Low framerate inciting virii to 'merge'

**Observation:
**
Frame rate is inversely proportional to the total population of enemies in a level.
**
Theoretical solution:
**
Have nearby virii merge when the framerate is too low, and split when it is too high; When merging two virii, mark the ratio of their strengths, add to the first the strength of the second, then remove the second. When splitting, reverse this process using the ratio stored in the flags of the post-merge virus. Introduce a "should i merge/split now?" loop into each virii, with a randomized delay between checks and a coin flip true/false decision. Unbalance the coin flip, with the odds in favor of the result that approaches the target framerate.

Notes:

• Deimos Rising reduces the visual complexity of the game automatically if the frame rate drops too low.

• The loss of challenge from multiple incoming targets is replace by the challenge of fighting much stronger targets (10 strong worms is as hard as 20 strong worms).

- Darwinia uses the simultaneous decisions of independent stick figures results to create human-seeming stick figures that wander, attack, fight battles, and operate machinery using independent decisions driven by their environment.

It's an interesting solution, but, fighting 10 strong units is not the same as fighting 20 weaker units.

Ever played Starcraft?

Shrout1, on Apr 7 2005, 05:45 AM, said:

It's an interesting solution, but, fighting 10 strong units is not the same as fighting 20 weaker units.
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Yeah. This suggestion needs weighting to not wildly unbalance gameplay in favor of the virii.

Shrout1, on Apr 7 2005, 05:45 AM, said:

Ever play Starcraft?
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We sense a soul in search of answers.

rsoderberg, on Apr 7 2005, 09:50 AM, said:

We sense a soul in search of answers.
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Heh - maybe, but I think I'm all right... (Not thinking Darwinia here are we... My soul's ok )

I was thinking the whole "Zerg vs. Protoss" argument. Chinese army deal. The zerg tactic is to have 20 weaker units that overwhelm with numbers while the protoss tactic is to use fewer, more powerful units to overcome their weaker foe.

Yeah... sorry, but fighting one ubervirus doesn't sound like very much fun.

rsoderberg, on Apr 7 2005, 08:50 AM, said:

We sense a soul in search of answers.
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This is actually a quote from Diablo that they put into Starcraft as a joke. The Observer just rocks like that.

Can't wait for SCII.

This post has been edited by grunadulater : 07 April 2005 - 08:10 PM

grunadulater, on Apr 7 2005, 08:09 PM, said:

This is actually a quote from Diablo that they put into Starcraft as a joke. The Observer just rocks like that.
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Ah well, negative points to me for not knowing :p.

Everyone knows that. So is the Griswold quote about the Mushroom. The 'Stop poking me' is from Warcraft II.

And fighting one virus to rule them all at 1 FPS doesn't sould like fun at all, as grunadulater said.

Agent_Vast, on Apr 8 2005, 01:40 PM, said:

And fighting one virus to rule them all at 1 FPS doesn't sould like fun at all, as grunadulater said.
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Hmm. An empty level with no virii runs at 30 fps for me. Levels are quite fast around 16 virii - but the number of virii on Receiver gives it pain. A minimum limit of "total virii in the level" - beyond which merging was not allowed - would prevent, to some extent, the virus to rule them all.

It's also possible to weight the odds of the coin flip more heavily in favor of splitting as they get stronger. This'll just about always work, but once in a long while, they might all decide to merge up and create the one virus to rule them all.

Set the initial odds for merging low and splitting high. When the frame rate goes up (down) 1%, make it 1% less (more) likely that it'll merge. When the strength of a virus goes up (down), make it less (more) likely that it'll merge.

If this were introduced globally as a trait to all virii - random splitting and merging -- gameplay would vary dramatically. Now when a virus is coming at you, it might have a chance of splitting into two weaker ones! It'd add a level complexity to the behaviour of the one consistent feature of all levels, and its odds can be tuned - to a limited extent - by frame rate.

I do like the idea that, out of thousands of players with thousands of hours, a few players run into the virus to rule them all. Diablo II added an event where a super boss character would appear in people's games, and they set it happen offen - but only for advanced players.

Actually, splitting and merging virii sounds like a lot of fun. It would make them more.. uh.. virusy.

Another simple suggestion would be to delete souls once they leave the ground and have no more use. The whole floating up to heaven thing does look really cool but the drop in frame rate after killing an anthill is annoying. Perhaps as a turn-onable option.

Quote

Frame rate is inversely proportional to the total population of enemies in a level.

What sort of proportion? Linear?

It should be possible to achieve an expected framerate inversely proportional to O(log n) if it's programmed well.....