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Fateful Research [2.6.*]

It does this in two ways:

(1) Making certain techs more likely to appear as a research option and other techs less likely.

For instance: If you choose the Energy weapons focus over the three other weapons paths, then there is a boost to the likelihood of having Lasers, Plasma Launchers, etc. Whereas Missiles and Kinetic Weapons are much less likely to appear as a research option.

(2) Having hard requirements on previously researched to allow new research. (This only applies to weapons.)

For instance: If you choose Energy Weapons, you will be required to have Lasers 4 researched before you can research Mass Driver 3. (Missiles and Strike Craft focuses are slightly less stringent.)

Researching specialty weapons outside your focus is even more stringent. IE, if you have chosen a Kinetic Weapons Focus then the researching requirements for Autocannon 1 will be the same as vanilla. But if you have a Energy Weapons Focus, you will need to have researched Lasers 5 and Mass Driver 4.




General Notes:

A) This should be usable mid-game, although its effects will be reduced. Either way, the mod will begin with an Event window within a couple months.

B) Compatibility: This changes the ship/bases, shields/armor and weapon techs, so any other mod that does the same might will either have that part overwritten, or overwrite this mod. I don’t expect a conflict will cause crashes if this mod is overwritten.

C) Hopefully the distribution of focuses that the AI has is fairly even, but they are chosen randomly so you might end up with a lot of AIs with Missile focuses and few with Energy. At the very least, 2 of each weapons focuses will be chosen by the AI empires.

D) Each focus has its own buff, shown in the Empire's Modifers window. If you choose Shields, your ships and starbases will receive a 33% buff to shields. If you choose armor, a 33% buff to armor.

E) Research costs for weapons, shields and armor has effectively been doubled to rebalance and to give your choices more weight.

F) Salvaging rewards has been reduced from 10% to 4%.

G) Planetary shields now require either Shields 3 or Armor 3. I know that doesn’t make sense but neither does the AI. (Just as easy to research planetary shields with an armor focus.)

H) Ship upgrades are now more costly. If you intend to swap out your weapon systems from foe to foe, it’ll cost you a lot more now. Refunds on components have been reduced from 90% to 67%. Refunds on ships sections have been reduced from 75% to 33%.



Weapon Focuses:

AA) Energy Focus. Deep focus on all types of energy weapons.
a. 100% more likely all energy weapon techs will show up as research options.
b. -75% less likely that point-defense weapons will show up (this isn’t as bad as it sounds as they have double chance – in physics or engineering).
c. -85% less likelihood for all other weapons to show up.

BB) Kinetic Focus. Deep focus on all types of kinetic weapons.
a. 100% more likely all energy weapon techs will show up as research options.
b. -75% likely that point-defense weapons will show up.
c. -85% likelihood for all other weapons to show up.

CC) Missile Focus. A strong focus on missiles, but also complimentary mass drivers.
a. 150% more likely that missile techs will show up.
b. Point-defense stays the same.
c. -25% likely that plain kinetic weapons show up (ie, Mass Drivers and Mega Cannons).
d. -90% likely that all other weapons show up.

DD) Strike Craft Focus. A strong focus on strike craft, but also complimentary mass drivers.
a. 250% more likely that strike craft tech will show up. (Unfortunately there’s only three of these techs, so you may not want to choose this for yourself.)
b. Point-defense stays the same.
c. Plain kinetic weapons stay the same (ie, Mass Drivers and Mega Cannons).
d. -90% likely that all other weapons show up.



Average distribution for the AI (based on ‘random_list’ odds):

1. Ships vs Starbases:
Ships – 65%
Starbases – 35%

2. Shields vs Armor:
Shields – 50%
Armor – 50%

3. Weapon Focuses:
Energy weapons – 40%
Kinetic weapons – 25%
Missile weapons – 20%
Strike Craft – 15%