Space Empires 4 Deluxe 1.95

[Skirmisher]

I've had this SE 4 CD now for at least 5 years. I installed it again and found theres this new deluxe version.
So I have SE 4 D 1.95 installed. All I noticed different so far is a couple new races and ship types.

questions- Can I add additional races and ship types without erasing what's here?

What's the story with spaceship supply? I have always added these to my designs thinking that it was needed. Better to be supplied than not was the thinking. I ran into the first enemy ship of this new game and the enemy ship design had no supply in it. Does that mean my ships have better range with those supplies?

[Combat Wombat]

Engines have their own built in supply storage, extra supply components just add range and extra juice for the weapons.

As for add your own races and ship types just create a mod directory. Or what I would recommend is download a mod such as Carrier Battles or Invasion!

[Fyron]

You don't need a mod to add new races. You can simply place them in the Pictures\Races directory. Each race folder should be one level deep from there. Not all shipsets are packaged in the same manner, so you have to be careful. You should end up with this:

Pictures\Races\Abbidon\*.bmp

as opposed to:

Pictures\Races\Abbidon\Abbidon\*.bmp

[Skirmisher]

I added one race, a green insect hive race, but I got a bunch of errors when using it. Maybe only stuff made specifically for 1.95 deluxe will work? Any idea where I can get the compatible ones?

Also a question about the itelligence bar. I have the game set to allow intelligence, but when I go to check it out in game, it's greyed out and unavailible?

Thanks for your responses.

[Atrocities]

A lot of old race's are pre-1.49 and therefore are lacking needed information in the data files that will cause errors if ran with anything post 1.49.

Post the races and the data files to get them fixed.

[Fyron]

If you grab the shipset megapack torrent, all of the included shipsets have updated Gold/Deluxe compatible AI (any AI that works in Gold works in Deluxe).

[capnq]

Skirmisher said: I added one race, a green insect hive race, but I got a bunch of errors when using it. Maybe only stuff made specifically for 1.95 deluxe will work? Any idea where I can get the compatible ones?

Here are step-by-step instructions for converting pre-Gold AIs, if you want to fix them yourself. Those instructions were written for Gold, but AFAIK Deluxe didn't change anything that would change the procedure.

Also a question about the itelligence bar. I have the game set to allow intelligence, but when I go to check it out in game, it's greyed out and unavailible?

You need to research the "Applied Intelligence" tech area first, then build some Intelligence Center facilities.

[douglas]

capnq said:You need to research the "Applied Intelligence" tech area first, then build some Intelligence Center facilities.

That won't do anything about it being grayed out. The Intelligence screen will not be available until you have encountered at least one other empire. Once you have, it will be available but you won't be able to accomplish anything with it unless you have intelligence points to spend, and that's what you need Intelligence Center facilities for.

[Skirmisher]

Thanks for all the responses.

I have a few questions about planetary conditions.

As oxygen atmosphere planets seem to be fairly scarce, is it better to have a race that breaths hydrogen, methane, or carbon dioxide?

What effect on moral (or other) is there for establishing colonies on planets with different atmospheres?

Can a planet be terra formed , where the atmosphere is changed over a long period of time?

Is there any way to know how many facilities any given planet has room for before colonizing that planet?

What concerns should I have about a planets conditions?
Sometimes you start out on an unpleasant world for example.

[Fyron]

"What effect on moral (or other) is there for establishing colonies on planets with different atmospheres?"

None. Colonies on all planet types and atmospheres function identically. The only difference is if you use alien population (primarily to undome foreign atmospheres), as they have a natural anger increase (towards average), instead of the natural anger decrease of native pop. This is trivial to overcome with a couple of police troops, though.

"Can a planet be terra formed , where the atmosphere is changed over a long period of time?"

Yes, you need to research Planet Utilization 7 to get the Atmospheric Modification Plant.

"Is there any way to know how many facilities any given planet has room for before colonizing that planet?"

Facility space in stock is always SIZE * 5, where SIZE is 1 for tiny and 5 for huge. If its going to be domed, divide that number by 5. If you have the necessary Advanced Storage Techniques trait, multiply by 1.2 and round.