Star Wars: The Mod Awakens 1.11

[ajb]

SW:TMA EPIC 3.0 is finally completed (will be ready to download from MODDB in 1hr).

Numerous added units, buildings, new factions, new resources, new production trees, some interesting changes to the Jedi/Sith. Utilizing Flintlock's mod to get even more depth and challenge.

Game is meant to be played as one of the Imperial Remnants, the New Republic is a monster. The game starts off with numerous wars, pirate challenges, economic disasters. Key systems are hardened significantly, sneak attacks against the AI while at a fleet disadvantage will not likely result in useful territorial gains, and may consume what limited capital ships are available.

This 'Epic' Star Wars mod is incredibly immersive, so enjoy.

Special thanks to (in no order, I've also missed several individuals, apologies I've not taken the best notes)
Meteor Man <<< base MOD (zero chance I would have even attempted anything with out your MOD)
RedMaul
Civinator
Flintlock <<< unreal EXE MOD, thanks!
Vuldacon

NOTE: The mod is tested for the following settings: Display Territory & Pop. Percentages; Conquest Victory; Victory Point Scoring (all other settings deselected); Yoda difficulty; Less aggressive; NO barbarians (see a tutorial on how).

 

[RedMaul]

Thanks ajb!

 

[RedMaul]

Just gave it a quick whirl. It feels like I need to go back to basics with the mod. Great stuff!

 

[ajb]

Visually, though there are some changes, the mechanics is the big one, C3X was thought of through the entire build. You should notice a much wider variety of units being built by all factions. Some minor but interesting factions have been flushed out more so the Chiss, and others feel more unique and filled out.

 

[RedMaul]

Yup. It's great to discover it.

 

[RedMaul]

Sorry for this piecemeal feedback - pirates are a great addition to force one to extend carefully and not throw ahead the starships with puny land forces protecting the rear.
And I love the new design of the UI lower left and right hand side boxes.

 

[RedMaul]

Just coming back to comment on how impressed I am by the refinements introduced in the latest iteration (advisers, resizing of ships - maybe the Venator is the last one to need a bit of love if possible and even more the thoughts put into the industrial / economics supply chain)

 

[ajb]

Appreciate the feedback @RedMaul, will see if I can't include some of that (some of the direction I took in 3.0 was literally as a result of some of your suggestions).

Quick Patch, I just don't take the best notes while fixing things (late at night always, I need coffee).

Anyway 3.0A patch (need 3.0) will be available on ModDB in ~1.5hrs from this post.

EPIC 3.0A patch:

• Major fix to prevent circular build problems.
  
  • AI will continually build buildings which have the "replace if checked" attribute, causing wasted maintenance, and worse they prioritize these vs capital ships. Result will be the best most productive planets produce little of value.
  • Legacy problem from SW:TMA1.10, however the way game logic was set up in that version there would have been limited impact vs EPIC. Without this patch the AI will gradually become incredibly weak (as they are not building the biggest best ships as frequently as they could, also they are killing their economy).
    • Surprised it took so long to notice, I've really been looking into optimizing AI build and thus challenge without simply doubling everything they have.
• Minor fix to some build logic (most noticeable, only larger planets can build the SW version of a "granary")
• Minor graphical (mainly Wookiepedia related)
• Minor territorial changes (New Republic is in even a better position, Galactic Empire will be even more disadvantaged).

Circular Build issue is a big one, apologies for not noticing this earlier.

As always enjoy!

Also, I added a SW scroller with the backstory to the galaxy as it is.

 

[RedMaul]

Thanks @ajb !

 

[RedMaul]

Just dropping comments here : I must say that I cannot find faults with the latest iteration. The new ship construction requirements actually provide for a more diverse fleet composition and enable to find uses for a variety of planets !
If I were to add some nice-to-have stuff, here it goes:

- Make barracks provide defensive bonuses only to ground troops (if the game engine can do that)
- Add even more unique buildings to planets (I guess that's a chore)
- Use some of the Fleet-related techs that are empty to provide ATT or DEF stats bonuses (again dunno if the game engine can support things like that)

I really love this mod, but I guess that's kind of obvious!

 

[ajb]

Good suggestions @RedMaul, if it is interesting and possible I'll try and add it.

-barracks - I have ideas, might be a significant overhaul of the game mechanics though. . . will have to look further.
- Unique buildings - 100% doing this already have one, perhaps a few more.
- Should be easy enough, however will need to add a lot of new units (duplicates more or less)


Right now I'm working on visuals fir the next update, goal is to have a more immersive SW experience.

Any suggestions on the SPY visuals, not sure if I want to go with washed out grey or bright blue tabs (work in progress, just some final touches needed).

 

[RedMaul]

This looks great.

One immersion tweak if possible only - use for the Nighthawk Rangers the new Imperial Soldier model with some black paint instead of current olive green (that way they would look like the illustration of the unit). When we're down to this kind of useless comments, you must realise how great the mod is

 

[RedMaul]

Tiny potential bug:

• The construction of Planet Gvt Incorporation does not work after unlocking the Galactic Bureaucracy tech (tried on ROCHES planet that has an Agriworld Import in its radius)

 

[ajb]

Will look into seeing if different units can align with their image better. Thus, far I'm not too knowledgeable about animation changes (even color) other than resizing.

As it goes for the ROCHES planet issue, you'll need an Agriworld Import in the planet radius, AND an Agriworld Import in the trade network.

 

[RedMaul]

Will look into seeing if different units can align with their image better. Thus, far I'm not too knowledgeable about animation changes (even color) other than resizing.

As it goes for the ROCHES planet issue, you'll need an Agriworld Import in the planet radius, AND an Agriworld Import in the trade network.

Many thanks and thanks too for the pointer for Roches, it worked out

 

[ajb]

Finalized Espionage screen, Wonder screen has been updated too.

The next version of the "EPIC" mod will have a focus on graphics and sound, to provide a more immersive experience. Currently nearly all of the base CIV3 sounds have been swapped out with Star Wars themed sounds -- more or less in the testing phase. Also, buttons which are common like the O and X have been replaced with more appropriate accept and cancel buttons -- City screen views have also been updated with unique buttons.

Issue I'm finding is I haven't been able to find appropriate star wars themed scroll bars (see the left of the Espionage screen). . . problem is I need something relatively high contrast which can handle being having a dark as well as light background (as most scroll bar and associated buttons are used in multiple locations).
Does anyone have any suggestions scroll bars?


Also, I may have some time towards the end of the year where I can build either a beginning of the rebel alliance mod, or a clone wars mod -- I at most will be able to do only one (though, I am biased towards the clone wars).

 

[RedMaul]

This looks nice - no idea though on the scroll bar alas.
As for the next mod, I would lean for rebel alliance era but would happily play whatever is offered