Balance Mod Available for SE:V

[Baron Munchausen]

Captain Kwok said:
Non-fleeted stacks of attack ships are actually the result of an error really. What happens is multiple attack ships are giving the same order because their within a certain distance of a target... they all arrive together in the same sector and then proceed to be issued the same orders afterwards (usually) - which has also resulted in a decrease in attack ships available for fleets. This behaviour in v1.04 will be reduced by checking if another ship has the same orders first before issuing them.

Guess what? I played a few more turns of that game yesterday and got a surprise... six ships came through one of my border warp points at once. Right when I had refitted some of the defending fleet. The refitted ships had their new weapons at 100 percent damage and had to run for it while the others tried to contain the breach. It was hairy for a while.

Using a cheat code to look at the rest of the map, I see another AI is moving a stack of nine ships towards an entry warp point to my systems. It's taken them a while, this game is up to turn 300, but they are beginning to act a little more determined. I hope you can tweak them to be a bit more organized/aggressive a bit earlier.

[Baron Munchausen]

Ok, the Xiati are getting quite nasty with me now. They gather 8-10 ships and throw them at me every few turns. About time!

As I've continued my research to stay ahead of the AI enemies, I've been looking at various weapons attributes. I find some oddities in the seekers category.

The Capital Ship Missile has less range than the Plasma Missile? Why? Isn't the Plasma Missile inherently short-ranged due to consuming its 'charge' for propulsion?
And if the Alloy Burner Missile is not really a missile, but an energy torpedo, why does it have a seeker turn rate? Exactly what inside a bolt of energy is tracking a target and adjusting course?

The Anti - Matter Torpedo does not have a seeker turn rate, but the Quantum Torpedo does (and is a 'directed torpedo' like the missiles), and then the Gamma Pulse Torpedo does not again. ??? So are 'torpedos' actually seekers or not? And why does the Gamma Pulse Torpedo have shorter range than the Quantum Torpedo? I realize this is the way it is in stock, but I thought your mod was supposed to make something logical out of stock?

[Captain Kwok]

The Plasma Missile has a lot of charge.

The Alloy Burner Missile entry had a few errors but has been since corrected for v1.04. Same goes for the Quantum Torpedo, which shouldn't be a directed torpedo as you mentioned.

The Gamma Pulse Torpedo has a generally better damage ratio and enhanced PD evasion (speed, defense bonus) than the Quantum Torpedo - but for the RP investment it would probably be better if it was 40kT.

[Baron Munchausen]

That's another thought... maybe the anti - matter torpedo should be smaller? 35 kt or even 30 kt? That would make it still possibly useful on smaller ships even when you've got the more advanced torpedos and vastly larger ships.

I am also wondering if it is justifiable to have the Graviton Hellbore and the Null-space Projector use ordnance. Aren't these weapons 'effects' rather than devices?

BTW, there is a typo in the Null-space projector.
Ability 1 Description := NUll-Space Projectors store [%Amount1%] units of ordnance.

[Raapys]

I've never used torpedoes; do they actually ever hit anything?

That reminds me, though. Do you think it would be possible to get Aaron to add an area damage weapon type, Kwok? I.e. missiles/projectiles/energy weapons that would explode when in the vicinity of enemy vessels, doing a specific damage type to all ships/units within a specific range. That would be a really great addition, I think.

[Captain Kwok]

Raapys,

Area effect weapons have long been asked for... but they haven't been added yet. Torpedoes are seekers so they will hit anything they're fired at with respect to range and PD.

Baron,

I actually boosted up the damage amount for AM Torpedoes in v1.04, since they were comparably underpowered for their RP cost.

[Baron Munchausen]

Another possibility is to let if fire a little bit more quickly than later torpedos. 3500 or 3000 ms might be good.

[Tnargversion2]

Captain Kwok, I hope that this is not an annoying question, but following this thread it looks like you are making many additions and changes to BM 1.04. Would you by any chance be able to post an update on your changes for 1.04 Just curious mostly on what can be expected.

Trying to decide wheter to start another game or to wait for 1.04. Next one sounds like it is going to be a good one.

Thanks

[Captain Kwok]

There hasn't been that many data file changes, although there are some mount issues to work on. Besides that, most of my time has been changing how the AI chooses hulls for design types, as well as some optimization for the design scripts themselves. I've also put in a new ship purchase scheme, sort of a mix between what SE:V and SE:IV each had. It's not working too great at the moment though... [img]/threads/images/Graemlins/Cold.gif[/img]

Code:

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Current Version 1.04 Changes

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1.  Fixed   - Error in number of tech levels for Crystalline Dreadnought

2.  Fixed   - Inconsistency in cost for Crystalline Small Fighter

3.  Fixed   - Bases with Quantum Reactors were not adding Supply Storage components

4.  Fixed   - Organic vehicle hulls were not receiving their regeneration bonus amounts

5.  Fixed   - Error in Baseship defense penalty

6.  Fixed   - Miscellaneous seeker weapon errors

7.  Changed - Increased damage amount for Anti-Matter Torpedo

8.  Changed - Decrease planet defense modifier

9.  Changed - Increase damage factor for weapons and facilities to be functional

XX. Changed - Mounts (Pending)

XX. Changed - Updated AI design purchase scheme (Pending)

XX. Changed - AI will now use a mixed variety of ship sizes

XX. Added   - Patrol and Scout Ship AI design types

XX. Added   - AI will scrap obsolete ships

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[Tnargversion2]

Thank you.