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grumbler said:
Do I understand correctly and Ragnorok-X is starting the mod agains from scratch? New facilities means new AI files, etc.
We (Timstone and I) had a complete, stable, B5 mod that was up-to-date on everything except weapons (and even then we had an idea for what space/weight the weapons for the various ship sizes should be). The AI files (modified Pathfinder) worked and produced effective ships and colonies. The existing weapons worked but were not optimized.
I don't undertsnad why this entire effort is being duplicated. Tim, did you lose the files I sent (or did I not send them all)? Frakly, I think if someone is starting over again it is because they don't know how much effort is required to make a mod work. I could never have done it all, nor Path, nor Val, nor Tim.
Having said that, I certainly don't want to dampen anyone's enthusiasm, and since I already have and play a stable effective mod (that has working Ancient ruins, proportional QNP for both ships and fighters, leaky armor, and the stackable sensor/ECM mod) I don't lose anything by others starting again from scratch.
Most of my files I have shared only with Tim, because he was heading up the mod when I was working on it. However, if someone has a place to "hang" all the data, I would be happy to share what I have more widely.
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grumbler, firstly, no offense.
I dont really know IF you actually played the revised Version of the mod you, timstone and pathfinder created.
If you did, then you should have noticed that it wasnt playable at all. Alright, you could start a game without errors showing up, but still, there was nothing to do except colonizing planets (no reason to do it though) and researching, using your homeworlds research output. Even IF you were able to construct facilities on colonies, they didnt offered any benefit at all, except 500 research points modified by -80%.
So that was the reason i started the mod again. I got in contact with Timstone and we made plan, Timstone is out now, but i hope he will still continue/ready the weapons, at least for major races.
Facilities and the entire colonizing since was not useful, so it simply had to be redone. Colonizing gave you nothing, except waiting and having to protect more. Colonies werent even able to defend themselves, it took 2 turns to construct ONE average satelite, not talking WPs here.
Tweaking AI construction facility files is not hard at all, so that wont be a problem. Basicly you can just keep existing ones, or tweak them slightly.
Tweaking AI designconstruction is not quite as hard as some may believe, i have spent countless hours creating new AIs from SCRATCH for my personal mod.
By now i have completed the facility.txt, at least the basics. I will include racial specific facilites, too, once i have time to spare for that.
I have revised the propulsion system as well, now research progress for the different engine types is more useful, as is the entire reactor thingy. I revised the shiptypes engines per move setting as well and setup a basic NARN ai to play against, it construct scouts and colonyships just fine. Shipset is now about 3 for average colonizers, 4 for combat ships and 5 for scouts, using early game propulsion.
This fits perfectly imho.
Leaky armor and the stackable sensors/ecm system will most probably stay, so no reason to cry about that. About the ancient ruines, they are not hard to setup as well, i plan on including more ancient techs, of which more are useful than the current ones (i.e. Great Machine WP is a nice idea, but was implented...not so well, imho).
The weapons you mentioned are quite nice, but simply not useful at all. Most racial weapons are just not worth researching, as an example, why should a Vree player research Vree Antimatter weapons when he could just stay with the Standart IonBolt until the end ? It is cheaper, more powerful, costs less ressources and research and he can pack even more of those. This majorly sticks. Babylon5 lives of this galaxy and atmosphere, which will be kept with this final revision of the mod.
To sum it up, im sick of the Last years of B5 mod development. 4 Years ago i was regulary lurking the Boards, looking for playable gold Version of b5 mod. I found none. Some month ago i was so happy when i noticed you and several others pumping breath into the mod, but then again i was pretty disappointed once i downloaded the mod. I didnt enjoyed it all, and i actually KNOW many others, weiter be registered or guests, will agree with me.
The B5 will be completed within the next few month, maybe sooner, depending on the amount of time i have and on how many people help me(...).
About your point that i dont know how much time and effort it costs to develope a proper mod. In fact i DO know how much is involved. I spent countless hours playing SE 4, and i spent even MORE hours modding. First adding things to stock game, then modifying existing mods for my needs, finally i created my own mod. You can find a topic about my mod somewhere in this board, search for "Impact mod" or something alike. I definitly now what im up to, and im not going to stop at half the way, THIS time the Babylon 5 will be completed, and it will offer a pretty good time to anyone who gives the mod a chance and plays it.
If you want to help, you are welcome, there is much to do, weither i do it alone, or people help me, the mods development will not be on halt for another 2 years.
Please, dont feel offended. If you do, it was most probably my bad grammar or way to "speak" english. I respect the time you and others put in the mod.