What are the must have mods for someone starting?

SlyFrog · #1 November 14th, 2007, 07:22 PM

I'm just starting out. At the same time, I like to play the "best" version up front. I don't have time to get used to the basic game and then add mods in, as that simply means I will have some time to play the basic game and never get to the mods. So I might as well spend limited time playing the best "total" version.

At the same time, I don't want bells and whistles just for their own sake. I'm really looking for things that make the gameplay better (so I don't care about graphics packs, for example). The mod list can be small (or none, if no mods really make the game substantially better. I'm just looking for the key mods that give things like better AI, substantially better UI, etc.

Thanks in advance for your help.

narf poit chez BOOM · #2 November 14th, 2007, 07:54 PM

Balance mod is the basic game, only balanced. It also includes Fyron Quadrant Mod, which is just better quadrants.

SlyFrog · #3 November 14th, 2007, 08:12 PM

I see that it exists for 1.58. Is there a 1.63 version?

Combat Wombat · #4 November 14th, 2007, 08:25 PM

It works in 1.63

MasterChiToes · #5 November 14th, 2007, 08:36 PM

Right, you just really need the Balance Mod... but some ship sets should be the next not-so-important thing on your list http://www.spaceempires.net/home/shipyards-g-SE5.html

Caduceus · #6 November 14th, 2007, 10:44 PM

Also remember to increase the quadrants in settings.txt

Maximum Number Of Systems := 100

to

Maximum Number Of Systems := 255

And

Maximum Number Of Systems Large Quadrant := 100

to

Maximum Number Of Systems Large Quadrant := 255

This will maximize the game's number of systems for those really long "I want to play all weekend long" games.

leo1434 · #7 November 20th, 2007, 10:17 PM

I know you are all talking about SE5, but I did not want to start a new thread with this question, one which has been asked thousands of times:
What mod/mods do you recommend to play a good challenging SE4 solo game? Besides is the last game version (1.95, I think) the best one to play with, or anyone of the older versions fare better?

Thanks in advance to all!

Atrocities · #8 November 20th, 2007, 11:24 PM

I would go with the Star Trek Mod.

Suicide Junkie · #9 November 21st, 2007, 01:35 AM

If you're serious about challenge and don't want the AI to be cheating, try Carrier Battles mod

If you're stomping all over TDM AIs with 5x bonuses, I suggest playing team mode, NO bonus.
Non-team mode should be good to let you learn the ropes (rule one - make friends with the Vikings

)

If you want the AI to steamroll your empire and then capture your homeworld with troops within the first 75-100 turns, try low bonus

capnq · #10 November 21st, 2007, 07:50 PM

Quote:

leo1434 said: What mod/mods do you recommend to play a good challenging SE4 solo game? Besides is the last game version (1.95, I think) the best one to play with, or anyone of the older versions fare better?

A lot of people never upgraded past v1.91 (the last Shrapnel release). Whether you want to go beyond that depends mostly on how annoying you found the few minor bugs that were were fixed after that, and whether you want the features that were added.

There really isn't a big difference in play between any of the versions, IMO. When you're ready to try multiplayer, PBW supports both v1.91 and v1.94/v1.95 (those last two are equivalent as far as PBW is concerned.)