The Star Trek Mod - v1.9.7.5 (Oct 07)

[Atrocities]

I will be posting another update for the mod at the end of the month. It is my hope that I can get Geoschmo to upload that version to PBW for use there. It is my understanding that has, or is going to make all versions currently available for play on PBW obsolete and remove them.

It was very hard to get any version of the mod added to PBW. For some reason there was a horrendous amount of confuse over which mod to add, AST or STM.

I believe the reason he is removing STM entirely from PBW is because no one plays the mod any more. While that comes as no shock, it does seem to be a bit of a let down. Oh well, to many mods, not enough players.

Any who, I hope to have an update for the mod by the end of the month. Currently I have already addressed several "bugs" and am working on addressing other reported problems.

I would appreciate any posts that list wrong images being used for facilities. For example Starfleet Command should not have been a religious icon facility. The System Capital facility images were all wrong.

Any spelling errors in the any of the games data files.

Any ship size issues. The Federation Battleship size issue is being resolved but there might be more of them out there.

It is my sincere intention of making this next update the last update for the mod. So it is very important that any issues be resolved now.

Thank you.

[geoschmo]

I tried to be clear with my original post in the other thread, sorry for any confusion. My intention was to leave the most recent versions of every mod we had on PBW. I didn't remove any mods simply because they weren't being used. They had to be not being used AND have a more recent version on the server. I only removed older mods when we had what I thought was a newer version of the same mod.

I took the STM 1.9.2.4 off because we also had version 1.9.2.6. I didn't see the point of having both versions. If I'm incorrect and you need both versions on there it's no problem to get it put back on. Just let me know.

Geoschmo

[Atrocities]

1.9.2.6 is the one you should keep. I think its a great idea to clean PBW house.

[Atrocities]

Ok, since there has been no feed back, no emails, I am going to finalize this version of the Star Trek Mod and call it quits after this next update.

It has been a great joy ride. Time to move on to bigger and lessor things.

[Artaud]

Sorry about the lack of feedback. I haven't played at all in several days.

I agree that the ST mod should remain on PBW.

I was just thinking today about joining a game. But there are several games on PBW that appear to be dormant.

[Atrocities]

The lack of feed back was taken as a GOOD thing.

[Ironmanbc]

Atrocities said:
Ok, since there has been no feed back, no emails, I am going to finalize this version of the Star Trek Mod and call it quits after this next update.

It has been a great joy ride. Time to move on to bigger and lessor things.

I still play it but when I buy se5 I hope to see it there too

[Arralen]

Atrocities said:
Ok, since there has been no feed back, no emails, I am going to finalize this version of the Star Trek Mod and call it quits after this next update.

Hey - does my email from 11-29-06 not count ??

Had found some "game killers" (AI having no Intel points, designs ships without armor/shields, uses mine sweepers but not mines, builds remote miners but doesn't use them // shield mounts do not scale 'correctly', capital ship missiles on small sats dominate the early game // etc) and therefore moved on to testing the Adamant Mod ... .

I might get some of the component issues done on my own, but I have no clue about the AI files .. don't tell me you ain't gonna fix those !!

[Atrocities]

Arralen I got your email and did respond. I believe I addressed all of your concerns but might have missed some. I will go through your email again and double check your comments against things I have already addressed for the next update. Again thank you for the email.

Here are some issues that I did not notice in your email, but again I will reread it later and double check.

1. AI not having intel points? Huh.. I will check this now.

2. The AI does design ships with shields and armor, but I will double check.

3. The AI that I have played against do lay mines. In fact they lay them all over hell and back. But will double check.

4. The AI remote miners should generate resources just sitting there. (The AI will not remote mine, that is an SE IV bug. The AI remote mining ships have the ability to generate resources via solar power.)

5. Shield mounts? What version of the STM were you playing?

6. What component issues are you refering to?

[Atrocities]

Arralen you sent me an email that had some good questions and I would like to respond to those questions publically so that everyone can benefit from the answers.

- speed is to low, supply usage from engines to high: abysmal range for most vessels. And the AI tends to build ships with the minimun amount of systems, rest guns. No antimatter storage, no armor etc. => ultra-low range and heavy combat losses .. if there is any combat at all.

This is functioning correctly by design. The object was to give the player a sense that they are just starting out. Warp 1. They would be slower ships with limited range requiring the player to build resupply bases as they expanded. As their technology improves the faster your ships will go and the less resources they will require. However if you choose to use the maximum movement of your ships each turn, especially in later games, then your supply useage will also be used far more quickly. Supply and demand.

- Would it be possible to make bridge, life support and crew quarters consume supplies as well?

Unfortunetly no. And the AI doesn't respond favoribly to most desires. The AI has to be one of the most frustrating ongoing challenges for any modder. You get the AI to behave one way, and that effects its behavor later to a undisireable degree. It is a constant give and take tug of war with the AI and its odd behaviors.

.. aren't the "neutral empires" supposed to stay in their systems? And who are the "neutral empires" in STM? I had Nausicaans come after me with a vengeance, and even some Tamarian incursions...

The AI's you listed are not neutral empires, they are minor empires and they do expand outward.

"Who are the Neutral Races" There is a read me in the Neutral Race Folder that lists all 20 of them.

Bynars 001
Talarian 002
Selay 003
Anticans 004
Bandi 005
Mintakan 006
Lurian 007
Bajorian 008
Chalnoth 009
Talosian 010
Betazoid 011
Malcoria 012
Zakdorn 013
Takarans 014
Benzites 015
Mizarian 016
Pakleds 017
Trill 018
Ullian 019
Yridians 020

AI ISSUES.. do build masses of colony ships, but no mine/satellite layers? Makes their system easy prey .. . They DO research mine tech - know that from the Nausicaans trying to sweep the fields I put on the warp point leading to my space.

Good observation. There is no call for a Satellite layer in the AI Design Creation file. It is a useless design because the AI will not use it once it is built so it was removed. As for mines, they do use them. In fact in my test game just yestarday I lost several ships to neutral AI mines.

.. send out mine-sweeper fleets without at least 1 combat ship to beat up satellites .. therefore 1 lonely satellite will keep them from entering the square (Nausicaans send 4 sweepers, but no combat ship in a fleet, and I had satellites there as well)

This I believe is an SE IV bug in general. The AI loves to send one ship at a time through known mined warp points. There really isn't much any one can do about this bug.

Ullians
.. are humanoids, but native to Oxygen Gas Giants ??

I don't see a problem with this but will look into it just to be safe.

Tamarian Republic
- has Escorts named "Mah'rek 0002" and " - 0008" in the year 2407.0 .. shouldn't run out of names that early??

Good question. I will check their name file to be sure there isn't any errors.

Nausicaans
.. seem all to eager to build Space Stations at their homeworld. On turn 198, they had 26 of about 5 different designs. But only 2 offensive ships, though those might have been killed by the Feds ;-) Lots of unusuable colony ships, too.

Yes this is a problem with an AI file that is effecting all races. I hope that the next update addresses this and cuts down on the number of stations the AI builds.

INTEL.. doesn't seem to use any. Everytime (not very often) I managed to get treaties and see the level of the allies, they had NULL intel points? Only AI nation _ever_ producing intel points was the Feds, but I wonder if they got them as a bonus from something else then Intel Centers. I never noticed any intel operation from nations I was at war with througout the game.

I will check into this and figure it out. The AI should be generating Intel Points. If they are not then there is most likely a problem. Great observation.

___ AI expansion speed ___
.. contrary to the readme, the AI seem to be very eager to send out single colony ships and seed small colonies whereever it can (isn't that much because it has range issues very much like the player)

The limitation on speed and supply use are that way by design. The AI will expands about as fast as a human play can.

___ AI anger .. ___
- maybe gets angry too much over contested systems, or single scout ships in claimed systems, or satellites dropped on warp points, maybe: Jumps from "mood: moderate" to "mood: Murderous" in 1 turn, then slowly climbs up again .. without every clearing the "war" status, though?!

I can check the AI anger files and perhaps tweak them a tad.
However the AI mood is a thing of mystry and has long plagued modders with its odd behavior.

Isn't there a special "AI advantage" anyway .. of rediculous 1000%? AI Mineral Bonus, AI Organics Bonus, AI Radioactives Bonus ... with a bonus that high, the game doesn't make any sense. To me. Maybe I'm a too bad player, but IMHO such a setting would only be justified if the player could build remote miners from turn 1 while the
AI cannot build/use them at all. But I have seen it at least build them .. not sure about the usage, though.

Players wanted the AI to be tougher, this is one way of achieving this without giving them a cheat across the board as the stock settings do. In combination with higher AI bonus settings and these advantages the AI becomes very hard core.