Woops, my bust! The StarHawk race models are not all the same (I didn't look closely enough earlier today). So the fix might be to add a race 35 model in addition to those present - or do as I mentioned earlier.

IF THIS FORUM HAD EDIT ABILITIES BEYOND JUST A FEW MINUTES, I WOULD HAVE CORRECTED MY PREVIOUS POST!!! HINT! HINT to SITE MANAGEMENT!!!! PLEASE CORRECT THESE FORUMS TO INCLUDE STANDARD FORUM CAPABILTIES AS IS TYPICAL FOR INTERNET FORUMS. PLEASE!!!

Woops, my bust! The StarHawk race models are not all the same (I didn't look closely enough earlier today). So the fix might be to add a race 35 model in addition to those present - or do as I mentioned earlier.

IF THIS FORUM HAD EDIT ABILITIES BEYOND JUST A FEW MINUTES, I WOULD HAVE CORRECTED MY PREVIOUS POST!!! HINT! HINT to SITE MANAGEMENT!!!! PLEASE CORRECT THESE FORUMS TO INCLUDE STANDARD FORUM CAPABILTIES AS IS TYPICAL FOR INTERNET FORUMS. PLEASE!!!

ANOTHER FORUM PROBLEM! STANDARD "USER DELETE" OF ONE'S EXTRA DUPLICATE POST CAPABILITY IS MISSING!!! ARG!

SORRY FOR THE DUPLICATE POST - I DIDN'T THINK IT POSTED THE FIRST TIME (I WOULD HAVE DELETED IT IF ALLOWED).
[Message Edited]

Can anyone do this for me (please)?

~SDC~

I wil continue to with those ships in the near future if no one objects... However:

My newest creation is Moya of FarScape fame....

http://users.rcn.com/aulonacara/Galatic%20Civ/

Model "Moya"

Description "Transport lots of soldiers with just one mega-sized transport - a living ship - her name is Moya, a FarScape vessel - a technology on loan to you from Kahaynu, leader of the Leviathan Builders in the distant FarScape Uncharted TerritoriesTransport lots of soldiers with just ome mega-sized transport - a bio-mechcanoid - a living ship - her name is Moya, a FarScape vessel.


Enjoy the new graphic designed to look like Moya, the crew's living ship in the TV series Far Scape. I animated it some to represent the Star Burst mode of Moya for running away from enemies... however, Moya would make a frelling good looking warship too! Use her as you wish.

OK, here is a new Vorlon Battle Cruiser

http://users.rcn.com/aulonacara/Galatic%20Civ/

Enjoy


[Message Edited]

And a new SHIP for today is a Scarren Dreadnaught from FarScape fame (of course).

http://users.rcn.com/aulonacara/Galatic%20Civ/

Name "Skarren Warship"
Model "Skarren"
Description "This ship, the Skarren Dreadnaught, is the result of secret technology trade deals with a distant alien race known as the Skarrens from the FarScape sector of the universe..."

You're going really fast now... LOL

Many thanks for solving the "Vorlon Problem"!
Downloaded both Farscape ships, the Moya looks pretty cool at first sight, didn'T play for a long time yet. Going to report in a few days i think.


~SDC~

Mona could be "thicker," but I'll leave her as she is.

I'm thinking of making one more transport for an existing mod where the transport can carry only 100.

I thoght the FarScape Scarren Dreadnaught turned out pretty good, but it took 3 attempts! I made it slightly more powerful than a regular dreadnaught (in the *.SHIP data file).

Once again, nicely done!
The only thing i personally would prefer are "neutral" blueprints, but this is just a personal preferrence, nothing that diminishes the fun of having new ships in the game or the quality of your work.
Right now i'm tinkering again with the (or another) monstrous mod, i'm thinking about introducing the Shark with it's own tech around battleship-time for evil races only, in combination with a tech and ship reserved for good races (my current version uses your white-star mdl).
The monster will be slightly better in attack and hp than a Death Knight, the White Star faster, better sensors, range and defence (and perhaps able to survey anomalies -thinking about that offshoot series from B5). Still tinkering with balance and building behaviour. Whereas my SF2 Starfighter in the Warfare Package is produced nicely in even numbers with frigates and other ships, both the monster or the Whitestar get either mass-produced, making other ships obsolete, or they won't be produced at all. I still don't know what creates the balance as with the SF2 (a lucky shot, obvious).

~SDC~

Ooops, double-clicked the Submit button!
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Sounds interesting regarding the monsters. BTW, due to my own tastes, I usually adjust mods for reasons of "play balance" with each other. The monster mod was no exception (FYI):

//------------------------------------------------------------------------
SHIP SpaceShark1
//------------------------------------------------------------------------

Name "Monster Shark"
Model "mon"
Description "The Monster Shark is an artificially bred space creature based on the genetic code of the Space Shark. Very agressive, always hungry and barely controlable, this creature will strike fear in the heart of every enemy."

HitPoints 150
Attack 17
Defense 5
Speed 0
Cost 600
SensorRange 2
Ability "Attack"
Tech_Requirement "BreedingTechnology"
Maintenance 5
Range 1
Weapon "Photon"
ENDSHIP


//------------------------------------------------------------------------
SHIP SpaceShark2
//------------------------------------------------------------------------

Name "Leviathan"
Model "mon"
Description "Unbelievable in size and appetite, the Leviathan is the most dreaded creature in the known galaxy. There is nothing that can compare to the raw terror of a hungry Leviathan approaching your ship!"

HitPoints 500
Attack 20
Defense 10
Speed 1
Cost 1200
SensorRange 3
Ability "Attack"
Tech_Requirement "ArtificialXenoevolution"
Maintenance 10
Range 2
Weapon "WPhasor"
ENDSHIP

I did add a maintenace cost to them (I seem to remember they were zero), because I felt they still needed the indirect maintenance (the transmitter, control center and employees, locator beacons, electronic tagging, etc). However, the value is low compared to my normal warships which have way higher values (25 to 200) depending on class.

As to the neutral blue print? I feel this (as a matter of degree): "Credit to whom credit is due." The Borg Cube, is Borg and from Star Trek, so I can't ignor that; ditto to Moya and FarScape. I think it provides a degree of honor and such appeals to the fan base as well; and, perhaps, helps draw more people into these fine SciFi TV shows - and helps draw people into GC/AP when you mention such at thier fan sites.


[Message Edited]

Which version of the MonMod do you have? These are the stats of the current (old) version in the Library (note the maintenance):

//------------------------------------------------------------------------
SHIP SpaceShark1
//------------------------------------------------------------------------

Name "Monster Shark"
Model "mon"
Description "The Monster Shark is an artificially bred space creature based on the genetic code of the Space Shark. Very agressive, always hungry and barely controlable, this creature will strike fear in the heart of every enemy."

HitPoints 50
Attack 10
Defense 4
Speed 1
Cost 1000
SensorRange 6
Ability "Attack"
Tech_Requirement "BreedingTechnology"
Maintenance 10
Range 4
Weapon "Photon"
ENDSHIP


//------------------------------------------------------------------------
SHIP SpaceShark2
//------------------------------------------------------------------------

Name "Leviathan"
Model "mon"
Description "Unbelievable in size and appetite, the Leviathan is the most dreaded creature in the known galaxy. There is nothing that can be compared to the raw terror of a hungry Leviathan approaching your ship!"

HitPoints 100
Attack 20
Defense 10
Speed 2
Cost 1900
SensorRange 8
Ability "Attack"
Tech_Requirement "ArtificialXenoevolution"
Maintenance 20
Range 6
Weapon "WPhasor"
ENDSHIP

The weaker monster originally had the same stats (except sensor range, costs) as the original anomaly beast, so i had to introduce it somehow at battleship-time. Because of the building behaviour of the Ai, the current test-version has only two techs, xenobiology and artificial Xe... the first one has battleship tech as prerequisite, the one for the leviathan military design computers. I changed it that way 'cause the AI didn't really follow the research path i had originally intended ('cause Advanced DNA research has no AI value - and i didn't want to change the original files).

You're right about the blueprints, i forgot that there's something like copyright or trademark involved.As for the additional fan attraction, i believe this is a very good idea, as i believe that GalCiv is really one of the best turn-based sci-fi's currently available and it would be a sad thing if it kinda dies due to a lack of interest. Most people here in germany (and seasonend gamers, i tell you) don't even know what i'm talking about if i mention GalCiv, plus you don't see it often (next to never) in the stores here, not even that Gold or Deluxe edition so often mentioned in the forum here.

I'll be off for a few days again, see (read) you around sometime next week.

P.S What will your next ship be?


~SDC~

My bust on the maintenance - I thought I had added it.

This weekend yields two new ships!

These are from Star Gate - the Goa'uld "Ha'Tack" class warship and Earth's first decent space warship called the "Prometheus."

They turned out pretty good.

http://users.rcn.com/aulonacara/Galatic%20Civ/

Ah, I decided to do one more ship for the weekend.

This may be my best one yet. This is from Star Trek, Deep Space 9 TV SciFi series - it is the Deep Space 9 space station.

It is powerful, and you need to get it via getting break-throughs in trading, because you get the plans for it from a traveler. I set the speed to -10 to keep the space station from moving fast. In the game it moves at a speed of 1. I suspect once speed technology discoveries off-set the -10, then the ship will be able to move faster, but if not, then it is appropriate for this powerful battle station. Enjoy.

http://users.rcn.com/aulonacara/Galatic%20Civ/


HitPoints 2000
Attack 12
Defense 50
Speed -10
Cost 1500
SensorRange 15
Tech_Requirement "Hyper trade"
Maintenance 300
Range 0
Weapon "Photon"

Well, any speed ehancing tech, (or anomaly if you are usinh Mooser anomaly pack) increase as a bonus of 10 to speed (which translato to speed + 1)

I haven't seen it increase pass 1 yet, but I'm not far into the game. I'll post the results tommarrow. I'm hoping it'll take 11 speed improvements to increase speed to 2... Plus the play can choose speed picks (I assume those "count" as well)..... I may need to reduce it to -5 or so. What do you think?

Nope, 1 speed improvement should suffice. Just try with taking the speed +2 pick.

Or try the GROSS pol party (http://www.galciv.com/library.asp?wp=5&sort=UpdateDate&searchtext=&LibID=7&order=): it should give speed + 3
[Message Edited]

What do you want exactly for behavior?

I have tried a speed pick of 3 but saw no change. After the first speed improvement, there was no change. Part of the problem is I don't know how the speed algorithm; i.e., does mulitplication happen between a postive percent (decimal) to my negative, yielding a negative? Thusly always negative, thusly impossible to improve speed after a given number of speed improvements? You indicate otherwise - assuming I understand you correctly - that such is NOT the case; that a simple single speed pick of two should have done the trick.

Desired behaviour? I'd like to see the new battle station gain a +1 to speed (2 total) near mid game (mid-tech; after about, say dreadnaught, perhaps even later - in that area somewhere) after the player had to discover several or more speed improvements, The minus 10 might be too high, assuming a negative number can be over-came in the first place.

The Gross Party - I downloaded it. I'll add that one

[Message Edited]
[Message Edited]

What do you mean? In order to have +3 in the game, you need to set +30 in the files. And I don't see any +3 speed as pick.

Assume I modded it. Remember, I made mods. I added a lot of new choices to the picks list.

In this case:

// propulsion
[A3_Option0Text] Extra 1 Parsecs/Month
[A3_Option0Bonus] 1
[A3_Option0Cost] 1
[A3_Option1Text] Extra 2 Parsecs/Month
[A3_Option1Bonus] 2
[A3_Option1Cost] 2
[A3_Option2Text] Extra 3 Parsecs/Month
[A3_Option2Bonus] 3
[A3_Option2Cost] 4
[A3_Option3Text] Extra 4 Parsecs/Month
[A3_Option3Bonus] 4
[A3_Option3Cost] 5

If I understand things correctly, "3" is "30" or +3 spares on the space grid per turn. No?

BTW, the +3 works on the other ships normally (if chosen).


[Message Edited]

Ok, I got it to work...

A positive integer minus a negative which yields zero or a negative integer yields a ship speed of one.

* A pick speed of +1 minus ship speed of -1 = 0 or effective ship game speed +1.

* A pick speed of +1 minus ship speed of -2 = -1 or effective ship game speed +1.

* A pick speed of +2 minus ship speed of -1 = ship speed +1 (no gain, since default equals +1)

* A pick speed 0f +3 minus ship speed of -1 = ship speed +2 (gain +1 to default).

So the total speed improvement to over come a negative value for ship core speed needs to exceed by one in order to see a gain above default; i.e, speed improvements of 12 minus a ship data file speed of -10 = 2. So, I think I have set my ship data file speed negative value too high (-10)! Woops. I'm not sure just how many speed improvements of "1" (or "10%") there are in the base version of the game, so I'll change it to -4 for now and test in my next game this coming weekend. This means it will take 6 speed improvements (if each are "1" or "10%") to get the battle station to a game speed of 2 (not including effects of speed picks of the player).

This is nice to know. It will allow modders to slow down ship speeds by reducing each ship core value if they wish to make the universe seem "large" on small selected sizes. Of course, it will mean a longer game in general.

I was wanting to negate the effects of the speed technology discoveries in order to slow the game pace down (that can be done in custom rules, too, I think). Now it is possible slow things also by making all base ship ships speeds various negative values. Eventaully ship speeds would increase, but only after a lot of speed inprovements are discovered - this would permit colonization at much more slower tempo - making doing so more interesting in a tactical way, depending on the map layout (I use random a lot). The Star Base speed bonus modules would become vary a important feature also.


[Message Edited]

Chippoka, the Goa'uld Ship is just great, as is the Starbase model.

I especially like that 3D-appearance you have managed to give them. I think it is also great that they do not rotate like other ships, that would a) spoil the 3D effect, and would look somehow inappropriate for such big structures.
Also the slow movement is a great idea.

Would you also do ships on demand?
- as i'd like to have some different models for the stellar warfare package, like some starfighter modifications for the SF2 and the Assault fighter, or some big, bulky things for the Behemoth or the Juggernaut.
(Just asking - i know this is asking a lot)

~SDC~

I have no problem with doing some ships for you. No one else has asked - short of doing what to me is too large a task - an entire ship project - I can't commit to that. However, just one ship at a time being desired? N.P., if not a lot of requests.

The best thing is a picture (bmp, gif or jpg), any size, screen capture, etc, of the ship being requested - as a base for me to begin the conversion to 64x64, then to film strip.

My next project is the Star Gate SG-1 Goa'uld Battle Station, animated. Or perhaps the Babylon 5 Station. Or perhaps the Master Of Orion II Star Base. Whatever I decide upon, I want to do it as a 3 tiered effort as a complete alternative to the regular Star Base. This will take some time, as the 3D effect means I need about 18 individual custom pictures for one horizontal strip rotation (rough at 20 degree steps), then an additional 18 for basic animation - that's just for one of the 3 tiers. Frame count jumps rapidly for true animation! The ship rotator program only rotates vertically, and worse, it is not an x-axis rotation. So I have to hand do each frame showing the rotation change over time (Paint Shop Pro does let me do a in-fly custom rotate on a per-frame basis - but light changes - refections, physical look differences of the structure per face is done by hand per frame). Once I have a complete set, then block cut-n-paste will speed things up in the creation process. I'm shooting for a animated rotation in quazi 3D, just like the regular star base, but adding brinking lights, or whatever (seperate set of frames based on the originals). Heh, with the limitations of my rotation software - I'm still not sure I can do this in a reasonable amount of time (plus I've still not learned all the abilities of my Paint Shop Pro software - darn it). I'm sure there is other software for this sort of stuff - but being so new at this sort of stuff, I'm clueless on where to get it as shareware or at a fair price.


[Message Edited]

Ok Chippoka, it does make sense:
- when in pol party, tech, anomaly: + 10 means speed + 1
- when ships, 2 means speed 2.

One must be carefully when setting the different values, since the scale isn't the same depending of the modified file.