Best Mods To Get?

DarkStar · #1 May 28th, 2001, 06:39 AM

I'm thinking about getting SE4 (been thinking along time, LOL). I'm still trying to figure if SE4 is worth $40. I played the demo but 100 turns can only tell you so much. People here seem to really like the add on mods. Can you tell me which mods are the best to get? If some of you would share why you like SE4 so much that would be great, I have a limited amount of cash to spend on games and much look at each purchase very close. Thanks in advance.

jc173 · #2 May 28th, 2001, 07:38 AM

Well SEIV has probably been one of my best purchases as far as computer games go. I can't put an exact value per hour of fun on it for me, mostly because I'd probably be shocked if I tallied up my total playing time. Aside from the usual 4x play features I think what I really like about SEIV is the incredible ability for you to customize just about anything in the game techs, planets, star systems, units etc. It can be overwhelming at times though especially if you play large games. Some of the mods I use and would recommend are the TDM modpack, God Emporer's research mod (although it takes a little editing to make the TDM modpack compatible with it see the filler tech thread for details), Sun Devil's politics mod, and the sound mod (I think it's from TampaGamer?). I also use elements of my own stuff, Suicide_Junkie's Pirates and Nomads mod, and the Devnull Mod. The other good things about the game are the community and the customer support from Aaron/Malfador. I've seen very few game companies/designers that were so open to input from the players. The game does have some drawbacks the baseline AI isn't very smart, but that can be improved with the use of the mods. The amount of data in a large game can be overwhelming at times, it would be nice if more filters and displays were included, ie show me all planets with non-breathable atmospheres that don't have an atmosphere converter or show me what system wide bonus facilities are in this star system. But all in all I think this is the best 4x space strategy game I've ever seen.

Vger · #3 May 28th, 2001, 08:36 AM

Hi,

I've just gotten the game myself. The demo drove me so crazy I had to have it. I think the game is certainly worth the money. I've finally found a replacement for Reach for the Stars (original).

As to mods, I'm in the same boat you are. There are a lot of extras out there and I sort of bashed Devnul and TDM together, but I really don't know that I did it right. What I wish is that someone who's using ALL the mods would post their tech files, etc. instead of us all having to reinvent our wheels.

I love to tinker and will do so, once I get my "space legs," but right now, all I want to do is PLAY! I spent all of yesterday putting the mods and races together and spent some time creating the best Federation ship selection from all the Fed mods.

Now I have some races that styletester isn't happy with and ... well, I'll worry about all that when I've played some.

For now, I'm content to play a tweaked Dominion on a large map.

Adios,
V'ger gone

dumbluck · #4 May 28th, 2001, 08:50 AM

Oh my. TDM, Devnulmod, and Zippy's mod are all mutually exclusive and incompatable with each other. The reason is that Devnulmod and Zippy both alter (extensively) the components in the game. TDM, on the other hand, intentionally _only_ mod the AIs to make them as strong as possible for the standard game. I think the Dev is working on creating Versions of the TDM races that is compatible w/ his mod, but I don't think it's done yet.

Now, don't get me wrong; you can play all of these mods. But you can't play them AT THE SAME TIME, IN THE SAME GAME. Each of these three mods needs to be in it's own mod folder; and you alter the path.txt to point to whichever mod folder you want to play at that time. That way you can easily switch between mod; all you do is change path.txt.

Confused yet?

[This message has been edited by dumbluck (edited 28 May 2001).]

PsychoTechFreak · #5 May 28th, 2001, 09:12 AM

The difficulties that I think of with MODs is the AI and related to that: the patches of SEIV which come out almost monthly. If you do any changes to components, add new things, scanning and obscuration, pirate/nomad stuff etc. pp then you always have to change EVERY AI (research strategy, use of new components and so on), right ?

I think that's the main reason for TDM modpack, not to change the original data, because you always have to fiddle around with the AI data every time when a new patch is released.

Or am I wrong with this? At the moment, this concerns are the main reason for me not to use any MOD which do changes to the original data, or do you change the AIs every time? I guess this would be a bunch full of work!

#6 May 28th, 2001, 09:24 AM

I have played over 20 strategy games in the Last 16 years. This is the best ever. Unlike other games (Civilization, Master of Orion)the AI does not cheat, so you have a level playing field. As time goes by the AI will get smarter due to all the people working on it. So that complaint will go away.

PsychoTechFreak · #7 May 28th, 2001, 10:21 AM

quote:
Originally posted by PsychoTechFreak:

...At the moment, this concerns are the main reason for me not to use any MOD which do changes to the original data, or do you change the AIs every time? ...

I use the other Mods also to test them, try out new things and such, I like the very good ideas from every modder... but in my main gaming I just use the TDM modpack, because of my AI concerns.

Suicide Junkie · #8 May 28th, 2001, 03:18 PM

quote:
At the moment, this concerns are the main reason for me not to use any MOD which do changes to the original data, or do you change the AIs every time?

quote:
The difficulties that I think of with MODs is the AI and related to that: the patches of SEIV which come out almost monthly. If you do any changes to components, add new things, scanning and obscuration, pirate/nomad stuff etc. pp then you always have to change EVERY AI (research strategy, use of new components and so on), right ?

My Pirates & Nomads mod changes the components and facilities and tech areas, but I've tried to arrange my changes so that they don't screw up the AI.
All the amazing new components that AIs don't use come with some fairly big limitations; so they fit in more of a roleplaying style, and aren't so effective in a down and dirty war

EG. ablative armor: amazing amount of hitpoints, but costs a fortune and takes years to repair.
-hardened bulkheads: unlimited hitpoints, but costs even more, and also "leaks damage" into the internals.

I don't change the AI, I just worked my components around them.
And with any new patches, I just use the list of changes to add the new bits to my mod, rather than starting over from the patched files.

[This message has been edited by suicide_junkie (edited 28 May 2001).]

PsychoTechFreak · #9 May 28th, 2001, 05:11 PM

quote:
Originally posted by suicide_junkie:
...I don't change the AI, I just worked my components around them.
...

SJ, maybe I'm a little bit puzzled at the moment... Let me see if I got it right:

I could use the AI-races from TDM modpack with your mod? If I copy TDM into a folder like TDM_SJpirate and then overwrite this folder with your mod?

The AI would not use the additional/modified components, but this would not hurt?

Suicide Junkie · #10 May 28th, 2001, 06:33 PM

quote:
I could use the AI-races from TDM modpack with your mod? If I copy TDM into a folder like TDM_SJpirate and then overwrite this folder with your mod?
The AI would not use the additional/modified components, but this would not hurt?

Yes they would! The only condition is that you must create a new EMP file for the race, since my mod has extra Racial Traits.

All you have to do is:
1) Put both mods into the same directory, then run SE4.
2) Start a random game with lots of random opponents, then set them all to human control.
3) Save every race to a new EMP file such as "Nomads TDM Cuecappa.EMP"
4) Start a new game.
5) Choose "add existing empire" to add all the races you saved.
6) Edit each race, and give them the racial trait of "Normal", then save them again. You can now play these races anytime by adding them manually. (randomly generated AIs never worked with my mod)

7) Upload the EMPs to these Boards for everybody to enjoy!

The alternative is to add an extra line to the TDM races, so they choose "Normal" as a racial trait by default.

Any race without the "Normal" trait will be unable to build colonizers or resource extractors and will certainly die (unless they're controlled by a human

).

quote:
The AI would not use the additional/modified components, but this would not hurt?

The AI will use some of the new/altered components, but the ones it does not use will not hurt it. In fact, I have been surprised by some of the things the AI did.
One time, the Phong attacked with fighters, but the medium and heavy fighters were using a handful of my 0kT armor! Not so much that the fighters got too expensive, but just enough to make them really tough to kill (150 points of armor each fighter)

[This message has been edited by suicide_junkie (edited 28 May 2001).]