Much of this file is now out-of-date. Correct information may be found in the files Update-sequence and build.
This topic contains fairly nitty-gritty descriptions of some of the underlying mechanisms in the Empire system. It is not meant for the weak-of-heart or casual reader. (And it's usually out of date.)
Sector Updates
Several characteristics of the Empire game are dependent on sector updates -- mobility, efficiency, mining of ore, generation of production units, etc.
An understanding of the calculations involved is often helpful in planning the timing of various actions and although it is unlikely that this description is strictly up to date, it should provide a feel for the overall philosophy.
All commodities in a sector are kept as short integers. The program cannot have negative commodity values, so the theoretical capacity of a sector is 32767, while in practice it is actually 9999 (for formatting reasons). While it is possible to move more commodities than 9999 into sectors, production of commodities will not go above the level of 999. So, an update that produces 450 units of iron in a sector that already has 800 units can at most add 199 units.
Here is an approximate description of the algorithm that is called whenever an update occurs:
Variables used are:
the # of Empire time units in this update
civilians in the sector
military in the sector
uncompensated workers in the sector
designation of the sector
efficiency of the sector
iron mineral content of the sector
gold mineral content of the sector
technology level of the country
research level of the country
plague stage in the sector
plague stage duration
an intermediate variable that represents work potential
the amount of work done in the sector
Parameters used are (see the version command for actual values):
the food growth rate
the food cultivation rate
how much food people eat
birth rate
uncompensated worker birth rate
how much babies eat growing up
bank interest rate in $/bar
workforce = (civ*work/100 + uw + mil * 0.4) / 100. If workforce = 0 go away and don't update anything /* increase sector efficiency */ If the weather is good enough for construction and we're not broke then effic becomes effic + work (if possible) and costs $1 for each percentage point gained. Otherwise charge the $1 for each percentage point that would have been gained, (pay for workers to play cards). /* grow some food */ Set dd = etu * sector_fertility * fgrate (this is the amount of food that can be grown in etu time units) Set dtemp = work * 100. * fcrate (this is the amount of food that the people there can harvest) If (dtemp < dd) (if there aren't enough people to harvest it all) set dd = dtemp Set foodtmp to the amount of food in the sector plus dd /* feed the masses */ If desig is sanctuary then set dd equal to 0. Else set dd equal to etu * (civ + mil) * eatrate (this is the amount of food the people need to eat) If (dd > foodtmp) then some people will starve figure out what percentage of the population can be fed, and kill the rest (up to a maximum of 1/2 the populace) set food = 0 Otherwise set food = foodtmp - dd (with a maximum of 999) /* population growth */ set q = etu * civ * obrate the number of births possible in other sectors If q is bigger than food / (2 * babyeat) set q to food / (2 * babyeat) food available to mature this many babies into civilians If q is bigger than 999 - civ set q to 999 - civ enough room for that many Set food = food - q * babyeat Set civ = civ + q /* mobility */ Add etu to mobil (to a max of 127) /* pay taxes */ Collect the taxes, pay the military civ_tax = (int) (.5 + (civs * eff * etu * civtaxrate / 100.)); if (conquered) civ_tax /= 4.; uw_tax = (int) (.5 + (uws * eff * etu * uwtaxrate / 100.)); mil_pay = (int) (mil * etu * milpayrate); nat_money -= mil_pay nat_money += civ_tax + uw_tax /* plague */ If p_stage = third kill off a bunch of people, alert the owner and the news and decrement p_time by dt. If p_time \(<= 0 set p_stage = zero (plague has burned itself out). If p_stage = second report to the owner and the news and decrement p_time by dt. If p_time \(<= 0 set p_stage = third and randomly reset p_time in the range of etu_per_update to (etu_per_update * 2). If p_stage = first decrement p_time by dt. If p_time \(<= 0 set p_stage = second and randomly reset p_time in the range of etu_per_update to (etu_per_update * 2). If p_stage = zero and a random number in the range 0-99 is less than the figure generated by the equation in info plague then set p_stage = first and set p_time to a random number in the range of etu_per_update to (etu_per_update * 2).
/* delivery & distribution */ If anything is being delivered from this sector and there is more of it than the delivery threshold (always a multiple of 8) and the country is not broke deliver as much of the excess as mobility allows. If plague_stage is second (the infectious stage) set plague_stage and plague_time in the destination sector. If there is a distribution threshold for this sector, and if the sector isn't at this threshold, import or export as necessary from the distribution warehouse the number of commodities, mobility permitting. /* production */ If effic is less than 60 skip the rest.
If desig is bank then accrue etu * bankint interest per gold bar If desig is capital pay etu * $1 for government salaries If desig is enlistment sector, then convert civilians to military newmil = (etu * (mil + 10) * 0.05); nat_money -= newmil * 3; If this sector produces something (mines, research labs, etc.) calculate how much can be produced (see info Products) (Note that the amount that can be produced is limited by work) produce it pay for it (money, iron, gold mineral, oil, etc.)
Several points are noteworthy:
\(bu The work done in a sector (ore dug up, efficiency growth, population growth, products generated, etc) is dependent on the product of time since last update and work force (work above) while the accumulation of mobility is independent of work force.
\(bu If the population of a sector is very low it may never generate any work at all due to conversion to integer truncation.
Ship Updates
Ships are also updated only when accessed however the mechanism is simpler. The only characteristics that are changed by ship updates are the mobility, the efficiency, (if less than 100%). the food, (and therefore the crew if starvation occurs), the amount of oil, and plague status, (which can also change the size of the crew).
The algorithm is essentially:
add etu to mobility (with a maximum of 127)
add etu to efficiency (with a maximum of 100)
add etu * civil * sector_oil / 10000. to oil if ship type is oil derrick
add etu * civil * sector_fertil / 10000. to food if ship type is fishing boat
feed the crew and passengers
starve a few if not enough food
check for plague progress,
(the same as in sectors except each stage lasts twice as long on a ship)
Bureaucratic Time Units
There is one further update that is not handled in the sector update routine; that is the update of bureaucracy time units (BTUs). These are the numbers printed in brackets before the command prompt. Most commands given use BTUs, some use 1, some use 2 and some use more, making BTUs a vital commodity. The generation of BTUs is dependent on the efficiency and the work force in the capital sector. (see info BTU).
See also : Education , Happiness , Products , Research , Technology , Time , BTU , Server