![[Strabase attack]](../all/Starbaseattack04_512.jpg)
| (You have just come from here - the Turn 3 page) Olly Note OK? - your version of "events" may well have drifted off the same track I am on - so you'll need to act on your own a bit where things are not the same! This is the last bit Paul and I are going to describe so after that... you're on your own! In truth - if you get the same results as I did by now I'd be a bit disappointed! 8) Frankly - I've been a bit more "perfect" than Paul - he admitted his errors and I went back and re-ran it all again, and again, and again... so what he has at this point is rather different from mine! Anyway! Back to Paul.... Something NewLet's do something new. Before we run Host this time, check Tim's site, www.vgaplanets.com/v4beta.hm to see if there is a new version of Host or anything else out. He updates the client, host, etc about every 3 weeks on average, often fixing bugs or loopholes people have reported. It is worth keeping up to date.As it happens, I have to update Host myself. So I download the new Host (a zipped executable called Host150.exe in this case) into my \Planets4\ directory, and run it. It self-expands and updates Host. Now execute Host again - and run your "Testgame". Interesting digression: Once host has stopped running, click the "Last Log" button. You'll see a big text file like this: Host Log 11-30-2003:17:17:13 VGA Planets 4 Host Program ...blah blah blah... Scrolling down quite a way I see: VCR COMBAT VCR FILE: C:\GAMES\PLANETS4\univ\game1\c4.vcr Begin Combat End Combat VCR COMBAT VCR FILE: C:\GAMES\PLANETS4\univ\game1\c5.vcr Begin Combat End Combat So I know there's been some fights. There's quite a lot of interesting stuff in there, if you're interested in how the game engine actually works. Anyway FEDS - TURN 4So - let's open turn 4!Run Planets4 again! Files --> Testgame --> "player 1" --> unpack RST First thing I look at is to see if there have been any combats. I see two: looks like the Birds have attacked the Fed base at Shaddan, and then there's been a 2nd fight where the Fed wing has killed the Bird / Romulan wing (hurrah!). NOTE: I'm a bit puzzled because my map looks like this  and at first I could not figure out why the Fed wing appeared to have had a battle with the Bird wing when it was still 18LY short of Shaddam. See notes on screenshot to see how I figured out what happened. Olly Comment - I had a similar event - only Planned Obsolescence knocked out 3 (of the remaining 11 Bird Fighters and that was all) I think my fighters (on both sides) seem a bit feeble? TECH IMPROVEMENTS (HQ screen)Improve?[Planet Tech - or maybe not - up to you], Large Weapon, Point Defense, Generator, Engine, Hull, Shield. I thought about upgrading Small Weapon too, seems to be plenty of cash, it is up to you. HQ screen --> Ministers --> Bases --> Build Farms if climate allows. Ministers --> Ships --> Change All Ships Friendly Codes --> enter a random 3 letter code. BASE - HOMEWORLDStruct building:Build 1 pod launcher - at last - should have done this a few turns ago 8) Build 3 cities, 200 factories Switches screen: Turn the Government Centre down to say 1,000mc. I only have about 6000mc on the base. You're going to see a frustrating lack of cash in your central account from now on! That's why upgrading Planet Tech at this point is debatable. It's not too useful immediately. If you open the Base's Stats screen, it shows (among other things) where your money is going. You can see that if you leave the government centre set to 8,000mc then you'll be out of cash next turn. So you won't be able to build ship parts, etc. Let's build a ship. But using Quick Build. Click on this button:  This brings up an alternative screen for building ships. If you IMPORT ALL it will list all the "plans" for the ships you have right now. The ones in green, you can build right away. The ones in red, you can't - perhaps they use tech levels you have not attained yet, or maybe you just do not have the cash. You can use the NEW PLAN button to create a new ship plan based on your current technologies. It is easy to use, I won't explain as it simply offers you a menu of parts. If you click on a green plan name, which will show as the ship name, then a list of bases where it can be built will appear. In this game, all the extant plans are red, so let's quickly hack together a New Plan: Nocturne class destroyer Small weapons: 6 pulsed lasers Large weapons: one Sandcaster, one Force Beam (Olly note - only had Heavy Lasers and Merculite Rockets) Etc... as long as you specify at least an engine, it is considered a valid hull plan. This appears as "Nocturne Class Destroyer 4" or similar in the Plans menu, and it is GREEN. If you click on this name you will see that your homeworld base is listed as a possible shipyard for this ship.  In my game, it says I can build up to 8 (12 for me) of these. Tell the program to build 2, and exit the Quick Build screen. The key things about Quick Ship Build are that:
BASE - CANGOIn my universe, Cango is farmable. (A climate thing.) So the Minister has auto-built 10 farms here. This has sucked up all the cash left on Cango, but that is OK. Farms produce 1mc / turn each if the climate is right. It's not much, but if you have 200 farms on a planet then that's 200mc + 200 food EVERY TURN thereafter. It costs 50mc to build themaximum of 10 farms, so once you manage to get 50 farms on a planet they are self-sustaining and begin generating a profit. WING - "MOMMA'S BOY"My initial thought was: Set it to go to Shaddan. We want it to finish its turn above one of our bases so it refuels at the end of the turn.This is 92LY from a suspected enemy planet, Wayne's World, so since combat range is 5LY, it should be possible to raid Wayne's World with the Wing in 2 turns. And maybe it'll auto-intercept other Bird units as it flies near Shaddan; I can see one ship there. But I see a better opportunity. The Bird ship at Shaddan is fast, and can probably see my Wing, so will probably avoid it. But I see another Bird ship - chasing my freighter Whoop Whoop Holler. I set the Wing to meet my own ship, Whoop Whoop Holler and (just in case the Bird one kills Whoop Whoop Holler before I reach it, and my target disappears) as a backup I set the Wing to go to Cango.  I slightly altered Whoop Whoop Holler's course to head for Cango, to optimise chances of the Wing reaching it first. Well, apart from how to set up and run colonies, which I want to deal with on a more abstract level that's the Feds done. I could go on further in a blow-by-blow fashion, but it wouldn't teach you anything particularly new. For the same reason, I don't think it's worth describing further what to do with the Birds - there's not much new I can explain to you on turn 4. SO - You're On Your Own Now! BUT!The only major things I've missed out are Colonisation, Pods, Ground Assault and Contraband.That stuff's on the next page! Sort of! |