Zippy\'s SE IV Mod (Note: It\'s HUGE!!!)
 

I want to invite everybody to try out my mod. The mod can be downloaded at:
http://www.commplusis.net/~levend/Games/SE_IV/Home.htm


About This Mod:

This mod spans many aspects of SE IV, making additions and improvements to each of these areas. There are too many changes to list individually, but some of the more significant changes include:

1. Improved AI
2. 25 new types of components (most have between 3-20 levels of improvement, new pictures, new sounds, and fighter Versions)
3. 36 additional tech areas (13 additional unique tech areas)
4. Many modifications to the original components and research areas
5. Sensors and ECM now add to vehicle modifiers (see Design Notes)
6. A new racial trait (called Energy Race) with its own ships and a hybrid of shields and armor
7. Ten unique AI’s that are compatible with the new and modified components and the new tech areas
8. New CompEnhancements, Cultures, and Facilities
9. Improved game balance
10. A few new beam and torp pictures
11. 31 new combat sound files

My Components.txt file is around 780k while the Components.txt file that comes with v1.30 is only around 485k. Using these numbers as a rough estimate says that my mod has over 50% more components than the original Version!

There is more, but if this isn’t enough to make you want to try my Mod, then I’m afraid that I’ve failed.

One warning: The AI in this mod is designed to be MUCH more difficult than the default AI.

I hope you enjoy!
Zippy

Re: Zippy\'s SE IV Mod (Note: It\'s HUGE!!!)
 

Thanks for the work, Zippy.

Downloaded it today, and should be able to dig into it later tonight. I'll keep a notebook close by, and I'll let you know what I've found in a day or two. Sounds like some interesting stuff -- I'm looking forward to playing with it.

Re: Zippy\'s SE IV Mod (Note: It\'s HUGE!!!)
 

I'm also going to download it and test it out. I really like the description so far =)

Re: Zippy\'s SE IV Mod (Note: It\'s HUGE!!!)
 

I downloaded it and am using the things I like. Most of the things look pretty cool so far. And I haven't run into any errors yet.

Re: Zippy\'s SE IV Mod (Note: It\'s HUGE!!!)
 

I have played zippies mod for two days. I couldn't sleep (insomnia, excitement??) so
I stayed up all Thursday night and finally got 5 hours sleep Last night.

I like the escorts ability to have 8 engines (plus 1-I tick off extra 1 movement in traits). I use escorts more now (especially for scouting impending invasion fleets}.

TACTICAL COMBAT - (Not really Zippies issue) Have discovered to always have longer range weapons (missile or beams), than the AI. In tactical, I approach enemy, wait till he moves towards my ship, then I fire weapons and reverse direction, AI then moves towards me, and I fire again and reverse again. After I have destroyed some of AI's ship components, he retreats. I kill him.

NOTE TO ZIPPY: Can you develop a program to change tactical combat into simultaneous movement and fire. A simultaneous movement phase, then a simultaneous firing phase. I fire/AI fires(if in range of course). Without this change, tactical combat is too easy. One of my frigates with gauss cannon (longer range than AI) destroyed two AI's frigates. I had no damage.
Example: me and AI have one frigate each with same beam weapon. If I have 1 extra bonus movement point, I can destroy AI ship with me suffering no damage by waiting, shooting, retreating. I may be wrong, but if the AI's ship moves within range of firing at my ship, does the AI fire, or, does it fire then move or does it move then fire??
Would be nice that both sides move at same time, then lock weapons on any targets, then fire or wait to get closer, then move again at the same time.
The way it is now, is I wait till the AI moves, then I have the advantage to plan my movement.

BACK TO MY CRITIQUE - I loaded about 6 of your AI races and edited them and saved them over your originals. I went to CULTURE Category, and chose only VERY EASY. I played for 3 hours and I found it too easy. I built alot of research factories and I destroyed one empire very early on by sending only one frigate with capital missile against unarmed planets. NOTE TO ZIPPY, can you modify AI so that it immediately builds one, two, three, or more weapon platforms on its new colonies. Weapon Components for WP's should be one longest beam weapon, 1 best longrange missile and best point defense or shield. I not sure about fitting small shields on weapon platforms(WP from now on). The further away from their AI starting system, the more WP emergency constructing. I usually Emergency build at least two-three WP's when i'm close to AI.And on large worlds (worth more), there should be more AI platforms built obviously. ONE THING I ESPECIALLY LIKE IS AFTER THE HUMAN PLAYER COLONIZES A WORLD, I click "ABILITIES" AND IT SAYS "-50% PRODUCTION FOR 0 POPULATION". It takes twice as long (two turns) because of the low population, to build factories etc. I quickly transport 97 population units to bring it up to 100 level, and viola! It now takes 1 turn. I get a kick out of that. I don't know if Transporting more pop units is beneficial on production values.

ZIPPY's mod has changed some of the research numbers. It is now 75000 to reach frigate. That's nice in my opinion. Hull sizes play a crucial role and making it too easy might take away the enjoyment of sending 10 escorts in for the kill (their highly hard to hit-more maneurable 8 engines-great colony ship killers and unarmed scouts.

PLAY EQUALITY. I have been adjusting the AI's 5000 racial points and choosing VERY EASY, or VERY EASY PLUS (50% up on ship building rate. (I don't like them building more ships however) The ideal would be somewhere in between for an even game (remember ALL of Zippies races hate humans-kill, kill, so be careful not to choose anything higher difficulty in my opinion. I like just Very EASY and giving AI a 10 - 30 % increase in research-and increasing the ship building rate upwards. . Anything above and the AI has very high scores in all department. "Ultra factories" is plain outlandish. And 200% increases? OUCH.

MASTER OF ORION DIPLOMACY vs. SE4 DIPLOMACY.

First, I think we can all agree that SE4's diplomacy needs tweaking or adjusting. MOO2's had a sliding scale. Example: The easier the level of difficulty, the easier it was to negotiate and make alliances in MOO2. And the opposite. PERHAPS ZIPPY WOULD NOW LIKE TO TWEAK SE4'S DIPLOMACY. AND HOW ABOUT ANIMATED OR SPINNING WORLDS, AND ANIMATE GROUND COMBAT, hmmm? AND...........

In Zippies mod, the AI just hates you. That's it. Perhaps, that was what Zippy was intending, since alot of forum complaints dealt with aggression and difficulty levels.
Well folks, that issue can now be buried. Zippy has done an outstanding job on his mod and he deserves, in my opinion, to even go so far as to ask for a small $1 donation for downloading his mod. How many hours did it take Zippy? 500???? 1000??
Zippy, the save game feature needs improving in my opinion. Maybe you can fix it???First, I would like to click on a saved game and be able to type or change the name. I can't do it! What happens in 2 years, I gonna have 500 saved named game files like hard game, easy game, etc...
FINALLY, THE THING THAT I NOTICE MUCH IN THIS MOD IS ESCORT AND FRIGATE USE AND EXTRA ENGINES AND SCOUTING. OBVIOUSLY, I CAN'T NOTICE AI "IMPROVEMENTS"-THAT'S PERHAPS TOO SUTTLE. THERE IS MORE RACE STUFF AND COMPONENTS.
GREAT JOB ZIPPY. APPLAUSE! APPLAUSE! PERHAPS YOU CAN WORK AT MALFADOR.
From Vancouver, Canada, this is Cranex leaving to play another addictive game of SE4. Wait a minute, I did not use any other mods, also with "ZipMod". Hey Zippy, can I trade, make treaties etc with any of your races, or is it just a bloodfest,eh? <grin>

[This message has been edited by Cranex (edited 13 May 2001).]

Re: Zippy\'s SE IV Mod (Note: It\'s HUGE!!!)
 

Thank you all for very much for your feedback about my mod. I've put a lot of effort into this mod and its great to finally have some other people trying it out. I look forward to any further comments.

Zippy

Re: Zippy\'s SE IV Mod (Note: It\'s HUGE!!!)
 

Hello Zippy.
I dowunloaded your Mod. yesterday, and spent Last night going ovet it to see what neat ideas/components/etc... I could adapt for my personal use. Some nice ideas there.
But the big question I have, is why do so many of your tech. requirements for your new components require the same tech. Twice or even three times?
e.g.1 Organic Stealth Armor requres Organic tech. twice, both at level 6
e.g.2 Small Crystalline Armor requires Crystalline Tech. three times.

Re: Zippy\'s SE IV Mod (Note: It\'s HUGE!!!)
 

I played a difficulty LOW , and no bonus.
After 2 hours, all the AI's were scoring
in the 300's. I had 79. I also played a hard
game.
Conclusion: the races are TOO tough.

Re: Zippy\'s SE IV Mod (Note: It\'s HUGE!!!)
 

one question:
is the zippy mod compatible with the TDM mod?
thanx for answering.
klaus

Re: Zippy\'s SE IV Mod (Note: It\'s HUGE!!!)
 

Reply to klausD:
Unfortunately, I have not had time to try the TDM mod (nor any of the other great mods that are available) so I do not know if my mod is compatible. Please feel free to send me an email (levend@commplusis.net) if I could help integrate my mod with some of the more standard mods.

Reply to Cranex:
I have added an "Adjusting AI Difficulty" section on my Readme web page to address this issue (see link below). Thanks for the reply!

Reply to Old Possum:
I have updated part 2 of the Design Notes on my Readme web page to address this issue (see link below). To sum it up, the redundant techs were intentional, but are no longer needed. The Readme explains more. Thanks for the reply!

My Readme web page is at: http://www.commplusis.net/~levend/Ga..._IV/Readme.htm

Re: Zippy\'s SE IV Mod (Note: It\'s HUGE!!!)
 

Would love to hear more feedback on Zippy's new mod. It really sounds great and I don't have time to give it a try myself this weekend. So bring forth your experiences and comments on it.

Thanks

Tarkin

Re: Zippy\'s SE IV Mod (Note: It\'s HUGE!!!)
 

The TDM ModPack is a carefully play-balanced Mod that seeks to improve the AI without making any changes to the tech tree. In order for a Mod to be compatible, it must not rely on any changes to files such as components.txt. This makes sense... you wouldn't want one AI race researching superweapons available in a customized components file that aren't available in the stock components.txt.

Re: Zippy\'s SE IV Mod (Note: It\'s HUGE!!!)
 

Comment on TDM ModPack compatibility:
After reading raynor’s comment on the TDM ModPack, it seems like my mod would be difficult to make fully compatible with the TDM ModPack since I changed nearly everything in the Components.txt file. If I have time, I will see if my mod would benefit from parts of the TDM ModPack.

Reply to Cranex’s Reply, Edited 5/13/01:
First off let me just say WOW! I never expected such a terrific response. I’m hesitant to admit this, but Zippy’s Mod has been in a useable state for over two months now (and I haven’t worked on the mod for the Last month, but that is another story). I guess I should have been more aggressive with the advertising of my mod.

I have updated the Design Notes section on my Readme web page to address most of Cranex's questions/comments. The Readme is found at: http://www.commplusis.net/~levend/Ga..._IV/Readme.htm

The following questions/comments are not addressed on my Readme page:

Cranex: “Can you develop a program to change tactical combat into simultaneous movement and fire…”
Zippy: No, sorry, this would take more than editing the text files.

Cranex: “Zippy, the save game feature needs improving in my opinion. Maybe you can fix it???”
Zippy: See above.

Cranex: “Zippy … deserves, in my opinion, to even go so far as to ask for a small $1 donation for downloading his mod.”
Zippy: I am very flattered. Believe me, the wonderful replies that I have been receiving are more than enough payment for my efforts.

Cranex: “How many hours did it take Zippy?”
Zippy: It is hard to say because I would work off and on (and mostly while I played the game). Sorry, but I really can’t even make a rough guess . It also would be difficult to separate the problem solving from the actual mod creation.

Cranex: “or is it just a bloodfest,eh?”
Zippy: “Boodfest,” I love your wording. Anyway, yes, this mod is currently designed to be a kill-them-all type game. I would have liked to incorporate more diplomacy, but I just haven’t found the time to create a race that allows for diplomacy and remains as aggressive as I like. Also, I always play in Team Mode, so diplomacy isn’t a big issue for me. Maybe the AI in my mod personifies how much I dislike strategy games that don’t require any strategy.

Re: Zippy\'s SE IV Mod (Note: It\'s HUGE!!!)
 

Kudos Zippy on a fantastic Mod. It taught me that I wasn't as good at SEIV as I thought http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/images/icons/icon7.gif
I know you recommend team mode but do your AI's handle it alright if I turn that off? I apparently have a lot to learn judging by the smoking ruins of my homeworld...

Re: Zippy\'s SE IV Mod (Note: It\'s HUGE!!!)
 

Chill_Factor: turning off team mode will probably be ok, but I can't say for sure because I've never tested it. You also might want to try setting all of the AI cultures to "Easy" or "Very Easy".

Just to let people know, I'm currently working on a little program that lets you quickly, safely, and easily modify the AI bonuses in my mod. (The program is just a replacement for notepad so don’t get too excited.) The program will be released as v1.8 of my mod once it is ready.

Re: Zippy\'s SE IV Mod (Note: It\'s HUGE!!!)
 

I have a new Version of my mod available for download (v1.8). The only significant addition is a program for editing the AI settings in my mod. This is to address people's comments about the difficulty of my mod. Try it out ... I'd love to hear your comments!

Re: Zippy\'s SE IV Mod (Note: It\'s HUGE!!!)
 

I released v1.9 of my ZippyMod. This Version has been fully tested with SE IV v1.49 and adds a number of enhancements. You can download it at my home page. Also, please make sure to check out ZippyMod AI Setup Utility that is included with my mod.

Please visit the ZippyMod Readme for more information.

I hope you enjoy!

[ 05 January 2002: Message edited by: zippy ]</p>

Re: Zippy\'s SE IV Mod (Note: It\'s HUGE!!!)
 

OK, I'll try it after I finish with UM.

Odd that almost everyone on this thread is unrated.

Maybe Zippy should be thanked with a few stars?

Re: Zippy\'s SE IV Mod (Note: It\'s HUGE!!!)
 

I released v1.91 of my mod which fixes a bug where the Temporal race can build bases without any weapons early in the game. If you already downloaded v1.9, then you can download a patch (~22k). Otherwise, you must download the full mod (~700k). Both downloads are available on my home page.

Re: Zippy\'s SE IV Mod (Note: It\'s HUGE!!!)
 

Good to know your still active Zip. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif I recently updated my site, and could not find a banner for yours, and was considering sending you an email about getting one from you. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Glad your back.

Re: Zippy\'s SE IV Mod (Note: It\'s HUGE!!!)
 

Atrocities,

I’m embarrassed to admit that I’ve never made a banner before. Here is the result of my first attempt. Now if I can only figure out how to put the darn things on my web page http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...s/confused.gif

Static Banner
Animated Banner

I would love to be added to your awesome web page so please let me know if you need more than this.

[ 09 January 2002: Message edited by: zippy ]</p>

Re: Zippy\'s SE IV Mod (Note: It\'s HUGE!!!)
 

I finally got to load Zippys mod. I was too worn to the bone to get it started. I'd have to create a bunch of picture-empire folders, I think.

It would be nice if it were compatible with the MOD picker. I wish I had a DIRECTORY-TREE (print screen) from someone who made them work together.

UPGRADES HAPPEN!!!

Re: Zippy\'s SE IV Mod (Note: It\'s HUGE!!!)
 

I'm quite enjoying the Zippy mod so far.

Re: Zippy\'s SE IV Mod (Note: It\'s HUGE!!!)
 

Wardad,

First off, thanks for downloading my mod. I'm not sure why you say, "I'd have to create a bunch of picture-empire folders..." You should be able to unzip the files to your Space Empires IV folder and then start the game. Just make sure that you use the AI’s and/or pre-made Empires that come with the game as explained on my Readme page.

Also, can you tell me more about "the MOD picker?" It sounds like a great idea, but I haven't heard about it before. (Yeah, working on ZippyMod has kept me a little secluded in the SE IV world.)

Re: Zippy\'s SE IV Mod (Note: It\'s HUGE!!!)
 

Thanks Zip, your banner has been used. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Re: Zippy\'s SE IV Mod (Note: It\'s HUGE!!!)
 

Zippy, I had to SEARCH on subject PICKER to pick up one the threads. From the thread I was bounced to a ULTILITES forum I have never seen before. I downloaded the MOD PICKER from there.
It has not been added to the new Scenario/Mod forum yet.

I did not follow your load instructions as I did not want to overwrite files, or add to MM folders. I caught a cold and have not looked at it again.


UPGRADES HAPPEN

Re: Zippy\'s SE IV Mod (Note: It\'s HUGE!!!)
 

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr>It has not been added to the new Scenario/Mod forum yet.<hr></blockquote>Yes it has, but not under the name "Mod Picker". It's in:SE IV Data mods as Matryx's SE4 Launcher.

Re: Zippy\'s SE IV Mod (Note: It\'s HUGE!!!)
 

Wardad and capnq: Thanks for the info about the mod picker. I'll try to download the program and look into it further.

When installing my mod you don't have to overwrite any files (oh, now you tell me http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon8.gif ) -- my mod works fine if you keep the originals. The only difference is that you must manually edit the path.txt file and the game will use your current boom3.wav file (which is used during ship and unit explosions). If you're using WinZip, then make sure that "Overwrite existing files" is unchecked and just say "No" when it asks if you want to overwrite the two files.

[ 12 January 2002: Message edited by: zippy ]</p>

Re: Zippy\'s SE IV Mod (Note: It\'s HUGE!!!)
 

Wow, that Mod Picker program is pretty nifty http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Here is the required ModInfo file for my mod. If you're using IE, then just right-click the link and select "Save Target As..." and put the file in your ZippyMod folder. If you're not using IE, then I'll assume that you're smart enough to know what to do. I'll include the ModInfo file in future releases of my mod.

ModInfo File for ZippyMod

Re: Zippy\'s SE IV Mod (Note: It\'s HUGE!!!)
 

Nice mod, the new components are great, a little high damage. It seems somewhat balanced but if you aren;t religious you are screwed. thank god i took that racial trait. The ratios are so negativly in favor of weapons hitting. and waht is the no intel no troops no mines deal, we should be able to choose that not be forced upon with it. cloak is nice, but only for organic? i tookt hat trait too, lucky me and am having a field day killing all the AI that doesn't have cloak and can't detect me. Still i think you could tone down the damage on the weapons and the sheilds and then it would be alittle friendlier. Dealing wiht numbers like 980 for a torpedo seem a little excessive. Overall nice work. And no stellar manipulation???? what is that?

Re: Zippy\'s SE IV Mod (Note: It\'s HUGE!!!)
 

Skulky: I'll break down your issues so it’s easier for me to reply...

Skulky "Nice mod, the new components are great"
Zippy "Thanks"

Skulky "a little high damage ... Still i think you could tone down the damage on the weapons and the sheilds"
Zippy "I spent considerable time balancing Beams, Torps, Missiles, Point Defenses, Shields and Armor for ships AND fighters. Sure, a 980 Torp seems high, but note that torps have a fire rate of 1 shot per 3 turns (so that their rate of damage is less than beam weapons). Furthermore, armor gets up to 900 -- and you can have 2 armors for the space of one torp for a total armor of 1800! Of course large weapon mounts cause more damage, but they also take up more space. I'm not saying that things are perfectly balanced, but that's what you get with a game as complex as SEIV http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif "

Skulky: "and waht is the no intel no troops no mines deal, we should be able to choose that not be forced upon with it. cloak is nice, but only for organic? ... And no stellar manipulation???? what is that?" (Bold added by Zippy)
Zippy: "Hey, good idea. Maybe I should write a program called ZippyMod AI Setup Utility.exe and put it in your ZippyMod folder http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif Most of the TechAreas that you mention are disabled by default because the AI doesn't use them. My Home Page has more info about this stuff. Organic still has cloak because my program isn't perfect (see Help - Notes - TechAreas from within the program)."

Skulky: "if you aren;t religious you are screwed"
Zippy: "hmmm, I'm not sure about this one. In my mod the Religious Talisman costs 1000 of each resource and requires a space of 80 while in the original Version the cost and space are 300 and 50, respectively. As far as I know everything else is the same for the religious trait between my mod and the original Version. So, it would seem to me that taking religious is slightly less desirable in my mod."

Skulky: "The ratios are so negatively in favor of weapons hitting"
Zippy: "Wouldn't this make the religious race even less of an advantage? Anyway, I assume that you are referring to missiles and torps. Missiles always hit, but they can also be shot down and outrun. Also, PD's require 20 space while missiles require 50 so the advantage should always go to the defender. The reason for the torp bonuses was to improve game balance between AI-controlled static defenses (bases, satellites, WP's) and human-controlled ships. Without the bonuses a human player could just park his/her ships at maximum weapons range and take out the static defenses; ships would have a 100% chance to hit the static defenses, while the static defenses would have a low chance of hitting the ships at that distance. My hope is that now human players have to use a little strategy when attacking bases."

I hope that these long-winded replies are useful. I'd love to hear your reaction http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

Re: Zippy\'s SE IV Mod (Note: It\'s HUGE!!!)
 

I've started getting used to the damage now, it doesn't really matter that much anyway.

The armor is great stuff, i like the organic armor better (the sludge stuff, or is that some other racial?) it regenerates which is so much better than just having high hit points. I think that regeneration is a little high. It makes it almost impossible to kill someone with it as they can regen thier armor faster than you can kill it.

I think that the cloak is cool, i use it a ton, but there needs to be a way to detect it, maybe a large base and WP only device that can see lvl 5 cloaks and then give every racial one lvl 5 type and the normal ppl only a lvl 4 so that racial allows you better cloaking. for religious or physic you could have it called a S.E.P field (from Life the Universe and Everything, hitchhikers guide to the galaxy trilogy) Somebody Else's Problem renders things invisible due to you not caring about it and you can only see it if you are looking for it/know its there.

I played a full tech start just to see everything and i am using the religious thing to totally dominate becuase everything i fire hits the enemy. I think the problem was that one of my ships wasn't designed with a combat sensor so it had like -200% or something and then i used religion. I just never tried it before, its great now and ill probably take it in every game from now on.

I still don't agree with the nearly impossible to overcome to-hit odds. I think this is one area where the odds could be lowered and it would still be playable. Static defenses aren't as good as ships in real life anyway. Have you heard of the Maginot Line? Not as great as a massive army of tanks. And what if i get the AI to gift me one of its super good infinite resource worlds? then i am set for life. Better thana ringworld.

IIRC i have seen AI's that can do troops and stellar manipulation (a little eratic but hey) at least we shoudl get the destroyers, the ai uses those, a little wierdly but at least it doesn't killit self as i once feared.

I just found the Warp gate tech, cool.

Re: Zippy\'s SE IV Mod (Note: It\'s HUGE!!!)
 

"Static defenses aren't as good as ships in real life anyway. Have you heard of the Maginot Line? Not as great as a massive army of tanks."

Uh, I dunno. It was good enough to prompt the German army to go AROUND it.

That's the main disadvantage of static defenses- they don't move.

Phoenix-D

Re: Zippy\'s SE IV Mod (Note: It\'s HUGE!!!)
 

my point

Re: Zippy\'s SE IV Mod (Note: It\'s HUGE!!!)
 

Right.. but static defenses, where you can't go around them or otherwise exploit their immobility, tend to be pretty nasty customers.

Tangent:
"Retrofit Max Percent Difference in Cost := 10000"

Ran into this line from settings.txt..not sure this is a good idea unless you want to drasticlly shorten build times from the human player. This could let you build an empty ship, then retrofit it to an attack or even stellar manipulation ship much faster than those ships would have been built on their own.

Phoenix-D

Re: Zippy\'s SE IV Mod (Note: It\'s HUGE!!!)
 

Skulky: Thank you very much for the feedback. I'll strongly consider your suggestions in the next Version. I still have one question though -- Are you referring exclusively to Torps when you say "the nearly impossible to overcome to-hit odds?" I can see how the Torp bonuses might be a tad too high, but I'm not sure what I could do to improve Beams and Missiles. Also, do you have any suggestions for the Torp bonuses (assuming that this is your area of concern)?

Thanks again!

Re: Zippy\'s SE IV Mod (Note: It\'s HUGE!!!)
 

Phoenix-D: Darn, I never considered your point. I set Retrofit Max Percent Difference in Cost to 10000 back in Version 1.7 of my mod because the AI doesn't retrofit often enough to avoid the original 50% limit. The biggest problem is with Bases which the AI upgrades every 10 turns or so. If the cost of upgrading a base exceeds Retrofit Max Percent Difference in Cost after 10 turns, then the AI will never upgrade the base! Unfortunately, I don't see any way to address your concern AND insure that the AI will always upgrade ships and bases. Personally, I think the best solution is to keep things the way they are so that AI bases don't become obsolete; human players will just have to refrain from building empty ships. I'd appreciate any other ideas http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Re: Zippy\'s SE IV Mod (Note: It\'s HUGE!!!)
 

Well, the easiest/hardest solution is to play with the number until it's low enough to make it a little more difficult to abuse, but high enough so the AI will retrofit.

Phoenix-D

Re: Zippy\'s SE IV Mod (Note: It\'s HUGE!!!)
 

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Phoenix-D:
"Static defenses aren't as good as ships in real life anyway. Have you heard of the Maginot Line? Not as great as a massive army of tanks."

Uh, I dunno. It was good enough to prompt the German army to go AROUND it.

That's the main disadvantage of static defenses- they don't move.

Phoenix-D<hr></blockquote>


The Maginot line also took a massive amount of money out of productive defence procurement (Tanks, AFVs, Aircraft, effective mobile communications, etc) and put it into pouring concrete for about 10 years and resulted in a very passive defensive doctrine on the part of the French, which contributed a great deal to their collapse.

It was an unmitigated disaster for France.

Re: Zippy\'s SE IV Mod (Note: It\'s HUGE!!!)
 

"It was an unmitigated disaster for France."

Yes, but in an actual fight wasn't *inferior* to what could have been produced; given the advantage of fixed fortifications, a head-on assult against it would have been very painful. Probably moreso than the equivilent amount of mobile units. So IF you can go around a fixed defense or exploit it's immobility, it's worthless. If you can't do that, things get a little nasty.

And in SE4, it's much harder to go around a fortifiction. Sure, you can make a new WP in- but then you have to find a non-connected system to make a new WP in. Worse, a system shield makes that a non-option, so now you have to find a different warp line in.

In some cases, you end up with no choice but to attack through the defenses; I had a warp nexus in one game. It was guarded mostly by forts and sats, and anniliated over 10 times it's tonnage in attackers by the end of the game. Quite the investment, I'd say.

Phoenix-D

Re: Zippy\'s SE IV Mod (Note: It\'s HUGE!!!)
 

v2.0 is here -- and it brings a whole bunch of new stuff! 12 new AI Races (with full support for Standard Races and Neutral Races so you don't have to use the pre-made Empires), Stellar Manipulations, Troops, Mines, Cloaking, Politics, and over 60 other additions. You can read the full details in the What's New section on my home page while you download the mod http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Re: Zippy\'s SE IV Mod (Note: It\'s HUGE!!!)
 

Update: I made a very minor change to my mod -- Troops, Energy Troops, and Boarding Science are now unavailable by default since the AI is more efficient without these TechAreas. If you downloaded v2.0 before 7:30AM CST, then I recommend doing the same *UNLESS* you like to use Troops and/or Boarding Parties. Run "ZippyMod AI Setup Utility.exe" to toggle the availability of the mentioned TechAreas.

Re: Zippy\'s SE IV Mod (Note: It\'s HUGE!!!)
 

Wouldn't it be simpler just to not tell to AI to get those tech areas? Or not use them even if it does?

BTW, I can't navigate your site.. the side frame is pure black.

Phoenix-D

Re: Zippy\'s SE IV Mod (Note: It\'s HUGE!!!)
 

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Phoenix-D:
Wouldn't it be simpler just to not tell to AI to get those tech areas? Or not use them even if it does?<hr></blockquote>

I should have explained that Troops and Boarding Science are the only two tech areas that the AI uses exclusively for defensive purposes. Your method works fine if the human player never uses Troops or Ship Capture. But, what if a human player wants to use these tech areas? With your method the AI wouldn't provide any defense. By toggling the availability of the tech areas the AI will automatically allocate the appropriate resources -- the AI can only research, design, and build Troops and Boarding Defense if the corresponding tech areas are available. But, if the tech areas are unavailable (i.e., the player doesn't use Troops or Ship Capture) then the AI won't waste resources pursuing those tech areas.

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr>BTW, I can't navigate your site.. the side frame is pure black.<hr></blockquote>

Do you have images turned on? The side frame is all graphics.

Re: Zippy\'s SE IV Mod (Note: It\'s HUGE!!!)
 

Zippy,
Thats one tuff mod! downloaded it and into about 25 turns and the first race I find is.....EEE! and of course they do not like me at all http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif way cool

Typos

[ 02 March 2002: Message edited by: mottlee ]</p>

Re: Zippy\'s SE IV Mod (Note: It\'s HUGE!!!)
 

Yup, I have images turned on. None of them displayed though..

Phoenix-D

Re: Zippy\'s SE IV Mod (Note: It\'s HUGE!!!)
 

Ah, there we go. IE needed to download something for them to display apparently.

Phoenix-D

Re: Zippy\'s SE IV Mod (Note: It\'s HUGE!!!)
 

Ok.. looking around and I found this:

"2. In VehicleSize.txt I use Combat To Hit Offense Minus and Combat To Hit Defense Minus rather than Combat To Hit Offense Plus and Combat To Hit Defense Plus so that Sensors and ECM bonuses add to ship bonuses. Otherwise, the game would only use the best value. For example an Escort (+40% Defense) with an ECM III (+60% Defense) would only have a +60% Defense (from the ECM III) while a Baseship (-20% Defense) with an ECM III (+60% Defense) would also have a +60% Defense (from the ECM III). Using my method, the Escort will have a –100% (60% – 160%) Defense while the Baseship will have a –160% (60% – 220%) Defense for a net difference of 60% between the two ships. Unfortunately, Stealth Armor and ECM do not add (which is why I removed normal stealth armor)."

Unless the ship design screen is bugged, things do stack; standard SE4 uses Defense Plus for both, and according to the ship design screen an Escort with ECM III, stealth armor, scattering armor has a defense of 140 something, where a baseship with the same has a defense of 60 something. Perhaps this was fixed?

Not really relevent since the design will work either way, just curious.

Phoenix-D

Re: Zippy\'s SE IV Mod (Note: It\'s HUGE!!!)
 

The "plus" does stack, the in-game screen is correct. Have a nice day! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Re: Zippy\'s SE IV Mod (Note: It\'s HUGE!!!)
 

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Phoenix-D:
Unless the ship design screen is bugged, things do stack; standard SE4 uses Defense Plus for both, and according to the ship design screen an Escort with ECM III, stealth armor, scattering armor has a defense of 140 something, where a baseship with the same has a defense of 60 something. Perhaps this was fixed?<hr></blockquote>

I'm guessing that it was fixed. I did very extensive testing before adopting the method that is used in my mod. At the time I was very certain that the bonuses did not stack. Unfortunately I don't remember the Version of SE IV that I was using at the time, not that it matters.

Hmmm, but if it is fixed then maybe I can use this to my advantage...