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All Forums >> [New Releases from Matrix Games] >> Distant Worlds 1 Series >> Design and Modding >> Bacon Mod

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Bacon Mod - 4/3/2017 10:04:12 PM

RogerBacon

Posts: 724
Joined: 5/17/2000
From: Miami, Florida, U.S.A.
Status: offline

Back in June 2016 (10 months ago as of this writing) I started modding my Distant Worlds Universe, as I imagine most people do. A little change here, a little change there. Pretty soon I had something that was, for me, more fun than the vanilla game. I�ve decided to move forward with releaseing it and let other people see my setup.

This mod is mostly an exe mod so it can be used along with your other favorite mod. The only features that requires merging if used with another mod are the separate fight and bomber bays and terraforming.
Also note that almost every feature of this mod can be disabled through the BaconSetings.txt text file so if there is a feature you really don't want changed from the vanilla game it shouldn't be a deal breaker.
NOTE: If your Windows settings uses commas for decimal points, like some European settings do, you will need to replace the decimal points in the BaconSettings.txt file with commas.

Here are the text files to merge this mod with some popular ones.

Haree78's Extended Universe 1.03 (Larry had to remove this link. If anyone else wants to host the combined files let me know.)
www.larrymonte.com/downloads/DWExtendedUniverseBaconFiles.zip

Beyond Extended Universe Alpha
https://www.dropbox.com/s/i7zsgf2iahycms2/Beyond%20Extended%20Universe%20Alpha.zip?dl=0

The download contains a readme file that lists the mods features. Here is a short summary:
Gravity wells around stars
Adjustable hyperjump minimum distance and accuracy
Ability for more than one picture of each ship type for each ship family (Cruiser1.png, Cruiser2.png, etc.
Empires can build all ship types (Freighters, gas miners, etc). These are state ships for cost and upkeep.
Crew experience levels and kill stats tracking.
Fighter aces.
Civilian weapon limit expanded from 1 to 10.
Ship-Finder - a popup box to search for any ship, planet, or star by name.
Fleet Commands: Easily reinforce, combine, or disband fleets.
Assign freighters to a one-time cargo mission.
Higher monetary amounts in the diplomacy window so you don't have to click 100 times to trade something of high value.
Better font and background color on some screens for better readability.
A tweak so freighters will always try to fill up if their destination is a base or planet (not a mining station or minor base like that.)
Damage viewer to see a ships damaged components more easily.
Ship cycler: cycle forward and backward among all ships of the same type as currently selected ship.
Manual carriers: give orders for each carrier's fighter's target or even for each fighter if you really want to micromanage
Separate bomber and fighter bays (requires Baconworld folder files or a little manual work to merge with another mod)
new fighter options: range multiplier, monetary cost to build, construction time multiplier, and limited ammo (simulated).
Removal of some +/- 100 limits for custom race stats.
Shortcut to order more than one troop at a time. No more clicking the troop button 50 times after your invasion fleet picks up every troop on your capital.
Science Ships - Automated exploration ships with labs will work on research projects independently.
Integration with Bacon Stats Viewer.
Hotkeys to support most new features.
Custom start screen
New Galaxy size "Bacon Big" with 2000 stars
Fighter damage multiplier against bombers
Player can take out loans
Captured spies can be ransomed instead of automatically being killed.
Extended range for weapons on bases
Infrastructure spending

[Update 2017-05-15]
Version 1.1 released.
1.1 Fixed a bug in manual cargo missions. Fixed an out of memory error when saving. Used utility �Large Adress Aware� (https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/large-address-aware.112556/) to enable exe to access more of the first 4GB of system memory.

[Update 2017-06-10]
Version 1.2 released

1.2 Fixed a divide by zero error when combining Bacon Mod with another mod that unlocks fighters and bombers separately.
Non-military ships no longer add to your empire's overall military strength on the empire report screen. The number should now be more reflective of true military strength.
Only military ships wlll be counted for determining if you are trespassing in another's territory.
Default fighter & bomber behavior is now the same as vanilla DWU. i.e. they will attack targets until you set them to manual mode (alt-a). This will be true even if you turn the fleet over to AI control so be sure to turn the carriers off manual before you switch back to AI control or else your carriers won't launch their fighters.
Added a new command "!nukem" to the shipfinder. Typing this will destroy all ships and bases except for those with a character on board. This is a good way to get rid of all those powerful space wrecks when playing story mode. Note that this is experimental. An early version I had about a month ago seemed to cause crashes in my game about 19-23 years in. I think it was because of orphaned characters when I nuked ALL ships but I have not had a chance to test it out. If you get consistent crashes with a message about character skill level then don't use this. I think it should be OK though.

[Update 2017-06-15]
Version 1.3 Released

Fixed bug where ships sometimes do not reveal the system they are in.
Only military ships will count toward triggering the "Get your ships out of my territory" warning.
Only military ships will count toward calculation of an empire's overall firepower.
Diplomacy screen slightly darker and should be easier to read if Shadow=false in BaconSettings.txt

[Update 2017-08-11]
Version 1.31 Released

Added higher increments of money options to diplomacy trade screen so you won't have to click "100,000" 500 times to pay for that cool mining base you really want to buy.

[Update 2017-09-02]
Version 1.35 Released

(Optional) Added XML exports for live in-game viewing of your empire's progress using the Bacon Stats Viewer.
(Optional) Added science ships (Exploration ships that will perform independent research).

Update 2017-09-17
Version 1.4 Released
Added Bigger galaxy size �Bacon Big� with 2000 stars.
Removed restriction on star count on smaller maps.
Added fighter damage multiplier against bombers. (optional)
Added support for custom start screens.

Update 2017-10-06
Version 1.45 Released
Added Alt+Ctrl+Right Click menu for some ship actions
Added Terraforming (Required facilities.txt edit if used with another mod)
Science Ships now can be given specific projects
Lowest Galaxy star setting now customizable.
First pass at improving pathing for ships out of a gravity well.
(Note: this version had a terraforming bug. I've fixed and reuploaded. If the exe has date 10/06/2017 it is the old one. Redownload)

Update 2017-10-20
Version 1.5 Released

Update 2017-10-29
Version 1.51 released.
Various bug fixes. See post #308 in the thread.

Update 2017-11-11
Version 1.52 released.
Made some changes for small populations and exposed some game variables for users to edit.
See post #333 for details.

Update 2017-11-22
Version 1.55 Released.
Added mining rate improvement with tech advance, weapon range circles, revised asteroid colonies, ability to reload ship templates mid-game, option to play without independents.
See post #349 for details.

Update 2017-12-09
Version 1.6 Released. Note, there was a bug in the version uploaded on 12-09-2017. Make sure your exe is 12-10-2017. The bug required you to have a custom background screen or the game would not load.
Added spy ransoming and loans. See post #389 for details.

Update 2017-12-23
Version 1.61 Released.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/q6xoirx50dcq0i5/BaconMod1.61.zip?dl=0
Bug fixes and ability to remove background stars. See post 428 for details.

Update 2018-01-01
Version 1.65 released.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/dbzjeitthfrydqg/BaconMod1.65.zip?dl=0
See post 456 for details.

Update 2018-01-27
Version 1.66 released.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/brw8cpmx58kkqbx/BaconMod1.66.zip?dl=0
See post 504 for details.

Update 2018-02-17
Version 1.67 released.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/kkceka2ifsybcfj/BaconMod1.67.zip?dl=0
See post 519 for details.

Update 2018-04-29
Version 1.68 released.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/tj4u1tsj9rrjvjw/BaconMod1.68.zip?dl=0
Free traders and more.
See post #578 for details.

Update 2018-05-11
Version 1.69 released.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/qzs7uta6547dui1/BaconMod1.69.zip?dl=0
Some bug fixes and new configuration settings.
See post #584 for details.

Update 2018-06-10
https://www.dropbox.com/s/1a7non48lvqbyuw/BaconMod1.70.zip?dl=0
Version 1.70 released. See post 623 for details.
Note: Make sure your download is June 10th. The June 9th one had a bug and has been replaced.

Update 2018-06-14
https://www.dropbox.com/s/knj9lu8ub39vzeq/BaconMod1.71.zip?dl=0
Version 1.71 released. See post 654 for details.

Update 2018-07-04
https://www.dropbox.com/s/vkv5gu2mam8aec1/BaconMod1.72.zip?dl=0
Version 1.72 released. See post 690 for details.

Update 2018-07-24
https://www.dropbox.com/s/vzvmxo2b2rp7wed/BaconMod1.73.zip?dl=0
Version 1.73 released. Lots of stuff. See post 726 for details.

Update 2018-08-07
https://www.dropbox.com/s/44zdcpe4sjvmoo4/BaconMod1.74.zip?dl=0
Version 1.74 Released. See post 745 for details.

Update 2018-09-25
https://www.dropbox.com/s/jdq4ud5zre9i3ha/BaconMod1.75.zip?dl=0
Version 1.75 released. See post 785 for details.

Update 2018-12-30
https://www.dropbox.com/s/aa6putks9zwr72u/BaconMod1.76.rar?dl=0
Version 1.76 released. See post 820 for details.

Update 2019-01-19
https://www.dropbox.com/s/1otq3jkzeaesyrx/BaconMod1.77.zip?dl=0
Version 1.77 released. See post 843 for details.

Update 202-05-16
https://www.dropbox.com/s/uh5ve7qz2yz17de/BaconMod1.78.zip?dl=0
Version 1.78 released. See post 963 for details.

Update 2020-05-23
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ndo3fh8xk0z64w5/BaconMod1.79.zip?dl=0
Version 1.79 released. Just bug fixes.

Update 2020-09-20
https://www.dropbox.com/s/fxtq0g8rimuigcb/BaconMod1.80.zip?dl=0
Version 1.80 Custom Bombers
See post 1078 for details.

Update 2020-10-13
https://www.dropbox.com/s/94i2bjh66prohe3/BaconMod1.81.zip?dl=0
Version 1.81 Tailgunners, bomber transfers
See post 1122 for details.
Note: If you have Windows 10 2004 update, replace the exe with this one here: http://s000.tinyupload.com/?file_id=50447438643992698242

Update 2021-02-25
https://www.dropbox.com/s/sd0hszsui7axlkm/BaconMod1.82.zip?dl=0
or
https://1drv.ms/u/s!ApjhgGW40zIJhV09L5hB3CyU_EZw?e=xoeTnk
Version 1.82 Custom Difficulty settings
See post 1335 for details. Note that this version currently flags as a virus in BitDefender. I'll contact them to fix that.

New
'A' key toggles ship automation
CTRL-T adds selected base or ship to tradable items list if you own it.
Shiplist screen - added new categories: damaged, low fuel, newest, under attack.
Freighter and passenger ship mission can be made repeatable.
Ability to pop up a custom reminder when a ship finishes its mission.

Changed
'Trade Everything' now optional. Set to true in settings to enable.

Fixed
If you opened the ship finder with a state ship selected it would order the ship to escape since the game detected the 'e' key being pressed.

--------------------------------------

New Commands for shipFinder:

!troops [number] Recruits [number] of troops to the currently selected planet on the colonies list.
!spy Shortcut to order a steal tech with your best uncommitted spy against the selected empire.
!clear This will clear the mission for the currently selected ship.
!bringonthebugs This will set the beacon for the Shakturi immediately, instead of waiting until normal game conditions warrant.
!gogobugs This will spawn the Shakturi immediately and remove any Shakturi beacon in present.
!placebugs This will place the Shakturi homeworld on the currently selected planet if the Shakturi aren't already in the game
and more. See reaedme for details.
Note that all the SHakturi related commands will only work in story mode, obviously.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

New Hotkeys listed here for quick reference

Hotkeys

Alt 1 - designate origin for civilian cargo mission
Alt 2 - designate destination for civilian cargo mission
Alt 3 - designate ship to perform mission
Alt ; - Cycle backward through current selection's ship type
Alt ' - Cycle forward through current selection's ship type

Ctrl W - Execute Passenger transport mission, must have passenger ship selected AND must use the passenger.txt file! Copy paste is a MUST! You may keep the txt file open, however it must be saved between uses. Will only transport primary race citizens.
Ctrl E - Find item by given name
Ctrl R - Itemized list of damaged components (Doesn't work for unowned ships in my experience, would be neat to see how that desolation moon is coming though eh?)
Ctrl S - Displays battle stats of selected item
Ctrl-Enter - show cargo or mission info for selected object.

+10% sublight speed
+10% shield and shield recharge
+10% weapon range and weapon travel speed
+10% weapon damage (every other weapon under 10 damage will receive +1 damaged instead)
+25% targeting, countermeasures, -20% static energy usage, +10% fuel capacity

Fighter Hotkeys

Alt 4 - designates fighter target
Alt 5 - Attack order for bombers, if bomber is selected orders THAT bomber to attack, if carrier, all bombers
Alt 6 - Attack order for bombers not already launched, will not alter current attack missions for launched bombers
Alt / - Find targeted fighter's parent carrier/base
Alt-a Enable manual fighter ops (so this carrier�s bombers won�t attack unless ordered to).

Fleet Commands

#disband - Disband selected fleet
#disband FleetName - Disband by name of fleet inputted
#join FleetName - Join fleet by fleet inputted
#combine FleetName - Join selected fleet to inputted fleet disbanding the selected fleet
#combine Fleet1+Fleet2 - Combine inputted last fleet into inputted first fleet disbanding last fleet
#add [shipDesign]=[amount] - This command will attempt to reinforce the currently selected fleet with [amount] of [ship design] ships. If [amount] is left off it defaults to 1.

---------------------------------------------------------------
BTC 14UURmC4rD762RStsufKmaUjfXQrBvahU1
ETH 0x7c65139BC82A0BDC5b11F92001D5c5a112219f08

< Message edited by RogerBacon -- 6/20/2021 11:22:09 PM >

Post #: 1

RE: "Hyping" my forthcoming mod (pun intended) - 4/4/2017 9:37:07 PM

RogerBacon

Posts: 724
Joined: 5/17/2000
From: Miami, Florida, U.S.A.
Status: offline

OK, here is the first teaser pic from the mod. Let's make a game of this. Can you spot the mod?

Canaris_PL, if you are still playing Distant Worlds, your wish from two years ago is about to come true.

(in reply to RogerBacon)

Post #: 2

RE: "Hyping" my forthcoming mod (pun intended) - 4/6/2017 1:06:46 PM

RogerBacon

Posts: 724
Joined: 5/17/2000
From: Miami, Florida, U.S.A.
Status: offline

Here's another image. In the first image the star had a combined stellar energy output of 100. This star only has 64.
Can you see the difference?

http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=3864689

(in reply to RogerBacon)

Post #: 3

RE: "Hyping" my forthcoming mod (pun intended) - 4/7/2017 2:02:27 PM

RogerBacon

Posts: 724
Joined: 5/17/2000
From: Miami, Florida, U.S.A.
Status: offline

OK, we'll get back to the above screenshots later. Moving along...

Some people have wondered if it was possible to change the 50/50 split of fighters/bombers carried on their ships.
http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=3685079
http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=3985096
The answer has always been "Yes, if you micromanage each ship and then redo it each time a fighter or bomber is destroyed". So, in other words, "No, because its a pain in the butt".
If we had a separate component for fighters and another one for bombers though it would be easy.
Enter, the BomberBay:

(in reply to RogerBacon)

Post #: 4

RE: "Hyping" my forthcoming mod (pun intended) - 4/9/2017 8:08:31 PM

RogerBacon

Posts: 724
Joined: 5/17/2000
From: Miami, Florida, U.S.A.
Status: offline

OK, so stars generate gravity wells of various sizes. What are the consequences of that?

1 Sublight speed becomes much more important. Previously speed only mattered if you were using the cheese tactic of "kiting" your enemy (Keeping out of their range while you picked them to death slowly). Now Speed matters a lot more. That's a good thing.
2 Non-combatants (freighters et al) are on their own much more. No having your destroyer arrive to save them or have the freighters jump out 18 seconds after enemy sighting. Something has to be done about that. Freighters have to be built with speed in mind or they have to be built to fight, at least a little. Also, freighters can't flee when an enemy is sighted because the enemy might take 10 or more minutes to reach them. They should concentrate on completing their mission.

Here is a freighter from my game. It has a fighting chance against a lone pirate at least. It also won't run right away.

(in reply to RogerBacon)

Post #: 5

RE: "Hyping" my forthcoming mod (pun intended) - 4/9/2017 9:12:28 PM

Retreat1970

Posts: 948
Joined: 11/6/2013
From: Wisconsin
Status: offline

If everyone is hyper denied then trade will suffer I think. Unless it's late game, freighters could run out of gas then move at severely reduced speed. Just a thought.

(in reply to RogerBacon)

Post #: 6

RE: "Hyping" my forthcoming mod (pun intended) - 4/10/2017 12:26:06 AM

RogerBacon

Posts: 724
Joined: 5/17/2000
From: Miami, Florida, U.S.A.
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: Retreat1970

If everyone is hyper denied then trade will suffer I think. Unless it's late game, freighters could run out of gas then move at severely reduced speed. Just a thought.

Well, it takes a little longer for shipments to arrive, just like when you are pre-warp.
As far as the fuel usage, you are correct; freighters would run out of gas unless I did something about it. To that end, I've included a user-defined sublight fuel divisor. From testing, it appears that 3 works well.

(in reply to Retreat1970)

Post #: 7

RE: "Hyping" my forthcoming mod (pun intended) - 4/10/2017 7:42:31 PM

Nemo84

Posts: 115
Joined: 3/29/2010
Status: offline

As a long-time Distant Worlds player who has unsuccessfully attempted this very same stellar gravity well thing, I have only two questions. How the hell did you do it and where can I download it?

(in reply to RogerBacon)

Post #: 8

RE: "Hyping" my forthcoming mod (pun intended) - 4/10/2017 10:00:46 PM

Kull

Posts: 2625
Joined: 7/3/2007
From: El Paso, TX
Status: offline

If the freighters are armed, won't that cause AI empires to respond diplomatically as if they were warships? So lots of trespass warnings, and anger, etc.

_____________________________

AE-Japan Setup

AE-Allied Setup

Japan Air-Engine Plan

(in reply to Nemo84)

Post #: 9

RE: "Hyping" my forthcoming mod (pun intended) - 4/11/2017 1:03:42 PM

RogerBacon

Posts: 724
Joined: 5/17/2000
From: Miami, Florida, U.S.A.
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: Nemo84

As a long-time Distant Worlds player who has unsuccessfully attempted this very same stellar gravity well thing, I have only two questions. How the hell did you do it and where can I download it?

Soon. I'm still testing. I tend to play the same style of game all the time and I need to test with other styles (storyline, pirate, etc.) to find potential problems. I've found a ton that way but have worked through most of them so far.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Kull

If the freighters are armed, won't that cause AI empires to respond diplomatically as if they were warships? So lots of trespass warnings, and anger, etc.

Freighters can already have one weapon so the game recognizes the difference between freighters and other ships. My armed-to-the-teeth freighters make port calls at other empires' planets all the time without triggering the 'remove your ships' warning.

(in reply to Nemo84)

Post #: 10

RE: "Hyping" my forthcoming mod (pun intended) - 4/11/2017 1:27:05 PM

RogerBacon

Posts: 724
Joined: 5/17/2000
From: Miami, Florida, U.S.A.
Status: offline

Ok, even though I'm focusing on the hyperjump denying stars, this mod is really just a collection of all the changes I've made in the past 10 months. There really is no theme so I may seem like I'm jumping around a bit. To that end, moving on to the next piece...

here was a thread that captured my interest some time ago.
http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=3888365

I didn't like the answer so here is my answer:
(Besides the obvious, note my flag)

(in reply to RogerBacon)

Post #: 11

RE: "Hyping" my forthcoming mod (pun intended) - 4/14/2017 2:22:34 AM

RogerBacon

Posts: 724
Joined: 5/17/2000
From: Miami, Florida, U.S.A.
Status: offline

Way, way back in 2010 forum member IGard discovered that we could have extra ship images if we assigned them to a family that was not assigned to a race. The images would appear at the end of the list and the player could use them. That was a GREAT discovery and I used it myself but I longed for something more. I wanted the images close to my race's images and I wanted the cruisers listed together and the destroyers listed together, etc. I also wanted the AI to be able to have more than one image per ship class.
My mod will allow players to have up to 5 images per ship type per family. Here's a screenshot of a few ships in family9 of my setup. (The images come from other people's mods and are used only as examples).

The nice thing about this is that you don't have to have five of each ship class. YOu can add a cruiser to one family, a destroyer to a different family and leave the other families alone. If the AI designs a ship with more than one possible image it will pick one at random.

Now the downsides (you knew there had to be some)
1 Saved games won't load if you add or remove images. You can swap images but the number must stay the same until you start a new game.
2 If you have saved ship designs (most people have a set of starting designs saved so they don't have to redo the tedious setup each game) the images will be wrong until you set them and re-save them. After doing that once they will be fine until you add more images.

(in reply to RogerBacon)

Post #: 12

RE: "Hyping" my forthcoming mod (pun intended) - 4/16/2017 7:39:42 PM

RogerBacon

Posts: 724
Joined: 5/17/2000
From: Miami, Florida, U.S.A.
Status: offline

I think independent planets are too easy to invade.
http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=3126437
They have only a couple of troops defending them. I always set "Allow independent colonies to become empires" but I've never seen it happen because they are always conquered first.
The HUGE advantage of getting one of these free colonies is that you ge their colonization tech as well. conquer a colony on a volcanic planet and you can then use them to colonize any volcanic planet. I found that I never even bothered to research colonization tech anymore.
My mod will allow the user to set policy for how many troops an independent colony will try to produce and use as its garrison. I set the default to 40. Its makes conquering one of them a challenge but still doable.

< Message edited by RogerBacon -- 4/16/2017 7:44:05 PM >

(in reply to RogerBacon)

Post #: 13

RE: "Hyping" my forthcoming mod (pun intended) - 4/18/2017 1:38:48 PM

RogerBacon

Posts: 724
Joined: 5/17/2000
From: Miami, Florida, U.S.A.
Status: offline

I mentioned state-run mining ships above. Now let's talk about state-run passenger ships.

Some people have had problems with passenger ships not taking people to where the player wants them to go (or not taking them anywhere).

http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=3887002
http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=3902131

Here's how it works.
If you have a passenger ship selected and press Control-W the game will perform a passenger transport mission from SOURCE to DESTINATION as defined in a text file called passengers.txt. Not a lot of error checking here so make sure you spell the planet name exactly correct (copy paste from within the game is best). Note: you can keep the passengers.txt file open. Just save it after updating it and the new setting will take effect.

I made a video showing how it works back in July. Sadly, I never got around to allowing the user to select which population on the planet to move. It always takes your empire's main race.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3u3ifDsJSPY

< Message edited by RogerBacon -- 4/18/2017 1:42:41 PM >

(in reply to RogerBacon)

Post #: 14

RE: "Hyping" my forthcoming mod (pun intended) - 4/18/2017 1:49:48 PM

Sparviero

Posts: 39
Joined: 5/31/2012
Status: offline

Good job man! I'm a new player so I'm playing with only cosmetic mod for now.
But your mod seems to modify complex stuff...I'll keep an eye on it in the future!

(in reply to RogerBacon)

Post #: 15

RE: "Hyping" my forthcoming mod (pun intended) - 4/18/2017 2:28:30 PM

RogerBacon

Posts: 724
Joined: 5/17/2000
From: Miami, Florida, U.S.A.
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: Sparviero

Good job man! I'm a new player so I'm playing with only cosmetic mod for now.
But your mod seems to modify complex stuff...I'll keep an eye on it in the future!

Thanks. I was beginning to wonder if I was just talking to myself.

As a side note, my mod is almost 100% compatible with all of the other mods out there so when I finally release it you can keep whatever cosmetic mod you are currently using.

The exception to the "almost 100% compatible" is a minor change to a few of the text files (all optional)

components.txt: Added a new component "BomberBay" since my mod splits fighters and bombers into separate components.
Research.txt: Researching fighters unlock both FighterBay and the new BomberBay
Fighters.txt: I tripled the damage of missile and torpedo bombers (reason forthcoming)

(in reply to Sparviero)

Post #: 16

RE: "Hyping" my forthcoming mod (pun intended) - 4/18/2017 2:55:02 PM

Retreat1970

Posts: 948
Joined: 11/6/2013
From: Wisconsin
Status: offline

quote:

Thanks. I was beginning to wonder if I was just talking to myself.

Not a lot of us around anymore.

(in reply to RogerBacon)

Post #: 17

RE: "Hyping" my forthcoming mod (pun intended) - 4/18/2017 5:52:42 PM

Sparviero

Posts: 39
Joined: 5/31/2012
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: RogerBacon

quote:

ORIGINAL: Sparviero

Good job man! I'm a new player so I'm playing with only cosmetic mod for now.
But your mod seems to modify complex stuff...I'll keep an eye on it in the future!

Thanks. I was beginning to wonder if I was just talking to myself.

As a side note, my mod is almost 100% compatible with all of the other mods out there so when I finally release it you can keep whatever cosmetic mod you are currently using.

The exception to the "almost 100% compatible" is a minor change to a few of the text files (all optional)

components.txt: Added a new component "BomberBay" since my mod splits fighters and bombers into separate components.
Research.txt: Researching fighters unlock both FighterBay and the new BomberBay
Fighters.txt: I tripled the damage of missile and torpedo bombers (reason forthcoming)

We are few, but we are here :D

I'm sorry I'm still learning to play so I can't help with good observations.

In anycase, the thing about gravity well means that ships can't warp in the area around the stars?

(in reply to RogerBacon)

Post #: 18

RE: "Hyping" my forthcoming mod (pun intended) - 4/19/2017 1:15:34 AM

Overlord015

Posts: 46
Joined: 1/20/2015
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quote:

ORIGINAL: RogerBacon

Thanks. I was beginning to wonder if I was just talking to myself.

Please don't be discouraged, a mod like this just might add an extra 2-5 years of replayability to DW:U, we'll probably be getting DW2 by 2020 anyways XD. Many of the changes you're making here feel like an early Christmas, are you Santa? Anyways, just had to come out of the shadows to say this, I'm sure there are many other lurkers out there also salivating at the prospect of getting their grubby paws on this gem.

(in reply to RogerBacon)

Post #: 19

RE: "Hyping" my forthcoming mod (pun intended) - 4/19/2017 9:18:59 AM

Sparviero

Posts: 39
Joined: 5/31/2012
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quote:

ORIGINAL: Overlord015

quote:

ORIGINAL: RogerBacon

Thanks. I was beginning to wonder if I was just talking to myself.

Please don't be discouraged, a mod like this just might add an extra 2-5 years of replayability to DW:U, we'll probably be getting DW2 by 2020 anyways XD. Many of the changes you're making here feel like an early Christmas, are you Santa? Anyways, just had to come out of the shadows to say this, I'm sure there are many other lurkers out there also salivating at the prospect of getting their grubby paws on this gem.

I completely agree. If I understand well this thing of the gravity well, I will use this mod as soon as it will be released.

(in reply to Overlord015)

Post #: 20

RE: "Hyping" my forthcoming mod (pun intended) - 4/19/2017 1:40:55 PM

RogerBacon

Posts: 724
Joined: 5/17/2000
From: Miami, Florida, U.S.A.
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Thanks guys. Your feedback is encouraging.
A little more about stars' gravity wells.

They only prevent jumping out but not in. This is because if they dropped ships out of hyperspace every time a ship got near a star it would make hyperjumps on the galaxy map too much of a headache. You would end up micromanaging small jumps and that's no fun.

The distance a star's gravity well extends is directly related ot the output of the star's energy. Many people probably don't know this but if you click on a star it shows you the amount of energy it puts out. This directly affects how much energy an energy panel produces.

So, a star that has a total energy output of 100 would have a gravity well that affected the whole system. A star with only 67 energy output would have a gravity well affecting about 67% of the system.

The mod includes two settings to configure gravity wells.

1 UseGravityWells
Obviously if you set this to false there will be no gravity wells.

2 SmallerShipsJumpSooner
With this set to true, smaller ships are less affected by the gravity well. With this setting, the gravity well affect on a ship is multiplied by (ship size / max ship size buildable). So building a size 200 destroyer when you have the tech to build size 300 ships would mean a destroyer that could jump out of a system closer to the star.

I wanted to give an incentive to build smaller ships since people always build as big as they can.

In addition to stars' gravity wells, there are two other hyperjump-related settings. These are not related to stars and are in effect everywhere.

MinimumHyperjumpDistance
This is the minimum distance ships will try to make a jump. In Vanilla DWU it is 2000. I set it to 12000 a few months ago before I had the gravity wells thing working. It kind of gave the same feel but it wasn't really what I wanted to I kept at the gravity well idea until I got it working. Now, I play with the minimum jump set to 6000. It allows for more closing and maneuvering.

HyperjumpInaccuracy
This determines how close to target ships come out of hyperspace. In vanilla DWU it is 500. I currently play with it set to 1500 but I've had it as high as 3000. Fleets will arrive dispersed and you will have a lot more 1 on 1 battles instead of everybody in a tight dogpile.

< Message edited by RogerBacon -- 4/19/2017 1:44:09 PM >

(in reply to Sparviero)

Post #: 21

RE: "Hyping" my forthcoming mod (pun intended) - 4/19/2017 2:17:51 PM

Sparviero

Posts: 39
Joined: 5/31/2012
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: RogerBacon

Thanks guys. Your feedback is encouraging.
A little more about stars' gravity wells.

They only prevent jumping out but not in. This is because if they dropped ships out of hyperspace every time a ship got near a star it would make hyperjumps on the galaxy map too much of a headache. You would end up micromanaging small jumps and that's no fun.

The distance a star's gravity well extends is directly related ot the output of the star's energy. Many people probably don't know this but if you click on a star it shows you the amount of energy it puts out. This directly affects how much energy an energy panel produces.

So, a star that has a total energy output of 100 would have a gravity well that affected the whole system. A star with only 67 energy output would have a gravity well affecting about 67% of the system.

The mod includes two settings to configure gravity wells.

1 UseGravityWells
Obviously if you set this to false there will be no gravity wells.

2 SmallerShipsJumpSooner
With this set to true, smaller ships are less affected by the gravity well. With this setting, the gravity well affect on a ship is multiplied by (ship size / max ship size buildable). So building a size 200 destroyer when you have the tech to build size 300 ships would mean a destroyer that could jump out of a system closer to the star.

I wanted to give an incentive to build smaller ships since people always build as big as they can.

In addition to stars' gravity wells, there are two other hyperjump-related settings. These are not related to stars and are in effect everywhere.

MinimumHyperjumpDistance
This is the minimum distance ships will try to make a jump. In Vanilla DWU it is 2000. I set it to 12000 a few months ago before I had the gravity wells thing working. It kind of gave the same feel but it wasn't really what I wanted to I kept at the gravity well idea until I got it working. Now, I play with the minimum jump set to 6000. It allows for more closing and maneuvering.

HyperjumpInaccuracy
This determines how close to target ships come out of hyperspace. In vanilla DWU it is 500. I currently play with it set to 1500 but I've had it as high as 3000. Fleets will arrive dispersed and you will have a lot more 1 on 1 battles instead of everybody in a tight dogpile.

I see the problems about makes gravity well influence also the jump in and I think HyperjumpInaccuracy will be perfect to avoid big groups of ships stick together, it also seems realistic: in a lot of sci-fi you read/see about hyperjump inaccuracy.

I also like the Smallershipsjumpsooner, while the minimum jump distance i will leave like in the vanilla: with the jump limitation of gravity well, we already should see a lot of ships travelling at normal speed.

It will be wonderful to have settings also for the hyperjumpinaccuracy and MinimumHyperjumpDistance: don't know how many work is make it, but I think have settings for all the four feautere will be like making a defenitive mod.

By the way, sorry for my English.

Now, I had a couple of idea...not really a suggestions for the mod, i hope to can play it very soon, but thoughts for the future.

I think will be great to have new components to influences the points you put in the mod.

- reaserch to lower the distance from the star a ship can jumpout, maybe with a specific line of components
- same thing about HyperjumpInaccuracy
- and about the Smallershipsjumpsooner...i think will be great to have a component with big size to compensate it: so you can decide to make a big ship that can jump like a small one, but with less weapons of a big ship without this component. And i will make stack the bonus of the component so you can have, for example, small ship and big ship with component x 3 jumpout at 1000km from the star, big ship with compent x 2 at 2000...big ship without component at 4000....it will need some balance to make all of these good option. I think this is close to the spirit of the game: right now i'm keeping design ship try to balance speed,weapon, fuelstorage and so on...and so add to this also the jumpout distance...so you can choose to have a big ship with lot of weapons and good jumpout distance, but few fuel...this will be good to protect one system becouse it will be strong and really good jump movement to move around a lot of points, but it will not be good to protect the sector for the low fuel.

< Message edited by Sparviero -- 4/19/2017 2:21:38 PM >

(in reply to RogerBacon)

Post #: 22

RE: "Hyping" my forthcoming mod (pun intended) - 4/19/2017 6:10:46 PM

RogerBacon

Posts: 724
Joined: 5/17/2000
From: Miami, Florida, U.S.A.
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quote:

ORIGINAL: Sparviero

I also like the Smallershipsjumpsooner, while the minimum jump distance i will leave like in the vanilla: with the jump limitation of gravity well, we already should see a lot of ships travelling at normal speed.

That should be OK but just be sure to keep jump inaccuracy < minimum jump distance or you might end up with a ship constantly trying to jump to a target and always ending up farther than the minimum jump distance and then trying to jump again and again.

quote:

By the way, sorry for my English.

Your English is fine. I assumed you were a native speaker.

quote:

Now, I had a couple of idea...not really a suggestions for the mod, i hope to can play it very soon, but thoughts for the future.

I think will be great to have new components to influences the points you put in the mod.

- reaserch to lower the distance from the star a ship can jumpout, maybe with a specific line of components

Those are good ideas but I wanted to keep my mod comparable with all other mods which means no modding the moddable text files. I've already gone a little away from that with adding a bomber bay but I want to keep from adding more. Also, if I reuse existing components it ensures the AI can use them.
By basing the jump distance on a percentage of max ship size its like saying that increased construction skill allows making ships that are more structurally sound to tolerate the increased stress of jumping farther in the star's gravity well.

(in reply to Sparviero)

Post #: 23

RE: "Hyping" my forthcoming mod (pun intended) - 4/19/2017 6:40:56 PM

RogerBacon

Posts: 724
Joined: 5/17/2000
From: Miami, Florida, U.S.A.
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Disclaimer: I've never played with tech trading on but I've heard that its a very easy way to exploit the AI. This will be likewise. Its up to the player to not abuse it.

Want to buy or sell a mining station or a planet? Give a planet to an ally? Well, you couldn't unless it was in a contested area. Now you can. Every planet and base that you and your trade partner know about is available for buying or selling.

(in reply to RogerBacon)

Post #: 24

RE: "Hyping" my forthcoming mod (pun intended) - 4/19/2017 7:48:57 PM

Sparviero

Posts: 39
Joined: 5/31/2012
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: RogerBacon

quote:

ORIGINAL: Sparviero

I also like the Smallershipsjumpsooner, while the minimum jump distance i will leave like in the vanilla: with the jump limitation of gravity well, we already should see a lot of ships travelling at normal speed.

That should be OK but just be sure to keep jump inaccuracy < minimum jump distance or you might end up with a ship constantly trying to jump to a target and always ending up farther than the minimum jump distance and then trying to jump again and again.

quote:

By the way, sorry for my English.

Your English is fine. I assumed you were a native speaker.

quote:

Now, I had a couple of idea...not really a suggestions for the mod, i hope to can play it very soon, but thoughts for the future.

I think will be great to have new components to influences the points you put in the mod.

- reaserch to lower the distance from the star a ship can jumpout, maybe with a specific line of components

Those are good ideas but I wanted to keep my mod comparable with all other mods which means no modding the moddable text files. I've already gone a little away from that with adding a bomber bay but I want to keep from adding more. Also, if I reuse existing components it ensures the AI can use them.
By basing the jump distance on a percentage of max ship size its like saying that increased construction skill allows making ships that are more structurally sound to tolerate the increased stress of jumping farther in the star's gravity well.

You are damn right on both points...I didn't think about it :D

In anycase it looks like you are making distant worlds 2 xD

(in reply to RogerBacon)

Post #: 25

RE: "Hyping" my forthcoming mod (pun intended) - 4/20/2017 8:58:18 PM

RogerBacon

Posts: 724
Joined: 5/17/2000
From: Miami, Florida, U.S.A.
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Freighter Frustration => Freighter Freedom

We've all been there. You order 20 cruisers to be built at your main space dock and suddenly find out that its out of steel. You have a steel mine on an asteroid nearby with tons of steel but no freighter seems to bring you the steel. You keep clicking on every freighter heading toward your space port or the mining station desperately hoping to see the "Transporting Steel" in the mission description. Eventually, in a few game months or a year or two, a freighter will deliver steel to your poor space port. Maybe they'll bring 10 or 20 units -- enough to finish one of those cruisers. Wouldn't it be nice if we could order a freighter to pick up and deliver the steel ourselves?

So, there are two problems.
1 Freighters don't pick up the things we want them to when we want them to.
2 When they do finally pick up something most of the time they only pick up a little and run mostly empty.

Number 2 really bothered me as I usually build freighters with 5K or more cargo space and I hated to see 90+% of it wasted.

Solutions

1 Freighters will try to fill up
Freighters will now try to fill up if their destination is a colony or a space port. They will keep their vanilla behavior if they are delivering to a constructor or a mining station that just needs a few units of something for an upgrade.

Here's a freighter delivering chromium to my main space port. I don't think I'll have any chromium shortages in the near future. :)

And here's a freighter delivering just enough material to my gambling casino so it can perform an upgrade.

2 Order a manual cargo mission. As easy as 1, 2, 3

Well, as easy as alt-1, alt-2, alt-3
Select the origin of the cargo mission (i.e. da place with da goods) and press alt-1.
Select the destination and press alt-2
Select the freighter you want to perform the mission and press alt-3.

That's it. The freighter will stop whatever its doing and immediately carry out your order. A true dictator should settle for no less.

< Message edited by RogerBacon -- 4/21/2017 1:12:58 PM >

(in reply to Sparviero)

Post #: 26

RE: "Hyping" my forthcoming mod (pun intended) - 4/21/2017 2:30:07 AM

Dakkon7

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Joined: 10/25/2016
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Wow, a lot of the changes you have made are pretty impressive. Good job.

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Post #: 27

RE: "Hyping" my forthcoming mod (pun intended) - 4/21/2017 7:29:28 AM

Bingeling

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The mission information looks really nice. The thing that should be there all along.

As for manually bullying freighters around, I do not like it. But it is optional so that is no big issue.

(in reply to Dakkon7)

Post #: 28

RE: "Hyping" my forthcoming mod (pun intended) - 4/21/2017 1:19:12 PM

RogerBacon

Posts: 724
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quote:

ORIGINAL: Bingeling

The mission information looks really nice. The thing that should be there all along.

As for manually bullying freighters around, I do not like it. But it is optional so that is no big issue.

Well, since the mod allows the state to build its own freighters as well as the private sector freighters you might not think of it as bullying them around if you limit it to your state freighters. Think of them as military supply ships.

(in reply to Bingeling)

Post #: 29

RE: "Hyping" my forthcoming mod (pun intended) - 4/21/2017 7:23:17 PM

Uncle Lumpy

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Joined: 7/1/2005
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A lot of this sounds really good!! I think you're addressing some obvious issues. Thanks for all of your work on this!

I personally like the idea of being able to have freighters actually move vital resources (which I have already stock piled) when needed. That's been one of the major frustrations of the game: having a ton of a given resource, along with numerous mines of it, only to have a "shortage" because two or three hundred freighters seem to be unable to move enough of it to where it's needed.

_____________________________

I once heard there was a garage, which some said was air tight.

(in reply to RogerBacon)

Post #: 30