Middle Earth in SEIV
 

So, I've been working on a (non-cannon) Middle Earth mod for about a month or so, and it looks like I can get it to work. I was wondering if anyone had any thought, comments, suggestions, or questions. I'll give you an idea of what I have so far.

-systems = called regions, because I can't think of a more colorful term.
-stars = wells
-rock planets = quarries, good for mining ore
-ice planets = fields, I know that doesn't make to most sense, but some imagination will be required. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif
-gas planets = ether consentrations
-vehicles = armies, scouting parties, snipers
-six races so far, Elves, Men, Dwarves, Orcs, Uruk-hai, and Hobbits.
-construction facilities are all separated for planets. You will need one of each: construction, recruiting, and magic guild (I'll need to make a combined one for AI).
-separated the stop stellar manip. facilities and renamed them to fit(Entmoot for example).
-many components are restricted to one per army, and need to be scaled to be effective.

The comp pics I have right now have been borrowed from Might and Magic 6&7. I got 1 pic for each settlement type(planet) from google image search, along with some roads (warp points), and burned fields (asteroids). No facility, or army pics as yet. Also no good well pics, which is keeping me from finishing the SectType, StellarAbilityTypes, SystemTypes, and QuadrantTypes.

Anyway thats the basis and where I'm at on it now. I don't know how done I will get it before SEV comes out, but I think I have a few months, and hopefully I can transfer it over then. If anyone wants to comment or suggest anything I'd like to hear it. And if anyone has any pictures or would like to help make some That would be great, Im not the best artist.

Re: Middle Earth in SEIV
 

Have you seen the Fantasy Empires Mod? You and Spoon could probably compare notes.

"-construction facilities are all separated for planets. You will need one of each: construction, recruiting, and magic guild (I'll need to make a combined one for AI)."

How are you accomplishing this? Somethin akin to space yacd expansions? Or are they meant as a way to specialize worlds for one type of production?

The Imago Mod has lots of medieval facilities that may be of use. Also, it is quite possible that those you find for your mod could be usable in Adamant.

Re: Middle Earth in SEIV
 

I had never heard of the Fantasy Empires Mod before. I'll have to look into it. Is Spoon still around?

I went with the expansion moddle for the space yards. The only down side is the few turns after the first one is constructed untill the third you are lacking in 1 or 2 production areas, but it might add another thing to think about. I will need to remind players to build them in a certain order though so they can still construct the other two.

I am going to try to specialize production by planet type however, using the StellarAbilityTypes.txt. I think it will work if the game setup doesn't mess things up. If it does, I think I can still make it work.

I liked several of the facilities in the Image Mod. Do I need to include credits for those with my mod or is the Image Mod credits enough? Also is the fact that they are in the Image Mod considered permission to use them?

Re: Middle Earth in SEIV
 

You can't add any abilities to StellarAbilityTypes.txt that do not effect the attributes of the planet itself. Cargo works, resource modifiers and SY abilities do not.

Just point people to download the Image Mod. Including images from it in your mod download is contrary to the main purpose of the Image Mod, which is to only need to download images once for use in many mods. You could even submit images to it and not need to include any in the mod download at all. This also prevents overlaps in the event of Image Msf updates.

Re: Middle Earth in SEIV
 

I'll have to keep track of my images then so I can add them to it. Thanks for the info.

As far as stellar abilities, I wasn't refering to SY's. I meant a bonus to production for a specific resource. making it almost useless to build a mine in a field for instance. I think the "Resource Gen Modifier Planet" abilities will work in there, could be wrong. I don't know if there is a cap to their value either. Once I gat my pictures together I think I can test it out.

Re: Middle Earth in SEIV
 

I think the "Resource Gen Modifier Planet" abilities

I mentioned those. They do not function as a planet ability, since planet abilities do not affect facilities or the colony itself.

Re: Middle Earth in SEIV
 

doesnt' one of the Star Trek mods use modified values for canon race homeworlds?

Re: Middle Earth in SEIV
 

They do not work as planet abilities...

Re: Middle Earth in SEIV
 

Well, you could always use the Map Editor to create maps where only rock worlds have a significant percentage of minerals, only ice have significant percentages of organics, and only gas have significant percentages of radioactives...

Re: Middle Earth in SEIV
 

Oh well, I guess I'll just have to leave that open for now then. I had thought about the map editor, but that limits games to just maps that have been made for it. Using a random map when the game is balanced for a hand made map would throw it off a bit, I think. If I was making it cannon, then balance wouldn't be as much of an issue.

I did go through the Image Mod last night and found all but about 5 facilities that I could use. I think I can find something for them somewhere.

New event pictures are my next area of focus. Mostly the win-lose and create-destroy events. Conditions, values, gifts, etc. should be OK.

Re: Middle Earth in SEIV
 

The Image Mod's event pack is rather bare. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Re: Middle Earth in SEIV
 

I noticed that. I'll have to try for google for most of those. I've got a couple right now.

Can't seem to make a border I like either, the colors tend to not sit well with the few that can't be changed. I was trying for an intertwined wood look, but ended up with brown chainlink on a light green background.