A Babylon 5 Mod for the Final Frontier Mod

[Premier Valle]

Hello people!

Right now I have it givng a +1 to pop size, +1 happy, and +1 Healh on the planet it is built on. They are expensive but they are worth it IMO.

So if you can do the non-unit gfx Premier Valle, I will do the xml grunt work.

Yup, I can do small 2D graphics (I'm no artist, so do not spect more than you've already seen).
OK, I'll leave the XML "grunt" work to you, let me now if you need any help. In the mean time, I'll focus on the hyperspace mechanics.

Spoiler :

But my thoughts about the mod (would require some coding and no idea if the AI could handle it)
[...]
Considering the timelime i would use the EA developement and try to fit the other races, for example it would mean, that the minbari have a tech lead right from the start.

Races: the major one and the League as one nation (later why)

EA: normal start

Narn: also normal, but start with some warships

Centauri:
+:
start with 2 (scaled to the universe size) colony ships to represent the empire, small tech lead considering EA and Narn,

-: at begin higher upkeep, smaller tech rate to slow down developement (and to represent the declining empire), with later techs centauri can have a efficient govermment (perhpas controlled with a goverment)

Minbari:
+:
heavy tech lead, start with 2 (scaled to universe size) colony ships and warships (prepared for the next war against the shadows)

-:
very high prize for new colony ships, can´t start wars until developement of a certain late game tech, new ship types come later, maximun number of colonys

ISA:
will come later after completing a project (like some races in FFH2), will be the 4. "religion" beside the vorlon, shadow and neutral one.
+:
get some start techs
-:
late game start

League:
first a single race (can perhpas later splitted when the mod)
normal start, but every new planet gets a random building (which can´t be destroyed) representing a race and it´s necessary to build the ships of the race [brakiri building allows building brakiri ships, etc.]

iirc in the series the league is formed because the power of the main races

Drakh:
starts after the great war (or the shadows are defeated), for the beginning perhaps a similar mechanic like the mongol camps, start with to motherships (mongol camps) and first target is to aquire (conquer) a new home planet, have the best spies in the game

there are certainly some other races which could be included (e.g. Dilgar, nobody knows what could happen if they had survived, perhaps if included, destroy there homewold after X turns to force them to start a war)

the great war:

Vorlon:
unplayable
unique techs, high price for ships, starts with some colony ships to represent the first race character but can´t build new colony ships, very strong ships, can´t declare war and can´t be attacked (til the war starts), can´t conquer planets

tries to manipulate the smaller races

Shadow:
unplayable
only start planet, no colonies, can´t build ships from the beginning (til short before the war starts), unique tech, can´t conquer planets, get free battle crabs if war starts, younger races gain bonus against shadow ship after "telepathic warface" is developed

tries to manipulate

how the war should be:

both old races try to manipulate the younger races (minbari start with vorlon cause) [perhaps use a kind of religion], if the great war starts and a race has the "shadow religion" it will join there side (allianz for the war), races without great war side are neutral

both old races have her planet destroyer (similar to the planet destroyer rocket from FF)

to stop the great war, a special wonder must be build, (first the ISA, than the final battle wonder), after this both old races are removed from the game. If one side falls complete, the surviving side starts its holy war against the neutral races.

the games isn´t over after the great war, perhaps only allow domination, diplomatic, remove the "religions" of the old ones (Shadow, Vorlon and ISA) from the planets (only ISA is avaible after this) and and add new ones (e.g. Centauri dominance, drakh, neutrals) and have something like a religion victory (the universe believe the same how it should be) and diplomatic victories

some more general ideas:

i would like to have ground troops and you need ground troops to conquer a planet

space station as cities: second space station type, works like an city, has special build three (perhaps controllable with a building space station and colony) which gives extra food or production, extrem expensive (because of weak production at the start you have to build the new parts of the space station) to get real powerful colonies this way and B5 a special wonder space colony,

limit the numbers of capital ships (per planet, per population point, ...), with different numbers per nation (e.g. Narn slightly weaker ships, but can have more of them) or raise the cost per turn for such ships (the player should have the decision if he builds a new BB or two cruiser to control his space)

only my thoughts how i think a B5 mod for Civ could be, and normally i make models

Those ideas are good, however, I have an objection, they fit more a "scenario" than a general game, I say we first finish the general game, and then we go for the scenarios (more over, with the scenario there is no need for it to be "fully" balanced).

No i thought at something like this (e.g. EA Heavy Cruiser (or call it BB): first tech level (none) - second tech level (omega) - third tech level (warlock) ) If the ships are not upgradable (i can´t think how to ubgrade a omega to a warlock) there are still be both models, but after the indroduction of the new version, the older will be phased out over the time. Both ship types are for me the main battle ships of the EA (but to her unique time period). And the tech levels would be someting like level 1 (dilgar war), level 2 (great war), level 3 (after the great war)

I say that the "1st ship tier" should be pre-hyperion/nova, some of these shouldn't even have a jump engine.
Then comes the 2nd tier, Hyperion/Nova/Olympus, etc...
Then the 3rd tier: Omega, Command Omega
Then a 4th tier: Warlocks, Omega-X
And the a 5th Tier, post-B5 ships, there are a lot of post-B5 ships in the web, some very cool.

The way I have the ships set up so far they are not upgradable into each other. So the Omega is a whole seperate entity from the Warlock. And with the tech tree we have so far it pretty much does what you are asking. Since Hyperions will not become Omegas and Omegas will not become Warlocks.

Completely agree, ships shouldn't be upgradable.

 

[Thorgrimm]

I should have all the fleet lists incorporated into the mod by this weekend. When I get them done I will UL what I have done so far.

Do you think you could create the rest of the flags for the civs that are in as of now?



Cheers, Thorgrimm

 

[Premier Valle]

Do you think you could create the rest of the flags for the civs that are in as of now?

Can do, but the main reason they aren't already available, its because I have no idea of what could we use for shields/buttons/flags for them.

 

[Thorgrimm]

Can do, but the main reason they aren't already available, its because I have no idea of what could we use for shields/buttons/flags for them.

I will find some pics for you then. So are we going to have the Vree as a playable civ? I must admit I like their saucer ships.



Cheers, Thorgrimm

 

[Thorgrimm]

I found a few symbols. They are small and I don't know if you can use them or not.

2nd row left to right, Dilgar, Gaim, Pak'Ma'Ra

Cheers, Thorgrimm

 

[Thorgrimm]

The Minbari Federation's fleet list has been added. Up next are the Centauri.



Cheers, Thorgrimm

 

[PsiCorps]

My word you guys have been busy.
Thorgrimm, have your fleet lists been added to any of the mods posted on here so far or are they uploaded on our developers forum?(I've been working away for the last week and am only home at weekends for the next few weeks).
I agree with Premier, lets get a generic game sorted before we go for specific scenarios.
Thorgrimm(again) have you any information that i can use for the Tech pedia's?
PS, still doing this on notepads and pasting it here before my browser dumps me out.

 

[Thorgrimm]

My word you guys have been busy.
Thorgrimm, have your fleet lists been added to any of the mods posted on here so far or are they uploaded on our developers forum?(I've been working away for the last week and am only home at weekends for the next few weeks).
I agree with Premier, lets get a generic game sorted before we go for specific scenarios.
Thorgrimm(again) have you any information that i can use for the Tech pedia's?
PS, still doing this on notepads and pasting it here before my browser dumps me out.

No, I was going to post the changes when I got all the fleet lists added.

I can look for some information once I get the fleets added to the mod.



Cheers, Thorgrimm

 

[Thorgrimm]

The Centauri Republic's fleet list added. Also added the pedia text for Emperor's Turhan and Cartagia.



Cheers, Thorgrimm

 

[Premier Valle]

It looks like Thorgrimm has busy today!

I found a few symbols. They are small and I don't know if you can use them or not.

2nd row left to right, Dilgar, Gaim, Pak'Ma'Ra

Yes, I can use them, I'll get into making those buttons/flags... tho the Dilgar one looks...weird, but certainly it fits them , will notify when ready.

And what were those other pics (1st row).

About the Vree, it would be nice to have them, either as a member of the LoNAW or a full civ, but my point is that I don't remember to have ever seen a vree in the show, and in the internet I have seen not a good enough pic of them (both quality and size) for a Leaderhead.

 

[Thorgrimm]

It looks like Thorgrimm has busy today!



Yes, I can use them, I'll get into making those buttons/flags... tho the Dilgar one looks...weird, but certainly it fits them , will notify when ready.

And what were those other pics (1st row).

About the Vree, it would be nice to have them, either as a member of the LoNAW or a full civ, but my point is that I don't remember to have ever seen a vree in the show, and in the internet I have seen not a good enough pic of them (both quality and size) for a Leaderhead.

Their Saucer warships were shown in the battle of Corianus VI and they were in an episode where a human were suing a Vree for kidnapping his ancestor. back on the last page I posted a pic for a Vree leader and it was a good sized one.

Heck, if you want the Pak'Ma'Ra as a playable civ the Vree definitely need to be in, as do the Drakh.

Top row pic from lefe to right Vree, and LONAW.


Cheers, Thorgrimm

 

[Premier Valle]

View attachment FlagsButtons.rar

OK, Here are the flags and buttons, also I reviewed the Vree pic you posted, I resized it to the needed size, and the result was far better than what I expected, as a result, the LeaderHead, Button and Flag for the Vree are also in the pack.

Happy coding!

BTW, when I was making the Dilgar flag I came up with three versions, the jpeg inside will help you decide wich one to use.

 

[PsiCorps]

Hi all, this is just a quicky. The League of Non-Aligned worlds is an alliance of some of the younger races prior to the construction of Babylon 5. From this point of view all of the minor races (Gaim, Pak'Mara, Hyach, Drazi, Vree etc etc) need to be out there as separate races. Once races start contacting one another alliances can be formed as in standard civ. However if the Vree, Gaim, Brakiri and Drazi have all contacted one another they should be allowed to form a collective alliance. They shouldn't start the game as The League of Non-Aligned worlds unless we are going to do a scenario. Comments please!

 

[Saschkin]

2 Things about the Pak`Ma`Ra:
Im gonna make a lot of Drazi reskins for them so that those make at least 30-50% of their ships..
Theyre all yellow with red markings so i would suggest using a red/yellow flag for them.. ..did you notice the badge they have on the minis?

..making Vree ships wont really be that hard

And if you need any pics, I found a LOT of nice and big pics for ya.

If you have more pics to post, do it... ..i wont complain..

i´m really wondering what is Saschkin next model

I wont tell ..problem is i just dont get it to work, so i might have to skip the whole thing for now...

 

[Thorgrimm]

Hi all, this is just a quicky. The League of Non-Aligned worlds is an alliance of some of the younger races prior to the construction of Babylon 5. From this point of view all of the minor races (Gaim, Pak'Mara, Hyach, Drazi, Vree etc etc) need to be out there as separate races. Once races start contacting one another alliances can be formed as in standard civ. However if the Vree, Gaim, Brakiri and Drazi have all contacted one another they should be allowed to form a collective alliance. They shouldn't start the game as The League of Non-Aligned worlds unless we are going to do a scenario. Comments please!

@Premier Valle, thanks bud, I will get these in ASAP.

@ Psi Corps, I totally agree, thats why I went ahead and researched what ships I could, like the Abbai and Hyach.

@Saschkin, what pics do you need? Just give me a shout and I will post 'em. I am hoping you do the Earth Alliance once you get the basic Brakiri fleet done.

About the Pak'Ma'Ra, yup, they bought a lot of their ships from the Drazi and other League members. The ones I have listed are the ones unique to the Paks.

Also, I. kinda hoping you will dedicate your outstanding skills to the B5 mod.



Cheers, Thorgrimm

 

[Thorgrimm]

The Narn Regime's fleet list is added. The new flags and buttons are included. Although there was no button for the Vree.

Since all the major powers are in and we are going to add a buttload of minors I will go ahead and UL what I have done tomorrow. that way folks can begin playing with it and give feedback on stats, and ideas for giving the units their proper B5 flavoring. As it stands now, all the units are carbon copies of each other, lots o copy-pasting.



Cheers, Thorgrimm

 

[PsiCorps]

Originally Posted by Thorgrimm
The way I have the ships set up so far they are not upgradable into each other. So the Omega is a whole seperate entity from the Warlock. And with the tech tree we have so far it pretty much does what you are asking. Since Hyperions will not become Omegas and Omegas will not become Warlocks.

Completely agree, ships shouldn't be upgradable.

Agreed, the ships should not be upgradeable. However one way to continue using the same model would be to introduce the Mk system. Just like the WWII spitfire we start all ships out as Mk1 versions as new technology becomes available new Mks can be built that are slightly stronger/better than previous Mks. It's only a suggestion but players would at least feel that their units will improve as the game progresses.
Has anyone thought any further on planetary defences? My original suggestion was to have ground troops defending planets/installations(starbases) this would mean that you cannot capture a star system until you have eliminated every last military unit in a system.

 

[hugh3sy]

sorry for being a noob but where can i download the lastest verion of this mod?

 

[Thorgrimm]

Agreed, the ships should not be upgradeable. However one way to continue using the same model would be to introduce the Mk system. Just like the WWII spitfire we start all ships out as Mk1 versions as new technology becomes available new Mks can be built that are slightly stronger/better than previous Mks. It's only a suggestion but players would at least feel that their units will improve as the game progresses.
Has anyone thought any further on planetary defences? My original suggestion was to have ground troops defending planets/installations(starbases) this would mean that you cannot capture a star system until you have eliminated every last military unit in a system.

An idea I had was to eliminate the gaining of promotions through experience and to actually be able to 'refit' a unit with a new promotion once a tech allows it. This would simulate how ship construction and refitting is done in the real world. Units do not 'magically' grow new equipment and training. they have to be refit and retrained with the new technology.

This would allow specialization within the classes themselves, for example the EA Tethys frigate has a Missile, Escort and Gun sub-class for the overall class type. And the only difference would be the promotions they have.

The only problem is I do not know if that is possible in civ 4.

As for ground units I would love to get the GROPOS involved.

@ hugh3sy I will be ULing what I have done so far later today.



Cheers, Thorgrimm

 

[Thorgrimm]

I have posted what I have done so far at the link below.

You will have to put the files manually into the proper folders since I cannot get winrar to put the files back where they belong. If anybody knows how to get winrar to do that please let me know.

The diplomacy folder goes into the assets/sounds folder.


Mod DL Thread



Cheers, Thorgrimm