Balance Mod v1.05 Available!

hurray
again, thanks and keep going Captain

uhm....what exactly is #24?? the fear modifier for diplomacy??

thanks, your delay gave me the opportunity to tryout the IRM mod, now I'm returning to the fold. I have started playing with BM and it's not time to change yet, especially since IRM makes too drastic changes to a gameplay I haven't experienced deep enough to judge.

Ok, up and running (and with LESS memory leak than older games !!!).

BTW, what is on the tube for 1.06 ?

eheheheheheh

Running fine not got into any action yet just building an empire up have one observation so far The population transport minister is not working individualy. Anoying as I got quite used to having this done automaticaly having played a lot of the IRM recently where it does work a treat. The colonization minister works fine that said

nice, was waiting for this.

Keep up the good work kwok, this mod completes the game.

HEY HEY IS IT A BUG !?

I have just started playing. I haven't even made first turn. Here it is:

My planet generates 5950 research points. But in research screen tere is written 55950 points. And that is true becouse I can spend it all on research.
So is it a bug?

hehe, i just saw the system "kwok" in my current game....since when is there such a system captain??

Capitan Kwok:

In IRM mod and Balance mod when I launch from planet for example 15 fighters, on the battlefield many of them have used ordinances and supplies. It must be a bug becouse every next fighter in group has less ordinances and supplies than the previus fighter in the same group. What do you think?

I saw one called fyron as well...
Maybee fyron will put in one called "ColonialAdmiral"?
I hope so
Think it will ever happen?

I have been playing for 2 hours on Balance Mod and here is what I can say.
AI ships are weak - to weak
I think that AI do not invest in weapons tech. I feel that technicly am a superior. It was diffrent in IRM.
AI ships do not use missiles (only one or two designs!). Ships are poorly equiped with weapons.
I have played IRM mod and I must say ships in this mod were MUCH stronger.

I like the fear modifier for diplomacy. Finally I can have good relations with AIs.

I think that if you could add from IRM few AI behaviours (generally am speaking about difficulty) your mod would be really good. IRM mod is also good but I can't stand this blind research and to big flags over planets. So maybe you and IRM author could work something together? I think our small community would be happy.

Generally in your mod I find to be great: small flags over planets and ships, clear and nice tech tree. But AI is much worse than in IRM.

That is my humble opinion. I hope you will find it usefull.

Hmmm, impressions so far.....

Up to turn 2404.3, fully explored 13 of 98 systems with another 5 touched on. No contact yet.

- Research seems a tad harder.

- Back to low population numbers on colony ships.

- Yikes, less initial cargo space on planets. Will likely have to go back to adding cargo space to increase WP numbers.

- Some systems are quite "cloudy"

- Looking forward to eventually pitting PD against mines.

Onward!

Oh, possible Bug:
Me and my friend were playing hotseat earlier today...High starting research points: So he was testing his designs against one antoher: He had a ship with both types of sheilds, phased and normal sheilds. Now i dont have much experince with phased polaron beams but: They went through ALL of the sheilds, not just the normal sheilds...

So do phased sheilds only work if all the sheilds are phased?

Have you corrected Sys_Empire_Get_Fleet_ID bug?
Nowhere in patch is mentioned that behavior of this function
is changed.
I have reported details about this bug at:

http://www.spaceempires5.com/en-US/node/2808

Workaround function works for both bugged or
eventually corrected versions so no harm.

Greetings, Branimir.

SpaceEmpires.net | Space Empires Wiki

Yes I did. I'll make the change and squeeze in a few more turns tonight.

Thanks for the help Captain.

Doh!

Okay,

I now see that the twist in "Advanced Storage Techniques" was also reducing the carrying capacity of my colony ships in addition to the planet's cargo capacity.

As a student of Space Empires, I still have much to learn.

-polite bow-

Like the new fear system as I now note tha Xianti who I have been at war with since first contact are now treified of me

you can fix this by changing the -80 value for Advanced Storage Techniques entry in RacialTraits.txt to 20

General question: is PD and auto-fired weapons in general good at spreading out their shots to avoid overkill? I know 1.33 is supposed to have improved it but how much of an improvement is it?

---Sig---
Playing Touhou games (Go here if interested . No, nobody else is that good/insane as that replay). No rush for SE V bug fixing.

My observation from both the BM and the IRM is that this is the case. I have especially in the BM game I was playing where I was using a mostly fighter based fleet suffered heavy fighter losses in most engagements obsolescent defence planetary fighters being the worst sufferers The IRM case is less clear as I was not using fighters that much but when I came up against them I found ships held there own better than before.

The 'construction queue cleanup' minister is really an agent of a foreign power, cause he happily scraps spaceports. I can provide a save game which shows the problem.

Now I'm by no means an expert in SEV scripting, in fact, I've seen a SEV script for the first time 5 min. ago, but what strikes me odd:

- in Script_AI_Orders_Planets.txt there are no less than 5 identical versions of Scrap_Obsolete_Units

- the very first statement of Scrap_Obsolete_Units is 'return TRUE', which looks like a noop function to me. But obviously it isn't.

In my recent game i find that i'm UTTERLY destroying the AI as far as RP in concerned. They simply can never seem to keep up with me.

By the time I get 100k rp they have 20, and it gets worse as the game goes on. I seriously dont understand how they can be so far behind even when they have simular amount of planets as me and i've not researched applied research.

IDK maybe you should raise the percentage of facility space they spend on research facilities and set it so they they always build research facilities on domed planets unless they absolutely need a certain resource. I can always do fine on resources and ALWAYS far surpass them on research so i assume they could do the same with their planets.

I'm playing on hard difficulty with AI bonuses.

I guess we all dont have as many skills as you.

What you are doing is called a "tech rush". It is immpossible for the AI to keep up with you on tech research. It is a blanent hole in the gameplay itself, which allows for a player to have little standing fleet. If they are actually attacked, the few ships that they do have are all highly powered over the attackers fleet, evan if the attacker has numbers, they still might lose. Then they simply must emergency build more ships, and their numbers are more reinforced. If you are going to complain about the AI I have two suggestions for you: You can A: Do what i do, and avoid a tech rush, Build large fleets which require more resources.
You can also do B:
Why dont you go ahead and write your own scripts then? Kwok and Fallen Heaven, amoung other modders, Do not control how this game is made. You can make your own improvements as well. If you take a couple minnuets and actually look through the files they actually start to make sense.
We have all seen way to many complaints about how: "The AI wont lose to me even though im doing a tech rush."
If it was as simple as what you are suggesting:
A. Change it yourself
B. Realise that If it were that easy it would already probably be done.

In 1.05 i have the following problems:
My ministers don't retrofit ships or bases
Scrap ships / bases without need (are not obsolete and i don't need the resources).
In some cases scrap facilities (if the system don't have an space port).

Game is 1.33 / BM 1.05 and started that way.

Only difference is that i add the optional races but have then using the BM AI (changed the AI_main_file with
AI Script File := Default\Default_Main_Script.csf
AI Script Empire Setup File := Default\Default_Setup_Script.csf

).

Also if i let the minister build ships, it build from the obsolete models also.

In the end of turn, the news several times don't show the text, need to close and reopen for it to appear.

Or increase the cost for Research Facilities, so it becomes harder to build and maintain them in large numbers.

This section needs fixing in the next release on the racial traits.txt

What it is doing at the moment is reducing your cargo space by %80. To increase it to the 20% figure you need to have a positive "20" not a negative "80".
It also effects the 'cargo bay' componant.

Name                                            := Advanced Storage Techniques
Picture Number                                  := 0
Racial Cost                                     := 1000
Number Of Abilities                             := 1
Ability 1 Type                                  := Storage Cargo Space Percent
Ability 1 Description                           := Planets and cargo components can store 20% more than normal capacity.
Ability 1 Scope                                 := Galaxy - This Player
Ability 1 Range Formula                         := 0
Ability 1 Amount 1 Formula                      := -80
Ability 1 Amount 2 Formula                      := 0
Number Of Requirements                          := 0

Your lord and master (below Foamy) LordHavoc

What settings are recommended for a challenging AI?

Thanks, could you recommend settings for the difficulty of the AI? And what AI bonus if any?

Thanks for the help!

Its hardly a tech rush, I build reserach buildings on all of my planets and other resource buildings as I need them. If there is nothing else needed may as well fill the space with reserach buildings since you literally do not need to build anyrthing or, or even can't build anything else until you research.

Even if I go moderate on buildings I still overtake them, getting about 100k rp to their 40. I'm hardly even trying and they are still easily overtaken with research.

I played the same way in SE4 and never had this problem. At the rate the AI researchs if everyone played that way they will never get even moderately advanced technology by the time they defeat everyone.

Just one thing:

In function Order_Scrap in Script_AI_Orders_Ships.txt
there should be :

set design_id := Sys_Get_Space_Object_Vehicle_Design_ID(ship_id)
if (Sys_Get_Vehicle_Design_Space_Movement(design_id) = 0) then

instead of

if (Sys_Get_Vehicle_Design_Space_Movement(ship_id) = 0) then

Fallen has reused your function for scrapping,
and I have spent several hours debugging why ships don;t get scrapped,
doubting on sys functions to get position of sy, and finally realized what
was in front of my eyes all the time .
I have checked yours 1.05 scripts bug is still in there.

Greetings, Branimir.

Sorry for my offensive Post...But the Poor AI has already been talked about for to long.....

Problem?

I built two weapons platforms to defend my planet against an enemy fleet of 15 ships. Well, when they attacked my wep platforms slaughtered them, because none of the enemy ships fired on my wep. platforms. All of the enemy ships had depleted uranium guns, which say they can attack planets -- but they never fired at my wep. platforms. Plus, then were well within range, they just kept moving around my planet as they got picked off one by one. Are depleted uranium guns not able to target weapon platforms? If this is true, this seems to seriously unbalance things.

Capt,

Do you have any insight on whether Aaron is prioritizing that particular bug? While it does add an interesting new element to strategy.... it would be nice to have it squashed quickly... Just wondering if it may be around for awhile...

Thanks,

Javaslinger

Captain Kwock,

I do want to say that I appreciate your work on this mod. The AI in particular is much more challenging. For example, the stock game never uses carriers properly (I rarely even find one that the AI loads fighters into). With your mod, the AI creates diverse but effective ships and uses them pretty well. Great work.

Plus, I like how you have steamlined and simplified the research process.

I just wanted you to know that your work is very appreciated.

I'm hoping he releases a hotfix rather waiting for another massive patch....

I would also like to tell you how much I appreciate your work and involvement in the community. I only wish you'd joined the Celebrity SEV - BM PBW game....

Javaslinger

Yes, that's true, don't you want to try your own mod in multiplayer? I didn't check first when I signed up to that game, but afterwards I was surprised you weren't in it!

1.33 fixed the bugs that made Simultaneous play unplayable to me : the drop/recover bugs. I don't see other really game-breaking bugs, even if there are some really annoying ones (ground combat, planet bombardment, strategies, ship order in task forces, fog of war, intel reports, systems claimed, measure distance, UI, etc...)

Could you please make some adjustements to Planetary Napalm, DUC and other similar weapons, since they don't seem to be able to attack planets right now?

isn´t that a bug from patch 1.33?? i don´t think the modders can change that.

They could probably be changed from bolt weapons to beam weapons untill the bug is fixed. it would look silly but it should make them hit ringed planets.

I wish I could answer that... There seems to be some debate on it.

Blue Templar seems to have done some significant testing to root our the issue.

Thanks,

Javaslinger

Captain Kwok, will you include the change made by Aaron? Making Meson blasters unable to hit planets? Making the choice between Meson Blasters and Anti-Proton-Beam a more tricky one? Cause currently Meson seems to hold a huge advantage with the no-supply-usage and 20kt size?

Regards,

~Myrath

Well, I did not test the bug that much. The first time I did the test it seemed to me that this was a range problem, and IIRC I was able to hit planets with DUC. In a more recent test I've made (all tech BM game, quickly creating 3-4 designs and testing them in space simulator) it looks like the Bolt weapons can't attack planets, while missiles and beams can. I also had a DUC fire ONCE. Also, this was done in the simulator... maybe real combat will not give the same results. In a KotH PBW game I'm in, my opponent attacked two turns ago one of my planets with ships armed with 1 planetary napalm and 1 DUC. They "wobbled" around the planet but did not do any attack.

I can confirm similar quirkiness with bolt weapons and planets. As for DUCs it's kind of amusing really, sometimes the DUCs fire, sometimes they don't during the same battle. Of course, the simulator could be fracked in some way... Will run more tests in Stock, BalMod and IRM, though I assume this is part of the bug introduced in the 1.33 patch.

-----
"Understanding is a three edged sword. Your side, their side, and the truth" -Kosh

This impotent 'wobble' is definitely what I observed as my force was slaughter... However, kudo's for my opponent surprising me with shield generators AND beam weapons....

Still made more effective by being nearly invincible to most of my ship types...

Javaslinger

Some comments regarding Intel:

- Planet Value Change: -1/-5 => is that in % for all 3 resources or like for starting planets (bad, medium, good, and then what are the others 2?).

- Popultaion Change: -5/-50 , -10 if not enough pop. Is that in millions? Isn't it a little bit too small of a change for 20K intel points cost?

- Population Unhappy: -5/-15 for 30K. Are these in %? Isn't that too expensive / not efficient enough?
BTW, I find that the troops are a little bit too efficient in keeping the population happy, what do you think?

- System Information shouldn't cost 10K, since it only gives you the name of the system, it's position, and it's star.

- Shouldn't Planet Locations (5K) be cheaper since you can get the names of player planets via Message => Request Gift => Planets? So the only thing for what it is useful, is to get the total empire population...

- I don't see any difference between Ship Blueprints (10k) and Unit Designs (5K)... shouldn't their cost be more similar?

- Points Change and Points Stolen cost the same (10K), but while both take from 1k/5k to maximum available points for each normal ressource from the defending player, only one of them then gives those points to the attacking player. They should not cost the same!

I don't agree on makinmg this one cheaper; It is pretty important information.

~Myrath