Cap power at 100000?

[Zarel]

Hey, guys. Right now, power isn't capped. So theoretically there could be overflow problems involved.

I think 100,000 is a good number.

For reference, half an hour of doing nothing on a medium-power map in T2-T3 usually yields around 30,000 power. The most expensive thing in the game is the mass driver fortress, 1,800 power. 100K power is enough to build 55 of them. Enough to cover pretty much all of Sk-Rush with nothing but fortresses. And keep in mind this is just a power cap - to get that much power, your power will probably regenerate fast enough for you to cover the whole map with mass driver fortresses before you actually run out.

So 100,000 should be enough for anybody.

Anyway, regardless of whether or not the cap is 100,000, we're gonna need a cap. So let's see what you guys think.

[BlueMaxima]

Damnit, you changed the numbers right out from under me! I was gonna say 100,000 was a good idea!

[KukY]

100.000 is good enough.

[Zarel]

Looking at mousemaster's screenshots, it seems his campaign power doesn't rise above 20,000.

It seems the power cap would need to be as low as 10,000 before it started affecting campaign gameplay, and I think even at that level it wouldn't affect multiplayer gameplay at all.

[Dylan Hsu]

It's over 9000!

[BlueMaxima]

It's over 9000!

Just couldn't resist, could you?

[PkK]

Hey, guys. Right now, power isn't capped. So theoretically there could be overflow problems involved.

I think 100,000 is a good number.

For reference, half an hour of doing nothing on a medium-power map in T2-T3 usually yields around 30,000 power. The most expensive thing in the game is the mass driver fortress, 1,800 power. 100K power is enough to build 55 of them. Enough to cover pretty much all of Sk-Rush with nothing but fortresses. And keep in mind this is just a power cap - to get that much power, your power will probably regenerate fast enough for you to cover the whole map with mass driver fortresses before you actually run out.

So 100,000 should be enough for anybody.

Anyway, regardless of whether or not the cap is 100,000, we're gonna need a cap. So let's see what you guys think.

Why some arbitrary value like 100000? How about some nice, round value like 32^2-1, so it fits into a 32 bit unsigned integer on 32 bit systems? What's the data type used for the stored power?

Philipp

[Zarel]

Why some arbitrary value like 100000? How about some nice, round value like 32^2-1, so it fits into a 32 bit unsigned integer on 32 bit systems? What's the data type used for the stored power?

Philipp

32^2-1 is 2^10-1, which is really not enough for standard gameplay. Did you mean 2^32-1?

Also, if a number fits into a 32-bit unsigned integer, it's going to fit in a 32-bit unsigned integer regardless of whether or not the architecture is 32-bit.

The reason I choose 100,000 is because if a player hits 100,000 and power stops increasing, they'll think, "Oh, I've hit a power cap." If a player hits 4,294,967,295 and power stops increasing, they'll think "Bug!" - very few people can recognize 2^32-1.

There's no real reason to set the limit to something that aligns with a power of 2.

[Michal]

100,000 is a lot of power. I think that 50,000 would be enough for campaign, and it's plenty for multi. Even on high power maps, if power reaches 5000-10000 (early/middle game) you're probably doing something wrong, and will get killed shortly. In the endgame on highpower, there's usually 'infinite power', you don't have to care. On medium power I'm really worried when I have 1500 left...

BTW, I'm curious, but don't know where to ask - is speed, at which power is gathered (to build units, defences etc), somehow 'capped'? I have a strong feeling that when I have 5 factories + research + some defences building, power is gathered reeeally slow. Does it depend on my computer speed ?(my machine is kinda old )

[Tenoh]

I think there should be an option in game setting so everyone can set the limit they want.

[Zarel]

Too late.

An option would be too much, anyway. You'd never know how much you had, when playing online. Easier to have a single limit that everyone uses.

[KenAlcock]

Below are some related comments on this subject I posted in another thread. I'm re-posting them here since they are relevant to this thread. As of v2.3 Beta 7 your power reserve is capped at 100,000. While some may believe this is too low, it simply isn't.

I played a T1 skirmish last night on a 4P high power map with 30 oil wells in each base area. Using a turtle strategy I pegged the power meter at 100,000. When I finally researched to the tech level at which I wanted my expeditionary units to be (and all the manufacturing upgrades) I started cranking out an army or borgs and an air force of VTOLs. The power level dropped considerably, but no where near anything close to anemic. If I wanted to, I could've still built a whole new base

The number 100,000 is just the highest strategic power reserves that you can have at any one moment. It is not the total power you can spend during a game (that number is actually infinite). As long as you have an oil derrick and a power generator, you are converting oil to power, which causes your strategic power reserves to grow.

You spend power when you: build buildings or structures, fund research, or produce units, which drains your strategic power reserves. But the amount of power you have at any one time is in a constant fluid state.

Taking into account the maximum number of units and base buildings that Warzone currently lets you have, Zarel is quite correct that 100,000 is a high enough ceiling for any one player's strategic power reserve.

Once a player has amassed a strategic power reserve of 100,000, they simply cannot spend enough power at once to bring their reserve down anywhere close to 0. Even if try to produce 50 double-turret Dragon VTOLs (which by the way fly dreadfully slow), 50 Super Cyborgs, and 50 double-turret Dragon Ground units all at the same time, while continuing to research everything left in the tech tree, you will still have enough surplus power left in your strategic power reserves to have all 15 of your trucks keep building Missile Fortress after Missile Fortress (which I believe is the most expensive structure in Warzone that you can build an unlimited number of).

Without a game mod, only 35 things can actually spend power at the same time: 5 Factories, 5 VTOL factories, 5 Cyborg Factories, 5 Research Facilities, and 15 Trucks. Eventually, the factories will run out of things to spend power it on because the game limits you to a certain number of units. I believe structures are unlimited, so you could just start building Missile Fortresses everywhere. For each structure you build, you will see a dip in your power reserve as power is allocated to construction. But once the structure is fully funded, and construction actually starts, you will see your power reserve grow again because no more power is being drained. And if you had all 15 trucks build one Missile Fortress each at the same time, it would take so long for each construction to finish that your power reserve would likely climb back up to where it was during the construction.

As I was later informed, the Mass Driver Fortress is actually the most expensive structure. Still my example holds true, since the more expensive a structure is, the longer construction takes. And the longer construction takes, the more time for your power reserves to grow again.

[muffenme]

I hacked the Warzone 2100 v2.3 of this game to give a limit of 16,777,215 max for energy. I used a hex editor and change A0 86 01 to FF FF FF. It showed up 14 time in the warzone2100.exe file.

[Emdek]

I hacked the Warzone 2100 v2.3 of this game to give a limit of 16,777,215 max for energy. I used a hex editor and change A0 86 01 to FF FF FF. It showed up 14 time in the warzone2100.exe file.

Well, I think that it would be easier to change this in source code and recompile.

[Crymson]

I hacked the Warzone 2100 v2.3 of this game to give a limit of 16,777,215 max for energy. I used a hex editor and change A0 86 01 to FF FF FF. It showed up 14 time in the warzone2100.exe file.

Why in the world do you need that much max energy?
If you have a stockpile of over 50K, you are really doing something very, very wrong.

You should also take Emdek's advice.