Subject:

Message:
> > "Hi Eric, > > Yes, I have received your mail about being a tester. Sorry that I didn't respond quickly to this post: I've been doing mostly business stuff the last couple of weeks, and coding late, so this one slipped by. So, let's see..." > > Understood. I figured, seeing as you're all decent guys, that it was more likely that or a mistake - planning to reply later then forgetting- than an attempt to deliberately snub me. ;) How's the business going, by the way? > Pretty good. It's a lot of work, and it keeps me away from coding full time, but it's a necessary pain at the moment. We should be able to release good news (fingers crossed) on november 15th. No, it's not a release date! But good news for us means ultimatly good news for you guys, so think about us on november 15th at about 10:00... :-) > > "That's a tough one. I'm not sure yet. I can't make it invent names, because they'll come out as "kzsdfjhsdjklh!" So I have 3 choices: > > 1. Make him use names he already has and increase numbers > > 2. Make him use the name of a more powerful country, and use it's designs > > 3. Leave the same names, but continually upgrade them > > I'll have to see what comes out in play test to decide." > > (Nods) That's exactly why I brought it up. 1 was basically what I had in mind. 2 might work, depending on how you model arms sales. Would they be getting the hardware directly from the country and simply switching the owner, or buying the capability to produce them? If it's the latter, the country might well rename them. Finally, 3 only makes sense if you're playing a relatively short game, though the ability to upgrade is important as a stopgap means of improving your military cheaply. > > "Beats me. I don't code in patterns of actions, so it'll do what it thinks is best for the moment, based on the data it has. But it will learn by playing against you, so it depend on the kind of pressure you'll put the EHE under." > > Will it also factor in the pressure other countries place on them? And will a country be limited in its ability to make new designs by the size of its economy? > Yes. The EHE don't know the difference between a live player and another EHE entity. You could be minding your own business, and two other country will start their own little war. And since everything cost something, economy will determine a country's ability to build. It will determine the speed of it's research, and the amount of units it can build. A country won't create a design if it can't build it. There just wouldn't be any point. When it will determine that it's military force are insufficient, it will look into designing something new. > > "Hard to say. Not in any short period. The US would have t o be put down continually, and the other country would have to create powerful alliances... It's possible, maybe by China, but it would be hard. Playing against the US will require a more subtle style of play; I don't think you can hit head-first with the state of the world as it is now." > > Obviously. :) Might it be possible to lure them into a sense of complacency while you slowly build up and smash your neighbors? And please say the US won't whine and threaten nuclear war over sending 1000 troops to Guatamala... I'm still suffering from the radiation scars that Balance of Power caused... ;) > The countries will know about all known units. If I could, I would underline KNOWN. You can build secret military bases, even underground bases. Of course, you can't have planes in underground bases, but you could secretly build forces, yes. > As of the reaction, the aggressivness level will be balanced in playtest. In the end, it will all depend on the impact of sending 1000 troops to Guatemala. It the US doesn't care, it won't respond until it gets out of hand. And even then, it may not respond. If his interests are directly targeted, it'll react more rapidly. Remember two modern conflicts: Kosovo and Kuwait. How come the reaction time was different? > > Anyway, keep up the good work, guys. But don't work yourselves so hard that you collapse on our behalf. We've waited a few years already, an extra month won't kill us. :) > You give us one more month! Thanks! We'll need that! :-) Don't worry. I was on the edge since this august, but I gave myself a little time off, and I'm coming back. The whole team is moving into working really full time soon, that's why you're not hearing from me these days. > > McCain 2000! We were robbed! > Couldn't agree with you more! Sometimes politics is moving strangely. And it's even worse in Canada... > > Eric "TSI" > Jean-René