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MarvinKosh's Space Weapons Fix Mod v6B (updated 31/08/2014)

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MarvinKosh's Space Weapons Fix Mod v6B (updated 31/08/2014)

for Twilight of the Arnor (Ultimate Edition on Steam)

http://marvinkosh.omniloth.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/SWFix_ModVI_beta3.zip
from GalCiv2 Forums

[Disclaimer: Stardock does not endorse or support this mod. This thread has merely been stickied so users can more easily direct comments or questions to the authors of this popular modification.]

Some time ago the modding community started poking around in the TA tech trees to see why the AI was reluctant to develop certain techs.  We found that some weapons techs were categorised as PD, instead of Military, meaning that unless missile weapons were deployed, those techs would never be researched by the AI.  Obviously, an AI that can't fight back isn't much of a challenge.

The idea behind this mod was originally just to get the TA AI on the right track as far as weapons are concerned.  However as suggestions have been put forward by the community, more improvements have been made to the tech trees.  Some features have been driven by my own need to fix annoyances.

For example there is the AI's passion for spamming factories or labs onto every tile, crashing their early economy.  These basic improvements would get upgraded and then cost the AI even more in terms of miantenance and production cost, forcing the AI to run inefficiently with the production slider at far less than 100%.

So my approach has been to deprive human and AI alike of early structures that can cause economic meltdown, and in their place have Super Projects which allow for some single-planet focus.

N.B. Use the external link above or choose one of the versions below.  The successive versions are not patches, they contain  all the features of that version of the mod.  Extract the ZIP folder to your mods folder - if one doesn't already exist, create it.  If your mod select screen in-game is broken, see here to fix it.

For a video overview of mod installation, see here.

For gameplay examples, check the new YouTube channel here.

 

Recent versions

v5G:

  • Krynn tech tree bug fixed (thanks to Guanathor for spotting it) - they should now research weapons and not get stuck.
  • Arceans have a Fusion Beam weapon which replaces Lasers.
  • Fixed bad tags in GC2Types.xml which led to wonky weapon animations.
  • Added PlanetImprovements.xml that should have been added in 5F.

v6:

  • Beam weapons balance tweaked - beams are fairly expensive per unit of firepower but scale damage to size well.
  • Missile weapons balance tweaked - missiles are much cheaper per unit of firepower but do not scale damage to size well.
  • Mass driver weapons tweaked - mass drivers are the cheapest per unit of firepower, and are average at scaling size to damage.
  • Krynn buildings - Consulate changed to Super Project, gives +20 bonus to influence ability.  Cost increased to 125, no maintenance.
  • Krynn tech tree - Various changes.  They lose Industrial Revolution, so no Entertainment Centre, but gain A History of Co-operation which nets them a free +10 to Culture.
  • Thalan buildings - removed limtations on matrices.  Reduced output of matrices but set maintenance to 1.  Fusion Transformer is now available with Technology Adaptation II, adds 8mp and 8 tp, magnifies mp and tp by 75%, cost 500, maintenance 10bc.
  • Altarian buildings - Regional Matric no longer upgrades from Manufacturing Matrix.
  • Altarian tech tree changes.
    • Core Technologies I: Economic Improvements, Xeno Economics
      • Also unlocks Xeno Communications.
    • Core Technologies II: Research Improvements, Xeno Research, Xeno Biology
    • Core Technologies III: Productivity Improvements, Industrial Construction, Temples.
      • Also unlocks Xeno Farm Construction.
    • Core Technologies IV: Soil Enhancement, Xeno Trade Centres.
      • Also unlocks Diplomatic Relations.
    • Core Technologies V: Military Improvements, Interstellar Warfare, Space Militarization, Space Weaponisation
    • Core Technologies VI: Starport Upgrades, Interstellar Construction, Advanced Hulls
    • Core Technologies VII (after Technology Progression I): Space Weapons (new), Research Academies.
    • Core Technologies VIII (after Technology Progression II): Invention Matrix, Medium Scale Building, Starship Defences, Advanced Space Weapons.
  • Yor buildings - removed limitations on collectives.  Reduced output of collectives but added a % bonus to manufacturing.  Brought collective cost to build more in line with other factories.  Research Matrix is now Cybernetic Matrix, increases mp and tp by 12, with a 25% bonus on top, increased cost to 90 and maintenance to 7.
  • General buildings - Industrial Sector cost reduced to 180, maintenance reduced to 7bc.  Omega Research Centre now adds 20tp and boosts research by 65%.
  • Torian buildings - Reduced cost of University to 80.  Reduced cost of City of Learning to 100 and maintenance to 6.  Technology commune now adds 10tp and only costs 350, maintenance reduced to 7.
  • Default ships: Altered GC2Ships.xml to remove the obligatory Hyperdrive and extra crap from some of the starting designs, increased Support modules in a few cases.
  • Iconian buildings: Precursor Archive maintenance reduced to 4.  Precursor Library maintenance reduced to 4.  Precursor Matrix is now a Super Project which adds 12tp and improves civ's Economics ability by 40.  Precursor Repository is now a Super Project which adds 16tp and improves civ's Research ability by 20.
  • Power Plant buildings scrapped.  There are now three new Trade Goods, Fusion Power generators, Anti-matter Power generators, and Quantum Power generators which increase social or military production abilities.
  • Known issue: Arcean 'Space Weapons' (new) tech is not properly costed, should be 180 not 600.


v6A:

  • Arcean tech tree streamlining - some techs are now optional rather than core.
  • Fixed Space Weapons costing in Arcean tech tree.  It is no longer core, because Arceans have access to Fusion Beams earlier on, but it does give access to Missile Weapon Theory and Mass Driver Theory in case the player wants Stinger or Railguns.
  • Added 'Support' hull class - category Small, available with Interstellar Construction.
  • Known issue: AI builds Support class but names it 'Heavy Fighter.'
  • Known issue: The Drengin Experimentation Centre can be upgraded - this is fixed in version 6B.
  • Increased colony module cost from 50 to 100.  Together with the cost of a cargo hull, this is about a 50% increase in cost.
  • Basic Life Support module is no longer available.  Life support modules are smaller but offer less range, starting at General Life Support tech.
  • Altered GC2Ships.cfg again, removing old Life Support modules from ship designs.  Starting ships are affected.
  • Yor and Zylon tech trees - Biological Studies is now categorised as Terraforming, not Colonisation.  Neutrality Learning Centre removed.
  • Yor and Zylon buildings - cybernetic versions of the Research Centre, Research Academy, Invention Matrix and Discovery Sphere.  These are all half the usual maintenance cost.  However there is no cybernetic version of the Research Co-ordination Centre or Neutrality Learning Centre.  Manufacturing Vortex now a Super Project granting +30 to Social Production as opposed to +15% manufacturing per planet.
  • Krynn tech tree - changed Xeno Industrial Theory to Manufacturing category, increased priority for Research techs.
  • Arcean buildings - Advanced Navigation Centre is now a Super Project, does not upgrade the basic Navigation Centre and provides a civ-wide increase in speed of +1.
  • Arcean Fusion Beam - the required sound file for this weapon is now included.
  • Yor and Zylon tech trees - debugged and rearranged for visual consistency.

v6B:

  • Krynn tech tree fixes: corrected category for Missile Defence Theory, Mass Driver Theory.
  • Drengin Experimentation Centre is no longer an upgrade target for the Improved Slaveling Lab.
  • Hull capacities, hitpoints and logistics have been rebalanced.
  • Armour and point defence modules have been rebalanced.
  • Logistics ability gains from technology have been doubled to compensate.

For obvious reasons, updates to the mod are on hiatus until the community update is completed. :)

For a full version history of the mod, see here.

For download links of older versions, see here.

modding faq support
1,001,682 views 507 replies | Pinned
Reply #426 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

New version is up!  See top post. :)

Also, I have trimmed the top post and moved much of the version history over to my new site. There's a downloads page for the versions older than 5 if anyone is interested.

Reply #427 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

So I've tested the Cathedral of Valor changes and, disappointingly, using a factor to a civ ability (Soldiering in this case) doesn't update the ability value.  It may work, it may not work, either way I can't be sure so I'll make it an additive bonus instead.

Of course this means it won't scale according to the soldiering ability that you have managed to gain so far.

Since it is a minor fix I've re-upped it as version 5F.

Multiplicity - Control multiple PCs using one keyboard and mouse
Reply #428 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

Quoting MarvinKosh, reply 427

 So I've tested the Cathedral of Valor changes and, disappointingly, using a factor to a civ ability (Soldiering in this case) doesn't update the ability value.  It may work, it may not work, either way I can't be sure so I'll make it an additive bonus instead.

You mean this F_AbilityFactor? Yes, it doesn't show, but it should work. The Eyes of the Universe uses this for Sensors, and it definitely works there.

By the way, if you don't mind, I'd like to go bug-hunting in your mod. I'm not quite ready to continue the work on mine (tweaking the AI values has always been my least favourite part in this), but I've certainly got enough time to help others work on their mods.

Reply #429 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

Sure, knock yourself out.  There's still races that I haven't worked with much so some fresh insights would always be helpful.

Reply #430 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

My latest test game is turning out well because I'm being more aggressive with the colonisation and I'm playing on a galaxy with scattered stars instead of clusters.  Still quite behind on research though.

My ethical choices have led me to become the evil Arceans.  Can't wait to see how that turns out.

Reply #431 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

It took a bit longer than expected, so I'm going through the rest of the files tomorrow. For now, here is part one with my findings from the PlanetImprovements.xml. Most are pretty minor stuff (nothing of consequence, if it remains unchanged), but there are also a couple more serious issues.


The following improvements have a tag that isn't necessary and can be safely removed.

PlanetaryQualityBonus: Soil Enhancement, Habitat Improvement, Terraforming

AbilityType: Technological Capital, Political Capital, Omega Research Center

AbilityAmount: Mind Control Center

PlacementLimit: Galactic Trading Centre, Mitrosoft Labs, United Builders Inc. Factory, Technological Capital, Economic Capital, Spin Control Center, Black Market Sector, Massive Slave Pit, Experimentation Centre, Distributed Energy Matrix, LGM Inc Labs, Social Matrix, Infinity Tech Labs, Pear Shaped Labs, Nordstrom Technologies, Centre for Intellect Studies, Precursor Weapons Lab, Galactic Technology Centre, Nano Assemblers, Temple of Honour

Indestructable: Doomsday Generator


Weather Control Zenith: Description still says, that the PQ increases by 3.


The following improvements are not showing their Query Graphics in-game due to a typo:

Shrine of the Mithrilar: ShrineOfTheMithrilar.png should be ShrineOfTheMithralar.png.

Manufacturing Matrix L3: SymbiosisPlatform.png should be SymbiosisPlatforms.png.


The following improvements are missing the AI-tag:
Galactic Showcase, Re-education Center, Secret Police Center, Hyper Computers, Hyperion Re-Supply Center, Galactic Bazaar, Counter Espionage Center


The following improvements have an AI value of zero:
Galactic Resort, Cathedral of Valor, Charging Stalks, Basic Stalk, Merchant Trade Complex, Molecular Fabricator, Order Of Krynn, Biosphere Modulator, Zero-G Amusement, Recuperation Center


The following improvements are in danger of the 1pp-bug:
Anti-Matter Power Plant
Quantum Power Plant
Enhanced Xeno Farm
Slaveling Training Center
Artificial Slave Pods
Advanced Navigation Center
Precursor Repository
Precursor Matrix

In case you don't know what I mean with "1pp-bug": If you upgrade a 1pp improvement, and it gets later destroyed for some reason, you won't be able to rebuild it on that world, because the game thinks, that you still have it. That is happening because the game registers upgrading an improvement as constructing a new building. This is quite easy to verify: Build a Fusion Power Plant, upgrade it to an Anti-Matter Power Plant, then decommission it. Neither the Fusion nor the Anti-Matter Power Plant will be available in the buildlist of this planet anymore. The Quantum Power Plant won't either, once you research it.


The following improvements are also in danger of the 1pp-bug, but have other issues too:
Collective
Improved Collective
Enhanced Collective
Superior Collective
Technology Matrix L1
Technology Matrix L2
Technology Matrix L3
Manufacturing Matrix L1
Manufacturing Matrix L2
Manufacturing Matrix L3

Here is an example of the additional problems: The basic Collective has a limitation of 3pp and the Improved Collective one of 4pp. If you build all three Collectives, and later upgrade them to Improved ones, you won't be able to build a fourth one, because the game thinks, that you already have six. The only way to circumvent this, is to build an Improved Collective first, and then upgrade your existing Collectives. However, this only postpones the problem. You still won't be able to build more Collective until you've researched Ultimate Collectives. For the Thalan, this is even worse, because they can get permanently stuck at 2 Tech/Manu Matrices per planet. The possibility of not being able to rebuild those improvements also still exist, but is less severe for the Yor, because the Ultimate Collective has no limitation.


Regional Matrix: This is an upgrade for the (Altarian) Manufacturing Matrix, but is also a 1pp. The Manufacturing Matrix, however, has no placement limitation. I guess the RM is meant as a sort of Power Plant. In that case, I'd suggest to remove the S_UpgradeTartget-tag.


Gravity Accelerators: The ShipSpeedBonus is bugged. Only the race building the TG will get the bonus. Anyone who buys the TG won't. I'm not sure, if the race, that acquires the planet, where the TG is built on, will get the bonus. In any case, it is best to replace this bonus with one to the Speed ability.


The Temples of Alignment have incorrect values for Min/MaxAlignment:
The MaxAlignment for the Temple of Evil should be 39, because a value of 40 is Neutral. The MinAlignment for the Temple of Righteousness should be 61, because a value of 60 is still Neutral. The MinAlignment of the Temple of Neutrality should be 40. The ToN also needs a MaxAlignment with the value of 60. As currently implemented, the ToN is identical to the ToR and only counts the Good races, plus the few Neutrals who have a value of 60.


Neutrality Learning Center:
The Invention Matrix/Discovery Sphere will never upgrade to an NLC. So, if the AI researches the NLC after those labs, they will stay the same. Not only that, but the AI will also have two different labs in the buildlist, increasing it's chance to use the weaker one (IM/DS). The fix for this is actually pretty simple (yet it took me years to find it). Just turn the NLC into an upgrade for the Invention Matrix and the Discovery Sphere. It should look like this:

<S_UpgradeTarget>ResearchAcademy</S_UpgradeTarget>
<S_UpgradeTarget>Invention Matrix</S_UpgradeTarget>
<S_UpgradeTarget>Discovery Sphere</S_UpgradeTarget>

It works (I'm using this in my mod), but it isn't perfect. If the Invention Matrix gets researched after the NLC, it will also be available in the buildlist. However, once the Discovery Sphere gets researched, only the NLC will remain in the list, and all former IMs will be upgraded to it.


Aul Incinerator: It needs the Indestructable-tag, and the value for CanHaveAgents should be set to zero. PlanetQualityChange has a permanent effect. This means that, when the Aul Incinerator gets destroyed, the lost PQ will remain lost. If the Incinerator gets rebuild, yet another PQ will be lost. Changing the Incinerator to be indestructible prevents possible exploits. The change to the agents, however, is just to make the Incenerator identical to the other PQ changing improvements.


Gaia Vortex: The PlanetaryQualityBonus doesn't work in TotA (not sure, if it still works in DL and DA), and should be replaced with PlanetQualityChange. The value also needs to be changed then (10 more tiles would be a little much).


A couple thoughts:

The AI value for some improvements seems to be extremely low (Virtual Reality Center is at 1, for example).

Do you have any intentions of going over the Maintenance costs? It is pretty high for some of the improvements, and the increase for some is also pretty nonsensical (for example, the City of Learning: 4bc more maint. for 2rp more research). Reducing the base maintenance, and making the increase more constant (e.g., +1bc for +2rp/mp), could help the AI with it's economy.

The Charging Stalks now provide more food than the Advanced Charging Stalks did (4+ > 3), yet the morale-bonus remained the same (15%). I'd suggest to increase the morale-bonus to either the same level the ACS had (20%) or a higher one (25% maybe).

The Propaganda Center is pretty useless. It only provides a 10% bonus to planetary loyalty, yet costs 4bc maintenance. In other words, nobody would build it. The best solution, in my opinion, would be, to turn it into an SP, and change the bonus to affect the Loyalty ability. Granted, it's, more or less, the same Tolmekian and I did in our respective mods. However, I doubt anyone would complain, if you did it too.

The Xinathium Hull Plating can be disabled by spies. In my opinion, it doesn't make sense, that your build ships should loose HP, due to this. I'd suggest to change the value for CanHaveAgents to zero.

Have you considered to use the same food cap for both the Capital City and the Initial Colony? In my opinion, this would make balancing farms easier.

Speaking of food, I've found a way to make the AI use farms, without needing the 1pp limit. I detailed my findings here. Maybe it's helpful for you.

Reply #432 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

The NLC is now superior to a Discovery Sphere - it provides 18tp (vs 16tp for Discovery Sphere) albeit at an increased maintenance.  It does not need to upgrade.

I'll consider replacing the power plants with ability bonuses on the tech and maybe some super projects.

As for the other limited number per-planet improvements and the problem of them being destroyed... in several cases, I'm limiting the AI so that it doesn't spam an improvement until its economy collapses.  It can still use the tile which the destroyed improvement was on, so that's going to have to be good enough.

Thanks for giving the improvements a close look.  I'll have a think about what to do.  However as I'm spending a lot of time testing rather than fixing, it could be a while before I put another version out.

Reply #433 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

Quoting MarvinKosh, reply 432
The NLC is now superior to a Discovery Sphere - it provides 18tp (vs 16tp for Discovery Sphere) albeit at an increased maintenance. It does not need to upgrade.

Apparently, I wasn't clear enough with me description. I meant, that the Invention Matrix and Discovery Sphere should upgrade to the NLC, not that the NLC should get another upgrade. It's already the most powerful lab, and I'm perfectly fine with that. My problem with it is, that it is possible to have a huge amount of Discovery Spheres on your worlds (all the old labs you built), and a couple NLCs too (all the NLCs you built recently). For the player, this isn't much of an issue, because you can simply build NLCs over all the old labs. The AI, however, doesn't have this option. It is entirely reliant on the upgrade-mechanic, which doesn't work in this case.

Quoting MarvinKosh, reply 432
Thanks for giving the improvements a close look. I'll have a think about what to do. However as I'm spending a lot of time testing rather than fixing, it could be a while before I put another version out.

No problem, I'm glad I could help. In fact, I should have done this much sooner. After all, your mod was a big inspiration for my own.
I had been working on my mod since shortly before the end of the TotA-beta. Back then, it was primarily about fixing some bugs in the PlanetImprovements.xml, which soon escalated into an attempt to completely rebalance them and teach the AI how to use them. Over time, I added some more files (like the RaceConfig.xml and InvasionTactics.xml), and also some new techs. During my implementation of those techs, I noticed several bugs in the tech trees, but decided not to fix them. It just seemed like way too much work to me. About three years ago, however, I made a first attempt to do just that, because I realised, that my efforts to improve the AI's use of the buildings were pointless, if it couldn't research those buildings first. Still, my efforts proved to be in vain. I just didn't knew what I was doing or, in some cases, what I needed to do. Nor even where I should begin. My depression didn't help either.
Around Easter 2011 I found this thread. At first, I was surprised that several people had the same idea, at the same time. Then I realised, that I had found my answers. I now knew what was necessary, and I began work anew. The first thing I did, was to completely revamp my approach to the tech trees. Instead of trying to fix them how they were written, I completely rewrote the files. I gave them the order, they were lacking, and extended this approach to the other files too. Last year, I refined this even more, by moving all of the techs into the TechTree.xml. This made work much easier for me. Over time, I had several setbacks, and began work from scratch again. (By that time, I was already used to that. Every time Stardock released a new patch, I would scrap my mod and begin anew. Well, back when Stardock still released patches.) However, I also made a lot of progress: figured out new things (new approaches, "new" bugs), discarded old ideas, that didn't really work, and more. The end-result of all of that can be seen in Autumn Twilight.
So... yeah. You can consider this as a "Thank you!", if you will. I don't know how Autumn Twilight would now look like, if it weren't for this thread and your mod, but it definitely wouldn't be as good. I also pretty much doubt, that I would have released it. Heck, I never even intended to do that in the first place.

Anyway, here is part two of my findings.

RaceConfig.xml

Thalan Empire: The RaceMusic is set to Race09, which is the music for the Iconians. It should be changed to Race08.

Dread Lords: Disease Cure and Plague Cure should be added as starting techs. The DL start with their whole tech tree researched. Due to this, the AI will never start researching anything. So, if the Plague or Disease Mega Event happens, the DL are screwed, because they are unable to research the cures. Trading for the Cures isn't possible for the DL either, leaving only invasion as an option. However, even that doesn't really work, due to the effect of the events (especially the Disease). In short, if either event happens, then the DL will become even more of a pushover in the sandbox game.


StarbaseModules.xml

Xeno Influence Module: Has the Insurrection Coordinator as module requirement. However, that module no longer exists, so the game ignores the requirement. It is also a bug in the vanilla game. The Thalan don't have the necessary tech (Cultural Insurrection) in their tech tree.

The total number of available modules is 117 (unless I miscounted somewhere). This means, that the AI is unable to use 17 modules (beginning with Industrial Replication Center III), due to the 100-modules-limitation. There are some module-types the AI never uses (Terror Stars, Sensors, and SlowEnemies). If you move them to the bottom of the file, you would only need to get rid of 8 more modules. Well, or you could move the culture modules to the bottom too. The AI only rarely uses them.


TechTree.xml

Interstellar Governments: Has a bonus of +0% to Influence.

Terraforming: Has no AIValue.

Advanced Computing: The Category is set to Miniaturization. Pure Research would make more sense, in my opinion.

Counter Espionage: It can't be traded, but it can be stolen!? Doesn't make much sense.

Advanced Barren World Colonization: The Category is set to None. It should be Barren Terraforming.

Interstellar Construction: I'm not sure, if the game is case-sensitive, but the Category is set to HULL. It's probably best to set to Hull. Just in case.

PlanetaryFortification: There should be a space between Planetary and Fortification in the DisplayName.

Artificial Slavelings: The Category is set to MilManufacturingitary. It should be Manufacturing.

Ion Cannons II and Ion Cannons III: Those techs are missing both Description and Details.

Industrial Revolution: The last sentence of the Details has an extraneous "did": "so did did their productivity."

Ultimate Diabolical Research: The Display Name is currently Imaginative Research. It should be Ultimate Diabolical Research.

Industrial Starbase Construction and Advanced Industrial Starbases: The Category for those techs is set to Industry. It should be either Manufacturing or Starbase.

Healing Pools: The ID is set to Biology, and the Category is set to Medical. Either set the ID to Culture and the Category to Entertainment, or set the Category to Biology.


Altarian_TechTree.xml

Healing Pools: The Altarians already have the Temple. Giving them access to yet another, independent morale improvement doesn't make sense. It also adds problems for the AI. Healing Pools have a higher bonus than the Temples. Yet, with a choice between two different morale improvements, it is very likely, that the AI will use the Temples. It would probably be better to remove the Healing Pools, and to give the Temples a higher bonus. Still, it is already an improvement compared to how it originally was. Somebody at Stardock didn't think this through.

Inherent Magic: This tech is currently set to ID Industry and Category Pure Research. ID Weapons and Category Invasion would make more sense, in my opinion.

The following techs have no Details:
Military Improvements
Technology Progression I
Advanced Space Weapons
Technology Progression II
Technology Progression III
Ultimate Space Weapons


Arcean_TechTree.xml

Fleet Battle Tactics: Category is set to Military, overriding Category Communications from the TechTree.xml. Is that intentional?

Tulon Weapon Focus: Category is set to Military, overriding Category Communications from the TechTree.xml. Is that intentional?

Robust Hull Construction: Has no AIValue.

The following techs have no Details:
Ultimate Space Weapons
Technology Progression I
Technology Progression II
Technology Progression III
Space Weapons
Advanced Space Weapons
Military Improvements

Space Weapons: It has also no Description.

Temple of Honour: It has a Cost of zero, and no tech requirement. Intentional?


Dreadlords_TechTree.xml

Just a heads-up: The game treats the DL tech tree just like the one for the minor races. This means, that, if a tech is only available for one major race on the map, the minors/DL won't have it in their tech tree anymore. For example: If you are playing a one-on-one between the Arceans and the Drengin, then the minors/DL won't have access to any factory-techs (like the Industrial Sectors), any engines above Hyper Drive, and more. In other words, the DL are screwed again, because it will take them forever to build their ships.


Drengin_TechTree.xml

Fleet Battle Tactics: Category is set to Military, overriding Category Communications from the TechTree.xml. Is that intentional?

Tulon Weapon Focus: Category is set to Military, overriding Category Communications from the TechTree.xml. Is that intentional?

The following techs have no Details:
Technology Progression I
Space Weapons
Advanced Space Weapons
Technology Progression II
Technology Progression III
Ultimate Space Weapons
Ultimate Starship Defenses

The following techs also have no Description:
Space Weapons
Ultimate Starship Defenses


Iconian_TechTree.xml

Fleet Battle Tactics: Category is set to Military, overriding Category Communications from the TechTree.xml. Is that intentional?

Tulon Weapon Focus: Category is set to Military, overriding Category Communications from the TechTree.xml. Is that intentional?

Industrial Replication I and Industrial Replication II: Category is set to Missile. Should be Manufacturing.

The following techs have no Details:
Advanced Robotics
Ultimate Space Weapons
Technology Strategy I
Technology Strategy II
Technology Strategy III

The following techs also have no Description:
Technology Strategy I
Technology Strategy II
Technology Strategy III


Okay, that's enough for today. I'll go through the rest of the tech trees and the ship modules tomorrow. By now, I doubt I'll find anything more serious than I already have. The worst bugs have already been fixed.

Reply #434 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

Here is the last part of my findings. As I expected, I couldn't find any serious bugs. Well, except for one thing: some techs got blocked in the Krynn tech tree, due to a typo in the requirement.

Korath_TechTree.xml

Tormenting Realizations: ID is set to Industry. Should be Computing.


Korx_TechTree.xml

Fleet Battle Tactics: Category is set to Military, overriding Category Communications from the TechTree.xml. Is that intentional?

Fortified Freighters and Super Trade Starbases: The Category is currently set to Trade. The AI doesn't like this category that much, so it might be better to set it to Economics.

The following techs have no Details:
Ultimate Space Weapons
Technology Progression I
Technology Progression II
Technology Progression III
Space Weapons
Advanced Space Weapons
Advanced Starship Defenses

The following techs also have no Description:
Space Weapons
Advanced Space Weapons
Advanced Starship Defenses


Krynn_TechTree.xml

Advanced Troop Mod: The Category is set to Space Mining. Should be Invasion.

Superior Espionage and Master Spies: The ID is set to Industry for both. Culture or Computing would make more sense.

Space Weapons: The tech requirement is written as "AdvancedHulls". Should be "Advanced Hulls".

Ultimate Space Weapons: It has no Details.


Terran_TechTree.xml

Fleet Battle Tactics and Tulon Weapon Focus: Category is set to Military, overriding Category Communications from the TechTree.xml. Is that intentional?

The following techs have no AIValue:
Interstellar War Colleges
Space Superiority
Advanced Defensive Techniques
Fleet Warp Bubbles
Fleet Warp Bubbles II
Fleet Warp Bubbles III

The following techs have no Details:
Military Improvements
Technology Progression I
Advanced Space Weapons
Technology Progression II
Technology Progression III
Ultimate Space Weapons


Thalan_TechTree.xml

Ultimate Space Weapons: It has no Details.


Torian_TechTree.xml

Fleet Battle Tactics and Tulon Weapon Focus: Category is set to Military, overriding Category Communications from the TechTree.xml. Is that intentional?

The following techs have no Details:
Military Improvements
Technology Progression I
Advanced Space Weapons
Technology Progression II
Technology Progression III
Starship Research
Ultimate Space Weapons
Advanced Starship Defences


Yor_TechTree.xml

The following techs have no Details:
Technology Progression I
Technology Progression II
Technology Progression III
Ultimate Space Weapons


Zylon_TechTree.xml

The following techs have no Details:
Technology Progression I
Technology Progression II
Technology Progression III
Ultimate Space Weapons


A couple thoughts:

Fusion Power Plants are placed pretty late in the tech tree. By the time you can research it, you also have Industrial Sectors available. Could you move it up a little? Maybe right after Xeno Industrial Theory or Xeno Factory Construction? Another possibility is to split up the Power Plants techs. Keep Quantum Power Plants where they are, move Fusion Power Plants further up, and place Anti-Matter Power Plants somewhere in the middle (maybe after Manufacturing Centers).

Artificial Gravity is a bit strange. In some tech trees, it's ID is set to Computing, while in others it's Industry. Same thing with the Category. I wasn't sure, how much of this is intentional (even less so than with the fleet module techs), so I didn't put it in as a bug.

Have you considered moving your new techs into the TechTree.xml? As you have probably noticed, most of my findings are missing Details and Descriptions from those techs. If you moved them into the TechTree.xml, then it would be less likely for this and other errors to happen. Especially as some of the techs already have Details in other tech trees.

Another thing to consider, is to turn the TechTree.xml into a fully functional tech tree. Currently you edit all tech trees individually. However, if you made all of the major changes directly in the TechTree.xml, then it would severely cut down on the work needed for the individual trees.


GC2Types.xml

Some of the defenses (Kanvium, Adamantium, Shields) and the sensors become cheaper, the more advanced they get. Is that intentional?

The Hyper Warp Drive Mk. II is also cheaper than the Mk. I, but the Mk. III is more expensive again.


Well, that is all. I hope it helps.

Reply #435 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

Yeah the prices for the engines are intentionally altered.  You'll notice that Hyperwarp III has speed 5, not 4.  You're getting a fair price for the speed you get from it.

Sensors also get more efficient, but the earlier versions are not quite as ridiculous as they used to be.

I realised that some of the defences don't really give you a lot of noticeable improvement so in some cases their cost scales down as you keep researching the same line.

Thanks again for looking through all that.  I did wonder why the Krynn were stuck like that, now I know why.

Reply #436 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

Hmm.  It seems that actually, in my current game at least which is still v5F, the Krynn are developing weapons, just not very quickly.  Messing up the tech pre-requisite must have meant that Space Weapons was available to them right away as part of an orphaned tech tree.

Reply #437 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

Same old story with the test game.  I get just up to the point where I can research Space Weapons, and someone decides to intervene on the behalf of the other guy, who attacked me.

It's sort of ironic that I decided that I want a more challenging game and make a mod to do just that, and yet I'm complaining that the AI is militarising earlier than I am and making an incorrect decision about who started what war.

The thing is, I don't know if I'm just not playing as well as I could be, or whether I'm making a bad build at the race customisation screen, or whether I've done enough with the tech tree.  I feel like I've given them a decent start.  I don't want to go too far and make the Arceans even more powerful than the other races.

You know actually, because the Arceans are Super Warrior, it does make sense for them to have access to Space Weapons earlier.  At several points before finally getting to Technology Progression I and finally having access to the right tech, my factories and starports are sitting idle and my economy is in the green when I could be making fighters to deter attack or even get into a war.

I've been in a similar situation when I've played the other races, but frankly I think the early Arcean tech tree that I've come up with is too constrictive.  So I'll see what I can do to make it more fun.

Reply #438 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

So I've put together a Fusion Beam weapon for the Arceans.  It's actually the first time I've spreadsheeted some of the low-end weapons and little improvement exists moving from Laser V to Particle Beams I, apart from of course the reduction in cost.

The Fusion Beam will be cheaper to research than lasers and there will only be three tiers of weapon.  No Starbase beam module is awarded at the end.  They will start out being more expensive than lasers and end up very slightly cheaper with the Mk III.

It also unlocks after Cathedral of Valor and Beam Weapon Theory.  Anyway, I'll test it out later and see if it does what I want it to do.

Reply #439 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

Something interesting to know.  Had a bit of trouble getting the new weapons to work.  Not filling out the Explosion Image field is a Big Deal. ;)  Fixed it and they're fine.  Should definitely add that check to the validation tool.

Won't have time to try them out for real tonight, tomorrow for sure.

Reply #440 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

So I've been learning some cool things.  I may actually fix some things that I didn't know were broken until today. ;)

I'll tell you all about it after (yet another) short test game.

Reply #441 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

The thing I'm going on about today is that in GC2Types.xml, weapons have a Type tag.

This has an effect on how weapons animate.  So for example, with a value of 1 enclosed, you get a visual which lasts fairly long, long enough to show a slow-moving bullet or missile to travel to its target.  Yes I know, it isn't exactly perfect, but it does something.

So if you want to have a beam weapon which snaps on and off fairly rapidly, you instead want to use a value of 3 (which is what Phasors are set to) because with a setting of 1 the beam stays on for a long while and looks like you're trying to make a Tholian web or something. ;)

So in keeping with the theme of the mod I will take a look at some of the weapons and see if their animations are okay.  Consider for example Kinetic Streams, which has a value of 1 here, yet it is another beam-type weapon which looks funny with all the residual beams.  I know, it doesn't have any effect on the challenge provided by the AI, but it couldn't hurt to have a look at them and see if I can tune them a bit.

Reply #442 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

Isn't that just the flavor of the Iconian/Yor unique weapons, though? They're all a bunch of little weapons being fired off together.

Reply #443 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

That's just it though, the Kinetic Streams animation is (by default) a single beam shot rather than multiple shots.  So it doesn't really jive with the time the animation remains on screen.  If it fired a slow-moving bolt of energy rather than a continuous beam, then it would be fine.

You have to remember, there was a lot of stuff added in Twilight of the Arnor, and as we've already discovered not all of it works as it should.

Reply #444 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

Okay, I'm not really certain what you're talking about. This is how Kinetic Streams appears in my games:

a bunch of vaguely electrical-looking beams all going off together.

If it lasts for an extra-lengthy amount of time, it's not something I've ever really noticed.

Reply #445 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

What I'm getting at is that (bearing in mind I'm using default designs for tiny hull fighters) the time the beam is on means that by the time the ship stops firing the origin point of the beam is far behind the ship.  It looks weird.

With a slow-moving bolt or other projectile, once they have been fired they don't need to be tethered to some imaginary line connecting the ship and its target.

I searched and turned up this, also:

https://forums.galciv2.com/119514/page/1/#3125334

From what I can gather (and I may be wrong about this) a weapon with Type of 1 animates for long enough for a projectile to reach the target and stays on until the target is destroyed or the end of the combat round.  There doesn't seem to be any computation of the actual flight time, the animation is simply run from origin point to target, even if the target moves.  The more ships that are firing in one round, the longer the combat round, and the more that projectiles seem to linger at point blank range near a ship they are targeting.

In contrast a weapon of type 3 snaps on and off a number of times that is defined in the XML.  The impact tag here is actually deciding how many times it should cycle before finally switching off.  I think.

The problem with fine-tuning these is that there are so many weapons and each time you change something in the XML you have to start a new game to see the effects.  Granted, with some cheat mode usage it doesn't have to be a long game, but I think at some point someone said, 'This is good enough,' and it was left as it was.

Reply #446 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

I am a relatively new GalCiv player and so I apologize in advance for my ignorance but I would greatly appreciate a response. You are obviously very knowledgeable about the game.

 

I am in the process of trying out your mod and Tolmekians mod is next. I noticed immediately that the tech trees are completely different. The ultimate weapons don't seem to exist at all in his? Based on your posts, MarvinKosh, you seem to be very familiar with his mod and vanilla as well. I have read the descriptions of both of your mods but much of it is relatively meaningless to me as I have limited experience with the game in general.

 

If you have the time or inclination could you please give me your opinion on the differences regarding the overall gameplay experience in each of your mods?

Reply #447 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

Truth be told, I've only glanced at Tolmekian's tech trees.  But I have been around long enough to have read about various stages of the development of the mod.

Tolmekian has brought all the weapon tech trees for all races into line and from what I can remember, rebalanced some of the weapons.

I've also rebalanced weapons, but I've allowed the different races to retain what they had on their weapon tech trees.  I've looked critically at the last tier of weapons before ultimate weapons and made them a significant step up from third tier weapons but also increased the cost to research.  Ultimate weapons themselves have been scaled up to be (for the most part) capital ship weapons, and the damage/space ratio is not quite as ridiculous as vanilla.  There's a new ultimate weapon for races that use Disruptors instead of Phasors.

I've also made defence modules less suited to fighters, scaling them up to provide a certain minimum amount of defence now that it is possible for defences to be reduced during a combat round (which makes a single point of defence virtually useless).  Some smaller defence modules are then introduce as more defence research is carried out.

I've put an emphasis on economic development with the early stages of the tech trees, meaning that armed ships will not show up as fast as in the vanilla game.  That being said, it's quite a brutal race to be the first to have weapons.  In many cases you now have to research to get any kind of buildings to place on colonies, including more labs.  The idea behind this has been to reduce the economic crashing from piling up lots of maintenance-sucking buildings and then funding their output.  At the same time, some of the early buildings have been replaced with Super Projects.  So for example, the Galactic Trading Centre (replacing basic Market building) provides +20% Economy on a planet.  This gives the AI a solid start and it is quite adept at the colony rush, so you will have to get good too.

Tolmekian has also made good strides in this area, even going so far as to consolidate farms and charging stalks under a single infrastructure technology and  building, from what I've read.

We both seem to agree that allowing the AI to build the existing farms or charging stalks on a bonus tile is pretty bad, as the AI reduces its taxation in order to deal with morale problems on high-population worlds, which reduces its economic capacity.  So instead, food/charging/infrastructure buildings increase the base population cap by a percentage rather than a fixed amount.  Percentage bonuses aren't multiplied on food bonus tiles.

Tolmekian and other modders have addressed some issues with 1pp buildings, namely that if you upgrade a 1pp building to something else and then the building is destroyed, that particular chain of buildings cannot be built on that planet ever again.

I could also address these problems but it would require some changes to various unique racial buildings and for the moment, I have focused on getting the AI to build and wage war effectively.

All modders have had to look at decreasing the number of starbase modules due to a limit (of about 100) in the AI's ability to 'see' starbase modules.  I've culled many of the military starbase modules, and you can only unlock the remaining ones through weapons research in most tech trees.  On the plus side, I found that it challenged me to do something with starbases other than fortify a position with overlapping starbase bonuses and use lots of 'drone' ships to tear the enemy to pieces. ;)

Module dependency has also been addressed - some starbase modules depended on a chain that revolved around Battlestations I to V.  I've simplified this to just Battlestations for sanity.

Sadly there are still a few starbase modules that are over the limit.  So the AI will develop starbases during the game, but perhaps not as well as the human player can.

That's all I can think of at the moment, there's lots of things to see  in either mod so I can promise you that you won't be bored with them, although I find that if you're used to teching quickly you may want to raise the tech speed in game setup.  In particular, new colonies in my mod will give you only 2 research which both helps and hinders - you won't be bleeding money paying for (a funding percentage of) 12 research per initial colony any more, but you'll have to build up research infrastructure by building more of it.

Reply #448 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

Okay well, despite the fact that GC3 is on the way, there are a few things I still need to look at.  Also, still need something to play until the beta starts.

Sorry I've been a bit quiet but I've been feeling extra tired lately and I've been officially off sick for nearly a month so I haven't had much of a chance to work on the mod.  But I have an idea what to try next so, there's that. ;)

Reply #449 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

Wow, that didn't take long.  Basically the beam weapon animations don't line up as I would expect, so I'm going to try something else and see what happens. :)

Edit: So far, not much.  I think the problem is that the ships are too small and are therefore moving too fast and too far from the origin point of the beam.  Or I have the wrong idea about the animation settings, starting to think they don't do very much. ;)

Edit 2: Okay I think I'm going to just leave the animation thing for now and come back to it later.  That's the sensible thing to do.

Reply #450 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

I had another look at the weapon animations.  I'm like a dog with a bone, I know. :)

So far as I can see it's nothing to do with having a small ship doing the firing, as I tried the same thing with battleships. 

What's interesting (not really) is that when I set a particular angle using Free Cam and then play the battle at different speeds, the weapon effects are more on-target at a low speed than at a high speed.

I think I'll try running without mods to see if I can I can reproduce the effect, and if I can then the next step would be to try a different weapon animation.