UM question

[Skulky]

I have just gotten the new Version of the Ultimate mod. Very cool in general. I wanted to try some of the new racial traits. they didn't seem to have much of anything. I kept plugging away at researchign them but kept falling farther and farther behind. Eventually i got a few things from them, not too great. I tried a game with all techs and only found a few more levels. only 1 or 2 in some cases, 3 or 4 in others. I think the max i got was 6 from one tech. 1500 racial points for one of these? It doesn' seem like a fully developed idea yet.
The new items in the old racial traits make them much better so the added bonus of a few cool components doesn't seem like it is worth it.In the P&N mod (that thread is slowly dying) you have all sorts of overlapping racial traits. Not so here. I think it would be great to improve some of these things. In the P&N thread there were some ideas for Gravity based racial traits. Maybe you could solict the fellow who made those to offer them up to be included in the mod.

Some of the ideas IIRC were PDG (PD gravity) that would do better PD damage at range but coudl have a small zone where it couldn't hit. grav lens that did defense i think... well all of that is at the P&N thread here (http://www.shrapnelgames.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=23&t=001696&p=) just look for it.

Overall, a great mod, just seems to missing some stuff or racial is too expensive. I am waiting for someone to do a scenario. And the interface (tons of stuff) is a little daunting.

[Suicide Junkie]

The UM is definitely not finished, and maybe never will be, since it is so big & malfador keeps putting out patches http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

And those grav techs were "originally balanced for the UM", and Jimbob then worked on a Version for P&N, IIRC. In the discussion, it mutated and is now very different from the one going into UM. The only thing left to do is for me to stop procrastinating on the work http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif .

[disabled]

It's kinda ironic, everytime the UM2 nears a major release, MM puts out a patch setting us all back.

[ June 14, 2003, 18:10: Message edited by: General Talashar ]

[Phoenix-D]

Well, if the UM is *that* big, you might get one of the "regular" game websites to host it. Somehow I doubt it's bigger than, say, the Independance War 2 demo (200+ MB if AFIAK)

Phoenix-D

[y.a.newbe]

If there are no copyright issues P2P nets might be of some help.
(edonkey, winmx, gnutella,...)

[Skulky]

hey what about morpheus? and what is edonkey. wouldn't someone else with the file have to be on and sharing it for people to get it... and the more ppl the better. no offense but i don't think there as many SE4 people as there are people with say 'Enter Sandman'. Maybe i don't understand this whole hosting deal, but if you have your own website (like spaceempires.org) would it be a problem. And while i don't know about programing im sure you coudl write something to restrict downloads and give people a queue number and wait them in a virtual line until the server is not overloaded. I have seen this done before where you are placed in line, not more than 15-30 min and the browser just tells you when you can get it again and downloads it for you.

[y.a.newbe]

True. The are more sandmen than Space Empires out there.
http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif
Thus P2P is not the best way for the distribution of UM.
I just wanted to point out that if no webserver can be found there are still alternate ways to spread the data. (also they might help reduce the load)

PS.: edonkey is best for big(huge) files http://www.edonkey2000.com/

[ 08 January 2002: Message edited by: y.a.newbe ]</p>

[disabled]

I think staged releases would be the best option.

[ June 14, 2003, 18:01: Message edited by: General Talashar ]

[Skulky]

Right now i want to say that i would pay at least $5 maybe 10 no more, for a completed gold compatible Version. On CD or with infinite download capability with a certian key number. You have something great here and i don't want it to die for lack of funds. I think others would pay for a finalized gold Version (unless MM is including it on the CD). the UM is so great, on equal footing with P&N i can't compare them further as they are in different classes. Both quality. I am opposed to paying for things like this, but here is such a gem that the demise of SE4.org and the UM would be a disaster.

[disabled]

I hope we don't lose SE.org, if we do we might lose the mod and that would suck even more.

[ June 14, 2003, 18:07: Message edited by: General Talashar ]

[jimbob]

Oh yeah,

The UM is great stuff, and I'd absolutely buy the CD (of course I'm in Canada so 5-10 USD is like 7-18 CdnD. Don't suppose we could get it on par, eh? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif ).

Oh, and sorry 'bout the confusion on the Gravity tech stuff, I thought that I had communicated that I was offering it to both the "Ultimate Universe" and the "P&N Universe". In both cases I gave the rights away to the creators of these two mods, so I'm sure that both mutated to better fit their respective universes.

Happy New Year and all that
jimbob

[Mudshark]

Hadrian Aventine, I'm playing with starting a strategy guide/tactical. your hosting would fit in with what I'm thinking. A pure stategic\Tactical site. I threw the idea to the message board and I think that the ideas would meld nicely.email me at petemmer@earthlink.net

[disabled]

I agree, I'm all for buying the mod if it helps keep Se.org Online!

[ June 14, 2003, 18:05: Message edited by: General Talashar ]

[jimbob]

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr>The Religious techs are broken down by religions with each religion having seperate strengths and weaknesses.<hr></blockquote>

So, does this mean that we wouldn't choose "religious" as a racial trait. Rather each religion is a separate racial trait? This would be good because it would maintain game balance.

UM is great, keep it coming!
jimbob

[disabled]

I hope it's kept to the most basic portions, i would hate to see Se.org endorse any kind of religion in the UM.

[ June 14, 2003, 18:04: Message edited by: General Talashar ]

[Urendi Maleldil]

Buddhism is a form of pantheism as is Hinduism, not theism. da?

The development of technology depends more on a generalized philosophy or world view rather than a more specific religeon.

It would be easier to script techs based on broad world views rather than religeons. The tech areas would then also be easier for the end user to understand.

You could also do it by paradigms, but you'd have to invent most of your own because they are really broad.

[disabled]

I always felt as technology advanced, religion for space faring civilizations would decline.

[ June 14, 2003, 18:02: Message edited by: General Talashar ]

[jimbob]

Errr...

I wonder if assigning specific effects to actual religions might just cause a wee bit of angst amongst their actual devotees due to the inevitable 'stereotyping' that must occur when simplifying.

For example we can see Christianity being attached to everything from genocide (Spanish Crusade) to absolute benevolence (Mother Theresa) and a great deal between. Buddism practitioners range in 'flavor' from theist to atheist, and can be considered to harbour pantheist in their midst as well (the latter being Tibetan if I'm not mistaken). Extreme examples could probably be given for every major religion, including Secular Humanism http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

Is it possible to keep things generic, like Monotheistic, Pantheistic, etc. to avoid these problems?

Just my 2 bytes.
jimbob

[oh, and Astrology and Islam are believed by many to be the catalysts for the synthesis of advanced mathematics. The blame for calculus can be laid squarely on the shoulders of Newton however http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif ]

[ 18 January 2002: Message edited by: jimbob ]</p>

[disabled]

Edit, nevermind.

[ June 14, 2003, 18:01: Message edited by: General Talashar ]