Devnull Mod Gold: updates and discussion

[spoon]

I'd like to see DevNull updated for the most recent SE4 Gold patch. But I seem to recall Rollo deciding to quit Space Empiring - is this true???

If so, is there anyone "officially" in charge of the mod?

If not, does anyone care if I take over and put out an update???

[Fyron]

I do not believe anyone is officially in charge, and Rollo has stated on numerous occassions that the mod is open to public domain. However, I do recall Rollo mentioning that he had been working on it... perhaps try to get whatever he had updated from him first?

[parabolize]

Would anyone mind if I updated Devnull? Here is what I have done so far. What do you think?

Version 1.71
19.05.2005:
* Changed - Added in Imperator Fyron's smoothed population modifiers.
* Fixed - The Create and Destroy Storm components are now destroyed on use.
* Fixed - Added more slots to all of the formations to keep ships together better in combat. New formations thanks to Imperator Fyron.
* Changed - Anti-Fighter Missile range/damage and chance to hit. Here is a poll.

[Swarm]

Please do - It would be a real shame for this mod to stagnate.

Could you also correct the repair rates of temporal spaceyards? ( the figures are correct in the descriptions, but wrong in the Ability Val field)

If your updates are loaded onto PBW, will it be possible to update an existing game to use it?

[Ragnarok-X]

It is possible, given the order of component within the modfiles do not change.

[spoon]

parabolize said:
Would anyone mind if I updated Devnull?

When I asked Rollo about an update several months back, he said he was planning something. But I think he ran out of leisure time for SE4, so you should go ahead with your changes.

I'll let a few other DevNull players know about this thread, so you can get some more feedback.

Thanks for doing this!

[Unco]

Hey Parabolize,

I'm glad Devnull isn't dying.

I kind of like your Anti-Fighter Missile changes. After playing a bunch of Devnull games, it always felt like fighters were powerful in the early game but lost value in the middle to late game. I like that you reduce the damage and range on the early components, but is there a reason why you increase damage and slightly reduce range on the later components?

Thanks again!

PS - A year or two ago, Spoon and I had some other change ideas for Devnull. I'll try and dig them up and post them here.

[Ragnarok-X]

Agreed, anti-fighters weapons definitly needs to be nerved. Population modifers are a very good idea as well. Other than that i really like the Devnull Mod. Im playing a pretty great game on pbw right now, if i stumble upon anything i will let you know.

[parabolize]

Swarm said:
Please do - It would be a real shame for this mod to stagnate.

Could you also correct the repair rates of temporal spaceyards? ( the figures are correct in the descriptions, but wrong in the Ability Val field)

Done, though I am a bit wary of what this might do to high tech games.

Unco said:
Hey Parabolize,

I'm glad Devnull isn't dying.

I kind of like your Anti-Fighter Missile changes. After playing a bunch of Devnull games, it always felt like fighters were powerful in the early game but lost value in the middle to late game. I like that you reduce the damage and range on the early components, but is there a reason why you increase damage and slightly reduce range on the later components?

Thanks again!

PS - A year or two ago, Spoon and I had some other change ideas for Devnull. I'll try and dig them up and post them here.

The range on level 4 did make them powerful but half the time they would be shooting something off screen. So I lowered the range and made up for it in damage.

I am thinking about updating devnull's SystemTypes.txt, StellarAbilityTypes.txt and QuadrantTypes.txt. Rollo made parts of these text files stock other parts FQM 1.13. The FQM parts really need a upgrade to 1.22 but editing around Rollo's files is a pain. Considering FQM has stock-like maps in it (with some extra abilities) would anyone mind if I flat-out replaced the text files with FQM 1.22?

[Grandpa Kim]

I think the changes still leave the anti-fighter missile much too powerful. The range is still far too great. To me, point defense implies shooting down threats right on top of you. An in-your-face, short range defense. The current AFM and the proposed still allow a fighter to be shot at twice before it even gets close enough to loose its own guns.