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*** SPOILERS *** GC:EU Expansion Pack Changes For Modders *** SPOILERS ***
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I'm a Drengin.net subscriber and have downloaded the first beta of the expansion pack. With each beta I'll add to this thread the changes that might be of interest to the modding community.
There will be spoilers galore in this thread so if you like the feeling of discovery, don't read! I will not, however, post any of the actual content of the data files.
Here we go:
CHANGES IN 1.09[b].001:
***New/Replaced files***
Expansion01Anom.anomaly
Expansion01Events.event
StarExplosion.mdl
Stars.mdl (replacement)
Dom_Governor.mtd (replacement)
6x event .pcx's
***Things of interest***
1) Expansion01Anom.anomaly adds only 1 new anomaly, but it's a killer! 'Space Monster Egg'! Finally, a booby trapped anomaly. Uses Anomaly Type 12 (new) which I've added to the Writer as 'Space Monster Egg'. Uses a new Anomaly Model we haven't seen before, Type 7. Type 7 is like Type 8 ('Research Hurricane') in that there are multiple models that appear for that Type. There's a green spinning rock and a spinning spike thing. It does make it painfully obvious which anomalies are going to pop a Space Monster, so you can avoid them if you desire, if you like to 'Auto-Survey' you are going to be in trouble though. Pops a tough little Space Shark, the stats might vary based on the timeline of the game but for a Tiny galaxy at the very start the monster sports 10/50 HP (doesn't start full-strength), ATT:11, DEF: 4, SPD: 1.
2) Negative Planet Quality events do indeed lower the Planet Quality now.
3) None of the 6 new events do anything new. And as all of their GoodValues are positive numbers, which we know don't work and will be turned into negative numbers, we can safely assume that this has not been changed, nor are there plans to change them for the expansion pack.
That's all the changes for now. When the next beta is released I will post here again.
        
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Some follow up to the anomaly changes.
There are definitely a smattering of new anomaly graphics for some of the old anomalies. They still operate the same but they sport new grpahics now.
In addition, I believe there's a behavior change for the 'Free-form Gas' anomaly (might be wrong about this though).
Before, to the best of my knowledge, when you investigated 'Free-form Gas', it behaved in the same way as the 'Research Hurricane', it would either give you a 25% boost to the current tech being researched, or it would give you a research assistant whining about it being a waste of time.
Now, it is a wild card. I've popped ability bonuses, as well as boosts to the current tech out of these. Fun.
[Message Edited]
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Yah, might have been. I'm not sure. My notes are unclear, I couldn't find an instance where my notes said 'Free-form Gas' equalled something other than research boost, but that's not 100% conclusive.
I just don't recall ever getting anything else out of a 'Free-form Gas'. But no matter, it's definitely a wildcard now.
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'Freform Gas' is used for all anomolies that didn't have their own image. The research anomolies were the first ones that fit that category, but some of the ability bonus ones popped up there later on, and one or two of the mod anomolies are there as well.
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And I should add that the popped Space Monsters definitely do become stronger later in the game. A couple of years later a freshly hatched Space Shark was ATT:21, DEF:4, HP:60, SPD:1.
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#7
by Citizen s45qu4tch - 7/8/2003 3:00:15 PM
Seems to me that's a bit unfair for "auto-survey" users. Maybe they should expand "auto-survey" to allow you to customize what anomalies are explored.
Example: Space Empire IV, which I use as SD has mentioned it, has small, one space, nebulas in almost every star system. Some of them cause ship damage, but in the earlier versions of the game if you had your ships on an auto setting they would fly through and be damaged. In later versions this was fixed and the ships would fly around these damaging nebulas.
If the "auto-survey" was expanded to list anomaly types and you could select/de-select that would even the field. Of course that would depend on them keeping them same anomaly type for the monsters.
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#8
by Citizen mk31bolo - 7/9/2003 12:03:03 PM
This would be worth doing just to avoid wormholes. Nothing messes up early exploration like a wormhole jump across the galaxy. It effectively takes the survey ship out of the game until it gets back to friendly territory.
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T50557452: Early on in the game, you can spend years coming back into range on Huge or Gigantic maps, even if you take the range bonus pick. I've stopped using auto-survey early on in the game for just this reason.
   
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A lil bump to get this to show in SDC...
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Here is my analysis on the changes with the latest beta version, 1.09A[b].002.
CHANGES IN 1.09A[b].002:
***New/Replaced files***
DeathKnight.mdl
DeathKnight.ship
XTechs.tech
CoreShips.ship (replaced)
ShipPak2.ship (replaced)
English.str (replaced)
GCTech.tech (replaced)
***Things of interest***
1) The file DeathKnight.ship only contains one new ship, the DeathKnight (duh  ). Currently the DeathKnight is available for all alignments, though Stardock intends for it to be an Evil only ship for the release version. Here are it's stats compared to the BB.
DeathKnight- ATT:10, DEF:5, SPD:0, HP:40, MNT:12, RNG:1, BC:450
Battleship- ATT:9, DEF:4, SPD:0, HP:50, MNT:12, RNG:0, BC:500
For my money, the DK is a much better deal. It's cheaper, with a greater attack, defense, and range- for all this you sacrifice only 10 hit points. I can't see building BBs anymore if you play evil. Please note there is a problem with the DK's description, "... Slower than battle ships...", which is not true.
2) The only change to CoreShips.ship is to raise the cost of the BB from 400 BCs to 500 BCs, presumably to make room for the DK.
3) The only change to ShipPak2.ship is to raise the cost of the DN from 500 BCs to 550 BCs. Since BBs now cost 500 BCs, this move makes sense.
4) The changes to English.str are:
a) Two new hardcoded events that are the 'alignment' changing events for the AI races mentioned by Stardock.
b) Support for the Star List and Star List Search functions.
c) Two minor wording changes.
5) The file XTechs.tech holds 5 new techs.
a) "Disruptors" is an Evil only tech that grants a 10% bonus to Soldiering. Please note that the description, "...will enable us to build more lethal ships.", is in error as the bonus is to Soldiering, not Weapons. This tech is available after Interstellar Tactics.
b) 4 new techs that grant a 10% bonus to Weapons, creating a chain after Corvette Technology.
6) According to Stardock's release notes, Technology research has been sped up. Apparently they made this adjustment behind the scenes, as all the costs in GCTech.tech have not changed. This is a good way to do it as all mods gain the benefit of this adjustment without the author needing to reissue the mod.
a) The problems with the following 4 techs remain: HighDensityMetals, BistrontAlloy, AdvancedSlavery, NanoMining. All 4 of these techs have the ability "Production", which does not exist. They should say "MilitaryProduction" or "SocialProduction". At some point I hope this is fixed.
b) Dreadnought Technology cost increased from 7000 to 9000.
I will post here after I play with these new changes a bit. I want to see the Star List and Death Knight in action. I'm also curious as to how much faster tech advancement will be.
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H50, see below for speeding up of research.
Frogboy's response to gamers who expressed concern about increase in speed of tech research:
"The tech tree doesn't move THAT much more quickly.
Previously, each subsequent tech added 2% to the next tech's cost. Now it's only 1%. Now, that may not seem like a big change but what it means is that games won't necessarily end with battleship or dreadnought techs. We wanted to set things up such that Avatars and Excaliburs and Overlords would come into play."
    
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Aahhh, I missed that Frogboy post. Could have saved myself some time scanning the old/new GCTech file for changed costs.
So it is as I surmised, a behind the scenes fix.
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Bump to get it into SDC...
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Not much going on with this latest beta.
CHANGES IN 1.09B[b].003:
***New/Replaced files***
English.str (replaced)
***Things of interest***
1) Nothing.  The changes to the English.str file consists of
a) some typo cleanup
b) support for turning on the Cheat keys
c) sorting the Star list by Research output
d) a new option to turn on/off the Improvement done popup
e) error status messages, presumably for Metaverse submissions
That's it. Not to downplay the addition of Cheat Keys and the Metaverse scoring tweaks, but this version holds nothing of interest for a modder. Too bad there's no Cheat Key to force a Random Event, that'd be good...
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Correction to d) above, the option is not to turn on/off improvements complete, but to turn on/off the dialog box for completed Special improvements.
When turned on, you'll receive the dialog for Trade Goods/Achievements/Wonders for TGs/As/Ws *you* build, in addition to ones the AIs build (the old behavior).
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Now I know where you been HF. Must be nice, I want to get it just cannot swing it yet. *Waves* 
   
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| Does anyone know if the AIs are still hard coded in the expansion pach where the tech tree is concerned. |
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There's been no word to the contrary so I'd say 'yes'.
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CHANGES IN 1.09C[b].001:
***New/Replaced files***
PlayerSetup.mtd
StartScreen.mtd
English.str (replaced)
ResearchEvent.mtd (replaced)
***Things of interest***
1) According to Stardock, the Arcean reliance on a fixed tech path has been removed. This is great news, now if the remaining abilities currently hard coded to specific Tech IDs were exposed in the data files, we could completely rebuild the tech tree if we wanted to.
2) The new English.str file has numerous new tables that allow us to now change the names of the Minor races, the planets in the Sol system, 'Sol' itself, and more! All really cool stuff.
Combined with the Metaverse scoring changes, and the AIs being able to win via a Tech victory, I am very excited about this beta. I am going to go play a game right now.
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| and the AIs being able to win via a Tech victory, |
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If I read the changelog right, the AI still can't win by tech victory, it just disables the human tech victory if they get to Final Frontier first.
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| If I read the changelog right, the AI still can't win by tech victory, it just disables the human tech victory if they get to Final Frontier first. |
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Yes, I misunderstood. Still, that's pretty cool.
I got 3 CTDs playing the beta tonight. First beta that has been less than stable on my machine. I don't know if it is significant or not, I'll see what happens when I play next.
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isnt there like a non-disclosure agreement on the beta? I know ive been on a lot of betas and NDA definitely gets people kicked out...
 
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