Babylon 5 Mod

[pathfinder]

Val: Okies, I'll make sure pulse weapons are in there (at least up to lvl 7-8).

Man, it sure is a bear getting all this stuff in

Also, this will be a preliminary AI....I need to figger out a bit different arrangement so that I can fit in all ship and weapon levels without a slug of only ship and weapon research at the end of the file. I also need to do the armor research setup....

WP: hmm, I'll check. Seems to me I set the Shadow weapon platforms to PD only in the designcreation

as for the paper...embarrasses the heck outta me (probably deforested TWO Third World countries!)

UPDATE: e-mail with a zip of designcreation and research files (they are all I have had time to do so far). If anybody picks-up the update after Val Posts it, please check out the Shadows and provide input--this is my 2d attempt at the AI. 1st was the Orion Faction racestyle I did earlier in the year. So, I haven't yet figgered out a nice, neat pattern to fit the tech tree together so it makes sense

[ June 16, 2002, 22:58: Message edited by: pathfinder ]

[Baron Munchausen]

Originally posted by Val:
Pathfinder:

I am also working on adding the EM weapons, but what I would like to do is have the 'Damage Engine Only' attribute given to all EM weapons, but would also like to have them effect weapons, reactors and a few other components. I know the Sci-Fi x-over mod will have the "Only Boarding Parties" ability to allow this, but I was wondering if there was any harm in giving an 'Engine := 0' ability to all the components, or will this mess up the AI? Anyone try this yet?

Yes, it causes problems. Anything with the standard movement ability is considered an engine for the purposes of engine limits in hulls. So you would be reducing the number of engines that could be in any given hull by however many other components had the ability.

Using 'Only Boarding Parties' or 'Only Security Stations' abilities would be smarter. No arbitrary limits on how many components in a hull can have those.

[ June 16, 2002, 23:01: Message edited by: Baron Munchausen ]

[pathfinder]

Gads, this AI is being a bear ...I keep finding things I missed..... (working on the Shadows race-specific AI)

*reaches for a cold beer*

Anybody got thoughts/opinions on how fast I should have the Shadows develop their race-specific weapons? Also a decent pattern of development? I just kinda patterned weapon development after ship construction, not sure this is a good idea.

[ June 19, 2002, 01:18: Message edited by: pathfinder ]

[pathfinder]

Couple more questions come to mind:

in the B5 universe are the following in existence (and in particular did the Shadows have this ability/tech):

Psychic tech?, organic engineering?, is planetary engineering (terraforming) available?, is the computer tech a dead end? (nothing there when I have had AI research it), stellar manipulation?

How do I get an AI to use armor (I know designcreation but what/where? there), recommendation on what would the Shadows used--bio-organic armor? (minbari used it for Whitestars).

[Lighthorse]

Val,

Would it be possible to add a short description to each races bio, stating what area of research or weapons they used. Nothing detail, but generally informs a player in what general areas to research. That what I had in mind.
In my current game, I'm was rolling back the AI players. Starting to think that I should be able to finish off the AI players. That was before two AI empires attacked me on different fronts with new weapons and fighters. Now this game is getting very interesting. Still had a problem with the narn building ships without engines.
Try your next game with setting that allow only settleable planets of oxygen to be colonizes and set yourself for oxygen only. Its makes for a challaging game fighting over a few oxygen
planets.

[Lighthorse]

Val,

I noticed that some of the AI empires were building excort with no weapons, but had ECM jammer on board. Would the ECM jammer provided jammering to the rest of they warship with weapons in an engagement?
--------------------------------------------

Lighthorse

[Val]

All:
Sorry I have not been as regular a poster recently, the project is kicking into high gear and I have over 500 PCs to convert (have to physically visit each machine!) by the end of next week, so I have not had as much free time, again, sorry

Pathfinder:
You decide how fast you want the Shadows to research their race specific tech, if it is too slow during testing then we just bump it up

Techs -
Psychic Tech - if you mean Racial tech, no. There is a Telepathic research skill that will allow combat telepaths, Psi-Corp and some other things. Combat Telepaths can be used against shadow living CPUs
Organic Engineering - another no. There will be unique 'organic techs' available to individual species based on their Racial Tech (eg - Vorlon Race - Will have some organic tech)
Planetary Engineering - yes and no. There is no real terraforming as it should take far more time than it does in SE IV to terraform a planet. Mars has been settled for quite some time and people still live in domed cities and wear breathers outside. I think I was using this tech for some of the Facilities. There will be a 'unique' Ancient Ruins Tech that will allow terraforming, but it will be EXPENSIVE.
Stellar Manipulation - again, yes and no. There is a field called Hyperspace research (or theory or something) that will allow jump gate and drive construction. There are no planet/star/nebula/blackhole/etc creators/destroyers. There is (again) a unique Ancient Ruins Tech that will allow you to stabilize a star though (Stellar Balancer). There are planet killers - but they are only available to the Vorlons and Shadows.

AI to use armor - that is something I am actually working on, but it is in my test3 folder (I have multiple folders with different changes in each to see how things work) and once it work consistantly I will cut -n- copy it into the main folder and release with an update. It is setup using the planetary shield ability as a requirement in AI designs, but I am debating on how best to do it - such as having multiple 'useless' traits like we did in the reactors, or just tell the AI to stick with Mid level armor.

Shadows will have their own unique armor - SJ was working on it, ask him

Gil:
Simon is working on the description for the AMFAL shipset, if you don't mind us using it.

Lighthorse:
Which AI empires are doing that? I have made some recent changes that I haven't released that may have already solved that, but I'd like to check - thanks for the heads up

The addition of preferred weapon style would be a good idea, lets you know if the race leans toward particle, plasma, laser or whatever. I'll talk to Simon about adding these in.

All the AI races are Oxygen only races with only 2 exceptions - Vorlons and Gaim are non Oxygen. I am working on rewriting the startup to include B5 Standard Galaxy that will have more O2 planets to be more like the B5 universe. Glad to hear the game is providing suprises, my goal with the AI is to have each race evolve along from basic weapons to their racial specific ones, and to have a bit of variety rather than all missile barges or laser destroyers

[Gil Hamilton]

Val,
I'd be most pleased to have them used. Is Simon doing the remaining pics (shields, race, etc)? Or do I need to break out the finger paints? If I do them, could you have Simon buzz me so I get a mental image for the race?

[pathfinder]

Val: #1: Real life first!
#2: Techs -
"Psychic Tech - if you mean Racial tech, no. There is a Telepathic research skill that will allow combat telepaths, Psi-Corp and some other things. Combat Telepaths can be used against shadow living CPUs": I guess I go ahead and have them research this, if it dead-ends I'll strip out entirely.

"Organic Engineering - another no. There will be unique 'organic techs' available to individual species based on their Racial Tech (eg - Vorlon Race - Will have some organic tech)": Okies--I'll delete that from their tech tree.

"Planetary Engineering - yes and no. There is no real terraforming as it should take far more time than it does in SE IV to terraform a planet. Mars has been settled for quite some time and people still live in domed cities and wear breathers outside. I think I was using this tech for some of the Facilities. There will be a 'unique' Ancient Ruins Tech that will allow terraforming, but it will be EXPENSIVE.": Okies, again I'll strip this out entirely.

"Stellar Manipulation - again, yes and no. There is a field called Hyperspace research (or theory or something) that will allow jump gate and drive construction. There are no planet/star/nebula/blackhole/etc creators/destroyers. There is (again) a unique Ancient Ruins Tech that will allow you to stabilize a star though (Stellar Balancer). There are planet killers - but they are only available to the Vorlons and Shadows." hehe...I'll figger out that cloud of death thingy and make sure the Sahdows get it

AI to use armor - that is something I am actually working on, but it is in my test3 folder (I have multiple folders with different changes in each to see how things work) and once it work consistantly I will cut -n- copy it into the main folder and release with an update. It is setup using the planetary shield ability as a requirement in AI designs, but I am debating on how best to do it - such as having multiple 'useless' traits like we did in the reactors, or just tell the AI to stick with Mid level armor.

"Shadows will have their own unique armor - SJ was working on it, ask him" : Okies, I'll ask him. I'll hold off on that until Version 3 of the AI (working on Version 2 as 1 was very slow to get the molecular tech area)

[ June 19, 2002, 23:46: Message edited by: pathfinder ]

[pathfinder]

add to the list: Do Shadows get shields? IIRC Vorlons do.