DevnullMod 1.71.3.1 vs Balance Mod 1.14a

I am one of the beta testers for the Devnull mod. I would have to say it is my favourite mod. It was also my favourite mod for SE4 and although it's not the same thing, for example Devnull hasn't impelemented what was to me a good feature where having two racial techs allowed special cross techs, I find it to be a better game. It is a grander experience I think. You get what seems bigger ships, stronegr weapons and it really helps me create a narrative. However I haven't really reached the level in BM I have in the Devnull mod it might be BM has just as large ships or strong weapons at the top level. Devnull perhaps allows you to reach the top quicker.

BM is what I consider the normal game. It's perfectly fine for most of my needs but Devnull gives just that bit more of an experience. Some may find Devnull overpowered, we're trying our best to tone it down a bit. I personally, along with my arch enemy, have shown the failings of Temporal stuff, drones and Stellar weapons (seeing as how I started a war in the 40's by destroying two stars).

That is a feature that looks set to be included later, I asked about it and it should just be a matter of time

devnullmod is my fav mod for SE4. Havent tried SE5 in a while... waiting for the next patch...

there will always be a next patch

Until SE6 is out! But then he'll wait for SE6 next patch...

I dream SE6 graphically will look like SotSE
and the fighters superiority will be balanced)))

Balance Mod is very likely still a better AI than DevnullMod. I've based the AI in DevnullMod on BM 1.14b and then made adjustments to account for the differences in mods (i.e. facilities, technology, racial traits, etc). However, it's unlikely I've found all the places in the AI scripts where the mod differences matter and thus it's likely that DevnullMod is still somewhat gimped compared to BM in terms of the AI.

This is mainly because I have such limited time to work on the mod and modifying the AI scripts is a big task due to the sheer amount of code and it's complexity (as well as the somewhat lame script language, but that's another matter). I do plan on continuing work on the AI scripts in DevnullMod, but I really don't have a clue how long it will be since I'm extremely busy at work lately and will likely remain so for quite a while to come.

In any case, DevnullMod's AI is still not that great, but it is at least somewhat functional at this point in my own playtesting. Since I've released 1.71.3.1, others have reported that the AI is still a lot more gimped than what I've been seeing. I'm not sure why, honestly, but again, I've had no time to delve deeper and thus the issues languish unfixed. *sigh*

I have been playtesting the mod on PBW in a number of test games so far and seem to have created a multi-player mod that is somewhat fun at least. It definitely has a different feel than other mods I've played and does seem more "epic" to me (which is what I was aiming for). It would be nice to get the AI up to par, but so far, that hasn't been my main focus. In fact, up until 1.71.3.1, the AI was almost completely non-functional!

Captain Kwok has done a damn good job with the AI scripts in BM, which is why I started with his scripts and tried to just tweak what was necessary to get things working for DevnullMod. I haven't been totally successful yet, but it's a work in progress.

I would absolutely love it if someone decided to dig in and help modify the AI scripts for DevnullMod, honestly. I certainly don't have a lot of time to do so. But so far, no one has volunteered

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Creator of Space Empires V Editor and DevnullMod
http://www.devnullsoftware.com/se5