Re: Balance Mod Available for SE:V
 

Then the AI should at least check for colonsation tech/home planet type .. it does not make much sense to intersettle with someone who has the same planet type.
Btw., it's a PITA to have all those colonies scattered all over the map, if you agree to such a treaty, therefore I don't really like that ....


This time, things got even worse ... got full cooperation treaty suggestion from the Terrans the very turn I met them .. when they shouldn't be able to send me messages at all, AFAIK.
I'm pretty much sure, though, that the Abbiddon in the last game send that message 2 or 3 turn after I met them, so that impossible message can't be the cause in itself ...
Email with savegame is on its way !

Re: Balance Mod Available for SE:V
 

There does seem to be an issue that I'll have to look into. Maybe a few days from now though since I'm moving. :P

Re: Balance Mod Available for SE:V
 

Good luck on the move. And remember, nothing thanks movers like pizza and drinks.

Re: Balance Mod Available for SE:V
 

:?: Hope moving went well :?:

I agree the AI needs "more" planets because it's generally building quite ineffectively, and does not understand how plan ahead for balanced ressource production. But isn't this not as much a problem of "how many planets" but of "how many building slots", as the AI tends to fill up its planets quickly according to its currents needs, and therefore e.g. ends up putting rad extractors, and only those, on designated research colonies with 98% rad? And o.c. it does in no way understand that 2 tiny domed colonies in a star system have no economical value whatsoever and are only useful as a military base ...
I feel that it might work much better to give the tiny/small/medium planets a bit of a boost, especially the domed ones, instead of having everyone be nice to each other and settle in the very same star system ... :

AI treaty conclusions
Having the AI be friend and make treaties with everyone can detrimental to the game: Not only that all the scattered colonies because of intersettling are a MM-PITA, running 150 turns on a big quadrant with 14 full AI (no neutrals) always had only ~3 wars going on, triggered by the xhenophobes etc. And that with thousands of ships milling around (and worsening end turn times) - effectively doing absolutely nothing !
Where's the fun, the action ???!!!
We need some hefty negative diplo modifiers for having the same planet type/atmosphere, and o.c. more Gas Giant / Ice Planet dwellers, as atm it's gas - ice - rock 1:3:9.
Aren't there some nice shipsets out there which could be used - I would gladly try to write up some race description and make some design suggestion, but have no clue about doing the AI files :dk:

Research Treaties
While cutting down the research areas to a handful of levels (compared to the stock game) surely makes things more managable and fun, yet it looks like it's overdone in some regard: research treaties below the "exchange current tech"-level, which only should be offered at best relation levels, are basically worthless, as quite some techs never will be traded at "2 levels old" (mostly the "barrier" techs, but hulls/engines are generally only researched to lvl3 as well..), and basically no tech will be traded with the "4 levels old" agreement.
IMHO, some tech levels should be added in again. Maybe empty "dummy" levels to keep the number of different components low, like those already present in some tech areas. On the other hand, with formula-driven values having more tech levels does not make much of a difference in that regard, right?

Typo:
Components.txt is missing a "%" character on line 5150 :
"Ability 2 Description := Plasma Missiles have a [%Amount1%]% defense bonus,... "

Re: Balance Mod Available for SE:V
 

Hello Captain Kwok... I agree with Arralen on the AI treaty conclusions and Research Treaties. I've also recognized another problem with the AI opponents which comes in two parts.

A) AI opponents should use Fighter Bays for transporting cargo instead of Cargo Bays. The reason is because the AI opponents will have ships with Troops and Fighters which almost always results in all the cargo being lost in battle. If the AI opponents were using the Fighter Bays instead at least some of those fighters could make a fighting difference before dying. The AI opponents just aren't smart enough to safely utilize the large size from cargo bays.

B) AI opponents with ships carrying cargo should drop off their cargo during battle for planets which belong to the AI opponents. In a recent battle at one of the planets belonging to the AI opponent, it had one of its cargo ships in space holding lots of fighters and troops. Instead of unloading those on its nearby planet it marched towards my 15+ ships with 50+ fighters. The AI opponent foolishly lost all those troops and fighters. I realize improving the AI opponent for the battlefield may be more difficult, but this would be helpful.

B)

Re: Balance Mod Available for SE:V
 

Arralen,

Working on identifying what the issue might be. In that current game, the Terrans shouldn\'t be offering anything more than a typical non-intercourse type treaty based on their current anger level/mood towards your empire. I\'ve put on a thread at SE.net to gather any additional information on when this sort of behavior is encountered.

NTJedi,

I\'ve re-implemented the previous AI task force scheme for the next patch and future versions. It will send transport ships in fleets to flee when in a fleet.

Re: Balance Mod Available for SE:V
 

Kwok, are you a genius, did you achieve real AI or are there even more problems with the AI being that friendly to each other and the player ?!?!

AI treaty conclusions - again
Situation: I finally gave in and signed a intersettling treaty with the Urka-Tal, which are several systems away and ,like me, battling the Sithrak. And because I was a bit behind in tech to them (and had half of what the leading Abbidon had, which have a tech lead of at least 30% in every game), I added a "current tech exchange" to the treaty.
Next turn, I gave them 2 minor techs, got a couple from them and everything looked o.k., but unspectacular. But during the next 10 turns, more and more techs started to trickle in, up to the point that I switched to researching racial techs and still get>1 standard tech per turn.
So I logged into some AI turns and looked what happened: Obviously, the Abbidon have a good lead with 206K research and 173 tech levels. But the Ukra-Tal (43k research) signed tech exchange treaties with me (57k research, current tech exch.), the Norak (85k research, curr.t.e.), the Xi'Chung (18k,4 lvls old), Jraenar (28k, ALL tech!!), Drushoka (42k, ALL tech!!) ... totalling 256k research .. quite enough to equalize the Abbidon research lead in a reasonable amount of time!
Now I wonder if the AI did that on purpose. Sadly, I have the nagging suspicion that it happened just by chance ... and because the AI is too eager to sign exchange/intersettling/etc treaties.
Furthermore I feel this changes the nature of SE5 completely, turning it from a more-or-less militaristic strategy game into a game of diplomacy (pun? whats that?). Now if I was sure that alliances, especially with the AI, would work correctly, .. are all those issues worked out with the latest patch now? Even if they do - do we really want to change SE5 that much?
I think it would be a more "safe" route to let the AI prefer smaller groups which then fight each other for dominance - presumed that something could be done about the Abbidons being the leader in every game, which has to do with the planet type/atmosphere distribution between races and in the galaxies I guess.(I'll check both if I find the time and motivation ;) )

.. plus AIs colonists handling:
More on the situation: The Ukra-Tal wanted migration as well, and now colonists from all over the galaxy are starting to move in on my planets, allowing me to un-dome lots of colonies - is the AI able to do that, I'm pretty sure it isn't .. at least the Urka-Tal only have 2 obsolete small transports running, which are shuffling colonists out from the home worlds at a snails pace. No sign that they care about the immigrants.
IMHO, the AI still needs to build more pop transports. I'm not sure if something could be done 'bout the migration which strongly prefers the human player as long as the AI does not understand how to handle the different breathers.


AI (commanded) transports on the battlefield
Dunno what those latest changes will do, but at least for my fleets in simultanious mode the following works much better than arming troop transports:
Troop Transport
- small freighter hull for max speed
- min. number of cargo pods
- adding PD(1, better 2), combat sensors
- adding shields, armor
- setting "capture planet"

Task Force
- set to "attack: capture planet", "defense: don't get hurt"
- "capture planet" uses (break form. immediatly: false / core ships lost: true / drop troops: true / capture ships: false / launch units: true / retreat: move in group)
- transport as leader
- add 2-4 beam attack ships (those should have PD as well)
- 50% beamers into core, 50% beamers into escort
- formation "attack: flying V", "defense: **unsure, depending on no. of ships"

Other Task Forces
- set to "optimal/maximum range"

Every time I tried, the Ground Assault TFs headed straight for the planet to drop troops and retreated promptly afterwards, and the Combat TFs turned away as soon as there was no enemy unit left fit for fighting spaceborne targets. I'm not sure, but I think the GA TF even regrouped to "don't get hurt/defense" tactics/formation.
No planet was accidently glassed, though I presume that could happen if enough missile ships launch at a planet to kill the last assets present which could fire at ships. Nothing that could be done 'bout that I guess. S*** happens ...
And in no combat situation the troop transport (or the whole GA taskforce) tried to mingle with enemy ships, unless it found itself stuck within a group after WH transit. And even then the GA taskforce tried to retreat from the battle as fast as it could.
IMHO this is exactly the wanted behaviour for troop transports, isn't it?

Re: Balance Mod Available for SE:V
 

planet / atmosphere type distribution and gas giant dwellers
Why is it that the Abiddon are 1st in every game, unless the EEE are in as well - then both are leading the score list 90% of the time.

Well, let's asume the planet/atmosphere type distribution is 100% flat with the only exception that there are no planets with the combination of "gas giant / no atmosphere", for obvious reasons.
Because the %tage of planets with breathable atmosphere for gas giant dwellers therefore is 25% instead of 20% of planets, they get a facility space bonus of 11% for free !!

Furthermore, I'm not entirely convinced that the dstribution is entirely "flat", but the random factor seems quite high so I have to generate several max size "paradise" quadrants and count planets to get meaningful statistics.
Will take some time, if I ever finish that, because it's tedious and time-consuming work. Unless someone figures a way to dump the quadrant data to a file and run it through a script to grab the numbers ...

Re: Balance Mod Available for SE:V
 

An AI that is behind in tech will seek out the treaty element for technology exchange. It's unfortunate though that SE5's treaty element is actually exchange of tech levels, it would be much better for the game if it were just a trade of tech points.

Both the Abbidon and EEE are friendly peaceful races, so they tend to make the most treaties and gain points through trade and tech exchange.

The AI does un-dome its planets and actually quite quickly as well. It spaces non-breathing population when a breathable population is on the same planet. It does know enough to not drop non-breathing races on un-domed planets afterwards. It also uses idle Cargo Transports or Colony Ships as population transports.

Re: Balance Mod Available for SE:V
 

Interestingly enough, the Urka-Tal only asked for "recent" tech, IIRC, it was I who switched to "current tech" and they agreed - and then within the next dozend turns they made tech exchange treaties with the other mid-level rated empires, just enough to beat the Abiddon.

Read carefully ;) ... the Abiddon do not have a single tech exchange treaty, but intersettle with everyone but me :) Yet they have the tech lead since the first few turns, simply they have 11% better planets (EEE are not in the game).
What amazes me most is that the Urka-Tal actually got an alliance together to keep up with the Abiddon ... if this is really deliberate behaviour of the AI, is great! (Even though they make no move to found a "real" alliance :( )
Now I wonder what happens if the Abiddons actually get "overtaken" .. will the AI nullify those tech exchange treaties? Guess it will take some time to find out, because turn generation times are >10 minutes now, and climbing :/

- it does space pop o.k., it seems. What is a shame,btw., but can't be helped *sigh*
- wasn't able to check if it does not re-dome, because those 2-4 small pop transports always seem to run between the homeworlds and some outlying colonies. Chances to "catch" one that is about to drop on an undomed colony seem slim ... especially if that "wrong" pop gets spaced again next turn ;)

Sorry to disappoint you here, but it doesn't.
Might be because it always builds so many troops that it simply has no idle troop transports, and it seems it tries to colonise worlds which have been empty 100 turns ago, then after a flight time of 15 turns or more finds them taken already and assigns the next colonisation target, again 15 turns or more away - so the colonisers never get idle as well, or maybe only very late in the game. (but by then planets have been glassed, and the whole thing starts again).
However, I looked through the AI turns and did not find ONE troop transport or colony ship that did pop transport runs ... .
And with e.g. the Abiddons having 3 homeworlds with maxed out pop, 114 colonies and 4(!) small pop transports, their pop movement capacity is clearly way too low. More in order IMHO would be one ship per 10-15 planets.

Re: Balance Mod Available for SE:V
 

The Abbidon use the Advanced Storage Techniques trait, which gives them 20% more facility space. Fyron\'s generally balanced out the distribution of facility space amongst planet types.

\"Spacing\" population is crude, but it\'s very effective. Dome planets generally have low populations and slow growth, so the population increase from migration and population growth of native breathers makes up the loss (and probably results in a net gain of population) versus transporting the population. There\'s no reason why I can\'t make the AI do it the long way, but it is less effective.

It surely does, but the prerequisite is that the ships have to be idle (ie excess Colony Ships) or if there is a zero population planet (hijack Cargo Transport). In general, population migration is faster for moving breather populations around. The AI\'s primary strategy with their transports is to get their domed planets to the 40/50M level for 100% production efficiency. If anything though, a small boost is probably needed in the overall numbers of population transports.

Re: Balance Mod Available for SE:V
 

Generally speaking, it pretty much ****** it up - and I ran test games and counted the planets, and found the following not only theoretically, but actually true:
While ice/rock dwellers have "Oyxgen", "None", "Methane", "Hydrogen" and "Carb.Diox." as atmospheres to chose from (and each one has a 20% probability of occurence), there are no gas giants of "none" atmosphere type, giving each other type a 25% of occurence.

Therefore, for the first 2 race types 20% of planets are breathable, while for gas giant dwellers 25% of planets are breathable.

This gives them a -theoretical- planet size advantage of 11%, or even 28% with "Advanced Storage Techniques".

This could have been accounted for by making gas giant smaller on average, but that would not only be counter-intuitive, it doesn't not seem to be the case anyway. Though I must admit that planet sizes seem highly random, and counting 961 planets does not result in sufficiently "obvious" results.


I didn't say the AI isn't able to, but I said I never found it actually doing so, most likely simpy because it never let's the ships in question go idle ...


small missile weapons
The numbers on the Small Rocket Pods and Small Anti-Matter Missiles are off; while all other small weapons (ok, those I checked ..) are 10% size, 20% damage of their bigger counterparts, this is not true for the missiles. SAMM has double size, and damage numbers are way too high, especially compared to special weapons like bombs and kamikaze warheads, which are thoroughly outclassed and useless therefore.
Furthermore, SRPs are classed as "direct fire", what is a bug obviously carried over from Vanilla ...

weapon mounts
Is is possible for a weapon mount to
- add a negative "to-hit" modifier, while keeping a positive "to-hit-at-range" modifier, to simulate the biggers guns being harder to aim at small targets, but the bigger shell/beam being more "steady" ?
- take away a target type from the list; no more shooting of extra heavy main guns at flimsy fighters?

fighter balance
I found fighters seriously lacking, unless one uses the ridiculously overpowered SRPs ... and that with the 100% boosted damage in BM :(
But this doesn't seem so much a damage thing but a survivability thing: even small fighters (max def bonus) with up-to-date ECM are easily shot down at max range by main guns it seems - and against those all shields and armors you can slap on a fighter are quite useless.
Therefore, a big def bonus seem to be in order, combined with an att bonus on PD, which in turns makes the seeker needing rebalancing as well ... :(
Could understand if you're not that happy with this proposition ;)

edit: PS: Tried to fix those small weapons issues myself, but I'm running into trouble with that damage-over-range thingy ... . If I get it working, I'll post the lines from components.txt here.

Re: Balance Mod Available for SE:V
 

Another way to compensate for that advantage would be to make gas giants slightly less numerous than their icey/rocky counterparts. I suspect that this is probably the method Fyron used in balancing his systems mod.

Just my highly overpriced 2 cents.

Re: Balance Mod Available for SE:V
 

Isn't the case - my test sample yielded 31.8% rock, 34.3% ice and 33.8% gas type planets ...


Oh, how long 'til the next part of your story is ready and posted? ;)

Re: Balance Mod Available for SE:V
 

Small Rocket Pods have traditionally been direct fire weapons in the Space Empires series, so it's intentional. However, that is changing to v1.20 of the Balance Mod with the introduction of the small seekers...

Brief summary of changes are listed here:
http://home.spaceempires.net/ftopict-6632.html

Currently, you'll notice both the SRPs and SAMTs have different firing rates than their regular counterparts, while most other small direct fire weapons have matching rates. In the classical comparison of dmg/kT/sec, they're a bit lower than most of the other direct fire weapons. They do have good upfront damage versus ships with emissive armor. Previously SRPs weren't able to target fighters, but they can know. Although in this respect they are a little overpowered, but that's part of the reason for the small seeker overhaul for v1.20. The higher level of ordnance usage does make them a bit more management intensive when used in large numbers.

Regarding fighters it general, I've found through feedback over the last few years that it's really about how they are being used. Some claim they are too strong, others not strong enough. As with many SE:V strategies it seems to be a matter of "dedication" to the strategy. For fighter or seeker weapon strategies to work well, it has to be a full commitment or the results won't be there etc.

You can't change the valid target types using a mount. You'll notice that some of the biggest damage items don't target them at all for this reason. While I can provide a gross bonus/penalty to the to-hit value, I can't alter the to-hit at range decay using a mount.

Re: Balance Mod Available for SE:V
 

Fyron will have to comment on the planet aspect. I believed they had been balanced from a facility total perspective based on balance work done for SE:IV using SJ's planet distribution tool...?

Re: Balance Mod Available for SE:V
 

While there are no none-atmosphere gas giants, all the gas giants are medium or larger.
You also need fewer colonizers to grab more facility slots, which helps during the initial rush, but you'll get fewer ruins too.

Best to fire up the map analyser and look at all the pie charts and tables yourself :)
http://imagemodserver.mine.nu/other/...E4mapstats.rar

Re: Balance Mod Available for SE:V
 

It doesn't work with SE:V's data files SJ. File name differences I guess. :P

Re: Balance Mod Available for SE:V
 

This is not true in SE5 - check the attached graphic.
Numbers are from an actual game, and show some interesting things:

- atmosphere distribution for rock/ice is nearly exactly 20% each, but 25% for gas giants
- planet types appear with 33% probability each
- size distribution is either highly random, or totally ****** ** for some type/atmosphere combinations
- there's nothing to be seen of some special balancing for gas giant to counter the effect of the missing "no atmosphere" type

Re: Balance Mod Available for SE:V
 

Moons have "any" for planet type, which will explain most of the discrepancy in the planet type totals.

I don't believe SE5 does anything to make sure each atmosphere or planet type ends up with a balanced distribution of sizes. It is supposed to keep each individual aspect distributed closely to the percents at the top of SystemTypes.txt (for planet entries with "Any" attributes), but nothing checks to see how they come out together. Individual maps can be quite skewed by size distribution, as you can see in your data.

Yes, it is true that there will initially be more breathable gas giants than other types due to the lack of gas/none. It is also true, however, that it is entirely possible to start in a position on the map that is devoid of breathable planets, or saturated with them. Reducing the number of gas giants actually gets fairly complex, due to how the data files are generated.

Re: Balance Mod Available for SE:V
 

So much I figured after a glance into SystemTypes.txt - quickly dropping the idea to fiddle with it. Guess it would take a thorough mathematical/statistical analyses that is way beyond my capabilities :(

Easier tweak to reduce the imbalances would be to simply make the small, domed colonies bigger ... what about that?

Re: Balance Mod Available for SE:V
 

Ok, here's my suggestion for tweaking the size of domed planets:

Make them size 2/4/6/8/10 instead of 1/2/3/4/5, that would reduce the gas dwellers average facility space advantage from 11% to 6%, and from 28% to 23% with "Advanced Storage Techniques".

Furthermore this will strengthen the AI, which cannot really cope with having e.g. only 1-3 tiny (size 1) planets in a system, and does not show sensible building behaviour there. With doubled the number of facility slots chances are better that it builds something it actually benefits from!

Re: Balance Mod Available for SE:V
 

That sort of change would be wildly inappropriate for FQM, at least. It represents a change to the actual game mechanics, rather than just fiddling around with which planets gets placed on the map.

==0==

The main problem with reducing the number of gas giants the mod scripts generate in each system in SystemTypes.txt file is that it would have to depend on the distribution of said systems in each class of quadrant in QuadrantTypes.txt. Right now, every quadrant type uses the same distribution of system type by planet number*, but the scripts are designed to be easy to modify to recreate FQM SE4-style "Sparse" and "Dense" quadrant types (which have skews towards systems with fewer or more planets in them). I can't just make each class of planet have a rock/gas/ice ratio like 5/4/5 (or whatever it needs to be to average out the breathability problem).


* The mod totals up the number of Standard systems with each base planet count. When the quadrants are generated, the total percent chance for Standard systems is the distributed amongst each group according to the following chart. Within each group, the available chance value is evenly divided into each system type.

Planets : percentage
5: 5%
6: 10%
7: 20%
8: 35%
9: 20%
10: 10%

Re: Balance Mod Available for SE:V
 

Greetings!

A new patch is available for the Balance Mod. The v1.19a update corrects a few bugs and adds more improvements to the AI including better resource management, unit distribution, and some refinements to colony ship and fleet handling.

Please note you need to have v1.19 already installed before applying the patch!

It's savegame compatible. I'll be posting an update for the Small Systems add-on to bring it up to date with v1.19a changes later today.

You can find the patch here:
http://www.captainkwok.net/balancemod.php

The changelog:

Re: Balance Mod Available for SE:V
 

Greetings!

There's another quick update available for the Balance Mod. The v1.19b patch makes a couple of improvements on v1.19a for the AI's resource and facility management functions. There's also a couple of small changes to Drone functionality and a reduction in combat speeds for freighters.

The patch contains v1.19a already, so if you're still using v1.19 you can just download the v1.19b patch.

BM Small Systems users should remember to re-apply the add-on after updating to v1.19b!

You can download the v1.19b patch here:
http://www.captainkwok.net/balancemod.php

Changes:

Re: Balance Mod Available for SE:V
 

Greetings!

The v1.19c patch has been posted. It has some more refinements to the AI's resource and facility management routines along with a few fixes for other things. I also added some flags you can use in ship names to give the ship naming minister more functionality for human players.

Next up is the big v1.20 update. I've already done most of the data file work already, but there's a lot of AI details to work on.

Find the v1.19c patch here:
http://www.captainkwok.net/balancemod.php

Here's the list of changes:

Re: Balance Mod Available for SE:V
 

All great stuff Captain Kwok! As soon as the 1.20 update arrives my brothers and I will start a new game.
:)

Re: Balance Mod Available for SE:V
 

Thank you again Kwok for your continuous work.
I like the way you solved the:
"9. Fixed - AI players were breaking their treaties in unison versus the mega evil player"
very much.
I tried the same by only letting the anger increase against the MEE, but for empires with huge fear this did't always work. Your solution should probably result in breaking all treaties within about 10 turns, which seems optimal IMO.

Re: Balance Mod Available for SE:V
 

Greetings.

Just another quick patch to tie up a couple of loose ends. Most of the changes are self-explanatory from the change entry listed below. The migration rate change is only takes effect in new games.

You can get the patch here:
http://www.captainkwok.net/balancemod.php

Re: Balance Mod Available for SE:V
 

Captain Kwok,
Where can I find your small systems mini mod? Can you post the link please? Thanks......:)

Re: Balance Mod Available for SE:V
 

It's on the Balance Mod extras page:
http://www.captainkwok.net/balancemod-extras.php

Re: Balance Mod Available for SE:V
 

Greetings!

Ok, so there's one more patch for BM v1.19. It contains a few fixes, mostly regarding the AI's trade and gift routines.

Small System users just need to re-apply the current Small Systems extra after updating to v1.19e.

You can download the v1.19e patch here:
http://www.captainkwok.net/balancemod.php

Other v1.19 patches are on the Balance Mod download archive page in case you need them.

The changes:

Re: Balance Mod Available for SE:V
 

Thank you :)

Balance Mod Research and Pollution Events Combo v1.02 gave me a home planet pollution at turn one. Conditions went from good to un... (I don't remember). Is it intended to get this in such an early stage?

Oh and how do I allocate Research Points? I clicked the arrows, double-clicked the area, right-clicked, clickedy-clicked everything. Turn 1 (displayed 50,000 RP). Then I took the next turn to see if I have to wait one turn, without success. The next turn even displayed zero RP, so the 50,000 seem to have been jettisoned.

I don't like the GUI. SE4 has been much more user-friendly.

Re: Balance Mod Available for SE:V
 

Forget about the last portion. I accidently started a game with everything researched. :doh:

Re: Balance Mod Available for SE:V
 

The homeworld always takes a quick hit at the beginning of the game with the pollution events extra because it's already fully loaded with facilities. Other planets experience the effect more gradually as they build facilities.

There is lots of UI shortcuts (right click menus, custom layouts, hot keys etc.) that will help alleviate most of the initial extra work with SE5's interface.

Re: Balance Mod Available for SE:V
 

Aye, Captain, thanky! I will get used to the hot keys. SEV+Balance Mod almost is like a new game to me, which is good.

PS: While trying to add Tampa's Sound mod, I noticed you use your own SoundEffects.txt. Do you have other than stock sounds?

Re: Balance Mod Available for SE:V
 

Greetings.

Sorry it took a bit longer than I anticipated, but v1.19f is now available. It has a critical fix for the self-destructing AI empires bug introduced in v1.19e along with a number of other fixes and tweaks. The changelog has the details below...

You can get it here:
http://www.captainkwok.net/balancemod.php

It's savegame compatible.

Small System mod users should give me a couple of days to post an updated version that incorporates the data file changes in v1.19f.

Re: Balance Mod Available for SE:V
 

I made a couple of quick changes to v1.19f, so if you downloaded it between the time stamp of this post and my previous one, I'd advise you to grab it again!

Re: Balance Mod Available for SE:V
 

I found that only damage engine damage type has 100% damage against Scattering armor type instead of 100% penetration.
It may be an error, since it doesn't make sense.

Re: Balance Mod Available for SE:V
 

Thanks for catching that one! Fortunately it only affected the Only Engines damage type, often errors like that get copied and pasted to other entries. I'm currently preparing another patch for v1.19 to get rid of these sorts of bugs. :P

Re: Balance Mod Available for SE:V
 

I'm having a little bit of a problem with a movement point calculation oddity:

(My) Small Fighter, 2x SmallIonEngine I, says (4,10) on the construction screen - and ends up with 8km/s in combat.

Sithrak FF, 5x IonEngine I, says (8) on the construction screen (7 from engines, 1 from racial trait) - and ends up with 11km/s in combat, outpacing the fighters !

Am I overlooking some factor?

Re: Balance Mod Available for SE:V
 

Is this using the small systems mod?

Re: Balance Mod Available for SE:V
 

Ooops, yes, I'm using BalanceModv119f and BalanceModSmallSysv106.
Should have mentioned that I guess ...

Re: Balance Mod Available for SE:V
 

It seems I made the movement amount for the fighter engines too low in Small Systems. A new version of the mod is being posted tonight, and I'll have an update for Small Systems in a day or two with a fix.

Re: Balance Mod Available for SE:V
 

Greetings.

Version 1.19g for the Balance Mod is available. A little late, but better than never!

Hopefully there's no more errors with the vehicle hull modifiers. I also made some tweaks to a few weapons and added a couple new images.

Cooperative intelligence was improved as the points were not always available for the current turn.

The AI got some more attention. I focused on adding more flexibility to the AI's designs and their vehicle distribution, which will be expanded greatly in v1.20.

It's savegame compatible.

Download it here:
http://www.captainkwok.net/balancemod.php

The changes:

Re: Balance Mod Available for SE:V
 

Yeah, great !

I'm sorry to say, though, that most likely you'll have to do another version :( ;)

Just tonight I stumbled upon what seems to be a regression to around 1.15 (i vaguely remember reporting such a problem around then):

AI (Norak) offered alliance, with intersettling and complete(!) tech exchange, and all goodies on turn 41.

Thing is: I'm not bordering them, I don't "see" them on the map, I may have shot down one scout 20 turns earlier. No trade, no previous treaty, relations are "unknown".

Either the AI is (again) too fond of intersettling/alliance treaties, or this is that "errenous treaty message in the turn of meeting them" bug, which I had once before as well. Might actually be a indigenous SE5 vanilla bug, don't know... .

Savegame appreciated?

Re: Balance Mod Available for SE:V
 

Nearly forgot - and the forum didn't let me make any more changes to the above posting ...

AI scoutships (e.g. Phong, Norak) use only 1 main gun, but no PD; Layout is essentially the same as the attack ship (at least with minimum-size FF in the beginning), just the PD is exchanged for a large supply store.

I think this layout is unadvisable, as these ship are easily killed by missile sats or gun fighters.

I would suggest reducing the armor (2x heavy, 1x light) to fit a PD gun, especially as it is available to all races from start.

Re: Balance Mod Available for SE:V
 

Upon applying my tweaks to 1.19g, I found you added and removed some values from settings.txt vs. 1.19f, but I don't find that mentioned in the readme!? Deliberate or an editing error?

Added:
Removed:

PS: I love Winmerge !! ;) :)

Re: Balance Mod Available for SE:V
 

I noticed that the Balance Mod settings.txt file was missing the firing point line and was carrying some extra lines versus the stock file. The edit didn't effect the mod in anyway, purely cosmetic so I didn't bother mentioning it.

If you have the turn available where the Norak offer the treaty that would be useful, savegame at captainkwok dot net.

Re: Balance Mod Available for SE:V
 

Forgot to mention that if the AI suspects you're using seeker weapons, then it'll start adding PD to its scout ship designs.