[MoO] ICEMOD: mod design, race design, strategies

[Colon]

Good point, though the AI always seems reluctant to trade techs in my games.

With you or with each other? I don't have a clear view on this, it's just something I wonder about.

 

[Rocco.40]

Just found this mod a few days ago, and I love it. Great work!

Some feedback:

1) Having more powerful races on Ice-X impossible is fun, but sometimes the racial picks become a bit too homogenous, detracting from the feel of variety in the game. For example, in one of my games 5/6 opponents all had the subteranian trait. Several times most of my opponents will have maxed out skills in both space attack and space defense (meklar, alkari, mrrshan, etc). Thus you lose the cool dynamic where, say, the alkari had awesome defense, while others had awesome attack, and the special traits actually defined the way a race was, like how only certain races were subterinian when it made sense for their lore.

Hai. Tx for feedback!
Yes, opponents becoming more the same is a side effect of beefing them up, as strong races have a pop growth bonus and a max pop modifier (tolerant, subt, aqua)
[or alternatively Litho] and there are only so many traits to choose from.
About Subt. and lore, i think the bears, gnolam, klackon and even the darloks are well suited races to have that trait. Aquatic Alkari are also a nice breed.
While it is possible to increase the a.i. cheats in the code / their bonuses to farming, production, tech, money, discount on command points etc, first, that is a more difficult type of modding than changing the race traits and secondly I feel it would be less transparent. For example, on impossible when a.i. exceeds their command point limit, they pay only 8BC instead of 10 and that number could be lowered to 7 or 6. But who knows this and its not transparent in game, compared to a straight production bonus as a race trait. On a side note, the BC bonus is already more difficult to deduct as you have to 'count the coins' and because the impossible bonus is a fraction (+0.75) its not immediately visible too.

2) I would love to see game speed settings that slow tech advancement, perhaps an epic setting for 3x research points? Perhaps done through an alternate ice-x epic exe with the expanded tech requirements? Would be fun to get a chance to experience a little warfare at each research level, instead of blazing through.

Heard such request before, perhaps in future I will make one, but,
when ICE is ported to the 1.50 patch, it will be much easier to tweak the tech cost yourself, so any one can adjust to taste!

 

[Colon]

Would it also be possible to tweak building and ship costs accordingly? Even tech stealing probability?

 

[Rocco.40]

Would it also be possible to tweak building and ship costs accordingly? Even tech stealing probability?

In the current 1.50.1 patch you can tweak building and ship costs (check EXTRACT.CFG for all available parameters).
Tech stealing probability will be added in the 1.50.2 version of the patch that is yet to be released.

 

[Colon]

That's great. Do plan to port 1.50.2 in Icemod?

Oh, and adjustable population growth would also be useful.

 

[Rocco.40]

That's great. Do plan to port 1.50.2 in Icemod?

Oh, and adjustable population growth would also be useful.

Adjustable pop growth will be in too, you can set the 3 growth values for the custom race screen and there will also be a 'generic' growth modifier. In the 1.40 version, when you choose /nohousing switch, there automatically was a generic +150% growth bonus. We have separated that bonus from the /nohousing switch and made it a variable.

And yes, ICE will be available for 1.50.2 also

 

[Colon]

Again, great. Eagerly anticipating.

 

[Rocco.40]

And finally here comes ICE 12!

Runs natively on the new 1.50.2 patch via a humble text file (accompanied bu a few extra help files), so make sure to get 1.50.2 too.
ICE 12 does not run on 1.50.1 or earlier versions.
The ZIP is much smalles than before as it no longer contains various exe's.
Instead the pack contains a folder called 'ICE' that needs to be copied in the game folder that also contains the 1.50.2 patch:
\My_Orion2_Gamefolder
└--\ICE
└--\Mod

Readme: ICE_readme.txt

Currently, there is only one thing I would wish for...but I fear its outside of what modding can do...more then 5 slots for my own ship constructions *dream*

Your prayers have been heard. The 1.50.2 patch (and thus ICE 12) features a 6th design slot!

 

[bardacuda]

I just started up an ICE-X game with a custom race with unification government. I am getting the +50% government bonus for food but not for production. Only 3 base production per population on normal worlds. Is this on purpose or a bug?

EDIT: Looking at ICE-X.CFG looks like I should be getting +10% to each:

govt_bonus feudal_science = -6;
govt_bonus confederation_science = -2;
govt_bonus democracy_science = 10;
govt_bonus federation_science = 15;
govt_bonus democracy_money = 10;
govt_bonus federation_money = 15;
govt_bonus unification_food = 10;
govt_bonus gal_unification_food = 20;
govt_bonus unification_production = 10;
govt_bonus gal_unification_production = 20;

EDIT2: In ORION2.CFG I removed the symbol in front of ICE-X but did not add one in front of SET150 like below. Should I add the symbol to the SET150 line?

# Custom config:
# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
mod_name = "Classic 1.40 rules"; # If no config is included, classic 1.40 rules will be used.
include Mod\SET150.CFG; # New 1.50 rules and updated help file. (default)
# include Mod\VMOD.CFG; # Light mod that changes various aspects of the game.
# include Mod\PICKS.CFG; # For VMOD, but can also be used with Classic and SET150.
# include ICE\ICE-M.CFG; # Available as separate download.
include ICE\ICE-X.CFG; # Available as separate download.

EDIT3: Added the symbol in front of the first two lines of ORION2.CFG ("mod_name=..." and "include Mod\SET150.CFG") and restarted the game. Verified in EXTRACT.CFG that the ICE-X.CFG was loaded. Still same issue.

http://imgur.com/KimoeJT

http://imgur.com/WMyBImL

 

[Rocco.40]

yup, this is a bug indeed. tx for reporting it & the pics.
govt boni was one of the last things we changed, this one slipped through, we'll fix it.

the boni are indeed written in slightly non-intuitive way due to the way the game handles these bonuses. if you multiply them by 5, you get the actual percent. so unification food 10 * 5 = 50% bonus.

about the configs;
configs are loaded sequentially, so in your example: the ice settings will overwrite the set150 settings. note that for this reason ice.cfg is written as a full config, ie all possible settings are in there, so everything gets overwritten. if you would load set150 first and then load some custom config that not contains all settings that are changed in set150, then those are not overwritten and you get a 'mixed mod' as a result.

 

[bardacuda]

Awesome, thanks for the explanation...and for the the mod! I just happened to go back to this game as I do every few years or so and didn't even realize there were updated versions. I had been playing v1.2 as it came after installing off the CD, and someone mentioned to me that there was a patch for it, so just happened come across this while searching for 'latest patch'. Good timing I guess! Vanilla impossible just doesn't cut it since the AI is bad...like almost all 4X games. Hopefully this'll make my playthrough more interesting.

 

[Rocco.40]

Awesome, thanks for the explanation...and for the the mod! I just happened to go back to this game as I do every few years or so and didn't even realize there were updated versions. I had been playing v1.2 as it came after installing off the CD, and someone mentioned to me that there was a patch for it, so just happened come across this while searching for 'latest patch'. Good timing I guess! Vanilla impossible just doesn't cut it since the AI is bad...like almost all 4X games. Hopefully this'll make my playthrough more interesting.

Cool to hear that and hopefully ice-x poses some new challenges to keep things interesting...

Perhaps needless question, but since you mentioned v1.2: you did first install the 1.31 patch before applying the 1.50.2 patch? If not, you might have a number of outdated LBX files in your folder.
(the link for 1.31 is also on my site if needed)

 

[bardacuda]

Yeah I made sure to do that. After I installed the game I applied the 1.31 patch, and then I made a copy of that patched folder and applied the 1.50.1 patch to that, and already did a playthrough on 1.50.1.

When I got the MOO2V1502.zip and ICE_12.zip, I first deleted all of the files that came in MOOV1501.zip from the 1.50.1 patched folder, and then extracted the two new zips into that folder. Maybe not the best way of doing it but it should end up being the same as if I had applied 1.50.2 and ICE 12 directly to my 1.31 patched folder.

 

[Rocco.40]

you did it a correct way then.

in the mean time 1.50.2.1 is up, fixing Uni's prod bonus bug.

 

[bardacuda]

Just fired it up and the production bonus is working now. I'll let you know if I come across any other issues...that is, if I survive long enough to encounter them Trying ICE-X impossible w/ creative, unification, repulsive, large homeworld.

 

[Rocco.40]

Another little bug in ICE12.
Error in the tech tree, with Biology & Fields.
I will make it available later today.

Interestingly, you don't have to wait or re-download, as it can be fixed with one simple update in both ICE-M and ICE-X configs:

Update:
tech_field trans_genetics = 70 44 72 7500 15;
Into:
tech_field trans_genetics = 70 44 75 7500 15;

and that's it.

edit
Updated to ICE 12a
Readme: ICEMOD_readme.txt

 

[Pfeffersack]

And finally here comes ICE 12!Instead the pack contains a folder called 'ICE' that needs to be copied in the game folder that contains the 1.50.2 patch.
Readme: ICE_readme.txt

I suceeded in installing the patch, however after trying to install the mod, the main menu information in the right lower corner did not change. Is is supposed that way or have I done something wrong then?

Also you advice above seems to contradict to what the readme says or the wording leaves at least for me room for guessing ("copy ICE in the game folder that contains the patch" vs. "Copy the complete folder into your MOO2 folder")

Your prayers have been heard. The 1.50.2 patch (and thus ICE 12) features a 6th design slot!

Thank you, simply great You have truly brought Moo2 to a new level. That one might be rather the icing on the cake compared to the loads of important fixes and balance changes you have made elsewhere, but it will allow for much better fleet and refit managment.

 

[Rocco.40]

I suceeded in installing the patch, however after trying to install the mod, the main menu information in the right lower corner did not change. Is is supposed that way or have I done something wrong then?

Prob yes; after enabling ICE it should read:
Version 1.50.2.1
ICE-X 12a or ICE-M 12a

instead of:
Version 1.50.2.1
Vanilla 1.50 rules


The ice mod should be placed in a subfolder of the MOO2 game, so you get:
\My_orion2_gamefolder {or whatever is the name}

\ICE {folder with ice files}​

\Mod {folder with patch files}​

So the patch and mod folders actually live side-by-side in your moo2 game folder.
Will clarify description.

Once you have \My_orion2_gamefolder\ICE, then enable it in your ORION2.CFG:
# Custom config:
# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
mod_name = "Classic 1.40 rules"; # If no config is included, classic 1.40 rules will be used.
include Mod\SET150.CFG; # New 1.50 rules and updated help file. (default)
# include Mod\VMOD.CFG; # Light mod that changes various aspects of the game.
# include Mod\PICKS.CFG; # For VMOD, but can also be used with Classic and SET150.
# include ICE\ICE-M.CFG; # Available as separate download.
# include ICE\ICE-X.CFG; # Available as separate download.

becomes:
# Custom config:
# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
mod_name = "Classic 1.40 rules"; # If no config is included, classic 1.40 rules will be used.
# include Mod\SET150.CFG; # New 1.50 rules and updated help file. (default)
# include Mod\VMOD.CFG; # Light mod that changes various aspects of the game.
# include Mod\PICKS.CFG; # For VMOD, but can also be used with Classic and SET150.
# include ICE\ICE-M.CFG; # Available as separate download.
include ICE\ICE-X.CFG; # Available as separate download.

Hope this helps...

 

[Dukinson]

You have been busy sweet Rocco.

So, is icecold dead or am I missing the option somewhere in this new interface?

 

[Rocco.40]

Hey mr. Warlord, good to see you around!

Indeed COLD is not included in current pack.
For the occasion, I have resurrected it from the dead and even made some changes to it, bringing COLD to version 3.

Rename the attachment from MAP_COLD.txt to MAP_COLD.CFG and place it in your \150 folder.
Then you can load it from a game Config by: include 150\MAP_COLD.CFG;

So for example, if you are playing ice, replace in the ICE config:
include 150\MAP_ICE.CFG;
by
include 150\MAP_COLD.CFG;

version 3:
Adjusted distribution of # planets per star color:
- 5 planets: only blue stars
- 4 planets: blue and white stars
- 3 planets: blue, white, yellow and orange
- 2 planets: all
- 1 planet: all
- 0 planets: yellow, orange, red and brown
Slightly increased number of asteroid belts and gas giants.