Star Wars Mod - II (Sci-Fi Xover Mod)

[Erax]

Originally posted by Andr&eacutes Lescano:
Thanks for the pointing out some of the mistakes and things that are still to be added such as troops. [...]

I will make most standard SE4 technologies, except most weapon techs and other punctual techs, available to everyone. But make most those techs give everyone different items. [...]

Can you help me fill in documents like [this one] for other races to have most of the techs that will be needed.

Having the different tech trees interact with each other (but still remain different) is a great idea. In fact, I was planning on doing exactly that for troops - at Troop level 3 (out of 5 total), for example, the Imperials get speederbikes and the Rebels get elite Rebel troopers (troops with more kt for the Imperials and troops with bonuses to attack+defense for the Rebels). Troop weapons would start at level 1 (bLaster pistols) and go up to level 8 (dual heavy bLaster cannon), with all SW races except the YV having access to the same weapons. I have the numbers worked out & can send them to you or post them here.

Regarding tech lists for other races... I'm a SW fan too. I could give you some suggestions regarding Imperial items and help write the Rebellion & Trade Federation/Separatists tech lists... now that Ep II is out, we could even add in the Republic as a player race (Naboo tech + clone troopers + Jedi, wow !), but I can't really help with ST or B5.

I'll study the Imperial tech list & post my comments here.

"Dispatch war rocket Ajax to bring back his body !"
-- General Kala

[Andrés]

Standard SE4 should have no visible difference to the stock game, and tech areas shared by everyone must be shared by them too.
That means (edit: we cannot add any new tech area to be shared by everyone and) that top tech for standard/shared techs must not change: Troops
max = 3 ; Troop Weapons max=3

For techs such as ship construction I was planning to add and aditional tech at top level such as "Advanced Imperial Ship Construction" for their beyond normal ships.
Perhaps we can do the same for troops, for example Imperials get "Walkers" at troops 3.
And bLasters may have troop weapon + turbolaser tech requirents.

Now weapon mounts can be restricted by techs I want to remake laser weapons and make dual and quad (and perhaps even batteries) actual weapons mounts. If they can capture other's weapons they could reconfigure them to their weapon mounts, imagine a "Mrk 5 Phaser" in "Quad Heavy Battery Mount"

[ October 04, 2002, 04:49: Message edited by: Andr&eacutes Lescano ]

[Erax]

OK, I just finished reading the Imperial tech list, here's my comments+suggestions.

I agree with almost all of your interpretations, what follows are the exceptions and not the rule...

- We could make Imperial shipyards decrease happiness in the entire system (they were described as a huge drain to the economy), but this has to be tested so we don't paralyze the Empire in the early game.

- Your Version of the Imp. Garrison sounds like something I'd want to build on many worlds, but I wouldn't really need that many spaceports. Why not make Imperial Urban Pac Centers planet-wide only (with an expensive-to-research system-wide Version later in the tech tree), give them a little cargo capacity and call them Imperial Garrisons ? We could build troops and keep them "in" the garrisons.

- Don't worry about building the DSII in six months, that was the Emperor's personal project and he had Vader to hurry it along too. We won't be able to simulate that in SE IV any time soon (Mega-Emergency Build ?). We could still give the Imperials bigger shipyards so they can crank out ISD's, maybe they might have to research Ship Yards and Large Scale Construction to get them.

- I'm designing the Beta-class assault shuttle and the Zero-G Stormtrooper right now, I'll post them when I'm done.

- Please, please give us the Star Wing gunboat and the Missile boat !

- I think the AT-PT was a Republic era weapon. The sequence for Imperial troops could be : Naval Troopers, Stormtroopers, Speederbikes, then (under the Walkers tech tree) AT-PTs, AT-STs, AT-ATs. I'll post my stats for troops and troop weapons & we can go on from there.

- Careful with the mines, they're a major part of standard SE IV game balance. Laser-satellite 'mines' would get lumped together in combat and become ineffective.

- I'd leave out the solar panels, reactors already fill this role. Besides, as you said, TIEs are supposed to be short range craft.

- Imperial boarding parties could be called "Stormtrooper Boarding Squads" and have a little cargo capacity so you could actually carry troop units "in" them (I'll work on the numbers for this & for regular cargo bays, will post them later too).

Hope it helps.

[Andrés]

Updated the doc

[Fyron]

Originally posted by Erax:
- We could make Imperial shipyards decrease happiness in the entire system (they were described as a huge drain to the economy), but this has to be tested so we don't paralyze the Empire in the early game.

Negative values of happiness on facilities do not work. And happiness modifiers do not stack: the highest one in the entire system is used for all planets in the system.

[Andrés]

Copied from abilities.txt
Planet - Change Population Happiness
Value1 = Percentage the happiness of this planet's population is improved each turn.
Value2 =

Change Population Happiness - System
Value1 = Percentage change in population happiness for entire system (+/- percentage) each turn.
Value2 =

Didn't check if it actually works this way but this suggests you can give a happiness penalty to the entire system but not to a single planet.

I was planning to give most of the Imperial happiness penalties by making them use a special happiness type.
But this could be a good choice to balance their best shipyards: build faster or stick with the regular ones to avoid making the population even angrier.

[Erax]

I was planning to give most of the Imperial happiness penalties by making them use a special happiness type.
But this could be a good choice to balance their best shipyards: build faster or stick with the regular ones to avoid making the population even angrier.

We have to check if negative system happiness actually works and, if it does, what happens when you build a facility that increases happiness in the same system.

Moving on a bit, I promised to post a lot of stuff, so here goes the Assault Shuttle and 0-G Stormtrooper for the Imperials :

Name := Assault Shuttle
Short Name := Assault Shuttle
Description := Beta-class assault shuttle
Code := AS
Primary Bitmap Name := transportsmall
Alternate Bitmap Name := transportsmall
Vehicle Type := Ship
Tonnage := 74
Cost Minerals := 74
Cost Organics := 0
Cost Radioactives := 0
Engines Per Move := 1
Number of Tech Req := 1
Tech Area Req 1 := Imperial Ship Construction
Tech Level Req 1 := 1
Number of Abilities := 1
Ability 1 Type := Combat To Hit Defense Plus
Ability 1 Descr := Small size makes ship 50% harder to hit in combat.
Ability 1 Val 1 := 50
Ability 1 Val 2 := 0
Requirement Must Have Bridge := True
Requirement Can Have Aux Con := False
Requirement Min Life Support := 1
Requirement Min Crew Quarters := 0
Requirement Uses Engines := True
Requirement Max Engines := 4
Requirement Pct Fighter Bays := 0
Requirement Pct Colony Mods := 0
Requirement Pct Cargo := 0

Name := Zero-G Stormtrooper
Short Name := Spacetrooper
Description :=
Code := 0-G
Primary Bitmap Name := troopInfantry
Alternate Bitmap Name := troopInfantry
Vehicle Type := Fighter
Tonnage := 2
Cost Minerals := 12
Cost Organics := 15
Cost Radioactives := 0
Engines Per Move := 8
Number of Tech Req := 2
Tech Area Req 1 := Imperial Ship Construction
Tech Level Req 1 := 1
Tech Area Req 2 := Troops
Tech Level Req 2 := 3
Number of Abilities := 1
Ability 1 Type := Combat To Hit Defense Plus
Ability 1 Descr := Small size makes spacetrooper 120% harder to hit in combat.
Ability 1 Val 1 := 120
Ability 1 Val 2 := 0
Requirement Must Have Bridge := False
Requirement Can Have Aux Con := False
Requirement Min Life Support := 0
Requirement Min Crew Quarters := 0
Requirement Uses Engines := True
Requirement Max Engines := 1
Requirement Pct Fighter Bays := 0
Requirement Pct Colony Mods := 0
Requirement Pct Cargo := 0
Launched from Ship := True
Launched from Planet := False

Neither is playtested yet... I have to see if the 120% defense bonus for the spacetrooper is excessive.