Breaking the task limit

[Slayer]

I was stress-testing the game using the Squad/Engineer exploit, and had probably almost one thousand Darwinia men. I also had 4 Engineers and space for another due to a fully-upgraded Task Manager.

I attempted to create another squad, but it wouldn't let me. I tried again, it still wouldn't. Thinking I had reached the limit of what the engine could handle, I checked, but the Incubator was still churning out Darwinian men.

I ignored this for the moment, and decided to send an engineer to capture the last Incubator. After this, I went back and again tried to create a squad, but when I clicked the mouse to place it, I could've sworn another Engineer was created, but the Squad program was still waiting to be placed. I clicked again... another Engineer appeared, and another, and another.



After I took this screenshot, I pressed escape to exit the game, and it crashed out instead of closing cleanly.

=========================
DARWINIA BLACK BOX REPORT
=========================

VERSION : win32-demo-beta1
ERROR : 'Darwinia has been forced to shutdown.
Please post your 'blackbox' file to the Darwinia forums, with a description of the error you encountered'

=========================
===== SYSTEM REPORT =====
=========================

SysInfoGenVersion: 1
CPU: AMD Athlon(tm) XP 3000+
Num Processors: 1
Country: United Kingdom
Language: English
Num sound devices: 1
Primary sound device: SB Live! Audio [A000]
Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce FX 5600
Operating System: Windows 2000
Computer Name: GAMING



=========================
====== USER DATA ========
=========================

USERNAME : Slayer
EMAIL : aawood@gmail.com

=========================
====== PREFERENCES ======
=========================

ServerAddress = 127.0.0.1
BypassNetwork = 1
SinglePlayer = 1
IAmAServer = 1
TextLanguage = english
TextSpeed = 15
HelpEnabled = 0
SoundLibrary = dsound
SoundDriver = -1
SoundMixFreq = 44100
SoundMasterVolume = 255
SoundChannels = 20
SoundHW3D = 1
SoundSwapStereo = 1
ScreenWidth = 1280
ScreenHeight = 1024
Windowed = 0
RenderLandscapeLighting = 1
RenderLandscapeOverlay = 1
RenderLandscapeDetail = 1
RenderWater = 1
RenderWaterDetail = 1
RenderClouds = 1
RenderNegative = 0
RenderPixelShader = 1
RenderSmoothLines = 0
RenderHighDetailVirii = 1
RecordDemo = 0
DemoFrameRate = 25
StartMap = mine
TestHarness = 1
ShowIntro = 0

=========================
====== STACKTRACE =======
=========================

retAddress = 00410749
retAddress = 0045D317
retAddress = 004146E1
retAddress = 0046AC36
retAddress = 7C581AF6
retAddress = 00000000

[film11]

Hmm interesting. Maybe since it cant create the current request it does the old one instead perhaps? Well I'm not going to just sit here making Darwinians...thought it does sound and look like fun..hehe

[Slayer]

It's worth it when you turn one of them into an officer, and order the whole group to advance... you can wipe out entire sections of the level in seconds with that tactic!

Next time, I'm starting by upgrading Squad to full size (to speed up getting materials,) the researching the Task Manager to full so I can make more Engineers to collect them, followed by giving the Darwinians lasers, then upgrading lasers to full. Should be interesting, a least!

[film11]

Im not so good on this research thingy. Can someone give me a lowdown on it

[Slayer]

Hold down ALT to go into the task manager, and then scroll down to go to the Research screen. Select an item... Darwinians, squad, lasers... to choose that as the subject for research.

Now, when the viruses, your Squads, or the Darwinia men get destroyed, they leave behind little gem things, which I call debris. Your engineers can capture buildings called Incubators, which allow them to process the debris. They can collect the debris and take it to the Incubator, where it is transformed into 1 unit of research, and one Darwinian.

When you have enough research in the particular subject to fill up one of the slots on the research screen, it goes up a version number, and becomes better. Darwinians with lasers, larger squads, more programs at once on the task manager, that sort of thing.

[UGHQ_DoubleG]

Also, it appears that you can give yourself research points by right-clicking on whatever category you want to have an increase in. Looks like a cheat for beta-testing purposes.

[film11]

Ah right I knew about all of that except it giving research when you put a spirit in the incubator. Does it assign the research automatically or do you choose it by clicking on the right slot?

[LLamaBoy]

I don't think it researches anything unless you choose a category.