Who wants to help with a mod?
 

I posted this in the modding forum but I thought maybe I'd better post it here too: Who wants to help me with AI and balancing for a mod I'm working on? For some reason I have this revulsion to AI programming... There are a LOT of changes in this mod so it's not going to be an easy task to do the AI and balance it... for example ships are 20-240 kT and fighters are 2-4 kT, a much more realistic range I think... anyway, anyone interested?

Re: Who wants to help with a mod?
 

Two things:
I looked around, and I believe that other forum you were talking about is the upload forum.
Those are there to upload finished mods, large help files and whatnot.

This is where you want to be for discussing and organizing a new mod.

The second:
It is generally accepted that the units in SE4 should not be taken literally.
Heck! Even damage and hitpoints are measured in KT.

The sizes of the ships and components are what they are, simply because they turn out to be nice, round numbers, and are easy to work with.

When considering the realism of the game, go easy on the math and the numbers, and look primarily at the qualitative effects.
If it looks and feels right, you're doing good.

Re: Who wants to help with a mod?
 

Arggghhhh!! My mod! How the heck? This mod is exactly what I was doing in a mod! I can't believe it! I've have been working on my mod for a long time and here you come and take my idea!

Oh well, I geuss great minds really do think alike...

Re: Who wants to help with a mod?
 

Also note that comps cannot be smaller than 1kT - so a fighter that is 2-4 kT will be unable to hold anything unless you amalgamize many small comps into one. ie: 1kT engine that moves 5 squares...

Re: Who wants to help with a mod?
 

(Isn't it annoying how the Posts are listed in the OPPOSITE order when you reply to a message than when you are viewing them regularly? Anyway...)

>I looked around, and I believe that other forum >you were talking about is the upload forum.
>Those are there to upload finished mods, large >help files and whatnot.

Yeah, sorry about that.

>It is generally accepted that the units in SE4 >should not be taken literally.
>Heck! Even damage and hitpoints are measured in >KT.

I know, it just irks me to see a Frigate the size of the Starship Enterprise (which is around 150 kT IIRC... not that Star Trek is known for scientific accuracy http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif )... the damn thing is supposed to be a Heavy Cruiser for crying out loud! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon8.gif Oh well I guess it's just me... I know damage and hitpoints are measured in kT, I just figure, "well that's how many kT of 'normal' components can be destroyed by a bLast of that magnitude", not kT of TNT or anything real-world like that... Yeah it's just me http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

>Arggghhhh!! My mod! How the heck? This mod is >exactly what I was doing in a mod! I can't >believe it! I've have been working on my mod for >a long time and here you come and take my idea!

What do you mean - reducing the hull sizes? Oh, I just added that recently - in earlier Versions they were standard SE4 sizes. Or do you mean completely revamping the tech tree? (Seriously, what I did was I took every single tech from TechArea.txt and put them into a big list and went through the list one by one arranging them into a completely different structure, and also splitting many of them apart - Stellar Manipulations for example is not one field but now there is one field for each possible stellar manipulation, requiring various levels of Astrophysics (and in some cases Construction). It took a long time but I hope it was worth it... I just want to get a playable Version out sometime!)

>Also note that comps cannot be smaller than 1kT -> so a fighter that is 2-4 kT will be unable to >hold anything unless you amalgamize many small >comps into one. ie: 1kT engine that moves 5 >squares...

Don't worry - I reduced all fighter components to 1kT, and now fighters are limited to 1 engine, but fighter engines provide massive amounts of movement. Also, fighters no longer need Life Support or Cockpits (those are considered built in for a unit so tiny). It limits fighter design somewhat (a Small Fighter - or Interceptor as I recently named it - is limited to an engine and one weapon; a Medium - or just plain Fighter - can have a weapon and a special (ECM, afterburner, etc.), or 2 weapons, or a heavy mount weapon, and a Large fighter - or Assault fighter - can have 3 weapons, 2 weapons and a special, a Massive mount weapon, a weapon and 2 specials, etc.) but I just felt I had to do it http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

What I'm really worried about is the weapon damages - I scaled everything down by a factor of 5 to 10, but I wasn't entirely consistent in my scaling, and that was probably a Bad Idea. So some weapons are probably going to be "more equal than others" - especially the more powerful ones that I thought were too weak for their great size and low firing rate, but maybe I was mistaken about... That's why I want someone to help with the balancing as well as the AI... any takers? There ARE Red Dwarf references! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

Re: Who wants to help with a mod?
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Zero is a valid integer size http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

Re: Who wants to help with a mod?
 

&lt;bump&gt;

C'mon, isn't ANYBODY interested? At least let's start a multiplayer game (not PBW, I tried that once, too much hassle to keep updating a mod on their server) and make sure everything works right...

This mod will be especially fun to play around with because it changes a whole lot of the data in SE4... come on, you know you want to!

Re: Who wants to help with a mod?
 

Ok, your mod look interesting, count me in for a pbem game/testing/feedback, as well as for some ideas ... But I don't feel able to script AI http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon9.gif !

BTW, I've announced a mod idea some time ago ("PDF mod"), in fact it's dead, I can't implement what I wanted and don't have enough time to make it progress. Moreover it lacked some "great design idea", some mods here (B5, TNG, Proportions) have much more depth than my poor collection of nonworking ideas http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...s/rolleyes.gif ...

Re: Who wants to help with a mod?
 

Gee, let's see some of your ideas... now how the heck do I attach a file? Oh, what the heck, I'll post it on my website, go to this address ... watch out, it's pretty big (over 2 MB) - maybe I shouldn't use my new crtesun.wav! (check it out)

Anyway, send me an .emp file and I'll set up a 2-player game... don't know how long it will Last since we'll probably change everything in the middle of the game, but it's the only way to test it, right?

Re: Who wants to help with a mod?
 

oops, mistyped that address, it should be this

Re: Who wants to help with a mod?
 

oh, just forget that, I can't seem to upload anything to my website... want me to email the mod to you? (I'd send it now but it IS 2.3MB...)

Re: Who wants to help with a mod?
 

Huuh, you didn't put any link !!
2 Mb is really not a problem for me, I'm on broadband ! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif
Put it where you want ... In the Mod forum (only) you have an upload file option, else email it at pdifolco@wanadoo.fr
I can also host the file thereafter (link only, I have webspace but no pages ! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif )
Let me have a look / play it solo before starting a game (I don't like playing humans "blind" http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif )

Re: Who wants to help with a mod?
 

OK, how do I post a file to the mods forum? I don't see any attachment button there...

Oh, and by the way, once you finally do get the file, one way or another, if you want to play around with it a bit, don't start with low tech level because then you can't build any ships without preliminary research! (I just thought I'd leave that option available... it was in MOO2...)

Re: Who wants to help with a mod?
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Once in the Mod forum, hit reply, then look to the left for an "upload file" option.

Re: Who wants to help with a mod?
 

Thanks! Actually I tried that now and I had a little trouble with it so I just thought to post the mod up at PBW's file archive. Just look under "SE4 mods", it's the Last one in the list :-)

Re: Who wants to help with a mod?
 

Ed,
I did get the file at SEIV, if you have problems uploading to the mod forum I can do it for you.

I just browsed the files, and there are things I like already :
* the reduced sizes
* the tech tree, with its clean categories instead of the standard mess http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif !

I'll launch a solo game soon to see your changes, then will try modding some AI (I'm a newbie in that field however ! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...s/rolleyes.gif )

Re: Who wants to help with a mod?
 

Glad you like it! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon6.gif

Say, what do you mean by "clean categories instead of a jumbled mess" in the tech tree? How everything is almost anal-retentively compartmentalized into its own separate tech area? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif Or the slightly more realistic tech requirements for various things (which mostly don't matter anyway since you START with missiles I anyway so it doesn't matter that whether they require Explosive Warheads and Propulsion!)?

Re: Who wants to help with a mod?
 

I was refering to anal retention ... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif !
I did'nt study details enough to appreciate the new requirements, I still have to do that http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

Re: Who wants to help with a mod?
 

Starting this thread back up again...

I've been fiddling with everything, you might hate me for it, but I've done other minor and not-so-minor tweaks... just thought I'd let you know... one thing I did is reduced the cost of the "Mechanoids" racial trait to 500 points since nobody uses bioweapons anyway... if you were doing AI files I thought you might want to know about that before I totally mess everything up for you! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

By the way, are you having any trouble with the sound effects? I noticed that they weren't working, so I copied the entire sounds folder (yes, all 30 MB of it) into my mod folder, but it STILL won't work... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon8.gif

edit: By the way, where does the screen name "PDF" come from? Is it just your initials? I ask because it's also a type of document file commonly used in Online manuals (damn them to Hell! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif )

[ July 10, 2002, 21:44: Message edited by: Ed Kolis ]

Re: Who wants to help with a mod?
 

I'd play a slow PBEM game (1 turn every 2-4 days) my real email is speedyhair@pacbell.net

And i'd love an email of the mod