Thanks for your words and MOD!Haha

Could you please update this to work with the augira update? if not then can I make the changes to allow it? it cant be too hard of a change, i mean its just 1 new wonder 2 heros and a few new buildings. cant be too hard right?

I'm sorry, but that's a huge undertaking and without support from the devs, it just doesn't make sense.



Every time I've tried this in the past this is the way it has gone. First, I compare the new version of the games XML files with the old version. Then I try and make the same changes to the mod's version of the files. Then, I run the game and it crashes and has a whole lot of problems.



Next, I start from scratch using the new version of the XML files and manually make all the changes in the mod to them. Then I have something that works.



This mod is huge, the amount of data entry required to do that is just too much.

It looks like Amplitude changed the entry for Approval in PlanetDescriptor.xml. You could try making corresponding changes to PlanetDescriptor.xml in the SuperNova mod.

Question on weapons of different tech levels having doubled weight weight and doubled properties. Seems like the new techs are nullified by their weight.

So in theory you can have level one weapons and just double them to get the same performance of a higher level for the same weight. The invasion power might be off but you're not invading with these weapons anyhow. The Military power is off but to my knowledge that is just if you simulate the battle right?



For example:

Level 1







Level 2











So it seems their stats are the same just doubled quantity fired.

That's true. It would be better if the higher tech weapons became more weight efficient. Ex. The damage goes up 100% but the weight only goes up 90%. Missiles increase salvo size and interception evasion so higher tech levels are better. Depending on how the generic "defense" attribute is implemented, one big shot may be better than two small ones.



The reason I didn't do that initially is because I had to balance a lot of things. Weapons vs. defenses. Small ships vs. big ships. Early game vs. late game. Keeping the weapon progression simple made that balancing a lot easier.

LetoSilvermane wrote:
That's true. It would be better if the higher tech weapons became more weight efficient. Ex. The damage goes up 100% but the weight only goes up 90%. Missiles increase salvo size and interception evasion so higher tech levels are better. Depending on how the generic "defense" attribute is implemented, one big shot may be better than two small ones.



The reason I didn't do that initially is because I had to balance a lot of things. Weapons vs. defenses. Small ships vs. big ships. Early game vs. late game. Keeping the weapon progression simple made that balancing a lot easier.

First off in my previous post I neglected that I love this mod and it's brought me back to ES. The scope and balance are amazingly impressive. I salute your work.



Weapons were something I've been tinkering with on it, trying to find something like a simple, linear progression like you suggested 80-90% weight difference. Keeping costing doubled so you're paying for the efficiency. Definitely a found respect for balancing and building something that won't bork the AI. My latest mistake was in making colonization of planet types more expensive.. Now as a consequence Amoeba and quick starting Races have nearly insurmountable advantages. - Back to the drawing boards there.

Thanks. I put a lot of time and effort into Super Nova and am really proud of the way it turned out.



Here is the spreadsheet I used to design the mod: http://sdrv.ms/1lawyRq Everything is in there.



That should help with tinkering.



Cheers,

Silvermane

LetoSilvermane wrote:
Thanks. I put a lot of time and effort into Super Nova and am really proud of the way it turned out.



Here is the spreadsheet I used to design the mod: http://sdrv.ms/1lawyRq Everything is in there.



That should help with tinkering.



Cheers,

Silvermane

Right on, the spreadsheet is very useful. What were some of your challenges with balance in regards to the weapons?

I was/am a big fan of the combat in Fair Fight mod of and would like to incorporate some of the WeaponModule/DefenseModule stats into yours. but don't want to gimp the AI. In my personal games I've doubled hit points for hulls and made large1 class ships very tough to handle and equally slow to build. I always play on 'slow' settings for campaign and have slowed down build times on ships and weapons further to control the ship spam.



Very difficult to steer the mods in the direction you want but not screw over the AI in the process.

No one weapon type should be universally better than the others. In other words, missiles, lasers, and kinetics should be equally usefull.

No one range should be universally better than the others. In other words if two equal ships fight, one with all long range weapons and the other with all short range weapons, then either one should win about half the time.



So what determines the winner if all these things are equal? Strategy, tactics, preparation, and luck. If one side has missiles and the other has more flack, then the better prepared one wins. If one side has long range weapons and the other has a hero with battle cards that counter long range weapons, then they win. If one side blocks the other's battle card, then that tips the battle in their favor. When equal ships fight, the one who uses the better targeting strategy wins.



A defense module is designed to counter 1/3 of the corresponding weapon damage for 1/2 the weight and cost. This makes it impossible to eliminate damage with defense (not counting tank ships which are a special strategy).



I didn't want the biggest ship with the highest tech to mount too many weapons. I wanted to keep the amount of fire visible on the screen reasonable so the player can what is going on. If you can't tell who is firing and who is getting hit, then there are too many weapon effects on the screen at once.



In order to keep the smallest ships usefull as long as possible, they need to be able to fit the highest tech weapons. That's why the tonnage modules provide a flat weight instead of a percentage. It gives the small ships an advantage and prevents the big ships from mounting too many weapons. Making the weapons use a percent weight instead of a flat weight would disadvantage the big ships too much and doesn't make sense from a cost/benefit perspective.



The lethality needs to be balanced too. If battle is often over in the long range phase, then lethality is too high which is unfair to short range weapons. If the battle often ends in a draw, then the lethality is too low.



Finally, the invasion ships have to have some weapons because the AI sends them into battle unescorted.



Those are the things I can think of off the top of my head.



Good luck.

the smaller ships in vanilla endless space are already a lot more useful than larger ones. you have made larger ships cost even more cp, so why would you give smaller ships more of an advantage? also realistically, if one side had long ranged weapons and the other short range, the long ranged would slaughter the short range before they got into a range of the long ranged.

I got rid of the evasion/hull weakness advantage for smaller ships. In the Super Nova mod, I try to balance costs with benefits. Since large ships cost more, they are more powerful. Secondarily, I tried to keep small ships from becoming obsolete too soon because mixed fleets are more fun.



If long range weapons were superior overall, then everyone would use them. Reducing variety makes the game less fun. I'd rather have the weapons be equal and tactics decide who gets slaughtered.

any eta for updating the mod for actuall version of ES:>?

I wish I could update this mod to give players an alternative to Endless Space vanilla, but it's too easy for the mod to be broken by game updates and too hard for me to pour over all the XML and try to figure out what has changed.

I truly understand your pain (I did a "little" modding some time ago for another games) so I can only say thanks to you for job you did with this mod and your mod gave ES mods players Also I hope ES team will understand in time that mods gives the game another life, and in connection with this simple truth would make it easier for modders to work over this beautiful game.

How do I download this mod?

Great mod, I'm impressed with your work it really improves the game. If the poll was still open it would definitely get a like from me.



Unfortunately I have the latest patch with the Vaulters available so it crashes whenever I reload a save which is a shame as I can't play an extended game unless it is in one sitting.



Has anyone developed a work around for this for their own versions as development seems to have has ceased on the mod?



Cheers,



Laz

This is a great mod and probably the only which would lead me to re-install the game, unfortunately I think that development stopped indeed. Having said that it was really fun while it worked

drako6a wrote:
How do I download this mod?

The file is attached to the original post;go to page 1 and scroll down a bit.

Does this mod still work? When I load it I get a nullpointer exception on the main menu and then my game freezes up.