SE5, Tell Aaron what's on your Wish List

[Me Loonn]

Originally posted by Imperator Fyron:
Zipping them is overkill. You can already place the mods into a Mods subfolder if you want. You just have to make sure to include that in the Path.txt. An in-game option to select the mod would be nice though.

Hmm... ?
You ever played independence war 2 WITH few dozen mods ? You'll be supprised how much less messy it is with all different mods in self contained zips instead like in the current se4g.

[Andr�s]

It can't be less messy than launching SE4 with the modlauncher program.
The only point of zipping them would be to save disk space.
Then the modlauncher would have to unzip the mod before playing, or worse the game itself would need to search files inside the zip adding an unnecessary delay.

[Me Loonn]

*AUTOROUTING* - New autorouting choises for ships, atleast "nearist waypoint"-option (and should be able to made default from Empire options, btw ), or even like in Stars!-game, autorouting to a planet of your choise - whitch autoroutes all ships with route order again next round and so on.

[3HattedDragon]

Originally posted by Andr&eacutes Lescano:
It can't be less messy than launching SE4 with the modlauncher program.
The only point of zipping them would be to save disk space.
Then the modlauncher would have to unzip the mod before playing, or worse the game itself would need to search files inside the zip adding an unnecessary delay.

I can imagine additional benefits to having mods in a zip file.

Instead of specifying a single directory in paths.txt, your could specify a comma-separated list of zip files that would all be loaded (combined) at runtime. If the same file exists in multiple mods, the one with higher priority would be picked (where priority is defined by the order of the list). This would allow the creation of 'base' mods (like image mods) to be easily used with other mods. Currently this requires manually copying files from one directory to another.

Of course, this really doesn't require zip files, the paths.txt file could just as easily have a comma-separated list of directories.

[Suicide Junkie]

FYI: The Imagemod requires no copying.
It is designed to be able to replace the base files without affecting any games.
You install it, and you're done; it will be used by any mod that calls for it.

Besides, due to the interconnectedness of the files, (and balance issues, of course) there are few mods that are actually compatible in that way)

[ March 10, 2003, 12:37: Message edited by: Suicide Junkie ]

[Foreman]

I'd wanna to see these features in SE5:

- Saving/reloading new game options, or restart game with same option button.

- Adjustable starting technology level in new game options, not only the disable/enable choice.

- Moddable tech level cost function, maybe:
Tech Level Cost Low = 5000 12000 20000 35000 0 0 0 0 0 0
Tech Level Cost Normal = 10000 24000 40000 70000 0 0 0 0 0 0
Tech Level Cost High = 20000 72000 160000 350000 0 0 0 0 0 0
Just like the weapons range-damage list.

- Reduce technology poverty gap between strong and weak empires. Maybe a naturally 3% science pts trade between all empires, or exponentially growing tech cost in overall like Civ series, or labs in same system have decayed efficient as their number grows like Imperialism Plus.

- Slow down technology advancement, or at least automatically/freely component upgrade of same family. I don't want to see my ship on battle carrying PPB-II when I already developed PPB-V.

- Seperate spaceyard queue and planet facility queue like MOO3. Players may assign some spaceyards to local ministers (maybe with abilities/skills), and ask them to build certain type of ship series.

- A campaign editor

- Better troop combat. Maybe a small battlefield of chess size board.

- Different chasis classes that belong to different technology tree.

- Improvement of colony modeling. Europa Universalis would be a good reference - some planets are just not worth to be developed, while some are critical and must be managed carefully. Make the planet environment and population more important.

[ March 13, 2003, 07:23: Message edited by: Foreman ]

[Stone Mill]

Make empire experience points somewhat meaningful!

Perhaps add a very small amount of additional racial points to spend for every "x" points.

Also, the option to disable it in settings so players don't exploit it in multiplayer games.

[Jmenschenfresser]

I've pretty muched stopped playing SE4...(it sounds strange to even write)...and I feel the need to write a short diddy about what will bring me back for part 5.

Combat. Combat plain and simple.

Even with all the tech, the weapons, ship sizes, offensive and defensive components, space combat in SE4 feels like salvos with nuclear weapons. Many times the first strike wins the battle. I am not sure how it came to be, but in spite of all the gadgets, combat is won before it begins. By that I mean, combat starts with your first spent research point. By the time your ships face-off, the script is largely written. There is little room for tactics. Perhaps the present system would be sufficient if two humans (beyond the scope of hotseat) could go toe to toe in tactical combat mode. Dunno.

That being said here's what I suggest:

-Retreat option (it's been suggested a billion times.
-Expanded individual ship settings to allow in combat tweaking for special roles. (In other words, treat ships more like the large complex machines they are. Perhaps power levels effecting movement, weapon strength & shield strength)
-Add reality to ship movement (no abrupt u-turns, etc)
-Location placement for weapons and armor (i.e. if you unwisely placed all your PPBs forward, you won't be able to fire at anything aft.)
-Make damage location specific.
-Ship statistics which would effect performance...readiness, morale, supply, etc.
-Human on human tactical combat (although I am at a loss to suggest how it should be done)
-Small scale phenomenon to spice up the combat playing field (i.e. Planetary gravity, atmosphere, asteroids, blah blah blah.)
-Friendly ships should be able to occupy the same square. Perhaps even non-friendly, but I haven't thought through that one yet.

As far as ground combat goes...some could be added, but I think it could still be kept at a simulated state like it is. Perhaps it could be done with a map and orders, allowing the player to drop the troops, after which they attack by themselves. Perhaps it would be fun to also have an extraction option to save their lives if they start to lose.

I realize SE4 isn't solely a space combat sim, but to me half the fun of building and researching kick *** armadas would be to see them tested under a combat system allowing tactical and operational depth.

Maybe turn based tactical combat between humans would be more viable under a simulaneous move system, rather than U-GO-I-GO. Not necessarily real-time, which would turn it into a click fest, but an order phase where both players essentially pre-move their pieces. Then both sides moves are executed simultaneously. Would be interesting if you wanted Frigate A to move forward 5 squares and then fire at the closest ship, but wouldn't know exactly which ship would be the closest.

Perhaps I am talking about another game as yet undeveloped...

[Suicide Junkie]

- Slow down technology advancement, or at least automatically/freely component upgrade of same family. I don't want to see my ship on battle carrying PPB-II when I already developed PPB-V.

That would be like a battleship getting automatic upgrades from 14" main guns to 16" main guns while cruising solo on the open sea.

You should alter your strategies, and regularily swap out the front-line warships with the brand new ships, and retrofit the old ones.
Another good option is to include a SpaceYardShip in with your fleets, so you can do on-the-spot retrofits.
If you're just swapping out 2 or 3 guns, that can be done easily.

Even with all the tech, the weapons, ship sizes, offensive and defensive components, space combat in SE4 feels like salvos with nuclear weapons. Many times the first strike wins the battle. I am not sure how it came to be, but in spite of all the gadgets, combat is won before it begins.

Have you tried any mods to reduce damage (and thus the advantage of first-strike?)
The B5 and Trek Mods should give you a good, complex battle, too:
With leaky armor and shields, everyone takes some amount of permanent damage from each hit.
Plus, firing until the ship is vaporized will mean a lot of wasted firepower into a hunk of scrap armor with perhaps only a single tiny weapon still active.
If your strategy tells the ship to switch targets too early, though, you could be leaving a deadly opponent firing broadsides into your fleet.

Playing a Pirate or Nomadic race in P&N might be good for you, too. Fleets remain small, tactical combat lets you run complex combat strategies, and there is always a hint of danger as you hide from the large AI fleets and try to sneak in and ambush the small convoys.

[ March 13, 2003, 16:57: Message edited by: Suicide Junkie ]

[Dralasite]

This may have been said, but I know that AI is a big issue in seiv that people want changed. I'd suggest that the AI in the released game can just be so-so, as long as you have good AI modding tools. Of course, this might be as difficult as building a good AI.