Hi folks
I've been playing max on and off since it was 1st released, 1st on cd and now via gog (1only, despite owning 2 I've never so much as started it)

I was always drawn to the upgrade mechanics, but there are a couple of issues that I think limit it:
1) the games aren't long enough (maps too small) to get much done.
2) if you deliberately draw the game out to allow more research time you hit the turn limit crashes.

Is it possible to mod the game to reduce the research requirements?
I have 0 modding experience but if someone can point me in the right direction I'm happy to take a stab at it.

As an aside, does the AI research? If not this might be a bit gamebreaking.

Thanks
Barold

I dont have a problem with the turn limits. I set it to 9999 and that is plenty of turns. I usually build at least 100 research centers. My issue is the mid game lag. I do intentionally take my time I do not go out and try to kill the ai from start. I play it more as a past time game than a game I consider a serious challenge. I build the heck out of stuff. Lots of gold refineries mining stations etc.

Also the turn limits lock up curse takes a lot of the fun out of the game but I save every turn so reloading solves that. The lag does get really bad though until I kill of the the bazillion air craft the ai keeps huddled out of radar range. The best lag fix I have used is to simply save exit and reboot. I ge a good a turn or two and have to do it again.

I always buy asus gaming laptops so my system far exceeds game specs. Everything is limited by the original game code anyway so no matter how powerful the system the game is only going to use the original amount of system resources it was programed for.

Hello Barold,

to speed up the research times add the following section to the MAX.INI configuration file by a text editor of your choice and change the default settings:

[DEBUG]
attack_factor=16
shots_factor=16
range_factor=8
armor_factor=32
hits_factor=32
speed_factor=16
scan_factor=8
cost_factor=8

These are integer numbers. The above numbers are the original default settings. If you are on Linux or Mac do not forget to save the configuration file using MS Windows line delimiters. The game uses these parameters to scale the research turns time requirements.

Note that if the values are set too high, the formula would end up with <= 1 turns to completion requirements for a research cycle which might have adverse effects. You could rescale the values as you progress though...

The biggest factor that still requires at least 1 turn to reach level 1 or 10% is 240. Example: cost_factor=240

The turns to completion formula is as follows: TURNS=(POWER((TOPIC_LEVEL/10+1)+0.1;7.5)*256)/TOPIC_FACTOR - (POWER((TOPIC_LEVEL/10+1);7.5)*256)/TOPIC_FACTOR

The AI does upgrade their units using both research and credits. Whenever an enemy unit is spotted by a computer player that is stronger than the computer player's own unit the computer player will note this risk and will try to keep up or surpass the enemy unit.

There are other threads in the forum which could help you eliminate most high turns related hangs or crashes.