Spawning Sphereworlds and Ringworlds

Yes I have tested it and it works, the Key thing is making sure sure that the Specific name is Sphereworld # (1-14), the size is Huge.... But the Most important thing is making sure that atmosphere and Composition match what is defined for that number in StellarObjectTypes.txt

#1 = Rock, None
#2 = Rock, Methane
#3 = Rock, Oxygen
etc, etc

If they don't match what is listed, for example having Sphereworld 1 with atmos, comp = any, or say Ice, Methane it's invalid and thus will be treated as a invalid entry.

The only thing different is I defined the ability as Normal Destoryed Star as I didn't want any special abilities to be spanwed on the planet (ruins, etc)

You also have to modify quadrant types to add the new systems into the list of generated systems.

I've tested this with 1.66 and briefly with 1.71

Now in theory you could have it spawn 2,3,4 sphereworlds per map, but I haven't tested if the game will actually spawn warp points properly in the inbetween spaces, My idea is to modify it to support spawning of "artifical planets" something inbetween a ringworld and a huge world, basicly just the graphic of a sphereworld resize to occupy 1 or 2 sectors. For those that remember MOO there was the antras system (Probably spelled it wrong) that contained larger planets and better quality planets, or just to simulate a "Sol" system where what remains of the old earth civilization can be found (thinking earth would just be one giant metalic industral nation by the time it dies off)

Could also in theory insure that every starts in a system with a sphereworld by setting all other system types to cannot start, the only trick would be finding a way to match the type to the homeworld. I'm still experimenting to see if there is a better way then spawning 14 different systemtypes.

Little update, was wondering why it worked on my laptop but not the desktop, I didn't write down all the steps I did sorry.

In planetsizes.txt you still have to chance constructed = FALSE

and in order to get ring/sphere worlds from not poping up everywhere change:

Name := Huge
Physical Type := Planet
Stellar Size := Large (Huge in stock)
Max Population := 8000
Max Facility Space := 25000
Max Cargo Space := 32000
Max Supply Storage := 80000
Max Ordnance Storage := 80000
Domed Max Population := 2000
Domed Max Facility Space := 5000
Domed Max Cargo Space := 8000
Domed Max Supply Storage := 16000
Domed Max Ordnance Storage := 16000
Constructed := False
Special Ability ID := 0

Huge planets will still spawn, but at the rate of large planets (Large planets will spawn still too, but at a 50/50 split with huge (50% of "large" planets will be huge (more or less)), so in systemtypes change the spawn change of a large to 40% and huge to 0%

Now create a system that looks like this:

Name := SpherWorld
Description := Standard solar system with a Ring World.
System Physical Type := Normal
Portrait Bitmap := System_Normal1.bmp
Portrait Picture Index := 1
Empires Can Start In := FALSE
Number of Abilities := 0
WP Stellar Abil Type := Normal Warp Point
WP Min Radius := 360
WP Max Radius := 400
Chance Type Used := Standard
Number of System Objs := 1
Obj 1 Physical Type := Planet
Obj 1 Position := Ring 1
Obj 1 Stellar Abil Type := Normal Planet
Obj 1 Specific Stellar Obj Name := Any
Obj 1 Size := Huge
Obj 1 Atmosphere := Any
Obj 1 Composition := Any

Now a random sphere or ring world will be generated.

The only side effect is that the starting planets are huge instead of large (if you choose the option that would normally generate large ones) but that could be corrected by rearanging the order they appear in stellarobjecttypes.txt (didn't test but alwasy seems to choose the first match for a homeworld rather then a random match)

I've also tried a method using external events to remove the unwanted sphereworlds (if not using the above method) but it requires one turn to take effect before replacing them with random planets of a "normal" type

No it doesn't, It took me a while to figure a few things out:

Stellar size is appearantly hardcoded (Something I'd love to be changed, makes this much easier)

During system creation, the planets are created in (somewhat) this order:

Stellar Object type is choosen/set (Planet)
Position is created (if not set)
If Specific Obj Name = Any pick a random planet, otherwise use the specific obj.
Pick a planet size if not set.
Pick atmosp. if not set.
Pick Composition if not set.

At this point the game consults stellerobjecttypes.txt it will load up all the planets, and then pick a random one where the atmosphere and composition match the set/generate criteria, It will then look up the planettype entry (tiny,small,med,large,huge,ring,sphere) in planettypes.txt and match it against the listed Stellar size If it doesn't match it will go back and pick another till it finds one or there are no possibilities (The inner workings are probably a bit different, but it gives the point across).

By changing planet type Huge to a Large stellar size, it keeps huge planets, but makes them a large stellar body instead, thus will spawn at the rate of large planets (it's rather 50/50 since there is a change it will spawn a large planet instead) and ring and sphereworlds will be the only ones to spawn if stellar size = huge...

By changing the random spawn chance from 20% to 0% for huge you eliminate the possibility of it being randomly spawned, and after editing any system types that might implicically create a huge planet (such as a custom system) and changing those from huge to large you eliminate all chances of a huge stellar body being created.

I found tiny = 20%, small = 20%, medium = 20% and large = 40% to generate the same mixture as having large = 20% and huge = 20% in stock.

It would be great if at least one more stellar type could be added, perhaps artificial which would eliminate all this hassle, but till then have to make do I suppose. It's not without it's quirks, as I said in the games and tests I've started the homeworlds are now huge instead of large requiring a bit more work if you want to elimate that (which I haven't tried as it's not a issue to me, just a quirk) or you could go the route of eliminating tiny planets and moving all others down the stellar scale by one, or instead merging tiny and small into the tiny stellar size rather then large/huge (huge would become large, large medium and medium small)

It's also possible to create more planet types in the planettypes file so long as you obay the same stellar sizes, could make ringed planets a new type with a facility/cargo size half way between the normal size and the next size.

I've also experimented with (and got working) a script that generates planet values based on the "useless" data.....

Organic value = conditions (Stems to reason any form of organics of a civilization would require the same conditions as the populus)
Radioactive value = Rad value of the planet/stars
Mineral Value = Gravity of the planet.

Adds a bit more use to those "flavor texts" so longs as the values are properly randomized.

Well as far as I can see even SE4 had the size hard-coded to tiny,medium,small,large and huge......

I have no idea why, Just that the stellar size must be used for something internal.... the game and scripts use the planet size (where ring and sphere are thier own size, and you could make your own sizes (extra tiny perhaps?) but stellar size I have no idea of it's function other then when generating planets... It's something internal, and in the maintext there are sector text tags for tiny,small,medium,large and huge (but none for sphere or ring)

Just something internal.

Also another idea I've played with is this (tested and it does work)

Name := Unified Shield Generator
Description := Generator which creates an energy field that cannot be penetrated by phased weapons.
Picture Number := 18
Maximum Level := 100
Tonnage Space Taken Formula := 30
Tonnage Structure Formula := 30 + (([%Level%] - 1) * 10)
Cost Minerals Formula := 400 + (([%Level%] - 1) * 4)
Cost Organics Formula := 0
Cost Radioactives Formula := 100 + (([%Level%] - 1) * 1)
Supply Amount Used Formula := 0
Ordnance Amount Used Formula := 0
Can Be Placed On Vehicle Types := Ship, Base, Satellite, Weapon Platform, Drone
Can Be Placed In Ship Sections := Inner Hull, Outer Hull
Component Type List := Technological
General Group := Shields
Custom Group := 0
Number Of Requirements := 2
Requirements Evaluation Availability := AND
Requirements Evaluation Allows Placement := TRUE
Requirements Evaluation Allows Usage := TRUE
Requirement 1 Description := Empire must have at least tech level 1 in Shields.
Requirement 1 Formula := Get_Empire_Tech_Level("Shields") >= (1 + ([%Level%] - 1))
Requirement 2 Description := Empire must have at least tech level 1 in Phased - Energy Weapons.
Requirement 2 Formula := Get_Empire_Tech_Level("Phased - Energy Weapons") >= 1
Number Of Abilities := 2
Ability 1 Type := Shield Generation
Ability 1 Description := Generates [%Amount2%] phased shield points.
Ability 1 Scope := Space Object
Ability 1 Range Formula := 0
Ability 1 Amount 1 Formula := "Phased Shields"
Ability 1 Amount 2 Formula := 100 + (([%Level%] - 1) * (30 * Min(1,( Get_Empire_Tech_Level("Phased - Energy Weapons") / [%Level%]))))
Ability 2 Type := Shield Generation
Ability 2 Description := Generates [%Amount2%] shield points.
Ability 2 Scope := Space Object
Ability 2 Range Formula := 0
Ability 2 Amount 1 Formula := "Normal Shields"
Ability 2 Amount 2 Formula := (100 + (([%Level%] - 1) * (30 / 1))) - (100 + (([%Level%] - 1) * (30 * Min(1,( Get_Empire_Tech_Level("Phased - Energy Weapons") / [%Level%])))))
Weapon Type := None

Unified shields are same size and shield value as normal shields (makes the AI better as it always just upgrades to the best even when phased shields only give 170 points). The catch is that the ammount of phased shields is based on your phased weapons technology to shield technology ratio.... If you have lvl 100 shields and level 1 phased weapons you only get 1/100th of the points as phased points, the rest are given as normal shield points) if you have more phased wpeaon levels then shield levels the value is capped to that of your max shields

I've also done some work modifying organic armor so that the regen rate is based off of organic tech, but the armor value is based off of armor tech, reduced it's size to match normal armor (of course balancing the armor value and regen rate for the smaller size) again to make the AI a bit more competitive (Since the Ai doesnt' like using smaller pieces of armor unless it's coded to go through a list))