EMPEROR OF THE FADING SUNS
NOVA
The New Start
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EMPEROR OF THE FADING SUNS NOVA The New Start |
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Last updated: November 4, 1998
When you start a game with the Random map option, 31 of the 40 planets in the galaxy are randomized (all except Kish, Aragon, Severus, Delphi, Istakhr, Byzantium, Holy Terra, Leagueheim and Stigmata). The process of randomly creating these planets is controlled by several text files in the Rand subdirectory.
This file controls the creation of terrain on a random planet. Note that there is also another file, called Plan.txt, which seems to be an old version of Planets.txt and is not used.
The first line of the file contains the text COUNT = 20. This refers to the number of template lines included in the file, and can be changed, if you want to add or remove some of these lines. The template lines all begin with a number. Any line beginning with anything other than a number is just a comment, and is ignored. If there are more template lines than the COUNT number, then the excess lines are ignored. In fact, this is the case in the standard version of the file, which has 21 template lines. The final line (which would create a Megacity planet) is therefore never used. Each time a planet is created, one of the template lines is selected at random.
The first number in a template line defines the planet type (tile set): 0 = Normal, 1 = Megacity, 2 = Frozen, 3 = Jungle, 4 = Barren. (Remember that Desert and Ocean planets are really just Normal planets with a different distribution of terrain.)
Next comes a set of 3 parameters for each of the following terrain types: Grass, Arid Grass, Desert, Ice, Tundra, Trees, Mountains, Hills. There are no parameters for Ocean terrain, which is the default. The 3 parameters are:
Percent. The percentage of hexes which will contain this basic terrain.
Flags. There are a number of on/off options available, which are listed at the top of Planets.txt as "Attractor Codes". Each of these has a corresponding number (1, 2, 4, 8, etc), and these numbers can be added together to combine several options. For example, 18 = 2 + 16 = "Equatorial regions only" and "Attracted to Open Terrain type 1" (Grass).
Scatter. If this value is low, this terrain will tend to clump together in large areas. If high, it will tend to be scattered.
The additional terrains (Trees, Mountains and Hills) are each followed by 5 flags (Y or N), indicating which of the basic terrains (the first 5) these can combine with (OK1 = Grass, OK2 = Arid Grass, etc). Furthermore, Mountains and Hills have an additional flag (labelled OKT), which indicates whether this terrain can combine with Trees.
Finally, at the end of each line, is a parameter for Rivers. I don't know exactly what this parameter is, but presumably a higher value gives more rivers.
I've had no problems with running EFS using a modified version of Planets.txt. But I have had problems with the Create Random Planet option in the Map Editor. It often crashes. I'm sure this is a bug in the Map Editor.
These 5 files control the positioning of bonus resource symbols. There's one file for each planet type: 0 = Normal, 1 = Megacity, 2 = Frozen, 3 = Jungle, 4 = Barren. In each file, between the words BEGIN_BONUS and END, there are several lines of text. Each line has the following parameters:
ID#. This number identifies one bonus resource symbol, based on its structure number: 26 = Trace, 27 = Gems, 28 = Exotica, 29 = Fertile, 30 = Metal, 31 = Energy.
Odds. The chances (out of 1024) that each hex of a given terrain type has of containing the indicated resource symbol.
Terrain Type. This number identifies a terrain type, as indicated at the top of each Typen.txt file: 0 = Ocean, 1 = Grass, etc.
There may be two or more lines for one resource symbol. This means that the resource symbol can occur in more than one type of terrain.
I think that the results of these files are subject to the restrictions imposed by Strbuild.dat. For example, the standard Type4.txt gives a chance of Exotica occurring on a Barren planet. But the standard Strbuild.dat doesn't allow this. I can't remember ever seeing Exotica on a Barren planet.
This file controls the occurrence of cities (including Monasteries and Ruins) on random planets other than Vau and Symbiot planets. Between the words BEGIN_STRUCTS and END, there are several lines of text. Each line has the following parameters:
ID#. This number identifies a type of city, based on its structure number: 0 = Palace, 1 = Church, 2 = Monastery, etc.
From-To. The minimum and maximum number of cities of this type which can occur on a planet. For example, 0:2 means that there could be 0, 1 or 2 cities of this type. If the minimum number of cities is large, the program may have difficulty fitting that many cities on the planet, in which case the actual number of cities may be less than the minimum.
Owner. Not used. All cities on planets created by Normal.txt are rebel-controlled (except Monasteries and Ruins).
Roads? Whether this type of city can have an existing road leading to it. (I assume. I haven't checked this.)
Attractors. There are a number of "Attractor Codes" listed at the top of Planets.txt. Each of these has a corresponding number (1, 2, 4, 8, etc), and these numbers can be added together to combine several options. For example, 34 = 2 + 32 = "Attracted to river and delta hexes" and "Attracted to Exotica and Fertile".
Each city (except Monasteries and Ruins) will contain some random rebel units. You can't control what these units will be. That's hard-wired into the program. Unfortunately, these units never include active units such as partisans and tanks. So rebel units on a random world just sit in their cities and do nothing.
This file is similar to Normal.txt, but controls the occurrence of cities on Symbiot planets. There are always 3 Symbiot planets, forming a cluster connected to Stigmata. The names of these planets vary from game to game. All cities on these planets (except Monasteries and Ruins) will be occupied by Symbiot units. There will also be some Symbiot ships in orbit.
This file is similar to Normal.txt, but controls the occurrence of cities on Vau planets. There are always 2 Vau planets. One of these is named Vau (unless this name has been changed using the Map Editor). The other can be any planet adjacent to Vau. All cities on these planets (except Monasteries and Ruins) will be occupied by Vau units. There will also be some Vau ships in orbit.