Whats the best mod for SE4?

[mx1mx1]

What are some of the really good mods?
Also, are there any total conVersion mods?
And what is the best Star Trek mod?

[Fyron]

There is certainly no "best mod." All mods add something different and unique to the game. The "best" is just the one that matches your tastes the most.

Some "total conVersion" mods include the AST Mod, the Star Trek Mod, the Babylon 5 Mod, the Star Wars Mod II, and Adamant Mod. Proportions (as well as AIC) mod drastically alters the pace of the game, slowing everything down. The homeworld is very important. Pirates and Nomads mod allows you to play as a Pirate or Nomadic race, which both do not live with colonies, but through other means. Devnull adds a number of tweaks to some of the game's unbalanced items, as well as some new stuff, and is the home of the infamous Space Monsters. Highliner Mod makes it so that only really big "highliner" ships can travel between systems, and regular warships can not. This is done by making them use the "fighter" hull.

For a complete listing of mods, visit http://www.malfador.com/se4mods.html

[Renegade 13]

Some of the really good mods in my opinion are:

1. The TDM Modpack: If I remember correctly, it only changes the AI files, making the AI much more difficult.

2. Devnull Mod: Includes tech changes, as well as a couple of added races.

3. The Star Trek Mod: Lots of major changes, many new ST races added as well as custom tech trees for each. Major changes to technology as well as other things. To answer your third question, I'd say this is definitely the best Star Trek mod around.

[Fyron]

Devnull is not a total conVersion mod, so is not an answer to number 2... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif A good mod nonetheless.

[mx1mx1]

Do I have to have SE4 Gold to use these mods?

Because I have the old game not the gold one.
How can I patch to 1.84 with the old SE4?

[Fyron]

Most mods require Gold, or their later Versions require Gold. You can not patch to 1.84 unless you have Gold.

Several mods have 1.49 (pre-gold) Versions around. P&N, TDM, Devnull, B5 Mod to name a few. The SE.net Portal section of http://www.spaceempires.net/ has some SE4 classic mods available in its Downloads section.

[ January 17, 2004, 20:00: Message edited by: Imperator Fyron ]

[mx1mx1]

Ok I will go find another mod at that site.
Thanks for the replies.

[mx1mx1]

Wait I have 1 more question.
I have Version 1.49 and that is highest I can go.
Is there any star trek mods for 1.49?

[Fyron]

No. The only Trek-related 1.49 mod was Geoschmo's Trek Mod (available on www.pbw.cc (http://www.pbw.cc) in the file library), but all it did was have 20 Star Trek races in the shipsets folder and replaced the 6 neutrals with ST races. No data modifications.

[mx1mx1]

Ok thanks.
I am going to try the babylon 5 mod. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

[DavidG]

Originally posted by mx1mx1:
Wait I have 1 more question.
I have Version 1.49 and that is highest I can go.
Is there any star trek mods for 1.49? <font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Maybe soon. Check the StarTrek Mod thread for details. I have a Version working on ver 1.49 but will have to check with Atrocities to see if he wants to post it or let me.

[Atrocities]

Why do people not want to update to GOLD? I mean it is well worth the price.

Look at what you get with GOLD.
1. More Mods
2. More options
3. More support
4. More things to play with in game
5. Better game play
6. More stable game play, less Range Check Errors (RCE's)
7. Access to better modding ability
8. You support SE V by buying it
9. You get a better manual
10. The CD art work is in color and you get bonus material on the CD.

[Atrocities]

Originally posted by DavidG:
</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Originally posted by mx1mx1:
Wait I have 1 more question.
I have Version 1.49 and that is highest I can go.
Is there any star trek mods for 1.49? <font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Maybe soon. Check the StarTrek Mod thread for details. I have a Version working on ver 1.49 but will have to check with Atrocities to see if he wants to post it or let me. </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">David I really need to get this done too. Perhaps this will be my next project. Any more help you can give me would be appreciated.

[gregebowman]

Originally posted by Atrocities:
Why do people not want to update to GOLD? I mean it is well worth the price.

. <font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Well, considering that up to about 2 years ago, I had never even heard of Space Empires, let alone Versions 1, 2, 3 or 4. I'm glad that it was SE4 Gold that I bought, for the reasons you stated below. But I wouldn't want to spend another $45 or so on each Version if I had started playing the game when it first came out (whenever that was). I'll gladly buy SEV when it eventually comes out, though, because from what I can gather from the few clues that are out there, it will be killer. And I suspect that in a couple of more years, I'll spend the dough on SE6, and etc. I just don't want to do it every year, though. And there might be the time when the game surpasses my computer's ability to play it. At this point in time, I can't afford to upgrade. But I plan on having a good time with the latest Versions for as long as I can.

[Fyron]

When SE requires a better computer than you have to run, you will probably be able to buy a computer able to play it for like 100 bucks. The same computer parts get exponentially cheaper as time passes. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

[Suicide Junkie]

Many companies regularily throw out computers capable of playing SE4. Especially tech related companies.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Originally posted by Imperator Fyron:
When SE requires a better computer than you have to run, you will probably be able to buy a computer able to play it for like 100 bucks. The same computer parts get exponentially cheaper as time passes. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif <font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">everything gets cheaper until it ends up with a collecter, when it's suddenly expensive again.

[tesco samoa]

at perhaps not... concentrate on the current mod please...

[tesco samoa]

if i had to state my fav. mod

it would be Adamant hands down.

Very good mod... not done .... maybe never. But fantastic mod. And in its current state very enjoyable. You can see the effort that went into making it.

This is a common theme with all of the seiv mods. effort, I only list the mod i enjoy the most. I have made mods myself, I only say this to make sure i do not insult any of the other modders. As that is not my intention here.

[Fyron]

At the rate it is going Adamant will never be done. :-\

[Atrocities]

I have say that I enjoy Adamant very much, and I think it is by far going to be the best mod for SE IV in the end. (That is if it is ever finished. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif )

If you have not tried it, you should. It has a learning curve, no SP AI as of yet, but its getting there.

[eddieballgame]

A few of my friends & myself find the "TDM" & FQM" standard mods to be a tremendous addition to this program. The "FQM" is my personal favorite.

[Loser]

TDM and FQM, all the way.

[Fyron]

As I said before, there is no "best" mod for SE4. It is all dependant upon what you like.

But since you asked about Adamant... it is a monster that would be too hard to try to define in a single post. As Alneyan said, there are 3 race paradigms you must choose between: Physical (normal mechanical and technological race, similar to stock SE4), Organic (advance through evolution rather than scientific research, utilize living, sentient vessels and such), and Magic (who are at a psuedo-medieval tech level and have forgone technological advancement, instead choosing to develop potent magical capabilities). Beyond this, there are many, many efforts at increasing the strategic options available to you the player, leading to a deeper, richer, often much more complicated play envirnment in which hopefully there is not really a "best choice." This has lead to the incorporation of ideas such as many more choices for racial traits, much more balaned racial characteristic costs and limits (aggressiveness and defensiveness max out at 10, with Berzerker culture giving only +5% space combat bonus, but having massive penalties nearly everywhere else, for example), QNP (mass based movement speed), leaky armor, leaky shielding, engines being split into two component types to separate the movement and supply abilities ("engines" and "reactors"), large changes to resource costs so that overall their use is more balanced than in stock, where 95% of what you use (unless Organic race) will be minerals, extensions to various tech trees, the elimination of stock scale mounts for weapons, replaced by a slew of mounts that all have benefits and tradeoffs, rebalancing of the weapons, etc, etc, etc.

[Atrocities]

Adamant mod is getting better with each Version. Right now it is more or less set up for MP rather than SP, but that is slowly changing as a few people set up AI's.

The Star Trek Mod and the AST mod are both good mods if you like Star Trek.

[Fyron]

I should probably also add that the paradigm you choose affects everything, as they have separate, distinct tech trees.

[David E. Gervais]

"The best mod for se4 is 'The Miner's Guild Mod'"

If you don't believe me, try it out.

Cheers! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

How's that for a blatant plug? LOL

[AMF]

Ok, so I have used DevNull extensively, and just got into the Star Trek mod and now I am thinking of going for a third mod...so:

Why is Adamant so good?
When you say it has no "SP AI" yet, does that mean it is not applicable for Solitaire play (not that I do that anymore, actually...)
Where can I get it?

(I know, I know, these are newbie questions...my apologies in advance...)

thanks,

Alarik

Originally posted by Atrocities:
I have say that I enjoy Adamant very much, and I think it is by far going to be the best mod for SE IV in the end. (That is if it is ever finished. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif )

If you have not tried it, you should. It has a learning curve, no SP AI as of yet, but its getting there. <font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">

[Alneyan]

You can get it at Spaceempires.net (http://www.spaceempires.net) in the downloads section of the site. (There is a section dedicated to Adamant as well on this site.)

There is no AI as for now, so you cannot play this mod in singleplayer. Well, you could, but the AI would not do much so. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

The premise of Adamant is to choose between three races, Physical ones (such as the ones in SEIV), Organic races (I cannot speak of these) and Magical beings. (Spelljammers!) And then you have quite a few ideas here and there, but I should let Fyron speak of his own mod I guess.

I will have to mention P&N as a very enjoyable mod. (Nomadic races! How to develop an Empire without colonization abilities! And the Pirate clans, although I don't know these much.)

[PaladinX]

Question about Adamant... I just downloaded it to see what it's like... Playing single player (I know the AI isn't coded, not concerned with that). I'm curious whether the colonization is so difficult by design...

What I mean is, even after picking "rock native" as a trait, I still can't colonize any planets, because the Ark is a 330 kt vessel, and the colony module is a 3,000 kt component...

[Rollo]

There are a lot of mods out there, but no matter how many tweaks, additions, etc. are done, the game remains the same.

My two favotite mods remove essential parts of the game: my absolute favorite mod is Puke's Junkyard Mod, runner-up is Geo's drone wars. (honorable mention of SJ's Rock-Paper-Scissors mod)

PS: apart from those two (err, three)... of course Devnull Mod Gold is the best http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

[ February 15, 2004, 01:18: Message edited by: Rollo ]

[Ed Kolis]

Originally posted by PaladinX:
Question about Adamant... I just downloaded it to see what it's like... Playing single player (I know the AI isn't coded, not concerned with that). I'm curious whether the colonization is so difficult by design...

What I mean is, even after picking "rock native" as a trait, I still can't colonize any planets, because the Ark is a 330 kt vessel, and the colony module is a 3,000 kt component... <font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">There's a Colony Mount which lets you put the colony component on the colony ship... and the mount is only available for the colony ship, so you can't put it on a larger ship! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

[Atrocities]

Man who would have thought that so many people would make so many cool mods. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Mineral Mods are the best!

[tesco samoa]

P.S.

Sweet mod is cool as well if you want a game with the gloves off huge fleet engagements http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/shock.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/shock.gif

[gregebowman]

I think it would help if you would let us know if these mods you're describing are for solo-play or PBW. I mean, I keep upgrading my Adamant mod folder, but since I haven't gotten around to playing it, I didn't know that it isn't ready for solo play yet. So when you describe the mods, don't forget to let us know who can play it. Thanks.

[Fyron]

Originally posted by Atrocities:
I have say that I enjoy Adamant very much, and I think it is by far going to be the best mod for SE IV in the end. (That is if it is ever finished. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif )

If you have not tried it, you should. It has a learning curve, no SP AI as of yet, but its getting there. <font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Grege, I figured it was already covered. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

[QBrigid]

For solo play the AI Campaign MOD is the best http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon6.gif

[JLS]

Proportions, DevNull and P&N are a few of the founding grandfathers of many mods and with respect to AI design for solitaire and MP play, QB; TDM is the MOD most of us cut are teeth on...

[ February 19, 2004, 14:46: Message edited by: JLS ]

[gregebowman]

Originally posted by Imperator Fyron:
</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Originally posted by Atrocities:
I have say that I enjoy Adamant very much, and I think it is by far going to be the best mod for SE IV in the end. (That is if it is ever finished. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif )

If you have not tried it, you should. It has a learning curve, no SP AI as of yet, but its getting there. <font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Grege, I figured it was already covered. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">It may have been covered, but there are so many mods out there now, I can't keep them all straight. One reason I didn't get around to trying the mod yet.

[Randallw]

As a tester for the various sweet mods I can verify you do get big fleets. Usually with unmodded battles, you get the opposing fleets form up on opposite sides in small formations and then move to intercept the opponent. In the Last battle I watched we had at least 200 Dreadnoughts each and they just swarmed into orbit of the planet in the center and fought to the death. Eventually the fleets each ran out of supplies and sat in opposite corners.