Starfleet Battles Mod (SFB Mod)

Kana · #1 May 13th, 2004, 06:39 PM

Ok...I'm making an SFB mod. I'm starting this thread to keep track of ideas, questions, etc...

Here is the first set of questions:

Is there any way to allow Bases to provide supply for ships? I found in settings.txt a true false statment for bases and fleets pertaining to supply. I think I could use that.

What is the lowest amount one can use for tonnage/space of a component? Is it atleast 1? Can I put in say, 0.5 or 0.2?

Can Racial Specific tech be traded? I know it can't be researched if captured. Race tech can only be use if captured on the ship it's on, and I don't think it can be repaired, correct?

That's enough for now...

Kana

gregebowman · #2 May 13th, 2004, 06:53 PM

I think that if you put a quantum reactor on a spacestation, it would resupply everything. Not really sure about your other questions, though.

Ed Kolis · #3 May 13th, 2004, 07:02 PM

Is there any way to allow Bases to provide supply for ships? I found in settings.txt a true false statment for bases and fleets pertaining to supply. I think I could use that.

Yes, just set that value to true, and you can fleet ships and bases together to resupply the ships. Alternatively, you could take a cue from Suicide Junkie's (unfortunately little-played) P&N PBW mod and set all the base hulls to be ships with built-in supply storage, so even bases could need resupplying! A third idea, though I'm not sure if this would work, is to give bases the ability that Resupply Depots have (what is it, "Supplies Ships in Sector" or something?). If you do use SJ's idea, though, I think you'll have to resize the Space Station and fiddle with the weapon mounts so that you can still use the base mounts on bases-that-are-really-ships

What is the lowest amount one can use for tonnage/space of a component? Is it atleast 1? Can I put in say, 0.5 or 0.2?

Zero, actually. While fractional values aren't allowed, you CAN have zero-sized components. This means you can have an infinite number of them on any ship design (unless you set One/Two/etc. Per Ship), so you'd better give them some sort of limitation like being practically useless except in huge, highly expensive quantities - see Adamant Mod's "Structural Support" components for an example. If you do set the limit per ship, they could be used, however, as "essential" systems that every ship is going to have exactly one of; MOO2 did some systems like engines that way; you could only have 1 engine per ship and you needed 1 to move, so its engines didn't take up any space.

Can Racial Specific tech be traded? I know it can't be researched if captured. Race tech can only be use if captured on the ship it's on, and I don't think it can be repaired, correct?

It can be traded/captured IF it has a direct prerequisite tech that is NOT race-specific, or if the trading/capturing empire has the same trait. So if you add "Biology" as a requirement to Organic Armor, then Organic Armor should become tradeable/captureable (IIRC).

Bill Door · #4 May 13th, 2004, 07:07 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Kana:
Is there any way to allow Bases to provide supply for ships? I found in settings.txt a true false statment for bases and fleets pertaining to supply. I think I could use that.

You could try allowing bases to join fleets. To resupply, just fleet up the ships with the base and end turn. The next turn the ships should be completely resupplied.

Quote:

Originally posted by Kana:
Can Racial Specific tech be traded? I know it can't be researched if captured. Race tech can only be use if captured on the ship it's on, and I don't think it can be repaired, correct?
Kana

Racial tech can only be sucessfully traded if both races have the same tech yeilding advanced trait, in my experiance.

Alneyan · #5 May 13th, 2004, 07:09 PM

Bases can resupply ships like a Resupply Depot if the line you mentioned is set on True. If you would like Bases to only give a fixed amount of supplies, you could make them "Ships" without any movement, as SJ did in the PBW Version of Pirates and Nomads (P&N PBW). Obviously, the AI isn't going to like such a change.

The lowest tonnage you can use is 0kt, which basically means no space taken at all. You cannot put something like 0.5 however, as the game will otherwise crash when loading the components.txt file.

Racial technology *should* be able to be traded with other Empires having this technology, but not with anyone else. It cannot be repaired, and a captured ship with racial technology will work fine even if you do not have the technology.

However, if it is what you would like to do, you could make a workaround to allow an Empire to research "unique" technologies even if it doesn't have the correct trait. It would go along these lines: (I do not quite recall the specifics however, so someone else more knowledgeable in this regard may want to correct me here)
- Technology A is racial tech, and can only be research by an Empire having the needed racial trait. (It would be something like the Theoretical research)
- Technology B isn't a racial tech, and can only be researched once you have technology A. Therefore, an Empire gaining this technology would be able to use this "unique" technology, even if it doesn't have the appropriate trait.

Edit: Stop reading my mind Ed!

We virtually wrote the same post, while I didn't look at yours before posting mine. I guess I should learn how to type faster.

[ May 13, 2004, 18:11: Message edited by: Alneyan ]

Fyron · #6 May 13th, 2004, 09:44 PM

Quote:

What is the lowest amount one can use for tonnage/space of a component? Is it atleast 1? Can I put in say, 0.5 or 0.2?

You can multiply the size of all ships and components by 10, then use single digit numbers as fractions to get the exact same effect. You can have ships up to ~65000 kT, which should be more than enough if you aren't making the ships be bigger than 6500 kT already. Since the SE4 kT is a completely arbitrary unit with no bearing on reality, the change in scale doesn't really matter.

von_toaster · #7 May 14th, 2004, 01:15 AM

Ohh, StarFleet Battles. I remember those days. So many hours, struggling as an Hydran or a WYN, battling Klingons and Romulans...

Well balanced, well defined game. I really wish there was a REAL Version of SFB on computer (not a real-time thing).

Slick · #8 May 14th, 2004, 01:28 AM

http://www.sfbOnline.com

Kana · #9 May 14th, 2004, 06:08 AM

Please keep Posts pertanent to the discussion at hand. IE questions and answers for the mod. Thank you.

Kana · #10 May 14th, 2004, 04:46 PM

Ok new round of Questions. By the way thanks for previous Posts...will be very helpful...Using Questions and answers for brainstorming and such.

Can the Combat Area be made bigger or smaller?
I didn't think I could...just thought I would ask...

Do the weapon ranges only go out to 20? Can they be increased? Will they appear in the interface?

Does Demeanor do anything? Can you add more?

Thanks,

Kana