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  #11  
Old September 23rd, 2004, 10:50 AM
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Default Re: What is all the fuss on modding about?

Quote:
Chazar said:
I am aware of those and I am wondering why there are no postings about people's experiences in using them...
Have you read my AAR? In particular, the early Posts?
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  #12  
Old September 23rd, 2004, 11:21 AM
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Default Re: What is all the fuss on modding about?

Quote:
Chazar said:
I am aware of those and I am wondering why there are no postings about people's experiences in using them...
This is probably going to come off wrong but when I worked for an ISP I used to say often...
"This is Internet. You can find anything. If you do search and dont find what you want, then you found a need. Fill it! This is Internet."

Im also surprised that we dont have a single concise "review" of the mods now that there are so many. If anyone wants to tackle it then feel free. Im afraid that Im more interested in maps than mods.
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  #13  
Old September 23rd, 2004, 11:22 AM
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Default Re: What is all the fuss on modding about?

In reply to Arryn:

No, but I just took a look at the first page...
I dont usually read AAR's, as I found it to be quite time consuming. They contain a wealth of information, sure, but also mixture of random topics, while forum-Posts usually focus on a certain topic so that I can pick the info I desire...

Yes, I should sit down starting an overview over all does mods and doing a poll on each, but there
is so much stuff about Dom2 around and I just wonder why there is so few direct information on mods - maybe they are indeed almost unused in MP and maybe that will change once Mosehansen's server becomes capable of using mods...

(Edit: Which also answers Gandalfs next post which was written simultaneously. Yes, I am demanding things and maybe my tone is a bit arrogant, but I this is not what I intend. I dont want to annoy, I just want to understand why I am seemingly the only one who is interested in that information. My main goal is to enjoy a good game, but I also tried to be helpful when I read someone else's question here...)

----

In reply to Gandalf:

Good point about enforcing house rules, this is indeed something I didnt think about.

----

I am already happy about Zen's balance-mod, since its discussed intensively here and experience is gathered, but there is so much more out here...
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  #14  
Old September 23rd, 2004, 12:14 PM
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Default Re: What is all the fuss on modding about?


There's been some discussion about certain mods being imbalanced - some of it goes into threads on a specific mod, I believe some went into a thread on a modded game that I'm in. Fact is, some of the national mods (many of them) are totally imbalanced - ungodly national units, one had a (cheap!) pretender that put the pre-nerf VQ to shame.

As to why there isn't more discussion - I'm not sure how many people use the mods. Personally, I like some of them (or think I might ) but 90-99% of my gameplay is now MP. Even when I was playing more SP, it was in preparation for MP, so using the mods (even the solid, official mods) just didn't make sense.

Others that I think would be great to use (the magic duel mod adds 1 gem and raises fatigue to 100 to the spell, the NoWish mod, etc) can't currently be used on mosehansen, and would need to be agreed upon beforehand for a blitz game.

(The other issue with mods is that people _always_ seem to have problems with them - they don't have the mod, don't have it installed properly, etc, etc, delaying the start of games considerably. It's a shame the host couldn't push the mod to the players who didn't have it, or have the wrong Version, etc, etc.)

Even with the magic duel / NoWish mod, using them seems kind of ... pointless, unless you're only playing with the same small group of players: they've been out long enough that it seems obvious that Illwinter is not going to incorporate those changes in the game, and most of your games aren't going to use the mods.

Then again, the only mod I can think of that I'm really interested in playing and using, is Zen's Conceptual Balance mod, which has half a dozen virtues going for it: not least is that no one can really complain that it's unbalanced, because they picked the modified pretender that they wanted to use. And anything that reduces the number of VQs in a game is a Good Thing.
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  #15  
Old September 23rd, 2004, 12:24 PM
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Default Re: What is all the fuss on modding about?

I believe there are two kinds of modders. The balance modders who have come across balance issues in MP games, and the thematic modders who makes new nations mainly for SP use or their own pleasure.

Some of the thematic modders are concerned with game balance, but as long as the nation is used in SP only balance will not be an issue.

Thematic mods will probably never be tested as much as balance mods. If they are to be tested for balance they must be played in MP and until they are balanced no one will have them in an MP.

I think a MP-balanced nation mod would need two or more developers. Balance and vision would both benefit from this i believe.

I would personally prefer to play a modded MP game if all nations were modded by the same team of modders. The chance that the mod is unbalanced would probably be lesser.

I would recommend that you use score graphs if you play with a modded nation. This way it becomes obvious if the modded nation becomes to strong and the other players can gang up on him as is common in score-graphed games.
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  #16  
Old September 23rd, 2004, 12:43 PM
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Default Re: What is all the fuss on modding about?

Hmm, so it seems to be as I feared. And the issue will rise once more when mods can be used in MP as well. I also guess that this one is a necessity so important that I have to repeat it:
Quote:
Cainehill said:
It's a shame the host couldn't push the mod to the players who didn't have it, or have the wrong Version, etc, etc.)

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  #17  
Old September 23rd, 2004, 12:44 PM
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Default Re: What is all the fuss on modding about?

Quote:
Kristoffer O said:
I believe there are two kinds of modders. The balance modders who have come across balance issues in MP games, and the thematic modders who makes new nations mainly for SP use or their own pleasure.
And as also happens in map discussions, the insane randomers dont get mentioned or linked.
(j/k Kristoffer)

But there should be more threads on how people like the MODs. not just criticism but praise also. If you dont "pay" for the free stuff, the flow dries up. (please & thank you)
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