This Blog is for advertising updates for the "Soup for the Sinful Soul" mod that is created for Sins of a Solar Empire.

 

Mad Scientist Mod

v2.5 Entrenchment Edition

ModDB Page

Support Email: madscientistmod@hotmail.com

New Technology Count: 94

New Plantary Ability Count: 30

 

MODS INCLUDED

1) Sins Plus v1.3 by Uzii (Modified)

2) Volumetric Explosions & Damage Effects ver. 1.12

3) Bailknights Graphic Mod v1.1

The mod is now available to modders to use in their own creations.  All that I ask is that proper credit is given.

Current changes:

New Opening Theme Song:  O' Fortuna:  a song that I believe gets the blood pumping without taking away any of the atmosphere of the game.

Retroactive Researching:  Reorganized the research benefits to give more sway to those with technological superiority against those of numerical superiority.  All technologies that require previous research in the same exact subject have been changed, such as a laser damage tech that requires a previous laser damage tech.  The game orignally gave the same bonus to both techs, usually 5%, and even though the second tech cost more to research, you still only squeezed out the same damage increase of the cheeper tech. For example

Tech 1: 5% damage increase

Tech 2: 5% damage increase

Tech 3: 5% damage increase

Tech 4: 5% damage increase

What I have changed is that I have made such researches retroactive in that the further you progress in that line the greater the bonus you receave per tech.  The formula I used is (current bonus + previous bonus=New current bonus)  So lets see that example again with the changes.

Tech 1: 5% damage increase

Tech 2: (5+5)10% damage increase

Tech 3: (5+10)15% damage increase

Tech 4: (5+15)20% damage increase.

I did this change for not only for weapons but all areas.  The techs in which this applys includes: Weapon Damage, Weapon Recharge Rates, Shields, Hulls, Antimatter, Armor, Trade, Resources, Planet Population, Culture, and maybe one or two I can't remember.  Note that this make certain aspects of the game you may have not concidered a threat much more powerful, such as enemy culture spread.

Fleet Tree Reorganized:  I have reorganized the Fleet Tree to accept additional technologies to be researched.  Note that any technologies I place in there will be able to be researched using both the military and civilian research stations.

Defense Techs Moved:  While doing the Retroactive Researching protion of the mod I fully realized that civilizations that progressed heavily in the non-combat research fields would basically stand little chance against the military minded civilizations as they would be easily destroyed.  In order to help prevent this I have moved the defense technologies from the combat tree to the fleet tree to allow all to research them.

New Techs Added To Military Tree: With the void now in the combat research tree I needed to come up with new technologies to fill it in, and with defenses now in the fleet tree but what else to put in there but more firepower.  All races now have added technologes that increase the rate of fire of all their weapons.  The bonuses here are also retroactive and if you research one weapon to its fullest, you will be pumping out an impressive 2x the rounds in the time span (100% increase)

Upgradeable Hanger Squads:  This change will allow you to upgrade your defense hanger fighters per squad.  It will be placed in the fleet tree along with the standard hanger defense tech that unlocks it so it is available for both research fields.  Both TEC and Vasari will be able to add a total of 18 fighters to their hangers through research (.5/.5==1.5/1.5==2.5/2.5) x2 squads and because the Advent already had a tech that did this I deleted it and the will be able to add a total of 24 fighters (1/1==2/2==3/3)

Required Weapon Platform Research:  Because the Hanger Defense is now available to both research trees, I am going to make the Defense Platforms (Gauss for TEC, Beam for Advent, and Missile for Vasari) a required research within the military tech tree.  Note that this will make it so one can no longer build defensive structures without the proper research.

Added Elements from the Sins Plus By Uzii (Modified):  I have added certain additional planets from the Sins Plus mod into this one.  The following Planets are now included within this mod:  Urban--Paradise--Industrial--Toxic--Relic--and Barren.  Gas Giants are also now colonizable.  Also added population cap research included in Sins Plus for both Gas Giants as well as Barren Planets and Astroids.

Starting Local Militias: The starting Militias will be changed and spawn based on the theme of the starting planet stated above.  TEC's on Tec Planets, Advent on theirs, and Vasari on theirs.

Planet Rebalancing: The following displays the method I will be using to rebalance the planets in the game.  Hopefully this will allow the planets to become unique without any of them becoming less important then the others.  Each planet has 20 points to spend among the 5 fields.

    20 Point System  
           
Point Cost Population Metal Crystal Civilian Tactical
Dry (0) 0 0 0 0 0
Very Low (1) 10/30 0/1 0/1 8/14 5/15
Low (2) 10/30/100 1/2 1/2 8/14/20 5/15/25
Med (4) 10/30/100/190 2/3 2/3 8/14/20/26 5/15/25/35
High (8) 10/30/100/190/300 3/4 3/4 12/18/24/30/36 10/20/30/40/50
Very High (16) 10/30/100/190/300/420 4/6 4/6 12/18/24/30/36/42 10/20/30/40/50/60
           
  Population Metal Crystal Civilian Tactical
Terran 8 2 2 4 4
Desert 4 2 2 8 4
Ice 4 0 8 4 4
Volcanic 2 8 0 2 8
Paradise 2 0 0 16 2
Urban 16 0 0 2 2
Forest 8 4 0 4 4
Old Naval Base 4 2 2 4 8
Toxic 1 0 16 1 2
Industral 2 1 1 8 8
Swamp 4 4 0 8 4
Barren 1 1 1 1 16
Relic 2 0 8 2 8
Savannah 4 4 4 4 4
Ocean 4 0 4 4 8
Gas Giant 1 8 8 1 2

Reorganized Research Techs:  With the introduction of the new Defense Research Tree, I will be reorganizing the techs to allow for a more eye appealing layout as well as redefining the trees that certain techs should be in.

 

 

Planet Abilities: Every Planet will have an ability available to all races to research along with an additional researchable ability for the race best suite for the planet type.  What this means is now instead of only being able to research the planest that your race best represents, you will be able to research abilities for every planet type, but you still recieve an additional researchable ability on your race favored planets.

White = Universial, Green = TEC,  Blue = Advent,  Orange = Vasari

Terran: Population Growth Rate (+33%,66%,100%)///Weapon Range (+50%,100%,150%)

Urban: fighters per squad for structures (+1,2,3)///Fighters per squad for Starbases (+1,2,3)

Paradise: Planet Upgrade Cost (-20%,40%,60%)///Culture Spread (+50%,100%,150%)

Old Naval Base: Weapon Cooldown (+33%,66%,100%)///Shield Restore (+50%,100%,150%)

Forest: Structure Build Rate (+33%,66%,100%)///Hull Restore Rate (+50%.100%,150%)

Desert: Chance to be hit (-10%,20%,30%)///Culture Spread (+50%,100%,150%)

Ice: Speed of enemy ships (-10,20%,30%)///Shield Restore Rate (+50%,100%,150%)

Ocean: Planet Bombing Damage Absorb (+20%,40%,60%)///Energy Weapon Cooldown (+50%,100%,150%)

Relic: Ability Cooldown (+33%,66%,100%)///Antimatter Cost on non-ultimates (-20%,40%,60%)

Savannah: Structure Build Rate (+33%,66%,100%)///Hull Restore Rate (+50%.100%,150%)

Volcanic: Damage for Structures (+33%,66%,100%)///Culture Spread (+50%,100%,150%)

Toxic: Damage for Mines (+33%,66%,100%)///Shield Restore Rate (50%,100%,150%)

Industral: Ship Build Time (-33%,66%,100%)///Hull Restore Rate (+50%.100%,150%)

Barren: Planet Bombing Damage Absorb (+20%,40%,60%)///Speed Increase for Ships and Starbase (50%,100%,150%)

Swamp: Structure Build Rate (+33%,66%,100%)///Weapon Range (+50%,100%,150%)

Five Strike Craft Per Race: 

Intercepter: When it comes to the dog fight there is no equal.  With unmatched speed and manuverability, Intercepters are by far the best strike craft to clear the way of fighters and provide valuable escort for bomber squadrons. (Real World Representation: Mig series Fighter)

Fighter: While the Intercepter is its greatest threat, the fighter is the greatest threat to bombers.  With the ability to severly disrupt any bomber offensive, they provide valuable protection for structures and ships.  (Real World Representation: F-series Fighter)

Light Bomber: Because it is classified as a light bomber, do not think that this craft is a pushover.  It is in fact the toughest and most heavily armored strike craft available, and it has to be, as its job is to take on anti-strike craft frigates and carriers. (Real World Representation: A-10 Warthog)

Medium Bomber: A heavy cruiser's nemisis.  The medium bomber can deliver ordinace that can turn even the heaviest vessels to clouds of debris.  Only moderately armored and relitively slow moving, these bombers can fall prey to enemy fighter formations if proper precautions are not taken.  (Real World Representation: B-52 Superfortress)

Heavy Bomber: Go big or go home some might say, and these ships definately represent that very idea.  While only somewhat effective against most vessels, these strike craft shine when brought up against massive targets like capital ships and structures.  (Real World Representaion: B2 Bomber)

Roles for Strike Craft Building Units:

Capital ships: can build all three bomber types, as well as fighters, which make them strong in many areas.  They can be powerful in assulting enemy planets and heavy vessels(medium and heavy bombers), can be strong against other fleets with large frigate numbers (light bombers) and can protect their own fleet against bomber raids from other capital ships (Fighters).  Their flaw is that fighters only provide a marginal amount of protection against other fighters as well an intercepters.  This is where the need for cruiser carriers come in.

Cruiser Carriers:  Unlike in vanilla sins, cruiser carriers are now more protectors of their own fleet then an assult force.  They can launch powerful attacks against enemy frigates and cruisers (light bomber), can protect against enemy bomber forces (fighter), but are also tasked in the protection of the capital ships bomber forces against the enemy providing needed strike craft to act as escorts(Intercepter).  Their flaw is that they are weak against structures as well as heavy vessels.  This is where the Capital Ship squadrons come in.

Hanger Defenses:  Like Cruiser Carriers, the Hanger Defense also provides the same protection toward the planet it surrounds.  Its light bombers can devistate enemy frigates and hult their attacks.  Its fighter squadrons can hult the attacks of enemy capital ship bombers against the orbiting structures, and its intercepter squadrons can be used to protect the light bombers against invading forces that are relying on fighter support.  Their flaw is they cannot provide a powerful punch against heavy vessels such as capital ships themselves.  This is where Star Bases come in.

Starbase:  Starbases provide the same protection that Hanger Defenses with one notiable difference between them.  The starbase can also be strong against the heaviest of vessels, such as capital ships and heavy cruisers, with its ability to build medium bombers.  This allows it to provide the final area of protection that hanger defenses lack in.

Error Free:  In making the mod error free, I was forced to make Gas Giants uncolonizable, as the research to make them colonizable was causing issues with the game engine and giving me the an error.  While many people did not have a problem with, it was causing crashes on some systems, and therefore was decided to remove it.

Planet Abilities now require Starbases:  Planet abilities now require starbases in order to access them.  Some might think this as restrictive, however, I feel it adds to the depth of the whole entrenchment experience.

New Changes for 2.5:

Dubbled Max Research Levels:Max levels of many of the research will be dubbled in order to further use of the mod into later stages of the game.  Along with the Increased Need for Trade described below, it will definately be of use into many more hours of play then usual.  Take note that both ship supply and capital ship max will also be effected by this, dubbling the amount of vessels you can have.

Increased Need for Trade and Foundries: There will be an increased need for trade and foundries within the game. No longer can you expect to run a powerful empire on just taxes and extractors alone and still drown yourself in spare credits and resources.  No longer will you merely laugh when your full entire fleet gets wiped because you can easily have another ready in mere moments.  No longer can you expect to complete all the research in a cupple of hours on a meager handful of world.

Reorganized Pirates: With the increased power given by the added technologies, pirates have become seriously dwarfed by the strength of the empires, but no longer.  Pirates vessels themselves will improve as the game moves on, and once again become a feared enemy in the galaxy, or a powerful tool if you have the credits.

 

 

 

 

 

 


Comments (Page 31)
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on Mar 17, 2009

Axalon_30: http://www.moddb.com/mods/mad-scientist-mod2 or you can just go to www.moddb.com and run a search for it.

FearlessDefiance:  Don't think it is an issue on my behalf, as I have not edited those ships and their files are not included in the mod so they are run from the default game folder.  Also, there are no planetary abilities that deal with shield mitigation, so that is not source of the problem.  As far as I can tell, my guess is it is supost to be like that, and if not you might want to bring it up to the devs.

on Mar 17, 2009

Valkajin

For the rest of us, we all love the mod and in fact I check the forums everyday just to see if you or Dolynick have made any changes or updates.......I hav eonly onemore wish for SINS......and that is for your mod to be compatible with the stargate races mod.........THAT WOULD ROCK.   Or for that matter... any extra races lol.  I'm not picky.   Atm they both give dumps if enabled together.  I'd play Stargate races more if I could pull myself away from Mad Scientist.....but thats not gonna happen,,,,,, Muhu hahahahaha.
 

Valkajin,

Unfortunately, combining this mod with SGRaces is not just a simple matter of merging the two mods.  It would require completely restructuring and revising the tech trees for all three of the new races in SGRaces.  That is more work than I am willing to commit at this time, given the long list of other things left to do with my own modding projects.

I am aware that it's not the same thing, but you can probably expect a merged version of SGRaces and a form of Sins Plus in the next little while.  I have completed the merge and have just been playtesting things (since it's not just Sins Plus but has some modified things such as planet sizes in it as well) for the last few days.

I see that Ordian has already responded to your request as well.  If he is willing to try and tackle the project of combining the two mods then he has my go ahead to try and do so.  SGRaces, like any mod, is constantly evolving though and short of halting all development on the mod there is little I can do to stop it from trying to be like hitting a moving target for him.

-dolynick

on Mar 17, 2009

dolynick: Thanks for the thumbs up on it, but like you said, it would take alot of work as well as time.  If I do decide to make a version of the mod useable with your own, it would not be a full merge as in including your mod with mine so to keep down on the issues when you do have new releases.  Will mean that the player will still have to download both and then combine them in game, but that is the best method.

The only unfortunate thing is I don't get to play the game that often, and I am not completely fluent with your mod nor the changes within in, so some investingating would have to be done first, as well as determining what research goes where and the entire planning part of it, all while still adding content to my own mod.  Would probaly have to bring in a fan of both yours and mine, such as Valkajin, to pump for ideas on this as well and getting them involved, and it might not be a bad idea to divide the load on many shoulders instead of just my own.  Would be sweet to get this thing universally mergeable for people to combine in the game itself so they can have the best of both worlds.  Alot of work would be involved and whether or not I do it is still up in the air, but it is good to know that I can take eather route without restrictions.

Ordian

on Mar 17, 2009

A simple merge building version of the two mods should be fairly easy.  My mod modifies only two stock files.  The first is the string file and the second is the GalaxyScenarioDef.  In thoery, a person could combine the string files and merge the changes in both GalaxyScenarioDef files (mine basically only adds what is necessary for the new races to have proper starting assets in a new game), update the .manifest files and release that.  A user would then extract both of our mods into the same directory and then then extract the "combiner mod" files into that directory, replacing the the files that conflict.

This would not give the SGRaces any of the research tree changes you've made in your mod though.  I have not tried your mod yet, but as I understand it, the research tree changes are the heart of the mod.  That means that it would be somewhat pointless and would probably be unbalanced as your research changes should result in significantly more powerful stock races in the later stages of the game.

To do anything more than that kind of merge would require someone to put in a lot of time and effort, as we both have already agreed would be needed to do it properly.

-dolynick

on Mar 17, 2009

Ordian
Axalon_30: http://www.moddb.com/mods/mad-scientist-mod2 or you can just go to www.moddb.com and run a search for it.

FearlessDefiance:  Don't think it is an issue on my behalf, as I have not edited those ships and their files are not included in the mod so they are run from the default game folder.  Also, there are no planetary abilities that deal with shield mitigation, so that is not source of the problem.  As far as I can tell, my guess is it is supost to be like that, and if not you might want to bring it up to the devs.

Your right. Just unloaded the mod and fired up a game of vanilla entrench and noticed it happens. Hehehe sorry, I barely played vanilla before grabbing your mod.

on Mar 17, 2009

Sorry for dbl post, it wont let me edit my earlier post. But it seems like you added in Sins plus, yet I haven't seen any ship graveyards, did you remove this feature or did you just create your own additional planets?

on Mar 18, 2009

Ship Graveyards were removed when I added Sins Plus for many reasons, but the planets are from that particular mod.  The main reason I removed Ship Graveyard, even though a cool idea, the AI just couldn't utilize these areas properly.

on Mar 18, 2009

Okay guys, I have been working on getting all the kinks out of the mod, and have located all errors that developer can find.  There are also some additional changes that I will note below.  If there are any questions or concerns, then please let me know.

Five Strike Craft Per Race: 

Intercepter: When it comes to the dog fight there is no equal.  With unmatched speed and manuverability, Intercepters are by far the best strike craft to clear the way of fighters and provide valuable escort for bomber squadrons. (Real World Representation: Mig series Fighter)

Fighter: While the Intercepter is its greatest threat, the fighter is the greatest threat to bombers.  With the ability to severly disrupt any bomber offensive, they provide valuable protection for structures and ships.  (Real World Representation: F-series Fighter)

Light Bomber: Because it is classified as a light bomber, do not think that this craft is a pushover.  It is in fact the toughest and most heavily armored strike craft available, and it has to be, as its job is to take on anti-strike craft frigates and carriers. (Real World Representation: A-10 Warthog)

Medium Bomber: A heavy cruiser's nemisis.  The medium bomber can deliver ordinace that can turn even the heaviest vessels to clouds of debris.  Only moderately armored and relitively slow moving, these bombers can fall prey to enemy fighter formations if proper precautions are not taken.  (Real World Representation: B-52 Superfortress)

Heavy Bomber: Go big or go home some might say, and these ships definately represent that very idea.  While only somewhat effective against most vessels, these strike craft shine when brought up against massive targets like capital ships and structures.  (Real World Representaion: B2 Bomber)

Error Free:  In making the mod error free, I was forced to make Gas Giants uncolonizable, as the research to make them colonizable was causing issues with the game engine and giving me the an error.  While many people did not have a problem with, it was causing crashes on some systems, and therefore was decided to remove it.

Planet Abilities now require Starbases:  Planet abilities now require starbases in order to access them.  Some might think this as restrictive, however, I feel it adds to the depth of the whole entrenchment experience.  Also, I felt that many planet abilities needed an extra step in order to obtain due to their strength, such as the one dubbling the production of all ships around industral planets.

on Mar 18, 2009

i havent played your mod yet, (havent even had enough time to play entrenchment) but im really looking forward to it. sounds really great so far

some things i wanted to contribute/ask ^^

1. is it possible to add a third ressource (maybe blue cristal/gas or anything else)?. something that would be really rare and could be used to buy/activate special (maybe researched) abilities of ships/planets. the new resource should be really hard to get. maybe a new planet/system that cant be colonized where you had to protect your mininig ships that extract the ressource. extracting should be really slow and abilities that use the new ressouce should be expensive. you could add new research to faster extract the resource and maybe a new artifact that gives a very small amount of the ressource over time. fighting over it should be rewarding and it would also become very valuable for trading.

some abilities for planets that come to mind:

-5 min Shield (no damage to the planet)

-warpjump canceling of enemy ships in the whole system + X min unable to jump again

-ability that opens a wormhole (ports ships) to a chosen/random (research?) destination (maybe too strong, should be really expensive)

-ability that increases max population of the planet by x % permanently

abilities for cap ships:

- X dmg attack that really hurts (small cooldown, but new ressource heavy)

- "instant" retreat to a nearby system

- levelup for higher ranks

and so on, got some more ideas if you are interested . as i said, those abilities should be expensive and present a option that isnt used in every skirmish, you get the idea.

 

2. a third research centre could also add to the depth of the mod. 1 structure per research tree. you had to think more about how you use your logistical slots.

 

3. my most requested feature from stardock dont know if its possible, but it would be awesome to give (human) players missions like the cpu does. "kill X military structures from player A and ill give you 5k credits + 500 metal". or "capture planet X from player B and ill give you 500 [3rd ressource] "

 

i think those things would fit good into this mod, but its up to you, its your mod sadly i cant mod myself, but i can contribute more ideas if you want. keep up the good work

bonus question: is the lokal multiplayer working (+ AI)? ive heared some people had problems with it.

on Mar 18, 2009

Hello again,

With the 2.2d version, I'm running into a repeatable CTD when my fleet arrives at a particular enemy planet.  If you like I can send the save file along with instructions on how to repeat the CTD if that would be helpful.

Otherwise everything has been working very well so far.  Thanks again for any assistance.

on Mar 18, 2009

Ordian
Medium Bomber: A heavy cruiser's nemisis.  The medium bomber can deliver ordinace that can turn even the heaviest vessels to clouds of debris.  Only moderately armored and relitively slow moving, these bombers can fall prey to enemy fighter formations if proper precautions are not taken.  (Real World Representation: B-52 Superfortress)

Heavy Bomber: Go big or go home some might say, and these ships definately represent that very idea.  While only somewhat effective against most vessels, these strike craft shine when brought up against massive targets like capital ships and structures.  (Real World Representaion: B2 Bomber)

I dont mean to nitpick but the B-52 Superfortress carries a heavier payload then the B2 Stealth Bomber. To show a better representation you should set the Heavy bomber to B-52 which has the highest payload of any bomber I believe and use the B1 bomber to represent medium. Again just so people will have a better understanding.

on Mar 18, 2009

same here..

i am getting quite a few CTDs when zooming into my fleet ... it didn't used to happen with version c... i have a save file that pretty much the CTD happens almost everytime

on Mar 18, 2009

This is probably coincidence but I upgraded to the 185.20 beta nvidia drivers (didn't see them on the official site) and started a new game.  Has run perfectly for several hours.  I did see a performance increase with this beta as well.

Link to 185.20 beta

http://forums.overclockers.com.au/showthread.php?t=743024

on Mar 18, 2009

Dzhel and Auggie12: I have sent you a pm with information on to where to send the save game files so I can take a look at them.

Ryat:  Lol, nitpicking at its finest.  

on Mar 18, 2009

Not sure if this was mentioned already, but with your 5 different kinds of srike craft, what happens to the advent's homing mines?

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