Request for more cooperation in order to improve the game

[spillblood]

[quote=Skyburn;781465]

Well, I had a look at the data files. Not much in the game seems to be moddable, but there are some things that might help.

Not fully true. I saw by analyzing the game files, that you can point the game via links to specific graphics files for each unit, terrain tile etc. Since those are in simple .bmp format (they are located in ...\World Supremacy Demo\Images or ...\World Supremacy\Images, depends on whether you are using the demo or the full version), they can be easily changed and pointed at in the text files (look at ...GameTypes\Standard\data\Units.txt). All the appearance can be changed. Each mod should have an own folder located in ...\World Supremacy Demo\GameTypes\... (Standard game has the folder "Standard"). So when you create a new mod, just copy the Standard folder, rename it and change the text files. And you can point at different folders for different mods there (located in the main menu). ScottWAR (RIP) has used this in his Basic Balance mod. We might be able to reconstruct things from that, because it's still online.

If the AI can't use nuclear weapons well, remove them from the game.

That could possibly be done, in the Units.txt-file

Increasing unit HP should reduce the human first-strike advantage in combat.

I think this isn't necessary in V 1.09. Just play the game again and you know why. The AI in fact isn't totally disadvantaged in combat.

Does the AI build facilities well? If not, remove those, too.

It DOES build facilities. Removing them (especially factories, cities) would cripple some AI abilities. I'm not sure about Radar stations though.

Mod units so they can be built anywhere and the AI might have a better defense setup. In units.txt changing the value on the line "Purchase In Region With Unit Family ID" to 0 for each unit should do it.

I'm not sure if this is necessary, because the AI is able to build factories and produce units in territories bordering on player territories.

Finally, if the AI doesn't seem to replace units well, try increasing the number of starting units. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be any separation between starting units for humans and non-neutral AIs, but at least it would give the AI more starting firepower. Maybe they'll be more aggressive if they get more hardware.

That maybe true, just do that in the actual "Start game" menu.

A suggestion you might make to Aaron is adding SE style production bonuses for the AI. It would simply be a multiplier selected on game setup. So the AI would get 2,3,5x (or whatever) the resources of human players. I suspect that would be a relatively easy change to make.

That's a very good idea, I'll suggest this to Aaron. This should be an option in the start menu of the game.

Last but not least, though I am sympathetic to your efforts to get this game fixed, I won't be doing any modding or sending support tickets myself. Good luck!

OK, I'm sorry, but it doesn't matter. Thanks for your help. Any help by Space Empires modders is appreciated!

[spillblood]

One thing I must add here: Please, all people who bought the game, especially JCrowe, just try playing the game again. This way we can gain more info about the weaknesses. I've already made a start and played two games yesterday, sent in savegames to Shrapnel, but according to this reply:

What do you want us to do? The only new customer service tickets on World Supremacy are from you.

I seem to be the only one. Please, don't let me down people.

Try fiddling with the starting settings. I've noticed enabling only two or three AIs on a detailed Medium map and giving them large starting territories actually makes them more powerful. They were able to almost wipe me out in these two games.
It seems trying out different starting settings is pretty important.
You simply need to play more games so that we can learn all AI weaknesses that still remain and either contact Shrapnel or mod the game so that they are circumvented.

Please,
Help me with this!

[spillblood]

I forgot to mention one important fact for people who don't own the full game and want to mod the demo: The mod selection in the startup screen is disabled in the demo. So you need to modify the files in the ...\World Supremacy Demo\GameTypes\Standard\...- folder. You can then simply rename the Standard-folder to the name you want for the mod. You can try your mod by simply playing the standard game-mode (by the way, the full version ONLY HAS this standard game mode by default (when I first started up this game I myself wondered why this selection is empty besides the standard mode, but this is simply reserved for mods). So, please don't expect extremely much more variation when buying the full version.
But owners of the full version can simply select the available mods at startup when the folders are named differently than the gametypes\standard-folder. I really wonder why no one has tried doing something more than changing a few numbers with the game yet.
Must really be because they were to pissed off because of the bad quality of the game at release.
But we can simply try to enhance it ourselves, people!

[spillblood]

Added info about World Supremacy (to get people to check out the demo) in one more forum. I'll stay inactive until I finally get a reply from Aaron or some activity here in the forum. Until then, guys! Hope more people join.

[spillblood]

Sorry, but I've finally received a reply from Aaron. Seems he appreciates my efforts. Hope he finally returns here. Here's the quote:

Yes, we've received your previous emails. Sounds good!

Aaron

Please, every further participation here would be welcome!

[spillblood]

Hey, anyone still here? Seems the last remaining users are gone now (except me, like it always was in former periods of silence here. If anyone is reading this, please reply!
Hehe, kind of a postapocalyptic forum, this one.

[Skirmisher]

Originally Posted by spillblood

Hey, anyone still here? Seems the last remaining users are gone now (except me, like it always was in former periods of silence here. If anyone is reading this, please reply!

I'm still watching at what's going on here.

I don't see the level of interest that you have from the developer though.