The Mentality
 

Ok, I have begun the process of developing a new race for the Gold/Deluxe version of SEIV

Race: The Mentality
Leader: The Mind
Traits: Psychic, Crystalline, Religious
Bonuses: Superior Cunning, God-like Mineral Mining

Fleet Doctrine: Capture ships, repair them, use them against the enemy. If capture fails, neutralize target with engine and weapon destroying weapons, until capture is successful.

Primary weapons:
Tailismans, subverters, energy dampners, ionic dispersers, shield depleters, boarding parties, null space weapons.

I created this new thread because of the name change, and the focused goals that were explored in my previous race development thread for "The Plague".

Any assistance with this race design is appreciated. I will update this post as the design evolves.

Re: The Mentality
 

Ok, first question:

1. Would a religious talisman do any good on a ship with a subverter? Does it add anything to make subversion more likely?

Re: The Mentality
 

The Talisman makes the Subverter always hit, but it does not change the chance to subvert. Chance to subvert is equal to damage, with anything over 100 being overkill.

Re: The Mentality
 

Talisman = auto-hit, as long as it's in range. Many players consider it unbalanced.

Re: The Mentality
 

Two more questions:

2. Would talisman affect bording success?

3. Would talisman affect engine destroying and the crystalline energy damnper (weapon freezing) weapons?

I'm looking for a guaranteed shot at disabling as many ships as possible in a single combat round, leaving them ripe for the pick...er boarding.

Re: The Mentality
 

IIRC the talisman only affects direct fire weapons. So, no it doesn't affect boarding parties.

Re: The Mentality
 

No effect on boarding, but Ionic Dispersers and Energy Dampeners would get the same benefit as any other direct fire weapon: 100% hit chance.

Re: The Mentality
 

Boarding already has a 100% chance of "hitting". The only question is whether you have more attack than they have defense, and if they have a self-destruct to use.

All fireable weapons have 0% chance to miss with the talisman.
What effects they have on the target when they hit are not altered in any way.

Re: The Mentality
 

4. What's the best free graphics program for creating shipsets?

Re: The Mentality
 

answer to 4:

DOGA
- used by Atrocities for his shipsets
- for SEIV and SEV (see SE Portal for SEV conversion)
http://www.doga.co.jp/english/

Wings3d
- recommended by narf
http://www.wings3d.com/

Blender
- usable to create sets for both SEIV, SEV directly
http://www.blender.org

Re: The Mentality
 

5. Is it true that if you take the religious trait, and you employ tailismans, that your attack bonus is effectively overkill, and as such you can drop it to 50% in the race creation window without any adverse effect?

Re: The Mentality
 

Except that Aggressiveness has a minimum of 75% instead of 50%, yes. It will drastically reduce the effectiveness of your direct fire combat ships until you get the Talisman, but once you have the Talisman all normal offensive combat modifiers, including racial and cultural, are completely meaningless. This is a major reason why Deeply Religious is considered overpowered and banned in many PBW games, as the normal importance of combat bonuses in stock makes 120% Aggressiveness almost mandatory, and you can save 2050 points off of that by dropping it to 75% instead - 550 MORE than you would have to spend on Deeply Religious. Considering it this way, you actually gain a major benefit for a NEGATIVE cost when you take the Deeply Religious racial trait.

Re: The Mentality
 

Yes, for any ship that has the talisman installed.

Up until you get that, you'll be hurting.

Re: The Mentality
 

Yes, but there is a catch. You don't get the tailsman right away. If you start close to another empire, they will walk all over you untill you get it.

You will also fall behind in other areas of reaserch if you want to get it sooner.

It's kind of a gamble to do that, but it could work out for you. If for example you start a game with a large galaxy with only a couple of players, then you could reaserch it and enough other techs to make it useful. On the other hand if you start a small galaxy with 20 races they will likely crush you before you get anywhere.

It also might be considered a bit gamey in a PBW game, so if it doesnt't say in the game description it might be best to check with the owner before trying it.

I have done (80% I think was the lowest I could go) it in a single player game once. Got crushed in about 20 turns.

Alot of mods reduce how far you can drop attack and defense, some remove the tailsman, others change it to just an attack bonus, so it isn't so overpowering in the late game.

Re: The Mentality
 

6. Would the psychic trait be a good trait to take in a high-tech game where everything is allowed? Or should those 1500 points be better spent elsewhere since most people would employ MCs to counter the psychic subverting advantage?

Aparently, pairing up subverters with computer viruses is a worthless endeavor.

Re: The Mentality
 

Note that having a very bad attack rating and the Talisman can backfire, should your Talisman be destroyed. That scenario is only likely to happen often with leaky armour in place, though... or a mod creating some sort of weapon able to easily destroy the Talismans.

I have never seen much use for the Psychic trait, except in the early game where the other players might spend valuable resources countering your Psychic traits, even if you do not actually use it. If all tech is available right from the start, Master Computers are a lot cheaper than human components, so your trait isn't all too great.

Re: The Mentality
 

I think the only significant bonus of the Psychic trait is the system training facilities, and that's mostly just because they can stack with normal training facilities for a faster training speed. I don't think this is worth 1500 racial points.

Re: The Mentality
 

So the psychic trait would pretty much be out the question in a high tech game. The Mentality should instead then focus on boarding parties, which can be countered by shields and security stations which are more effective per kT than bording parties and depleters.

hmmm...

In a high tech game, for the Mentality to survive then, they would need to focus on specialized ships: dampners, dispersers, depleters, and boarders. Would that be your assesment - and still keep the Mentality as a pacifist missionary-boarding/capturing race intent on taking over your friends and eventually you too? Would they survive in such a game?

Re: The Mentality
 

douglas said:
...system training facilities... can stack with normal training facilities for a faster training speed.

Which is made more or less irrelevant when you build moon training centers.

Re: The Mentality
 

system training facilities...

7. ...which are made even more irrelevant when you employ talismans?

Re: The Mentality
 

Not really... ship and fleet training still affect defensive ability...

Re: The Mentality
 

8. What is the highest defensive ability that can be achieved in the game, and by what means?

Re: The Mentality
 

If you mean to-hit chances only, and not shields, armor or other defenses;

Take an escort, +40.
Add ECM3, +60.
Add Stealth armor +15.
Add Scattering armor +15.
Add maxxed out defensiveness skill +25.
Add berzerkers culture +10.
Fight only in sensor-interference storms +50.
=============
+215 total.

Re: The Mentality
 

9. Without using talismans, what is the highest offensive ability that can be achieved in the game, and by what means?

10. And finally, when you stack up the highest offensive versus the highest defensive, which one comes out on top, or at they both even?