Hull Specific Components

[Makinus]

I wish to mod a component that can only be used in a specific hull size, how i do it? Using mounts? How? There is any way to do it without using mounts?

What i wish to add are 2 components named "Commercial Charter" and "Civilian Charter", they would be 0 resources and 0 tonnage components that would reduce maintenance costs of ships, but the first could only be used in ships 2 sizes smaller than current ship sizes and the second only in ships with 4 sizes smaller than current tech. The Commercial Charter would reduce maintenance in half, and the Civilian Charter to a fourth of normal, and obviously you can have only one of the component in each ship...

Any ideas in how i can mos easily to this?

thanks

[Atrocities]

If its a component, then mounts are the best way to go.

1. you make the component a specific size say 10000kt
2. You make the ship hull your using a specific size say Light Cruiser Hull at 501kt
3. You make a mount that has only the Family number of the component above, reduces the size of the component := 1 (As in 1% or 100kt (play with the size to get the desired component size), and set the Min Max setting for the hull size to the size of your hull, 501kt.

You can look in the Adamant Mod, the STM mod, Carrier Battles Mod and many others for good examples of Component mount scaling.

[Fyron]

A sample of what AT just said, making colony module only fit on colony hull. I made it take only 30 kT, but at 3000 kT, no ship can mount it normally.

(ignore the whole natives thing)

Make sure to use a dummy ability to supply a tag explaining the need for a scale mount, as shown here. It helps to alleviate a little bit of confusion.

Name := Rock Colony - Rock Natives
Description := Materials needed to start a colony on a rock planet.
Pic Num := 54
Tonnage Space Taken := 3000
Tonnage Structure := 200
Cost Minerals := 4000
Cost Organics := 4000
Cost Radioactives := 4000
Vehicle Type := Ship
Supply Amount Used := 0
Restrictions := None
General Group := Colonizing
Family := 5001
Roman Numeral := 0
Custom Group := 0
Number of Tech Req := 1
Tech Area Req 1 := Rock Planet Colonization - Rock Natives
Tech Level Req 1 := 1
Number of Abilities := 3
Ability 1 Type := Colonize Planet - Rock
Ability 1 Descr := Can colonize a rock based planet.
Ability 1 Val 1 :=
Ability 1 Val 2 :=
Ability 2 Type := Cargo Storage
Ability 2 Descr := Provides 20kT worth of cargo space.
Ability 2 Val 1 := 20
Ability 2 Val 2 := 0
Ability 3 Type := Star - Unstable
Ability 3 Descr := Requires a scale mount to be used on colony ships.
Ability 3 Val 1 := 0
Ability 3 Val 2 := 0
Weapon Type := None

330 kT happens to be a unique hull size in my mod, so I didn't need any 1s digit tonnage to force uniqueness.

Name := Colony Ship
Short Name := Colony Ship
Description := Passengers of the Colony Ship venture forth to eke out a new settlement on uninhabited new worlds.
Code := CL
Primary Bitmap Name := ColonyShip
Alternate Bitmap Name := ColonyShip
Vehicle Type := Ship
Tonnage := 330
Cost Minerals := 150
Cost Organics := 600
Cost Radioactives := 0
Engines Per Move := 18
Number of Tech Req := 2
Tech Area Req 1 := Fundamental Physics
Tech Level Req 1 := 1
Tech Area Req 2 := Normal Race
Tech Level Req 2 := 1
Number of Abilities := 2
Ability 1 Type := Combat To Hit Defense Minus
Ability 1 Descr := Lack of maneuverability makes ship 20% easier to hit in combat.
Ability 1 Val 1 := 20
Ability 1 Val 2 := 0
Ability 2 Type := Modified Maintenance Cost
Ability 2 Descr := Base maintenance rate is 10%.
Ability 2 Val 1 := -90
Ability 2 Val 2 := 0
Requirement Must Have Bridge := True
Requirement Can Have Aux Con := True
Requirement Min Life Support := 1
Requirement Min Crew Quarters := 1
Requirement Uses Engines := True
Requirement Max Engines := 255
Requirement Pct Fighter Bays := 0
Requirement Pct Colony Mods := 8
Requirement Pct Cargo := 0

In the mod, there are a bunch of different colony modules, such as hybrids and universal, so I have more than just 3 families listed.

Long Name := Colony Mount
Short Name := Colony Mount
Description := Colony module used to colonize a new planet.
Code := CM
Cost Percent := 100
Tonnage Percent := 1
Tonnage Structure Percent := 100
Damage Percent := 100
Supply Percent := 100
Range Modifier := 0
Weapon To Hit Modifier := 0
Vehicle Size Minimum := 330
Vehicle Size Maximum := 330
Comp Family Requirement := 5001,5002,5003,5004,5005,5006,5007
Weapon Type Requirement := None
Number of Tech Req := 0
Vehicle Type := Ship

[Makinus]

Let me see if i understood, if i want to build a component called "Commercial Charter" that can only be built in Escort hulls after at least Destroyer hulls are discovered i can design the component to exist from the start of the tech tree but being too massive to install in any ship, then i create a mount called "Escort Commercial Charter" that only becomes available with the tech that brings destroyer hulls in use and reduces the component to a size that can be fitted in Escort Hulls...

I´m building this on top of Devnull mod 1.8, so i will need to change the ship hulls in the mod to make them unique (adding 1 or 2 to the tonnage)... my only remaining doubt is if this tonnage changes to the hulls will affect the AI in any way, do you know?


thanks

[Atrocities]

You can have the COMPONENT tech reach at any point you want. Say you want the component to become available after you research Destoryers. You can do it one of two ways, 1, in the TechArea file you would do something like this:

Name := Special Component
Group := Applied Science
Description := Creation of special Escort component and mount.
Maximum Level := 1
Level Cost := 500
Start Level := 1
Raise Level := 0
Racial Area := 0
Unique Area := 0
Can Be Removed := False
Number of Tech Req := 0
Tech Area Req 1 := Ship Construction
Tech Level Req 1 := 2

Or 2, require Destroyer tech (Ship Construction 3 or 4 normally) for the component itself like this:

Name := Special Component
Description := For use with Escort Hull
Pic Num := 1
Tonnage Space Taken := 4000
Tonnage Structure := 40
Cost Minerals := 200
Cost Organics := 0
Cost Radioactives := 70
Vehicle Type := Ship
Supply Amount Used := 5
Restrictions := None
General Group := Weapons
Family := 2903
Roman Numeral := 7
Custom Group := 0
Number of Tech Req := 1
Tech Area Req 1 := Ship Construction
Tech Level Req 1 := 3
Number of Abilities := 0
Weapon Type := Direct Fire
Weapon Target := Ships\Planets\Ftr\Sat\Drone
Weapon Damage At Rng := 40 40 35 35 30 30 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Weapon Damage Type := Normal
Weapon Reload Rate := 1
Weapon Display Type := Beam
Weapon Display := 1
Weapon Modifier := 0
Weapon Sound := apbeam.wav
Weapon Family := 2903

When you achieve destoryer you also achieve this technology.

[Makinus]

Ok, i did some modding in the data files, can´t test it yet beacuse i don´t have SEIV in the computer that i´m now, but i always have my "current" data files in my pendrive...

I added the following component to components.txt:

Name := Commercial Charter
Description := Obsolete ship hulls can be sold to megacorporations and "rented" by the government, business practices reduce maintenance.
Pic Num := 1239
Tonnage Space Taken := 1000
Tonnage Structure := 1
Cost Minerals := 1
Cost Organics := 1
Cost Radioactives := 1
Vehicle Type := Ship
Supply Amount Used := 0
Restrictions := None
General Group := Miscelaneous
Family := 8001
Roman Numeral := 1
Custom Group := 0
Number of Tech Req := 1
Tech Area Req 1 := Ship Construction
Tech Level Req 1 := 3
Number of Abilities := 1
Ability 1 Type := Modified Maintenance Costs
Ability 1 Descr := Maintenance reduced to 50% of normal.
Ability 1 Val 1 := -50
Ability 1 Val 2 := 0
Weapon Type := None

Then i added the following mount:

Long Name := Commercial Charter
Short Name := Commercial Charter
Description := Mount used to bring the Commercial Charter to reasonable size.
Code := COM
Cost Percent := 100
Tonnage Percent := 1
Tonnage Structure Percent := 100
Damage Percent := 100
Supply Percent := 100
Range Modifier := 0
Weapon To Hit Modifier := 0
Vehicle Size Minimum := 150
Vehicle Size Maximum := 150
Comp Family Requirement := 8001
Number of Tech Req := 1
Tech Area Req 1 := Ship Construction
Tech Level Req 1 := 3
Vehicle Type := Ship

Is this right? would these modifications allow me to retrofit my old Escort hulls to add a "Commercial Charter" component when i reach ship tech level 3? And the component would be scaled to use only 10 spaces and reduce maintenance by half?

To make the same component appear at ship tech level 4 to be used in Frigate hulls i only need other mount changing the "vehicle size" variables and the tech requirements?

I can hardly wait to get back home so i can test this...

thanks

[Fyron]

Yes. Note that a 1000 kT comp can technically be used on Dreadnoughts and Baseships unmounted, though you can't do a whole lot with them.


For reference:
In SE5, these restrictions no longer require mounts at all. You can just assign a dummy ability to the specific component, and make all hulls you shouldn't be able to use it on have a max count of 0 requirement for that ability.

Makinus said:
my only remaining doubt is if this tonnage changes to the hulls will affect the AI in any way, do you know?

Given Rollo's AI modding technique, yes, I think it would. Any design that is specifically catered to one hull size will be affected. General ranges of designs might not be, or they might be. Some examples, using the 400 kT light cruiser changed to 401 kT:

This one restricting the AI from using the design on smaller ships will be ok:

Size Minimum Tonnage := 400
Size Maximum Tonnage := 0

This one restricting the AI to using LC for the design will not be:

Size Minimum Tonnage := 400
Size Maximum Tonnage := 400

This one restricting the max size ship of the design to LC will also not be ok:

Size Minimum Tonnage := 0
Size Maximum Tonnage := 400