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Re: Babylon 5 Mod
SJ: Nice work on the armor. Would you mind putting it into text format? Thank you! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon6.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif
Grumbler: In my opinion nothing is set into concrete. I don't think the work that has been done so far is absolute perfect. If there is a better solution to a certain problem why not incorporate it into the mod. Again, gameplay above canon. I only argued that the B5 Wars books are a solid base from which to work. Yeah, number 3400!! Jehaa! Edit: Oh Grumbler, Ehh... for the release of 2.0, I don't think it be wise to make too many changes. 2.0 is delayed as it is, so I think I keep the contens I have so far and build upon that. As soon as people like the 2.0 we go and snoop out some cool changes. In the meantime, please be free to come up with some nice changes. Keep up the good work! [ August 13, 2003, 08:36: Message edited by: Timstone ] |
Re: Babylon 5 Mod
Anything specific, or constructive criticism?
It feels like I'm modding blindly here. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon9.gif |
Re: Babylon 5 Mod
Well, as you know I'm not the designer of the armor components in The Mod (duh) and my knowledge is rather limited of those components. So I take your word for it that the things you've deviced are in balance with The Mod and are apropriate for each race.
Ehh... okay, I've got one question for you SJ. Why do the Mindriders have -999% to hit? Isn't that a bit too much? Afterall most of the weapons used are energy weapons and since the Mindriders are energy they should feel something. If one race should have such a to hit bonus it would be the Walkers. They travel to different dimensions, so they could maybe bring their vessels out of phase with the rest of space (one half here and one half in another dimension). Maybe a good idea for all the members of the Triad. Give them a huge shield bonus. There are four factions; Neutrality, Chaos, Order and Combined. They can have the same armor what I'm concerned. Because Order has angelic names and uses light A LOT, maybe they can have a huge shield array in/on their armor. A rather large edit, don't you think? Hehe... [ August 13, 2003, 17:40: Message edited by: Timstone ] |
Re: Babylon 5 Mod
I can do the balance somewhat...
Determining whether it is appropriate to the race is another thing entirely. How much stronger should the ancients be? Are the effects somewhat reasonable. |
Re: Babylon 5 Mod
I've edited my Last message.
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Energy dosen't interact with energy much at all.
You can't play starwars with flashlights and lasers. Energy Beam weapons would just pass right through an energy creature and keep going until they hit a solid mass. Now, I may be completely mistaken on the nature of that race, if so, please mention it. |
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I'm not sure that even enters into the discussion but... |
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I think that SJ is fairly accurate on this one. I think that fields can definitely mess with energy, as can mass. Perhaps the most effective weapons against an energy being would be either a magnetic field or a mass weapon (ie back to DUCs) of some sort. How you'd make those forms more effective against them and them alone would be a challenge however.
Perhaps have a really high "miss" bonus (for example SJs proposal for -999% to hit on their hulls) and then produce a Category of "anti-energy being" weapons that do very very little damage (ie. 5 to 20 points) but that have an incredibly high to hit bonus. Then give the energy beings very low structure values on all their components to make the "anti-energy being" weapons effective against them. This does mean that the high to hit bonus will work against all ships, but the paucity of damage should make this a "non-prefered" weapon against most races. It could still be effective vs. units, so make them ship/base/planet/drone only weapon series. Additionally, some normal weapons will occassionally hit the energy beings, and do massive damage relative to their "fragile" ships. However, with a -999% to hit on their hulls, this should be pretty rare, right? just my 2 bits [ August 13, 2003, 19:22: Message edited by: jimbob ] |
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However, with a -999% to hit on their hulls, this should be pretty rare, right?"
They'll hit 1% of the time. Can't go any lower. |
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I'm not sure that even enters into the discussion but...</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">And a magnetic field won't affect photons without a neutron star collapse powering the field to a strength of many Billion Tesla. Its like waves on water... if you have a wave from a boat coming and you throw pebbles into the water, the waves pass though each other, and both waves continue as if the other weren't there. Up to the point where you start making splashes, of course. |
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True. We could have a 0-reload, 1 range PD cannon to instantly smash any seekers that get too close.
"High energy boundary effects disrupt missiles". |
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Well this conversation about energy and unknown lifeforms is very interseting, but since we've never encountered such a race before, let alone ANY alien, we are just guessing in the dark. But I have one addition to make.
Quote from SJ: Its like waves on water... if you have a wave from a boat coming and you throw pebbles into the water, the waves pass though each other, and both waves continue as if the other weren't there. Up to the point where you start making splashes, of course. NO, NO, NO!! The waves don't just pass through eachother, they interact with eachother. The wave that goes from left to right gives A PART of it's kinetic energy over to the wave from right to left and vice versa. This energy creates another wave on the "back" of the other wave. They just seem to be passing through each other. EVERYTHING that has only the tiniest bit of energy in it interacts with it's environment. Except when the particles involved have such a high velocity or such a high mass (density) or a neutral charge (chemicaly inert or simply no electrons of protons (or their antimatter counterparts)). Well we're dwelling of the subject of the matter (oh no, I said matter, hehe...). So what will be the best solution for our problem? I still think the Walkers must have the -999% to hit bonus on their armor and the Mindriders something else, but I don't know what. Oh, the Vorlons, the Walkers, the Triad and the Mindriders are all energy beings. The Triad were energy beings from the beginning. The other three "just" evolved into beings of energy. |
Re: Babylon 5 Mod
The Shadows are energy beings too. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif
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Nope, in the serie they are beings of flesh (??) and blood (??). Also in the B5 Wars books they are not described as beings of energy. They do radiate a dark energy that drives mortal beings mad or at least makes them feel uncomfortable.
Edit: typo's. [ August 14, 2003, 10:49: Message edited by: Timstone ] |
Re: Babylon 5 Mod
The Shadows are beings of light, just as the Vorlons are. This is explicitely stated in Invoking Darkness, the third Technomage book (page 9, in which the death of Kosh is described from his POV). The carapaces are just encounter suits, like Kosh's. And JMS has stated that the Technomage series is canon.
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Okay, okay, I yield. Stupid thing that the B5 Wars books never mentioned that the Shadows use encountersuits too. Ah well, doesn't matter. Thanks for the info guys and sorry if I've made you a bit angry (Imperator??). http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif
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Okay, but the thing that matters isn't whether or not the race is made of energy... but whether or not their ships are made of matter or energy. Some whisp of energy floating around in space isn't gonna waste my dreadnought, but a complete ship - coherent or no - is very likely to do some damage to my beloved fleet. So what races have energy based ships?
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Re: Babylon 5 Mod
While the waves are in contact, they add linearly, and after they separate again they still have their original form. One wave isn't affected by the other.
But that aside, it seems all our ancients can be described as energy beings that still use regular (physical) ships. So the question remains what do to for the rare ancient species. (Mindriders, Torvalus) We can pretty much ignore their physical form, but What is special about their Ships/Technology? |
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Sorry I have to continue with this, but I think this is one of the things I've been trained to do (hey, I'm an engineer, what can I say?!).
Quote from SJ: While the waves are in contact, they add linearly, and after they separate again they still have their original form. One wave isn't affected by the other. Add linearly? What do they add and what do you mean with linearly? What do you think happens when a slightly larger wave impacts with a smaller wave? Don't you think that the smaller wave has a minor effect on the larger wave? The waves don't pass through eachother and they certainly effect eachother. Ever heard of ball lightning? It's more or less the same thing. The ball lightning (the stuff that makes up the ball isn't important, only the energy contens of the ball) can pass through stuff, like bricks, concrete, metal plates, even lead. It accomplishes this by the generated microwaves. The microwaves have a high energy contens so they can go through most stuff (provided it isn't too thick). When the waves hit the wall, some of them go through and some of them don't. The waves that go through always get a little scattered, this leaves the other side of the wall with the same rimples of microwaves as the waves in the water. On the places where the microwaves touch eachother (a peak so to speak) another ball lightning will come into live. Not every peak creates a new ball. Only the ones with high enough energy. It takes more than one of those peaks to create a ball lightning of the same size it was before it hit the wall. I used this piece of knowledge to show that the waves in water behave excatly like the waves in the water. I hope I didnt sound cocky, angry or otherwise a bit idiotic. It was not my intension to do that. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon6.gif Back to the races. Walkers: Travellers, they have been to each corner of the galaxy and back again. They also travel to different dimensions (except Thirdspace, hehe...). They use powerful sensors (EM) as their weapons. Kirishiac: Warriors, they tried to take over the galaxy and were almost succesful (they were stopped (ultimately) by the Walkers). They are the undisputed masters of gravimetric tech. Torvalus: Spies, they are the most secretive spieces ever. Mostly busy with gathering intelligence or gambling. They field the most advanced lasers and best cloaking tech. Triad: Actually consisting of three seperate beings (all that is left from their race in our galaxy), Order, Neutrality and Chaos. When they agree to work together thay are the Triad Combined. They can make automatons with simple thought and use advanced plasma weapons to defend themselfs (Combined). Order uses light bases weaponery (prism's and the like), Neutrality uses matter based weapons and Chaos uses a mix of plasma, matter and light. Mindriders: Beings of pure thought. They run constantly experiments with lesser races (young races). Their ships are just hollow gathering places. One group of beings steers the craft another controls the weapons yet another protects the ship etc. They use thought to defend them selfs. Vorlons and Shadows: I don't think I need to tell you guys and girls much about these dudes. None of the Ancients use ships that consiste entirely of pure energy. They all use "matter" for the construction of their vessels. I think their armor must reflect the general thought of the race. So the Shadows must have mostly organic armor with a high damage dissipation. The Vorlons more or less the same but with a shield instead of damage dissipation. The Torvalus must have a high cloaking rate. The Kirishiac must have almost indestructable armor (constructed with many rads). The Walkers must have a high to hit penalty for they can phase in and out another dimension (so can the rest of the Ancients, but they excel in it). The Mindriders must have a high to hit penalty and some sort of shield (combo between Walkers and Vorlons). The Triad must have strong armor and adamage dissipation (combo between Shadow and Kirishiac). I hope these answers are of help. I hope you guys have some original ideas yourself, coz I'm no creative person, I just mention the first things that pop up in my mind 9and what I read in the B5 Wars books). Cheerio! Edit: Typo's! Many more left, I know... [ August 14, 2003, 18:22: Message edited by: Timstone ] |
Re: Babylon 5 Mod
When 2 waves of energy pass through each other, they add or cancel, depending on their relative frequencies. But this is only when they are in contact. Once they pass through each other, they return to normal, unchanged. This can be seen by shining two flashlights in crossing paths. Where the beams meet, there will be up to 2x as much light. But after they have crossed, the individual beams are the same as they were before they met. This also happens with sound waves. I am not sure about other types of waves (such as waves of water), but I think they follow the same physics.
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OT:
If you have a square wave of height 10cm, going left, say. And a square wave of 15 cm, going right. When the waves begin overlapping, you get a height of 25cm (they add linearly means 10+15=25) where they overlap. After the waves pass, you end up with a 10cm wave on the left and a 15 cm wave on the right, still the same shape. IE: the waves do not affect each other, since after the "interaction", the waves are still the same as they were before. For an animated example See: http://Users.erols.com/renau/wave_interference.html Ball lightning sounds like a plasma of N2/O2 sustained by a concentration of microwaves or just slowly fading away after being generated(by lightning, say). No matter the source, it is hardly pure energy, since it operates in an atmosphere. BTW plasma is not pure energy, either, it is just really hot matter, such that the electrons have been stripped away from the nuclei, and it forms a soup of electrons and protons. |
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The Shadows never man their ships, so their actual form is not meaningful for mod purposes. Incidently, I just was watching the B5 season 3 DVD, and Garibaldi, in the "Shadow Files" extra bit, mentions that there are only 6 million Shadows. So most of what the mod regards as the Shadows is really their allies and slaves. |
Re: Babylon 5 Mod
Haha... nice responds. Except on the part of the ideas about the beloved Ancients.
I think we best drop the thing about the waves. I think we all bear some truth but none has the whole truth. Ah well, let's call it a drw. "A draw?! Come back here you coward!" "What are you going to do? Bleed on me?!" Hehe... Come on people what about the Ancients? What do you think of my ideas? |
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BK - Its just a flesh wound...
KA - But your arms off ! BK - no it isnt. KA - Look! BK - Ive had worse! COME ON YA' PANSY ! |
Re: Babylon 5 Mod
To beat a dead horse, there was one episode speficically that showed the Shadows to be energy beings. The humans made a military base on some planet or moon or whatever. Some "demon" killed off all but a few people, then follwed them in the sleeper ship they set off on. It was a soldier of darkness left behind by the Shadows in the Last war or some such, and was an energy being. So either the Shadows are energy beings, or they have the ability to create energy beings. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/shock.gif Take your pick. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif
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[ August 16, 2003, 04:29: Message edited by: Imperator Fyron ] |
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quote: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I think we best drop the thing about the waves. I think we all bear some truth but none has the whole truth. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Except for SJ... Tss... |
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Space Empires IV Play By Web is back on line
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Is Pathfinder still around? He is the only one that hadn't played the current turn.
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Re: Babylon 5 Mod
Yaaahhhh
I'm very happy to see this ... I've spent far too much time on work and relatives over the Last few weeks http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif Ummm... I don't want to step on any toes or hurt any feelings, and know full well that RL can get in the way of things, but I've noticed that the Shag Toth are rarely played these days. They have had an excellent record up until June 23rd, but have missed every turn since that date. As only the Shag Toth are yet to play (and potentially won't being playing in the near future?) I propose that we push the turn through right away, so that the game gains some momentum again. My opinions, viewed as humble or not, are not intended to, in any way what-so-ever, minimize, detract from, or ignore the important contribution(s) of the Shag Toth and/or their relatives to the current B5 Universe and the high degree of their civilizational contributions, etc. etc. |
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I don't think we should give up so soon after PBW has come back Online...
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Oh, I definitely agree that we don't want anyone to miss out on a turn. I'm just hoping to keep the momentum up, and the trend for PF seemed apparent... though this could have changed over the Last 2 weeks while the PBW was down/unavailable. If we push this turn though, it would get the rest of us back into the game, and PF would only have missed one more turn (of something like 15). If he pops up really soon, I'd be okay with even going back in time for him and replaying this turn that I'm proposing we push.
But hey, you're the boss, I will bow to the will of the might Vorlons http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif cheers y'all, jimbob |
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Are the Shag Toth nomads or a normal race?
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Sigh. Still getting AI errors.
I get the core and data files off the old website, then add the two newer files, right? |
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DF, what errors are you getting? Loading errors, or errors when the game is running? One is a case of bad data files, the other of bad AI files.
[ August 23, 2003, 04:15: Message edited by: grumbler ] |
Re: Babylon 5 Mod
For reference, here is a compilation file of 1.49.33 (what is used in the B5 Mod PBW game) that has no AI errors:
http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/newup...1052175132.zip |
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I lost access to PBW site after replacing my motherboard in late June and that also messed up by hotmail account that I received turns on. AND now the PC is on the fritz again so, whatever ya'll decide for the Shag'Toth is ok by me. I honestly can not say when my PC will be back Online.
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IF: PM
SVP |
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Send an email to Geoschmo about it, and I am sure he can get your account squared away. If nothing else, you could create a new account, I can kick the old one from the game, and you can rejoin with the new account. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif
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Re: Babylon 5 Mod
Hi everybody! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif
I must say I am new to these forums but not the Game. I am however having trouble getting the B5ModCore30 files. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon9.gif http://www.xmission.com/~rstulce/Files/B5ModCore30.zip This is due to (all of)- V Slow Connection/2 Hour connection timeout( http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon8.gif )/xmission.com not allowing me to resume downloads. With all that grit out the way does anybody know of another download site? It would be most appreciated. Lets Hope... |
Re: Babylon 5 Mod
hi, welcome to the forums.
cheese? |
Re: Babylon 5 Mod
Only with nachos!
or macaroni! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif |
Re: Babylon 5 Mod
I suggest you download this instead, which is a compilation of all of the files including the updates to the mod to 1.49.33:
http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/newup...1052175132.zip You can use a download manager such as GetRight to aide in downloading large files. It allows resuming and such, so you don't have to worry about downloading the entire file in one session. |
Re: Babylon 5 Mod
Hey... ive been playing the B5 Gold mod for about 6 months now, and just yesterday i realized u can capture (or trade probably too) other races technology... and was wondering how this was done?
ever other mod ive played, as well as stock SEIV does not allowing trading/capture of Racail techs... |
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You can steal/trade any tech that the recieving party has the racial requirements for.
If two races both have organic manipulation, they can trade Organic Weapons and Organic technology with each other, for example. Also, if Tech A is a racial tech, but tech B is not, and if tech B requires level 2 in tech A before it becomes available, then tech B can still be traded to third parties (but not researched by anyone with out the Racial tech) [ September 03, 2003, 00:43: Message edited by: Suicide Junkie ] |
Re: Babylon 5 Mod
Timstone,
I have not been posting for a while because I was involved in two truly excellent games using some ideas you and I batted around a while ago. First, I followed up on your idea of having a "core facility" at each colony, followed by specialized facilities. I modded the colony hub aand homeworld hub to include spaceyard facilities and made it the first priority in every colony (I dumped all the other spaceyard facilities by making their tech levels impossible). It was then possible to make reasonable AI choices for all combinations of planets, and that worked out well. Its a bit more dull for the human player, as he really cannot do better than the AI, but that's a price I was willing to pay. As part of this, I also boosted greatly the cost and build points of base shipyards, so that ships were built in space, but this is a pet project and not necessary for the success of the AI in colonizing. I also made colony modules carry 50 pop and cost 3 times normal (lest the homeworlds become too depopulated). This also worked out very well. In both games, I played non-"prime time" races (the Narn in one, the Centauri in the other). After 300 turns, I wasn't in the lead in either game. In fact, in the Centauri game I conquered the Gaim and the Minbari and still was in third place after 300 turns, with less than half the points of the leader, the EA! The only thing I noticed as a problem was that Black Hole systems basically stymie the AI player. The AI just keeps sending in their colonizers and the colonizers don't have the speed to escape. In one game, the LNAW had a total population of under 2 billion, because they had another 2 billion or so on 40 colonizers caught in a black hole's grav well two systems away from homeworld. Maybe the whole Black Hole issue needs to be revisited with QNP. In any case, the ideas you had for Version 2 seem to be solid. I haven't ever enjoyed a solo game of B5 as much as I have these two based on your ideas. I also have QNP fighter stats if you are interested... |
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I'm interested! Send the Fighter Stats to me too!
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Thank you Imperator Fyron just what i was looking for!!! and it is smaller to! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif
I have to use Getright it is the only way i'm able to download anything of any reasonable size. |
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