Babylon 5 Mod

[Timstone]

Hahaha... LOL!!

[Fyron]

B5Mod 2.0: Ah, yes. Yesterday I sorted out the weapons every race can get (general stuff).
Now a question about the weapons families. How do they work? Is it so that every laser (no mater how it's called) gets the same Weapon Family number and every missile (no matter how it's called) gets the same Weapon Family number or does every tech (be it, bLast laser, breaching pods, basic missile, etc.) gets a different family number? Oh, and most important, what does it represent, how does the computer use it?

Every weapon type needs it's own family (as they have now). All missiles do not get one family, each type of missile needs its own family number. In the unmodded game, Capital Ship Missiles and Plasma Torpedoes are both missiles, but they get separate family numbers because they are different weapons. CSM I and CSM II have the same family, but PT I has a different family. The AI uses the family numbers in making ship designs.

SJ: Ehh... yesterday I saw that the armor is a bit strange. You gave Structural Support 1A the same roman numeral as 1F, only 2A till 2F has a higher roman numeral. Why is this?
The same with the light, medium and heavy armor. They all got roman numeral 1. Does that mean the computer also sorts out the different upgrades (better armor) acording to the research levels involved? I don't get it.

The letter part of the name is an upgrade of that level of armor (the number part). 1B is not a new level of armor above 1A, it is an upgrade of the 1 series of armor. I hope that made sense.

[Timstone]

Yes, quite clear my good man. Thanks for the advise.
The only thing I can think about now is why does the computer need two family numbers (Weapon Family number and Family number), but that should be of use with the non-weapon thingies.
Thanks again for the clear explanation. Two thumbs up for you.

Edit01: Almost 600 Posts. Yehaa!

Edit02: Nice number of Posts in this thread; 3232. Niiiice.

[ June 20, 2003, 20:49: Message edited by: Timstone ]

[jimbob]

Timstone: good news on the girl... excellent!
Oh, and PM for you too.

Edit: Hey, I'm only 3 Posts away from 600 myself! That's a surprise Course I'm still less than 1/10 of the way to the number of Posts that Fyron has...

[ June 21, 2003, 00:39: Message edited by: jimbob ]

[Rojero]

i have got a low amount of Posts

[grumbler]

I finally finished going through the tech file to sort out the confusion it was causing me. The conclusions I reached follow. I will split it into three Posts to avoid the "huge page of ink" effect and boost my post count!

1. Mine Tech beyond 3 is only used in the various Versions of the Anti-mine Missile. This seems counter-intuitive. AMM progress should be based on Ballistic Missile technology, with Mine tech 1 required to advance to AMM III, then Mine tech 2 to AMM VI, and Mine tech 3 for above VI.

2. Similarly, the minesweeper component should need progression in Mine tech as above.

3. I think jump gates should be bases, not ships. The explorer class ships, BTW, were construction ships for the EA jump gates, and the jump gates were immobile once constructed.

4. We need to implement pseudo-Newtonian movement for fighters. As it is, larger fighters are mostly just faster than small ones, which seems counter-intuitive. I have started this already, if anyone wants to see it.

5. The Anti-fighter Missiles, like the AMM, require fighter tech equal to AFM level (even though fighter tech only goes to level 6, and thus AFM above AFM VI will never be available). The fighter tech required for AFM should mirror that of the AMM above.

6. Infantry max level should be 3, not 4. There is no result for Inf tech 4.

7. Currently there is no way to raise planet conditions. This can be a crippling factor for the races that have low reproduction or low tolerance if they get a planet with “unpleasant” conditions. I recommend that the Homeworld Hub get the added ability of raising planetary conditions by 1%, 2% and 3% for levels I, II, and III respectively.

8. The Shipboard Space Yard should have a family different than the Base shipyard. I recommend 11005, which is free.

9. The Supply depot component doesn’t seem necessary. Recommend it be deleted.

10. It is peculiar that the cargo hold component size is so big (75 kt), given that a cargo hold is the most easily resized component there could be: it is just space, in essence. Recommend that all sizes, costs, and capacities be divided by five, to make the cargo versus speed payoff more interesting. Troop, fighter, satellite, and mine capacities would be unchanged.

11. The resupply tech seems a waste of space. Its only effect is to allow for larger depots, which would logically be a function of cargo tech, not resupply tech. Recommend that it be deleted and the resupply tech requirements in facilities.txt be changed to cargo.

12. Nothing uses any armor tech level above 2 except the Drazi external launch rails II component, which requires armor level 3! Since armor is one of the more expensive techs, recommend that the armor requirement for the Drazi be dropped, and that the max tech level for armor be set to 2.

13. Nothing uses the cloaking technology. Should be deleted.

14. Nothing uses sensor tech above level 8. Recommend making the max tech level 8.

15. The current treatment of scanners doesn’t make sense to me. Current, scanner tech can go to level 7, but only the Ancients can use Long Range Scanners level 6 and 7. There is no logical reason why Scanner 6 and Scanner 7 components should not be “Ancient Scanner 1” and “Ancient Scanner 2”, with added scanners 3-5. Then, limit scanner tech to level 5. The ancients should enjoy the advantage of their ancient tech. They shouldn’t have to research the “mundane” scanner techs to get to the “good stuff.”

[grumbler]

16. The only payoff for Computer tech beyond tech 1 is “Computer combat” which isn’t a tech used in this mod. Recommend delete CC tech area and set max computer tech level to 1.

17. The only thing that uses Minerals Extraction tech 4 is the Aggressive Mining Colony III. AMC advancement is unusual: AMC I is available at ME tech 2, AMC II at tech 3, and AMC III is available at tech 4. I think it is cleaner and more logical to assume that AMCs are not higher tech, they are just less careful. They should be available at the same tech level as their non-aggressive counterparts, and the ridiculously low payoff for the hideously expensive ME tech level 4 wouldn’t have to be rationalized. Players also get to make the choice of doubling their output at the cost of reducing the planet to a wasteland (for Am doubles the effectiveness of the equivalent regular MC, but that assumes that the choice is between the two, which it is not if the AMC requires a higher tech). I also think the mineral costs should be the same for the AMC as the MC, rather than higher. In fact, it probably SHOULD be lower, given that no environmental safeguards need to be provided.

18. Max level for ME, OE, and RE should be 3, not 9!

19. The Stellar Manipulation tech is not used and should be deleted.

20. The max level of Applied Intelligence that is used is 3, not 4.

21. The maximum level of Medical Technology used is 4, not 10.

22. Organic technology is not used, but should be. I think it should be left in for now, and self-healing ships should be introduced at some point.

23. Planet Utilization tech is not used and should be removed.

24. Advanced Military Science is okay as is, but I did note that the facility “Advanced Military Outpost” really only makes sense as a replacement for the manufacturing colony. It does not generate any resources, though (not that I ever understood why the ManC did so!) nor is it a spaceport for the system. This facility needs a bit of work before it is ready for prime time.

25. Applied Political Science tech is not used and should be deleted.

26. Organic Engineering is not used, but should be as per above.

27. Physics should have a max level of 2, not 4.

28. Psychic Studies is not used (except by Psychic weapons, itself not used) and both should be removed.

29. Psychology is not used and should be removed.

30. Religious Studies is not used and should be removed.

[grumbler]

31. Temporal Studies is not used except by Temporal Weapons and both should be removed.

32. Biotech Weapons should have a maximum level of 10, not 12.

33. “Ballistic” is mis-spelled under (the first) Advanced Planetary Weapons in the techarea.txt file. There are two techs, both called “Advanced Planetary Weapons.” One is under weapons technology, the other under advanced weapons technology. Dunno if this was deliberate or not, but there are two approaches to the weapons allowed by that tech. Of course, researching the second one is dumb if you have already done the first!

34. Organic Weapons is not used and should be removed, unless there is a desire to use them for Old Ones.

35. Ditto Crystalline Weapons.

36. I didn’t even try to do anything with the unique techs, as we all know they need work.

37. Stellar Harnessing is not used and should be removed.

38. Fission Utilization should have a max level of 4, not 3.

39. Fusion Utilization should have a max level of 4, not 3.

40. Ditto for A-M and Gravimetric Utilization

I didn’t look at all the racial and weapons techs. They need to be examined race by race.

[grumbler]

I also have had some time to get deeper into my engine analysis. the current engine setup isn't very continuous, because it has big jumps at certain points. It also maxes out speed of the big ships (due to the 256 engines limit)quite early.

What i am trying to do is come up with a schema that uses a better mix of engine points and bonus movement points to create a more continuous curve of improvements, without getting too distorted by the effects of bonus movement points.

Timstone, I strongly urge you in Version 2.0 to stick with ship hull sizes in even multiples of 100, and make it cost 1 engine per 100 KT to move, vice the 1 per 50 now used. That would simplify things a lot.

PF: I also have been looking at the AI effects on research and speed. Two things struck me:
1. The AI doesn't seem to get a call to research propulsion above level 13. Am I reading that incorrectly?
2. The AI gets the call to research Antimatter Utilization very late - after it could have been using AM engines, in fact. Was that by design, or just the way it turned out?

[grumbler]

BTW, I could add my new tech file, but have forgotten how to upload here!