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Home » Stars! Clones, Extensions, Modding » VML lounge » Mod by PricklyPea
Mod by PricklyPea Fri, 13 January 2006 18:55 Go to next message
PricklyPea is currently offline PricklyPea

 
Lieutenant

Messages: 534
Registered: February 2005
I actually finished an early version. But the problem is finding somewhere to host modified games. I did get a basic autohost running, but had to take it down when I moved house. My new ISP has reliability problems, but I will try putting it back up again.

I'm also working on a new more radical mod. One that will not be compatible with existing races.

e.g.

- large number of LRTs is no longer penalised (for more variety).
- MT items slots killed and used for other things
- Advanced armours LRT
- MiniMorph changed to a warship hull
- Changes to engines
- Some other changes e.g. Red planets not limited to 10 defences
- CA terraform cost double (to balance)
- AR pop grows in space (like IS - thinking of removing ability for IS)
- Genesis device to be converted into a world self-destruction device (for scorched earth strategy)

I'd also like to halve the number of player slots to give each player twice the number of ship designs, but I suspect this would require too much work right now.


[Updated on: Fri, 13 January 2006 18:55]

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Re: CA Balance Sat, 14 January 2006 12:27 Go to previous messageGo to next message
iztok is currently offline iztok

 
Commander

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Hi!
PricklyPea wrote on Sat, 14 January 2006 00:55

I'm also working on a new more radical mod. One that will not be compatible with existing races.

When you'll need playtesters let me please know. I like different or weird settings...
BR, Iztok

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Re: CA Balance Sat, 14 January 2006 13:53 Go to previous messageGo to next message
vonKreedon is currently offline vonKreedon

 
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I'd also love to be a Beta volunteer.

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Re: Mod by PricklyPea Sun, 15 January 2006 05:34 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Micha

 

Messages: 2342
Registered: November 2002
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Split off from CA Balance,

mch,
modaw

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Re: Mod by PricklyPea Sun, 15 January 2006 17:13 Go to previous messageGo to next message
icebird is currently offline icebird

 
Chief Warrant Officer 3

Messages: 178
Registered: September 2003
Location: In LaLa land...
Sign me up for playtesting too! I don't think that the idea of halving player slots is a good one (if you decide to do it), but what else is testing for?


-Peter, Lord of the Big Furry Things

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Re: Mod by PricklyPea Sun, 15 January 2006 17:26 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Micha

 

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Registered: November 2002
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icebird wrote on Sun, 15 January 2006 23:13

I don't think that the idea of halving player slots is a good one (if you decide to do it), but what else is testing for?

Why not? There are games with (16/2) 8 or less players. And if in return it gives you 32 ship- and 20 starbase designs to play with. Cool

mch

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Re: Mod by PricklyPea Mon, 16 January 2006 13:06 Go to previous messageGo to next message
PricklyPea is currently offline PricklyPea

 
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Thanks for the interest. If somebody has capability to autohost a test game, then let me know Smile

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Re: Mod by PricklyPea Mon, 16 January 2006 20:39 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Ptolemy is currently offline Ptolemy

 
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Heck, I'll manually host a test game.

Ptolemy




Though we often ask how and why, we must also do to get the answers to the questions.

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Re: Mod by PricklyPea Thu, 19 January 2006 17:21 Go to previous messageGo to next message
icebird is currently offline icebird

 
Chief Warrant Officer 3

Messages: 178
Registered: September 2003
Location: In LaLa land...
Yes, there are many games with fewer players, but also many games where the 16 slot limitation is a good thing.


-Peter, Lord of the Big Furry Things

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Re: Mod by PricklyPea Fri, 20 January 2006 08:02 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Tomasoid is currently offline Tomasoid

 
Chief Warrant Officer 3

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Please, count me in testing. When and how games will be organized? I also can do testbeds well...


WBR, Vlad

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Mod partially complete Sat, 21 January 2006 08:50 Go to previous messageGo to next message
PricklyPea is currently offline PricklyPea

 
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I've completed the first stages of a mod and would like to hold a test game to check it for bugs/stability/balance etc.

I will post details and link to mod shortly, but would like to get a volunteer to host (cannot be easily hosted on SAH) before collecting players.

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Re: Mod by PricklyPea Sat, 21 January 2006 11:08 Go to previous messageGo to next message
PricklyPea is currently offline PricklyPea

 
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OK. I've uploaded the mod here:

http://darkcluster.com/crabby/

My router/server is unreliable and usually goes down at least once per day requiring manual reset. Therefore, if the link doesn't work, try waiting 1 day and try again.

Anyone want to host a vanilla game to test it out?

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Re: Mod by PricklyPea Mon, 23 January 2006 18:16 Go to previous messageGo to next message
GreyMatter is currently offline GreyMatter

 
Petty Officer 2nd Class

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Registered: September 2004
Location: USA
Hi there,
I am also working on a [quite radical] mod, including new graphics, new hulls/types, new weapons engines- currently focusing on new graphics and tech cost/level balancing, so still some time to go till finished.

I am primarily using StarsEd for my work.
I am really interested how hard is it to make other modifications such as yours, now not possible with StarEd, eg:

# SD detonating minefields disabled
# CA autoterraform disabled
# CA standard terraform costs double
# JOAT penscanning formula changed to (Max(Elec,7)-1)*8

and these:
# Disable tech gain by battle and wolf-lamb
# Advanced armours available to non-RS LRT
# Hab does not affect max number of defences
# No race point penalties for number of LRTs
# NAS scan bonus is now x1.5 not x2
# Starbases have +25% jamming rather than -25%

Thank you

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Re: Mod by PricklyPea Tue, 24 January 2006 11:23 Go to previous messageGo to next message
PricklyPea is currently offline PricklyPea

 
Lieutenant

Messages: 534
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GreyMatter wrote on Mon, 23 January 2006 18:16


I am primarily using StarsEd for my work.
I am really interested how hard is it to make other modifications such as yours, now not possible with StarEd


I couldn't get StarsEd to work on my version of the JRC4 patch. Which version are you changing? Anyway, the answer to your question is probably not the one you want to hear. To make the changes I basically looked at the Stars! code and modify it by squeezing my own code in there.

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Re: Mod by PricklyPea Tue, 24 January 2006 14:14 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Ptolemy is currently offline Ptolemy

 
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interesting... Where/how did you get the Stars! code?


Ptolemy





Though we often ask how and why, we must also do to get the answers to the questions.

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Re: Mod by PricklyPea Tue, 24 January 2006 14:43 Go to previous messageGo to next message
iztok is currently offline iztok

 
Commander

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Hi!
I've checked your mod. Nice work. Some comments:

Quote:

CA autoterraform disabled

It seems you also disabled the 10% probability for 1 point of permanent hab change. CA's now quite slow to develop new planets. If the initiall CoH would be lost early, that would be a serious hit for them.

Quote:

MT Mini-morph available to all and changed to warship

IMO too low armor for a main warship. Also, those combo slots are weird - the right(front) one can hold all weap types, the rear two slots only beams. What was your intention with that hull?

Quote:

Smart Bomb

I can't find any difference(s). Where should I look?

Quote:

Starbases have +25% jamming instead of -25%

... but without a jammer on it there seems to be no difference. OTOH with only 4 jammers-30 it has 95% jamming. That should help AR quite some!

Quote:

Other MT items have been trashed by giving high tech/costs

So basically when I meet MT I have a fair chance to get nothing else but tech and (crippled) ships. Why's that?

Also I noticed lots of comet hits - much more than I got in usuall testbeds. Have you tinkered with that probability too?

BR, Iztok

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Re: Mod by PricklyPea Tue, 24 January 2006 14:45 Go to previous messageGo to next message
iztok is currently offline iztok

 
Commander

Messages: 1202
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Hi!
Ptolemy wrote on Tue, 24 January 2006 20:14

interesting... Where/how did you get the Stars! code?

AFAIK its the machine code. Shocked
BR, Iztok

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Re: Mod by PricklyPea Tue, 24 January 2006 15:16 Go to previous messageGo to next message
PricklyPea is currently offline PricklyPea

 
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Messages: 534
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>It seems you also disabled the 10% probability for 1 point of permanent hab change. CA's now quite slow to develop new planets. If the initiall CoH would be lost early, that would be a serious hit for them.

The permanent hab change has been removed and the x2 terraform cost (more likely 40% extra since CA will probably take TT) means that they will prefer OAs. So OAs become both a positive and a negative.

>IMO too low armor for a main warship. Also, those combo slots are weird - the right(front) one can hold all weap types, the rear two slots only beams. What was your intention with that hull?

The ship does have 8 armour slots and armours have been revamped to make them lighter. Intention was to provide a hull between BB and Nubian. The rear slots are beam only. The front one can hold all weapons and (i think) elec. I didn't want to create a bigger better missile platform, but instead a possible beam counter to missile BBs.

>I can't find any difference(s). Where should I look?

Smart bomb is now 1.7% kill.

>... but without a jammer on it there seems to be no difference. OTOH with only 4 jammers-30 it has 95% jamming. That should help AR quite some!

Previously jamming on SB was reduced by 25%. Now the 25% is a bonus (with usual 95% cap).

>So basically when I meet MT I have a fair chance to get nothing else but tech and (crippled) ships. Why's that?

Because this is only a partial mod. There's much more work to be done on the MT. As an interim measure, I will update to disable MT completely while retaining other random events.

?Also I noticed lots of comet hits - much more than I got in usuall testbeds. Have you tinkered with that probability too?

Nope. Just random luck Wink

I think most substantial changes might be the ranges on Missiles and Torps. Though I was in two minds about that. But we will see what the first test game bears out...


[Updated on: Tue, 24 January 2006 15:32]

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Re: Mod by PricklyPea Wed, 25 January 2006 07:17 Go to previous messageGo to next message
PricklyPea is currently offline PricklyPea

 
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For those who have not seen. A test game is being started (see the New Games section).

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Re: Mod by PricklyPea Wed, 25 January 2006 22:29 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Ptolemy is currently offline Ptolemy

 
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Quote:

AFAIK its the machine code

wOOt 1 Yippee! wOOt 2
I just Multi bounce LOVE Machine CodeBlue bounce
All those wonderful numbers.. If it's worth coding, Work at computer
It's worth coding right down to the bare metal Hit Computer

Ptolemy




Though we often ask how and why, we must also do to get the answers to the questions.

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Re: Mod by PricklyPea Thu, 26 January 2006 01:56 Go to previous messageGo to next message
multilis is currently offline multilis

 
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I prefer the original games tech stealing possible in battle, it gives the high tech attackers something to worry about/more strategy and helps BET a little.

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Re: Mod by PricklyPea Tue, 02 May 2006 21:35 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Captain Maim is currently offline Captain Maim

 
Lt. Junior Grade

Messages: 492
Registered: March 2003
Location: USA, Mesa, Arizona

Why not just make a plain jane version of Stars with the infamous 8 bit limitations removed. More ship/starbase slots, more fleets, more mines fields, more... Space (x,y).. And more players if you'd like.

-Maybe a pick your HW name spot on the first page of RW (with a pull down, and maybe a 2nd choice option. And if both are taken just use random.)

-Just a question, but why are you against the MT?
-Why not make Genesis Device a terraforming device Have it cost something affordable like at 500 or something a colony might ACTUALLY be able to afford without being a very high end world?

-I always thought it'd be cool if wormholes could take players to other galaxies. (map to map transit) That plus the ability to add in extra players via merged mapping, (say, you can only get 17 players by spilling some players over from one map to another 16+1 or 8+9 or whatever.) Might be cool for a tourniment game, Pack up and move to a new battle field. Or have a face off between the actual races that won other games? (only real trouble I can think of is time [assuming all else coding and what not worlds out smoothly.] Temporal mechanics, heh, a fleet can leave and fight for 100 years, build an empire and return home the next year? That's a bit spooky. It'd really only work out best if the games genned at set rates or something like that. That'd fix it. Heh... But having a "Fast time" (5 turns per gen) dimention linked to a "True time" dimention (1 turn per gen), I think that'd be really cool!)

Laughing The first idea I think is a reasonable one, the second is, a maybe. As for the map2map suggestion, I have no idea how reasonable/plausable/practical that is. Still it's a thought on altering the 16 player limit so it's backwards compatable. (fight the REAL winner of another game. To connect two maps I think making a new kind of worm hole [change the color to green or blue or something not purple to be visually clear.] And edit the HST utility to have a "Connect maps" button with a browse and after have a "Connected map to:" and the other game name. You might be able to add this stuff in at the end of the .HST file [with other map name or something], just after worm hole locations [which is last in the HST organizational structure]. The new one wouldn't have an exit point on the map and would float around like all wormholes. You could call it intergalactic portal, or interdimentional portal or alternate reality portal or something. AR's gotta come from somewhere right? hehe.)



Rule 1: "Pillage, THEN burn!"

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Re: Mod by PricklyPea Tue, 02 May 2006 22:27 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Ptolemy is currently offline Ptolemy

 
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Actually, I like ALL Maim's ideas.

now,

Quote:

For those who have not seen. A test game is being started (see the New Games section).


We still have not received enough players to play a test game. Perhaps you had better advertise it again. I will still host it manually.

Ptolemy




Though we often ask how and why, we must also do to get the answers to the questions.

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Re: Mod by PricklyPea Wed, 03 May 2006 00:30 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Marduk is currently offline Marduk

 
Ensign

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Captain Maim wrote on Tue, 02 May 2006 21:35

more mines fields,

There is a balance question with the number of minefields - SD exploding minefields might become a game-breaker with unlimited numbers of minefields available.

Quote:

You could call it intergalactic portal, or interdimentional portal or alternate reality portal or something. AR's gotta come from somewhere right? hehe.)

ARs are the toenail fungus of higher beings who have died, thus forcing the ARs to earn a living.

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Re: Mod by PricklyPea Wed, 03 May 2006 02:05 Go to previous messageGo to previous message
Captain Maim is currently offline Captain Maim

 
Lt. Junior Grade

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Ptolemy wrote on Tue, 02 May 2006 19:27

Actually, I like ALL Maim's ideas.


Surprised And here I thought I was going to get flamed!!! Laughing! (This sure beats the last community I was in.) Thanks! Very Happy

But yeah, I wanted to do something like that with my own HST editing tool. But alas, I never got around to decoding what was needed for the things to work. I could have, but Prickly Pea's way doesn't resort to using a cheap trick to by pass actually knowing how to get through the copy protection. Nor does it require uptodate .Fx files to monitor the fleet movements. Etc.. In short, it'd be awesome if he could/would do that! Smile

Making Genesis cheap enough to use on a red world. Even with 1 or 2 years work, is TOTALLY FUN. SUre it takes a while, and everyone knows right where your working. And you can't industralize while your doing it. But using Genesis as a Terraforming device is probably it's best use. Try it, Set the cost to like 100 or something, that's pretty affordable. And it allows you to undo any potentially crippling planet reshaping effects (or whatever you want to call them). In my expirence it can take anywhere from 1 to well, at 1/3 habs I think I had to try 10 times to get one world to be bright green for me. It's really all about chance so the narrower the habs the more tries it takes.

You Could just add another page to the game startup wizard and allow players to set limits. Using original stars as the low ends I think. Or whatever. A page with fleet limits and minefields and heck if you want. Just put a cap on the use of ships with OA's. Cause, let's face it, THAT's really what people are afraid of. Having an OA limit per player means that the CA can only do as much about terraforming as you want him to. Or you could just for that put a "No negative terraforming" check box and that too would do it (I think). Then it's a tool of peace! YIPPY! You can put all the little crazy settings you want as check boxes in the game startup wizard. That way, if you hate a setting, you don't have to suffer with it. Don't punish us all with a forced setup. Puting in those settings just like Stars anyway, "CUSTOMIZABILITY!"

Having said that I'll summerize. Just put all your little tweaks on a special new features page at the end of the game setup wizard. Have one for adjusting limitations. Heck you could adjust limitations for any component/hull you want, just have them in pop up windows and a number next to them. If you wanted to be completely detailed. I think most of the time you'd never want to touch that, but some special games might like removing this or that from the game. Or twistedly enough, allow one of those options to make or unmake MT items.. hehe... Like a special (MT?) stargate for HE.


[Updated on: Wed, 03 May 2006 02:24]




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