Mod for the game, but not just an image mod
 

I have been working on a mod for SEIV and I would like feedback as to whether it is something that people would want or not.

Here are some things I plan to add to the game.

New types of facilities:

Cities- Have you ever wanted to build huge cities on your planet? Well now you can. In this mod there will be five types of cities, each providing huge benefits to those that have taken the time to build them. Cities have long build times(on average 10 years) and high resource cost, but have huge benefits. Cities are specialized to provide only advantages in their specific area, ei Intelligence cities provide a huge increase in intelligence generation. The only limit to city construction is the facility limit for the planet. You can have an entire planet that is nothing but cities if you wanted to. The cities portion of this mod has been completed, and all five cities have been beta tested and work well.

Zones- Zones will provide space areas on a planet. Zones are special areas on a planet that will only be used for weapons platforms, troop facilities, recreation etc.. The areas zoned for military will designated a certain part of the planet specifically for military things. If that in confusing in short it will provide more cargo space, a lot more then a cargo facility because it is an open area of land. Ideal for supporting more weapons platforms. Also zones deemed recreational will provide your people areas for fun, which will increase happiness. There will be other zones as well. Work on zones has not yet began but is the next part to be made.

Core Implants- Wanna get a really good planetary bonus? These are the things for you then. Core implants are massive, expensive, and powerful structures placed around the core of a planet. I want say yet what these will be but trust me they will be good. Work has not yet begun on these.

There will be more facility types added, but as the mod is only a little ways into development information will not be made available yet, but I will keep you updated.

New components:

I plan to add many new components but work and details on them will not be given until the facilities part of the mod is complete.

New empires:

I will be adding empires, complete with race portraits/ship styles abotained from various sources. They will complete with lots of info, ship/base/fighter/troop etc.. designs, ship types, and colony types.

The following empires are planned for the mod:
The Conoleasion Empire
Arachnid Imperium
Shardian Collective
and more

If all goes will Ai will also be added to these empires.

Also for the mod I have changed many things. One of them is planetary facility limit has been doubled. Other things have also been changed and will be changed. I will keep you updated.

Also I have decided to have fun with this and created some new demeanors, traits and happiness types. These are purely for fun.

In short I am enjoying my work on this and would like feedback as to what people think of this mod and the ideas with it. Also I am open to suggestions. If you have any ideas for a type of facility or anything just let me know.

Thanks for taking time to reading this and I look forward to a response.

ps I am not good on spelling and grammar so if there were any mistakes just overlook them.

Re: Mod for the game, but not just an image mod
 

How do you plan to implement zones? Cargo space is just cargo space in SE4; there's no concept of "troop cargo" vs. "weapons platform cargo" for instance...

Re: Mod for the game, but not just an image mod
 

You are right there is no distinction cargo is cargo, what i meant was that a military zone can be used for whatever is needed. Example if you need room for weapons platforms then it is there, or whatever you need room for. Now a military zone will provide more space then a cargo facility, and also, as another incentive to build then zone rather then a cargo facility, Military zones will provide slight defensive bonuses for ground units.

Thanks for your comment and i hope that answered your good question/point.

Re: Mod for the game, but not just an image mod
 

As covered in SEIV Modding 101, the ability you are thinking of does not actually work.

Re: Mod for the game, but not just an image mod
 

really? thats a shame - ive used it before. cursed undocumented non-working abilities.

Re: Mod for the game, but not just an image mod
 

Well i never noticed that before but you are right the ability, Planet - Change Ground Defense doesnt work. Well that stinks, and well that means that i cant do what i was thinking about doing which was designing a facility called a fortress, which would have had this ability in a high number. Well i thank you for pointing that out. In all honesty i have not read all of the modding manual yet.

Also the following facilities have been completed:

Resource City
Intelligence City
Research City
Population City
Engineer City

Military Zone
Recreation Zone

Planetary Battle Academy
Planetary Strategic Academy
Up-link Battle Academy
Up-Link Strategic Academy

Planetary Fighter Bay
Starport

Re: Mod for the game, but not just an image mod
 

Planetary fighter bay? What's that do?

Re: Mod for the game, but not just an image mod
 

- You can still give your fortress an planetary shield amount (simulating the extra defense bonus)

Inti,

Re: Mod for the game, but not just an image mod
 

my plains for the fighter bay include more storage space, now you can put any unit in this space, but still it is more space. Also it will allow you to be able to launch a large amount of fighters per combat turn. This way if you have a lot of fighters, and fighter bays, you can launch a whole lot of fighters in a single turn rather then having to launch a few every turn.

And the idea of making a fortress provide a shielding bonus is a good idea. Now if only i could get a frotress to fire weapons on ground attackers. I dont even know if that can be done.

Re: Mod for the game, but not just an image mod
 

Only troops fire weapons in ground combat. Not even Weapon Platforms can do so.

Re: Mod for the game, but not just an image mod
 

Zeichnete-- Planets can launch one thousand fighters per combat turn, hard-coded. You really don't need a fighter launch facility unless you want people to build and deploy fighters by the tens of thousands.

Re: Mod for the game, but not just an image mod
 

well i am still testing things, but when i played i could not launch any fighters from a planet in combat. I thought the thousand fighter launch was only during each game turn.

there is still a lot to be done. I still have many facility ideas, component ideas, empire ideas, and technology ideas.

I have decided to make some senarios that will tell the story i have created. I am writing a book about a group of people called the Anui Rebels. I plan to make them a playable race and huge senerios that will allow players to play their story in this mod. Now i wanted to make this a challenege for players, and it will be. I am still working on it, and it will take a while but i like how it is coming.

Now i will be away for a week for a Christmas vacation. I wish you all a merry Christmas and thank you for your impute and also the intro screen for the mod is included on this post as an attachment.

Re: Mod for the game, but not just an image mod
 

Have a good Christmass.

Re: Mod for the game, but not just an image mod
 

.....If you want help with the ship(s), whether or not in the opening screen, drop me a line.

Re: Mod for the game, but not just an image mod
 

ok I am back, and have done some work, but it is comming along slowly. What I am doing to get the ship and unit designs for the new races I have made up is making it with the map editor from/for unreal tournament. That takes a while but so far I have all the designs for the Rebel weapons platforms. I have included a picture of the Anui Rebel Large weapons platform as an attachment to this post.

As far as help goes I would love it. Many people can make a mod a lot faster then just me. The Anui Rebels and their enemies, the Starknight empire, and their friends, the Fredasians and Jenovans, are based on a book I am currently writing and since it is my ideas I have to come up with my own designs. So far I have drew a design for two Rebel ships, and have made one of them in the unreal editor, which is the on on the intro screen. I will personally do all the designs for the Rebels themselves, but if anyone is interested in doing designs for the Jenovans, Fredasians, or Starknights, let me know. I do have a troop design drawn up for the Starknights, but other then that I have no other designs drawn. If you are good and interested I will fill you in on what the diferent cultures are like and their colors and let a good designer take it from there.

I dont know if i have already mentioned it but after I get the races made up, I will resume work on the new facilities, technologies, and components(Which I would like help with). Then after that I plan to make a massive senerio for people to play based on the galaxy in which the Rebels live.

Re: Mod for the game, but not just an image mod
 

I've managed to manufacture a Starknight Corvette, with three views from different angles and two shots (haha) of it firing its main weapons and belly turret, but I can't upload it just now. My home Internet connection is far too spotty, so it won't upload. I can put it up here in a few days, I hope.

One more thing - 1.60 Gold is outdated. You can pick up the 1.94 Deluxe patch on Malfador.com, it fixes quite a lot of bugs and adds a great many modding options (such as Vehicle List Type Overrides for components, so you can place something on Bases and Fighters only, for instance). I recomment downloading it before continuing with your mod.

Oh, and what happened to the Conoleasions, Arachnids and Shardians from your first post? Threw them out?

Re: Mod for the game, but not just an image mod
 

I may be biased here by being a dedicated modder...
But isn't getting the mod done more important than the shipsets?

I mean, you can just grab a collection to stand in for your races from the hundreds to thousands of shipsets already made. People playing the mod on PBW are mostly going to be using their personal favorite shipset anyways.
On the other hand, there probably isn't a mod out there that even approximates the physics of your desired game universe well enough to stand in for it.

Re: Mod for the game, but not just an image mod
 

OK, here we go again - Starknight Corvette, 3 views, 2 shots of it firing.

SJ, you're completely right, but - if you're making a mod with a hull name never seen before, wouldn't you agree at least one unique shipset would be handy? If Z's making a mod with unique hull names, that is.(Unique hull names, as in Rebel_Portrait_WeapPlatformLongRange, or Rebel_Portrait_CruiserAEGIS, to name a few alternatives. Hmm, long-range WPs and specialized AEGIS Cruisers, now there's an idea.....)

There should be racial facility pics. Something for the SEV Wishlist, perhaps.

Re: Mod for the game, but not just an image mod
 

Totally unique hull names are generally not that good of an idea. It is better to use already existing names wherever possible (such as Neostandard) so that you can take advantage of existing ship sets.

Re: Mod for the game, but not just an image mod
 

There is an "alternate picture" line in the hull definition and the neostandard name list to deal with that.

Adding a generic shipset for your really non-standard hulls would be useful, I'd say.

Re: Mod for the game, but not just an image mod
 

Using non-stock images as alternates leads to funky behavior with ship sets not designed for use with your mod, as will happen in nearly every PBW game. A bunch of empires using the same generic images for many ships tends to be annoying IMO.

Re: Mod for the game, but not just an image mod
 

Ok i looked at those designs and it is great. The only thing is Starknight ships as i have imagined them are redish and made of powerful metal. I have included an attachment which has hand-drawn designs that i have drew. They are images of my minds view of the Starknight frigate(medium class warship) and the Starknight Walker(Large Troop). Also for the record the thing at the front of the starknight frigate is a lighting gun. A supper powerful lighting gun that kills shields and disables systems. Now if this helps here is a little history of the starknights.

The Starknight empire has existed for over 10000 years. At first it saught to expand and bring peace to all, but after years of galactic rule they became corrupt. The Ancesters of Anui once fought the starknights in a war when the empire was expanding. The starknights are ruthless but claim to be good. They are human. They are a race obsessed with loyalty to the empire. If a Starknight soldier wishes to be on a Starship he must be willing to kill a close family member to prove that the success of the empire is most important to him then anything else. Thier ships all have a redish color to them and are covered in neatly arranged large metal plates.

Now in regard to the Conoleasion Empire, and Shardania collective, they will still be there, but in my story those empires are not encountered until the Starknight empire is beaten. Now designs for them have been taken from designs i got on-line, so they wont be a problem. Now i will(hopefully with help) be able to come up with designs for the Jenovans and Fredasians. I already have a pop portriat of the Fredasians i just need thier ship designs worked out.

If anyone is interested in makeing designs for those two races before i get to it, here is a little bit of how i invisioned their ships to look.

Fredasian ships are mostly a dark brown metal covering. It is dark but not dark enough to the point that it doesnt look brown. Thier ships are made of raw minerals taken right from their planet and as such they lack defense but more then make up for it in numbers and their extremly leathal Ionized plasma beam. It eats right threw armor and has a high refire, but the projectile doesnt move quik enough to kill fast-moving targets. They are a three legged brown race, but again i got a good pop pic so no worries there.

Now the Jenovans are nature loveing semi-pacifists, and by that i mean they dont like war but they will fight if threatened in any way. As far as designs go i have really come up with anything, all i have thought of is their colors are white and green. They are human, and good looking ones as well. In fact, in my story the wife of the Anui Rebel commander is a Jenovan princess.

With that being said, Strategia_In_Ultima, good work on the ship, it is a gerat design. more designs similiar to that and colored red would be great. Also the Starknight flag as i have pitured it is a red flag with a golden star that has SKE curving under that. More help in design would be great and thanks so much for your all's impute, now if you will excuss me i need to upgrade from version 1.6. lol and oh yea get back to work on designs, and files.

Re: Mod for the game, but not just an image mod
 

Starknight Frigate and Walker coming up. In the meantime, is this more what you had in mind for the Starknight's colours?

Re: Mod for the game, but not just an image mod
 

This started out as a Frigate, but now that I'm done with it it seems more like a Light Cruiser to me. I forewent the side cannons in favor of a battery of smaller turrets, mainly around the bridge, and one main cannon up front. Personally, I like the front end, with the pointy ridges around the barrel of that huge spinal-mounted main cannon, but that's just me http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

You like?

Walker coming up.

Re: Mod for the game, but not just an image mod
 

OH YEAH!!!

That is so stinking sweet dude, and yes that shade of red is the colors i imagined. All we need is a a top view of the ships and i can implament them into the game. In all honesty the Starknight lighting ship looks so much better then i had thought, again great job!

Also i now have the latest version so work on the mod will continue as planed. I have included a pic of a Rebel large troop. The same design will be used for the large fighter but the fighter version of course will have the traditional Anui Rebel blue pointed wings.

Re: Mod for the game, but not just an image mod
 

"The Empire needs you! Help crush the Anui rebellion! Return the Empire to greatness! Sign up for the Imperial Navy now!"

Re: Mod for the game, but not just an image mod
 

I like the design of the star and how you wrote SKE.

Anyways i am still working on the Rebel ships and making facilities.