Re: Balance Mod Available for SE:V
 

I conquered another colony with 995M population. According to your settings.txt this should have given 20 militia. But there were only 3 as it is defined in the standard settings.txt.
For a reason completely mysterious to me the game seems not to use your settings definitions.
Yes I am sure to play your mod http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...s/rolleyes.gif and the components and all other things are working as expected.
PS: I checked the population cargo space is indeed 40kT/M as you expected from your modified settings.txt file. Therefore it is only a problem with the militia not the entire settings file.

Re: Balance Mod Available for SE:V
 

Is militia based off of the total population, or the population of the owner's race?

Re: Balance Mod Available for SE:V
 

Migration might be an issue too. Might be that only natives are rising up as militia...

Re: Balance Mod Available for SE:V
 

Either that or it looks like there might be a misplaced decimal in the code or something.

It also seems that ground combat does not occur in simultaneous games.

Re: Balance Mod Discussion
 

I actually suspect the militia settings are hard-coded despite the values available in settings.txt...

Re: Balance Mod Discussion
 

Wouldn't surprise me. A good chunk of the values in that file seem to be SE4 leftovers.

Re: Balance Mod Discussion
 

Captain Kwok,

I emailed you on this, but I thought I'd ask here too...

I've noticed an error in-game when using your Balanced mod:

"Access violation at address 00459F96 in module 'se5.exe'. Read of address 00000004"

This occurs consistantly when I attempt to save my empire file during a game. It only appears to occur with the mod itself and not on the game.

I'm using the latest version of SE5 (1.08) and the Balanced mod (0.93). I'm also using the Tampa Bay Sound effects mod as well.

If anyone else has noticed this and fixed it, let me know!

(great mod's otherwise, btw http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif )

Re: Balance Mod Discussion
 

I tried it outside of the balance mod, where I just changed the militia number in a small test mod but left everything else unchanged. No effect, it is still the militia number of the original setting.

Re: Balance Mod Discussion
 

Two suggestions to your really great mod, which I enjoy a lot:
1.) IMO all point defense weapons should require the corresponding point defense tech level. Now it is only the point defense cannon.
2.) Standard armor IMO is very strong compared to special armor (emissive, stealth, scattering) and shields. Of course shields should be weaker per kT structure as they regenerate after combat while armor has to be repaired. But at present this difference is very big.

Thank you Kwok for your excellent work!

Re: Balance Mod Discussion
 

I was originally going to "grid" the PD Beam and PD Blaster with both Energy Stream/Pulse Weapons and Point Defense, but because of the research display issues with multiple tech requirements I dropped the extra level reqs on the PD side. I think what I will do though is increase it to level 3 or so for the PD requirement instead of level 1.

The idea for armor was to provide the player with the viable alternative of using all armor if they wanted to in place of shields if they had the repair capacity and desire to do so.

If you figure in the regeneration rate for the Organic Armor and the damage reduction potential for the Crystalline Armor - it should work out about even with regular armor. Although I suppose you can argue that perhaps they should have a slight advantage being racial techs - but again they contribute to lower build times and the racial hulls have less maintenance so they might not need any more benefit.

The Stealth and Scattering armor has the special abilties as well, which is really why you're adding them and not for their protective ability. Emissive Armor is underpowered and I'll increase it's base structure. It'll range from 10-20 HP/kT, so it should be equivalent to armor in terms of protection when you figure in the emissive ability.

Re: Balance Mod Discussion
 

Doesn't the engines work sort of strange? With only a 'bonus movement' difference on the higher tech engines you really just need one of them on each ship and can fill in the rest with Ion engines, which also have more supply capacity.

Re: Balance Mod Discussion
 

That's an SE:V bug though. If it doesn't get fixed soon than I'll probably fudge around with movement amounts as a workaround. However, play "fair" for now and use all of the engines as if the bonus movement would only apply if you had all the same engines.

Re: Balance Mod Discussion
 

Can you not just add a bonus move ability of zero points to fix this?

That was the answer in SE4 too, IIRC.

Re: Balance Mod Discussion
 

Yeah, that will work fine. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...ies/tongue.gif

Re: Balance Mod Update
 

I've posted v0.94 of the Balance Mod for download here:
http://www.captainkwok.net/balancemod.php
<font class="small">Code:</font><hr /><pre>
Version 0.94 (04 November 2006)
-------------------------------

1. Changed - Increased structure for Emissive Armor
2. Fixed - Engine movement bonuses will now only apply when all engines are of the same type
3. Fixed - Error in AI research scripts
4. Changed - Made some changes to AI Empires racial traits and weapon choices
5. Updated - AI Scripts
</pre><hr />

It turns out the AI not researching its own weapon techs was a mistake on my part but it's been corrected so no more wasted research points.

The upcoming v0.95 will be a more significant update and will be released shortly after the next SE:V patch is out next week.

Re: Balance Mod Update
 

Kwo, I sent you a PM.

Re: Balance Mod Update
 

And I sent you an e-mail. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...ies/tongue.gif

Re: Balance Mod Update
 

Nice fixes with 0.94. Can't wait for the game patch and next Balance mod update, it's gonna be a blast!

Re: Balance Mod Update
 

The A.I is doing nothing(dead)with this update?

Re: Balance Mod Update
 

I checked, the AI is indeed doing nothing.

Re: Balance Mod Update
 

Script_AI_Lists.txt(0107): Begin Function AI_Generate_Lists() ---------------------
Script_AI_Lists.txt(0114): Return TRUE
Script_AI_Lists.txt(0115): Sys_Get_Empire_Home_System()
Script_AI_Lists.txt(0115): *** Call Sys_Get_Empire_Home_System returned ERROR ***
Script_AI_Lists.txt(0115): *** "Set" returned ERROR ***
Script_AI_Lists.txt(0107): End Function AI_Generate_Lists ---------------------
Drushocka_Main_Script.txt(0080): *** Call AI_Generate_Lists returned ERROR ***
Drushocka_Main_Script.txt(0080): *** "Call" returned ERROR ***

Re: Balance Mod Update
 

Greetings.

Use this empire files until I can find out what went wrong:
http://www.captainkwok.net/files/Empires.zip

Extract to your balance mod folder!

Re: Balance Mod Update
 

That seems to be working.

I sent you an email about a possible ship design bug.

Re: Balance Mod Update
 

Just an update on the situation, but I've been getting inconsistent behaviour with the script parser - sometimes I'm getting errors reported when compiling and then I'll close and restart and the errors won't exist anymore. And it's happening with both the stock files and the mod files.

Anyway the files I posted earlier were the v0.93 ones, but I'll get v0.94 back up in a little bit.

Re: Balance Mod Update
 

Non-Agression pacts (standard ones) mean no colonization in each other systems by default. I'm not sure the AI checks this, or it doesn't re-evaluate after sending its ships when it makes a treaty.

Re: Balance Mod Update
 

Possible bug in 0.94 with fighter movement/attack behaviour... ????

Hi all,
I am not sure as I do only fiddle a little bit with the game until holiday when I will hopefully get time to play.

Until then I am only trying to get a hang on the UI and some basics.

However I have now noticed with 0.94 that the fighters seem to behave VERY strangly !!!!

I only wanted to test how fighters work, possibly also point defense (as it only seems to target seekers but not fighters, but this seems to be a general bug as I read about this somewhere)

As of this I created a basic small fighter and a basic slow target (various configuratins with and without weapons), set it near the fighters (tacitcal battle) and waited.

However, all that the fighters do is RUNNING TO THE EDGE AWAY FROM THE TARF`GET. Manual attack orders are ignored. Movement I am not sure but it seem that after they reach the wapoint they run. fighter vs fighter both sides run away immediately.
Tested various strategies, but they ALWAYS run.

I am pretty sure that I tested it before with 0.92(?) and they attacked just fine.

Any ideas on this strange behaviour or what I am possibly doing wrong. Any help welcome. Maybe some instructions how to test test/set up.

BTW, a question on the Interface/display.
Would it be possible to set up the display for the colonies to show instead of varoius lines with mining, farming etc. instead only one line like 1 x mining, 2 x farming ?
This kind of display would be VERY helpful. Possibly as an optional display type.

Re: Balance Mod Update
 

Lack of supplies?
Lack of ordnance?

Re: Balance Mod Update
 

Thanks.
That is the problem.
I am only trying out in the simulator.
As all other ships come with full
supplies and ordnance when tested, I had not noticed.

I cannot build a carrier yet and I intended to try the fighters as kind of a low cost defense force which can
be replaced fast.

How can I test them ?
They have engines and supply and ordnace storage
build into the design.

Edit.
I can build a Cargo Transport, which is ok as they now have s+o, but I should be able to test the fighters alone.

If I combine them with another attack ship they have zero s+o.

Re: Balance Mod Update
 

You might have a treaty of non aggression... or if attacking a planet, you might have a treaty where you arnt allowed to bombard the planet.

Re: Balance Mod Update
 

Was there a need to quote that entire post just for a 2 sentence reply?

Re: Balance Mod Update
 

The fleet strategy seems to be automatic retreat in the mod,even when most of the fleet is fine to attack.I've also had the A.I attack planets only to retreat at the start of battle many times.

I didn't notice these fleet retreats in the standard 1.8.

Re: Balance Mod Update
 

The AI file issue was due to new additions that I had added in the scripts that only work with the 1.12 se5.exe file. Anyhow I've re-posted v0.94 with working empire files for SE:V v1.08

Updated v0.94:
http://www.captainkwok.net/balancemod.php

-----

AAshberry: Did you notice if they had ordnance or not? The other explanation is that the leader might be getting hurt and the fleet is not breaking formation. I'm going to do some strategy tweaking to fix stuff like that today.

Re: Balance Mod Update
 

I think all the treaties that have no included should be taken out of the mod.It just hurts the A.I's ability to wage war.A lot of the A.I's in my games can't hurt me because they have no bombardment treaties.

Re: Balance Mod Update
 

I'll be doing some more treaty work in the upcoming version. My long-term goal is for the AI to build treaties in steps based on their anger level towards the player.

Re: Balance Mod Update
 

I was thinking of changing the armor sizes to the following for the next update:

Armor 10kT
Emissive Armor 10kT
Organic Armor 20kT (from 30kT)
Crystalline Armor 20kT (from 30kT)
Scattering Armor 20kT (from 30kT)
Stealth Armor 20kT (from 30kT)

Any armor abilities would of course be adjusted with the size.

The goal in this change is to make some of the speciality armors more accessible for smaller vehicles.

Also, should we get small versions of the racial trait armors?

Re: Balance Mod Update
 

I like the idea, exept for the Organic and Crystaline armours. I think those armours a pretty powerfull as they are.
But then again I'm not such an avid user of those armours, so I might want to give them a litte nudge toward uselessness...
Long live Temporal Science!!

Re: Balance Mod Update
 

Lowering the size wouldn't directly make them more powerful though, when the ability advantages are lowered as well. For that matter I'd say go to 10kT on all of them; so much easier to fit in than 20kT.

Re: Balance Mod Update
 

Just an FYI:

I probably won't get the chance to finish v0.95 tonight, but it should be available for tomorrow.

It will be save-game compatible, although with a few of the changes you'll need to redo/edit some of your ship designs to utilize the extra space.

Re: Balance Mod Update
 

Thanks for the update. In the meantime, will .93 or .94 work with the new patch (even if it doesnt give the latest and greatest AIs?)?

Thanks again for your efforts!

Re: Balance Mod Update
 

I hope there is more available than just anger level? Can the AI also look at relative scores or other measures of power in-game? What we need is an AI smart enough to sue for peace when it realizes that the enemy is just too strong to beat. The way the AI has worked to date, all alien races seem to be unconditionally, suicidally committed once they go to war.

Re: Balance Mod Update
 

Does Your Balance Mod work with the patch v1.13?

Re: Balance Mod Update
 

Reducing the size of the 'special' armors is a good idea. Small ships need to be able to use them so that racial traits are more valuable in the early game. Increasing the size of regular armor is not a good idea. The new stock default of 5kt for armor, supply storage, and ordnance storage is a good idea. Why switch to the higher 'resolution' size increments if you're not going to use it? With everything 10kt or larger you're just playing SE 3 ship design with an altered interface.

Small versions of the racial trait armors would be good if they work. Remember that abilities like regen never did work in units with SE IV. Have you tested if they work in SE V?

Re: Balance Mod Update
 

Awesome work on the mod, Cap Kwok! Keep it up!!!

Q., Will your .95 mod work with the new SEV Patch 1.13?

Re: Balance Mod Update
 

The upcoming version will work with 1.13, the current version is likely to work as well, I'd wager, seeing as everything's save-game compatible etc.

Think I'll have to run a stock 1.13 game to see how stock works now, too.

Re: Balance Mod Update
 

The AI can also consider the score of the other player in making its decisions. I would probably use that as a modifier of the anger level towards the player as it is used know for requests etc. I kept regular armor at 10kT (as it has been in BM) because of the fixed number of armor slots. Since the smallest increment for ship size per tech level is 25kT for ships/WPs and 10kT for Sats - you don't encounter that same 5kT extra space very often and you still have the 5kT supply/ordnance storage anyway. I'd figure the abilities will work on units because they are treated individually.

Balance Mod v0.94 should be good to go with 1.13 - it just won't take advantage of some AI fixes between 1.08 and 1.13...

Re: Balance Mod Update
 

Woops - forgot about those pesky settings.txt changes in v1.12-1.13...

You can download an updated settings.txt file to make the Balance Mod v0.94 work with SE:V v1.13:
http://www.captainkwok.net/files/settings.zip

Extract to your Balance Mod data folder!

Update tonight if we're lucky, but tomorrow most likely.

Re: Balance Mod Update
 

As it should be, giving an impression of organic ships and not just organic components.

And 5 turns into 1.13 stock I noticed the AI is still not prevented from creating laughable treaties. Sigh.

Re: Balance Mod Update
 

Score is not, imho, an accurate portrayal of military prowess. It'd be nice if that computation was seperate... as an example, moo3 would look at the ships you have in reserves. However, that system is flawed since 100 colony ships can't fight a war, and also a higher industrial capacity can compensate for having lower reserves at the start of war and eventually win the war given enough time. Is there a way to mod something like this in?

Re: Balance Mod Update
 

Scoreweighting.txt

For GGMod, I've even thrown in:
Score Factor - Number Of Allies := 200000.0
Score Factor - Number Of Enemies := -200000.0

Re: Balance Mod Update
 

Kwok, you are absolutely amazing. I patched and loaded my Balance Mod 0.94 game and got some sort of warning. Then, I came here and saw the updated 'Settings.Txt'. I installed that, and my savegame loaded like a charm.

You are a prince among men! Thanks much for your work on this Balance Mod!