Eclipse Mod

[astruskustuvas]

this mod is worth your job believe me.This mod neads some tweaking (AI) but it is great at RP aspect if you could impove this id play till my PC blows up.This mod is great.
Did i said how GREAT this mod is?


This is not a joke.

[Ed Kolis]

I'd have started a PBW game using this mod but it seemed that no one was interested, and besides, I'm in too many games already... but I'm sure I could be persuaded to join one more

As for SP, well, I never finish any SP games I start, and once I heard the AI wasn't working right that kinda made me even less likely to continue... but again, a PBW game would be great!

[Makinus]

I was analizing your mod and it appears to me that the Racial Traits are a little unbalanced/redundant...

One example would be the Racial Traiot that reduces maintenance, that leaves completely pointless to change the Maintenance Reduction characteristic, adn also, the Racial Trait try to reduce maintenance to -25, reducing it to 0%, what is impossible, since the game is hardcoded to have at least a maintenace of 5% (could be reduced only through ship components)...

Other thing that i found too excessive is the use of armor regeneration in nearly all components, if you do this you would be negating one of the principal bonuses of the organic races...

I found interesting however the Fighter bonus in Racial traits, that would increase the effectivenes of fightes, that, in the unmodded games, become completely obsolete from mid-game onward...

The Ship bonus i find a little excessive (50%), since it would be the equivalent of a Talisman (religious race) in every ship.... maybe you can reduce the bonus a little, or make the Trait more expensive, or even make 2 traits, one with a lower bonus and other with a higher bonus, with corresponding differences in prices...

I found interesting your use of technology, but i think you give too much traits to the AIs, making them somewhat generic, maybe if you limit the Racial Techs to 1 racial tech for each Ai it would add some flavor to the game...

If you really want, i can try to design AIs for your mod (basing them in the TDM AIs), but i would like to know first what "flavor" you wish to give to each AI...

I found very interesting the concept of giving different tech trees and components to each empire, because it would add an additional "flavor" to the AI empires...

One major decision you must make is if your mod will be more based in Multiplayer or if you wish to concentrate in solo player too, the reason for this is because in solo player you must consider if the AI will use effectively all the componentts and techs you are giving them, or if the components and techs can only be effectively used by the human players, because there is a limit in what can be modded in the Ai, and what is hard-coded and can´t be changed...

I have some suggestions in how to increase the option of your mod, but first lets try to balance it a little more and mod the AI to use the new techs and components effectivelly...

If you want my help, of course...

[Kevin Arisa]

I'll take any help I can get. AI is very difficult for me to work with so getting assistance would be wonderful. And the other comments are exactly what I wanted. I need to know what people like and dislike. The AI is functional. It actually gives me a hard time every now and then. When I said "unrefined" I meant that an ace player would find the AI predictable and easy to out-maneuver. I am far from being an ace player so it is difficult for me to gauge how well the AI will perform. If I can get help with the AI then things would go much more smoothly.

One thing though, the regeneration was supposed to simulate repairs during combat. Certain components have a regeneration rate of 1 per turn. All the repairs actually come from engineering. If it is destroyed it would pretty much negate the regeneration. I really like this aspect of the mod so maybe the rest of you will have an idea on how to adjust it rather that remove it.

Anyway, thanks for the replies.

[Ed Kolis]

Ah yes, the engineering departments... I like the way you did those... and the gas giants which are HUNDREDS of times bigger than other planets, that's just incredible! Not to mention all the new graphics for this mod......

[Kevin Arisa]

I went and made a few adjustments:

1. ALL organic and botanical technologies except for Scale Plating and Photosynthesis Armor have a regeneration rate of 1. Regenerative armor has had it's regeneration rate reduced to 1. There is now a Regeneration Core component that's only purpose is to provide regeneration to Bio-Engineering races.

2. Components that generate shields from damage have had their effectiveness increased. The smaller amounts seemed inneffective.

3. The Engineering Prowess trait has been reworked and no longer effects maintenance. It is now the better of two Supply Reduction traits.

4. Thrusters for fighters, more levels to remote mining, regeneration on the Hydro-Density Armor has been removed and it's emmissive ability enhanced, trait cost increases, a few image adjustments, and changes to the system disruption technologies.

I'll keep adjusting the mod as problems and suggestions come in.

[ June 08, 2004, 21:31: Message edited by: Kevin Arisa ]

[Kevin Arisa]

Regarding the Gas Giants, I cannot take credit for that idea. That was from the Starscape mod which I also got the planet and warp point images from.