Re: Balance Mod
 

It's an interesting idea, but would require at least a bit of hard-code change, such as allowing the use of formulas in the maintenance settings.

I could probably do something off the record with the event script to do this now, but it would be difficult to communicate to the player. I would definitely consider doing something like this is my next mod, where each turn I would create an event under "corruption" etc. that advised how many resources were lost due to various factors.

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In terms of expansion, the maintenance increase will reduce ship and unit counts, not just due to their higher support costs, but also due to the increased facility maintenance fees. This means you won't be able to support quite the amount of colony ships or total construction queues you were prior to the change - thus reducing expansion to some degree.

Re: Balance Mod
 

...Could you increase the actual cost of stuff by empire size?

Re: Balance Mod
 

Leaky Intel needs some number tweaking as well. I'm not sure if its the large amount of Intel we are hitting each other with or the intel formula being a little too loose (leaky).

Re: Balance Mod
 

Yes, I find it a little bit too leaky too:
22-29% of sucess when both players have the same intel points (counting the 20% bonus of the defending player) is probably a little bit too high.

Re: Balance Mod
 

It's a combination of two factors. First, the defense contribution to the formula should probably be weighted heavier in the formula. Second, I have already increased project costs for v1.09, which should help reduce the overall number of projects being executed per turn.

Re: Balance Mod
 

Its a tough one to balance. i love intel, so i'm not just trying to get it lowered. Just hoping we can find a happy medium that works well.

Re: Balance Mod
 

I'd love some diplomacy balancing too. If I get a good start or a bad start, none of the AI will agree to a treaty, even if it is in their best interest. I get rather annoyed when it is clear after 20 turns that the game is going to be nothing but clobbering.

Re: Balance Mod
 

can the AI ask and accept a treaty which is not colonize each others systems?

Re: Balance Mod
 

Yes. The key factor is a mix of anger/fear versus your Empire.

Re: Balance Mod
 

Hi Kwok

Will be getting the 1.09 version VERY SOON!!!!
Dont want to start another campaign if there is one being released in the next 2 days???

Drew

Re: Balance Mod
 

v1.09 will require the next SE:V patch, so it depends on when that happens and if/when I can upload it while I'm away on holidays.

Re: Balance Mod
 

Greetings!

I'll be away on holiday from July 5th-24th.

I won't really have internet access until July 16th. I might be able to post a patch for the mod around then if MM releases the next SE:V patch. If not, you'll have to wait another week.

Re: Balance Mod
 

So where is the list of all the stuff that got changed?

Re: Balance Mod
 

I see Kwok is on holiday. Well anyway I am having a persistent problem with any ship/base designed to have remote resource gatherers. The design vanishes by the next turn. I an ancient temporal race if that matters. I sent the turn to Aaron.

Re: Balance Mod
 

Greetings!

The link below has an updated set of miltia values to correct a bug with miltia amounts in v1.44 of SE:V.

http://www.captainkwok.net/files/Settings.zip

Download and unzip to your Balance Mod's data folder.

Re: Balance Mod
 

Can I play with BM 1.08 and SEV 1.44? Are they compatible?

Re: Balance Mod
 

I set it up on PBW. If it's not capatible someone let me know and I'll take it down.

Re: Balance Mod
 

yes it's fine.

Re: Balance Mod
 

Well patch 1.44 would speed up your game and it does in vanilla game , but used with BM 1.08 there's still that memory leak that i don't have with vanilla one . Also i noticed a lot of damaged ships when i am not in war with anyone and the log wouldn't say a thing about this , and i have some 1 movement point ships too all these things while i am around turn 70

Re: Balance Mod
 

Well, I went ahead and install 1.44, and have noticed no problem with my 1.08 game. Hopefully, when the BM 1.09 (or whatever number it is ) comes out, I can still play my old game.

Re: Balance Mod
 

I'll be posting v1.09 tonight. Just need to run a few quick tests to make sure a few changes that were made are working as intended.

---

I'm also starting on work for v1.10 this weekend. I'm looking for some ideas to govern the AI's use of WP openers and closers - I'll be adding that functionality in for v1.10.

Re: Balance Mod v1.09 Available!
 

Greetings!

After a brief hiatus, the next version of the Balance Mod has been posted. The v1.09 update focuses on AI improvements and some adjustments to the intel system. There's also the usually batch of small fixes and tweaks.

Note you'll need SE:V v1.44 to use v1.09 and save games should be ok upgrading to the new version. Note this is the last version that will be compatible with the v105+ BM folder. The next update, v1.10, will definitely be a PBW and save game buster.

Grab v1.09 here:
http://www.captainkwok.net/balancemod.php

<font class="small">Code:</font><hr /><pre>
Version 1.09 (27 July 2007)
---------------------------

1. Fixed - Error in ability amount for small ECM
2. Changed - Increased cost of Colony Module components
3. Changed - Increased shield points for Small Shield Generator
4. Changed - Increased structure for Small Emissive Armor
5. Changed - Fixed error in Militia amounts in settings.txt
6. Changed - Fixed error with some unique ruin technologies never being available
7. Changed - AI will no longer devevelop intel operations when intelligence is not allowed by the game setup
8. Fixed - Error in Change Crew Experience intel project
9. Changed - The intel project for a planet to rebel will no longer spawn a new empire, but join
the source Empire
10. Changed - In order for a planet to rebel due to intelligence, the population must be very unhappy
11. Changed - The amount of disruption to another Empire's research or intel due to an intel project is more variable
12. Changed - Adjusted the costs to conduct some intel projects
13. Fixed - Error with Drushocka weapon selection
14. Fixed - Some races did not have a Small Secondary Weapon designation
15. Fixed - Sometimes AI Fighter Bomber design had no weapons
16. Fixed - Error in Sithrak fighter weapon selection
17. Fixed - AIs in team mode sometimes broke treaties they had with each other
18. Changed - AI will research more efficiently by spending only the points require to reach the next level
19. Added - New locations for AI to hold their fleets while they wait for ships to join
20. Changed - Slightly increased AI use of Weapon Platforms
21. Changed - Tweaked AI's anger values towards other empires with respect to war, treaty, or known status types
22. Changed - Modified the AI's anger calculation to be more dynamic
23. Fixed - Sometimes specific Empire AI values for political settings were being overridden by default values
24. Fixed - Error that resulted in the AI building too many Resuppy Depots on some colonies
25. Updated - AI Scripts
</pre><hr />

Re: Balance Mod v1.09 Available!
 

Between 1.44 and the BM 1.09, these are some of the most significant improvements yet! Thanks for your continued dedication, Kwok!

Re: Balance Mod v1.09 Available!
 

If you've downloaded the mod in the last 45 minutes - delete the soundeffects.txt file in the data folder. I've left in my custom sound file (again) and it will cause an error.

The .zip/.rar file on my site has been updated as of now. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...ies/tongue.gif

Re: Balance Mod v1.09 Available!
 

Is the differences btwn 1.08 and 1.09 largely for single player games? Would it be much of a difference in an entirely multiplayer (no AI) game?

Thanks,

Javaslinger

Re: Balance Mod v1.09 Available!
 

The changes to intel would be important to PBW games.

Re: Balance Mod v1.09 Available!
 

That's why I'm sure plenty of people are interested in AI Scripts files... Is there any way to get them directly from your mod?

Re: Balance Mod v1.09 Available!
 

I'll be putting together a little AI patch for v1.09 to fix a couple of bugs that were found in the next day or so. I'll post the source scripts once that patch is posted.

Re: Balance Mod v1.09 Available!
 

Thank you again Kwok for your work.
As I could not play much version 1.09, I dont't know if you already made some chances how the AI handles resupply.
In my last game (version 1.08) the AI have in team mod 10x more ships than I have but they run out of supplies and are therefore crippled. I suggest two solutions:
1.) Let the AI research solar collectors early and include 1-2 of these components in each ship design.
2.) Let the AI make treaties that share supplies (if this feature is functional, I never tested it).

Re: Balance Mod v1.09 Available!
 

I didn't do anything directly to effect how the AI supplies in v1.09 - however I did put more emphasis on Supply Ships to be built earlier. Solar Collectors are designated as an early area to research and the Supply Ships will add a number of collectors if they're available.

However, I should probably dedicate some time to track the resupply issue to figure out the leading causes. From a script perspective, there's a few precautionary measures that should be reducing the frequency, but they don't seem to be working all that well.

Re: Balance Mod v1.09 Available!
 

As a human player I use solar 1-2 collectors on almost all ships as specialized supply ships may not be at the place you need them most!
I just tested the share resupply treaty element and it seems to work.

Re: Balance Mod v1.09 Available!
 

I could have the AI add solar collectors on larger ships without much problem. Currently they're added to Supply Ships and Scout/Explorer Ships.

The element for sharing supplies is sometimes added to trade level treaties, always included for military alliance and partnership level treaties. It should be more common in the latest patch between friendly AIs.

Re: Balance Mod v1.09 Update
 

I'll be posting a mini AI patch for v1.09 on Friday morning. It will address a couple of items such as the new AI team mode bug, the AI no surrender bug, and a few other things.

Re: Balance Mod v1.09 Update
 

Some more observations regarding resupply of AI empires:

It is a game with me as human empire against 11 AI empires in team mod in a galaxy of about 150 systems at 2418.0.
The AI empires are huge compared with my empire with large number of ships: Sergetti have around 750 ships and they are not the biggest AI empire. They do have treaties with supplies sharing. They have researched solar collectors, but no ship design is using them (light cruiser is the current ship size with solar sails). As a consequence 3/4 of all ships are on low supplies, many of them have zero supplies which prevents almost all attacks on me.

Re: Balance Mod v1.09 Update
 

I've been able to figure out why the ship's were not resupplying as they should be. It turns out the boolean variable I was using to mark certain design types to never resupply was being applied to all design types. It's default value was false and I never had a condition that made it true. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...ies/tongue.gif

That's the second bug like this in the last day that have caused an issue. Previously a similar issue was preventing the AI from surrendering with an incorrect result in a calculation resulting in an always false statement.

Re: Balance Mod v1.09 Update
 

But you can be proud of your AI: AI empires with hundreds of ships, good research, robust economy.
I use now your mod as a basis to create my own mod.

Re: Balance Mod v1.09 AI Update
 

Greetings!

I've posted an updated set of scripts for v1.09 of the Balance Mod. The updated scripts fix a number of issues including AI resupply and surrender, team mode, and a few design issues.

Just extract the scripts to your Balance Mod folder. It will overwrite the existing scripts with the new ones. If you haven't installed v1.09 of the mod, do that first before applying the AI patch.

You can find the AI patch and v1.09 here: http://www.captainkwok.net/balancemod.php

I've also posted the source scripts as well.

Re: Balance Mod v1.09 AI Update
 

Thank you, Captain Kwok. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Re: Balance Mod v1.09 AI Update
 

AI version 1.09:

The AI empires seems very reluctant to attack warp points in systems, where they have no sight. It is possible that this is due to the lack of memory for enemy colonies, but I looked at the AI Orders Ship Script and didn't find any attack locations for warp points. In situations where the AI does not see any ememy ships and colonies, it would be good if he attacks with fleets warp points adjacent to his systems.
At present he sends only scout ships but these have of course no chance even against moderate warp point defenses.

Re: Balance Mod v1.09 AI Update
 

Will having a mix of 1.08/1.09 and the ai/militia patches cause problems with a game? I am in one BM game that has no problems and another which can't get past the first turn without an unknown fatal error.

Re: Balance Mod v1.09 AI Update
 

Why would you "mix" 1.08 and 1.09?

Re: Balance Mod v1.09 AI Update
 

I'd recommend adding some "repair facility" ability to each planet on the next revision.

Re: Balance Mod v1.09 AI Update
 

We wonder if the reason the game won't work is because some players have 1.08 and some might have 1.09, and then some might have the little ai or militia upgrade and some might not. I don't know if a little difference in the ai or militia file might cause the game to crash on the second turn.

Re: Balance Mod v1.09 AI Update
 

This is probibly more of an FQM bug, but the system names file has Lezzari twice...

Though will this just cause it to be twice as likely to be included as a system? will it allow there to be more than one system of the same name?

Re: Balance Mod v1.09 AI Update
 

Yes, the Lezzari system can be added twice in the one game. It is fine in the Standard game, but doubled in BalMod &amp; JunkYards. Thanks in advance for fixing this HUGE problem, Guys http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif

Re: Balance Mod v1.09 AI Update
 

to Randallw: are you talking about a multiplayer game? In that case, it probably would be for the best for every player to use the same version of BM anyway...

Re: Balance Mod v1.09 AI Update
 

Kwok:

I haven't tested this in a game with out the balace mod, but when you select multiple ships and then change systems to issue orders, it clears the selection of ships, I've had to either put the ships into fleets and then disband them when they get to the destination, or issue orders for a single system ie: warping through a warp point, then after those are done issueing orders for the new sytstem.

also on intel, i'm getting messages that suggest enemy intel attacks are succeding, but in the intel screen I have no failures on intel defense.

Re: Balance Mod v1.09 AI Update
 

I have seen this happen too. The event log at the start of my turn lists enemy intel operations that have occurred against my empire, seemingly successfully. However, in the Intel screen, Intel Defense shows all successes, like 10/10 for example. So far these intel attacks have all been espionage-type operations so I don't know whether they really succeeded or not.

Re: Balance Mod v1.09 AI Update
 

se5a said:
"This is probibly more of an FQM bug, but the system names file has Lezzari twice..."

Balance Mod uses the stock SystemNames.txt, with a bunch of stuff added by Kwok.

Re: Balance Mod
 

Yes, there is a current bug in the mod with the tracking of intel stats.

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There was an error in the script that was allowing intel projects to be executed even if they should have failed. I posted an updated script here:
http://www.spaceempires.net/home/ftopict-2977.html