World Supremacy: Have some Space Empires fans checked it out (has massive problems)

[Gandalf Parker]

According to the pitch about the game.... maps and unit values can easily be modded.
http://www.shrapnelgames.com/Malfado...S/WS_page.html

And I see a complaint that the AI doesnt attack. But from the description it doesnt sound as if they are supposed to so I wouldnt consider that to be a failure.

[S.R. Krol]

Originally Posted by Gandalf Parker

I dont remember much patching on SEIV.

Digging up my press releases from '03 it looks like there was four patches for SEIV and then the Gold version came out, which included a whole bunch of mods. After that Aaron went on to do Star Fury.

[spillblood]

Thanks for posting here, S.R., I want to give a report about the moddability of WS here that's a bit more detailed:
My most important finding when checking the WS-folders: It doesn't have any of those .scr/ scripting files that were mentioned here before. This probably means the AI isn't moddable, because I've not found any AI- entries in the text files that can be edited. It also simply means the AI isn't scripted like in Space Empires, but actually reacts to player actions. I think Aaron pointed that out in some forum posts before, and I think it's the main cause he has problems improving it.
BUT, EVERYTHING ELSE, all unit pictures, all terrain tiles, all research items, every territory name, all sound effects, and all effects themselves, are in fact easily moddable via simple text files:

Effects.txt
GameSettings.txt
HelpText.txt
MainFonts.txt
MapTypes.txt
NationNames.txt
PlayerNames.txt
RegionNames.txt
SoundEffects.txt
Technology.txt
Terrain_Tiles.txt
Terrain_Tiles.txt

I can't attach them here, but they are probably included in the demo, too. What's the difference in construction to Space Empires?
@Gandalf Parker: You're wrong, since this game has NO diplomacy, and you can only win it with you military, the AI needs to be able to attack. Plus, I don't know what you're referring to exactly. If you saw those "only one attack per turn"-bug-reports for the AI: This error was fixed in version 1.09. But the main problem of the AI isn't this, but it's inability to make strategic decisions and some remaining bugs, like the inability to fire intercontinental nukes (so that they can be easily captured by players and used against the AI) and its inability to expand fleets (naval forces). It can only build one ship of each type in a single fleet, that means players always have naval supremacy, and since fleets can be used for invasions, you can figure out what that means for the AI.

[spillblood]

One thing I must add: All image files can be replaced by own files, and in the text files links to these different pictures can be specified, so the look is completely moddable, plus all unit capabilities. I think you could turn it into a fantasy or sci fi game if you wanted. Seems you can also change the placement and amount of starting forces. You see, there hasn't been much modding activity. The only mods that came out were some simple mods that changed unit values, prices or single pictures (for example a different picture for tech level 1, 2 and 3 tanks).
But the possibilities are MUCH higher.

[spillblood]

OK, here's more info for people who have downloaded the demo: It's also moddable. The files you need for changing any settings, graphics etc. are located in
...\World Supremacy Demo\GameTypes\Standard\data
These are the exact same files as in my full version. I think the demo is only restricted in turns you are able to play and in number of players etc.
So, please take a closer look at the demo again, if you don't want to buy the game.

[spillblood]

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.

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!