Regarding Affinity:

- 0-30 XP or 0-40 XP could indeed sound more adequate.

- Such a rule looks fine on the background part but could lead to an exploit ; putting tax rate to high value when completing some big ships, before lowering it again. Most players have only a few starship production systems so it would look possible to micromanage that.



Regarding lore:

I think that the "Drathi" history is quite original, but I do not think it sounds compatible with what I had in mind for the Infernals or the other races. I would then strongly encourage making a mod with the Drathi.

For the Infernals I would like to restore true "daemonic" history, placing their maybe "onetime" interference with other civilizations (like Terrans) from a late discovery of ether ways and attempts to travel from there. They have a feudal authority system with various ranks, titles and privileges ; some Infernals would have been exiled to this part of the galaxy (one infernal lord and his suite, sent out in the ether and ending his way here) and now look to developer their power on this part of galaxy.

The new races are for now thought with the following attributes and profiles. (of course, this is but a draft!)

This expects only 4 new traits to be added by the mod.



Note that most of the originality of the race will not come from this profile, but from their unique tech trees.

Also note that these factions do not have access to the vanilla techs.

They are mostly aimed at being balanced with each other.







Eldritch

« Blood Elves »



Affinity : Sophon

+0-50 % science from 50-0 % tax rate, -50 % support modules cost



Existing Traits : (81 / 81)

Sloppy Sawbones II (+50 % hero healing costs) to gain 6 points (available : 71)

Unskilled Builders II (+20 % improvement costs) to gain 10 points (available : 81)

Scientists III (+30 % Science) for 30 points

Masters of Destruction II (-50 % weapon module costs) for 20 points

Deadly Weapons III (+36 % weapon damage) for 15 points

Faster Movement II (+4 movement points) for 10 points

Meticulous Analysis II (+4 scanning on ships) for 6 points



New Traits : (++)

Slavery (+1 Industry per Citizen, -15 Approval on Empire)







Tech profile & gameplay:

They have fast destructive, "assassin" ships, with weapon and support modules easy to use.

Their Slavery ability will guarantee a good production (hence a militaristic aspect) but will also lessen their Sophon affinity a bit.

Many tech paths will also be available to the Eldritch.

They'll have access to "vorpal" missiles, deathray beams and blade-themed kinetic weaponry; but the paths themselves will be more thematic and with many more options.

I would also like to introduce a new mechanic and attribute to star systems (the "Fervor") and use religious fervor with improvements and technologies, with various gods and bonuses they choose; Eldritch players and Shaerim players will use this mechanics.





Infernals

« Daemons »



Affinity : United Empires

+0-60 % industry from 25-100 % tax rate, +10 Ship XP



Existing Traits : (85 / 85)

Eternal War (no peace) to gain 10 points (available : 75)

Unskilled Builders II (+20 % improvement costs) to gain 10 points (available : 85)

Tolerant II (colonizes all planets) for 40 points

Strong Alloys (+40 % HP on ships) for 20 points

Optimal Defense III (+15 % damage reflected) for 15 points

Crowded Planets I (+1 pop on Tiny, Small, Medium) for 10 points



New Traits : (++)

Lava Corpus (+5 Population Cap, +15 Approval, +1 Industry per Citizen, +1 Dust per Citizen, +1 Science per Citizen, +2 Food per Citizen on Lava planets)



Tech profile & gameplay:

Infernals will sound like a curse to the galaxy, with their ability to use lava planets as new homeworlds, to spread everywhere, and their long-enduring fleets.

Their improvements will sound more like "summoning" and portals.

Most techs will involve destruction at close or medium range, but also portals to further reduce costs and improve FIDS, and many laval transformations and upgrades.





Necris



Affinity : Sowers

Food production malus (-50 %), but industry adds food production (+40 %)



Existing Traits : (96 / 75, +21)

Eternal War (no peace) to gain 10 points (available : 75)

Tolerant II (colonize all planets) for 40 points

Militarists III (-30 % ship cost) for 24 points

Optimistic II (+12 Approval) for 12 points

Dust Recyclers II (+20 Dust per destroyed enemy CP) for 10 points

Knowledge Gatherers II (+50 RP per destroyed enemy CP) for 10 points

Cloning I (+1 Food per Citizen on hostile planets) for 10 points





Tech profile & gameplay:

This is another eternal war evil civilization; one who also opts for the sowers skin & affinity.

Like Infernals, they can spread everywhere, but are more like a self reliant faction with their food (replication) bonus and all their recycling and approval bonuses.

Their techs will involve all kind of nasty things, like ultra-fast ship construction, population-cloning factories which decrease other outputs, and heavy science computer-improvements.





Wargosh



Affinity : Hissho

Weapon damage bonus with each victorious battle, +20 % FIDS bonus with invasion victories



Existing Traits : (101 / 83, +18)

Offense first III (-9 % defense efficiency on ships) to gain 9 points (available : 74)

Spray III (-15 % accuracy on ships) to gain 9 points (available : 83)

Cloning III (+1 Food per Citizen on all planets) for 30 points

Growth plan II (+20 % food on all systems) for 20 points

Big Fleet II (+2 command point) for 20 points

Militarists III (-20 % ship cost) for 16 points

Fearless Warriors II (+10 Defense) for 12 points





Tech profile & gameplay:

Wargosh sound like ineffective fleet pilots but their power is in the Horde.

They easily populate the galaxy, defend their planets easily and field many strong fleets despite their ship weaknesses.

Their techs will involve more of this, as I want to emphasize the "Wargosh Horde" aspect.





Leothi



Affinity : United Empires

+0-60 % industry from 25-100 % tax rate, +10 Ship XP



Existing Traits : (88 / 65, +23)

Big Fleet II (+2 command point) for 20 points

Legendary Heroes II (-4 Upkeep, +40 xp for new heroes) for 16 points

Death before Dishonor II (+40 % hero xp per battle, retreat = injury) for 10 points

Fearless Warriors II (+10 Defense) for 12 points

Naive II (+8 Approval per faction at peace or allied) for 10 points

Mutual Understanding II (+10 % weapon damage per faction allied) for 10 points

Scientists I (+10 % Science) for 10 points



Tech profile & gameplay:

The Leothi will act as a sci-fi amazon empire, with a heavy focus on tradition, sacrifice and loyalty to their empress.

Their reliance on alliances sound like traditional history of indigeneous civilizations.

Their techs will increase these effects and ambiance.





Terrans



Affinity : Pilgrims

Able to evacuate a system



Existing Traits : (90 / 65, +25)

Businessmen III (+30 % Dust on systems) for 30 points

Entrepreneurs (+1 Dust per Citizen) for 20 points

Revenge II (after losing system, +50 % MP and +50 % ground attack), for 10 points

Mineral Rich + Rich Soil (+3 Food, +3 Industry per Citizen on homeworld) for 10 points

Terraformed Planet (+1 random positive anomaly), for 8 points

Diplomats I (+25 % trade route bonuses) for 6 points

Merchants I (+1 trade route cap per system) for 6 points



Tech profile & gameplay:

The Pilgrim special power is understood as "weak" in my book, hence the superior creation points for this race.

Terrans act as a capitalistic empire, with also a heavy focus on their homeworld.

They will have access to a wide range of techs, some of which will surely come from the vanilla Endless Space.



 



Shaerim



Affinity : Sophons

+0-50 % science from 50-0 % tax rate, -50 % support modules cost



Existing Traits : (81 / 81)

Sloppy Sawbones II (+50 % hero healing costs) to gain 6 points (available : 71)

Unskilled Builders II (+20 % improvement costs) to gain 10 points (available : 81)

Scientists III (+30 % Science) for 30 points

Legendary Heroes II (-4 Upkeep, +40 xp for new heroes) for 16 points

Optimal defense III (+15 % damage reflected) for 15 points

Snipers III (+15 % accuracy on ships) for 15 points

Stellar Guardians I (+2 Influence on systems) for 6 points



New Traits : (++)

Forest Dwellers (+3 Population Cap, +1 all FIDS per Citizen on Jungle planets)



Tech profile & gameplay:

The Shaerim share the same elven-like ancestors with the Eldritch, and then share some of their attributes.

The Shaerim have skilled and elitist ships and heroes, and their special trait allows them to focus on Jungle worlds as "gaias".

Their techs will be the "light-oriented" version of the evil paths of the Eldritch ; they will also have gods and the fervor mechanics.





Ishtal



Affinity : Amoeba

All the galaxy map is revealed



Existing Traits : (91 / 75, +16)

Entrepreneurs (+1 Dust per Citizen) for 20 points

Strong Alloys II (+40 % HP on ships) for 20 points

Optimal structure II (+30 % tonnage on ships) for 20 points

Optimal defense III (+15 % damage reflected) for 15 points

Scientists I (+10 % Science) for 10 points

Power Masters II (-50 % dust costs for hero abilities) for 6 points



Tech profile & gameplay:

The Ishtal are the most ancient race of all.

They have mastered ancient technologies and knowledge.

They already have the best ships but also have technologies which will improve their ships further, but they will lack increase in Command Points ; Isthal fleets will be made of almost single super-ships able to counter superior odds.





Korundar



Affinity : Pilgrims

Able to evacuate a star system



Existing Traits : (83 / 75, +8)

Builders III (-30 % improvement costs on systems) for 24 points

Optimistic II (+12 Approval on systems) for 12 points

Symbiosis II (+30 % trade route bonuses per cooperation treaty) for 12 points

Diplomats II (+50 % trade route bonuses) for 12 points

Merchants II (+2 trade route cap per system) for 12 points

Blockage Breakers (trade routes always work) for 6 points

Dust Lode (+3 Dust on home planet) for 5 points



New Traits : (++)

Happy builders (buyouts are at -50 % costs)



Tech profile & gameplay:

The Korundar are the most-fully featured merchants.

With their very powerful new trait, they will be able to fill planets with improvements and defenses very quickly.

Their techs will also provide many improvements and upgrades, providing them with more and more options to buy.

why don´t you make some new affinitys? it is possible but pretty hard just a suggestion

I dunno, clearly defined good-neutral-evil sounds a little boring, would it not be more exciting if they were all a shade of gray.



Like the Korundar being vicious slavers. And the Infernals being the survivors of an ancient war against a star consuming super weapon, a weapon released by the Ishtal, thus leaving the Infernals in a constant state of kill, or be killed.

Igncom1 wrote:
I dunno, clearly defined good-neutral-evil sounds a little boring, would it not be more exciting if they were all a shade of gray.



Like the Korundar being vicious slavers. And the Infernals being the survivors of an ancient war against a star consuming super weapon, a weapon released by the Ishtal, thus leaving the Infernals in a constant state of kill, or be killed.

nice idea it´s good i like it^^

Could i suggest a affinity for the Infernals?



And possibly write up some lore too?

I dunno, clearly defined good-neutral-evil sounds a little boring, would it not be more exciting if they were all a shade of gray.



Like the Korundar being vicious slavers. And the Infernals being the survivors of an ancient war against a star consuming super weapon, a weapon released by the Ishtal, thus leaving the Infernals in a constant state of kill, or be killed.

If we drop the alignment hostility, every faction might then be made of shades of gray, which indeed sounds like a more "adult" lore in adequation with the additional possibilities to be found within the game. That sounds interesting and might be emphasized in faction background and various tech lore.

why don´t you make some new affinitys? it is possible but pretty hard just a suggestion

Affinities look like completely on the "can be made list", from the XML files themselves, and sound like a good addition, but right now affinities are also "connected" to ship's skin and aspect.

Because of this, I do not know how difficult it would be to implement new affinities, or if it is possible for the game (and AIs) to handle them.

Surely other modders will have intel on the subject.



I would say new affinities can be "imagined" but will only be implemented if (or when) the Endless framework can handle these well.



That is the reason why I'll put more emphasis on the new techs and traits to create the faction's personality, along with some new rules (I've mentioned Fervor, but there will also be another implementation called "Imperial Seats" ; all star systems will have this new attribute, and improvements will take Imperial Seat slots in the system). I have still to check that these are possible within the current framework; and what prevents me to confirm even these points, is that we (modders) cannot really test things out as long as Endless Space cannot load external mod files.





I am then very interested in having this modding feature enabled, even if on beta / alpha / whatever status, so that modders could begin the extensive work on their mods.

(now that's a bold invite to the devs for that beta modding version )

Could i suggest a affinity for the Infernals?



And possibly write up some lore too?

Please do!

I am interested.



(edit)

Though you should note:

- that I want the Infernals to be Infernals; daemons, portals, summoning and such; even if they might be "reborn" and have a persecuted past.

This is because I want to keep factions consistent and quite different from each other, instead of "different humans" all the way around.

Affinity: Violent desperation: 30%-100% tax gives 0-100 Ship XP upon construction.



They defiantly not humans, and i hope you like it.



Biology



-The Infernal race, known to themselves as the Draghi are a bipedal, short and stocky species (Slightly shorter them most terrains) of photosynthesising reptiles similar in looks to that of a red bearded dragon. Darker in their colour tones then most terrain lizards and plated with large back scales, evolved to withstand the deadly temperatures and radiation of their volcanic homeworld, the Draghi are a tough people.



-The most noticeable feature of the Draghi is the three horns sprouting from the top of their head, one on either side and one at the back, there are many variation as to how these horns will grow throughout the Draghi's life, but most tend to curve slightly inwards. Archaeological remains suggest these horns were once used to fight, but they have little function for the species now.



-As a photosynthesising race the Draghi are able to feed from most types of UV and Visible light spectrum’s, amazingly enough they can also feed off of Infra-red light, but the intensity of Infra-red required to actually synthesize can only come from large lava streams, thus their natural ability to settle these worlds.



-However, light cannot sustain Draghi by itself as there also require minerals from the ground like most animals, they however are able to digest certain rocks for the required minerals in their diet, leading them to have mostly flat but strong teeth, devoid of incisors the mouth of a Draghi contains many more canines then comparable to a omnivore.



-Like reptiles, the Draghi lay eggs for reproduction to be fertilized by the male, the nature of the Draghi means that any female regardless of age or condition is able to deposit eggs due to the ability for eggs to synthesize their own food when provided with enough of the right light.



Society



-Infernal society is traditionally a form of total fascism, with one ruler for any one group.

-The concept of slavery is unknown to the Infernal, the idea of working another to death is nothing but normal loyalty and respect, thousands of Infernal used to die from work before basic robotics started to replace organics in positions such as mining and industry.

-The idea of personal freedom is strange to a infernal, as even the dictator is a servant of their own goals, but the goals for dictators are usually non-lethal, normal citizens are to do as commanded, or risk being cast into lava streams that are still fatal, taking hours to kill a victim.

-Most leaders or heroes of the Infernal come into power via violent regicide of the previous leader, ironically these are often committed by the people when they consider their leader to be 'slaving' against the interest of civilisation, the interest of creating a safe and prosperous domination of the people.

-Upon first inspection Infernal technology is no more then actual magic, with entire building and even ships instantly appearing out of the end of portals, like they have been summoned from thin air. The truth is extremely advanced apertures of nano construction, or more specificity, Nanite gates.

-Nanite gates are thin but extremely wide rings that use very sophisticated construction Nanites, spread out across a fire like iris they are more then capable of building anything in no more then a few seconds, complex structures or sheets of metal these portals are uniquely capable of producing anything in the same amount of time, however the mass wasted by these Nanites means that an excessive amount of raw materials are required to run them, leaving newer colony’s or even older ones without the right power generation set up to simply manufacture things the old fashioned way.



History



-Pre-Ancient Infernal history consists of many nomadic tribes migrating towards the planets largest volcano before settling down into the planets first major settlement, remarkable for its construction of a flood way running through the centre of the settlement for directing lava flows.



-Ancient Infernal history consists of many wars between the first few civilisations, the period ending when the first ever emperor of a united Infernal empire was struck down when he refused to fertilize the eggs of a subjugated queen, she was so furious with the denial that she gutted the emperor then and there, guaranteeing herself the throne and the position as the first empress.



-Middle Age Infernal history consists of the planets first few revolutions where the people rose up to enforce their own safety or agendas, the most famous is the zealot uprising that succeeded in killing the royal family and declaring themselves as a theocracy in order to obtain some divine assistance against the country’s competitors, resulting in a war of faith that was only ended by the invasion of a barbaric horde who preceded to purge all captured city’s of any suspected zealots.



-Industrial Age Infernal history is a time of great loss to the Infernal's, not due to the subsequent world spanning wars, but due to a mega eruption of the planets volcano’s, blocking out the sun for a decade resulting in the loss of 80% of the planets population. The loss of people during this age helped better unite the warring nations of the planet, helping them to advance into the space age without any major Infernal wars since.



-Space Age Infernal history is some of the most traumatizing history for the Infernal race.

Beginning a few months after the first infernal spacecraft was able to successfully orbit the planet, a massive shock wave was detected coming from a close by star system, when the wave of deadly radiation hit the planet it caused both a massive spike in cancerous deaths but also the biggest population boom in the species history.



As it turned out, a nearby star had gone supernova but had not been classified as being any where near to the size required for that type of eruption, and soon it was figured out to have been caused by an alien ship that was also heading towards their system at a slow flt speed, it was realised that this ship had been capable to destroying an entire star system and was most likely heading towards the Infernal system to do the same, the leaders of the world panicked, the Internals were used to war but had never seen a weapon of this power before, so the decision was made to prepare as many stellar craft as possible to combat this weapon, or prepare to be annihilated without the chance to fight for their survival.



-Discovering FTL and Dust, when the ship arrived in the system it was greeted by a ramshackle fleet of corvettes and transports, all carrying as many weapons as they could, unconcerned about their own casualty’s as long as the threat was destroyed. The ships fired for hours as the leviathan system destroyer slowly cruised towards the planets star, the situation become so desperate that when ships ran out of ammo, they would crash into the craft in order to damage it, and then just as the ship begin to charge up for its attack on the star, a corvette crashed into the ships firing mechanism and caused the ship to violently explode and become a burning hulk.



The situation was too close for the Infernal Dictators to bare, and so soon consolidated under the rule of the strongest nation. Analysis from the hulk yielded the amazing discovery of 'Dust' similar to their own Nanites but worth so much more, And along with the basic understanding of the hulks 'string drive' the Internals prepared to do the only thing they knew how, war, war with a universe that was trying to kill them, this is not a war for land or resources this is a war for survival and the only way to win is to fight,even if survival means killing someone else.



Spreading out across the stars like a curse or plague, but to them, its more like running.

um 0-100 exp is a bit hard

because a ship with 100 ep is something like instant max and that is some incredible boost of dmg and hp

how about 0-40 xp?

To support the game, Amplitude Studios, their platform and of course the thirst for more and more of continuous Endless pleasure, I have begun work on a complete mod.

This mod will actually be a full game project, that will be converted and "taking shape" in Endless Space.



Of course this mod is inspired by something we really want to play.

Endless Space provides the technical ways to achieve it and has all the placeholders and features required.





Status

-----------------------------------------------



0.02 (unreleased)

Adds one new faction (Ishtal Empire), and the new combat rules with 5 battle phases.

Next additions will be Ishtal new techs, Ishtal new ships, then new heroes and their new classes and battle cards.

The combat rules, heroes, classes, battle cards will also be available as a separate mod.





Contents

-----------------------------------------------



- Original content

There is place in the world for creativity

We won't use copyrighted content (and actually, we are also game developers ourselves, so this is a good reason to insist on this matter).

All the mod content will then be "from us" and "authorized by us" for free use in Endless Space, but we won't use any StarTrek, Star Wars or whatever copyrighted content.





- New technologies :

All new races will have their own full and extended technology tree.

Focus will be on deepening the choices we make, keeping them more unique and especially more persistent within the game.

This means that a choice on the tech tree will give options to many other branches, and these branches to many other options, multiplying options rather than eventually merging them.

In addition to this, making every tree unique for every race will provide great replayability and fun to the player.

The main difficulty with this, aside from time, will of course be game balancing. But I hope the community will help about this.



- New hulls & ship designs

All new races will have access to various scout, frigates, cruiser and dreadnoughts models.

But ship 3D models will mostly be the same as Endless Space based models. (unless additionnal 3D modders come to the team)

We hope to be able to reskin the textures to give them an interesting new effect.

The idea behind it is, for the Eldritch race for instance, to try to alter the Sophons texture in order to provide a grey / scarlet red combination and glows to make their ship look like "Evil Blood Sophons".

For many releases though, expect only rulesets for the new hulls and designs, more than aesthetic changes.





- New races :



3 Evil races :

Eldritch (dark elves inspired)

Infernals (sci-fi daemons)

Necris (evil live metal)



3 Neutral races :

Wargosh (war felines)

Leothi (inspired from the Elerians of MOO2, matriarcal dynasty)

Terrans (like united empire)



3 Good aligned races:

Shaerim (sci-fi good elven race)

Ishtal (lizardmen inca/maya/egyptian inspired)

Korundar (gnomes and dwarves)





- Vanilla races still playable

Something we don't consider mandatory, but we think as necessary since the development of the mod's content will be long and we'll need to "test things out" too.

This means that we will keep all vanilla ship builds and techs and so on, but will make it so that our races do not have access to the vanilla techs, and the vanilla races do not have access to our new techs and features (so that they do not "break").



Once the mod will be complete, keeping the possibility to play the vanilla races won't bring much to the game or to the game balance... but then, why not.





- New combat mechanics

New battle cards and new conditions to unlock them.

Various missiles, kinetics and laser options.

New invasion mechanics :

There will be various base infantry modules that will provide the "base invasion score" of a ship.

There will also be various other invasion modules (tanks, mechs...) that will increase the invasion by a percentage.

Combining infantry and support will then be useful and have effect within the game, thus providing many layers for techs improving them.



- New music tracks

Especially battle tracks.



- New heroes

New hero classes, new hero skill trees, new heroes.



- New diplomatic behaviour

We'll try to implement friendliness between likely-minded races, that is, alignment hostility.



- New events

To make this new background story take some life.







Technical Notes

-----------------------------------------------



Endless Space provides a full XML-based ruleset; this is what makes such mod possible.

We would not have been even hoping to complete such a mod without the possibility to easily implement content by modifying XML text files.



Work on it has already begun from the files we have extracted. Problem is that with Endless Space current status, we can only mod the game by altering one of the compiled main asset files and one must keep its offsets clean and unaltered. This means that this mod will be released when modding options will be extended.



We then unfortunately have to wait for the modding options to be extended in order to release our new content.

(edited by OP - no solution has yet been confirmed to extract / recompile the xml resources in asset file)







The hands behind it

-----------------------------------------------



One developer, and possibly one 3D artist, who both have a lot on their hands with their main job in game development, and will implement this mod during their remaining free time and only for the fun of it.

This means that we'll follow a "done when it's done" policy and as a rule, we won't hinder our other projects with this one.



But hey, modifying XML files is an easy part, one quite refreshing to the mind and soul, so doing that on free time is just sane.

Fair do's,



I have found out how to put the TargetProperty="ShipInitialXP" to the tax rate and its really easy to do. the only barrier now is the whole actual game accepting the mod thing.

As long as you also create the Affinity to activate it.

I love a good Mod!

Can't wait for modding support.

This should give you a new trait to work with, i think.

You also need that

[code]



TraitLava05Norm1















[/code]



part and remember that if you are not using what they have set you get quite hilarious errors in game. +5 approval %traitNorm1 doesn't really tell that much does it



oh and +x FIDS per population in planets works bit cryptic. It counts first population correctly but haven't figured out rest of it's calculation.

Cool, thanks!

If you have further exchanges about the Drathi-specific mod, I will (as politely as I may of course ) suggest to open a thread for it.

As you may guess, we will also exchange a lot here about the Dynasty mod, with all the new races, new hero traits, new techs and new content.

If i can suggest something ?



New system of conquering planets.



1. Fleet mele power – for now that determine how long you will be conquering system – my proposition is to increase fleet mele power x 2 and instead of conquering mele power will determine the orbital bombardment damages. So for example if we have now fleet which is conquering system populated with 10 pop in 6 turns in new system fleet will completely destroy colony in 3 turns – destroying 33% of pop and buildings each tour.

2. Now we don’t know what is defence power of enemy system – and we need to know – some information should be visible – reason – pkt 3.

3. In early stages of game when systems are weak 1 troop pod should be enough for conquering the system – but in time when systems are more populated and has more buildings (also defecnce power) it should take 2 troop (or maby 3 in late phase of game with hudge pop in systems) pods to conquer the system – so for that we need to know how strong defence power of system is.

4. 1x troop pod which is installed on ship is similar to colony pod = cost 1 population and some industry.



What do you think about that. ?



edit: and eventual planet degradation (from terran to arrid - barren - lava - arctic something like that) will be depend of totall damages done by bombardment.



My original post about this is here : /#/endless-space/forum/37-modding/thread/15661-new-space-battle-war-system-mode.