Updated Klingons, Romulans, Shadows and Borg variant

[God Emperor]

Have just posted the latest Version of the Klingons, Romulans, Shadows and Borg variant.

I have extensively revamped my previous mod to improve its compatibility for different starting conditions - hence there is no basic Version anymore.

Have incorporated a lot of feedback people had into the mod too....A major change you will note is that the races no longer use DUC's and use missiles more early on instead. The Klingons, Romulans and Borg then switch to Phased Polaron Beams....

Hope you find the revised races even more challenging.
Regards,
God Emperor

PS: As a final note, the races have been optimised for low bonus. For those of you who play medium bonus (or high bonus!), I would suggest that you edit the Construction Vehicles file's and reduce the Planet per Item value for all SHIPS and SHIPYARDS by between 1/3 (medium bonus)to 1/2 (high bonus) - otherwise the additional resource points that medium and high bonus gives the AI will be wasted.
eg: Low Bonus

AI State := Exploration
Num Queue Entries := 9
Entry 1 Type := Base Space Yard
Entry 1 Planet Per Item := 80
Entry 1 Must Have At Least := 1
Entry 2 Type := Attack Ship
Entry 2 Planet Per Item := 30
Entry 2 Must Have At Least := 1
Entry 3 Type := Colonizer
Entry 3 Planet Per Item := 30
Entry 3 Must Have At Least := 2
Entry 4 Type := Attack Ship
Entry 4 Planet Per Item := 30
Entry 4 Must Have At Least := 2
Entry 5 Type := Defense Ship
Entry 5 Planet Per Item := 80
Entry 5 Must Have At Least := 1
Entry 6 Type := Weapon Platform
Entry 6 Planet Per Item := 5
Entry 6 Must Have At Least := 4
Entry 7 Type := Base Space Yard
Entry 7 Planet Per Item := 80
Entry 7 Must Have At Least := 2
Entry 8 Type := Attack Ship
Entry 8 Planet Per Item := 15
Entry 8 Must Have At Least := 2
Entry 9 Type := Colonizer
Entry 9 Planet Per Item := 20
Entry 9 Must Have At Least := 2

eg medium bonus

AI State := Exploration
Num Queue Entries := 9
Entry 1 Type := Base Space Yard
Entry 1 Planet Per Item := 80
Entry 1 Must Have At Least := 1
Entry 2 Type := Attack Ship
Entry 2 Planet Per Item := 20
Entry 2 Must Have At Least := 1
Entry 3 Type := Colonizer
Entry 3 Planet Per Item := 20
Entry 3 Must Have At Least := 2
Entry 4 Type := Attack Ship
Entry 4 Planet Per Item := 20
Entry 4 Must Have At Least := 2
Entry 5 Type := Defense Ship
Entry 5 Planet Per Item := 60
Entry 5 Must Have At Least := 1
Entry 6 Type := Weapon Platform
Entry 6 Planet Per Item := 5
Entry 6 Must Have At Least := 4
Entry 7 Type := Base Space Yard
Entry 7 Planet Per Item := 80
Entry 7 Must Have At Least := 2
Entry 8 Type := Attack Ship
Entry 8 Planet Per Item := 10
Entry 8 Must Have At Least := 2
Entry 9 Type := Colonizer
Entry 9 Planet Per Item := 15
Entry 9 Must Have At Least := 2

[Atrocities]

Thanks. I have also added new images to the UCP Klingons images. I included a new base, and fighter group Port/Mini images. http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/For...ML/000017.html

[God Emperor]

Have just issued a further update to fix a few oddities.

DesignCreation files have been updated due to a problem which only shows up when you play the basic game - files do not allow construction of warships below destroyer size.
Research files have been modified slightly (order altered slightly) to ensure that the AI begins the game in Exploration state.

Have also tinkered around a little with the Construction_Vehicles file for Exploration state to optimise construction a little more.

Apologies guys for an update so soon after the first - the result of me consolidating on one set of files...

[Sinapus]

What's the "Ship of the Line" entry in place of the Kamikaze Attack Ship? Will the AI build them, or is it something you're placing in for a future development?

If I put those two filler tech entries in other AI research files at approximately the same place will it help their research as well, or will I have to carefully move other entries around to make it synch up correctly?

[God Emperor]

Ship of the Line was a mod I was working on a while back to have the AI suddenly produce lots ships once it achieved battlecruiser tech. Unfortunately, the computer defaulted to the AI_Default files for Kamikaze ships under 600 kT so it went know where.
None of my races actually utilise Kamikaze Ships so these abandoned mods have no effect.

Filler Tech can be added safely to any of the standard races (see my ResearchDesign mod), but, I'm not so sure about the ones on modpack (most of the designers have designed them with a 4 item queue in mind - eg some files have follow on techs four techs later and the inclusion of Filler Tech in this case would only add further delay to research).

Regards,
GE

[This message has been edited by God Emperor (edited 03 June 2001).]

[God Emperor]

Updated DesignCreation files for Romulans, Klingons, Shadows and Borg Variant

Have done a bit more work on fighter design for these files. Wasnt happy with the previous Version. Also deleted a duplicate Boarding Ship entry....

[Q]

God Emperor you chose "maximum weapon range" for the attack ships. Do you have any good results with that? In my experience this gives a very poor combat performance, because your ships will just not do enough damage. And by the way it's not very typical of the Klingons (it's a good day to die)!

[God Emperor]

Q,
I chose Max Weapons Range in order to make them less susceptible to missile dancing -in Max Weapons Range, the AI seems to dart in and out more, whereas in Optimal Firing Range they seem to charge in a bit more and get glassed.
Am at turn 72 in a game where I am just at war with the Shadows (who have the same strategy) so I should get a good feel for whether Max Weapons Range delivers what I was after.
I welcome any further observations you may have.
Regards,
GE

[DirectorTsaarx]

Regarding combat strategy for Klingons: there's a strategy called the "Klingon Saber Dance" I heard about in Star Fleet Battles (that's the third time I've mentioned SFB today... hmmmm...). Anyway, the idea is that the Klingons would keep the enemy close enough to do decent damage, but far enough away to stay out of point-blank range. It sounds mostly like "Optimal Weapons Range", except that the secondary strategy for Optimal is Point-Blank. The Klingons would use a modified Version that would keep them always at "Optimal"; or maybe even "Maximum" range as primary, with "Optimal" second?