Devnull Mod Gold: updates and discussion

[Rollo]

Hey, Henk!
good to see you are still around =).

[henk brouwer]

Yes, I still lurk here occasionally while waiting for the release of SeV . Good to see you still around as well, I guess we are the only people here that actually link to dungeon odyssey related stuff in their sigs..

Anyhow, Judging by the lists of changes a lot of work was put into this version, I probably won't have time to play the new version of Devnull until somewhere next week but I'll try and give some more usefull comments when I do.

[se5a]

have the normal shield and phased shields been fixed so the normal sheilds don't upgrade to the phased?

and can you add a phased shield regen?
AFAIK the normal one doesn not work on phased shields.

[Ed Kolis]

There is only one shield regeneration ability. AFAIK it works on both types of shields...

[Rollo]

That's cool Henk, no hurry, but I am always looking for feedback, of course.

se5a, what exactly do you think needs fixing with shields? Can you be a bit more specific?

And yeah, as Ed already said, shield regen works for either shield.

[henk brouwer]

I finally got around to playing a game and so far it's great, one note so far, it seems that the AI's in my game are not investing as much in research as they should. I'm only 6th by total score but my research output is 5 times higher than any of the other races, in fact they are all still very close to the amount of research they started out with, and none of them seem to have build any research stations in the last 4 years (it's 2408 now). They keep up quite well when looking at the amount of tech levels they have researched because of their AI bonus, but they could do much better.

Here's a screenshot of the scores, it's a high tech cost, no intel game, I changed the monster's flag in my game because it looked a lot like the neutrals (I forgot to switch them off at the game start) I'm player 1 (the taera shipset)


The problem is probably made worse by the galaxy settings, (small, sparse galaxy) at this point most of the planets have been colonized and there's not much room to expand or build additional research facilities. Anyhow it couldn't hurt if one or two of the AI's were designed to build more research stations.

Anyhow, even though I'm doing well on the research front I'm having a lot of trouble keeping my empire together, I did manage to conquer the Jraenar empire early on, but now the Cue Cappa attack me from behind. They use a lot of seekers (which are far more difficult to defend against in Devnull) and because of AI-bonus they can support huge fleets. (i'm having trouble with my upkeep at only 26 ships) My ships don't stand a chance against their fleets out in open space, but well designed weapon platforms with lots of pd at the planets bordering their empire can just stop them for now. I however still lost two far away systems to large Cue-Cappan fleets over the last year. Also the space monsters have picked me as their favourite victim I'm getting monster attacks almost every turn. Looks like I'm really going to need the research advantage I have build up .

[henk brouwer]

Never mind that last post, I just started a new game and the AI is building huge amounts of research facilities. I'm playing on a slightly larger map this time, but otherwise the settings are the same.

Why did I start a new game you ask? Well because the AI humiliated me in the last one . I might have been ahead in technology but that did not save me from the Cue-Cappan fleet of 59 ships with missiles and fighters that suddenly entered my homesystem.

Anyhow, geat mod. the techtree (or what I've seen of it) is mostly the same as stock, but weapons and components have been tweaked a lot, and interesting new ones have been added. It seems far better balanced compared to stock and the AI does a very good job at using the new options it has. I'm looking forward to new versions

[David E. Gervais]

I'm here lurking too,.. <waves to everyone> Hi people.

Cheers!

[Rollo]

Thanks for the great and informative feedback, Henk.

Glad the AI is researching better in the 2nd game. Honestly, I hadn't really known how to reply to the first report. But yeah, small Galaxy and monsters could easily throw the AI off-balance I assume. Killing fledgling research worlds very fast, and not letting the AI get a foot on the ground. And also glad the Cue Cappa managed to give you some troubles . Looking at your scores it did seem to me you invested a bit too much into research and not enough resources to maintain a large enough standing fleet. Serves you right =P.

Keep us posted how the 2nd game goes, if you feel like it.
That applies for everyone, of course. There have been some extensive changes to to-hit chances, seekers and fighters. So looking for feedback and insights on that, but anything else as well really.

As for new versions... well, let's just say I hope it doesn't take over 2 years again. But I wouldn't expect anything for the next couple of months either. Apart from small typos, fixes, or any glaring mod breaking errors that have not been found yet.

and David! I knew you'd be lurking around somewhere... but I had no clue you were hiding in THIS thread . I hope everything is well on your end. And thanks again for the pixel work tutelage. You will find some of your artwork that you sent to me oh so long ago in this new version.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

/me waves back.

How's your mother doing? I remember you saying you were busy taking care of her.