Bug Already with Nomad's ARS (Spoiler)

[Vyndicu]

Ok on my first alpha testing. I went to scout Nomad's 1 on a X map. (Break that chokehold! )

I scout the ARS option using a mark 2 science lab and I found zenith siege engine and Autocannon. There is no third option and I usually expect to have 3 to pick from what up?

[Toranth]

Ok on my first alpha testing. I went to scout Nomad's 1 on a X map. (Break that chokehold! )

I scout the ARS option using a mark 2 science lab and I found zenith siege engine and Autocannon. There is no third option and I usually expect to have 3 to pick from what up?

This was the Mk II/III icons issue for the new units.  Upgrading to 7.038 fixed it for me.

[keith.lamothe]

Two birds for one stone, eh.  I'll take it

[Vyndicu]

Updating to 38 fixed it. Now I have to go back to an earlier save to grab powerslaver instead of zenith siege engine. Hmm where to grab those early HP from...

[Vyndicu]

You may want to consider taking "Deep Strike" logic away from nomad planets because you may want at some point to create a benchhead to put a hacking lab in place and hold it until you have HP to hack whatever you want on it.

It can easily go from 1-3 jump away to 15 jump and really crank up the AI reaction. But putting nearby planet on alert isn't too bad so that can stay in and you still have potential CPA going through nomad anyway regardless.

[ElOhTeeBee]

I've got some behavior myself that seems abnormal, but I want to be sure it actually is a bug before Mantising it - the one Nomad planet in my game doesn't seem to be recalculating its wormholes. Like, ever. Admittedly, the game's only been running for perhaps 20 minutes, and maybe it only updates on the map when I scout it, but it might also be a weird bug. Can anyone comment?

[orzelek]

Nomad will not always update wormholes.
It moves more frequently and wormhole links are changed based on other criteria - I think it's distance from other planets.
I'm playing with 6 and they switch from time to time.

[Toranth]

I've got some behavior myself that seems abnormal, but I want to be sure it actually is a bug before Mantising it - the one Nomad planet in my game doesn't seem to be recalculating its wormholes. Like, ever. Admittedly, the game's only been running for perhaps 20 minutes, and maybe it only updates on the map when I scout it, but it might also be a weird bug. Can anyone comment?

I've been trying to figure out the Nomad behaviors.  So far, I've found:

Plot intensity directly equals the number of Nomad planets.
     - Haven't gotten into the storyline yet, so not sure what else it may impact.
Nomad planets are added to the galaxy - a 100 star map with 10 Nomads has 110 total planets.  A 10 star galaxy will have 20 total.
Nomads seem to always be Mk IV worlds.
Nomads belonging to the Brutal AI do not seem to get Brutal Guardposts.
Nomads that start connected to the AI Homeworld get all the AI Core World features (Mk V GPs, OMD, etc).
     - Nomads that start connected to the Human Homeworld are Mk IV, but have the minimal set of GPs, no Tachyons, etc, like normal.
Nomads move on the Galactic Map ever 40-41 seconds.
     - Nomads on the 'My Layout' Galaxy view do not move, HOWEVER they are secretly moving on the main map and readjust wormholes correctly based on that.
Nomads re-adjust their wormhole connections every 20 minutes (on game times ending in 00:00, 20:00, or 40:00).
Nomads try to connect to the nearest 3 non-Nomad planets.
     - Nomads do not seem to be able to connect to each other.
Nomads seem to default to 3 wormholes, but they can have fewer.  They can also change the number of wormhole connections they have.
     - Positions of the wormhole connections are not fixed.  This can result in isolated wormhole guardposts and the like.
     - I have been utterly unable to predict when a Nomad will have fewer than three connections.  Anyone have any ideas?

I keep getting killed by the Starship Fanatic, so I haven't completed the Nomad sequence yet.  Aside from storyline stuff, has anyone figured out any other behaviors yet?

[keith.lamothe]

Plot intensity directly equals the number of Nomad planets.
     - Haven't gotten into the storyline yet, so not sure what else it may impact.

That's all it impacts; the special stuff that starts on Nomad One is available even on intensity 1.

Nomad planets are added to the galaxy - a 100 star map with 10 Nomads has 110 total planets.  A 10 star galaxy will have 20 total.
Nomads seem to always be Mk IV worlds.

Yep   Partly this is to ensure that the map is always fully connected.

Nomads belonging to the Brutal AI do not seem to get Brutal Guardposts.

They're specifically excluded, same as MkIV planets within a couple hops of a human homeworld.  A Nomad with a Core Raid Engine becoming adjacent to your HW 30 minutes into the game... GG!

I mean, I would find it endlessly entertaining, but I'm guessing y'all would not

Nomads that start connected to the AI Homeworld get all the AI Core World features (Mk V GPs, OMD, etc).
     - Nomads that start connected to the Human Homeworld are Mk IV, but have the minimal set of GPs, no Tachyons, etc, like normal.

Hadn't thought of that, but yes.  Probably not a bad thing.

Nomads move on the Galactic Map ever 40-41 seconds.
     - Nomads on the 'My Layout' Galaxy view do not move, HOWEVER they are secretly moving on the main map and readjust wormholes correctly based on that.

Correct, the custom layouts are untouched, as they're basically the player's visualization rather than a literal positioning.  The main map isn't really literal either, but treating it as "closer on the map = closer in realspace, even if not 1:1" makes understanding the nomads more intuitive.

Incidentally this does make it better to untangle the map in the lobby rather than manually/automatically after the game has begun, as then you can generally use the main map and not be surprised by what the nomad relinks to.

Nomads re-adjust their wormhole connections every 20 minutes (on game times ending in 00:00, 20:00, or 40:00).

Yep.  The timing of the movement and relinking may need to be changed, but it seemed like a good first guess.

Nomads try to connect to the nearest 3 non-Nomad planets.
     - Nomads do not seem to be able to connect to each other.

Correct.

Nomads seem to default to 3 wormholes, but they can have fewer.  They can also change the number of wormhole connections they have.
     - Positions of the wormhole connections are not fixed.  This can result in isolated wormhole guardposts and the like.
     - I have been utterly unable to predict when a Nomad will have fewer than three connections.  Anyone have any ideas?

It should normally be 3, but I think it has a maximum range of how far it will look for a connection beyond the first (obviously it needs at least one).

I think as long as it keeps the same number of connections during a relink the wormholes don't move, but perhaps I'm mistaken.

I keep getting killed by the Starship Fanatic, so I haven't completed the Nomad sequence yet.  Aside from storyline stuff, has anyone figured out any other behaviors yet?

I think you've described all the important aspects of the behavior of the nomads themselves, when the beacon is not in play.

[keith.lamothe]

Oh, there is one more important thing I just remembered: when a nomad relinks, any ships with wormhole paths involving that nomad have those paths cancelled.  If that proves to be a problem I can have them recompute, but that would have its own problems in terms of unintended-by-the-owner consequences (more for human units, but also for AI units to some extent).

[orzelek]

I was thinking that message that says that nomads relinked could be useful. To have some warning that you might want to take a look and see which one of your planets is under attack now.

I didn't try game with exos yet but.. I'm afraid that this will encourage HW defense. Not sure if thats good or bad

Also new tower energy costs - if you don't have FS and trader toys it seems quite a challenge to defend few planets from all you have using full cap of Mk 1 turrets... I have no idea how it will look if one would try to get higher marks.

[Aklyon]

Can you place a FS hub on a nomad?

[keith.lamothe]

I was thinking that message that says that nomads relinked could be useful. To have some warning that you might want to take a look and see which one of your planets is under attack now.

That's a good point, I'll make a note.

I didn't try game with exos yet but.. I'm afraid that this will encourage HW defense. Not sure if thats good or bad

Some options do encourage certain defensive setups, yes.  I imagine nomads, or at least high-count nomads, will heavily encourage on-the-spot defenses on anything you really don't want to lose.  Though I suspect that past the early game it's not particularly hard to take a nomad as soon as it comes into "range", and if you establish some territorial depth you can do that before it actually links to your HW.  What you do with it after that is a different question.

Can you place a FS hub on a nomad?

There's no rules about it, so yes, I think it would work normally.  And of course someone can then exploit the dynamic relinking to get a much higher density of cities than normal.  I'm willing to see how absurd the exploit gets in the wild before doing anything about it.  But maybe it's not an exploit, as defending a nomad, even with a city on it, is probably highly nontrivial.

[Vyndicu]

Keith I notice you haven't touched on deepstrike while doing a benchhead on a nomad planet. However I will guess that it is intended behavior and try to adjust to that.

I will definitely try doing spire cities on nomad and see how far I can go.

[keith.lamothe]

Keith I notice you haven't touched on deepstrike while doing a benchhead on a nomad planet. However I will guess that it is intended behavior and try to adjust to that.

I didn't respond but I made a note to suppress deepstrike triggers on nomads.  It wasn't exactly unintentional but I see your point.