Balancing Technologies
 

See the attached HTML file for tables that contain the Balanced Design for SE4 Technologies, Facilities, and Components.

I finally have time to take on the massive task of re-designing SE4. The main reason I'm doing this is because I want to play the game, but need to balance it in order to enjoy it.

The AI will be updated so all races support the changes.

What I've basically done is re-assign all of the abilities supported by the engine to facilities and components. I've followed the existing design where possible to minimize potential problems, but have freely changed things where I have a good reason to do so.

Feedback is always welcome, fellow modders can feel free to use any ideas they like from the Balancing Modpack.

--LT411

Re: Balancing Technologies
 

Did you intend to have terraforming available ONLY to organic tech races?
You realize that that trait would give a race just over 4 times the facility spaces of any other race (since breathables get 5x, and 1/5th of planets are already breathable)

Re: Balancing Technologies
 

Good point. I usually play the game with the 'only colonize breathable' setting so it didn't seem that important to me; but your right. I'll have to make that generally available and give the organics something else. Let me know if you find any other problems.

Thanks for the feedback.
--LT.

Re: Balancing Technologies
 

Your Cube facility will probably not work right under V1.41

See Nature Shrine Bug / Intelligence Bug

Predictive Targeting Center Temporal
Damage Modifier - System
"Targetting" should increase accuracy, not damage. If you already had ~200% accuracy to hit a ship, then maybe you could get more damage by targetting structural weak points.

Time-Efficiency Center Temporal
Reduced Maintenance Cost - System
How about a "Temporal Decelerator" or "Cronoton Disruptor" for the same effect. "Reduces the flow of time in the system, leading to reduced maintenance costs. The device is turned off during combat situations."

Faith Shield
Religious
Planet - Shield Generation
I reccommend that you replace "Planet - Shield Generation" with "Phased Shield Generation"
You get the same effect, but it is proof against PPBs.

Platforms
Platforms
Combat To Hit Defense Minus
No effect here; the planet already has a -200% defense modifier.

Bio Scanner
Organic Technology
Sensor Level (EM Passive)
Bio Cloaking Device
Organic Technology
Cloak Level (EM Passive)
How about "Chameleon hull" for the cloak? I'm not sure what to call the scanner ("bug eyes")

As for all of the cloaks:
If those are racial techs, as I assume they still are, you would only be able to hide from alien races if you have every racial tech they have.
EG. If you had a gravitic cloak, then Temporal sensors would see you.

If they are not racial techs, it would be possible to hide from anyone until you hit max tech. Still, you'd have to research 5 different areas (and spend 200KT on your ship) to get an all-around cloak, while the defender needs only to research one area and place one component.

Re: Balancing Technologies
 

You raise some good points. I've cleaned up the tables and attached them to this message.

The nature shrine bug is just something Users will need to be aware of. I'll leave the cube in for now. It may be fixed in a patch.

I think I'll leave the cloaking the way it is too. The racial techs are expensive and that's one of the advantages they get. Players won't normally be able to hide from their specialized scanners. The scan / cloak levels only come into play when two races with the same racial tech mix it up.

Regards,
--LT

Re: Balancing Technologies
 

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>The scan / cloak levels only come into play when two races with the same racial tech mix it up.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>That is, two players with the EXACT same choice of racial techs. If one player has two of 'em, then he'll be able to see the enemy ships with even his most basic scanner, and hide from the enemy with advanced cloaks.

I really think you should have some cloak options available for regular shmoe races.

EG. Master Computer: Psychic cloak since there are no minds aboard.
Stealth armor: Good against Passive EM, OK against Active EM

It is also required that a schmoe race have some sort of sensor tech, otherwise they will be totally unable to defend their empire.

Re: Balancing Technologies
 

I like the master computer / psychic cloak since the player will want to send computer controlled ships against psychic enemies anyway.

All races have access to Tachyon Sensors and Cloaking for the EM Active scanning type.

Perhaps players can beg, borrow, or steal cloaking technologies if they really want it.

--LT

Re: Balancing Technologies
 

I have expanded the tables in the attached HTML file to show all the facilities, vehicles, and components in the redesign.

I think I can make the AI use fleets of mixed size ships instead of just the largest.

Feedback is always welcome.
--LT

Re: Balancing Technologies
 

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Perhaps players can beg, borrow, or steal cloaking technologies if they really want it.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>Only one ship at a time, since it is a racial tech.

Would you be interested in making the cloaking device tech stealable by others, but not researchable? It is fairly easy to do, and players would then guard their cloaks jealously.
Whenever they lose the tech to some other race, they would be forced to research an extra level higher in their cloaking and sensors areas, then guard the new tech.

Re: Balancing Technologies
 

Just a few things (some of these are personal preferences, ignore if you wish):

I notice sphereworld components are gone, but ringworld components still exist. Was that on purpose?

I think it's a little too easy to get the atmosphere converters. Maybe move the first one to level 6 of Conservation, the second at level 9, and the third at level 11 (after resource converter).

I also noticed you took out a lot of hull sizes; I agree with a couple of those, but the Light Cruiser is a fairly useful size for certain things (i.e., repair bays). I also think the Carrier hulls ought to be linked to fighter tech somehow; after all, why have a carrier unless you have fighters?

I like the structure for propulsion, but I'd want to see numbers before making a final verdict - i.e., how is an "Engine 2" better than an "Engine 1"? Especially since it looks like the engine bonuses have all been allocated to other devices.

More on Stellar Manipulation: only one type of warp point opener? What's the distance limitation? And only one each create/destroy planet? What size can it create/destroy?

Putting the talisman at Religious 3 might make Religious too powerful too early. Then again, I didn't see any weapons specific to Religious Tech; that would be a nice addition...

You may have trouble with the auto-cannons; ISTR that the auto-fire ability isn't triggered by ships moving.

And the name Mental Flailer should be changed when you move the weapon to Temporal. Something like "Reaction Disruptor" and the description refers to altering the enemy crew's sense of timing. Oh, and the Temporal maintenance reducer could be an "Entropy Reducer" that slows down the rate at which entropy increases in a system, thus reducing maintenance.

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Re: Balancing Technologies
 

suicide_junkie,

Making the cloaking technologies stealable sounds like a good idea to me. I also gave mines, fighters, satellites, and bases each a natural defense against one type racial scanner. I've also incorporated the cloaking devices into special armors.

DirectorTsaarx,

Thanks for the excellent suggestions.

I must have missed the sphereworld ability. I'll be adding that.

I'll make the converters harder to get.

I think I'll stick with fewer hull sizes for two reasons. First, the overall design calls for three levels of each component / facility. Second, I plan on updating the AI to design, build, and deploy different size ships. To accomplish this, I need create multiple entries in the AI files for each hull size. Too many hull sizes = too much work. Finally, each hull size has a base combat speed one greater than the next larger size. Too many hull sizes and the small ones move too fast. I added a fourth, dreadnaught with a combat movement of 1, as an exception. If it doesn't work out in playtesting, I'll add more.

An engine two generates twice the standard movement of an engine one. An engine three generates three times the standard movement. All the other propulsion components generate 1, 2, and 3 movement points of the appropriate type.

Carrier hulls now require the appropriate level of fighter technology. Good idea.

There should be three Versions of each of the stellar manipulation components. I'll fix that in the tables.

I need to do some more work with the racial techs. I'll bump up the talisman and give them a weapon.

I'm dissapointed the auto-cannons don't auto fire at ships moving into range. I wish MM would change that. It would add an interesting combat capability. As a result, I've streamlined point defense weapons and used projectile weapons for ship-to-ship combat.

I agree with your name changes. In addition, since I only have three levels of each component, I'm trying to come up with interesting naming schemes. For example, three levels of beam weapons: Lasers, Disruptors, and Phasers. Each with a point defense variant: Laser Turrets, Disruptor Turrets, and Phaser Turrets. Three levels of bomb's / warheads: Fusion, Anti-matter, Neutronium. These patterns add interest, structure, and help the player make sense of the bewildering array of weapons.

Again, thanks for the help. It's a lot easier fixing these things before I implement them in components.txt and the AI files.

--LT



[This message has been edited by LT411 (edited 05 September 2001).]

Re: Balancing Technologies
 

LT:

Wow! Someone actually took my advice!

Seriously, you're welcome for the suggestions & comments. Glad I could help.

And now that you've explained the ship sizes, I agree with your idea. And it's nice to see that someone is REDUCING rather than EXPANDING the number of hulls. I sometimes get tired of feeling like I ought to change all my ship designs just because I've gotten another hull size. Or worse, I go through the update and then realize I can't retrofit all my existing hulls to the new designs because you can't retrofit to a bigger hull size. (hmmm... new racial ability idea - ability to retrofit between hull sizes; something like "Advanced Building: focus on modularity improves construction ability and ability to modify existing hulls").

So anyway, looks like an interesting mod. Are you doing the proportional movement thing from P&N mod?

Oh yeah - I like the Laser/Phaser/Disruptor naming convention and the Fusion/Anti-Matter/Neutronium naming convention. Although some will miss the wave-motion guns, I haven't bothered with them yet in SE4. Too much trouble to research, and I never have enough time to play.

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L++ GdY $ Fr&gt;Fr++ C++ SdS T-- Sf Tcp? A%% M- Mp! RTH!P Pw Fq--&gt;Fq+ Nd&gt;Nd+++++ Rp++ G+