Pointer Mod -- v1.2 Released

[Urendi Maleldil]

While I'm finishing up the data files I'd like some critiques. I'm particularly proud of the propulsion system, but ships designed in this mod are quite a bit different from those in the stock game (or even one used in QNP mods).

The average propulsion scheme should be three engines and one "reactor". That will take up about 50% of the ship's tonnage. Don't be afraid of loosing space to put weapons and stuff though. Miniaturization is taken into account, starts happening right away as you travel up the Construction tech branch, and you'll see a greater miniaturization benefits on larger ships. You can, of course, also add more or fewer engines and "Reactors" as you see fit.

Here's the latest Version. Everything is nearly complete except for the AI. It looks like battles will be mostly defensive until someone develops capital ships. Light attack ships are cheaper, lightly armed and fast, but won't have the destructive potential of a space station.

It looks like the cap ships will have much more power to take on those pesky stations, but the strategy you use will depend on what ships you build and in what proportions. Missiles will be good against stationary targets and cap ships, but only effective when fired in Groups because of enemy point-defense.

Fighters look like they will be a good strategy. And MAC gun-armed defensive platforms will be an excellent at warp point defense until you move up either the Laser or Particle Beam tech branch. If your Fighter research is high enough you can even put mini MAC guns on Shuttles.

I'm still fiddling with the research costs, so any input would be appreciated. Also keep your eye out for redundant components and facilities (things that do the same thing). I want to streamline things as much as possible. I think I've gotten rid of most of them.

Sorry to all those who play Religious races. I haven't developed the Religeous racial trait at all and will probably drop it from the mod and replace it with something else.

Right now the Pointer Mod uses Fyron's Quadrant Mod deluxe, but I might build my own stellar object files to fit the strategies of this mod.

So download, give lots of input, and happy hunting.

[Timstone]

The mod sounds great sofar, Urendi. I still have a question.
I really like long games with relatively slow tech progress. That way you have to do a long time with your weapons before something new is on the market. Is a situation also possible in your mod?

[Urendi Maleldil]

The tech costs are not set yet, but some of the techs will be more expensive than others. Construction will be cheap early on, so the race you play will have access to a wide variety of strategic options right away, but many of the other techs will be expensive enough to work for.

Obvious expensive techs are some of the capital ship hulls, and weapons like Phasers, Turbolasers, and Megascale Engineering.

But some less obvious conceptual tech levels will be higher as well like "Propulsion" or "Torpedo Weapons". Those have very few levels (Torpedo Weapons only has one), but open up greater options for tech branches that have already been researched.

For example, researching Propulsion by itself gives you nothing, but once you have progressed up the Plasma Technology branch, Plasma Engines require Propulsion level 2.

I haven't messed with the "Raise Level" option yet. That would change the research speed of various techs. I've designed the tech tree so that researching everything in a single game will be next to impossible. Research in some techs should go slightly slower than the stock game, but a few of the main brances are a little cheaper so while the research might be slower, the pace of the game seems faster.

[Timstone]

Thanks for the answer Urendi.
I hope the mod will be available soon.

I was busy making my own mod, but due to graduation and the limitations of SE IV I stopped all work on it.

[Urendi Maleldil]

I guess there's a lot of little things I've done in this mod, but only two main things:

1. The Tech Tree
It's totally redesigned. Whatever combinations of techs an empire researches better affects the way that empire will play the game.

Physics gives bigger guns, faster engines. Construction gives you your ship hulls and will eventually yield Megascale engineering (for orbital towers, ringworlds, space habs, and that kind of stuff). Economics research gives greater production capacity, but is a greater drain on your empire's economy if managed poorly. Psychology/Sociology and Biology/Chemistry allow you to manage population better and help you secure your empire. (Unless you're a Psychic or Organic race. Then you'll find all your cool technologies there)

Some research is almost indispensable. Every race will probably want to research Construction till they get at least cruisers and Physics till they get Nukes. You can go without these techs, but you'll have a slower time expanding
and a hard time defending against an enemiy's fully-loaded Nuclear Missile Cruiser.

I've incorporated things from books, movies and tv shows that I would like to have seen in the game and plugged them into the tech tree where they would work the best. The most famous are probably the Phasers and the Superlasers, but I'm particularly fond of the Psychohistory facilities.


2. Ship Design
Propulsion:
I originally just wanted something better than the QNP propulsion system. I liked the mQNP idea, but it had limitations too. So I decided to combine them into a hybrid system.

I wanted ship designs to devote a large percentage of their tonnage to vital systems. As it stands now ships using Construction Level 1 mounts will give a little over 50% of their hull space to engines, bridge, CQ, Life Support and supply components. Miniaturization is included in the mounts as a race researches up the construction tree.

Engines per Move = (Ship kT * 2 / 1000) > 0
Engine mount reduction = (Ship Kt / 10) - Miniaturization Level

Using this system means that capital ships (Cruisers, Dreads, Battleships) have much more useable space than smaller ships and can pack more of a punch in battle.

This also makes Stations and Satellites more valuable because they don't have to use up that 50% and can devote 100% to weapons or whatever.

The system isn't perfect *yet*. Right now a 200kT Frigate has about 10kT less useable space than a 150kT Escort. A minor adjustment, but everything else is fine.

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As for the little things, they're too numerous to count.

I increased the value of electronics by making them really small. (as they should be)

Military Science gives you some interesting tactical weapons like the Seeker Decoy and Chaff and also opens up new weapon types.

As I've built the mod new things keep appearing automatically. For example there appear to be four distinct types of direct-fire weapons:

* Heavy weapons: MAC gun, Superlaser, Reflex Cannon, Grav Lance, Ion Cannon, Disintegrator, Graviton Hellbore
* Medium Weapons: Phaser, Disruptor, Turbolaser, Antiproton Cannon, Fusion Beam Cannon, Plasma Cannon
* Light Weapons: Laser, Railgun, Meson Cannon, Graser Cannon, Plasma BLaster
* Torpedo Weapons: Plasma, Gravimetric, Antimatter, Subspace, Quantum

They're all good at different things. I didn't plan them that way, they just came out that way. It's like I'm not the only one working on this mod. Weird.

It's a long summary I know, but I was on a roll. I hope this answers some of your questions.

[Urendi Maleldil]

Latest Updates:
I've moved to New York and I'm busy scouting the city for work. Never fear though. Work progresses on the Mod. Facility.txt is now complete. AI is a little better, but modding them is a little more time-consuming than modding the data files.

1/8/05
changed resource usage on commercial facilities
removed Cloning Center facility (duplicate of Gestation Vats)
added Gestation Vats II-V
added Replicant Center II-V
added Commercial Ecology Center II-V

[Urendi Maleldil]

Here's the latest Version

Updates: Filled in a few blanks and added in a few of the things I've been planning. I've totally fixed the hull sizes. Now there's a reason to actually build 200kt frigates instead of 150kt escorts.

To do: Still gotta get the AI up and running. Seems like once I fix one problem another one comes creeping up on me. There's one success though: the AI will design Scout ships with normal engines and supply components and then design them with Light Sails and Solar Arrays when they become available.

I tried doing the same thing with Transports and Colony Ships, but it just adds a wierd number of Cargo Bays and colony components instead. Maybe one of you guys can figurte it out.

Updates list:
1/12/05
added One Per Vehicle restriction to Stasis Field
added Launch Rail II-V
added Hyperspace Jump Gate II-V
added Hyperjump Drive Initiator II-V
added Hyperjump Drive Terminator II-V
added Ion Cannon II-V
added Grav Lance II-V
added Planetary Mass Driver II-V
added Reflex Missile II-V
added Reflex Warhead II-V
added Orbital Foundry I-V
added Orbital Refinery I-V
added Orbital Hydroponics I-V
increased Minerals Extraction tech area to 8
increased Radioactives Extraction tech area to 8
removed Resource Extraction tech area (no longer used)
added Orbital Academy I-V

1/11/05
added Hyperspace Jump Gate I (for B5 style propulsion)
added Hyperjump Drive Initiator I
added Hyperjump Drive Terminator I
added Planetary Mass Driver I
added Launch Rail I
increased cargo capacity of Rider Bay
increased cargo capacity of Cargo Bay
added Garbage tech area
fixed Transwarp Engine roman numerals
fixed ship hull sizes


Edit: corrected bad download

[Ed Kolis]

Any chance of an upcoming PBW test game?