Daelin

I doubt that is actually possible. The "clickable icon" thingy is building-related. If by messing with a certain byte you actually got the mentioned behavior it would be awsome to actually mention it. :) And as for "repair hold".... I wonder if this can't be achieved by some sort of scripting in an EMC file or something (if I'm not mistaken that's how the "always return to repaired units to previous position on the map" and the "turret increased range" thingies were solved). -Daelin

Really? I don't rememeber seeing 3 worms :)

Actually I think a comparison with Harkonnen followed by a JNE (jump not equal) instruction is performed. Probably equivalent in C is something like if (house!=Harkonnen) //allow build Light-Factory [obviously only for level 2] -Daelin

Ugh.... That pretty much sucks. It's a shame that the Area Guard stuff doesn't actually store the initial position when the unit actually enters into Area Guard and chooses that position based on the map specifications. :) Some assembly magic from Segra might be a solution though I seriously doubt it -Daelin

It is probably doable by replacing the return (which is probably a conditional loop) with just the area guard action. I still suck at assembly so even though I can write my little programs I cannot actually mess with a big stuff such as Dune 2. :) -Daelin

It's the fact that units who have Retreat replaced by Area Guard seem to make a combination of the two (first retreat to their original position and then keep area guard stance). Area Guard can be really useful if used correctly. For instance, having a couple of siege tanks area guard next to your turrets can be quite effective to avoid those launchers and sonic tanks trashing your turrets. :) It's up to the player which variant he or she uses: "Guard" or "Area Guard". Only if it were not for that bug..... 8-| -Daelin

That's actually more efficient than the classical Retreat :) -Daelin

I think about the bullet size I had already mentioned it somewhere around here earlier when I was playing with the editor..... And it's normal to crush concrete easier. After all concrete has also a limited number of HP just as other buildings. :) -Daelin

Really? Is that what actually prevents concrete to be built on concrete? hmm.... weird I want to play with the .EMC files when I get some time. I didn't know until today (thanks to your link to Minniatian's post) that we have the information. Ooooh no.... this encourages players to spam-build turrets even more than now. I don't think this would be a good idea. The opponent has very few turrets anyway. :) Perhaps bolster the defences near the CY more :) Oh, and I just thought about the aggressivity levels. If the opponent removes the CY, it would be normal next to go for the Heavy Factories/Starports, which are practically sources of a new CY. The player's advantage is that if it removes AI CY the AI never rebuilds it with an MCV (atleast I've never witnessed such a rebuilt). On the other hand, players are capable of rebuilding bases using MCVs. Speaking of which: what's the threat level of an MCV? :) Edit: oh and btw, does anyone actually find the retreat command useful? I was wondering if for most units we could replace Retreat with Area Guard :) It would be pretty useful in my opinion... -Daelin

It would be, but it doesn't work like that. The game actually requires that you build the concrete first. Your editor helped me figure this out (only the construction yard and obviously concrete itself do not require concrete beneath them) :) -Daelin

Whooops..... typo there. Thanks TrueBrain for pointing that out. I modified the post :P Interesting stuff there. This certainly explains a lot about the repair cost. Great job TrueBrain! :) -Daelin

Value representations usually come with a global limit in BYTES. Char/"tiny int" comes on 1B, meaning - Signed values (usually represented in 2's Complement) have a range of -128...127 - Unsigned values vary from 0 to 256 The 512 seems to have no point here. But MrFlibble has a very neat question: why 2x256? I wonder how the repair cost is actually calculated for buildings. Is it related to HP, or building cost? Are the building's HP somehow divided by 2 and then the value stored on 1B (instead of 2)? And what do negative values actually do to the credits? Shouldn't repairing a building for "negative cost" actually GIVE money instead of taking? -Daelin

Nope. Strangely the Atreides built no 'Thopters. I don't know if they even had a Hi-Tech facility. Check your savegame for the 8th Sardaukar mission and see... And the fact that units are assembled midway makes things a bit easier and it's practically the best way to counter the whole "group" move :) Here I will agree with you. I have no code proof that it is like this, but I have a different source which makes me believe that you are right: walls are also built with half HP if they are not placed on concrete (and I rarely place walls on concrete anyway). Besides that, I also had quite some power shortage this level, for I had to quickly place turrets instead of wasting my credits on Windtraps. Maybe you can modify walls so that they do not need Concrete beneath them (no lore or logical reason, but because of gameplay considerations). Actually the range is awkwardly low. As I said, Devastators can now outrange the turrets from certain angles which in my opinion is a bit imba, and gives Harkonnen a major advantage (but then again, we're trying to make this tough, so what the hell?) Also a wacked idea popped into my mind and it may actually make the AI more difficult (or prove to be plain stupid... haven't tested): what if all units and buildings had the same threat level (except 'thopters and saboteurs which can prove quite bitchy if ignored )? That way the opponent would go for whatever he can find to attack, and when multiple opponents are on the field, this can prove quite chaotic and tough to control. If the opponent would take the distance as a factor, then this could be abused by skilled players and make the idea stupid, but if the AI would simply pick random targets it could prove to be quite annoying (AI's actions hard to predict... ::) ). Because practically not being able to predict what the AI is attacking makes things difficult ;) -Daelin

Hmm.... interesting :) I finally tried playing Sardaukar Mission 8 and I had quite a pleasant surprise. The play-style has definitely changed. I'm here to make some observations about how I felt the game behaved. 1. The turrets are definitely less effective, and this has caused quite some problems for me. The range-reduction has proven to be quite annoying when dealing with devastators, rocket launchers and sonic tanks (yes, the Harkonnen devastators were shooting out-of-turret-range). While I was assaulting the Atreides base I had to keep bouncing between their base and mine just because of the single devastators attacking my base. 2. I did not really observe that "group-attack" bug fixed. Why? Because most of the enemy units just stopped midway. I am curious where the AI is "grouping" his units. Is it outside or inside the base? Because if it is outside, I simply took a bunch of Siege Tanks and kept going and destroying the enemy units as they started packing (I love the smell of burning Launchers). So no biggie advantage. The only "packs" which succeeded to reach my base were soldiers and quads. But they are no big deal (Except the fact that quads actually demolish my walls.... like WOW, did not expect such firepower). 3. The enemy bases are so easy to scorch. The level was a piece of cake once I had established a strong base and went for offensive. The reduced turret range makes things just too simple. With a couple of Siege Tanks and Launchers it was too easy to destroy the base... easier than in the original game in my opinion. Perhaps more mobile defenses (units) should be put at the disposal of the AI? It would definitely make things tougher. 4. I definitely miss the Repair Facility (in a good way though :P)... It makes things quite tough for the Sardaukars. Siege Tanks and Launchers are not cheap, and spice melts like ice in the desert. This made things quite difficult, so awesome stuff! Too bad I did not really have to rebuild much. 5. No starport sucks as well. I wanted to quickly get some carryalls to boost my spice production. And again, Carryalls are damn expensive if you can't afford to get them via the Starport. Sardaukars could definitely have some credits issues if not for a good spice production (for which you normally need carryalls and here goes the vicious circle). Nevertheless, awesome job. I'll have to next experiment a bit with the Fremen and the Mercenaries and see what surprises do they have up their sleeves. -Daelin

Walls are never rebuilt.... neither are concretes. I wonder though if threat level has something to do with rebuilding the base. Did you observe any significant differences after modifying Super Dune's AI behavior?