Base PM Updating Module

[Cossid]

Thanks to the work of Kon and those before him (Crimson, Monty) I have a pretty good base PM module in the form I want it to be to move forward. I've been working on various aspects over the last several weeks, and am continually getting closer to an accurate reproduction of SE's calculations.

Here is a list of roughly how/where things are sitting:
Housing cost: I've figured out a simple formula which is probably within 5% of what SE used from that data I've collected. SE seems to use different values than MW3.
Game Speed: I've got the module configured to be able to change the ratio at will, and is currently based off the 200:1 ratio the standard SE war ran at. I have everything shifted to be able to run at any quantum update speed now currently based off of seconds instead of minutes (my initial plan with be for 1 second PM update quantums).
Metal usage: I have this pretty much straightened out with the exception of taxing costs.
Engineering: This was inherited at a mostly completely working state from Kon et all.
SY Production: Also inherited at a mostly completely working state.

Areas still in the works:
Hydroponics: not at all implimented, hoping to have a good base of this done this weekend. Still need to crunch some numbers on this.
Loan: Once again, SE was much different from MW3. Still need to find proper loan amount, which was based off of Metal rating only in SE. I know ~100 Met was a 5000 loan. Also loan currently isn't pulling enough metal demand.
Starting metal capacity: Once again, I have the base for high metal planets and have rough working numbers for that, that need tweaking as the metal rating drops. I have a feeling this will end up similar to housing cost change rates.
Food/Civil Unrest riots. Inherited implimented, but not sure how accurate they are, especially since hydroponics isn't yet implimented.
Immigration: This is a big one, and very complicated one. It currently has no quantum limits, meaning house filling happens instantly. I'll be looking for a way to associate this with housing habitability, but still haven't found a solution that meets all the needs (allow some recovery from occ burns for example).

That is a general run-down of where I'm at for the PM module for those that want to know. After I get some of the "in the works" items improved I'll likely look into converting this into something to test via a web browser, but right now I'm not expecting that to be before mid-late July.

[setalon]

Nice work...Im thinking figs and Guns are building slow thou and Metals growth seems a bit slow but very close...nice work...I'll keep playing with the PM updater:)

[Cossid]

Actually, Fig and Guns should be just about perfect. Those are number's we have always been quite sure on, based on costs of everything SY related, a DD comes out the gates at about 10:30AM on Monday morning, which is about spot on, and from there it's all relative because the SY numbers are pretty well known (I can run down the list if you'd like a refresher). Obviously fig & guns in MW3 are different than in SE.

Metal growth *could* be off, as of current, I'm pulling the numbers from MW3, and I have no reason to believe they were any different in SE. Keep in mind of course more metal is required until the loan is paid off, and of course, the speed of the application makes its growth look less significant than it is at times. The one thing I'm not 100% certain on is housing cost which could currently be sucking out more metal than SE did. It's hard to say at this point because SE's housing cost seemed to be quite different from MW3, and the formula I have right now is probably about 4-6% more costly, as I'm using part of MW3's values as a base because some of it still seems logical.

In MW3, base housing cost started at 1.2, and went up based on hab rating and population. SE appears to have actually started somewhere around 1.12-1.14 but I can't find enough sufficient evidence to peg the numbers because they get so much different by end game where most of the reports I have to go on come from (who save's reports before they PM a planet!?).

That being said, there is a bit of a difficult to understand portion of MW3 that I wasn't sure how to handle:
In building housing, there are 2 costs involved.
*paying the workers
*paying for the houses they build

I have a pretty good handle on paying for the houses they build, but what I am uncertain about is if the workers get paid more as habitability on the planet drops. The manual makes reference to 1.2 as the cost for labor, but also many references about how that base housing cost can change.

So what that means is either way, I probably have it pretty close to correct on a 100/100 planet, but I'd be using too much metal on a 80/100 planet.

Perhaps you could give examples where I may be misinterpreting?

[setalon]

you could be right...im look at the old notes..from previous wars and it's very very close... so kudos:)

[Cossid]

Yeah, I have tried to be incredibly picky, which is why immigration is giving me such a headache, because it's just so variable. There appears to be no direct pattern to it, and the documentation on it is really not even there at all. I'm still looking for a balance of regular growth, accelerated growth (mass excess houses, as if recovering from an occ burn or picking up a planet that has been managed by the galaxy for a fair amount of time). The problem isn't being able to do it, but being able to do it correctly.

Also, riots and such are going to have to be a "best guess" because nobody saved PM reports of intentionally causing food riots without trying to burn the planet to the ground

Which puts me back at my current list:
* Fixing hydroponics to require less to feed troops
* Immigration being time and planet variant
* Refining troop conscription
* Food riot deterioration refining
* Properly adding civil unrest

I'll probably be asking for some testing again when I get some of those numbers straightened out.

Once that list is complete, PM will be mostly complete with the exception of some back end implementation, and writing a web interface.

[setalon]

cool:)

[beaker]

Well hell Willis, what's taking you so long jeeze

[Mysticskyhawk]

K but im still the visual game dude when do we get a Visual SE beta test to play with ?

[Cossid]

I have not yet started work on the flight module.

There is a planned logical ordering of the process:

PM updater - make sure planets work working correctly
Galaxy generation - create galaxies
Galaxy manager - manage multiple galaxies
Flight manager - manage the back-end communications for all network non-pm based information delivery.
Flight interface - the client for use which most people will see as the game.

So sadly, that is the last step.
The first step I'd say is definitely the biggest however, step 2 depends on how faithful I wish to keep galaxy generation, step 3 is relatively easy, step 4 is a moderate amount of work, as is step 5.

But I'll be sure to keep you updated as I progress, but as I stated, I'm not expecting to be past the first step for at least a couple weeks.

[Mysticskyhawk]

Fine Ill be a good boy and not ask again! BTW great Job so far on the PM stuff

[Cossid]

Well, I've been making progress, yet still falling behind schedule. I'm feeling more confident about the overall model of how planetary management. Numbers still may need tweaking, but how it works seems pretty close now.

That being said, my plan is currently to have a galaxy manager and sql underpinnings complete by the end of July or very early August. From there, I would like to have 3 active PM galaxies going, one 4 week, one 2 week, and one 1 week, so we can test as much as possible without having to wait for each galaxy to complete. My goal for this is no later than August 14th, hopefully before.

With no star navigation interface in place, planets will likely be assigned per account for testing, with two planets rated at 100/100, one at 90/90, one at 80/80 and 4 randomly between 85/70 and 100/100 (those numbers aren't set in stone, but I don't want testing to be purely 100/100s).

[Cossid]

Ok, I am clearly way behind again already.

I had Aug 14th pegged as it was the last possible date before my vacation. My vacation has come and passed, and I'm back into the grind, and onto the important stuff.

Where things are currently at:
I have made a great amount of progress on the timing system and getting partial or extended updates to work on the fly. I also have a backup system in place to periodically save planet information, and have the ability to reload as well. Basic galaxy creation is there (no emulation of SE there yet, but that is not needed for testing). Multi-galaxy is there, though will need some threading work after test. Basic communication for the server module is in place ready to be expanded, which will be made to work with the web server and a flight server in the future.

Things that need to happen before a PM alpha begins:

• Reinstall OS on my server (personal preference, minor amount of work)
• Create User management (There are two levels here, one at game level, one at galaxy level)
• Create a web interface for manipulating PM

Finally getting kinda close...

[Cossid]

Things that need to happen before a PM alpha begins:

• Reinstall OS on my server (personal preference, minor amount of work)
• Create User management (There are two levels here, one at game level, one at galaxy level)
• Create a web interface for manipulating PM

Just a quick update of where things are at:
Server Reinstall: Hasn't happened yet, but this is trivial. Will be done tonight or tomorrow.
User management: I'm done with the game (global) level, which is all that is needed for beginning testing. Framework is in place for galaxy level user information.
Web interface: Functionality is at about 80% complete. Labor editing is in, with hard checks (need to add some soft (javascript) checks to make it more user friendly. Error messages still need some work (they are too technical). I still need to write something to establish planets, but may just assign them in advance since it's not a feature that will be included in the web interface in the long run.

I'm hoping to have a good percentage of this wrapped up this weekend, and leave a sandbox galaxy up for a few days to find any obvious interface bugs, and am aiming to have a test pm run with multiple galaxies starting next week (I will send out a forum announcement email in advance) to start some PM war testing.

Some teaser shots:
http://www.space-game.net/alpha/alpha_ss_002.jpg
http://www.space-game.net/alpha/alpha_ss_003.jpg
http://www.space-game.net/alpha/alpha_ss_004.jpg
http://www.space-game.net/alpha/Androme ... 125937.txt

[Hetulik]

Excellent news Caleb. Your efforts are appreciated. Looks great for an alpha. Keep the updates coming!