Highliner Mod - 1.04b - PBW Observations & Patch

Urendi Maleldil · #1 July 10th, 2003, 02:16 AM

How do you intend to get the AI to launch Riders in the system map?

Right now I don't think the AI does anything with fighters strategically.

General Woundwort · #2 July 10th, 2003, 02:50 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Urendi Maleldil:
How do you intend to get the AI to launch Riders in the system map?

Right now I don't think the AI does anything with fighters strategically.

Improving the AI is my next big step (Step 1 was getting the thing to work in principle). I've been tweaking the AI files at home as I go along, improving the AI's expansion, economy, and combat. I will note this down too and see what I can do about it.

Does anyone else out there (say, those who have worked with TDM) know how this (fighters in strategic combat) is done? Would Ultimate Strategies Mod handle this sort of thing?

[ July 10, 2003, 01:51: Message edited by: General Woundwort ]

General Woundwort · #3 August 5th, 2003, 03:03 AM

I've redone the zipfile (see my website linked in my sig) so that it should - FINALLY - run properly. I mean it! I swear!

My apologies to anyone who was inconvenienced or annoyed as I worked this out. I hope this hasn't put you off from trying this Mod - I like the concept, and would really like folks to play it and offer suggestions for improvements.

TerranC · #4 August 5th, 2003, 06:20 AM

A naming error with the Imagemod will cause the main picture for the Value Improvement Plant not show up properly, and give you an error.

To Fyron, Sj, and others: Facilities pics 242-249 has a 0 attached to the pic numbers, causing errors. Please correct this error.

And it would be much appreciated if you would include the RaceGeneric picture folder, rather than having players copy and paste it in.

Edit: Other than those, Superb work. I'm going to start myself a game.

[ August 05, 2003, 05:23: Message edited by: TerranC ]

General Woundwort · #5 August 5th, 2003, 12:34 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by TerranC:
And it would be much appreciated if you would include the RaceGeneric picture folder, rather than having players copy and paste it in.

I didn't do that because I was/am not too happy with the quality of those things (my own modified Highliner pics), and just wanted to include them to inspire others who actually have artistic talent to work up something.

General Woundwort · #6 August 27th, 2003, 11:14 PM

Player feedback is starting to come in (and there was much rejoicing (yeaaaah, yeaaaaah)), and I wanted to address the issues up front. So...

Quote:

From Tesco Samoa...
The Archon (Workhorse) requires only 25% fighter bays compared to the Archon's 50%, so why use the Archon?

I guess it's more of a tactical thing (how many Riders do you want to launch per turn?), that may not make that much difference. I'll bear it in mind for any future re-work.

Perhaps you could use some of the other NeoStandard images for the different highliner hulls... having them all Worldships could get confusing. Maybe the colonizers could be ColonyShipHuge and the transports could Barge (since there's no TransportHuge for some odd reason)... not sure about the Workhorses since I don't know what exactly they represent...

Good point. My biggest concern is that not all NeoStandard sets have all of the ship types. I was just trying to keep the mod as widely usable as possible. But I will bear this in mind.

Kinda odd that the starting bases are smaller than the starting highliners... surely if you can make a 1000kT starship then you can make at least a 1000kT base?

Yeah, that does sound kinda dumb, doesn't it? That's up on the Priority Fix list.

"Colonizer - Compatible" is misspelled

#2 on the Priority Fix list.

It wouldn't be considered cheating to put a compatible colony module on a Colonizer - Hostile in order to get extra space for cargo bays, supply storage, defenses, etc. would it?

I only call it "Colonizer - Hostile" because that's the minimum shipsize needed to carry a hostile environment (non-starting world type) colony module. If you want to put a compatible colonizer module in it, go ahead, but it may or may not fit the "50% colony space" minimum

Was "Smaller Weapons" tech left in intentionally, to make riders more useful? Or is it a mistake? I do see that Small DUC was moved to that area so somehow I think it was intentional

It's basically left in solely for Troop weapons. At a later date I will probably consolidate it totally with the Troop Weapons tech (or I may keep it individuated for an "Infantry" troop type I'm playing with in my notes - we'll see...)

You really don't need to duplicate all the colonizer default design types - a given planet type is either compatible or it isn't!

I'm assuming this is in the "Default Design Type" list, right? That's mostly for human use. The AI's only know "compatible" or "hostile".

How about a "Highliner Explorer", "Highliner Scout", or "Highliner Reconnaissance" design type?

My different types are based entirely on Cargo Bay//Rider Bay//Everything Else ratios. What you do with that "Everything else" is up to you.

Uh, what is the point of highliner supply storage components? Engines are not much more expensive, are smaller, have more hitpoints, and store almost as much supply... and since there's no limit on the number of engines on a ship, that kind of makes supply storage useless... how about reducing it to 15kT or something?

I was thinking of that. I've also been toying with a total rework of the supply system (making Life Support the main supply generating component, with storage components jacked up exponentially and engines giving just movement). That I'll have to decide based on in-house experiments before I do anything with the released Mod.

Oh great... 6 turns till my first colony ship gets built... so much for doing anything in this game for a while (Can't even build a spaceyard base to accelerate future construction!)

Welcome to the Evil Icky Twin of Proportions Mod...

Quote:

from Ekolis...
Storage is a little low for the scope of the beginning of the game. Perhaps 3x the size of intitial cargo ??

This was deliberate. Again, welcome to the evil twin of the Proportions Mod (ran out of space for smilies...). Interstellar travel starts low and slow, and builds up over time (and greater tech...)

The VPP can hit satellites and drones? But they don't have crew! Too bad it's impossible to make Master Computer ships immune to this weapon. Could give it the Mental Flailer damage type, but that's kinda pointless since the Mental Flailer is also in the Psychic tree...

I'm stuck with the limitations of the hard code. In order to get mental weapons to affect Riders (i.e. Fighters), they have to affect other "units" as well.

Maintenance Aptitude is still too cheap like in stock SE4 (I took +6)

I may do a real rework of maintenance in future iterations of this mod - depending on how well you do in this one...

tesco samoa · #7 August 28th, 2003, 01:31 AM

bizarre... that is not my quote and what i wrote is not here at all... and i know i posted it ...

well i will dig it out of pbw

1. Like how you have 1000 kt down pact on designs. Very well thought out.

2. Storage is a little low for the scope of the beginning of the game. Perhaps 3x the size of intitial cargo ??

hmmm i wonder where my post went from here eariler