Having recently gotten into the modding behind the game, I was wondering if it was possible to do a few things, and if so, what files I would need to modify.
Mods I already use:
- Ole Spidey's Map Size Mod, which reverts map condition back before 1.8.3. So far no issues with this!
- Terraforming mod, which I custom built - it allows terraforming to be used more than once BUT they cost more and also require durantium, promethium, and thulium as they get more powerful. (This is a mixed bag - the AI doesn't seem to use them as well and even with the resource costs they may be OP. OTOH I find myself actually using some buildings that before I always passed up as being too high an opportunity cost. Might be fixable by increasing the land percent requirements? How can I get the AI to use this more?)
- Slow start mod. Always bugged me that races had a medium sized ship with good weapons well before they had the technology to produce it. The "fluff" in the game makes it clear it isn't just about making things bigger. So I eliminated ALL starting ships. You have to make them yourself. (Does add a few turns just clicking "Turn" at start of game, but at the beginning I have a greater tolerance for this - especially as there isn't a lot for the computer to process each turn. However, this did require editing all the factions individually, which makes it a pain if I want to use custom factions. Is there a way to change a main game file to get rid of these for everyone? Also, if I want to set factions back further and take away the shipyard as well, how would I do this? What file would I look in?)
Mods I'd like to code myself (but not sure what files I need to change):
- Project alteration. When a planet has nothing else to do, I usually set it for research project, or economic stimulus, or the like. However, when something new comes up (a new building, a terraformer, or the like) I sometimes forget to take that planet out of "idle" mode. I'd like to change it so these projects don't run indefinitely; maybe 5 to 10 turns instead. That way I get an Idle Colony signal on occasion, and can either check if I have gotten new stuff to use, or start another (temporary) round of idling. Maybe even have this in 1-turn, 2-turn, 5-turn, and 10 turn increments. (On a side note, what happens if you set a planet to military subsidies and then have the shipyard build queue empty with no notifications? I might try this next game...)
- Changing galactic backgrounds. Sometimes I get a nice deep blue behind my empire. Sometimes a muddy brown. Can I remove the brown background so only the blue is used?
- I suspect this one may be impossible, but is there some way to get resources back? Some kind of "on destroy" event that happens when buildings are deleted? Wonder if there might be some scripting way of indirectly adding a feature to move food or production from one planet to another within the existing engine.
