Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

Some black holes have a gravity of three, so just increasing colony ships to three doesn't work. You'd have to increase it to four, and then they are the same speed as every other ship. Actually you could just increase the hull size by one or two engines-worth and keep the same engines per move (since it is the lack of space after required components that keeps them slow).

I must admit that I never saw Black Holes as being a vital component of SE IV play, but if you want to have the real equivelent then get rid of them and increase the chances of getting one of the Hyperspace sectors that cause damage. That's not B5 canon either, but at least it is closer than "black hole" systems. Whether you made it out of the hyperspace sector without critical damage is a matter of luck.

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

That sounds fine although I've yet to come across a hyperspace system in any game I've played. I'd love to see how they work.
My point was that although some people found Black Holes costly for ship loses and Nebulae for slow movement, they did provide variations to the Strategic play.

If you found your home planet boarded either of these systems they did provide a defence advantage that could be exploited. If you were playing a nomadic race you could hang around these systems picking off the damaged ships or charging into a nebular with full supplies and whacking some other race at the end of it's move with all it's supplies exhausted.

It may have been that PBW was such a slow process that the patience to see these as an advantage to be exploited and follow the chain
of command.... oops got lost there..

Whilst Black Holes and Nebulae are not part of the B5 series that is not a problem for me because both exist, and JMS simply did not have a plot line that used them, or so he says.
http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/tongue.gif ..... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif ............................ http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

Sorry, I meant to ask is there a Shipset for the Abbai, Hurr, Gaim. I seem to have only a generic one but thought someone had done them. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...s/confused.gif

[ May 10, 2004, 22:42: Message edited by: Nomor ]

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

Orginally posted by pathfinder
One would have to totaly re-do the engines in order to do that. NOT my cup of tea thank you. All I ever set out to do was to make this Gold compatible and make the full tech game do-able, That I have done. "Finished" MOD was mailed to Lighthorse (and received), so once he can get it up on PBW....

Run into a small problem with posting Babylon 5 mod on the PBW servicer. The max allowable file is 10 MB, B5 mod zipped is over 70 MB. Still discussing possible solutions with PBW, but I'm not hopefully.
Rambie just informed me today that he plans to redesign his Babylon 5 SE4 website and if I mail the CD he will have it available for downloading. I shall be snail mailing the CD tomorrow.
Heres Rambie's email to me
I can host the files on my site, I need to update the site anyway.

Lighthorse
http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon6.gif

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

Hey, me too.
Just send the files to ftp://imagemodserver.mine.nu/uploads

and I'll get it posted under the MM/SE4/mods

PS:
if you can RAR it with "solid archive" and max compression enabled, it will help a lot with that size.

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

If there is anything I can do to help, please let me know.

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

http://www.astmod.com/nasy/b5/Shad1.PNG http://www.astmod.com/nasy/b5/Shad1m.PNG

These are really old images. I could not get them to look right so I gave up.

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

Nomor: I did a complete set for the Abbai, most (complete ?) of set for the Gaim and a partial for the Hurr.

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">What I sent Lighthorse is a WinRar self-extracting .exe on CD. So, the compressed file is ~ 70 MB.

[ May 11, 2004, 10:19: Message edited by: pathfinder ]

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

Wow, are you using the solid archive option when you get that 70megs?

In any event, if you can upload at a decent rate, I'll be able to pull it down as fast as you can push it up.

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

Someone has to do a Vree shipset !!!

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">That's what I remembered seeing a while back, bur did you ever post them anywhere?

I've had problems with the Cascor and one or two of the other races including the Abbai appearing in the Quick Start game with the wrong race portraits. This was down to the fact that there was no RaceName_Main.bmp in their respective folders.

I have found and made a Cascor_Race_Portrait.bmp , has a nice furry face, but is not a genuine Cascor. He is an alien from the Crusade Series. If I can find the link I'll edit it in so you can all decide if it's suitable. Here it is: Kulan for Cascor?

http://b5ccg.mahasamatman.com/Crusade/Gallery/?082 Well it's what I'm using untill you find the "real thing".

I've also tidied up the Cascor description as it was broken up. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

I have been filling in the descriptions for some of the facilities such as Military Outpost and others, just so you don't duplicate the work. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...s/rolleyes.gif

When I've done enough I'll send it in.

[ May 11, 2004, 19:21: Message edited by: Nomor ]

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Not sure what my upload speed is but I do have "regular" (non-business) cable via Comcast. That fast enough?

Also note that this is an absolutely standalone MOD so it includes the entire image MOD. I did this because there always seemed to be several images missing. That may not be the case these days.

[ May 11, 2004, 20:08: Message edited by: pathfinder ]

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">That's what I remembered seeing a while back, bur did you ever post them anywhere?

I've had problems with the Cascor and one or two of the other races including the Abbai appearing in the Quick Start game with the wrong race portraits. This was down to the fact that there was no RaceName_Main.bmp in their respective folders.

I have found and made a Cascor_Race_Portrait.bmp , has a nice furry face, but is not a genuine Cascor. He is an alien from the Crusade Series. If I can find the link I'll edit it in so you can all decide if it's suitable. Here it is: Kulan for Cascor?

http://b5ccg.mahasamatman.com/Crusade/Gallery/?082 Well it's what I'm using untill you find the "real thing".

I've also tidied up the Cascor description as it was broken up. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

I have been filling in the descriptions for some of the facilities such as Military Outpost and others, just so you don't duplicate the work. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...s/rolleyes.gif

When I've done enough I'll send it in. </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">I don't remember if I posted them Nomor (Gaim, Abbai, Hurr). Ok by me if you use the Kulan for Cascor. I used some pics of the Mole people in my Version. Not Cascor there either http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

Some of the race stuff can be found around this page of Posts in the MOD forum:

http://www.shrapnelgames.com/cgi-bin...0;t=000001;p=3

AI files (if not in the folders metioned above) can be found in page 7 this thread.

[ May 11, 2004, 20:25: Message edited by: pathfinder ]

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Not sure what my upload speed is but I do have "regular" (non-business) cable via Comcast. That fast enough?

Also note that this is an absolutely standalone MOD so it includes the entire image MOD. I did this because there always seemed to be several images missing. That may not be the case these days. </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Dosen't matter to me how fast it is... I won't notice the download bandwidth being used. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif If you have the patience to let it grind away uploading while you eat dinner or sleep, send it along.

The imagemod is probably taking up at least 25 megs of that...
If there are missing images, just keep bugging me till they're in.
...
But at least with you sending the whole thing now, I'll be able to easily add any missing ones.

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">In the MOD I am trying to "release" I have added a number of ships to the existing Vree set. Still isn't complete but...

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Followed your link and have downloaded several files. Thanks. Not found the Hurr yet.

I take it that most of these Race files were not incorporated into the two B5 Gold files namely B5GoldMain and the Gold AI file? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...s/confused.gif

Hey... Did someone say Timstone was Dutch? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon9.gif
http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/blush.gif

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">I take it that most of these Race files were not incorporated into the two B5 Gold files namely B5GoldMain and the Gold AI file? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...s/confused.gif

Hey... Did someone say Timstone was Dutch? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon9.gif
http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/blush.gif </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Correct. I checked that before giving you those links. And yup, Timstone is Dutch...

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Dunno, file loaded for almost an hour, got to "5 seconds remaining" and stayed there for 5-10 minutes. I finally said to heck with it and stopped the upload.

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

Don't believe those timers on file transfers... they are nearly always wrong...

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

73,792,512 bytes, and it seems to be extracting ok so far.

I'll get it posted in the morning... its too late right now, and I don't want to cause any more problems than nessesary http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

I'll repackage it a few ways and make sure the imagemod is updated...
When it arrives, it will all be under
http://imagemodserver.mine.nu/other/MM/SE4/mods

[ May 12, 2004, 04:30: Message edited by: Suicide Junkie ]

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

I've got them posted now.
Zip of 50 Megs, and an self-extracting RAR of 35 Megs.

----

PS:
As for imagemod compatibility, you only had the Last 7 facility pics ... which were not actually used in the mod.

Let me know what credits they need, and I'll add them in the next Version

[ May 12, 2004, 19:46: Message edited by: Suicide Junkie ]

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Not sure on the facilities. I gues Val either made them or found them on the WEB.

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

A status update on Version 2.0 (such as it is).

Facilities, Vehicles, pretty much all of the componets bar weapons, and the Ai files seem to be good. I have a game running as the Minbari and after 220 turns am still in 7th place out of 18 races (computer players have medium bonuses). That's about what I would hope, given that I'm not trying all that hard to win, and the AI cannot shift around populations.

However, the computer AI for all the players except the LNAW seem to be building 80% of their attack ships as scouts. There are a few exceorts, destroyers, and light cruisers, but all of the battleship and larger sizes are "specialized" ships like troop transports, ship-based shipyards, and the like.

There is nothing in the AI files that is obviously driving them in this direction, and they are designing all of the attack ship classes they should be, but they are not building them. Is there something really obvious that I am missing (like having the planet per ship setting too low)?

I had a thought on satellites: maybe we need to deny satellites the ability to "armor up" in order to restore them to balance. They will still wax a lot of ships, but will be eggs armed with sledgehammers - kinda what we saw in Endgame. Any thoughts on this approach?

Also, does anyone else think armor is a bit too weakwhen placed on ships? It doesn't seem to make that much difference in the simulator runs I conduct - either it is too leaky or else it just doesn't absorb enough damage. I dunno enough about how it works to make any final judgements, though.

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

Re: Sats
It might be nice to change sats into tiny, maintenance free bases.
They'll spread around the planet/sector for better coverage, plus the dispersed fire should make them less overpowering than 80 guns in one square.

As for armor...
How much are you adding?
Try comparing ships with 10%, 20%, 35% and 50% armor by mass.
In fleets, too.

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Just saw this. Version 2.0 has plenty of hyperspace systems. I haven't played the stock mod in a year so i cannot remember why it wouldn't have them. They aren't that significant in strategic play, except to balance out the greater probability of earthlike planets in the non-hyperspace systems. The ship-damaging hyperspace systems may not have been fully implemented. In any case, they kinda serve as the deterrent systems you are looking for, because ships will have a very difficult time geting through them without losing components, and ractors seem to be the first thing to go, so maybe they will have the effect you are looking for.

If we give nomadic races alone the capability for onboard repair, then you will have the effect you want, with crippled non-nomad ships (no supplies) being relatively easy meat for the raiders. As races acquire the self-repairing "unique ship" capabilities, this advantage will diminish.

Does that sound about right from a player perspective?

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Doh! That is exactly the kind of thing I should be looking at! Maybe we just create small bases that represent, say, 10 satellites each and as you say they will be spread out (the one thing I wish had been added to SE4 as is). This might make management a bit tough, and I don't know if the AI won't just put all its "satellites" around homeworld (as it does for bases at present) but I will look into this solution.

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">I have been experimenting with 10 v 10 ship engagements, with between 20% and 40% armor, and extra firepower seems to overcome extra armor. This is all at full tech levels. There may be a breakpoint at lower tech levels, but armor is so much harder to research than weapons that I doubt it. Note that this is all inert armor - I haven't started looking at reactive armors.

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

Hmm... Are you using ancient weapons, or normal race guns?

Also, Light or Heavy armor?
Heavy armor would be better for small skirmishes between normal races, but when fleets & firepower get big enough to kill ships in one or two rounds, Light works better.

-----

Hmm, perhaps the inert armors should be researched in the reverse order... heavy then light as tech increases (and more colonies mean increasing fleet size)

[ May 13, 2004, 01:48: Message edited by: Suicide Junkie ]

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

Oh pooh....... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...s/confused.gif .... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon8.gif

[ May 13, 2004, 18:58: Message edited by: Nomor ]

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Not sure on the facilities. I gues Val either made them or found them on the WEB. </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">I sent those facilities to Val. I have some more that are Narn and Centauri specific. There are also a few Minbari. I intended to add some descriptions to these as to what they might be used for. They are all from the Babylon 5 and Crusade series, taken from the B5 Cards and some from screen captures. Nearly all were sourced from the web, though some are now extinct.

If Val had still been active they might have appeared as Race specific Facilities. As soon as I've cobbled together the others I was going to submit them to the SEIV imagemod as many are suitable for the current Gold 2 mod. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/blush.gif
http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...s/rolleyes.gif
OK I have a RAR file to unload,1.46Mb, how do I do it? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/blush.gif ... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...s/confused.gif I'm being dumped out, message saying make sure you are authorised to blah.. blah

[ May 14, 2004, 22:59: Message edited by: Nomor ]

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Purely normal race weapons. I haven't even started to muck with the ancients - they have to relate to the normals, and so until the normals are "known" the ancients cannot be.

Quote:

Also, Light or Heavy armor? Heavy armor would be better for small skirmishes between normal races, but when fleets & firepower get big enough to kill ships in one or two rounds, Light works better.

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">50% mix of medium and heavy.

Quote:

Hmm, perhaps the inert armors should be researched in the reverse order... heavy then light as tech increases (and more colonies mean increasing fleet size)

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Light armor gets too expensive, I have found, and the "leakiness' of it seems excessive based on wholly inadequate testing (which is to say that I stopped even employing them pretty early). Actually, one-ton components get really unwieldy on larrge ships. Can we re-think the idea of one-ton components except as fillers?

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

this armor thing is realy buged 1 shot from neutron cannon X kills all my turets.
And some technological things are missing like: vorlon\shadows bioarmor, vorlon shields and many more.
oh and limit ship sizes for lesser races to baseship bcuz they had no planet killers or super base ships.
and ship size dependant on racial trait would be cool( EA have only like 7 types of ships, Minbaris have 2, shadows have 3 Battlecrab types)

I could fix this myself but i have no skills at moding, but i have many great ideas and can share them with you.
Write me if you are interested-razor@post.m-1.lt

and realy sorry guys for my english typo:)

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

Bug report

I notice that the Plasma Tor level 1 and 2, seeker speed was zero. That not very fast is it.

Lighthorse
http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon6.gif

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Uhm....not just level 1 and 2....eeepppp http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/blush.gif

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">What are you trying to upload now?

I don't usually have the FTP server turned on unless I'm expecting an upload.

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

ftp://imagemodserver.mine.nu/uploads
Upload link gives me a FTP Folder Error:-

Windows cannot access the folder. Make sure you typed the file name correctely and that you have permission to access the folder.
Details:
The opperator timed out. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/shock.gif

None of this makes any sense to me.... help. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/blush.gif Can I not just attach the file to an email and send to the interested party? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

[ May 15, 2004, 12:35: Message edited by: Nomor ]

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

Suicide Junkie:
QUOTE:What are you trying to upload now?

Sorry... I've got the rest of the Facility bmp's organised in a rar file with a txt file on their origin. All are B5 related and might serve in the current gold mod. For consideration for the SE4 Image ModPack. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...s/rolleyes.gif

I've also just completed adding descriptions to the Facilities.txt file starting from the top and ending 2/3 down. So we now know what all the abilities for each facility are. From PF's latest Gold Mod. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

The latter needs testing to see if it meets everyone's approval. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

However I missed out explaining the following because I don't know what they do, or how, although some do seem self exlanatory. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...s/confused.gif

Unknown Abilities:
Ability 7 Type := Quantum Reactor
Ability 6 Type := Mine Sweeping
Ability 9 Type := Destroy Black Hole
Ability 6 Type := Stop Black Hole Creator
Ability 3 Type := Ship Life Support

http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...s/rolleyes.gif

[ May 16, 2004, 06:25: Message edited by: Nomor ]

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

Good news, Rambie web site has Babylon 5 v1.8 available for download.
http://www.xmission.com/~rstulce/B5Web.htm


Lighthorse
http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon6.gif

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

The Quantum Reactor ability resupplies all ships in the fleet at the end of the turn (and the ship having this ability will not run out of supplies, except perhaps if it cannot store any supply) It is used for ships, unlike the "Resupply all ships in sector", used for facilities.

The Minesweeping ability allows this component to sweep X mines, where X should be the number of mines per sector.

The Destroy Black Hole ability is used to destroy a Star and make a Black Hole in its stead, while the Stop Black Hole Creator prevents this component working in the system it is located. (The System Gravitational Shield thingie has this ability in the vanilla game, along with the other "Stop [a Stellar Manipulation component] from working")

And Lastly, a Life Support ability is needed if the ship requires Life Supports. Having no such component when the ship requires them slow down your ship by a certain factor. (You lose 2/3 of your speed or something along these lines, as I don't quite recall the figure for this one. But when all your Life Supports are gone, your ship should have more pressing concerns than speed I guess.)

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

Alneyan: Thanks for that. These abilities were all in the Facilities file, so the Quantum Reactor seemed a bit redundant.

How do you explain a Minesweeping ability for a Facility? : Has little bitty mini mine clearing drones that patrol for mines.

Stop Black Hole Creator: Ok I get that but trying to justify how a facility has this ability is the problem.

And Lastly, a Life Support ability , Ok this means that a ship entering the system with this Facility inside suddenly loses all speed restriction it had as a result of being low on Life Support. How would that be explained. Perhaps these are best left as hidden talents.
http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

Nomor,

These are "dummy abilities" that force the AI to build specific facilities on a planet, as opposed to the "generic abilities" like "SpaceYard" that would never have the AI building Manufacturing facilities because there is a facility with greater spaceyeard capabilities (namely, the spaceyard itself). They are used only to link a specific facility type to a specific planet type, they mean nothing in and of themselves. They are needed because in this mod facilities have far more abilities than in the basic game.

For instance, "Quantum Reactor" is used as a tag so we can tell the AI to build a depot in that planetary slot. "Ship Auxiliary Control" tells it to build a manufacturing colony.

Does this explanation make sense?

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

Can anybody tell me how the AI decides which attack ship design it selects to build on any given turn in any given spaceyard? I still have races building almost exclusively scouts on turn 240, even after I have played around a bit with the planets per ship requirements in AI_Construction_Vehicles.txt. They are designing large attack ships, they are just not building them.

Also, does anyone know (or have a link to where I can find out) what changes the AI state and how I can tell what the AI state of a race is?

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

Yes
Thanks

So I was right to not describe these "abilities", yes? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/shock.gif phew

Now who wants this txt file I seem to have spent the weekend working on?

http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...s/rolleyes.gif
PM me with an email address and I send it off. Backup the original first. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

[ May 16, 2004, 12:38: Message edited by: Nomor ]

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

I should have checked you were only speaking of the facilities.txt file. *Grumbles* Giving the explanation wasn't exactly needed, as a facility will have a hard time doing any kind of minesweeping. (The only one that is actually a facility ability is the Stop Black Hole Creator in your list, as the others do not quite make much sense here. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif )

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

The Brakiri research for medium and heavy weapons are non-exsistant; is this on purpose or will there be weapons for this in the final Version?

[ May 17, 2004, 02:28: Message edited by: The One ]

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

what weapons do the Brakiri have in their arsenal that can allow them to stand up to other races?

[ May 17, 2004, 02:29: Message edited by: The One ]

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">The ship that the QR is on does not have to store any supplies at all.

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Check out the stock game's system gravitational shield facities.

[ May 17, 2004, 04:57: Message edited by: Imperator Fyron ]

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

In what order should the Brakiri research so that one can get all weapons that that race should have, and why are some of these weapons for the Brakiri blank and give you nothing when you researh it.

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

TO,

The mod is not complete as it is. Whether anyone will complete the Brakiri in the current Version I couldn't say. Timstone and I are working on a "Version 2.0" of this mod that pretty much rethinks everything here, including weapons. In Version 2.0 the brakiri will have weapons of all sizes, some of them Brakiri-unique and some generic.

Our goal is to have 2.0 done by the end of summer. Until then, you can either make up your own brakiri weapons of simply "turn off" the inapplicable research by making its prerequisite research higher than possible (e.g. Brakiri racial tech level 3).

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">In the manuel that came with IV Gold, is there a section that talks about making weapons in the mod? I'm bad about reading everything, guess I just don't have the time.(what an excuse).Thanks