Zippy's SE IV Mod (Note: It's HUGE!!!)

[zippy]

Skulky: I'll break down your issues so it’s easier for me to reply...

Skulky "Nice mod, the new components are great"
Zippy "Thanks"

Skulky "a little high damage ... Still i think you could tone down the damage on the weapons and the sheilds"
Zippy "I spent considerable time balancing Beams, Torps, Missiles, Point Defenses, Shields and Armor for ships AND fighters. Sure, a 980 Torp seems high, but note that torps have a fire rate of 1 shot per 3 turns (so that their rate of damage is less than beam weapons). Furthermore, armor gets up to 900 -- and you can have 2 armors for the space of one torp for a total armor of 1800! Of course large weapon mounts cause more damage, but they also take up more space. I'm not saying that things are perfectly balanced, but that's what you get with a game as complex as SEIV "

Skulky: "and waht is the no intel no troops no mines deal, we should be able to choose that not be forced upon with it. cloak is nice, but only for organic? ... And no stellar manipulation???? what is that?" (Bold added by Zippy)
Zippy: "Hey, good idea. Maybe I should write a program called ZippyMod AI Setup Utility.exe and put it in your ZippyMod folder Most of the TechAreas that you mention are disabled by default because the AI doesn't use them. My Home Page has more info about this stuff. Organic still has cloak because my program isn't perfect (see Help - Notes - TechAreas from within the program)."

Skulky: "if you aren;t religious you are screwed"
Zippy: "hmmm, I'm not sure about this one. In my mod the Religious Talisman costs 1000 of each resource and requires a space of 80 while in the original Version the cost and space are 300 and 50, respectively. As far as I know everything else is the same for the religious trait between my mod and the original Version. So, it would seem to me that taking religious is slightly less desirable in my mod."

Skulky: "The ratios are so negatively in favor of weapons hitting"
Zippy: "Wouldn't this make the religious race even less of an advantage? Anyway, I assume that you are referring to missiles and torps. Missiles always hit, but they can also be shot down and outrun. Also, PD's require 20 space while missiles require 50 so the advantage should always go to the defender. The reason for the torp bonuses was to improve game balance between AI-controlled static defenses (bases, satellites, WP's) and human-controlled ships. Without the bonuses a human player could just park his/her ships at maximum weapons range and take out the static defenses; ships would have a 100% chance to hit the static defenses, while the static defenses would have a low chance of hitting the ships at that distance. My hope is that now human players have to use a little strategy when attacking bases."

I hope that these long-winded replies are useful. I'd love to hear your reaction