Since Gold, most mods have a file called modinfo.txt which explains what mods are like, appears automatically in the SE4 launcher program that comes with Gold, and there are descriptions in the back of the Gold manual.
Proportions makes large changes to the proportions of economy and development in Space Empires IV. The scale of several aspects of play have been made more realistic, along with many other changes. Best played multi-player.
More specifically, homeworlds are very powerful and important, and remain so throughout the game. Colonies take a lot of time, effort, and population to develop into something that can make a large contribution to an empire's production. Many other changes have been made to improve the balance and design options available, and several new technologies and component types have been added. Troops, fighters, and small ships have been made much more viable and interesting.
Some mods have borrowed some aspects of Proportions, especially the planetary development aspects.
One thing to keep in mind though is that Proportions slows down the "progress" of the game in terms of research and empire growth dramatically. The homeworld strength provides enough to build a fleet quickly, but everything else is greatly slowed down.
The AI in Proportions is also still undergoing a lot of tweaks to get it to competantly deal with the changes.
For more information see the
Proportions mod web page.
PvK
[ May 19, 2002, 07:44: Message edited by: PvK ]