They are random. However they get precalculated ahead of time so you cant cheat the game by reloading

So how far ahead of time are they precalaculated?

Is every strike calculated at the start of the game, or is there an interval?

The next 20 strikes get calculated.

Originally posted by martiño:

The next 20 strikes get calculated.

HAHAHA, That explains why my miners get whacked everytime I restart. I just thought it was suprememly bad luck. That's devious and hysterical.

I always hated when in Sim City and all games like that disasters could be cheated by just reloading the game, so all distasters in Planetbase are precalculated so you can't do it :)

Originally posted by martiño:

The next 20 strikes get calculated.

So the game pre-calculates the impact location of the next 20 meteor strikes. Which must be quite a duration in advance of when they actually hit. Probably well before the player actually decides to build anything in that location.

[Hmm! if only we knew where they were ^^]

I must admit I was trying to avoid the loss of my my two colonists by reloading as I am trying to go for the 'Express Colony Achievement'. But your devious plan worked and in the end I had to accept the loss. I've since invested in a meteor laser and a couple of telescopes. So hopefully it won;t happen so often in future.

Originally posted by Didz:

Originally posted by martiño:

The next 20 strikes get calculated.

So the game pre-calculates the impact location of the next 20 meteor strikes. Which must be quite a duration in advance of when they actually hit. Probably well before the player actually decides to build anything in that location.

[Hmm! if only we knew where they were ^^]

I must admit I was trying to avoid the loss of my my two colonists by reloading as I am trying to go for the 'Express Colony Achievement'. But your devious plan worked and in the end I had to accept the loss. I've since invested in a meteor laser and a couple of telescopes. So hopefully it won;t happen so often in future.

ive noticed that 20 strikes seems to be about 15-20 minutes. many strikes are far away.

Originally posted by martiño:

The next 20 strikes get calculated.

ok so it was PLANNED that 3/4 of my colonists would be killed (including both bots) 1min off the starting line before ANYONE had even moved.

That seems a little harsh.

Just to clarify I started a game but got the coord's wrong so restarted again with the correct coord's.

Had a quick look and went to place down my first structure BAM, Meteor hit between the coloney ship and my colonists killing half of them.

Reloaded same thing.

Had to delete the save (no big deal really) and start again to avoid that damn rock.

I think PLANNED is too strong. What Martino said was that the next 20 strike locations are pre-plotted. Perhaps the only thing the devs are guilty of is not goving the player a break, by making sure that none of those early strikes are within close to the initial landing zone.

they are random, it i s just the following handful of strikes are pre-determined... so at any given time, the next 20 strikes are already on their way.

when the next meteor strikes, you have 19 left... a 20th is added, chosen randomly.

if the next X meteor strikes weren't spotted ahead of time before they strike, your lasers would have a hard time being able to track them fast enough to destroy then before they hit.

-- Smoov

@smoov: Yeah! thats not strictly random. The impact location is calculated randomly, but the strikes are actually scheduled in advance by time and location. So, basically if you knew where and when they were coming you could avoid them.

It is still random. You just don't see them rendered until the last second or two, but they are enroute, randomly, long before you see them. The next 20-ish meteors are already in-world, and on their way.

As for "basically, if you knew where and when they were coming you could avoid them."?

That's what the telescopes and lasers are for. The telescopes, spot them, and plot their trajectories, long enough before they arrive, so the lasers are ready to take them out as soon as the meteors are in range.

I have no idea how you think it isn't strictly random.

-- Smoov