Starting out even.

[przy]

I am starting to mess with the mechanics of the game (modding). I was wondering, is there a mod out there or is there a way to when you start a new game, have all the races start out even at the lowest or begining point in research technology? I would like to play a game vs. the AI where everyone starts out at the same level, where it is Even Steven at turn one. Thanks for any replies

[Captain Kwok]

All races already start out at the same research level at the beginning of each game.

[Deathstalker]

You cannot have different levels for different races (unlike se3 I'm told) but you can modd in starting tech levels yourself quite easily. Go into your data folder within se4 and open up your 'TechArea.txt' file.

You will find these lines:

(Explanation of what a start level is)

Start Level:
The level at which the player starts the game.
The 3 colonization tech areas are a special case which the game will set
higher based on your racial traits.

Example of starting level:

Name := Ship Construction
Group := Applied Science
Description := The construction of starships and their support components.
Maximum Level := 9
Level Cost := 10000
Start Level := 1
Raise Level := 0
Racial Area := 0
Unique Area := 0
Can Be Removed := False
Number of Tech Req := 0

Thus everyone starts with escorts (start level 1), if you wanted destroyers for everyone then change this to start level 3. All techs have this and you can change this to whatever level you want. Just set a 'low tech start' when you start your game. The 'Raise Level' is for starting a 'Med tech start' game.

Note that you can have techs without pre-requisits (ie start with point defense 1 but not Military science).

Hope this helps.

[Suicide Junkie]

You can also:

1) Have a third-party player play the first 30 turns: That person will not touch anything except research, and will research according to the instructions of each player.
Once the research is done, the savegame can be uploaded to PBW as the first turn.

All players will then start with their own chosen techs.

2) Add racial techs that give certain facilities/components earlier than normal.
EG: "Point Defense Research" gives a copy of PDC I, and gives PDC II when you research PDC tech level 1, etc...

[capnq]

It sounds like you've been starting games from the Quick Start screen rather than New Game. There isn't any way to change the default Quick Start settings. The New Game Set-Up screens let you define the starting tech level, among other things. If a "Low" tech start still seems like more than you want, you can mod the TechArea files as Deathstalker has described.