'The Awesome Collection'

[Ryika]

The Awesome Collection
Has a silly name since 2014.
Because Buzzfeed has taught us that clickbait works!
PS: The Title above is a link.​

The appropriately named 'Awesome Collection' is a set of mods centered around the idea of making existing mechanics more interesting and adding more ways to play the game by making existing effects stronger and introducing unique effects that are strong enough to have a real impact on the game. All of the mods have a bit of an "over the top"-feel to them - because why stop when you can go 'one step further', right? Right?!

Currently, the mod pack consists of the following mods:

Awesome Sponsors - Overhaul
A mod that overhauls the current set of Sponsors and equips them with more interesting bonuses that all have very different strengths and weaknesses. Making the best out of your unique bonuses requires - and enables - a whole lot of strategies that ultimately play very different from not only one-another, but also from all the Sponsors in the base game.

Download: Rising Tide - Classic Version

I also have a set of new Sponsors with equally unique and strong Traits - you can find them at the end of this post.

Awesome Loadout
A mod that re-balances existing Loadout and adds a lot of new Options to the game. Currently the Mod has 12 Colonists, 19 Spacecrafts, 19 Cargoes - that's a total of 4332 potential Combinations. As with Awesome Sponsors, these Options are designed with the idea of giving you the tools to play a lot of different strategies - be it by finding setups that work together nicely or by using the "Random Loadout"-Options and then trying to utilize whatever the game gives you.

I also have a semi-finished "Redone from Scratch"-Version of this mod on my hard-drive that will increase these numbers by a lot and polish the overall look of this mod - expect it to be released as part of the Rising Tide Updates that will undoubtedly be required.

Download: Rising Tide Version - Classic Version

Awesome Wonders
The original wonders are overall not very strong - and not very interesting either. This mod aims to change that by completely overhauling their yields (adding flat and %-yields) and changing a lot of the effects, making them useful at the point in time where you can actually build them and fix their production costs. They now require a lot less production - but in many cases some strategic resources.

Download: Rising Tide Version - Classic Version

Awesome Stations
Makes Trading with Stations more interesting by dividing them into different types and introducing a system with unique Artifacts that are only available through Station-Trade - Featuring all of your favorite Leaders from Civilization 5! These new artifacts also introduce a lot of new Artifact-Effects that can shape the way you play.

Download: Rising Tide Version - Classic Version
Note: The Classic Version also works with Rising Tide, though I highly recommend using the Rising Tide Version as it is a lot more interesting)

Awesome Pods and Ruins
This mod adds more possible outcomes to the list of things that can happen when you pick up resource Pods or Finish Excavations and re-balances and fixes the already existing options.

It also adds a system that semi-randomly spawns new Ruins during the game, so even after turn 100 your Explorers still have things to do! These can be turned on or off in the Advanced Options when creating a new game!

Download: Rising Tide Version - Classic Version

Awesome Affinities
This mod's main goal is to make the player feel like progressing in Affinity actually changes the way he plays the game. A lot of empire-defining perks have been added to the Affinity-System and all 3 Affinities have been equipped with unique effects that make them play very differently from one-another.

Some of the Affinity-Progression has also been uncoupled from the tech web. While gathering all the Affinity-Technologies is still a good way of getting their Affinities up quick there are now alternative ways that allow you to neglect affinity technologies for a while and still make progress.

Finally, the Victory Wonders have been pushed back to Affinity 17 - just to make sure the game lasts long enough that you can actually use the new stuff that has been added and make up for the power-creep that the whole Collection adds to the game.

Download: Rising Tide Version - Classic Version

Sponsors that are designed to work with the Awesome Collection:

Sha-Yuri Clan
Led by a person only known as 'Ayuri', this Sponsor heavily focuses on Harmony. While they progress in that Affinity, they unlock unique Buildings and Tools, a lot of which are focused around Miasma and Aliens. Their bonuses are strong, but they come with a rather drastic downside - having -25% Melee Strength. Luckily they are completely immune from Miasma, even heal while standing in it and have tools that allow them to spread it very, very early.

Download: Rising Tide Version - Classic Version

The Swarm
This Sponsor is certainly not quite canon. Led by Sarah Kerrigan aka the Queen of Blades this Sponsor is based on the Zerg from Starcraft. It is worth noting that this is NOT a full-alien Sponsor, it is a Sponsor that has Alien Elements to them. Gameplay-wise they excel at Early Wars, Scouting the surroundings and to a lesser extend growth.

Download: Steam Workshop (No Rising Tide Version available)

Genesis Corporation
Led by Jaroslaw Bane, this is an industrial Sponsor that has a unique tile Improvement and gains Bonus-Yields from internal Trade Routes. The Genesis Corporation is very productive and can increase their hammer-output like only few can. They come with a downside though: Their Options to produce early Culture is limited by the fact that they cannot produce Old Earth Relics.

Download: Steam Workshop (No Rising Tide Version available)

All of my Sponsors have Unique Dialog, most of which probably becomes useless once Rising Tide hits in a few days. T_T But you can expect unique Communique-Messages to be added when I update the mod - it is very important to me that these sponsors are as fun to play against by making them feel like unique characters as it is to actually play them yourself.

PS: For those who can't use the Workshop to download mods, Steamworkshopdownloader.com is a great Alternative.

 

[Ryika]

Some people probably have noticed that I'm currently in the process of updating these mods for Rising Tide (progress can be monitored in the post above) and no, I won't start spamming the forums with every update I make, but this one is... a bit special - so I guess it warrants its own post. I've just released a rather big Update for the initially relatively boring Awesome Stations Mod. And I'm actually quite proud about the final product, for me personally it hits the nail between making Stations relevant and (hopefully) interesting without making them the "Center of the attention" that takes away from everything else. Frankly, I personally see this as my best mod up to date. ...and I hope that's not just the post-release joy speaking.

So, quick rundown, what does the new version change?

Quite a lot actually! Instead of just increasing the base yields of Stations and basically pushing them into absurd numbers (can still be done by focusing on increasing yields through other means like the Station Sentinel) new systems have been added to make interacting with Stations feel more rewarding - including being rewarded Diplomatic Capital for successful Trade Routes, a higher maximum Level for Stations with higher yields if you manage to keep them alive and an Artifact-System that allows you to collect 'Ancient Knowledge' about all of your favorite Leaders from Civilization 5!

So check out the full description of the new Version on the workshop: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=396885414 !

 

[Azem.Ocram]

That's really cool! Awesome Stations looks like a mod I would enjoy so I'll have to try it out!

I used Awesome Affinities after I became dissatisfied with the affinity mod I used before.
I would absolutely love it if you could somehow make it even "awesomer" by reducing the severity of the affinity notches (economical term for "jumps"). Maybe (without even adding new upgrades), you could tie the strength of affinity units to the levels of their affinities? Maybe make affinity progression a tiny bit more expensive (start with costing 10 to get to level 1 then costing 12 to get to 2, increasing by 2 (maybe 3) every level instead of 1)? Maybe (if possible), you could add affinity levels 19 and 20? I would be eternally grateful if you accomplished all these things and I would gladly donate (time, effort, and art) if you managed to even-out the jumps and added Affinity Level 20 (costing 48 points (or 57) to reach from 19, if no other affinity levels were at 20) and made the expense towards leveling up lower affinities scale with difference to Dominant Affinity.

I will gladly make the art and code for the RoButler economy, Domestic Robots (new leaf tech to Robotics), Hybrid Forests (special terrascapes), Cross Pollination (new leaf tech to Terraforming), splice and implant research (lab tile improvements, possibly other things), Techno-Xeno Augmentation (new leaf tech to Alien Sciences), Orbital Scanners (new leaf tech to Communications), satellites based off the scanning parts of the starting ship, and possibly hybrid Great Affinity Person tile improvements (though you didn't make Beyond Great Persons) and victories (including Tile Wonders) and give them to you if you improve Awesome Affinities and request me to give them to you. I will start concept art as soon as you approve of any of the features and code on approved features as soon as your Awesome-r Affinities mod is released.

 

[MindXX]

'AWESOME' Work Ry!!!! Love all of your mods. Is there a tentative date for the RS update for Awesome Sponsors yet?

Thanks for the uber-cool work.

MindXX

 

[MasterEcabob]

Just wanted to report that Awesome Stations plays really nice now. Started with a slow science station for +2 science in the early game, and its now +30 with station sentinel, which I actually had to build a launch complex to place for once. Also loving the Civ5 lore bits!

 

[Azem.Ocram]

As a side note, if you do release a version of Awesome Affinities with the highest level costing at least 45 points, I recommend having terrascapes, domes, and Floatstone quarries yielding Purity points, manufacturies, nodes, and Firaxite mines yielding Supremacy points, and Biowells, paddocks, and Xenomass (hives or wells) yielding Harmony points.

Just do what you want. I can just use your mod as a template. It is remarkably easy to combine mods.

 

[gunnergoz]

Playing my first game using all your updated mods and like them very much. Kudos for the great work and thank you for your labors.

 

[hevans900]

Ryika... your new awesome stations update is FREAKIN AWESOME TO THE MAX

 

[Doviello]

I like the updated stations a lot, but i don't like the extra artifacts we get from them. I wouldn't mind the new wonders and buildings as extra options from normal, excavation artifacts, since they seem balanced, but getting civV leaders info with trade routes is meh. Any way to disable them?

 

[Ryika]

Yes, just delete the Artifacts-Folder in:
Documents\My Games\Sid Meier's Civilization Beyond Earth\MODS\Awesome Stations 2.0 (v 2)\XML

And ArtifactsPopup.lua in
Documents\My Games\Sid Meier's Civilization Beyond Earth\MODS\Awesome Stations 2.0 (v 2)\Lua

You will also need to edit MinorPowersSystem.lua in the Same Folder and remove this part:

	-- Grant Artifacts
	local artifactType : number = ArtifactUtilities.ChooseArtifactFromCategory(tradingCityPlayer, GameInfo.ArtifactCategories["ARTIFACT_CATEGORY_RYIKA_STATION"].ID)
	
	if Players[tradingCityPlayer]:IsHuman() then
		print("Human Player finished a Trade Route. Trying to grant an Artifact.")
		if(artifactType ~= -1) then
			print("Success!")
			Players[tradingCityPlayer]:AddArtifact(artifactType)
		else
			print("No Artifacts left. :(")
		end
	end

...as well as this part:

	-- Chance to grant an Artifact
	if Players[tradingCityPlayer]:IsHuman() then	
		local artifactType2 : number = ArtifactUtilities.ChooseArtifactFromCategory(tradingCityPlayer, GameInfo.ArtifactCategories["ARTIFACT_CATEGORY_RYIKA_STATION"].ID)
		local ArtifactRoll = Map.Rand(100, "Artifact Roll");
		print("Trade Route Owner was human, rolling for Artifact: " .. ArtifactRoll .. " - must be <= " .. CircuitChance .. "!")
		if ArtifactRoll <= CircuitChance then
			if(artifactType ~= -1) then
				print("Success!")
				Players[tradingCityPlayer]:AddArtifact(artifactType2)
			else
				print("Success! ...but no Artifacts left. :(")
			end
		else
			print("Failed.")
		end
	end

A bit of extra work and I haven't actually double-checked if I didn't forget anything, but it -should- work. Theoretically.

 

[Doviello]

Big thanks! I feel it's already too easy to snowball ahead of the AI even on Apollo, an extra source of 30 or so artifacts only makes things worst.

I noticed the mass driver (i think thats the wonder) doesn't give +1 city strike range, but free defensive perimeters or something. Is it intended? That was a cool bonus, and they fixed the "can't shoot at range 3" bug.

Can't wait for the awesome sponsors mod btw!

 

[Ryika]

Not intentional, no - didn't know that the range-bug got fixed. But people have reported that the game stops working if an ocean city attacks another ocean city, so I'll leave it the way it is for now.

 

[Doviello]

But people have reported that the game stops working if an ocean city attacks another ocean city

Haha, damn this is so firaxis. Maybe make it a land wonder? Makes a little bit of sense that you'd need a stable base to place a mass driver.

 

[Ryika]

Well, water based cities could still move into range of land cities, I assume that would still cause the same problem. I'll leave it the way it is right now and make sure to monitor what happens when the game is patched - once these problems are gone, I'll update the wonder. Still like the idea of it being an "artillery wonder" that has more than just defensive capabilities.

 

[Azem.Ocram]

Disregard my request. Make the mod how you want. Don't let me or anyone else boss you around.

 

[Ryika]

...well... thanks I guess? ^^

 

[MasterEcabob]

So Ryika, do you have any plans to modify the artifact rewards for the new ruin types? There is a lot of overlap with some of them that makes it a bit boring, like the Progenator Devices either give +random affinity points or one free affinity level.

I really loved the way you made satellites actually grant satellites rarely, as it just makes sense. This would probably be hard to code, but it would be really cool if sunken colony landers could provide a temporary movement bonus to a nearby aquatic city. Like, a big bonus where you could claim a lot of tiles early on.

Also, Kraken nests should totally have a chance to summon a Kraken. Not a friendly one, but with idea that it can rampage a neighbor's lands or so you can leash it once you get the right tech.

 

[Ryika]

So Ryika, do you have any plans to modify the artifact rewards for the new ruin types? There is a lot of overlap with some of them that makes it a bit boring, like the Progenator Devices either give +random affinity points or one free affinity level.

I really loved the way you made satellites actually grant satellites rarely, as it just makes sense. This would probably be hard to code, but it would be really cool if sunken colony landers could provide a temporary movement bonus to a nearby aquatic city. Like, a big bonus where you could claim a lot of tiles early on.

Also, Kraken nests should totally have a chance to summon a Kraken. Not a friendly one, but with idea that it can rampage a neighbor's lands or so you can leash it once you get the right tech.

I've actually spent like... 2 weeks now trying to find out where I want the mod to go, so I'll skip on that for now - the version I'm working on will not have any "too out there"-bonuses and will instead mainly update the existing stuff to work with Rising Tide + change the new Bonuses so they're similar to the other stuff in my mod.

I'll make sure to update it with more interesting stuff when I've finally updated the other mods.

My current plans for the release that is hopefully done soon:
- Rising Tide Artifacts are updated to have similar bonuses to the existing artifacts (mostly done)
- Many Artifacts that always worked on the capital (Free Pop, Free Production) will now choose a random city (done)
- A set of recolored artifacts will be introduced to double the amount of Artifacts available, as the total amount of Artifacts you can get is bigger in the Mod (done)
- The spawn system now includes the new aliens and ocean-versions of Satellites/Ruins can spawn (mostly done)
- Progenitor Artifacts are now hidden by default and can be unlocked via a short quest during the midgame to simultaneously tune down the affinity gain early on and make picking up ruins during the later parts of the game more viable (mostly done, haven't yet implemented an option to disable this for people who don't want to use it)

...and for the most part, that's it. Not too creative, but as I said... I'm sort of stuck on that mod at the moment, so I'll do the updating now and the "creative rework" at a later time, when I don't feel like I'm in a hurry anymore.

 

[MasterEcabob]

Great to hear. The mid game quest idea sounds really interesting, although isn't there at least one quest that spawns a ruin? In the Eye of the Orbiter, although I haven't seen that quest in a while. Well, I am definitely looking forward to the updated version!

 

[Ryika]

Ah right, almost forgot about that Quest. I'll create a Dummy-Ruin so the Quest doesn't fail because the Resource isn't visible.

/edit: Alright, Awesome Pods and Ruins has been updated for Rising Tide!