🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <4371iu$3...@chaos.dac.neu.edu>,
Nan Wang <naw...@lynx.dac.neu.edu> wrote:
>
>I think what happens is this:
>
>Once computer sends colony ship to a planet, he can send transport right away
>without having to colonize it first.  So many times even {though} you 
>colonize the planet, the computer thinks it's "his".
>
>This thing royally pisses me off.  The only solution I can think of is don't  
>sign non-agression pact, and park some fighters on the planet you want.
>The computer does not colonize planets he hasn't explored yet.
>
>Andy
>

Be very, very sure that the computer *hasn't* explored the planet, though.
If he has *ever* explored it, at any time, then the only way to stop him
from colonizing the planet is to destroy his colony ship before it can
retreat.  The most annoying game-play bug I've encountered is this: even
if you guard a planet and force the computer's colony ship to retreat, it
can still plant a colony there.  Of course, this neat little trick won't
work for you- only for the computer.

If you're lucky enough to get there before the computer does (the only time
you can be absolutely sure is if it's an artifact world, and you get a tech
item from it; this only happens if you're the first player to explore the
world), and can keep the computer's ships out of that system forever after,
then the computer won't be able to use the "retreating Colony Ship" bug.  I
leave scout ships in orbit around worlds I want to claim, early in the
game; in combat between unarmed vessels (e.g.: your scout and the computer's
scout, or your scout and the computer's unarmed colony ship), the computer
will always retreat, and be unable to explore the system.

- Bill (ha...@midway.uchicago.edu)

In article <446tha$o...@er5.rutgers.edu>,
Karl Peters <krpe...@er5.rutgers.edu> wrote:
>naw...@lynx.dac.neu.edu (Nan Wang) writes:
>
>
>>I think what happens is this:
>
>>Once computer sends colony ship to a planet, he can send transport right away
>>without having to colonize it first.  So many times even you colonize the planet
>>the computer thinks it's "his".
>
>>This thing royally pisses me off.  The only solution I can think of is don't  
>>sign non-agression pact, and park some fighters on the planet you want.
>>The computer does not colonize planets he hasn't explored yet.
>
>First of all, this is not true - the computer will happily send 
>colony ships to planets he's never "explored" before.
>

You misunderstand.  The computer will happily send colony ships to planets he's
never "explored" before.  It will *not* colonize such a planet.  The catch is,
unless you force the colony ship to retreat, *it* fulfills the requirement of
"exploring" a world, and the computer will promptly colonize it (assuming the
computer has appropriate environment tech).

The point of this distinction?  If the computer has previously explored 
planet, it will succeed in colonizing it *even if the colony ship it sends
is forced to retreat*.  No, I'm not mistaking "colony ship retreats but other
ships stay and blow your "staking out" force away; I mean that even if the
computer sends nothing but a colony ship, and the colony ship immediately
runs away from battle with your ships, the computer succeeds in planting a
colony with colony ship.  This will happen every time *unless* the computer
has never before explored the planet, or you actually *destroy* the colony
ship before it can retreat.

- Bill (ha...@midway.uchicago.edu)