Masters Mod v1.7 ( May the Masters be with You )

[Wolfman77]

Aside from going through the mod pack and resaving the images there isn't much you could do. I don't think including the mod packs pictures with you mod is a good way to go. At least if someone asks about the proble you know how they can fix it, maybe with the next mod pack the images can be fixed. If someone has a program that can automaticaly save them as a different file type, then resave them back to BMP's it would be the best way. It does NOT work to load the BMP then "save as" to a BMP. They have to be converted to another type, then back. I used corel paint but I don't know how to do the scripting in it to load and save multiple files.

[Urendi Maleldil]

Download v1.6: One Small Step for Masters here

Several changes, bugfixes, and one new Master trait.

The Small Ship Masters racial trait makes small ships more useful throughout the game. Different small hull sizes with additional abilities will perform specialized roles better than large generic ships. Special small ship mounts will also supplement the additional hull sizes, letting you cram a hull full of electronics, enhance weapon accuracy, and increase shielding.

Also fixed some major balance issues with the Assimilation Masters.

1.6
Romulans and Klingons now use Trek Masters trait
reduced damage ammount of Assimilation Nanites (thanks, Pax)
increased size of Assimilation Nanites to 20kT
Sergetti megascale ship designs now use multiplex tracking (thanks, Wolfman77)
decreased shield generation for Trek shields, and increased generation from damage
Borg, Federation, klingon, and Romulan AI modified to use the new trek-style shields
fixed Gaia Facility change atmosphere description (thanks, Wolfman77)
changed supply % for core mounts to 1500% (thanks, Wolfman77)
added Small Ship Masters racial trait

Small Ship Masters
Your race has mastered the development of smaller ship sizes. As your technology increases, you will gain cheaper, higher quality, more maneuverable smaller hulls that will prove to your enemies that bigger is not always better.
* Fast Escort
* Cheap Frigate
* Stabilized Frigate
* Stabilized Destroyer
* Hardened Destroyer
* Hardened Light Cruiser
* Shielded Light Cruiser
* Shielded Cruiser
* Stabilized Direct Fire Mount
* Miniaturized Electronics Mount
* Small Geometry Shield Mount
* Endurance Cruiser

[Wolfman77]

I tried the assimilation masters last night. Kinda fun taking other ships with the nanites, but they seemed very powerful. once you get LC's the mount gives the nanites 100% chance to convert if they hit, and at range 2 they tend to hit alot. I was up against a race that used missiles alot, but even with the range advantage I could still take 3 ships very quickly. As soon as they start using MC's the nanites should become useless however. Also you may want to restrict them from Weapon Platforms, or make a different one that goes on them, the WP mounts make these very dangerous.

The special Life Support component that gives 5% reduction to maintenance stacks. A Space Station with 1 bridge 2 Crew Quarters and then filled with These Life Supports will net about 7000 each turn in minerals from negative maintenance. They also stack with the 100kT SY's 40%. You could limit them to 10 per ship in the restrictions line for the comp, the only ones who have acces to ships that need more than that are the Megascale. If you want people to be able to take more than one master trait for some reason you could make a second comp right below it without the restriction and having both master traits required.

[Urendi Maleldil]

Oh, I hadn't noticed the maintenance thing. I'll have to fix that right away.

[henk brouwer]

I just downloaded the mod and started a new game, I'm having a lot of fun so far. I picked the Defense masters for my first game. The borg started two systems away from me, and I've had quite some trouble with them . Anyhow, I managed to research computers early on, which has given me a big advantage, and they just surrendered to me a turn ago.

Just one remark so far: With the defense masters trait, you can install navigational shield systems and structural integrity fields on weapon platforms and satellites (which gives your weapon platforms +1 movement), this seems a bit odd, it's only a small cosmetic thing but I thought I should mention it. Other than that I can't find any errors, It would be nice to have a few more of the AI's use the new masters traits though. Anyhow, great mod so far, I'm looking forward to any updates.

[Urendi Maleldil]

Hey, thanks for the complements. I've had a lot of fun building the mod, and I have a lot more things to add to it.

So far I haven't added Masters traits to any of the races that already use stock racial traits, but that will change in the future.

[Wolfman77]

I noticed the trek masters warp drive has 2 components that have the same abilities except the newer version is more expensive. It's either 4 and 5 or 5 and 6 can't remember which.

[Urendi Maleldil]

I'm going to release the Masters mod v1.7 in the next day or so. What are some of the bugs and balance issues you guys have noticed in v1.6? I want to polish up the latest release before I put it out.

[Ed Kolis]

What's new in 1.7? Perhaps Orion Masters, with MOO technology?

[Urendi Maleldil]

Sorry, I've never played MOO, so I don't know how the technology worked.