Component Modding 101

[Iskander]

Well having gotten hooked onto SEIV about 2 sleepless weeks ago, it didn't take me long to get stuck into playing around with modding, what fun..

Bear with me as I describe my thought process, it does lead somewhere.

First I thought lets bring all the ships down to more 'realistic' sizes, but then I remembered that HPs are related to hull size, d'oh, don't quite want to get into redoing all the weapons just yet.
Well at least the semi neutonian physics as per Proportions works as I wanted the system to move.

So now I'm still left with the feeling that more hull size varieties are needed, but I believe we can't add ship sizes to the roster yet?

So then I thought 'Streamlining' is the answer, if we can't reduce physical hull sizes we can simulate it. And for that I came up with a streamline component.
Now I need to know if this is a valid module description that will behave as intended?

Here's the module first tech level and then I'll list my concerns. Maybe someone can shed some light.

Name := Streamlining I
Description := Streamlining the hull decreases supply costs and increases agility.
Pic Num := x
Tonnage Space Taken := 10
Tonnage Structure := 5
Cost Minerals := 100
Cost Organics := 0
Cost Radioactives := 0
Vehicle Type := Ship
Supply Amount Used := -5
Restrictions := None
General Group := Vehicle Control
Family := 2
Roman Numeral := 1
Custom Group := 0
Number of Tech Req := 1
Tech Area Req 1 := Ship Construction
Tech Level Req 1 := 3
Number of Abilities := 1
Ability 1 Type := Combat To Hit Defense Plus
Ability 1 Descr := Gives a 3% defense bonus in combat (only 1 component per ship effective).
Ability 1 Val 1 := 3
Ability 1 Val 2 := 0
Weapon Type := None

First question is the one component per ship rule, does that apply to the ability or the individual components? ie: will it stack with the defensive armor? In fact what if I want to allow more than one of this component?

Will a negative supply amount work?

How does the family number relate to 'show only latest' when designing a ship? Would it be better (if possible) to make a new family of say 'Hull Tech'?

Thanks for taking the time...

Isk...

[dogscoff]

I'm no modder but this is an interesting idea. A few points:

Sooner or later someone will point out that "streamlining" has no real effect on a space ship, since there is no atmosphere in space and hence no air resistance. Thought I might as well get in first, and say that you shouldn't let this get in the way of your plans though if it adds an interesting new twist to gameplay.

Secondly, there's nothing at all to stop you adding new hull types. Take a little look at Andres Lescano's ultimate vehicle size mod for an extreme example of this.

Nextly, I'm not entirely sure that hitpoints *are* dictated by tonnage, but I could be wrong. If they are, you might be able to get around this using component mounts - take a look at the pirates and nomads mod for some clever uses of mounts.

Finally, good luck with your modding.

[Iskander]

Yes true, in the sense of streamlining to reduce drag, but in the sense of shaving off (unneeded) weight and using lighter alloys in places, it would have an effect on engine to weight ratio, which would make a ship a bit more agile and also getting a better 'mile per gallon' ratio.

It's funny, I found the ultimte ship mod 5 minutes after that post.

I'll check out P&N too, thanks for the pointers...

Isk...

[dogscoff]

I see what you mean. Good point.

[capnq]

quote:

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Nextly, I'm not entirely sure that hitpoints *are* dictated by tonnage, but I could be wrong.

---

Components are defined by "tonnage space" and "tonnage structure".

"Tonnage space" defines how many components will fit in a given hull size.

"Tonnage structure" is the hitpoints of damage the component can take, and is not necessarily equal to tonnage space.

So hull size indirectly dictates hitpoints by limiting how much you can stuff into the ship.

[PvK]

Yes. The type of components on a ship can have a large effect on the ship's capacity to withstand damage. With many armor components, a ship will soak up much more than a ship of the same size without armor. This is even more true in a mod like Proportions, which has even stronger ship armor components - there gets to be a real trade-off between ships with more active but fragile and/or expensive components, and ships with more durable and/or cheap armor components.

In the standard game, the difference is still there but the effect isn't as great because armor tends not to be particularly strong compared to functional components, and is generally weaker than shields unless your opponent has shield-bypassing weapons.

PvK