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

capnq · #1 January 11th, 2002, 09:18 PM

quote:
It has not been added to the new Scenario/Mod forum yet.

Yes it has, but not under the name "Mod Picker". It's in:SE IV Data mods as Matryx's SE4 Launcher.

zippy · #2 January 12th, 2002, 05:22 AM

Wardad and capnq: Thanks for the info about the mod picker. I'll try to download the program and look into it further.

When installing my mod you don't have to overwrite any files (oh, now you tell me

) -- my mod works fine if you keep the originals. The only difference is that you must manually edit the path.txt file and the game will use your current boom3.wav file (which is used during ship and unit explosions). If you're using WinZip, then make sure that "Overwrite existing files" is unchecked and just say "No" when it asks if you want to overwrite the two files.

[ 12 January 2002: Message edited by: zippy ]

zippy · #3 January 12th, 2002, 07:16 AM

Wow, that Mod Picker program is pretty nifty

Here is the required ModInfo file for my mod. If you're using IE, then just right-click the link and select "Save Target As..." and put the file in your ZippyMod folder. If you're not using IE, then I'll assume that you're smart enough to know what to do. I'll include the ModInfo file in future releases of my mod.

ModInfo File for ZippyMod

Skulky · #4 January 12th, 2002, 09:27 PM

Nice mod, the new components are great, a little high damage. It seems somewhat balanced but if you aren;t religious you are screwed. thank god i took that racial trait. The ratios are so negativly in favor of weapons hitting. 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? i tookt hat trait too, lucky me and am having a field day killing all the AI that doesn't have cloak and can't detect me. Still i think you could tone down the damage on the weapons and the sheilds and then it would be alittle friendlier. Dealing wiht numbers like 980 for a torpedo seem a little excessive. Overall nice work. And no stellar manipulation???? what is that?

zippy · #5 January 13th, 2002, 09:50 AM

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

Skulky · #6 January 13th, 2002, 06:57 PM

I've started getting used to the damage now, it doesn't really matter that much anyway.

The armor is great stuff, i like the organic armor better (the sludge stuff, or is that some other racial?) it regenerates which is so much better than just having high hit points. I think that regeneration is a little high. It makes it almost impossible to kill someone with it as they can regen thier armor faster than you can kill it.

I think that the cloak is cool, i use it a ton, but there needs to be a way to detect it, maybe a large base and WP only device that can see lvl 5 cloaks and then give every racial one lvl 5 type and the normal ppl only a lvl 4 so that racial allows you better cloaking. for religious or physic you could have it called a S.E.P field (from Life the Universe and Everything, hitchhikers guide to the galaxy trilogy) Somebody Else's Problem renders things invisible due to you not caring about it and you can only see it if you are looking for it/know its there.

I played a full tech start just to see everything and i am using the religious thing to totally dominate becuase everything i fire hits the enemy. I think the problem was that one of my ships wasn't designed with a combat sensor so it had like -200% or something and then i used religion. I just never tried it before, its great now and ill probably take it in every game from now on.

I still don't agree with the nearly impossible to overcome to-hit odds. I think this is one area where the odds could be lowered and it would still be playable. Static defenses aren't as good as ships in real life anyway. Have you heard of the Maginot Line? Not as great as a massive army of tanks. And what if i get the AI to gift me one of its super good infinite resource worlds? then i am set for life. Better thana ringworld.

IIRC i have seen AI's that can do troops and stellar manipulation (a little eratic but hey) at least we shoudl get the destroyers, the ai uses those, a little wierdly but at least it doesn't killit self as i once feared.

I just found the Warp gate tech, cool.

Phoenix-D · #7 January 13th, 2002, 09:30 PM

"Static defenses aren't as good as ships in real life anyway. Have you heard of the Maginot Line? Not as great as a massive army of tanks."

Uh, I dunno. It was good enough to prompt the German army to go AROUND it.

That's the main disadvantage of static defenses- they don't move.

Phoenix-D