Space Monsters for Devnull Mod Gold
Version 1.11
Date 27.06.2002
SE4 Gold version 1.67
Devnull Mod Version 1.62


Description
===========
This is an attempt to add Space Monsters to SE4 by modding. The Space Monsters are basically
just a normal AI. However they do have their own tech tree with special hulls, components and
facilities. They do not colonize and expand their empire, but operate from hidden invisible home planets.


Difficulty
==========
The difficulty of the Space Monsters can be changed by adjusting the base cost of Monster Tech in the TechArea.txt file (last entry in the file). You can find this file under .../DevnullModGold/Data. The current default is 200000. Also the number of starting planets and number of race points will have great effect on the Monsters speed of advancement. The more starting planets the faster big and dangerous monsters will show up. 5000 race point monsters will advance very fast. Also take into consideration the AI bonus. With a high AI bonus, the monsters will be at maximum tech pretty fast.

*****
NOTE: 	Do not play with monsters in full tech games. This might screw up their designs.
		Also they will be able to use offensive intel (you don't want that).
*****

How to play with Space Monsters
===============================
Add the Monsters to the game with "add existing empire" during the game setup. The Monsters have been given a personality number of -1, so they would not be chosen as random race.
However, this is not 100% sure. So, if you want to make sure that there are no monsters in the game and don't like looking into the players list in the option menu, you have to temporarily remove the .../DevnullModGold/pictures/races/monsters folder before the game setup. If you are unsure what to do, please ask in the forum or per email (snickelsen@web.de). It is quite easy to do, but hard to explain :-).


List of Changes
===============
Version 1.11
27.06.2002:	* changed vehicle construction and design names for attack ships, because the AI
		  would design and build obsolete monsters

Version 1.10
18.05.2002:	* raised cost of monster tech to 200000 and number of levels to 99
		* reduced bite damage
		* added bogus ability (palace) to monster internals and changed designs
		  accordingly
		* changed sizes of small/big monsters to 410/810 and changed designs
		  accordingly
		* added sensors to monster bases to detect cloaked ships in monster homesystems
		* changed bogus ability for bioelectric beam from medical bay to resource
		  generation - minerals and changed designs accordingly
		* lowered number of planet eating space worms in vehicle construction
		* added self-destruct to small monster hull
		* changed first entry of vehicle construction for not connected state from
		  Defense Base to Base Space Yard
		* lowered number of immune systems of space worms to 8. Now 41 level 5 boarding
		  parties can "self-destruct" the worm. Note: "Self-destruct" will NOT completely
		  destroy the worm, but cause 10000 damage.
		* changed politics: monsters will not demand surrender anymore
		* changed min and max tonnage for monster base to 600
		* added huge monster beam for the Space Worm, so it does not fire 50 times
		  anymore, which was annoying
		* changed bogus ability for ice breath from scanner jammer to Resource
		  Generation - Organics and changed designs accordingly
		* added bogus ability (Resource Generation - Radioactives) to large monster
		  armor and changed designs accordingly
		* raised cost of monster hulls, so monsters cannot rebuild their losses so fast
		* added anti-planet drone
		* changed drone settings
		* changed politics to (hopefully) not demand/accept anything
		* added energy monster and corresponding components
		* changed tech levels of monster components and hulls to move dragons and worms
		  further back

Version 1.00
27.04.2002:	* Initial release of space monsters


Credits
=======
graphics by:
Andres Lescano: Dragon, Wasp, energy monster, components and weapon display
Damien Lescano: Cephalopeia pictures
Dogscoff: Giant Worm
the creators of the Godzilla movies: race portrait

sound by Malfador Machinations and Godzilla

components, concept, and AI by Rollo
		

Thanks
======
Rollo thanks Devnullicus and everybody else involved in creating the Devnull Mod, Geoschmo for
reviving it, and of course Malfador Machinations for creating SE4 in the first place.

Thanks to Puke for valuable input in creating the monster hulls/components. Also many thanks to all the posters in the Space Monster thread at the Shrapnel Games forum.
Without the many ideas posted there this would not have been possible to achieve.


Website
=======
A good place for feedback, bug reports, and new ideas is this thread in the forum:
http://www.shrapnelgames.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=23&t=003164


Contact
=======
For suggestions, feedback and bug reports about the Monsters drop an email to:
snickelsen@web.de