X2 Rebalance 2015

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LifeMatrix
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X2 Rebalance 2015

Post by LifeMatrix » Fri, 9. Jan 15, 14:29

Like other players, I found certain aspects of X2 gameplay to be wanting, particularly the combat and economy balance. And wanted to use several mods. But then, we're limited to using just one mod at a time - unless we manually merge and either make our own mod, unpack the cat/dat files, or pack them up and use the false patch method.

I was tempted to take the easy route and use either Tigerclaw's X2 Combat Zone or The Big Mod. But there are certain aspects I just didn't like.

Here are some mods I'm trying to combine:
* DragonSlayer_Mods by Rakeris, aka "DragonSlayer" (Tweaks to weapons, missiles, ship speed, more shields, & more)
* HQ mod V2 by OlisJ (Adds 75 MW Shield and can purchase a trade station from Goners)
* Improved_Shields by ShadowTech/ShadowTek (Makes shields vastly more powerful, from 5x for 1 & 5 MW to 2x for the 125 MW. I like the idea of combat lasting longer and preventing ships from exploding from mere collisions.)
* Rebalanced PSGs by ShadowTech/ShadowTek (Because... balance. Though, it looks like it nerfs them.)
* Increased shot velocity (aka, "TBullets") by Engriffi
* Combat Missiles (aka, "TRockets") by Engriffi
* X2 Economy Fix by Burianek (Because it really needs balancing.)

Anyway, I've manually merged most of these files and made a few modifications. (I turned the 75 MW Shield into a 30 MW shield, for instance, then boosted ALL the shields.) But when I got to the weapons... I felt lost because it seems pretty complicated.

I'm not sure what (if anything) needs nerfing and what needs to be boosted. It seems a bit difficult to merge three different TLaser and TBullet files when they have different values. And instead of a drastic change to X2 combat, I wanted a relatively tame change.

Here are the combat changes that I've made so far:

* Rebalanced PSGs does not change bullet speed, but it drastically reduces rate of fire and reduces the damage by about 2/3rds. (Another words, hits do about 36% of normal damage.) I opted to use these changes, but then I tweaked the damage slightly higher than his (~43% of normal).
Question: Does this sound about right?

* Increased Shot Velocity increases the speed and range of HEPTs by over 333%, which seemed a bit extreme to me. And I find it unrealistic that plasma-based weapons should have extreme speed or range, far exceeding even lasers. But I recognize how faster projectiles makes it more likely for NPCs to hit. So, I increased HEPTs speed/range by a tamer 200% (or 2x normal).
Question: Does this sound like a good compromise?

* Increased Shot Velocity increases the speed and range of PACs by 367%. I did the same.
Q: Any thoughts?

* Increased Shot Velocity increases the speed and range of Mass Drivers by 242%. I did the same. Also, I increased damage by almost 17%.
Q: Any thoughts?

* Increased Shot Velocity (and others) reduces the "turret speed" of Lasertowers by 1/3rd or 33% (from 0.15 down to 0.1). I did the same. The mod also reduces Lasertower beam damage by 20% and increases energy cost by +33% (from 750 to 1000). I decided on a compromise, reducing damage by 16% and increasing energy cost by 16%.
Question: Does this sound about right?

* Some mods increase the damage and/or speed of PPCs. DragonSlayer's PPC Power-up increases the damage of PPCs from between 2 times and 5 times normal. He had his Gamma PPC do nearly 10000 damage to shields! That seemed very extreme to me. Instead, I increased damage by a more modest amount and made them do more hull than shield damage. Hull damage is exactly twice (2x) the old shield damage. And shield damage is increased by: 20% for Gamma, 33% for Beta, and 50% for Alpha. They will pack a much bigger wallop, especially if the target's shields are down! Also, bullet speed was increased by about 21%. The range of the Gamma PPC is nearly the same (tricky, since the bullet speed was increased). But the range was increased by 16% for the Beta PPC and by about 21% for the Apha PPC.
Q: Any thoughts?

Finally: As I've not modded for X2 before, I'm not sure what the rules are about releasing a modified mod pack. Would I need to get permission from all the mod authors to do that? But the vast majority of X2 scripts and mods are gone, what with websites disappearing and file hosts dropping files. Indeed, a lot of the files I do have are unobtainable now and many mod authors haven't visited these forums in years. So I doubt that's possible.
Last edited by LifeMatrix on Wed, 14. Jan 15, 16:06, edited 8 times in total.

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LifeMatrix
Posts: 53
Joined: Wed, 18. Feb 04, 07:34
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Post by LifeMatrix » Fri, 9. Jan 15, 14:32

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Zeron-mk7
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Re: X2 Rebalance 2015

Post by Zeron-mk7 » Tue, 13. Jan 15, 17:35

LifeMatrix wrote:Would I need to get permission from all the mod authors to do that? But the vast majority of X2 scripts and mods are gone, what with websites disappearing and file hosts dropping files. Indeed, a lot of the files I do have are unobtainable now and many mod authors haven't visited these forums in years. So I doubt that's possible.
Probably, almost all X2 mod makers are lost in space.
If you want to merge these mods and release it like your own mod in public, then without these authors permission you can't using they mods.
You can make your own rebalance mod - by modified vanilla files, not used other authors files from they mods.
Make your mod - using as example these mods from your list.
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Chris Gi
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Re: X2 Rebalance 2015

Post by Chris Gi » Sun, 25. Jan 15, 12:30

LifeMatrix wrote:Would I need to get permission from all the mod authors to do that?
Basically, it depends on what the mod author said. If he/she explicitly pointed out that you need permission to use their work in your project, you need the permission.
On the other hand, a lot of mod authors are no longer around or do not seem to care any longer. And - as I understand your project - you're meddling around with the type-files, not with models and scripts. It's very difficult to say the TLaser is made by a specific mod author.

So, basically, as long as you give proper credit to your inspiration, I don't see any issues (and you thoroughly did that!).

Regarding your questions:
I can't really tell you anything useful ATM - I'm too far away from this. This is an aspect of Pandora Mod that still needs to be done. So, we're facing very similar questions. One key point is more balanced NPC-vs-NPC-combat compared to NPC-vs-Player-combat and more balanced ship classes. Why does a M5 ship attack a M1 class ship? If we get this right, we can work on TLaser and TMissile files.

But I'm looking forward to this project, because I also was never satisfied with the tweaks these mods made.
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