newbie askin some kinda questions

[construct]

Hi all !

first thing to say sorry if my english isnt the best beacause i speak and write german normally so its a bit hard for me :-) please dont flame me for that.

Here now the questions :

1. Whats up with adding components ?

I have a few ideas about adding some components to the game but heard or read that i have to add it to each races ai.
is this true ?
and how does it work ?
( i have about 40 races at the moment in my mod )

2. Whats about intel ?

isnt intel destroying the game.
At the normal game it runs like this.
A war begins
enemy is bombing you outa hell with intel projects every turn
your planets begin raging
you cant built intel if ya dont needed it before you dont have it ( its in my games that i never build intel at the first say 100 turns or so.

3. Enemys

the other empires are kinda stupid i think
i meet one empiere.
have small sats as defens about 20 pieces
the turn after the meeting he rushes with about 50 ships and kill my sats and crush the planet without any warnings ?
is that normal ?
i dont think so
that also happens in the normal game either with any modded ai.

hope i get some answers from the people in here

greets

construct

[Suicide Junkie]

If you add a component, you will want to make sure the AIs use it reasonably, otherwise the game will become quite unbalanced.
If your component is similar enough to somthing already used by the AI, and is included in a tech area that they already research, you may not have to do anything.

I was modding for the better part of a year without having to deal with AIs at all.
Why? I was just shifting components around in the tech tree, and tweaking the strength of thier abilities.
When I added new components, I was making them as "fun to use, but not very combat-worthy". These were components that had some advantages, but big disadvantages too. Things like Buckytube Gel armor, and my new armor types.
Sure, Buckytube Gel protects against Null-Space weapons, but not 100%, and it costs a lot to install enough of it.
Sure, that Armor is a bit stronger than the top shield generators, but it takes a couple years to repair after a close battle.

The whole Pirates and Nomads race types are generally disadvantages, and you cannot expect to win the game as either. However they are very fun to play, making the attempt to survive day by day in a hostile universe.


Intel.
Well, you can always turn off intel in the game setup.
But as for defense, yes, you do need to have some early on.
Intel Defense has some major advantages; in fact you get a 20% bonus on all defensive spending, you can store up points for years before meeting an enemy (Up to 6 million points can be stored if you do it right (ie 12 projects at 500K each))


3) Aliens
What you probably need to do is explore faster and farther. It is much better to discover eachother in the other guy's backyard or at least in no-man's land.
When you meet them earlier, they will also have had less time to build up strength, and will be more likely to view you as an equal, or at least a force to be wary of, instead of as a bug to be crushed.
If you want to be a hermit race, then build a stack of spaceyard bases, and pump out gobs of ships and units. You mentioned a 5:2 disadvantage against much more expensive and powerful vehicles. You cannot allow that, and should at least assure yourself a numbers advantage.

[ 23 April 2002: Message edited by: Suicide Junkie ]

[construct]

frist off a big thanxs to thee.
( oh my good uo isnt good for me *grin )

but now back to the topic

quote:

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Originally posted by Suicide Junkie:

If your component is similar enough to somthing already used by the AI, and is included in a tech area that they already research, you may not have to do anything.


(Up to 6 million points can be stored if you do it right (ie 12 projects at 500K each))

---

how do i store intel points ?


i added some stuff what is a good thing for the game i think.

(e.g some new armor and propulision classes are planned [ Combined Armor what is Armor and Shield like in Final Fantasy ] so they are somwhat like types already in the game but i have no plan how to get this thing on the road.

and the component modder wontnt run on my xp pc and i have no other coice than making it from the scratch.

i am planning

When all armor levels are resarced the 2 new classes appear in resarc menu

( High Density Armor - Combined Armor )

and the computers have to use it also

same with the new engines

( Exter sub engines class and high capacity Engines Class )

hope i get some answers too :-)

geets

construct

[ 23 April 2002: Message edited by: construct ]

[dogscoff]

quote:

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how do i store intel points ?

---

It's not like storing minerals... but if you open a counter- intel project, you can pump intel points into it turn after turn for a very long time, even if you are not being attacked. Those points are "stored" in that project until either

A> someone tries to intel you, and then points are deducted from the project to reflect your counter-intel being used, or

B> the project fills up with points, in which case it finishes and all the points invested are wasted.

You can prevent projects from finishing by switching "share points between projects" OFF and putting the project behind another project in the queue.

It is also possible to "store" offensive projects in this way - in theory you could use this technique to hit an opponent with 10 or maybe more offensive projects in one turn.

[construct]

txs for these info
now i just hope i find out how to make new comps without the compponent modder :-)

i have a tool called component creator but dont know how to bring this stuff along.

greets again

construct