Re: Space Food Empires!
 

I've added some more facilities, mostly under the individual empire technology sections.

I still could use ideas for alternative population happiness facilities, military facilities, and resource-related ones...

Re: Space Food Empires!
 

Greetings.

I've updated the technology section of the site with the latest items. What's even better is that most of stuff is now entered in the data files. I just need to finish off some vehicle entries and system types and the mod should be somewhat playable from each of the race's perspective.

Re: Space Food Empires!
 

Have you been uploading periodic backups to the site, in the event of another HD failure? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/shock.gif

Re: Space Food Empires!
 

The website itself is on my HD and Online.

All the data files are kept in triplicate and I back up my graphics directory on CD.

No more getting burned. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/cool.gif

Re: Space Food Empires!
 

I posted this item regarding research in the Space Food Empires forum at SE.net:

Anyways, just thought I throw this item out for discussion.

Re: Space Food Empires!
 

Is there a D/L of this in one place? or do you need to do it in peices? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...s/confused.gif

Re: Space Food Empires!
 

So how is the status of your mod, Kwok ? How much time until release ?

Re: Space Food Empires!
 

No downloads yet. :p

I need to do the following things before it is playable in a meaningful way:

• Finish adding weapons to components.txt
• Finish adding racial facilities to facilities.txt
• Finish off system type entries (nebula/storm/asteroid etc)
• Add racial trait units to vehiclesizes.txt
• Make simple "placeholder" images for racial ships

I've been working hard entering lots of data this Last week, so I expect the above to be done by the first week of Sept.

I also keeep a detailed excel file that contains an excellent overview of items in the mod including tech requirements, propulsion, weapon Ratings, and more. If you want to have a look at it, send me an e-mail.

Re: Space Food Empires!
 

Kwok, have you heard of my Templatizer? It might ease some of your trouble with entering those massive amounts of data http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Re: Space Food Empires!
 

I'll give it a shot but it's mostly cut and paste work and I've been entering non-formulaic costs for many items so I don't know how useful it might be. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...ies/tongue.gif

Re: Space Food Empires!
 

Well strike off systemtypes - I've finished entering them at work today. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...ies/tongue.gif

In total there are 100 completely new systemtypes.

Re: Space Food Empires!
 

Greetings.

I thought I'd share some works in progress:
http://members.rogers.com/capt-kwok/...iew-carrot.png

The upper ship is a Carrot Imperial Scout Ship Type I (140kT), and the lower ship is a Carrot Imperium Patrol ship (180kT). The textures are in development and more details (windows, vents, etc) will be added of course.

Re: Space Food Empires!
 

Here is the completed Carrot Scout Ship, Type I.

http://members.rogers.com/capt-kwok/...rrotscouti.png

The upper image is actual portrait size, and the lower image is zoomed a bit so you can see some of the smaller details. I didn't go too crazy with the details since it'd be mostly a waste of time as they'd never be noticed in the portrait.

The ship itself is just under 9 metres in length and carries a crew of 40. It's generally armed with 2 Retinol BLasters, which are visible in the image. The engines themselves are located aft and are enclosed mostly in the primary hull, as opposed to most other carrots ships, which have their engines mounted away from the hull.

Re: Space Food Empires!
 

I can tell already, this mod is gonna be great! At least I am drooling over food this time. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Re: Space Food Empires!
 

Hey cool, the ships look great. Are you going to add one shipset for each "race" in your mod ? I suppose that will be a LOT of work...

Re: Space Food Empires!
 

COOL!!! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/cool.gif If nothing else relese the ship sets and AI for these..be cool to add these to one of the other mods or games http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/smirk.gif

Re: Space Food Empires!
 

Sort of. For example I've designed two carrot ships - but they contain all the elements of the remaining ships - so it's just a matter of resizing the different components and adding a couple of custom details for each one.

Re: Space Food Empires!
 

The Carrot Scout I and Patrol ship shown to scale:
http://members.rogers.com/capt-kwok/...coutpatrol.png

Now, lots more to follow.

Re: Space Food Empires!
 

New Taglines for SFE:

1.) Eat your greens before they eat you!
2.) Time for some salad, mutton chop.
3.) Fiber not included.

Wildcard [img]/threads/images/Graemlins/icon46.gif[/img]

All kidding aside, nice work Capt K.

Re: Space Food Empires!
 

Nice.:)

Re: Space Food Empires!
 

Carrot Frigate Type I, 220kT.

http://members.rogers.com/capt-kwok/...t-frigatei.png

This ship is just under 10 metres in length and is served by a crew of approximately 110. Note the Turnip Torpedo launcher mounted in the forward section, which is not present on the smaller scout and patrol ships.

Re: Space Food Empires!
 

Kwok, are you using POVray?

Re: Space Food Empires!
 

I use Moray 3.5 for the models and render with POV-Ray.

Re: Space Food Empires!
 

Nice work. Very nice.

Re: Space Food Empires!
 

Thanks Atrocities. I really should be making these models in a format that is exportable to .x though - I'm hoping to convert the mod and release it right away when Space Empires V comes out. [img]/threads/images/Graemlins/Cold.gif[/img]

Re: Space Food Empires!
 

Here is the first Corn ship in progress, the 150kT Escort Type I.
http://members.rogers.com/capt-kwok/...rn-escorti.png
I still need to work up some textures and add a few windows and other details. The Corn Escort is 7.1 metres in length and is served by a crew of 45.

Re: Space Food Empires!
 

Here is the first Fruit ship also in progress, the 140kT Explorer Type I.
http://members.rogers.com/capt-kwok/...-exploreri.png
This ship (although not shown to scale to the Corn ship) is only 4.3 metres in length, but the spherical design provides roughly the same usable space. I'd estimate about 40-50 crew would be required for this ship. Again, some windows and insignia are pending. You can't see in this image, but there is also a hangar bay in the rear.

Re: Space Food Empires!
 

Or maybe served with a crew of 45?

Sorry, couldn't resist.

Re: Space Food Empires!
 

Just curious... are those *extremely* low-res textures on your ship hulls intentional (to simulate armor plating) or were you just unable to make the hulls smooth?

Re: Space Food Empires!
 

i like the ships http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Re: Space Food Empires!
 

The textures on the Last two ships are just generic bitmaps I use to get an idea of what the ship will look like. Afterwards I'll make custom fitted textures for most of the main ship components. Check back to the Carrot ships to see how I went from my preliminary model to the final one a few Posts later. Notice the difference in how the hull textures are applied between the two?

The hull plating effect is on a large scale so the hull detailing is at least somewhat visible at SE:IV's portrait size. The generic bitmap file I use for hull textures is actually a 200x200 bitmap, but divided into 20x20 plates with differing brightnesses - that's probably why you thought it was low resolution. I suppose I could go further and add hull defects like rust, dirt, etc - but for SE:IV's picture size it's just not worth it. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...ies/tongue.gif

Re: Space Food Empires!
 

Your explosions of the corn ships should be popcorn! Or the husk should be peeled back...

Re: Space Food Empires!
 

Greetings.

I'm curious to see how players feel about bombs and suggestions on how they can be improved over stock.

Currently I have the following bombs:

• F.A.T. Bomb I-VII: Direct Fire; Short Range; Normal Damage
• M.S.G. Bomb I-III: Direct Fire; Medium Range; Normal Damage
• Mold Bomb I-V: Seeker; Unlimited Range; Plague Level
• Pepsin Bomb I-III: Direct Fire; Short Range; Only Planet Population
• Mustard Bomb I-III: Direct Fire; Short Range; Only Planet Conditions
• Smart Bomb I-III: Seeker; Unlimited Range; Only Spaceports
• Hydrolase Bomb I-III: Seeker; Unlimited Range; Only Resupply Depots

Some notes about the mod include a higher damage per population value in settings.txt - so other weapons are not nearly effective at reducing population as the F.A.T. or M.S.G. bombs. Also note that Homeworld Capitals have Spaceport abilities so they can also be struck by the Smart Bomb. Both the Smart and Hydrolase Bombs have a reload time of 30.

Re: Space Food Empires!
 

Um, how does unlimited range work vs. planets? Unlimited range for seekers only works if the target moves away, which planets can't do... :p

Also, do you really think the smart bombs' reload time will make up for their immense power of being able to cripple the homeworld facilities? Or are the homeworld facilities more like the ones in Adamant than the ones in Proportions?

Oh, one more thing! How come the smart bomb doesn't have a food name? How about Smarties bomb? Don't know if you have them in Canada, but in the US we have these little concave lens shaped candies called Smarties which come in rolls... Very bad on the teeth if you forget to brush http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Re: Space Food Empires!
 

Unlimited range is good because the missile will not run out of range and can be fired from anywhere on the combat map. It is also high speed and has a high resistance to damage. The homeworld capital is a single facility that boosts the planet production 5x - so it's not quite as important as it is in a Proportions game and not quite the same as Fyron's giant resource extractors in Adamant.

"Smarties" in Canada are the real smarties at least to us north of the border - they're like M&Ms and come in all sorts of colours. The US smarties in candy are called "rockets" and most kids agree it sucks to get them on Hallowe'en. [img]/threads/images/Graemlins/Cold.gif[/img]

Re: Space Food Empires!
 

only these weapons can hit planets ????

Re: Space Food Empires!
 

Yes, these bombs can only be used against planets.

Edit:

Other weapons can hit planets as well, but their power is considerably less.

Re: Space Food Empires!
 

No it can't. Unlimited range means the seeker will fire from ranges up to 20, and will track the target forever. It does not mean that the missile can be fired from any range. Unless you mean that these weapons are really drones...

Five times? You'd better make those smart bombs expensive... it's basically like a tectonic bomb that takes out four planets at once but can only be used once against each empire! (Then again, I always thought tectonic bombs were overpriced in stock, given how easy it is to get nucleonic torpedoes afterward... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...s/rolleyes.gif)

What?! *I* like smarties (or rockets as you prefer to call them)! :p

I think what tesco was asking was, are these the only weapons that can be used against planets, or do normal weapons like Beta-Carotene Rays and such also hit planets?

Re: Space Food Empires!
 

Any news on this mod ? Im looking forward to play it in PBW http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Re: Space Food Empires!
 

No I didn't. That was an error on my part that I've since worked out already. They'll just be regular seekers with maximum range.

I've adjusted homeworlds to only supply a 300% bonus for resource harvesting and research. Since the weapon is a seeker, the difficulty in getting one missile through should balance out on the cost end of things. It's nothing like a tectonic bomb. It doesn't destroy the planet and if you build a spaceport or have another one in the system, you'll simply be out some resources, which at the point in the game where these missiles are active shouldn't cripple an empire.

I've entered almost all of the data necessary to make it playable as intended except for the specific racial weapons and facilities for each empire.

Re: Space Food Empires!
 

A repost from the SFEmod forum at Spaceempires.net:

I'm looking for some feedback regarding my plans for mines in Space Food Empires.

I was going make only one size of mine (5kT) in conjuction with a variety of warheads that take up all 5kT.

Here are the damage types of warheads available to all races:

Normal
Skips Armor
Only Engines
Only Weapons
Only Shield Generators

For increasing mine technology I was going to give the mines increasing cloak levels with the final level being undetectable, rather than increasing their size.

In addition, further levels of mine sweeping are broken off into a separate tech area after the initial tech area is researched.

What do you think?

Re: Space Food Empires!
 

Actually if those missiles are mounted, they can be fired in tactical from any range.

Re: Space Food Empires!
 

As in I create a mount that just extends the range by a value of x?

Re: Space Food Empires!
 

A repost from SE.net Space Food Empires forums:

What would you prefer?

Currently I have each major race having their own colonization area restricted by their racial trait - so that means no colony tech trading at all. The downside is that all colony module types cost the same for a race.

Or I could use a similar system to Adamant or Ekolis's colony tech mod, where each native type (rock, ice, gas) has their own colony techs - which prevents colony tech trading between say, a rock and an ice race, but not between rock races. This way allows for higher cost modules that aren't native to that race, such as more expensive ice and gas modules for a rock race.

Also, should I restrict colony modules to colony ships by mounts a la Adamant?

Re: Space Food Empires!
 

Go with the unique and rare way. If you can get it to work and work well, who knows, you might make it better. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Re: Space Food Empires!
 

I think these are all good ideas.

Re: Space Food Empires!
 

Why would each race having its own colony tech require all of a race's colony modules to cost the same? You could have Banana Ice Colonization, Banana Rock Colonization, and Banana Gas Colonization all as separate techs/components, and define their research/construction costs independently for each composition/race combination. It might take more work, but it might just be worth it, if meat can colonize ice planets just fine (cold cuts anyone? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif) but oranges can't without LOTS of research (they freeze! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif)

BTW, I had a weird dream about Space Food Empires Last night http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/eek.gif... what basically happened was I was walking around my house when I was accosted by these tiny Pikmin-like things with various forms of food growing out of their heads... they all started attacking me and I had to fend them off; I realized that Space Food Empires must have been released and these were the ground troops from the game... at first I just fought them all off and that caused them to get mad, but eventually I realized I could try to be friendly to some of them and only fight the really hostile ones... it also involved something with colors and each color had a different type of animal associated with it, and the brown empire (which apparently I was) had this really friendly but horribly combat-inept labrador retriever... I think I was allied with the black empire but their wolf always seemed menacing... oh yeah, and after all the enemies were defeated I got to eat the food growing out of their heads; the blue Pikmin-things were my Favorites to defeat because they were the candy empire! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif

edit: YEAH kwok, why DON'T you have any junk food in your mod? or are they the space monsters? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Re: Space Food Empires!
 

Ed:

What you describe is how I had it setup originally - except I thought I might be eliminating options for players who wanted to play a certain race but not be restricted to the planet type attached to that race. [img]/threads/images/Graemlins/Cold.gif[/img]

I've tried to avoid any "processed" foods from the mod, with the exception of the Meat Empire, that's why I don't have junk food and things of that sort as races.

Re: Space Food Empires!
 

Hey, meat isn't processed! At least, not if you buy it direct from the source! Now, the stuff you buy in the stores...well that can be called processed, but so can oranges that are sprayed with pesticides, and vegetables that are grown with fertilizers. So I guess all of your races are "processed foods" to a certain extent! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...ies/tongue.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/shock.gif

Re: Space Food Empires!
 

What I meant by meat is processed that it comes from a cow etc. first.