A few things I would like to interject.

[narn]

Fist off it is great to be a part of this living community of people who are continually updating and improving on an already wonderful product. I have had nothing but help from this community and I would like to thank everyone for that, so my following statements should not be seen as personal attacks or criticisms, but more as statements of peer review.

I enjoy many of the community mods and scripts that are put out, they can greatly improve the enjoyment of the game when properly implemented. However I have searched high and low for mods or scripts that will increase the difficulty of game play, or greatly increase the propensity of enemies with a vary limited result. Many of the mods I have thus far have seen have given the player innumerable advantages thereby watering down the threat of the already scanty enemies that can be found in the game. I have seen some of the wonderful mods to the game that have been put out by CyCrow, LV and many others, and although these mods do add realism and some fun to the x-universe, many only focus on improving the abilities of the player and not the opponents of the game. Why?

When I have played the game I have explored the universe and found it mostly peaceful with all of the “threats” limited to tiny corners of the universe and having little impact on the grand scheme of things. The enemies hardly ever come out of their little holes and when they do they never bring to bare any of their true forces, Xenon M1s never come out at all. As I wander I do not feel threatened at all in this universe nor do I feel that there is a huge battle of attrition going on verses either the Kha,ak or the Xenon and the peaceful races. So what is the player to do, just build up? Then what? Am I supposed to fly around with a huge flotilla of M1s and think how “cool” I am?

As an example, I added the Race Response mod in hopes of dealing with this issue by then becoming enemy’s with one of the races. However upon doing so I soon realized that this mod makes random pirate, xenon, or Kha,ak attacks be dealt almost completely by the other races thereby making it even less stimulating in the long run. Other mods give the player boosters or new weapons or ship improvements and, although cool, these mods fail to properly implement them into the AI. And I have to ask my self: So if the player has an infinite time to build up, in combination with super weapons that the AI cant use, wont that mean then that when the player does attack it will be with a super advantage?

I implore every one to think: how much fun is it to play demigod verses the ant? The game would go something like this: “squish” ops well I win. Would it not be more fun to play as the ant? I do not like to play with an unfair advantage in a game being as it’s already unfair enough, being human Verses the AI. I would greatly enjoy sitting there with my fleet of M1s and suddenly I realize that my factories in one sector are being attacked by a hoard of Xenon and simultaneously some other factory’s In another sector are attacked by Kha,ak that have just invaded. I would have to decide which sector was more important to me, which one I would have to let go. That’s strategy, and that is why I play this game, I don’t boot up the computer thinking “well time to be god for a while” boring.

I have seen a few mods/scripts that do make the game overall more of a challenge like the 101010 and zzzrrrzzzz mod/scripts but they are few and far between.

Here are a few things that I would like to see added to the game:

1 Enemies that are actual threats to the universe

2 Enemies that take over conquered sectors and set up bases thus producing more enemies faster. This would give the player a feeling of dread derived from the encroaching storm.

3 The ability to side with races and help re-conquer otherwise permanently conquered sectors.

4 Smarter enemies that have better tactics.

5 The size and occurrences of enemies should be harder to deal with, stronger, and better in tune with the player’s current level.

6 Enemies that can do some of the cool things that the mods allow the player to do.

7 Xenon and Kha,ak response fleets.

8 The ability to ACTULAY be a pirate by having the pirates relation to the player relative to the players relation to other races. Anyone ever play privateer???

9 More nasty random stuff happening.

10 Sectors that are considered “home” sectors of that race can never be truly taken

11 The ability to land on planets

That’s all I can think of for now but If I come up with more I will add it here, if anyone wishes to agree, complain, or add to this they can. Thank you for your time.[/b][/u]

[©ArtBlade]

Funny to actually see someone asking for more enemy action Most mods and scripts you encounter were created by and for those who like either a trading or a combat advantage, from the player's point of view - you got that right. And yes, apparently most people don't seem to worry about strengthen their enemies

Since you can do what you like, be it god or on the brink of extinction, you are free to script / mod your way to your personal destiny. It would be interesting to know how people respond if you managed to create and publish something that weakens the player's position.

Since you posted on the S&M forum, I think you would like to do something on your own rather than wait for others to do it for you - if so, I wish you good luck and hope you come up with some interesting script or mod in the near future, just for a change on the scene

[Cycrow]

well trying to adjust how the whole universe operates is quite a big task, which is y you dont seem many scripts like that.

also altering the enemies behavour can make the scripts incompatable with others, which isn't always a good thing.

however, there is going to be lots of changes in the Firelance mod, which includes improveing the enemies as well as other things

[LV]

RRF was always written for the purpose of players attacking assets but this obviously impacts race fights also, with x3 implementing a huge rep drop (a personal hate of mine ) for attacking race ships this has meant many players no longer attack the 5 races like in x2.

Escort, Arena and DMA are all scripts that add more enemy activity to the game so try those

[Red Spot]

I have seen a few mods/scripts that do make the game overall more of a challenge like the 101010 and zzzrrrzzzz mod/scripts but they are few and far between.

just wait and see what FC will bring ... ....



G

[jackleonfraust]

personally, i wouldnt mind if the individual working on the exodus mod utilized the sentinel script to work with an ai controlled xenon or Pirate Mothership. building a fleet and spreading out across the universe. building its own ships and factories from captured resources. this should be a gigantic ship that would build carriers as well. (but thats just me and my wish for some personal ideas to develop)

[narn]

Well I’m not trying to have the game do anything I haven’t seen already done. I have seen many of the things that I have mentioned implemented in various mods in various forms, maybe not implemented for the same reasons but still there. Case and point, the Sector takeover mod if lightly rewritten for the Xenon or Kha,ak in combination with something like the 1010101 or ZZzzZzrt mods would do a great deal of what I would like to see. Also the Race response fleets could also be rewritten for the enemies as well.

I think it would not be too hard to just change the re-spawn variable in the original game code to make the propensity of enemy spawning and thus the overall strength of the enemies greater.

I would also like to learn some about making this happen.

[Cycrow]

if you what to increae the spawn rates of ships, you should learn about the Jobs file
this is what controls what NPC shpis are created and what they do, etc

[narn]

What folder is it located it? Are there any other files I sould know about? I also want to know how to script.

[DesertEagle]

Case and point, the Sector takeover mod if lightly rewritten for the Xenon or Kha,ak in combination with something like the 1010101 or ZZzzZzrt mods would do a great deal of what I would like to see. Also the Race response fleets could also be rewritten for the enemies as well.

I think it would not be too hard to just change the re-spawn variable in the original game code to make the propensity of enemy spawning and thus the overall strength of the enemies greater.

I would also like to learn some about making this happen.

Hi there narn, the sector takeover is basically undergoing a Request-for-Comment period right now. Nirwin, bendyspex, myself, and many others are putting some thought into making this an even more fun and challenging experience. You should elaborate on some of your ideas in our thread, so that we can ultimately take the best bits and work them in.

Regards,
-DesertEagle

p.s. A one line script can change the Kha'ak aggression level to up the ante quite considerably. I'll send it to you if you want to play around.

[Matt Armada]

Well now, i have to say..i take this thread and give it a DAMN well deserved round of applause...
Starting out for me was always hard but once you start to get big with some of the mods out there..the challenge does vanish...

Well, i do hope to help..I cant rember it nme..but it was one of the first mods out..added a few things..and also included a mapt hat you started you were a pirate race, with Argon and, SOmeone else ahting you from start, and starting with a pirate fighter...Hope this helps ^_^..Sorry cant rember its name..

[narn]

Hay thinks for the info DesertEagle ill check out that forum. Probably post a few ideas too. It has come to my realization that I will have to teach myself the scripting language for this game, that’s ok I have modded other games in the past without any help. I just don’t have as much time as I would like to learn the language. It would be cool if you send me that script to change Kha,ak aggression, ill take a look at it. Oh and thanks Matt Armada for your support, its nice to know that I’m not the only one who feels this way on this issue.

Hay like I said before if anyone reading this wants to respond in any fashion to this post even if it were to criticize that’s fine with me, just make a good argument.

I did write this thing not only to give my 2 cents but to also see what people think of the idea.

[rustybucket]

1 Enemies that are actual threats to the universe

One of the basic weaknesses in the present game is that the AI is not really compatible with fleet tactics. We don't really have the ability to organize a group of ships around a tactical doctrine and then send them into a sector and say do it. The same goes for the enemy.

At its most basic level:

1) We should be able to designate several permanent squadron of ships aboard our M1s (each M1 would be designed to support a specific # of squadrons - one may be designed to support 4 flight staging areas and another 5, irrespective of the maximum amount of docking space)
1.a) Each sqaudron would have a specific task and order of battle
1.b) Each would maintain a level of readiness
1.c) Each would be budgeted and funded as a unit (to buy weapon stocks, do repairs, replace lost ships, and pay for training)

The same type of structure would extend to larger fleet units.

I hope that the next version of this game will focus on this aspect of play. The graphics are good and the trading mechanism has improved; so, perhaps it is time to add a wargaming aspect that moves beyond ship on ship combat. That would mean adding the ability to organize functional fleets, and inventing a useful way to hold "terrain" to play a strategic game.

As it stands we don't even know where our crews come from, our where our ships are built. We have ship yards; but they operate as sales operations. We never see a shipyard consuming raw materials to build ships. Which, doesn't matter anyway since the non-player pops in ships at random with total disregard for the economy.

This level of complexity would even add a need for delegated command. We would have to hire, fire, and promote AI generated fleet commanders to handle most of the fine details. We could always go in there and instruct squadron I of carrier M1-20 to arm with Hornet missles; but, it would be a pretty slow game if we had to do that across the fleet. We want a strategic game as long as we can still take the time to enjoy fighting a ship. So we would have to hire named admirals; some of which may turn out to be quite good at operations and cowardly, or brave and stupid, or perhaps even competent and worthy of promotion (and a better shielded ship).

This isn't really about scripting or modding; but, about building several layers of additional detail and complexity into the game, to make it both more interesting and more realistic.