Re: Hello!
 

Zircher: The Hyach are still in the mod. In everything but weapons they are as Path left them. Right now, like everyone else, they just have "stock" weapons but if people are satisfied with the weapons v armor balance the Hyach will get the best rating for Laser weapons.

I don't think the Spinal Laser (single huge laser per ship) think will work well against leaky armor, though. Big weapon samage ratings essentially negate the armor because too small a portion is drawn off by the armor and too big a percentage "leaks" through.

Val: Great to see you back! It has been a long time, and we were worried. Thatus is roughly as follows:
1. SJ aded "leaky armor" to the game, I think right before you left.
2. Pathfinder converted the game to Gold and cleaned up the AI files a lot.
3. I added QNP for the fighters and changed engines to the ":mount" system for both fighters and ships.
4. Tim and I scaled down the facilities a bit to ensure the AI built "smart" planets, but the "racialization" was never completed.
5. In order to get a better handle on the balance between weapon damage rate and leaky armor, and to test my idea for AI ship designs, I made all weapons the same, with plans to make them more race-specific once everyone was satisfied that the balance between weapons and armor worked well.

I am putting together the data and AI files that I have changed as part of this playtesting, and will post them later today.

Tim: Downloaded, but I haven't had time to do more than scan it over. It looks good, though, and I will use it for the "final" weapons versions.

Re: Hello!
 

Wow, im amazed to see Val here, it must have been at least 2 years, maybe even longer ?

Re: Hello!
 

Hate to interupt the welcome-home-party, but if someone wanted to D/L this (from scratch) how would he go about it?

The best I've done is find a rather out-of-date version.

Re: Hello!
 

Ron,

Go to http://www.xmission.com/~rstulce/B5Web.htm and get version 1.80 (which is updated through SE4 Gold 1.91) and then replace the applicable files with the ones from the file attached to this post.

Note to all: The attached files update the AI files and several of the data files so that the AI correctly builds units and arms its ships correctly. There are NO images here and it assumes you have component image mod pack 25.

Comments are appreciated, as I really will not go much further until I am satisfied that the weapons versus armor balance is right (i.e. that tonnage spent on armor and tonnage on weapons give roughly the same benefit in combat).

Note that the facilities are still bare-bones, but I am looking thorugh several suggested mods by race and hope to hhave something completed along those lines soon. I just have to make sure the AI can use it properly, or else make their cost/benefit be such that their use is somewhat moot.

Re: Hello!
 

Top notch Grumbler! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon14.gifhttp://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon14.gif
Great work!

After my graduation I plan on making a collection of weapons (the data) for 42 (!!) races of the B5 universe. This collection can be used as input for my Excel Sheet. After graduation I'll update the Excel Sheet (correct text and such) and add a formula for the accuracy. I haven't had time to play around with a nice formula, but I know in which corner to seek for a nice solution.

Oh yeah, I'll graduate (again) on April 14th. Keep your fingers crossed. Unfortunately I'm not allowed to publish the report I've made. Otherwise I would have shown you guys what I do best (besides doing nothing... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...es/biggrin.gif).

Re: Hello!
 

Woot! Tomorrow I'll have to present the findings of my research to some high ranking Suits. I'm sure I'll pass with ease. Though they can pose me with the most difficult questions because they know the subject. When I'll have to present my findings to some professor I have the advantage, because I know the subject and he doesn't. So if I pass tomorrow, I'll be homefree.

Just wanted to post my 1600th post in thsi thread, call me sentimental... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/cool.gif

Re: Hello!
 

The B'stard

Will all those who contributed to the Val Memorial Fund please PM me with suggestions on what to do with the current balance.

I don't relish posting hundreds of small cheques but will return monies to the major contributors.

Timstone: those milk tokens are not redeemable here in the United Kingdom; should I return them?
http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...s/rolleyes.gif

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Nomor:
Ah crap Nomor! What do you want me to do with 1,4 metric tons of milk tokens?! I had to charter a fishingboat just to get them to you. Now what?

Re: Hello!
 

I saw nothing attached to your post.

Edit: Never mind. I just spotted it at the top.

Re: Hello!
 

Great. Feedback is necessary, so I would appreciate any comments. I am not going to go back and finalize the weapons until I know if I am in the ballpark (the workload is crushing and I will do it only once), because the weapons/armor balance can only be established heuristically, and for that I need people to test and comment.

Comments on things other than weapons are welcome as well, of course, but the issue of "do I spend the tonnage on weapons or armor" needs to be presented correctly if the mod is to work.