SE4 Stock Balance Mod

[Loser]

Originally posted by Krsqk:
... Armor III, since it has a better ratio than the Stealth/Scattering armors.

Do not underestimate the power of Emissive Armor. Please excuse the following self-quote.

The amount of 'soak' on Emissive Armor III makes it exactly equivalent to Armor III: 40kt structure/10kt for Armor III and 50kt structure + 30kt 'soak'/20kt for Emissive Armor III. If you increase the amount of 'soak' on Emissive armor I think it would be proper to decrease the amount of structural kt, as this balance seems appropriate.

[edit: here rather than another reply.]

I think lowering the damage on the PPB would make other weapons more attractive, but the same thing could be accomplished by reworking the other weapons. There should be one weapon with the best damage / (tonnage * rate), but it should be the one without all the other goodies, like superior range, low supply usage, to-hit, and other special abilities.

For this one, best, all-around weapon I think you could just tool-up the DUC, make it the moderate range heavy D/TR. Make PPB a little more specialized, maybe lower its D/TR. Make APB the long-range moderate D/TR direct fire weapon that this game is more-or-less lacking, you might need to add a to-hit bonus just to make it actually hit things at those long ranges and that's all the more reason to lower it's D/TR. Or maybe we already have this long range, better to-hit, moderate D/TR in the WMG, and the APB is meant to be used a moderate ranges, it just penalized the heck out of you for misusing it...

I'm not going to try to address the other entries on Taera's List, but I do think Shield Regenerators need to be fixed. (Or maybe someone just needs to tell me how they're meant to be used.)

I think Armor is fine, except for maybe the way the AI treats it. But then the AI designer should be able to call for Emissive, and it's the best non-Racial protection offered.

[ July 28, 2003, 12:47: Message edited by: Loser ]

[Suicide Junkie]

The problem is emissive dosen't stack.

What you really want is one emissive to give the effect, and lots of standard armors to absorb what's left...

AI, when given a call for armor, will pick the one with the highest tech requirements, furthest down the list in components.txt
All the other armors have a special ability to call for, so the reccommended change is to move the standard armor down in the file, and add copies of S.A. III that have tech levels 4 through 6.

Given the above, a token improvement for levels 4 to 6 would look better than exact duplicates.

[ July 28, 2003, 13:03: Message edited by: Suicide Junkie ]

[Loser]

Originally posted by Suicide Junkie:
The problem is emissive dosen't stack.

It kind of does. The first 30 points are taken off the damage when it hits the first Emissive Armor III. Let's say it goes over that, and has enough left to destroy the remaining 50 points of actual structure. Then it hits the next Emissive Armor III and 30 more points are taken off, before the shot is allowed to damage the next Emissive Armor III.

This makes each 20 kiloton Emissive Armor III equivalent to a 10 kiloton Armor III in protection per kiloton, with the added bonus of negating some trailing damage now and then. Of course, it's significantly more expensive, so I wouldn't use it on suicidal ships or Weapon Platforms. As well I'm not sure the Emissive ability works on WPs.

Please correct me if I am mistaken.

[ July 28, 2003, 14:52: Message edited by: Loser ]

[Suicide Junkie]

In SE3, it did.

In SE4, the highest Emissive ability of the ship is used, no matter which component is hit.
(For damage types that don't skip armor)
It works similarily to Crystalline armor, really.

[ July 28, 2003, 14:58: Message edited by: Suicide Junkie ]

[Pax]

Originally posted by Suicide Junkie:
Given the above, a token improvement for levels 4 to 6 would look better than exact duplicates.

A token mprovement for them, and an overall hp/kT improvement for all armor, would be best.

Here's a possible suggestion:

code:

---

Component ... Old HP      ... New HP      ... Net Research cost

                                              (Medium)

Armor I   ... 30 (3.0/kT) ...  30 ( 3/kT) ...  55,000

Armor II  ... 35 (3.5/kT) ...  40 ( 4/kT) ...  65,000

Armor III ... 40 (4.0/kT) ...  50 ( 5/kT) ...  87,500

Armor IV  ... n/a         ...  60 ( 6/kT) ... 127,000

Armor V   ... n/a         ...  80 ( 8/kT) ... 199,500

Armor VI  ... n/a         ... 100 (10/kT) ... 289,500



Note, the cost includes the cost of Chemistry(1) at 50,000.

---

Compare this with shields:

code:

---

Component  ... Old HP+SP        ... Net Research cost

                                    ( Medium )

Shield I   ... 30+50  ( 2.7/kT) ...    60,000

Shield II  ... 40+100 ( 3.5/kT) ...    80,000

Shield III ... 40+150 ( 4.8/kT) ...   125,000

Shield IV  ... 40+225 ( 6.6/kT) ...   205,000

Shield V   ... 40+300 ( 8.5/kT) ...   330,000

Phased I   ... 40+75  ( 2.9/kT) ...   510,000

Phased II  ... 40+150 ( 4.8/kT) ...   755,000

Phased III ... 40+225 ( 6.6/kT) ... 1,075,000

Phased IV  ... 40+300 ( 8.5/kT) ... 1,480,000

Phased V   ... 40+375 (10.4/kT) ... 1,980,000



Note, the cost includes the cost of Physics(1) at 50,000.

---

With that said, I think that a few things should be fixed. The Shield Generator I component is the ONLY 30kT shield generator. IMO, it should be upped to 40kT, with 40kT structure, to maintain the pattern.

As well, Shield IV and V have greater increases in shieldign levels compared to prior levels. I think they should be adjusted to 200 and 250, respectively.

OTOH, the entire progression fo Shield tech and components could be changed:

code:

---

Component  ... New HP+SP        ... Net Research cost

                                    ( Medium )

Shield I   ... 40+100 ( 3.5/kT) ...    60,000

Phased I   ... 40+50  ( 2.3/kT) ...    80,000

Shield II  ... 40+200 ( 6.0/kT) ...   125,000

Phased II  ... 40+100 ( 3.5/kT) ...   205,000

Shield III ... 40+300 ( 8.5/kT) ...   330,000

Phased III ... 40+150 ( 4.8/kT) ...   510,000

Shield IV  ... 40+400 (11.0/kT) ...   755,000

Phased IV  ... 40+200 ( 6.0/kT) ... 1,075,000

Shield V   ... 40+500 (13.5/kT) ... 1,480,000

Phased V   ... 40+250 ( 7.3/kT) ... 1,980,000



Note, the cost includes the cost of Physics(1) at 50,000.

---

This would make unphased shields better, for the same comparative level of component, in terms of SP generated, and total effective hp/kT. Of course, it's then rock-paper-scissors WRT PPBs, APBs, and the like: do you want more SP but vulnerability to PPBs, or, do you want less total SP but the ability to stop PPBs with your shields?

It might also serve to nerf PPB without changing that weapon at all, as the first phased shields (albeit weaker than unphased) would be available for a total of only 80,000 research points, rather than the current 510,000 cost.

[Asmala]

My suggestions (lots of them has been mentioned earlier by others but without exact numbers):

• Different component families to normal and phased shields (doesn't affect to computer, easier to upgrade ships if using normal shielding)
• Supply Storage: double the amount of supply stored and count as a cargo space (ridiculous that an engine can store more supply per kT than a supply storage)
• Massive Shield Depleter and Massive Ionic Disperser: +100% to hit (only one hit per combat so it should hit)
• Ship and Fleet Training Facilities system wide, only 1% per turn, max 10/15/20 (only one effective per system)
• Psychic training centers 1/2/3 max 10/15/20
• To hit modifiers to weapon description (one dummy-ability which describes the modifier)
• Citizen Databank Complex and System Citizen Databank: intelligence 1 for tech area required (when playing without intelligence those facilities won't appear then)
• Massive Planetary Shield Generator: 30000 shield generation
• Medical Lab: prevents level 1/3/5 plagues instead of 1/2/3
• One-resource bonus facilities should have 20/40/60 bonus
• Scanners:
  Temporal/Psychic: half the size and costs -> 20kT and 750/0/250
  Hyper Optics: double the cost (3000/0/1000)
  Gravitic sensor: no changes
  Tachyon sensor: level 3 tachyon sensor scanning level from 4 to 5 -> the only sensor which see through the red system-wide storm. Level 5 scanner will also see mines though in their description says it prevents level 5 scans. Perhaps mines' cloaking should be rised.
  

Some comments please!

[Asmala]

Originally posted by Pax:
Here's a possible suggestion:

I wouldn't improve the armor so much. You should remember that Shield Depleter is extremely powerful weapon. Just include a few of them and all of enemy's shields will be gone very quickly. So if an armor and a shield have the same HP/kT I'd rather choose the armor (unless I'm facing a crystal race )