Newbies Q: Which Mods?

[javaslinger]

Ok, I've got the sound mod.. That's the only one I was sure I should get...

Ok, there seem to be a bazillion other mods as well... AI Mods, component mods, race mods, mega mods, monster mods, space yard mods, research tree mods, ugh!

Which ones should I get??? Should I wait a few weeks until they're all tested with the Lastest of latest patches??

What are the differences between all these mods?

Is there one single mod to end all mods?

And Lastly, if there are all these people improving the games standard races AI, why haven't they included these changes in the latest patches? Or are all these mods just matters of preference and taste??

Thanks,

Ken

[pathfinder]

hmmm...
the MODPACK by Tampa_gamer, Mephisto, Daynar, et al is an excellent compilation of various fixes that WAS incorporated into the Last patch. I haven't looked at the readme for the 1.50 MODPACK to see what improvements/changes were made it versus their Last mod (which is what was incorporated into patch 1.27)

I also use the ones by God Emperor (research) and SunDevil (anger & politics).

I suspect some of what has been done, especially in component stuff, is personal preference.

Whatever you do, install one MOD at a time, just in case a boo-boo happens (and back up whatever file(s) is/are being overwritten)

[This message has been edited by pathfinder (edited 01 March 2001).]

[zen.]

My biggest fear about -some- of the mods is that it hasn't been playtested. Don't get me wrong, I play with quite a few mods, but the thing for me that would make a mod 'not good' is if I can utilize new components/strategies, but the AI can't. In which case, it would simply be another form of cheating. (Not that there is anything wrong with that. )

Either way, in case it hasn't been noted in the past, extra kudos to the Modders who thoroughly test their mods with the AI! It's appreciated!

zen

[Tampa_Gamer]

Zenbudo- that is exactly why we have not included any tech/component mods in our AI Mod Packs (at least not until we are much further down the patch road). One of our main goals is to create and modify AI opponents that will offer a good challenge. Believe me, it takes tons of time to properly test, and even then you do not catch everything. . .

[ratster]

Some more newbie questions here-

Do these mods generally "add" races/tech/A.I/ships, etc or "overwrite" the existing data? Or a little of both?

[pathfinder]

depends on the mod rat..

the MODPACK by Mephisto, Tampa_Gamer, Daynarr, et al fixes/enhances some of the AI files but also gives one several new shipsets/races...

some of the others give new components, others enhance/fix certain AI files.

most of the authors have readme files with the mod, so mebbe read that before applying whatever mod(s) you d/l.

and always backup whatever is being changed/fixed...

[God Emperor]

My mod has been tested quite extensively and does help the AI quite a bit.
My mod has two parts;
1) modified AI_Research files which fix faults - the only preference thing I have included is to get the AI to research DUC's up to level 3 early on,
2) modified AI_Design Creation and Tech Area files to add more point defence to AI ships to make them less susceptible to missile attacks.
The two mods can be used separately but together make a significant difference to ship to ship combat.
I would advise anyone looking to beef up the AI's ship to ship fighting ability to use my entire mod (but, if you dont like my PD mod, you can simply just use the AI_Research files alone).

[pathfinder]

and an excellent mod it is.. I use it, along with modpack and sundevils anger/politics mod...

[raynor]

You have asked an extremely complicated question. Space Empires IV is a game that allows you to customize so many things. For example, you can add your own races and choose what they research and how they act. You can customize the way the ships of any races look. You can add new technologies to the game. You can change how the races interact with each other (diplomacy) or you can change the order in which the AI players research new technology. You can even adjust the number of black holes that appear in a new galaxy.

So... the mod_packs out there can essentially create a brand new game custom tailored to each individual person.

I favor the Mod_Pack by TampaGamer, Daynarr and Mephisto with speech files by Nyx, shipsets by Randy Stulce, VoidHawk and other contributions by other folks. This mod adds new races with custom shipsets to the game but does not add any new technology. In my opinion, the races in the mod pack play a more challenging game than the ones that ship with game.

I recommend this mod over the others just because it does not add any new technology to the game. I think the mods that *do* add new technology are very creative and definitely worth downloading. But they may tend to unbalance the game. You may want to play three or four games to get a feel for much of the technology already in the game before you start adding new technology to the game.

[Nitram Draw]

Definately try the game as designed first. You may find you don't need anything else to have fun.
Once you are comfortable with the game you may want to slowly modify settings that don't feel right to you. This is fairly easy to do, usually just changing a nuber or value.
Most of what I find great about the mods are the improved AI files and the new shipsets. The new techs are good but I haven't used all the available ones yet so I haven't needed to add more.