'The Big Mod' v0.15

[marklaverty]

That title may be a bit presumptious, but its probably not that far off the mark

Basily this mod includes LOADS of stuff, and were looking for Beta testers!!

heres the current readme...

This mod/expansion came around through the efforts fo two modders, Burianek and myself MarkLaverty. We were working on different things (burianek was doing a 'rebalance' with the T files and I was adding new factories and stuff) and Burianek kindly offered to help me with a few problems. We pretty soon realised our mods were going to conflict over Tfactories, so we decided to combine them... and heres the result

This mod is more of an expansion and unofficial patch than just a single mod/script, so the list of what it does is pretty long...

1 ) Rebalances combat in x2 by messing around with bullet speeds/dammage and just about anything else burianek could get his hands on... IMHO it is now much improved and ALOT more fun.

2 ) Realances the econemy in x2 with burianeks econemy rebalance and improves combat ALOT with his combat rebalance.

3 ) Adds 11 new factories to the x universe, everything from 'Narcotics labs', to 'Space Resorts' to 'Waste recycling plants'

4 ) Adds a load of new tradable wares to the game.

5 ) Creates fully working salvage yards where you can scrap your old ships for a half decent price

6 ) Creates NPC mobile miners for a bit of depth (uses a rewritten version of, but is still heavily based on, the XAI Automining commads. If you like what you see give em a try, there pretty good )

7 ) Makes the races more independent of each other in terms of equipment production so the universe is more 'realistic'

8 ) Creates a balanced demand for high end goods so those expensive factories don't just fill up and stay full. The'll now make you some money..

9 ) Adds in a new type of Torpedo fittable to the Boron Baracuda (Fusion torpedos). They are fast and very powerfull (what the hornet should have been, eg 6 can kill a station) but have a VERY poor turning radius.

10 ) Creates a new class of split heavy destroyer, the 'Split Cobra' which can be seen patroling through split space.

11 ) Gives the player commands that will let him/her add extra wares to, and remove unwanted wares from, player owned trade and equipment docks

12 ) makes the mass driver more powerfull

13 ) Adds the experimental shuttle to the game as the 'Advanced shuttle'. Its a cross between a freighter, an m3 and an m6. It is on sale at the shipyard in Argon prime.

14 ) The advanced shuttle uses the MASSIVELY improved X-shuttle model and textures from ReiAyanami (<- the mans got SERIOUS tallent).

15 ) Converts PPC weapons into beam weapons with a funky purple beam effect (Hint - Its worth attacking an m2 and getting killed just to see the fireworks display) Used shadowX's beam mod with a couple of tweaks. Its worth installing the mod just for this alone!!!!!



***********PLEASE NOTE : AT PRESENT NONE OF THE FACTORIES OR THE SPLIT HEAVY DESTROYER ARE PLAYER PURCHASABLE. A CUSTOM UNIVERSE MAP IS IN PROGRESS, BUT ONCE ITS READY YOU'LL HAVE TO START A NEW GAME WITH THE PLOT DISABLED AND CHOOSE THE CUSTOM MAP. THEN YOU WILL BE ABLE TO PURCHASE THEM.**********


------FIRST A MASSIVE THANKS!!!!--------

This mod is the product of about a dozen or so people gettng together to produce what IMHO is something brilliant. People have helped with everything from betatesting to producing the custom map to even rewriting the descriptions of the new stuff to give it more flavor. Will list out EVERYONE thats helped and had input in the readme for the propper 'public version'.


------Installation-----

First make sure you have 2 or 3 good saved games to go back to if you decide to uninstall this mod.

Then have a look in your x2 program folder and see what the highest numbered .dat and .cat are. Rename the two that come with this mod to be one higher. so if you have a 04.dat and 04.cat already, call the ones that come with this mod 05.dat and 05.cat (they are called this by default anyway).

next copy them into your x2 program folder with the other .dat and .cat files.

Then, copy the scripts in your X2 scripts folder.

Then copy the file in the file in the 'T' folder into your x2 'T' folder.

Load up a game, go into the script editor and run the 'econmod.master.script'. be warned though, this mod makes ALOT of changes and it could take a while for that script to run. I've got a seriously overclocked AMD Athlon that muse be rated at something like 3800+, with 512mb of ram running at DDR440 speeds, and it can stil take a few seconds to execute on mine.

Once it finished runing you done, the mods installed.


***** Warning: This mod MAY prevent you starting a new game unless you remove the .dat and .cat files from your x2 folder, start a new game, save the game, quit x2 and then put the .dat and .cat files back. You will then have to rerun the 'econmad.master.script' script******



-----Salvage/scrap yards--------

Dock the ship you want to scrap at the trading station in the same sector as the scrap yard you want to use and buy a 'certificate of suitability for recycling' for it.

Run the 'scrap ship' command from the 'special' section of that ships command menu, and select the scrap yard in the same sector.

you'll be paid a price based upon the ships type and installed equipment. The rates aren't great, but they are more than you'll get for a heavily hull dammaged ship at a shipyard.


------Adding/removing wares from equipment docks-----------

Any ship with the trading system extension installed will now have two extra commands available in its menus under 'general'. They are pretty self explanitry, one adds wares to a dock so it can trade with them, the other removes them.

Adding wares costs 20,000cr per ware, removing them costs 5,000cr per ware.

To use, just run the one you want to use and choose the station you want to add/remove wares too/from, then choose the ware.

They will only run against trading stations and equipment docks owned by you.

If you interested please drop me a PM or post a reply.

As the changes are so far reaching and everyones x2 universe is different, we idealy need people to install the mod, give it a 1 hour 10x seta session for the new factories to populate with goods/resources, then........

1) play the mod for a while trading the new wares etc.

2) stick it through a min 6-8 hour 10x seta session and see whats happened to the econemy afterwards, eg equip availability, resorce availability etc....


I've done loads of testing so far, but now its reached the stage where ... WE NEED YOU!

Alternative Download over xdownloads.co.uk:

[ external image ]


Edit [25th August 2015]: Added alternative download link. X2-Illuminatus

[The_Rock]

[Constipated_Vigilante]

Looks very good, but why don't you add ShadowX's Beam Mod when it comes out? I'm definetiley going to be using that, it makes all PPCs into beam weapons of different types using FS2 beam sounds, and speeds up other weapons by different factors.

[marklaverty]

....it was never intended to be this big... it just sorta grew out of control..

Looks very good, but why don't you add ShadowX's Beam Mod when it comes out? I'm definetiley going to be using that, it makes all PPCs into beam weapons of different types using FS2 beam sounds, and speeds up other weapons by different factors.

Didn't mention this sorta stuff cos I forgot in the post above, but one of the biggest pain in the but problems with x2 is installing multiple mods... sooo....

Once its up and running and released the plan would be to 'update' it by 'adding' other mods that would otherwise conflict to it, like the beam mod.

We'd just release an updated version of this mod which has had the extra mod already incorperated.

Am very concious though of the saying that "you can't please everyone all of the time, but you can please most people most of the time"

So a mod would only be 'added' if there were quite a few requests.

[tensin]

Now you just need to use those "extra" ship slots to add in "variant ships"... if you are gonna go big, go BIG.

[the old one]

One thing i would like to see in the factory list, is the space fly fac as just about every split factory requies them, Dennis

[XeHonk]

i like it not being there
it'd be a pure moneymaking machine.. cant stand that =)

[adam00]

How about some fixes to capital ships?
I think M2 shouldn't be killable by single M6 (even Osprey).
And this M2 versus M2 fhights, Khaak M2 can kill your M2 in 5-10 seconds? It's ridiculous!

[Providence]

Is there a link to this mod ? it sounds very good.

[marklaverty]

Is there a link to this mod ? it sounds very good.

the mod hasn't 'gone public yet', it is in the beta testing stages. If however you want to help test your more than welcome to join in.

Just PM me your E-mail and I'll send you a copy.

How about some fixes to capital ships?
I think M2 shouldn't be killable by single M6 (even Osprey).
And this M2 versus M2 fhights, Khaak M2 can kill your M2 in 5-10 seconds? It's ridiculous!

The Khaak are meant to be massively superior..! There meant to have better ships, better weapons better missiles etc.

i like it not being there
it'd be a pure moneymaking machine.. cant stand that =)

I sort of agree.....

It would be ok as a player factory IF it was stupidly expensive....

However, as an NPC factory it would add some 'depth' to the game.

Now you just need to use those "extra" ship slots to add in "variant ships"... if you are gonna go big, go BIG

As other people produce extra ships, with thier permission we'll add them to this mod.

[adam00]

The Khaak are meant to be massively superior..! There meant to have better ships, better weapons better missiles etc.

Well, it was example, I don't want to weaken Khaaks capitals, I think that it should be even tougher, M1 especially.
I think that capital ships in X2 are to weak, I think thay should have much more shields, even to point that "one on one" comparable M2 shouldn't be able to kill one another. Well, maybe should be some kind of super weapon for M2 monted as main ship gun (not in turret), able to take out most capital shields in one shot, range like 10km and recharge time like 1 min, maybe more. Fighting in Capital ships should involve some tactics, not: "buy Paranid M2 and lots of GPSG and now you can kill anything".

[marklaverty]

Well, it was example, I don't want to weaken Khaaks capitals, I think that it should be even tougher, M1 especially.
I think that capital ships in X2 are to weak, I think thay should have much more shields, even to point that "one on one" comparable M2 shouldn't be able to kill one another. Well, maybe should be some kind of super weapon for M2 monted as main ship gun (not in turret), able to take out most capital shields in one shot, range like 10km and recharge time like 1 min, maybe more. Fighting in Capital ships should involve some tactics, not: "buy Paranid M2 and lots of GPSG and now you can kill anything".

Ahhh... see what you mean....

1 ) increased shielding in cap ships.. that could help.. and de-powering the psg isn't a bad idea.

I think Egosoft may reworks psg's with 1.4 and if they do it'll be included anyway.

Once 1.4 comes out I'll be reworking the mod to be based on the 1.4 T files instead of the 1.3 ones.

2) "Super mega huge weapon O'Death..."

Am already working on it....

Only fittable to cap ships,
Range = 10km 'ish'
dammage = 2 hits -> can kill a Titan
Refire rate = 2 minutes
Energy usage = ALL OF IT (and due to the massive power drain, 1/3 to 1/4 of your shields depending what scripting commands are in 1.4 )
Price = 1000000000000000000000000 credits (ok, maybe not that much, but 10's of millions anyway..)

[adam00]

2) "Super mega huge weapon O'Death..."

...exactly

[Slugworm X]

Mark,

I think that if you use all the energy available your shields will drop until a recharge point is reached. I noticed this the other day in my 4 gun Xenon L. You fit all the weapons and they begin to charge, but the shield drains as they charge up. If you fire all the energy away piecemeal it doesnt affect the shields I think, but fitting all the lasers at once, definately causes shield drain.

SlugwormX

[marklaverty]

So.... if the SMHWOD ( <- Super mega huge weapon O'Death ) sucks up ALL the available energy the shields will drain anyway...nice... ..

How severe is the effect? does it result in a noticible loss of shields??

Idealy I'd like an m2 to loose 1/4 to 1/3 of its shields each time the SMHWOD is fired...

[marklaverty]

Ohhhh..... and heres another Idea.....

Why don't we have pirate bases..... based on huge asteroids?????

I've always found it a bit odd when the description says that these bases are extremely hard to find and they are cleverely concealed....

Then you look at one and its a mile wide lump of metal floating around in plain view....

Yeah, like no ones gonna find that...

Hows about I have a go at swapping the pirate station model for a huge asteroid with a docking port??

[adam00]

Hows about I have a go at swapping the pirate station model for a huge asteroid with a docking port??

Nice idea But not too huge... it will be suspicious

[Firedancer]

@spacefly factories.....
i like it not being there
it'd be a pure moneymaking machine.. cant stand that =)

I sort of agree.....

It would be ok as a player factory IF it was stupidly expensive....

However, as an NPC factory it would add some 'depth' to the game.

You can control their efficiency by adding production resources....
e.g. maybe the fab needs energy to keep the beast warm, boron spices as food, argon whiskey to keep them drugged, and some split food for the split workers..... with all that it might even yield negative profit.. and maybe you could trim it to only give a tiny profit if it's at a fully maxed out price.... and even then you might be better off not loosing any of your TS... (and note that you need lots of 'em if there are lots of goods required)

I for my part don't care on such factories, but I guess NPC-only fabs are a bad idea (after all, don't we all complain that we can't have our own shipyards and trading stations??).
Also a high purchase price hardly qualifies...it's only a matter of time, but at a certain point in time profits would still skyrocket.

[The_Rock]

you better add in the X-Shuttle mod whilst you at it..

[marklaverty]

You can control their efficiency by adding production resources....
e.g. maybe the fab needs energy to keep the beast warm, boron spices as food, argon whiskey to keep them drugged, and some split food for the split workers..... with all that it might even yield negative profit.. and maybe you could trim it to only give a tiny profit if it's at a fully maxed out price.... and even then you might be better off not loosing any of your TS... (and note that you need lots of 'em if there are lots of goods required)

I for my part don't care on such factories, but I guess NPC-only fabs are a bad idea (after all, don't we all complain that we can't have our own shipyards and trading stations??).
Also a high purchase price hardly qualifies...it's only a matter of time, but at a certain point in time profits would still skyrocket.

Just better point out again that the factories in this mod ARE NPC only ones. To make them properly purchasable means that the x2 map/template thing will need to be edited and this will give you compatability problems with future Egosoft expansion packs.

The beauty of not doing it that way also means that NO RESTART is required to install this mod.

This is a fundamental aspect of the mod, as the biggest complaint I've heard is people having to restart thier game and lose thier empire.

That said, I'm sure I could knock up a new universe map eventualy so people could use it start a fresh game with the factories being purchasable if enough people ask for it.

Trading stations/shipyards = If you want I can include a player purchasable Trading station (using scripting) ???????????????

Capable of trading with every ware in the universe as a propper fully working trading station. Just set some freighters on best buy and best sell for the wares you wanna trade and he presto.... your own HQ/trading station?

It'll cost you though... about 20 mil...?

Nice idea But not too huge... it will be suspicious

Ok, a medium sized, lumpy but not too lumpy, grey but not too grey asteroid it is then.

you better add in the X-Shuttle mod whilst you at it..

Do people want the X-shuttle mod included? I always though of it as a bit of a funny one like the enterprise mod.. more to show it can be done than to 'play it'