Balance Mod v1.20 (Final) Posted

[CaptainKwok]

I've finally posted the "finished" Balance Mod v1.20. Versus the last BM release, v1.20y, there's been a number of fixes and tweaks. I've also added all new formations and made a variety of AI changes to their fleet and empire management routines.

You can grab it here:
http://www.captainkwok.net/balancemod.php

Changes:
http://www.captainkwok.net/balancemodhistory.php

I've also posted all the source scripts, updated tech chart and formations guide. Also updated where the random research and pollution events... you can find those here:
http://www.captainkwok.net/balancemod-extras.php

The next update will be dedicated to updating AI diplomacy - it's been a long time since I really worked on that area and there's a lot of little things I would like to change.

[MysticVoid7x9]

I was not expecting any new updates to the Balance mod.

I like this

[Telfram]

Great work, nice to see it still lives.

[Drpox]

Thank you for keeping us SE5 addicts alive hehehe.

[Ezarkal]

Wow, this is a happy surprise to see this mod is still kicking. Many thanks for this update. I can't imagine where this game would be without you help.

[Gugarag]

Could You, please, post changes from 1.20Beta? Also, the algorithm, how you make those tiny race ships, fleets, etc. icons, so we can easily make our own? And the most exciting would be AI scripts sources, so we can make design types translation. Thank You very much for Your job and loyalty

[CaptainKwok]

All the source scripts plus some other resources for v1.2 are here:
http://www.captainkwok.net/balancemod.php#resources

I didn't get an explicit list of change from the v1.20 beta to v1.20, but the following general changes apply:
- Fixed some bugs related to how certain shield skipping weapons were being blocked by shields when a shield regenerator was present
- Changed supply and ordnance pods back to emergency use (remote distribution for components does not work)
- Fixed a number of typo bugs in components and facilities related to abilities etc.
- Updated all formations, added L, S, and XS versions of each with better descriptions of size and position types
- Bunch of AI changes; improvements to AI performance analysis routine, ship and fleet management, some research script errors, minor design tweaks

[Bou]

Are there differences in difficulty setting for the final version of v1.20? Because I saw this on your site: ''Difficulty levels currently do not have an effect in the Balance Mod (or standard game) but will likely be supported in Balance Mod v1.20!''. Thanks.

[CaptainKwok]

It's limited right now to being a factor in how easy it is for AI players to keep populations happy and how they estimate intelligence spending.

I'll continue to implement in more elements as I review them.

Right now it's really the AI bonus in the game setup that dictates how hard the AI opponents are.

[Bou]

Ok thanks for the clarification.

[estevaobk]

These are great news, thank you for another superb release of this incredible mod which prevents me from stopping playing SE5 at all - sometimes it takes 1 year, but I do eventually come back because of the BM =)

[Boka]

Thank you for your efforts of so many years.

[jaersavo]

That's amazing that you are keeping up the great work.

[CaptainKwok]

Thanks!

Working through improvements to diplomacy right now. Discovered a couple of errors affecting how AI players were not applying anger modifiers correctly for stronger human players - some of which would explain some of the observations made by others in the last few versions.

I also made some improvements that will allow for more diversity in anger responses to events and incursions. Next phase in this area is to fine reset and fine tune each race's specific base anger values since that hasn't been done in a number of years.

There's also some fixes for AIs that were sending out incorrect requests/demands based on other empire's shared logs. The next area to work one for these functions is to improve the follow up on demands.

I'm also looking to re-do the gift/trade AI functions.

Lastly there's a ton of speech file work that will start to show up in the next and following versions. Besides customizing the files for each race, I'm adding in new support to allow the AI to add specific details at times to some of the messages.

[francocelma]

Gracias. El mejor juego 4x.

[Veksha]

Just wanted to thank you, CaptainKwok. Your mod is amazing. It is funny that fairly old game with very simple visuals is still much more interesting than most modern games.