From the Proportions readme:
Mod Description:
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Proportions makes large changes to the proportions of economy and development
in Space Empires IV. The scale of several aspects of play have been made more
realistic, along with various other changes.
The most important changes are that homeworlds now begin stocked with
"Cultural Center" facilities which represent the developed cultural homelands
of an empire. These would take a very long time to reproduce on an alien
world, and they are much more productive and capable compared to facilities
which can be quickly constructed on colony worlds. As a result, homeworlds
begin the game quite powerful, whereas colonies are less productive and would
likely take longer than an entire game to develop to the same level as a
homeworld. Colony worlds can be developed to fairly impressive levels with
enough time and population. More achievable than full cultural centers are
city facilities of various sizes, for example.
Contributing to this effect are the changes to populations, which now grow at
a more realistic rate (about 1/10th the normal SE4 rate) and which also
require a more realistic amount of effort to transport to planet to planet,
since they now weigh a more realistic 1000 kT, and cargo capacities mean a
large ship is required to move even one of these. A colony with a small
population also builds at a much slower rate than a world with billions on it.
All of this means that developing a colony infrastructure is still very
important but is also more challenging, and will not so quickly alter the
balance of power or research.
Another large set of changes involves ship design. The ship designs have
been developed to include pseudo-Newtonian movement. Speed is proportional
to thrust divided by mass. All ship sizes have a to-hit modifier based on
size and maneuverability, and a ship which loses its engines becomes easier
to hit. Larger hulls are more expensive to build and maintain, and smaller
ships require fewer engines and are harder to hit, so bigger is not always
better in every case. Colony ships are huge. New ship classes include Scout,
Massive Base Ship, and Starliner.
Planetary capacities have also been increased, both for units and for
resources. This means that planetary defenses can be amassed to great
strength, particularly on a homeworld, and empires also can stockpile large
reserves of resources, so they can potentially operate at a deficit for
extended periods.
Proportions includes numerous other adjustments to the game, listed below:
Infantry units have been added. These are available from the beginning of the
game. The best ground force is probably a combination of infantry and
vehicles. Ground combat has also been slowed down. It may take many turns to
conquer a well-defended planet on the ground. Militia has been greatly toned
down - planets should be garrisoned if they are to resist a serious invasion.
Because of the cheapness of infantry units, the effect on population
happiness has been removed.
Standard armor works differently than in the un-modded game. It is not all
peeled off before any component damage is done. Instead, it absorbs a lot of
damage and protects components, but components can be destroyed while armor
is still intact. This is more realistic and unpredictable, and makes ship
design more interesting - using only components makes for a more powerful
but also more fragile and expensive ship than one with some space devoted
to armor.
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As you can see, AI for Proportions is different from normal game. You can download the latest Proportions mod here:
http://g2.latibulum.com/pvk/proportions/
AI Designer Wanted
Linear Mode
