Game Setup Customization

Custom games can be created by players in good standing here on Planets.nu, and they can be modified from any base configuration in myriad ways. This is a description of the settings that can be used to customize games. Since customization options are always changing, the lists below may well be incomplete or have minor errors.

To create a custom game, go to your Account page, select Hosting, then select Design Game. The Design Game screen has three tabs, each of which will be discussed individually.

To get information on the settings of a created game, select the game, then the settings button. The various settings are shown in that screen. Those settings from this page that show up on that screen are shown with the "parameter" that it will have on the settings screen.

• Game Settings
• Players
• Starmap

Game Settings

This section is where you describe the type of game to be created, as well as most of the player features.

• Game Name ( name parameter) — You can enter a custom name for the game you're creating.
• Game Description — This is the long description of the game being created. For a Public game, this is important, as the description helps other players decide to join the game. To insert a blank line into the description, use the string " <br><br> ".
• Win Condition — There are several win conditions. The default win condition is Diplomatic Planets. The Military Score win condition may not be used in new Public games.
• Player rank — It is possible to set minimum and maximum ranks for a game. Once a player has achieved a high rank in one or more races, their effective rank for joining a game is the higher of their rank in the race they're playing as, or two ranks lower than the highest rank they've ever achieved in any race. The default values for these fields is None.
• Tenacity — It is possible to create games that require a minimum Tenacity to enter. This can be used to keep out players who frequently resign, or are dropped, from games. Normal values for this parameter are from 0 to 100. It is possible to enter values that are both higher and lower than the normal values, but this could have an impact on the players that can join the game.
• Fixed Turn Length ( endturn parameter) — This is the number of turns in a game with a Win Condition of Fixed Turn. This value must be at least 80 for a Public game.
• Host Days — This is a list of the days of the week that the Host program will run.
• Host Time — This is the time that the Host program will run. The time is in GMT (Greenwich Mean Time - old designation), UTC (Coordinated Universal Time - new designation) or ZULU time (used by aviators and many military organizations).
• Fast Start — This is the number of turns that run every day, before the game switches to the Host Days, described above.
• Enable Campaign Features ( campaignmode parameter) — When this checkbox is selected, players will be able to use the Campaign Advantages that they have researched. If a player leaves and is replaced, the Campaign Advantages of the original player are used.
• Maximum Active Advantage ( maxadvantage parameter) — This is the maximum number of Advantage Points that a player can have in a Campaign game. It is only applicable to games where the Campaign Features have been enabled.
• Fury Double Beams ( fascistdoublebeams parameter) — When this checkbox is selected, Fury players receive the 2X Faster Beams advantage without having to research it. This checkbox only applies to non-campaign games. In campaign games, Fury players may choose to disable this feature in order to use the Advantage Points on a different Advantage.
• Super Spy Advanced ( superspyadvanced parameter) — When this checkbox is selected, Bird players receive the Super Spy Advanced advantage without having to research it. This checkbox only applies to non-campaign games. In campaign games, Bird players may choose to disable this feature in order to use the Advantage Points on a different Advantage.
• Cloak and Intercept ( cloakandintercept parameter) — When this checkbox is selected, Bird players receive the Cloak and Intercept advantage without having to research it. This checkbox only applies to non-campaign games. In campaign games, Bird players may choose to disable this feature in order to use the Advantage Points on a different Advantage.
• Starbase Fighter Transfer ( starbasefightertransfer parameter) — When this checkbox is selected, Empire players receive the Starbase Fighter Transfer advantage without having to research it. This checkbox only applies to non-campaign games. In campaign games, Empire players may choose to disable this feature in order to use the Advantage Points on a different Advantage.
• Ship Limit Type ( shiplimittype parameter) — This setting is used to select between a Global Limit (all players share the same ship limit), and the Planets Limit Ships setting (each player has their own ship limit, based on the number of planets they control).

  NOTE: When "Planets Limit Ships" is selected, it is strongly suggested that the "Cloning Enabled" setting be disabled and the "Must Match GSx" setting be enabled.

• Ship Limit ( shiplimit parameter) — This is the maximum number of starships that can be built in the normal build queue. This value must be between 10 and 999 with a default of 500. There is a hard limit of 999 starships. When the Ship Limit Type is set to "Global Limit", this parameter will appear.
• PLS Minimum Ships ( plsminships parameter) — This is the minimum ship limit that a player can have, regardless of the number of planets they control. This value has a default of 0. If this value is higher than the player's calculated ship limit (see next two parameters), this value will be used as the player's ship limit. When the Ship Limit Type is set to "Planets Limit Ships", this parameter will appear.
• PLS Ships Per Planet ( plsshipsperplanet parameter) — This is the number of starships that are added to a player's ship limit for each planet the player controls. This value has a default of 1. When the Ship Limit Type is set to "Planets Limit Ships", this parameter will appear.
• PLS Extra Ships ( plsextraships parameter) — This number is added to the above value (plsshipsperplanet) to generate a player's calculated ship limit. When the Ship Limit Type is set to "Planets Limit Ships", this parameter will appear.
• Use "Production" Queue ( productionqueue parameter) — When this checkbox is selected, the Production Queue system for building starships is used. When this checkbox is not selected, the classic Priority Build Points system for building starships is used.
• Kill Dead Races ( killrace parameter) — When this checkbox is set, and a race "dies" by resigning or being dropped without a replacement, all the starships and starbases of that race are destroyed. More information can be found here.
• Fight or Fail Planets ( fightorfail parameter) — When this field is set to a non-zero value, and a player falls below that number of planets at any time after turn 30, that player will be removed from the game. More information can be found here.
• Incremental Fight or Fail ( fofincrement parameter) — When this field is set to a non-zero value, every time that number of turns passes, the Fight or Fail Planets value is incremented. Use of this field will override and clear the Fight or Fail Planets value at game creation time.
• Stealth Mode ( stealthmode parameter) — This feature causes all of the scores, except planet count, to be concealed. More information on this option can be found here.
• Combat RNG ( combatrng parameter) — This feature allows either the Classic RNG (Random Number Generator) or an Expanded RNG to be used in Combat. This value defaults to the Classic RNG.
• Cloning Enabled ( cloningenabled parameter) — This feature allows cloning (including advanced cloning in Campaign games, if researched) or disallows all cloning.
• Must Match GSx ( fcodesmustmatchgsx parameter) — This feature requires that both the starship being given and the starship receiving the gift have the same, case sensitive, Friendly Code.
• Extended Alchemy FCs ( fcodesextraalchemy parameter) — This enables three Friendly Codes for the Merlin. These are mentioned in the Friendly Codes page, and are discussed in detail in the Alchemy Ships page.
• BDx FCs ( fcodesbdx parameter) — This feature enables starships to beam down only part of the funds they have on-board.
• Make Public — This checkbox can be used to make a game public. Public games go into the "Interest" tab of the "Game List" page until enough people are interested (the number of players the game was configured for).
• Game Password ( gamepassword parameter) — You can add a password to a game, so that only players to whom you provide the password may join the game. This can be used to explicitly approve players to enter the game. The gamepassword parameter is cleared before being sent to the client. The only time it has valid data is when sent to the server when a game is created.

  A password may be used on either Public or Private games.

Players

This section is where you establish player and race structure.

• Number of Players — Public games must have a minimum of eight players to be awarded Achievement points and Campaign Resources , but melee games often start with 30. This value must be between 2 and 35, with a default of 11. Public games with 8-10 players will receive reduced Achievement points and Campaign Resources.
• Max Allies ( maxallies parameter) — This is the maximum number of Full Alliances that a player can have active at one time. This value must be between 0 and 10, with a default of 1.
• Max Share Intel ( maxshareintel parameter) — This is the maximum number of Share Intel or higher settings that a player can have active at one time. This value must be between 0 and 35, with a default of 35.
• Max Safe Passage ( maxsafepassage parameter) — This is the maximum number of Safe Passage or higher settings that a player can have active at one time. This value must be between 0 and 35, with a default of 35.
• Max Players Per Race ( maxplayersperrace parameter) — This is the maximum number of players who may enter a game with the same race. This value must bebetween 1 and 35.
• Teams (in the players parameter array) — This is the number of teams in the game. Teams have Full Alliances among themselves, which can not be broken. The Max Allies is usually limited to the size of the team. This value must be 0 or between 2 and 15, with a default of 0.

  When this value is set to be 2 or higher, an additional drop-down selector will be shown for each player slot. This additional selector is used to select the team that the player slot is a member of. This data will be pre-populated with values starting with 1.

• Shuffle Team Positions ( shuffleteampositions parameter) — When the "Teams" value is set to something other than 0 , this checkbox will appear. If checked, the position of the teams, and of the players within the team, are randomized when placed on their homeworlds.
• Allowed Races ( disallowedraces parameter) — When one or more of the Player Races is set to "User Chooses Race", this section will appear. This section contains a checkbox for each race. To keep players from choosing a specific race, uncheck the checkbox for that race.
• Player Races ( players parameter) — This is where the races of the various players are set. There are options for each race, to allow the player to choose their race, each race played by the computer and the computer playing a random race. The default is for the first 12 slots to be players with the 12 races, and the rest of the slots allowing the player to choose their race.

Starmap

This section is where you describe the "physical" attributes of the cluster to be created.

Care should be taken with the size of the cluster, the number of planets, star clusters and debris fields, and the number of planets near the homeworld. It is possible to set these values such that the cluster can't be created, which will generate an error. Please remember that star clusters and debris disks create areas where planets can't exist. The default planet density is 7261-8253 light-years ² per planet, depending on the map shape.

• Map Shape ( mapshape parameter) — This is the overall shape of the cluster's star map. Options are Rectangular, Round, and Irregular Round, with Rectangular being the default.
• Map Width ( mapwidth parameter) — This is the width of the map in light-years. This value must be between 100 and 3500, with the default being 2000.
• Map Height ( mapheight parameter) — This is the height of the map in light-years. This value must be between 100 and 3500, with the default being 2000.
• Sphere ( sphere parameter) — This checkbox enables a wrap-around map, as described here.
• Homeworld Locations ( hwdistribution parameter) — This describes how the Homeworlds are to be distributed on the map. The options are Circular (parameter value 2), Left and Right (parameter value 3, works best on a square map), Random Spaced (parameter value 1), and One vs. Circle (parameter value 4 - Private games only) with the default being Circular . Use of the One vs. Circle setting will cause the "Extra Starting Planets - Center Player" and "Extra Starting Ships - Center Player" parameters to be displayed.
• Homeworld Planets < 81 LY ( verycloseplanets parameter) — This is the minimum number of planets within 81 light-years of each Homeworld. The default is 2. See note 1.
• Homeworld Planets < 162 LY ( closeplanets parameter) — This is the minimum number of planets more than 81 light-years from the Homeworld, but less than 162 light-years distant. The default is 12. See note 1.
• Other Planets Min Dist ( otherplanetsminhomeworlddist parameter) — This is the minimum distance that other planets are allowed to be to a Homeworld. This distance can be less than 162 light-years. The default value is 155 light-years. See note 1.
• Wandering Tribes Ships ( wanderingtribescount parameter) — This is the number of Super Transport Freighters that each player starts with. The Starship ID numbers of these Super Transport Freighters will be allocated randomly. Setting this value to any value other than "0" will cause a Wandering Tribes game to be created. It will also cause the "Wandering Tribes Starting Locations" parameter to be visible, and cause the "Homeworld - Has Starbase", "Homeworld - Resources", "Homeworld - Clans", "Extra Starting Planets", "Extra Starting Ships", "Extra Starting Planets - Center Player" and "Extra Starting Ships - Center Player" "Extra Planets Randomly Located", "Extra Ships Randomly Located" parameters to be removed.

  This setting may only be used in Private games.

• Wandering Tribes Starting Locations ( wanderingtribesdist parameter) — This describes how the Homeworlds are to be distributed on the map. The options are Use Homeworld Area (parameter value 0), Everyone At The Center Point (parameter value 1), and Random (ships do not start together) (parameter value 2), with the default being Use Homeworld Area .
• Homeworld - Has Starbase ( homeworldhasstarbase parameter) — This checkbox causes each Homeworld to have a starbase when the game starts. The default is for Homeworlds to have a starbase.
• Homeworld - Resources ( homeworldresources parameter) — This indicates the amount of minerals that a Homeworld will have initially. The options are Low, Middle, and High, with a default of High.
• Homeworld - Clans ( homeworldclans parameter) — This is the number of clans that the Homeworlds have at the beginning of Turn 1. The default is 25,000 clans.
• Extra Starting Planets ( extraplanets parameter) — This is the number of planets, in excess of the Homeworld, that each player has at the beginning of the game. The additional planets will be those closest to the homeworld. For non-Horwasp players, the planets will be colonized with between 500 and 1,000 clans, and will have 50 mines, 100 factories and 20 defense posts. For Horwasp players, the planets will be colonized with 2,500 clans.

  If the homeworld locations value is set to One vs. Circle, this setting will not be used for the first player slot.

  This setting may only be used in Private games.

• Extra Starting Ships ( extraships parameter) — This is the number of ships, in excess of the initial Medium Deep Space Freighter, that each player has at the beginning of the game. The additional ships are described here. The Starship ID numbers of these additional starships will be allocated randomly. The Horwasp don't receive any additional starships.

  If the homeworld locations value is set to One vs. Circle, this setting will not be used for the first player slot.

  This setting may only be used in Private games.

• Extra Starting Planets - Center Player ( centerextraplanets parameter) — This is the number of planets, in excess of the Homeworld, that the center player (first player slot) has at the beginning of the game. The additional planets will be those closest to the homeworld. For non-Horwasp players, the planets will be colonized with between 500 and 1,000 clans, and will have 50 mines, 100 factories and 20 defense posts. For Horwasp players, the planets will be colonized with 2,500 clans.

  This setting is only available in games where the homeworld locations value is set to One vs. Circle.

  This setting may only be used in Private games.

• Extra Starting Ships - Center Player ( centerextraships parameter) — This is the number of ships, in excess of the Medium Deep Space Freighter, that each player has at the beginning of the game. The additional ships are described here. The Starship ID numbers of these additional starships will be allocated randomly. The Horwasp don't receive any additional starships.

  This setting is only available in games where the homeworld locations value is set to One vs. Circle.

  This setting may only be used in Private games.

• Extra Planets Randomly Located ( extraplanetsrandomloc parameter) — When this checkbox is selected, the extra planets will be scattered across the map.
• Extra Ships Randomly Located ( extrashipsrandomloc parameter) — When this checkbox is selected, the extra starships will be scattered across the map.
• Planet Scan Range (Fog of war) ( planetscanrange parameter) — This is the distance that a planet or planetoid shows up on scanners. This value is expressed in light-years and must be between 10 and 10,000 with a default of 10,000. By using values that are smaller, it is possible to obscure distant planets.
• Ship Scan Range ( shipscanrange parameter) — This is the distance that ships show up on scanners. This value is expressed in light-years and must be between 10 and 10,000 with a default of 350.
• Number of Planets ( numplanets parameter) — This is the number of planets in the map. This value must be between 18 and 750 with a default of 500.
• Star Clusters ( stars parameter) — This is the number of star clusters in the map. This value must be between 0 and 50 with a default of 0.
• Nebulas ( nebulas parameter) — This is the number of nebulae in the map. This value must be between 0 and 10 with a default of 0.
• Debris Disk ( ndebrisdiscs parameter) — This is the number of debris disks that are created in the map. This value must be between 0 and 30 with a default of 0. The debris disks are created by the Host by randomly selecting planets, and converting them to debris disks. Any planets the created debris disks intersect with are also converted to debris disks, in a chain reaction. Because of the chain reaction, it is possible that more debris disks will be created than were requested. This is an unintended consequence of a complex interaction in the way the Host code generates maps.
• Max Ion Storms ( maxions parameter) — This is the maximum number of Ion Disturbances that might exist in the map. This value must be between 0 and 6 with a default of 4.
• Cloudy Ion Storms ( nuionstorms parameter) — This checkbox determines whether the Ion Disturbances are to be "normal" or "cloudy". Normal Ion Disturbances have the same voltage throughout while cloudy Ion Disturbances have different voltages in different sections.
• Max Wormholes ( maxwormholes parameter) — This is the maximum number of Wormholes that might exist in the map. This value must be between 0 and 30 with a default of 0.
• Wormhole Mix ( wormholemix parameter) — This is the percentage of Wormholes that allow travelling in both directions. This value must be between 0 and 100 with a default of 80.
• Wormhole Scan Range ( wormholescanrange parameter) — This is the distance, in light-years, at which a Sensor Sweep mission will detect a Wormhole. This value must be between 10 and 10000 with a default of 100.
• Average Mineral Density (%) ( averagedensitypercent parameter) — This is supposed to be the average density of minerals in the ground. The options are Low, Middle and High, with a default of Middle. This setting has no actual effect on the mineral density.
• Native Probability (%) ( nativeprobability parameter) — This is the approximate number of planets, out of a randomly selected 100, that will have natives on them in turn 1. It should be noted that natives can be "found" on the planets at any time. This value must be between 0 and 100 with a default of 55.
• Average Native Government Level ( nativegovernmentlevel parameter) — This is the average level of the native governments. The options are Low, Middle and High, with a default of Middle.
• Native Clans Min ( minnativeclans parameter) — This is the minimum number of native clans. The default is 1,000.
• Native Clans Max ( maxnativeclans parameter) — This is the maximum number of native clans. The default is 75,000.

Note 1: If you want the planet density in the Homeworld Clusters to be the same as in the rest of the map, this page will be of use.

Back