Warp Point modification

Yeah.... just increase the size it takes up in Stellar objects...

Dang double clicking.......

The hex size in StellarObjectTypes.txt controls how many sectors the object occupies (its a ring of radius X). To make teh actual graphic larger, so it becomes clear that the WP is taking up multiple hexes, you also need to adjust the bitmap effects in XFileClasses_Stellar.txt. The Size field controls how big each cloud is, and the Offset Position fields control how far away from the center the bitmap is drawn. Note that a hex is something around 20 units wide. If you make your WP object have a hex size of 2, you've effectively tripled the diameter, and should triple the size of the animations accordingly. Also consider increasing the number of clouds if they start looking a bit anemic.

Effect 1 Name := Warp Point Clouds 001a
Effect 1 Size := 30.0
Effect 1 Duplicate Count := 3
Effect 1 Frame Change Rate := 0
Effect 1 Offset Position X := Random(-10.0, 10.0)
Effect 1 Offset Position Y := Random(-10.0, 10.0)
Effect 1 Offset Position Z := 0

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Quick question. If i wanted to make sytems 4x larger with planets the size of stock suns. All i have to do is change Hex size for planets and WP in StellarObjectTypes.txt to 2. Then in XFileClasses_Stellar.txt 3x the Effect Size for planets and WP. Then change Settings.txt and redistribute Rings a bit in SystemTypes.txt ? Did i miss anything ?

Oh and will i have same problems with larger planets as with SphereWorld where built orbital thingies and ships appear in hex 1 not outside the actual planet ?

If your main concern is making the planet graphics big, and you don't necessarily need them to take up multiple hexes, you could just make each hex bigger in Settings.txt, then change the rendering sizes in XFileClasses_Stellar.txt. Make sure to adjust the distances of Warp Points in SystemTypes.txt, as well as the Asteroid Belt systems. Those things are placed by actual unit radius, rather than rings or hexes.

I've never had any good results with making the hex grid 4x larger; performance seemed to bottom out after around 2.5x. I haven't tried it in the last few versions of the game though, so maybe some code was optimized at some point...

What happens to the orbiting vehicles in the central hex when a SW is attacked? Are they ignored in combat when an enemy attacks an outer hex?

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Didnt have a SW save so created one and tested a bit. It seems when SW is attacked everything at the center is ignored. Its just SW vs the enemy. Even if you have ships in the hex next to SW not at the center they are ignored unless u attak that hex specificaly. I bet if you made planets bigger same problem will persist since it looks like its core battle mechanics, u battle with what there is in hex u attack.

Tnx for the idea with just making hex bigger. I`ll just add 10 hex to the sector size instead of 4x-ing it and resize the hexes.

Oh, and on another point, not sure if i missed it somewhere in the docs. But what range of unit sizes (model size in the actual battle screen not the tonnage) can i use ? I tried to make ships bigger than SB playing with "Maximum Model Size" in vehicleSizes.txt, but they never seem to change actual size whenter is 30 or 60, they all look the same as default StarBase or BaseShip. Is it even possible w/o making new model ?

The max size setting in VehicleSizes.txt is just that, a maximum size restriction. As far as I can tell, the actual size of the ships in-game is determined by the model itself.

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I see, oh well cant have everything. Big thx for the help Just finished resizing everything, looks pretty good. Only "-" that i can see so far is that on most Gas Giants "Q" thingie displaying atmosphere is not visible now, and its harder to see whole system with the camera panning set as it is. But those things are not that big of a deal for me, so i`m pretty happy ) Now back to testing my 2x flavor mod with 2x the size of the ships, planet capacity, and now 2x the stellar sizes. Woot! Tnx again.

On the topic of Warp Point modification ... is it possible to have some warp points cloaked at some low level of cloaking?

IE - have 2-4 warp points (I presume that the WP on either end of a connection will share the same characteristics) cloaked at level 3, needing a detection level 3 or better to spot. 2-4 other warp points are cloaked at level 6, requiring detection level 6 or better to spot. 1-2 warp points cloaked at 9 (or some other level above the max for standard sensors, but well within Tachyon sensors) so the only way to find it is to use a tachyon or other high detector level sensor.

The way I would see figuring it out is at galaxy generation, for each warp point (or warp point pair?) take a random number from 1 to 1,000,000. Truncate or round the logarithm base 10 of that number, and subtract it from 6. Multiply by 2 or 3 (to allow for some gradation between detection levels) and thats the cloaking level.

Is this possible to do?

AFAIK warp points can't be cloaked.

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Even if you can do that, you'll need a better function than log10, unless you really the uncloaked warp points to outnumber cloaked ones by 10:1 and low level cloaked WP to outnumber medium level by 10:1 again, and finally less than 1/10000 of WP to need high level sensor.

For example, 4 * floor(7 - sqrt(9 + x)), choosing 1 < x < 40, might be a lot closer to the ratios you mention, with about 1/3 uncloaked and the rest just barely skewed.

Edited to use HTML codes for angle brackets.

Well, if warp points cannot be cloaked, it doesn't matter what function is used to determine the cloaking level of a warp point. /sigh