'Roguey's Bonus Mod v1.4' Out now!

[Roguey]

Aim of this mod
The main aim of this mod is to add to the original game than changing the game much. Hopefully this mod should be a great addition to any normal X3 game.

Hopefully I havnt missed any bugs or so, as I tried to test the mod a lot! Although I always normally find something I missed - Doh!

Main features of v1.4
· Return of many X2 ships (15+, all stats redone to fit into X3),
· Changes to PPC’s, Ion, Mass drivers and Flaks canons,
· Real Beam weapons,
· Auto hull repair system,
· Random claimable ships (from 38 ships including M7's, M3's, TP's etc.)
· New ships – 1 x M7, 1 x M6, 2 x M3+, 1 x M3,
· More Khaak, Xenon and pirate attacks (groups and lone ships),
· Greatly lowered 'background' civilian ships,
· More type of ship jobs – More 'life' in the universe,
· Spam stories removed from BBS (no junk),
· Changes to textures – many stations and ships will look different (specially boron),
· Notoriety values changed - roughly one ship per rank now.
· Mass Computer Speech improvements (even fixed egosoft speech problem with XL!),
· 9 New sectors (only for restarted games),
and more! Although I cant list them all here (check the readme),

Download link and pictures
· http://roguey.ueuo.com/gaming/pc/x3/mod_get.php?mod=12


I hope you like the changes, please leave me any comments..

many thanks

[Tha_reaper]

i'll check this out!
thanks for all the hard work

[Roguey]

Have you tested it yet? Did you get the incoming message?

[Tha_reaper]

im having some doubts after reading that i cant uninstall this mod, and continue with my savegame once i used it... is this true?

[Roguey]

well i haven't really tested that however technically I think that's true. After all when the mod adds over 16 ships then its removed, what will X3 do?

you could always backup first (i.e. Zip/Rar then) your saves found at:
\My Documents\Egosoft\X3\save

then try it for a while, if you don't like just replace your save with your old ones. Delete the files (mod and scripts - which files are in the readme) and unselect the mod. Never know you might like the new things nothing to lose apart from a little time.

I completely understand about your doubts, as probably a lot of time when into your save. I also spent time trying to make sure it would add to an existing save too - as restarting can be a long haul.

The mod was created with 2.0.02, so no worries with compatibility with Bai Gi Missions.

[Tha_reaper]

ah, screw it! i'll test it tomorrow.

i'll be sure to let you know in this topic (im quite surprised that so far im the only one that posted here)

[Tha_reaper]

i have installed it. i get the message instantly, that was a good sign.

I saw a lot of the new ships flying around which was nice, and some shiptypes which betty never spoke of, she now announced it perfectly.

you did a great job on the beam weapons, but the ppcs... well, i dont like that change at all. I liked the fact that i was able to take out an M2 or M1 with a couple of M3s after a long time of hard work, now thats almost impossible. I also dont really feel the urge to buy any new type of ships tbh.

also a part of the mod that i didnt really notice any effect of, was the reduced civilian ships. I SETA'd for 8 hours game time, and some sectors were still flooded with CVs (the wall, AP and trinity sanctum), maybe it requires some tweaking to reduce it even more.

I uninstalled your mod to test it, and i dont have any problems running that savegame. the new NPC ships are removed (or turned into another shiptype, i dont know), all the additional wares are removed, and all the new ships are removed from the shipyards.
note that i didnt have bought any of the new ships, so i dont know what will happen when you have such a ship for yourself (especially when you fly one).

im still doubting wether i will keep your mod, or uninstall it. I like some changes (speech, beam weapons, random ships, more hostile activity, less CV ships (needs tweaking), no BBS junk, more ship jobs)
but there are also things i dont like (X2 ships, PPC changes, auto hull repair)

[Roguey]

hi

Strange you don't like the auto hull system as I thought that would hopefully stop some "exit and load" games i.e. Your ship is too pricey to repair, so its best to quit and just load back in. I made it XL size so it would only work on M6+ and TS/TL ships,

as for the CV ships, its all done slowly. I guess with a loaded in save it will take time for the CV ships to lower but they will - more of a slow change. The original number was something like 1000+, now they are around 500ish - You think that should be lowed to 250ish?

as for the PPC's there have been no change to the damage of the weapons, all which has been done to them is the speed is doubled and the lifetime halved - basically allowing a 70m+ ship able to shot down a 2m+ one. Would you think its worth changing this? i.e. normal? speed / 2, lifetime * 2 or maybe a slight change?

thanks for testing the un-install, I would of tested it myself however i've tried to spend the time testing the mod, making sure everything works. That took along time!

Many thanks for your feedback and testing. I hope you think about the changes more and maybe with your feedback I can create 1.3? It would be nice if a few other people could test it and report their findings too.

[Freols]

I eyed up your mod on your website a few days ago and I feel the same way as reaper, I am not a fan of putting older ships in the game, but I love beam weapons, I rather like the way PPCs work now, but any improvements in speech would be great.
As such I can't download it right now, I don't suppose it is at all possible to "turn off" certain parts of the mod?

Thanks for the hard work by the way, you've done alot in this mod.

[Freols]

I will test it for you as well I think.
It is wrong of me to base conclusions of secondary info.
I agree with you, the auto hull repair for XL cargo ships sounds great, I am willing to repair a small ship but I have never repaired the hull of a large one mainly due to the cost... so what is the point anyway? Auto-repair sounds like a good idea.
Where can all the new ships be found by the way just so I can try them out?

Cheers

[Tha_reaper]

check the shipyards of the different races for the new ships.

i never reload if my ship is damaged, i like the rush of living on the edge, and i'll gladly pay por it when it goes wrong. The only matter for which i want to reload is when i lose a ship that cant be bought and i haent RE'd it yet (arrow, M7). and of course when i lose my own ship

from what i have seen on the matter of the CV ships, i would say: make it 250ish, but be carefull with that because you say its going slowly, and i prolly havent seen the full extend of the lower CV ships.

the PPCs: if you want less of them flying around i would halve the firing rate, normal speed, double damage and double energy drain.
what you did now is speed the bolts up while they are still powerfull to shoot down smaller and faster ships.
as a good metaphore: its like shooting down a fly with a rocket launcher.
if you want it balanced, you should lower the damage when speeding up the bolts, but the problem is that other weapons already serve that purpose (it will basicly become a long range HEPT)

[Roguey]

I will test it for you as well I think.
Where can all the new ships be found by the way just so I can try them out?
Cheers

The new ships can be found either by buying them from shipyards (mk1's) or randomly in the universe i.e. Khaak M6, M3+ and the Xenon M7. Ps. I will lower Mk1's in the universe as I do not want to remove them after all the work which was put into adding them.

from what i have seen on the matter of the CV ships, i would say: make it 250ish, but be carefull with that because you say its going slowly, and i prolly havent seen the full extend of the lower CV ships.

I think that would be better, as CV ships dont really do much (apart from buy 1 ware of something) in the X universe apart from take extra cpu cycles. I wouldn't want to zero them however I doubt they would even effect the game much (apart from emptier sectors - maybe that might help give the feel your more on your own in space?),

the PPCs: if you want less of them flying around i would halve the firing rate, normal speed, double damage and double energy drain.

That sounds good to me, as the main aim for me is to lower the amount. Often with 2 capital ships fighting there are major slow downs.

as for the auto hull repair, I like it (and i hope many do - like Freols) however its an item which you can choose to install or not on your ships.

Oh, and did you like any of the textural changes? - specially boron

so to recap for v1.3:

1, PPC's - Double damage (hull and shield), Double energy, normal speed, half refire,
2, Lower CV's and Mk1's,
- Not too much then

P.s. thanks for your time - both of you

[Tha_reaper]

sorry not to have mentioned that. the texture changes are great.

you are right not to remove the MK1 ships, as i can believe its a hell of a work. I wont buy them though

and as you say, i dont like the auto hull repair, but then i just wont buy that module.

[ezra-r]

I havent tested your mod. But I read after the changes you cant take out a capital ship with 2 m3's like "The_reaper" says.. Well Im glad to hear that.. A capital ship should never been taken down by any small ship like that.

If so, either the AI is dumb or the capital ship is worthless.

Keep up the good work.. will test your mod

[Tha_reaper]

I havent tested your mod. But I read after the changes you cant take out a capital ship with 2 m3's like "The_reaper" says.. Well Im glad to hear that.. A capital ship should never been taken down by any small ship like that.

well, i actually think it should be possible when the fighter pilot is smart, and the capital ship has no ant fighter weapons on board, and no escorts. If you want defence against fighters, arm yourself for it. dont try to hit a fly with the trunk of a tree. when you hit, hes dead alright, but most likely, you miss and the fly will continue to be irritating (god, i love metaphores )


@roguey: IS there anything else you changed to textures then making all boron ships blue instead of green? i like that, but i failed to see any other changes.
also the flaks are funny, they make you deaf though...

[Roguey]

I'm kinda feeling a little mixed with the PPC's, I see what "Tha_reaper" says now - if you can afford a 70m ship then having some extra M3's or M6's or even some flak cannons aboard can help defend against fighter attacks. Also that PPC's shouldn't be the best at everything ie. capital and small ship weapons.

Hmm, in V1.3 (a new version) PPC's behave similar to the normal X3 ones, although a lot less spammie and a slight increase speed of 10%. That makes them good at only capital ships which is good to me, they shouldn't be the best at everything.

as for the textural changes check split ships specially caimen, dragon Mk2, Xenon's (more darker), elephants, centaur's etc.

Looks like ill be more testing of PPC's and capital weapons.

[ezra-r]

I havent tested your mod. But I read after the changes you cant take out a capital ship with 2 m3's like "The_reaper" says.. Well Im glad to hear that.. A capital ship should never been taken down by any small ship like that.

well, i actually think it should be possible when the fighter pilot is smart, and the capital ship has no ant fighter weapons on board, and no escorts. If you want defence against fighters, arm yourself for it. dont try to hit a fly with the trunk of a tree. when you hit, hes dead alright, but most likely, you miss and the fly will continue to be irritating (god, i love metaphores )


@roguey: IS there anything else you changed to textures then making all boron ships blue instead of green? i like that, but i failed to see any other changes.
also the flaks are funny, they make you deaf though...

exactly, you're describing how a worthless cap ship should be.

In any case, I know what you are saying.. But think of this. You spend 100 millions in a Battleships, and a few smart M3's get to destroy it...

If that is possible, Better get a split carrier and throw 65 m3's to your enemy.

Im going to install this mod in a few minutes to check it out so I can add from experience though.

What really is a challenge in this game is make a battle between 2 M2's last for a while, and not like.. 30 seconds shooting and one is gone. Maybe teaching the AI to stay at max range of any near hostile cap ship, or maybe increase ppcs explotion radios (or whatever) to be deadlier for smaller ships but low dmg on cap ships.

[Tha_reaper]

or maybe increase ppcs explotion radios (or whatever) to be deadlier for smaller ships but low dmg on cap ships.

when you do that, everything is in unbalance. then there are no weapons left to fight capital ships with, and khaak capital ships would be invincible, unless you reduce the damage of the kyons to something like 10% . oh, but we have the real beam weapons that come with this mod, should also be nice

[Roguey]

in the past couple of days ive been mass testing capital ship weapons.

I do agree with "Tha_reaper" that PPC shouldn't that good at hitting smaller ships now. If I make them good at small ships, they will pretty much be the 'best' and only weapon for capital ships which will offer the player little choice. That also makes my beam weapons useless

my v1.3 (unreleased at the moment) looks like this:
- I doubt its long to v1.3 - plus many other changes

PPC's
Good at capital ships, now much less spammie (faster game play when capital ships are fighting each other) - slower refire - higher damage, slight speed increase, more or less like 'normal' X3 ones. Can hit smaller ships sometimes, and will do much more damage when they hit - often very damaging.

Flak Cannon's
Your anti-fighter weapon, these have changed stats from 1.2. Alpha flaks are okish, whist beta flaks offer some great anti-fighter fire-power. Many ships cant fit these. The only ship which can (all round) is the Xenon K - making it one of the best anti-fighter ships now. A flak cannon in the front can be very deadly!

Beam Emitters
Real beams, offering another choice to the PPCs. Unlike PPC's they have very low chance of hitting any small ship. These weapons offer very little spam and develop some massive damage, although there is a long warm up time. On damage they offer around the damage over a fixed time. If they ever do hit a small ship, its vaporized instantly and you feel your king of the universe!

this is how PSG look in v1.3:
showpic.php?url=/misc/PSG_bonus.jpg

[-XTM-]

Are you aware that beamweapons operated by players do not respond to charge settings as declared in Tbullets? IE you can fire them uninterrupted until the energybanks are drained.
This is a BIG exploit (because the AI DOES use the chargesettings properly).
Someting to keep in mind...