Beta Lyrae mod release

[Darsnan]

This is the initial release of the Beta Lyrae mod for SMAX. In a nutshell this mod combines my first attempt at the Beta Lyrae mod (circa 2004) with everything else that I have learned about the game since.

Acknowledgements: I would like to take this opportunity to recognize and thank the following people for their contributions to this mod:

Buster’s Uncle for his contributions to faction graphics, the new game startup screen, as well as being someone to bounce ideas off of. IMO the faction graphics are something to behold - many thanx Buster’s Uncle! :b:

wgabrie for providing the terrain graphics for the mod: I’ve loved the frothy gold xenofungus since the day I first layed eyes on it.

Network Node for many of the initial base graphics used in this mod.

skreeblios for the design of the 8th faction leaderhead pics.

Installation Instructions

1. Perform a second installation of SMAX: when prompted for directory name, change “Sid Meiers Alpha Centauri” to “Beta Lyrae”.
2. Once installation is complete, then in the Beta Lyrae subdirectory delete the following files:
moon1.pcx, moon1_800.pcx, moon2.pcx, moon2_800.pcx, moon3.pcx, moon3_800.pcx, S1L1C1.pcx, S1L1C2.pcx, S1L1C3.pcx, S1L2C1.pcx, S1L2C2.pcx, S1L2C3.pcx, S1L3C1.pcx, S1L3C2.pcx, S1L3C3.pcx, S2L1C1.pcx, S2L1C2.pcx, S2L1C3.pcx, S2L2C1.pcx, S2L2C2.pcx, S2L2C3.pcx, S2L3C1.pcx, S2L3C2.pcx, S2L3C3.pcx, S3L1C1.pcx, S3L1C2.pcx, S3L1C3.pcx, S3L2C1.pcx, S3L2C2.pcx, S3L2C3.pcx, S3L3C1.pcx, S3L3C2.pcx, and S3L3C3.pcx

3. Download and unzip the attached zip into the Beta Lyrae subdirectory.
4. In the Beta Lyrae subdirectory create a shortcut for the terrenx.exe file and rename it to Beta Lyrae.
5. Place the shortcut on your desktop.
6. Click on the desktop. Beta Lyrae should load from there.

Enjoy!

D

 

[Darsnan]

Changelog

The alphax.txt file for this game has been heavily modified, with some of the more notable modifications as follows:

#RULES

- Artillery Numerator/ Denominator is at 15/7: with arty, it is much better to give than receive!
- Max artillery range is set to 3. Note that if you aren’t using scient’s patch, that only the AI will be able to bombard from 3 tiles away).
- Max airdrop = 6 tiles.
- Base defense has been increased to 40%: since the AI is typically on the defensive, then this will assist the AI moreso.
- 10% penalty for attacking from a lower elevation.
- Max arty damage inflicted on units in base/ bunker: 60
- Global Warming has been changed from 1,1 to 1,2: this effectively halves global warming, the reason for this is that the AIs typically do poorly in response to the effects of global warming.
- Size of base for Subspace Generator: 8. This, combined with several other changes, should hopefully bring this facet of the game into play.

#TERRAIN

- Plant xenoflora has no prerequisite: this change was made specifically for the Autochthone alien faction.
- Raise/ Lower Land changed to 20 turns, and now available at Ecological Engineering 2.


#RESOURCE INFO

- Ocean squares now give a 1,1,1: rationale for this is that the AIs typically do a poor job of base placement. By having ocean squares produce a 1/1/1, this then helps compensate the AIs for this. This change also makes aquatic factions much more viable.
- Bonus squares now give 3/3/3.
- Monoliths give 2/3/2.
- Borehole squares give a -2 nutrients (note that if you are not using scient’s patch to the terranx.exe file you won’t see this effect).

#WORLDBUILDER
Based on smacksim’s work, the worldbuilder has been modified to produce long stringy continents with lots of isthmus. These modifications in general are to the AIs advantage, as it artificially groups the AIs units together, giving a semblance of a power rush of units.

#TECHNOLOGY
There are several tweaks here to the tech tree. Please consult your datalinks when considering your beeline strategies.

#CHASSIS

- Needlejet and copters now move 6 squares: since the AIs generally don’t handle units based on these chassis well, then this is to the AIs advantage.

- Gravships move 5 squares, and are now available with Monopole Magnets. These changes are twofold: first, by bringing the gravship chassis to a tech adjacent MMI, this then makes Monopole Magnets more of a viable research branch (as opposed to the typical beeline for MMI). Second, the gravship movement has been reduced to 5 squares: this makes the unit competitively viable at this point in the tech tree (i.e. its not overpowering).

- Hovertankchassis has been moved to Fusion: here again by bringing the hovertank chassis to a tech opposite MMI, this then presents another viable research option.


#WEAPONS

- From Fusion weapons on out, weapon values have been reduced. See the datalinks for exact values. This idea originated with Maniac, and the idea is to make the weapons-to-armor ratio more balanced.

#DEFENSES

- beginning with Pulse 3 armor/ Resonance armor, the defensive values have been increased by one, and some of the costs for specific armor types have been reduced. See datalinks for specifics. Here again, this idea originated with Maniac.


#ABILITIES

- Deep Pressure Hull moved to Superconductor: AIs don’t design any units with this, but they will build pre-designed subs, which are a PIA to deal with!
- Empath Song replaced by Nannite Accelerant: all facets of Alpha Centauri/ Planet have been removed from this mod.
- Hypnotic Trance replaced by Nannite Shield.
- Heavy Artillery costs zero, and is not allowed on fast moving units.
- Clean Reactors cost zero.
-
#UNITS

- There are 42 units spread throughout the tech tree. For the most part these units have been vetted. The other reason for so many is that it pears back the number of poor designs the AI builds (although it still tries to screw the pooch on occasion with crap units). Some of the units are as follows:

- Several gravship and hovertank designs: part of this is to act as a counter to the human's use of AC and choppers. The AI builds aircraft but doesn't handle them very well (although I have gotten to employ them slightly better in this scenario), however they do a better job with gravships and hovertanks.

- Aircraft carriers, Probe ships, and subs.

- You will now have to prototype your first crawler.
- All NL units replaced with Sentinel units.

#FACILITIES

- Headquarters now give +3 EC’s/ turn, Thermocline Transducer gives +1 EC/ turn. This from an idea introduced to me by Impaler [WRG].
- Geosynchronous Survey Pod and Flechette Defense: available with DocAir. Both cost 8 rows.
- Nessus Mining Station available with Doc:Air.

- Empath Guild: moved to Eudomania
- Virtual World: moved to Social Psych. Trying to water down the beeline to Industrial Auto.

- Cloudbase Academy: moved to Monopole Magnets. Because of the CBA's worth (i.e. free aerospace complex in each city), then this, along with the gravship chassis at Monopole Magnets, now makes for an interesting choice: does the player beeline for MMI and choppers, or does the player now beeline for Monopole Magnets?

FACTION FILES
Most factions have remained the same in regards to their default abilities/ assets/ liabilities. The one significant exception to this is the Empathi, who are the replacement for the Cult. Essentially after watching the AI play the Cult a for several iterations I found that they lost a lot of colony pods to worms. My solution to this is to aquatize this faction: this now allows the AIs to more readily escape NL/ capture them when NL are encountered during this initial phase of the game.

- Note that there are 3 Super AIs in this mod: the Autochthone, the Ascension, and the Voracious. They are intended to be played against, and not as a human controlled faction.

- There are other changes to the overall system, but the above are the most notable IMO.

 

[Darsnan]

This space reserved for feedback/ issues/ observations.

 

[Buster's Uncle]

Great! You sir, are da Man.