Talk:Scoring
Losing the game through finances - currently it suggests you lose if you are over $1 million in debt twice in a row, my tests seems to suggest they dont mention it until you are around -$1 million (not sure of exact figure yet, -$500k was okay though in a few tests). Just over -$1.6 million i got a warning three times out of four, the other time I lost the game (in February, so you dont need two in a row). At -$2.6 I lost 4 times of 8, at -$16 million it was 3/6, -$536 million 2/4. Seems like a boundary condition of a million in debt, then 50/50 you lose each month you are over that.
Checked the boundary, its actually $1,000,001 dollars overdrawn at the start of the new month (after council funding in, maintenance out), and i lost 1 out of 2 on february with that much debt, so presuming still you lose 50% of the time if past the boundary.
Will update the page to reflect this.
--Sfnhltb 12:12, 2 March 2007 (PST)
Amitakartok: I've personally had the number of funding nations reduced to a lone holdout. This means that if you can lose by losing all countries, the only way to do it would be to lose every single nation on the funding council. Arrow Quivershaft 22:49, 18 January 2008 (PST)
- Just to elaborate a bit, if you do a little editing in diplom.dat so that all the countries sign a pact at the end of the month, the game doesn't end. Losing all the countries (even if it is possible) isn't one of the ways to end the game. --Zombie 00:16, 19 January 2008 (PST)
Thank you for the response, Zombie; I'll edit that bit out of the main page. On a second note...I don't think the data about scoring is strictly accurate. I think that if you're running a deficit on your money and are below the amount the funding council likes, or have a bad score, it's not two consecutive months. It's simply that you have a 50% chance of being shut down. I say this because in prior games, I've had a poor score in a single month and got shut down at the end of the month. Similarly, I've run bad scores sometimes more than three months in a row and kept getting warnings about POSSIBLY getting shut down, but never actually do. I haven't tested this with money, but any insight into the situation? Arrow Quivershaft 00:21, 19 January 2008 (PST)
- Well, I haven't done much editing to see what happens when funds are low. Sfnhltb did some tests on this (see top of this page) and his results seem to indicate a 50% chance your game will end if funds are below $1 million for even one month. So that basically backs up your observations. I would assume it also applies to score as well and there would be a 50% chance of getting shut down every month if your score falls below the skill-modified "bad" score level. --Zombie 00:50, 19 January 2008 (PST)
Yeah, that's what I'm thinking. Currently it says that if you run a bad score for two consecutive months, they make you close up, but as I've noted, that doesn't seem to be the case. You want the honors? Arrow Quivershaft 00:52, 19 January 2008 (PST)
- Ok, I just did some testing on score right now and it brought back a flood of old memories. See, I did some tests on this long ago and noticed something strange. With a score of -2062 for one month, the game always starts by giving a warning. If you reload the game, it terminates the project. Reload again and the game gives a warning. Reload again and it terminates. So here is where the 50% chance comes into play. This would indicate the roll isn't random, it's predetermined since the result is structured.
- Let's say you get a warning. Instead of loading the game, try aborting and then loading the game. The game only gives warnings now. See? Reloading the game without aborting plays a role in the result. But performing a fresh load always gives a warning and never terminates the project. So, I'll have to say the 50% deal only happens if you save a game and reload, the "true" result is that the game only gives a warning the first month. Confusing, eh? I'll have to test on the second month to see if the 2-month rule really applies. I bet it does. --Zombie 01:35, 19 January 2008 (PST)
- Edit: the second bad month I had a score of -1663. Same deal as before. Initially it gives a warning, but if you reload the game without aborting it shuts you down. Therefore the 2-month rule doesn't apply either. Its a bug basically. An exploitable bug to be more specific. See the importance of thorough testing now? :O --Zombie 01:46, 19 January 2008 (PST)
Wow, quite a find! I barely have the knowledge base for hacking and can struggle through it, but yeah, that shows what tests can do. In any case, that's a ridiculously simple bug to be exploiting, considering the amount of time one month of gameplay can take after including all the missions; many people will save and reload at least a time or two unless they've set the whole day aside! This should be added to the Exploits page, then...again, you want the honors? Arrow Quivershaft 03:16, 19 January 2008 (PST)
- If I don't get to it, feel free to add away, Arrow. BTW: I just did some more tests, this time with funds. Edited my base to have a ton of Mind/Grav Shields and 250 Scientists/Engineers, then knocked my kitty down to $0. At the start of the next month I would be -$9,968,000 in the hole - enough to be below the $2 million debt level. It works exactly the same way as score, if below the level you just get a warning that month. Reload the game after that and you face automatic termination. Reloading after that and you get the warning again. Of course, if you abort and load the game, you always get the warning first. Not sure if the debt level is -$2 million or -$1 million as Sfnhltb mentioned, so I'll need to run some more tests. Anyway, it's an exploitation plain and simple no matter which way you look at the issue. --Zombie 16:22, 20 January 2008 (PST)