How can I tell if racial bonuses are really working?
 

One thing I notice is that if I bump up, say, my race's ship defence ability (10 percent, 15 percent, whatever) it never does show up in-game under the racial abilities when you right-click a ship to view its stats. It of course shows bonuses from on-board items such as ECM and some of the other racial bonuses but not such things as attack or defence bonuses (by race).

Should I just take it on faith that these bonuses are indeed active during combat?

Re: How can I tell if racial bonuses are really working?
 

No. It should show them under the "Abilities" tab for your ship, as "Racial Trait: +3% to Ship Attack" etc.

PvK

Re: How can I tell if racial bonuses are really working?
 

That's just it--the abilities I supposedly have don't show in that tab. (Does it have anything to do with the fact I'm playing a TDM game vs. computer opponents?)

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Re: How can I tell if racial bonuses are really working?
 

It shouldn't. Post the savegame file?

Phoenix-D

Re: How can I tell if racial bonuses are really working?
 

Sounds to me like you really don't have the abilities you think you bought, for whatever reason.

PvK

Re: How can I tell if racial bonuses are really working?
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">You could check what your values actually are by saving your empire, then editing that .emp file in Game Setup/Players.

Re: How can I tell if racial bonuses are really working?
 

How do I open one of these emp files?

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">You could check what your values actually are by saving your empire, then editing that .emp file in Game Setup/Players.</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">

Re: How can I tell if racial bonuses are really working?
 

Hmm, I would but it says file uploading isn't allowed here. If you have an e-mail address I can send it to you personally and you can have a look for me.

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Re: How can I tell if racial bonuses are really working?
 

Go to the main Intel Forums page, then go in the first forum (Mods/Scenarios Uploads). You can upload files in there.

You can only view the empire files from in-game. Load up SE4, then start a game, and hit Add Existing under the Player tab, instead of Add New. Select the Empire File you want to view.

Re: How can I tell if racial bonuses are really working?
 

Thanks. So I checked the saved empire and sure enough it shows the 25 percent ship defence bonus I chose for characteristics. But that number sure doesn't show up in the abilities tab for a ship when I click it.

What gives?

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Re: How can I tell if racial bonuses are really working?
 

Update: I just looked at the abilities tab for a ship, while NOT in combat, and I see that the racial bonus is indeed listed. I don't know if I simply never looked while outside of combat or what, but the bonus does seem to show.

However, why doesn't it show in the tab while I'm IN combat?

Second, when I'm designing a ship and I'm adding in all the components such as ECM, the defence bonus shows for the added component. Should it not start from a base of whatever racial bonus you have? Or was this simply how the game was designed?

Re: How can I tell if racial bonuses are really working?
 

I'm sure you've just discovered a limit of the abilities tab in the tactical interface, which few people noticed or complained about.

It sort of makes sense for the design interface to not show empire modifiers, because that way you can see the modifiers for the design itself. I guess ideally there would be a toggle somewhere, but I wouldn't say it was high on my wish list for new features.

PvK