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Proportions Version 2.0 available

Snag it HERE.

This Version adds a lot of stuff (see below) compared to 1.5.3, especially solving some balance issues with fighters against ships.

This is also the first Version of Proportions NOT to support upgrades from games created with earlier Versions. However, I do plan to release a Version 1.6, which includes almost all of these changes, and will upgrade earlier Versions.

If anyone wants Version 1.5.4 (described in the changes notes below), which changes minimal aspects compared to 1.5.3, but includes many little fixes, I could make one, but I'm not planning on it - I'd recommend people go to 1.6 if they want to upgrade and continue an existing game session.

Here's a bunch of new notes from the readme:

Version 2.0 design note:
========================
Version 2.0 is NOT backwards-compatible with games created with earlier
Versions of Proportions. The highest Version that is backwards-compatible
(more or less) is Proportiosn 1.6.x. This is because of the new PD mounts
added in 2.0, which I felt were important enough to do this for. These had
to be added at the beginning of the list, which breaks existing games. The
new mount could not be added to the end, because SE4 AI always chooses the
LAST mount available, so if it were at the end, it would have made the AI
only use PD mounts on ships. An entire second set of AI mounts could have
been added after that, but they would still appear on the player mount list,
which would be cumbersome. Because of the above, I also re-shuffled many
components so they appear in a more logical order. This would also completely
mix up any games that attempt to upgrade, but since it would already have
happened due to the mount shift, I decided it was a good time to do this.

Common Questions:
=================

?? "It won't let me load existing empires." Yes, empire files created with
other mods won't load, because SE4 doesn't know what do do with the
different racial traits that have been modded. It can still create new
empire files.
?? "The map is blank when I start a game." This sometimes happens when
running a mod for the first time. The solution is to save your game, and
then load that game. (You can do this without exiting the program.) The
map will then appear, and it shouldn't happen on later playings.

Notes for better game setups:
=============================
<> Don't set the game to limited resources!
<> If you choose a new warp-point "rich" quadrant type, try turning off the
option to connect all systems with warp points. The "richness" will
probably accomplish this anyway, and the map will tend to be much more
interesting.
<> Setting starting tech levels to "high" (i.e., all) is not recommended
except for testing. Because some techs can be researched to very high
levels, the highest techs are very specialized and not representative
of the typical balance of equipment in regular play.
<> If you are upgrading from a game that was played against the AI with
a Version earlier than 1.5, and you want to continue that game, the
AI will be greatly helped if a human player plays them for one turn,
and cancels all of the cultural center construction projects on all
(or almost all) of their colonies. Otherwise, those colonies will
probably remain stuck trying to build those for a century or two, or
three...
<> As of Proportions Version 1.6's release, the effect of the Lucky and
Cursed abilities was in question, but this was reported to Malfador.
Selecting it on the notion that it may have no effect is a gamble
against it working, now or later.

Tips for effective play:
========================
<> Consider building several or more population transports to help colony
development progress, ferrying population with auto-repeat orders.
<> Note that there is an "efficient" Version of every engine type. It is
slower but much greater ranged. They can be mixed with other engines
to trade off between speed and fuel efficiency.
<> Note that security stations and supply storage are much cheaper, and
come in small Versions.
<> If you have researched high tech standard armor, pay attention to the
cost of the higher levels - it is strong but quickly gets enormously
expensive.
<> Note that fighters are extremely difficult to hit in Proportions, but
(as of Version 1.6+) they don't do a lot of damage to ship-sized
targets. Main ship weapons will often not be able to hit fighters
except by very lucky shots. If your enemy uses fighters, you should
deploy _something_ that can hit them: PD mounts, small WP or base mounts,
PD weapons, other fighters, or perhaps very small maneuverable ships
with appropriate equipment.

Changes Log:
============

Version 2.0:

* Added PD ship _mounts_. This finally is a change that will mess
up existing games. Games upgraded from earlier Versions would
have all of their mounts messed up on existing units that use
mounts.
* Component order re-grouped so newer high level Versions appear
in sequence with older ones.

Version 1.6:

* Greatly increased non-domed planet cargo capacities (by x 10).
* Phased polaron beams extended with seven new lower-strength and
intermediate marks, and reduced in research difficulty from 1.5's
high cost.
* Added distribution centers, which are space ports with storage
depots in one facility. This should help compensate the AI for its
investment in redundant space port construction.
* Numerous adjustments to cultural modifiers. They are now almost
all mostly balanced, in theory, including "Neutral" culture.
* Changed self-defense cannon size to 10kT, and set to-hit mod to 0.
* Added point-defense beam turrets, for anti-fighter use.
* Increased cost of Natural Merchants trait to account for the extra
cultural center it generates.
* Adjusted tech requirements cost, and effect of various small weapons.
* Added AFV and fighter shield generator intermediate/extended levels.
* Gave organic infestations, ruptures, and hyper-dense cores some bite.
* Removed the chance that homeworlds would start in planet-poor systems.
* Expanded and adjusted small unit electronic warfare components.
* Adjusted afterburner costs and added defensive bonus.
* Added light missile launchers.
* Increased max shield tech level to 12.
* Spread out shield regenerator tech requirements.
* Added regenerating shield generators and phased Versions.
* Adjusted small ship mount to-hit bonus.
* Greatly decreased fighter weapon damages, to get them back in
proportion with their size, and also because their defensive bonuses
meant not only were they extremely hard to hit, but they could smash
ships left, right and center. Some of the higher tech weapons are
still very powerful, but those are the anti-ship Versions, so those
fighters are very vulnerable to other fighters.
* Halved fighter shield strengths.
* Adjusted fighter engine and armor structure Ratings.
* Added range attenuation to TK projectors.
* Added high-energy magnifier levels IV and V.
* Tweaked incinerator beam damage up a wee tad.
* Added null-space projector marks IV and V, and increased their
research costs and requirements.

Version 1.5.4:

* Added an Empires folder, so empires for Proportions will be stored
separately from empires for normal and other mod types.
* Added a sample empire, the Soluk, so that there would be an empire
that would cause the Empires folder to be created.
* Made rippers and incinerators appear on "show latest".
* Corrected weapon family number of heavy infantry weapons IV.
* Corrected cost of small combat sensors I.
* Added to-hit modifiers to descriptions of all weapons that have them.
* Multiplied neutron bomb damage to compensate for population damage
resistance increase.
* Corrected typo in the names of the Organic Generation Facilities.
* Stopped AI from illegally using satellite armor on non-satellites.
This shouldn't have happnened, but was mainly a cosmetic issue.
* Corrected tech requirements of AFV DUC's.
* Reduced shield generation on cultural facilities.
* Corrected typo in to-hit mod description for small arms III and IV.
* Corrected max shield tech level to 11.
* Improved Amon'krie weapon selection.
* Fixed some apparently benign typos in Weapon Platform Computer Cores.
* Cosmetic fix - added troop tech requirements to AFV components.
* Increased number of system names from 243 to 286, to support 250
systems in a quadrant, and to add some more neat names.
* Corrected shield generation on AFV shield generator IV.

PvK