Babylon 5 Mod

[Suicide Junkie]

I've got them posted now.
Zip of 50 Megs, and an self-extracting RAR of 35 Megs.

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PS:
As for imagemod compatibility, you only had the Last 7 facility pics ... which were not actually used in the mod.

Let me know what credits they need, and I'll add them in the next Version

[ May 12, 2004, 19:46: Message edited by: Suicide Junkie ]

[pathfinder]

Originally posted by Suicide Junkie:
I've got them posted now.
Zip of 50 Megs, and an self-extracting RAR of 35 Megs.

----

PS:
As for imagemod compatibility, you only had the Last 7 facility pics ... which were not actually used in the mod.

Let me know what credits they need, and I'll add them in the next Version

Not sure on the facilities. I gues Val either made them or found them on the WEB.

[grumbler]

A status update on Version 2.0 (such as it is).

Facilities, Vehicles, pretty much all of the componets bar weapons, and the Ai files seem to be good. I have a game running as the Minbari and after 220 turns am still in 7th place out of 18 races (computer players have medium bonuses). That's about what I would hope, given that I'm not trying all that hard to win, and the AI cannot shift around populations.

However, the computer AI for all the players except the LNAW seem to be building 80% of their attack ships as scouts. There are a few exceorts, destroyers, and light cruisers, but all of the battleship and larger sizes are "specialized" ships like troop transports, ship-based shipyards, and the like.

There is nothing in the AI files that is obviously driving them in this direction, and they are designing all of the attack ship classes they should be, but they are not building them. Is there something really obvious that I am missing (like having the planet per ship setting too low)?

I had a thought on satellites: maybe we need to deny satellites the ability to "armor up" in order to restore them to balance. They will still wax a lot of ships, but will be eggs armed with sledgehammers - kinda what we saw in Endgame. Any thoughts on this approach?

Also, does anyone else think armor is a bit too weakwhen placed on ships? It doesn't seem to make that much difference in the simulator runs I conduct - either it is too leaky or else it just doesn't absorb enough damage. I dunno enough about how it works to make any final judgements, though.

[Suicide Junkie]

Re: Sats
It might be nice to change sats into tiny, maintenance free bases.
They'll spread around the planet/sector for better coverage, plus the dispersed fire should make them less overpowering than 80 guns in one square.

As for armor...
How much are you adding?
Try comparing ships with 10%, 20%, 35% and 50% armor by mass.
In fleets, too.

[grumbler]

Originally posted by Nomor:
That sounds fine although I've yet to come across a hyperspace system in any game I've played. I'd love to see how they work.
My point was that although some people found Black Holes costly for ship loses and Nebulae for slow movement, they did provide variations to the Strategic play.

If you found your home planet boarded either of these systems they did provide a defence advantage that could be exploited. If you were playing a nomadic race you could hang around these systems picking off the damaged ships or charging into a nebular with full supplies and whacking some other race at the end of it's move with all it's supplies exhausted.

It may have been that PBW was such a slow process that the patience to see these as an advantage to be exploited and follow the chain
of command.... oops got lost there..

Whilst Black Holes and Nebulae are not part of the B5 series that is not a problem for me because both exist, and JMS simply did not have a plot line that used them, or so he says.
..... ............................

Just saw this. Version 2.0 has plenty of hyperspace systems. I haven't played the stock mod in a year so i cannot remember why it wouldn't have them. They aren't that significant in strategic play, except to balance out the greater probability of earthlike planets in the non-hyperspace systems. The ship-damaging hyperspace systems may not have been fully implemented. In any case, they kinda serve as the deterrent systems you are looking for, because ships will have a very difficult time geting through them without losing components, and ractors seem to be the first thing to go, so maybe they will have the effect you are looking for.

If we give nomadic races alone the capability for onboard repair, then you will have the effect you want, with crippled non-nomad ships (no supplies) being relatively easy meat for the raiders. As races acquire the self-repairing "unique ship" capabilities, this advantage will diminish.

Does that sound about right from a player perspective?

[grumbler]

Originally posted by Suicide Junkie:
Re: Sats
It might be nice to change sats into tiny, maintenance free bases.
They'll spread around the planet/sector for better coverage, plus the dispersed fire should make them less overpowering than 80 guns in one square.

Doh! That is exactly the kind of thing I should be looking at! Maybe we just create small bases that represent, say, 10 satellites each and as you say they will be spread out (the one thing I wish had been added to SE4 as is). This might make management a bit tough, and I don't know if the AI won't just put all its "satellites" around homeworld (as it does for bases at present) but I will look into this solution.

[grumbler]

Originally posted by Suicide Junkie:
As for armor...
How much are you adding?
Try comparing ships with 10%, 20%, 35% and 50% armor by mass.
In fleets, too.

I have been experimenting with 10 v 10 ship engagements, with between 20% and 40% armor, and extra firepower seems to overcome extra armor. This is all at full tech levels. There may be a breakpoint at lower tech levels, but armor is so much harder to research than weapons that I doubt it. Note that this is all inert armor - I haven't started looking at reactive armors.

[Suicide Junkie]

Hmm... Are you using ancient weapons, or normal race guns?

Also, Light or Heavy armor?
Heavy armor would be better for small skirmishes between normal races, but when fleets & firepower get big enough to kill ships in one or two rounds, Light works better.

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Hmm, perhaps the inert armors should be researched in the reverse order... heavy then light as tech increases (and more colonies mean increasing fleet size)

[ May 13, 2004, 01:48: Message edited by: Suicide Junkie ]

[Nomor]

Oh pooh....... ....

[ May 13, 2004, 18:58: Message edited by: Nomor ]

[Nomor]

Originally posted by pathfinder:

quote:

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Originally posted by Suicide Junkie:
I've got them posted now.
Zip of 50 Megs, and an self-extracting RAR of 35 Megs.

----

PS:
As for imagemod compatibility, you only had the Last 7 facility pics ... which were not actually used in the mod.

Let me know what credits they need, and I'll add them in the next Version

Not sure on the facilities. I gues Val either made them or found them on the WEB.

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I sent those facilities to Val. I have some more that are Narn and Centauri specific. There are also a few Minbari. I intended to add some descriptions to these as to what they might be used for. They are all from the Babylon 5 and Crusade series, taken from the B5 Cards and some from screen captures. Nearly all were sourced from the web, though some are now extinct.

If Val had still been active they might have appeared as Race specific Facilities. As soon as I've cobbled together the others I was going to submit them to the SEIV imagemod as many are suitable for the current Gold 2 mod.

OK I have a RAR file to unload,1.46Mb, how do I do it? ... I'm being dumped out, message saying make sure you are authorised to blah.. blah

[ May 14, 2004, 22:59: Message edited by: Nomor ]