Re: Carrier Battles Mod
 

The posted zip has been updated again.

You will need the imagemod CombatPack v11, which has also been updated with 25 new beam animations.

- New planetsizes. Adjusted domed/breathable stats. Micro moons added. Random colonies will now have +50% to population limit or -20% (approx) facility space.
- Added training facilities and medical facilities.
- Updated weapon animations.

Re: Carrier Battles Mod
 

Still no luck with the AI, I will be out of town all day, but when I get back I will spend an hour or two trying to get something working.

Re: Carrier Battles Mod
 

SJ, found some stuff, don't know if bugs or whatever

1st, built DD (150) and ftr, in design, does not show attack, defense, fighter etc, only Boarding ship, Space yard, heavy Bomber, civil defense base and elite troop. so unable to give them right type of design, or doesn't it matter ?

2nd built Basic ftr. shows I have to have 5% cargo, only thing listed is supply pod, I put l on and warning went away, then after I put the cockpit etc on, l ftr combat drive X, 1 arm, 1 shield, there was only 5kt left, no room for weapon. So I took off armor and shield, left enough only for the em capital missle which only fires once. no other weapon listed small enough to be put on the ftr. other then the em missles, everything else was listed at 50-150, ftrs to small for that cost.

3rd. Built DD (150), only weapons it was capable of using were missles after you put armor and shields on it. All the beam weapons other then missles, were in the 50-100 range. to big for the DD. Is this supposed to be this way.? If you strip everything off the DD, you might get 1 or 2 beam weapons only, no room for anything else.

example; DD built, had 2 arm, 2 shields, 1 anti missle missle, l anti ftr cluster missle, l anti ftr missle, 1 cap ital missle. no room for beam weapon you could eliminate some and maybe put a DUC on it, but eveything else 100-150 again don't know if this is the way its supposed to be.

Re: Carrier Battles Mod
 

Use mounts for fighter weapons.

Re: Carrier Battles Mod
 

Hi Mac.

The first one there:
You can click "add new type" when you're selecting a design type. The type names are arbitrary and have no effect on the game other than to sort your designs into handy categories when building and designing.
I have improved the default types in the latest version, though.

The rest, ZA's got it.
You have to choose a weapon mount. The guns range from 20mm to 100mm, with accuracy bonuses on the small guns, and range bonuses on the big guns.
The 20mm mount guns will cost only 1-3kt of space, so there will be plenty of room for them.

Re: Carrier Battles Mod
 

Updated again. Now 150kb.

- fixed some family conflicts.
- lobotomized AI files to the point where they don't cause errors on startup. They also do not cause crashes if you hit end turn with AIs in the game.
- Split the carrier's fighterbay/cargo requirement. Fighter bays no longer count towards the cargo requirement, and the numbers have been adjusted accordingly.
- Fixed default design types. Its pickier than I thought about spacing.
- Added a fifth support ship hull size, 250kt.
- Added AI tags for handy components. List of Tags can be found at the top of components.txt, and in-game with the component ability description (description will be removed when the mod is done).

Re: Carrier Battles Mod
 

http://imagemodserver.mine.nu/other/...ttles_beta.zip

Updated again.
- Tweaked cluster missiles to be a little more inefficient.
- Added more facilities, including some legacy cities for the homeworlds.
- Added AI tags to the resource facilities, and extended the tree a bit.
- Added Planet Plague intel attacks.
- Enhanced existing intel projects. Some log message enhancements, plus with +2 levels in applied intel, you get a "Stealth" version of the project. This allows you to attack without the enemy knowing it was you.
- Switched to the "Active Defense" style counter-intel. Counter intel is now "destroy intel project" instead of the standard defence. Increased levels in applied intel increase the stealth factor of defense from 0% to 80% to 95% to 100% at level 4.

Re: Carrier Battles Mod
 

After some live testing thanks to Combat Wombat:
- Fixed another component family conflict
- Fixed roman numerals on medical labs
- Reduced build rate of medium start Spaceyards.
- Roughly doubled the thrust from engines.
- Fixed some intel op tech requirements.

PS:
There is also a readme file attached with the mod, which lists the critical differences, and the things you're most likely to have trouble with. It also includes some hints and tips at the bottom, in case you need them.

Re: Carrier Battles Mod
 

News:
I'm currently trying out a new planet storage system.
Most planets will start with only a few thousand cargo spaces.

That'll be good for only a handful of troops and fighters.

Now, most facilities will have some amount of cargo space ability. Build farms, you can feed lots of troops. Build almost anything and your increase in infrastructure allows some more troops.
Build a city facility, and your support limit rises even more.

There are also military base facilities, which provide tons of extra storage space, and are good for staging areas or frontline planets which may come under attack.

---

I've got back and corrected the stock Methane bug in secttypes.txt.

Currently I'm working to improve the value of Ice to something at least reasonably fair.

Re: Carrier Battles Mod
 

Oooo, I like this. I like this a lot. I wonder if we should suggest something like this for stock SE5?

Re: Carrier Battles Mod
 

I have to agree, this is a brillant idea.

Re: Carrier Battles Mod
 

Wow!

This map analysis looks pretty fair to me. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif
Ice/Rock are equivalent in all categories.
Gas overcomes a facility deficit with population bonuses to end with an equal resource production.

Micro and tiny moons give the vaccuum breathers back what they lose in the larger planets.

Re: Carrier Battles Mod
 

I like that idea. Finally, an easy way to represent a planet's infrastructure.

Re: Carrier Battles Mod
 

By the way... Replacing Life support by "Crew" that give combat bonus can be good.
On little fighter it would be (I don't know how to say it in english) an optional additional crewman that fire weapon resulting in more accuracy (you know, like in WW1 fighter). On bomber it would be the crew and may not be optionnal...

Re: Carrier Battles Mod
 

If you mean just on the fighters, I think I may just do that... though it wouldn't really replace lifesupport.

Not requiring an explicit lifesupport component on the short-range (no strategic move) fighters would be quite reasonable I think. And having an optional double-cockpit for some small combat bonus would be good.

Re: Carrier Battles Mod
 

Here's what I've been working on this week:
http://imagemodserver.mine.nu/other/...us/CBintro.png

Re: Carrier Battles Mod
 

awesome screen SJ, excellent looking, can you make it a screen saver as well ?

Re: Carrier Battles Mod
 

Screensavers usually have some action in them http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

I could strip off the title text to make a desktop background though...

Re: Carrier Battles Mod
 

To Do:
- Add helpful intel projects.

This adds a lot of potential. Some things you should be able to do:

- Slip an ally some resources (negative resource steal op). This saves you the hassle of sending a political message and waiting for the acceptance message.
- Refuel a stranded ship, or provide a small boost to a warfleet.
- Insidiously lower their guard against you, allowing you to sneak in attack projects while they think you are helping them!
You can even accuse your enemy of the attacks via comm message, and hopefully provoke your "friend" into attacking your real enemy http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Re: Carrier Battles Mod
 

Now that could get interesting. I can just imaging sending a whole bunch of officers to train a friend's flagship (modded crew rotation project) and then crew insurrecting it http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif. One brand new top-of-the-line ship with 50% experience in a position to do some major damage to your too-trusting ex-friend http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/evil.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/evil.gif.

Re: Carrier Battles Mod
 

I like the sound of an officer exchange program.
Exchanging more and more officers until they exceed the original crew and then mutiny is delightfully evil http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif

Re: Carrier Battles Mod
 

I like the idea, but how would one prevent negative projects from other empires, while allowing these ones to pass from an ally?

Re: Carrier Battles Mod
 

This mod abandons the all-or-nothing counter intel projects.

Instead, you must use really cheap intel sabotage projects to discover and stop the attacks before they start.
Unless you have a lot of defending sabotage projects going against one player, you'll have to get lucky to hit their big attack. But you do have multiple turns to catch it, since the costs are pretty high.

You and an ally can also work together to prevent an enemy from attacking.

Re: Carrier Battles Mod
 

Yeah, I'm totally stealing this intelligence setup for my mod. But it'll have to wait until I at least release what I have!

Re: Carrier Battles Mod
 

http://imagemodserver.mine.nu/other/...attlesv1.0.zip

- Plugged in the intro screens.
- Added an improve planet conditions intel op, among the ones mentioned previously. The Un-steal supplies op dosen't work unfortunately.
- Reduced fighter ECM % a bit, so ships will have a decent chance with the 20mm guns.
- Filled out the systemnames file with 10 names for each letter.

I've also built up a nice set of ships in the demo test game.

Re: Carrier Battles Mod
 

Says there is nothing there from the link...and I'm not a dummy... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...ies/tongue.gif

Edit: Yet I was smart enough to find it though...link is still broke...

Kana

Re: Carrier Battles Mod
 

*SJ makes a sacrifice to Dmeon Lrod Tyopo and all is returned to normal.

Re: Carrier Battles Mod
 

http://imagemodserver.mine.nu/other/...arrierBattles/

Updated again.
- Until the combat replay generation code is fixed, I've pulled the anti-missile tech, and scaled down the CSM damage.
- Added a few tweaks to component families, so the "only latest" view is handier.
- Added command pods for the 50kt troops at max tech, which provide combat bonuses. I'll probably lower the tech requirements in a later version.

Your carriers will have to carry more interceptors to fully compensate for the lack of AMMs.

PS:
The default settings are to use 10 system maps. Feel free to increase this once you get the hang of it.

Re: Carrier Battles Mod
 

"- Until the combat replay generation code is fixed, I've pulled the anti-missile tech, and scaled down the CSM damage."

What was the problem here?

Re: Carrier Battles Mod
 

Some sort of debug error while writing to the file, it kills the host process.

---

If you want, you can go into settings.txt and set:
Create combat replay := False

Then go into techarea.txt, to the "Point Defense Missiles" section, and set:
Maximum Levels :=5

If you are playing a game without replays, there will be no problem, and you can take advantage of the expanded design options.

Re: Carrier Battles Mod
 

Thanks to Geo, the Carrier Battles Mod is installed and playable on PBW already!

I'm going to open a couple small PBW games for people to join.

NOTE:
Be sure to play single player against the "AI"s in order to get yourself aquainted with the system.

They won't offer any resistance, but make sure you can get a new colony established, and design a warship capable of moving to, and attacking a neutral planet.

And read the Important!Readme.txt http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif It has many tips, and lists the pitfalls you are likely to encounter.

----

Carrier Battles #2
==================
- Four player slots.
- Medium tech start to get things moving.
- 2000 racial points.
- Small map, 5-10 systems per player.
- # of homeplanets, value to be determined by players. Probably either 1 good planet, or 3 medium/poor planets.

Re: Carrier Battles Mod
 

I have posted a review of the Carrier Battles mod on my site http://www.secenter.org/

Re: Carrier Battles Mod
 

BTW, the Null planets thing has already been fixed.

Re: Carrier Battles Mod
 

I don't know if these are bugs or not...but a few turns into the CB#2 i've noticed the following...

Most FTR weapons not using supplies...is this intended? IE Laser Cannons, Plasma Cannons...These same weapons also apply to regular ship weapons as well...

Multiple FTR enignes displayed...FCD 1,3,4 all at once...

Are FTR drive operating like ships engines...multiples of type allow faster in combat movement?

If FTR weapons/components are not using supplies (other than torps, missiles, DUCs), then what use is the required supply pod?

Kana

Re: Carrier Battles Mod
 

Without supply you'll be stuck at one speed, even if your engines don't require supply.
Its a safety net so you don't design useless fighters.

Only one fighter drive is effective per vehicle.
However, the more powerful engines are also larger.
You will commonly wish to use an older, smaller drive on your heavy bombers in order to cram another missile launcher on them. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

The energy weapons do not use supply, but have a correspondingly massive cost in radioactives to power them.
They are a bit weaker and more expensive, but will be pretty much required for any extended sortie into enemy space.
Meanwhile, if you are sitting on a resupply depot, you are free to expend the cheap and powerful ordnance without worring about running dry. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Re: Carrier Battles Mod
 

Then wouldn't the display progression be 2,4,6...if the next corresponding engine is slightly less space?

Also on the EM-Missiles...Yes they have supply cost...but I would see these as more of a one shot single missile, like a harpoon, or hellfire...especially considering their rate of fire...so why a supply cost? Seems redundant...just my opinion...

Kana

Re: Carrier Battles Mod
 

On the fighter, perhaps. They are also usable on ships and bases, which need to account for the shots spread over multiple combats.

The EM-CSMs can be fired a second time in combat if you have enough supply points and survival time.

---

The fighter drives alternate bigger/faster, then smaller/tougher
They are grouped by speed. The level 2 is faster than level1, while the level 3 is the same speed as 2 but smaller.
Thus #3 obsoletes #2, but not #1, since #1 is still smaller than #3

Re: Carrier Battles Mod
 

Wouldn't it be far, far less confusing to just have two separate lines of engines for that? Complete with different names...

Re: Carrier Battles Mod
 

Its a progression...

level 1 = speed 2
level 2,3 = speed 3
level 4,5 = speed 4
etc.

Where the advanced version at each speed is miniaturized yet still bigger than the slower drives.

Re: Carrier Battles Mod
 

Right, it is a progression... it would still be a progression with two separate lines of components. You have your big, cutting edge engines for blazing speed and your smaller, more efficient engines. Is something wrong with giving them separate names and families to make the distinction more clear? The same goal would be achieved, minus any possible confusion.

Re: Carrier Battles Mod
 

i dont see any confustion, nor do i see how you could seperate it into two trees.

speed and size are both variable, so you would need a seperate branch for each speed. which is what there is, for fighter engines.

Re: Carrier Battles Mod
 

Look back in the thread... There is most certainly confusion.

Re: Carrier Battles Mod
 

There aren't two branches to work with here...

It is simply a semi-QNP system for the fighters.
You can get 2 speed with 3kt of engine, or 6 speed with 9kt of engine, or various middle options.

Only the best engine of each speed is shown. Pick your fighter speed from the list of options, and pay the tonnage cost.

Re: Carrier Battles Mod
 

Some expanded fighter tech, to level 5.

Added:
- Stealth Fighter: Huge defense bonus, small attack bonus.
- ER Heavy Fighter: Strategic movement AND big!

Re: Carrier Battles Mod
 

A truly massive battle, which turned the tide in Carrier Battles #4 (v1.1):
Over 500 fighters, and 100 ships at a devastating warppoint assault.
http://imagemodserver.mine.nu/other/...uperbattle.png

Re: Carrier Battles Mod
 

Some one is about to get spanked, and spanked hard!

Re: Carrier Battles Mod
 

Yea I did
Kinda kinky too... lol

It was more or less a draw, but my fleet got damaged enough for SJ to sweep up a few turns later

Re: Carrier Battles Mod
 

Actually, both did http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif

The Jraenar fleet was wiped out over about 70 rounds of combat total, but the Xiati fleet suffered badly too; three quarters of the ships ended up crippled with 50-70% damage, and about a fifth of the force was destroyed.

Re: Carrier Battles Mod
 

This just goes to show you, never go up against the guy who made the mod...... you loose every time. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Re: Carrier Battles Mod
 

"What I didn't tell you about that clever component/tech tree/facility? It must have slipped my mind AND the documentation. I'll have to fix that for the next release!" http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif