NPR Generation

[randal7 (OP)]

How does this work?

In my current game I put the settings at 1 NPR, 30% NPR generation, with precursors turned off. So far I have discovered 32 systems, 27 of which have no NPRs, and I know the other 5 have no NPR planets, because there are no habitable planets. I think the original NPR has had two small combats. I'm in year 2051. I assumed turning off precursors increased the chances of other aliens, but since I've not found anything, now I wonder if the game just generates no aliens if precursors are rolled, decreasing the overall chance of aliens. I'm using 4.91.

[Brian Neumann]

Aliens and Precursors are two different things that are checked for seperately.  They have no interconection so by turning off the precursors you have reduced the total number of systems that will have ships in them.

NPC races have a fairly tight constraint on temprature, gravity, breathable gas that they can even be set up in.  Out of that small percentage of planets there will only be 30% chance of them having an NPR so the total chance of any one system having an npr is fairly small.  If you have explored a couple of hundred systems and are still not finding any npr's then something funny is going on.  Or if you want to have an encounter there are two ways of doing it.

The first way is to pick a system that you have already explored and pick a planet that can sustain life.  Then using the SM functions on the F9 screen create an empire.  One of the choices near the top is to make it a npr.

The second way is to up the chance for an npr existing from 30% to 100%.  At that point every planet that has a potential for an npr will have them.

Brian

[randal7 (OP)]

The second way is to up the chance for an npr existing from 30% to 100%.  At that point every planet that has a potential for an npr will have them.

Brian

How do I do this? And, are you sure this does not affect generation of other aliens (I don't want the Swarm in every system I find)?

While I'm asking, how do I increase the number of systems in the game after the game has started?

[Brian Neumann]

You can change the total number of systems and the npr generation chance.  From the main menu strip go to the game menu, and then the Game info.  This brings up a summary screen titled Game Details.  In the upper right corner it will say what version you are running.  You also go to this screen automatically when you first open aurora up.  On the left hand side is a bunch of different things.  The maximum number of systems is near the top, and the NPR generation chance is in the middle.  Everything on the left of this screen except for the starting year can be changed at any time without harming your game.  The info on the right is a bit more dangerous to change.  I would not change the checkbox for "AI-controlled Precursor Ships", or "Use Known Star Systems"  Most of the other ones may give you some problems but they should not be game breaking.  Do make a copy of your database before you change anything in this screen at all however.  If you remember to make copies of the database from time to time they will act as a saved game for you.

Brian

[lastverb]

While u choose game on startup u can change values to the game. BUT REMEMBER - press save button. However I had a no-npr generation problem myself and even on 100% it didnt generate any NPRs, writed about it, but i was the only one having that problem. I think it is some processor related float point generation (used in randoms). Maybe installing VB drivers will help (didnt tested it). You can google for VBRuntime install for your system.
The only thing i tested and it worked was using another computer,