Stellar Balance Mod

Baron Munchausen · #1 May 28th, 2002, 01:51 AM

The difference between energy dampener and mental flailer is that one affects energy (dampener, the 'disrupt reload time' power) while the other affects minds (the 'increase reload time' power). So, the Energy Dampener will affect any ship, while the Flailer only affects ships with crews, NOT ships with Master Computers!

I must point out something about the Crystalline Technology trait before you go tinkering with it too much. Besides the 'weak' Shard Cannon you also get Crystalline Armor, which can make a ship or base nearly indestructible in the limited time given for combat. Then there is that pesky Energy Dampener to slow down your ROF. Maybe the reason the Shard Cannon is weak is to give other races a decent chance to survive while pounding on the armor?

Crystalline Tech is a VERY powerful tech for defense.

oleg · #2 May 28th, 2002, 02:36 AM

There is a very usefull and educational thread somewhere down this forum called like "Shield, Armor and Danage - FAQ". It may be useful to bump it time after time. It was explained that there is a quirk how SE IV allocates damage. In sort, consider this scenari: Ship with scattering armor is hit first by normal weapon, for example large mounted PPB and get 90 points of damage to its armor. Next, it is hit by shard cannon for 30 damage. Result is bizzare: armor is miracuosly healed but all 90+30 damage is transfered inside the ship ! This bizzare phenomena makes shard cannons much more dangerous than you might think. Just make sure to spread out different weapons in your ship design !

P.S. It is possible that MM changed how it works, I did't pay full attention.

Baron Munchausen · #3 May 28th, 2002, 03:05 AM

Oleg: I'm quite familiar with the odd behavior of the damage allocation system. Even so, the Shard Cannon is not all that powerful in itself. If you manually design ships to exploit the bugs in the damage system then yes, it can be pretty nasty. And if MM ever gets the damage allocation system fixed your cheat will evaporate.

capnq · #4 May 28th, 2002, 10:17 PM

Quote:

as for PPBs pretty everyone agree they're too strong

When I voted in the poll thread, "nothing wrong with it" had a plurality at 30%.

dmm · #5 May 29th, 2002, 12:18 AM

It might be good to leave PPBs somewhat too strong. This allows experienced players to choose another weapon tech when matching up against the AI or new players. If it is too unbalancing in multiplayer, then you can make a house rule against using it, or against using it past a certain level.

Of course, balanced weapons and a REALLY good AI would be preferable.

Phoenix-D · #6 May 29th, 2002, 12:30 AM

"then you can make a house rule against using it, or against using it past a certain level."

Or just disable it.

Phoenix-D

dmm · #7 May 29th, 2002, 12:36 AM

Yeah, but you don't want to disable it if your game has any AIs or newbies.
Two questions (for no one in particular):
1) You can't disable a specific weapon tech without a mod, can you? (You can only disable entire areas, right?)
2) If you disable a tech, what do AIs do that are trying to use that tech?