responsible for its debts!

Paul.

"If you can capture a races treasury, then you should also be responsible for its debts!".

I dissagree. Somehow the idea of "capturing" another race's debts doesn't make sense. After all, the treasury is there and can be impounded. But who would ever impound debts? Admittedly some good natured country taking over another one in real life might choose to do so, but it would be done by choice, not by rule.

Brad, if you guys don't find a single way to fix it completely, maybe some kind of pop-up with a "please do not put this pop-up again" could explain the thing to players who aren't awared as us.

I think this bug is fixed for the minor races in the Gamma. If Brad gets time maybe it will be fixed before it goes to press.

I meant to say, if Brad gets time maybe it will be fixed for the major races as well before it goes to press.

If you are about to capture a race's last planet, do you think the leader would stick around or escape with his treasury hidden in some offworld bank? Jack is right, let the treasury die.

Some AI are more likely than other to trade techs for gold over 50 months than others. Some wont trade at all. I like the 50 bc for 50 month trades. Is that better than 1500 up front?