11 new invasion strategies to be sent to the library soon

from Stardock Forums
OK folks, I have created 11 new invasion tactics total, along with pictures (not very good but...) and an excel file that tabulates the stats for each of them. Until the library accepts submissions again (whenever that will be) I will post the highlights here.

I am most interested in how balanced these are. I tried to keep them real, in a gameplay sense, but for some I really fudged from my original vision:

Invasion Type
Decapitation Strike (no tech requirement)
The Little War (no tech requirement)
Vertical Envelopment (no tech requirement)
Orbital Sunshield (no tech requirement)
Psi Twist (Brain Wave Mapping - 2 techs in)
Seiche Pulse (Gravity Mastering - 3 techs in)
Franchise Recruitment (Interstellar Marketing - 6 techs in)
Orbital Mind Control Lasers (Interspecies Philosophy - 6 techs in)
Xenomorphic Invasion (Bioweapons - 8 techs in [new tech])
Ice-6 Transformation (Morphing - 15 techs in)
Singularity Birth (Star Creation - 18 techs in)

The following are improvements to your advantage:
Decapitation Strike
The Little War
Vertical Envelopment
Orbital Sunshield

The following decrease the enemy's advantage:
Decapitation Strike
Psi Twist
Seiche Pulse
Xenomorphic Invasion
Ice-6 Transformation
Singularity Birth

The following cause the enemy to defect to you:
Decapitation Strike
Franchise Recruitment
Orbital Mind Control Lasers

The amounts of change range from tiny (The Little War, Decapitation Strike...) to huge (Singularity Birth can conceivably eliminate almost all of the enemy's advantage.)

M
2,442 views 8 replies
Reply #1 from Stardock Forums Top
It appears the library only works for others. All attempts to submit this (and now two other mods) has failed. I am going to send all future mods to:
http://www.fjun.com/undernet/index.php

Hopefully some of you can try them and see how they work!

M
Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top
by using those mods that are on your site, will that mess up metaverse game scores?
Elemental: Reforged
Reply #3 from Stardock Forums Top
No.

Supposedly the AI will compensate for any mods you add, so there is no issue with using mods. I have used mods in both my reported games and encountered no difficulties.

This includes, apparently jacking up your political bonuses to 500% PQ and winning through that method :(

M
Reply #4 from Stardock Forums Top
Check out the thread in the "GalCiv Forum" titled: "NOTICE: Metaverse Data - Cheaters beware." It's stickied, so it should be near the top.

~SDC~
Reply #5 from Stardock Forums Top
BTW, Malleus: Looking forward to the new tactics. :)

~SDC~
Reply #6 from Stardock Forums Top
ok...cool....

Now, what does the Captain Bizzares Reordered Data File Pack do exactly? It looks like it replaces many files....Not sure i want to install it without knowing what all it does...

Thanks
Reply #7 from Stardock Forums Top
one more question....

do all mod files go straight into the Data folder? or do the invasion tactics mod go into the invasiontactics folder inside the data folder?

thanks
Reply #8 from Stardock Forums Top
MM,

Yes, invasion tactics go into the InvasionTactics folder inside the data folder.

Captain Bizarre's Reordered Data File Pack contains all of the official techs split into 6 (actually 7, if you count my Mods) files and renumbered according to their Tech Category. It also contains a version of GCTech.TECH that contains the contents of these 6 files without my Mods. The techs have been ordered according to their place in the research tree. So, for instance, all of the Medical techs are in 'TECH1_Medical.TECH', starting with 'Tech 100 MedicalTheory' and ending with 'Tech 122 FinalFrontier'. Some of the other files were only changed to reflect the new Tech_ID numbers. Also, I moved a few around. E.g. Planetary Destruction was moved from Defense to Weapons. There's a Read Me in the Data Files pack, but I don't know that it has proper instructions in it because that whole group of files was intended for the developers (I assumed they'd know what they were doing). There are a bunch of other files in there as well, including:

- A heavily modified .SHIP file that will likely bar you from submitting to the Metaverse. It isn't unbalanced (at least it plays fair so far), but it does change some of the official ships.
- An extra star base module that's tied to a Modded Tech.
- An Achievement/Improvement that isn't working the way it should (see Improvement Mod Question in this forum)

Re-ordering the file(s) made it easier for me to keep track of which tech belonged where. If I'm looking to drop a modified tech somewhere in the Medical tree, I know that I can look in 'TECH1_Medical.TECH'. When I go to number the new tech, I don't have to worry about duplication; I just put at the end of the file and increment the Tech number.

I'm actually very surprised to see these Mods. I've never heard from Stardock about either submission, but I figured the Tech Mods had been rejected since they were submitted right after Brad put Smuggling in the library and a number of later Mods from others have since "hit the shelves".
The 10 Technologies pack that's also on the Disputed Territory site was done quite some time ago and differs from the final, tested versions of the same Techs that are included in the Data File pack. It think it may work, but I'd avoid it on principle - the techs don't have numbers, which can create problems in other files.
The Data Files pack is interesting only from a Modder's point of view (and an anal retentive Modder at that). Although I'm running a slightly updated version of it right now, it wasn't intended for release. It's been tested for functionality (nothing crashes) but not for play balance and other compatibility issues. I just thought the devs might be interested in a more modular version of GCTech.TECH that might be easier to follow and update. Most peculiar, mama.

Anyhow, now you know... the rest of the story.

End transmission.

~SDC~