Share your opinions

[Admiral Wunderbar]

Hello all. I'm working on a new mod, and would like to hear your opinions and suggestion on what has been done so far. Since there's still a lot of "cleaning" to do, an upload might take a while.
Here's the description:


Space Empires IV
STARFLEETS MOD

Version 0.?

by Admiral Wunderbar


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- BACKGROUND:
In a Starfleet, several different kinds of ships have specific
tasks to be accomplished. This is exactly what this mod tries to
emulate. Bigger ships doesn't make smaller ones obsolete, but
rather complement their habilities and work in harmony for a
greater effect. Another twist is given to racial technologies.
Population size now affects greatly your empire, and growth is
diminished, but the organic race laughs of it. Devastating
cannons are hard to come by, yet the crystalline race sees it
as a natural thing. And so on.
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- CONCEPTS & MECHANICS:
The Ship Construction tech-tree and Vehicle Sizes have been
greatly altered: you will discover the small Interceptor at
Ship Construction level 5, and the Spy Shuttle at level 6.
Always pay attention to wich "mounts" are available for each
ship, it's where the key to victory lies.
Another great change is the approach to weapons. Several
tech-trees have been tweaked or removed, specially seekers,
to give way to huge planet-devastating cannons.
Intel projects have been made somewhat more vicious, labs
have been taken to space, and space travel bows to Time.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
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- DETAILS:
SETTINGS:
Population Mass raised to 50 ktons
Militia strength diminished
VEHICLETYPES:
L1- Lancer, your basic unworthy ship
L2- Scout, "mount" design (or not) makes it a long range
exploration ship. Obs: either way you'll have almost
the same range, with Scout Mount engines or with
normal engines and a supply storage, but using
Scout Mount frees space for weapons or defensive
components.
L3- Destroyer, more powerful cannons with mount
L4- Cruiser, Good ol' jack-of-all-trades
L5- Interceptor, the tech mounts are essencial here.
A small number of these tiny ships can take out
the mightiest Dreadnought... you have been warned!
L6- Spy Shuttle. Have you ever overlooked the biology
tech-tree? Or the Planetary Weapons? Do it no more,
these insidious little worms can wreak havoc in
any empire.
L7- Battleship. One of these can change the tides of a
battle without having any weapons or shields...
check out the Battle Command Center component
available to this ship!
L8- Dreadnought. Time to hit those heavly guarded Space
Stations from afar. The Spinal Mount will turn
this ship into a flying BFG.
L9- Baseship. Fleets are taken to a next level with this
one. The War Command Center will make your enemies
tremble wherever you go. (req Scanners 1)

ASSORTED CHANGES:
- QNP. Quasi Newtonian Movement applied.
- Anti-Matter Stream Weapons. Requires Physics 4. The
Mean Gun, long range and enormous damage.
- Supply Storage. Increased in size and capacity.
- Quantum Reactor. It's no more, there's a new engine
with no supply consumption, yet you still have
to worry about supplies for your weapons or other
components. Req Propulsion 10 and Resupply 5.
- Engines. Now store less supplies.
- Weapons techs. Redundant (and not so redundant)
technologies have been removed.
- Intel Projects. Some have had costs lowered, and/or
effects increased. Covert Wars are not a pretty
matter.
- Capital Ship Missile. No longer the god of weapons,
had its reaload increased and seeker speed
diminished. It's still a good weapon.
- Fighters. It's now a bit more expensive to build
swarms of it.
- Empire Storage. Raised to 500k, better for finite
resources gameplay.
- Research Labs. Have taken to space and from there
to new boundaries.
- Mines. Damage diminished to half.
- Quadrants. Spiral Arm and Ancient have been tweaked
for an exploration game.
- Advanced Traits. Costs have been balanced out.

RACIAL CHANGES:
- Psychic Technology. Got vacation facility from temporal
technology. More: improved training and new Psy-Ops
intelligence facilities. Weapons: Flaier and Subverter
have been improved, Telekinetic Projector removed.
Lost scanners and receptors.
- Religious Technology. No changes, never played with it.
- Temporal Technology. New ship-movement bonus, the
Time Sail takes the solar sail to higher grounds.
Lost all weapons, and got better combat sensors.
- Organic Technology. Research costs lowered, Replicant
facility improved and extended. Lost all weapons.
- Crystalline Technology. Armors are smaller, lost Lens,
Crystal Cannons greatly improved, other weapons
discarded.

[Arkcon]

Plenty of good stuff here. I always liked the idea of greatly improving racial techs -- for multiplayer use only not vs AI. I also like the temporal sail, I always thought it should have some sort of "time warp" engine or something like that.

[Alneyan]

I have a single question: how do you plan to put the research labs into space? You cannot put the "Research generation" ability on components, it won't work as far as I know. (It had been already tried, to no avail)

If it could be done, my Nomads would be already rejoicing and preparing their conquest of the galaxy. Being able to fully live into deep space... But I digress.

[ November 09, 2003, 16:13: Message edited by: Alneyan ]

[Admiral Wunderbar]

Heh, you got me worried cause I hadn't tested this comp... but seems to be working fine. If it helps, here it is:

Name := Small Space Lab
Description := High-Tech researching module which develops new technology for a society.
Pic Num := 62
Tonnage Space Taken := 50
Tonnage Structure := 10
Cost Minerals := 5000
Cost Organics := 5000
Cost Radioactives := 8000
Vehicle Type := Ship\Base
Supply Amount Used := 5
Restrictions := None
General Group := Miscellaneous
Family := 6003
Roman Numeral := 1
Custom Group := 0
Number of Tech Req := 1
Tech Area Req 1 := Applied Research
Tech Level Req 1 := 2
Number of Abilities := 1
Ability 1 Type := Point Generation - Research
Ability 1 Descr := Generates 500 research points each turn.
Ability 1 Val 1 := 500
Ability 1 Val 2 := 0
Weapon Type := None

Good luck in deep space!

PS: Hmm, doesn't seem to be using the Supply Amount indicated...

[ November 09, 2003, 16:38: Message edited by: Admiral Wunderbar ]

[Alneyan]

I did try a similar component. Didn't work, either resource generation or research generation. I believe the game doesn't allow for resource production in deep space, you do need a planet or asteroid of some sort, even in the case of remote-mining. I am afraid other failed to make such a component work as well.

[Admiral Wunderbar]

my mistake...

[ November 09, 2003, 17:14: Message edited by: Admiral Wunderbar ]

[spoon]

Have fun modding! Here are a few quick responses:

Originally posted by Admiral Wunderbar:

- Anti-Matter Stream Weapons. Requires Physics 4. The
Mean Gun, long range and enormous damage.

How will this be different from the Wave Motion Gun?

- Quantum Reactor. It's no more, there's a new engine
with no supply consumption, yet you still have
to worry about supplies for your weapons or other
components. Req Propulsion 10 and Resupply 5.

Great idea!

- Capital Ship Missile. No longer the god of weapons,
had its reaload increased and seeker speed
diminished. It's still a good weapon.

General concensus is that cap ship missiles are already too weak after the early game. I suggest beefing them up rather than toning them down. Depends greatly, of course, on what you do the Point Defense Cannons, if anything.

- Fighters. It's now a bit more expensive to build
swarms of it.

Same here as with cap ships. Fighters are (mostly) inneffective except as a surprise tactic.

- Mines. Damage diminished to half.

You might want to try cutting their damage by 1/10, but increase the amount you can have in a sector by 5. Just a thought...

- Advanced Traits. Costs have been balanced out.

See PVK's balance mod for a great balancing of characteristics and traits.

- Religious Technology. No changes, never played with it.

The Religious Talisman is viewed by many as being over-powered, though in a game with experienced players, it can be a liability since everyone will try to kill you before you research it.

- Organic Technology. Research costs lowered, Replicant
facility improved and extended. Lost all weapons.

All the weapons? Seems extreme.

[spoon]

edit: there is no post

[ November 09, 2003, 17:51: Message edited by: spoon ]

[Admiral Wunderbar]

Originally posted by spoon:
Have fun modding! Here are a few quick responses:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Admiral Wunderbar:

- Anti-Matter Stream Weapons. Requires Physics 4. The
Mean Gun, long range and enormous damage.

How will this be different from the Wave Motion Gun?

---

Range is superior, and since there is no Wave M Gun, this is an enhanced replacement.

quote:

---

- Capital Ship Missile. No longer the god of weapons,
had its reaload increased and seeker speed
diminished. It's still a good weapon.

General concensus is that cap ship missiles are already too weak after the early game. I suggest beefing them up rather than toning them down. Depends greatly, of course, on what you do the Point Defense Cannons, if anything.

---

That's the point. There is just no other better weapon until PD. I base myself in films and novels, where missiles are only used in close range against unprotected targets. Without CSM, we have more options with DUC, Energy Stream Weapons, Phased cannons, etc. Also, Torpedo weapons are now a decent option until later stages.
In any case I'll look into it, maybe faster and shorter in range makes it better overall.

quote:

---

- Fighters. It's now a bit more expensive to build
swarms of it.

Same here as with cap ships. Fighters are (mostly) inneffective except as a surprise tactic.

---

Hmm, I have beaten some games with a swarm of it, and thought it was too cheap a tactic. :shrug:

quote:

---

- Mines. Damage diminished to half.

You might want to try cutting their damage by 1/10, but increase the amount you can have in a sector by 5. Just a thought...

---

Good idea!

quote:

---

- Religious Technology. No changes, never played with it.

The Religious Talisman is viewed by many as being over-powered, though in a game with experienced players, it can be a liability since everyone will try to kill you before you research it.

- Organic Technology. Research costs lowered, Replicant
facility improved and extended. Lost all weapons.

All the weapons? Seems extreme.

---

The techs have been improved in other ways. I've played with organic and usually I could have double population than any other race. Since pop influences more your production and construction, this is a huge bonus not to be overlooked. In fact, it's just too good and I'm thinking of toning it down.

Thanks!

[Fyron]

Telekinetic Projector removed

Why? What was wrong with that weapon?

I'd give Organic Manipulation its weapons back... they are not really more powerful than normal weapons, and take a huge amount of research to get.