[MOD] Battlestars - Wrath of the Locust [V0.1]

[GATC]

Which one? / Is the name Battlestars too confusing?

• Black
• White
• Yes
• No

V0.1 release.

A small release of the actual work of the mod.
Introduce for now only one race and:

3 Fighter (+1 Small defence systems The mine field)
-Swarmer (Superiority fighter)
-Heavy Swarmer (Bomber)
-StarRage (Interceptor) (I3S)

4 Frigate
-BreakingStar (Anti-Fighter Escort)
-Caitanian Carrier (Proximity repair platform) (I3S)
-Dzeta (Battle frigate) (I3S)
-Gauss Frigate (Ultra long range bombardment ship)

2 Destroyer
-AgMarEron (Anti-missile) (I3S)
-WarLuck (Ultra-Heavy Destroyer) (I3S)

2 cruiser (+1 Prototype only in the editor for now)
-ShinyStar (Bombardment ship)
-TwinsStars (Tactical torpedo platform)
[-HICC-P374-B (Heavy Ion Cannon Cruiser Prototype)]

6 Battlestars
-Behemoth (Shield destroyer) (I3S)
-StarBearer (Battle Carrier)
-StarCrusher (Heavy long range missile ship)
-StarDefender (Tank)
-Starfinder (Multipurpose)
-StarReaper (Heavy Bombardment ship)

1 Heavy Battlestar
-Initiative (Ultimate destroyer)

http://www.mediafire.com/?d93hjhnvh38hjaa

Engine are place-holders!

[code]Before posting information about this new mod, I ask you this two simple question:
Which one of this two colour is the best?

Is the name “Battlestars” too confusing? (Must I change it? Add a "GATC’s " before it?)

So, the mod now.

The mod introduce two races:
The Confederation of United Planets (CUP)
The Locust Fleet of the Unknown Space (LFUS)

The two races are equilibrated between themselves but not with the other races (They are far more powerful)

The CUP use massively cannon and machinegun mounted on heavy battleship called “Battlestars”, supported by cruisers, frigates and fighters.
The LFUS use more missile systems and less big ship than the CUP, but with bigger armour.

Battles are inspired by the one of Galactica, with hundred of ammo filling the space.

An images of the “Alpha”

On the upper left (and at the start of this topic):
CUP StarFinder Class Battlestar (48 fleet points)
Role: Multipurpose
Weapons:
Each Side:
-13xMachingun
-7xCannon array
Front:
-8xMachingun
-7xCannon array
Turret:
-12xMachingun

On the right of the Starfinder:
CUP StarBearer Class Battlestar (42 fleet points)
Role: Carrier
Weapons:
Each Side:
-6xMachingun
-3xCannon array
Turret:
-12xMachingun
Special:
10xCarrier modules

On the left:
CUP ShinyStar Class Cruiser (15 fleet points)
Role: Strike Ship
Weapons:
Each Side:
-4xMachingun
-2xCannon
Front:
-6xMachingun
-3xCannon
Turret:
-2xMachingun

Below the second StarFinder:
BreakingStar Class Frigate (24 fleet points)
Role: Fighter Hunter
Weapons:
Each Side:
-7xMachingun
Turret:
-2xMachingun
-1xDefensive LASER

The tiny fighter:
Swarmer Class Fighter (2 fleet points (32 a squad))
Role: Strike Fighter
Weapons:
-2xFast tracking Machingun
-1xHeavy Missile Launcher

Each ship (beside the fighter) have 4 big plate of armour (For example: BreakingStar: 577.5 armour points each; Starfinder: 3025 armour points each) and 3 hull/reparation module with relatively low health (The StarFinder got a total of only 300HP) . Weapons inflict relatively low damages but with a high fire rate. (1 point each 133 for the machingun).
Most of the ship got “limited arc” weapons on each side and their front hull.

The current colour of the ship are not the final one if you prefer the white.
The exhaust are place-holder and are definitely not the one that will be used.

C&C[/code]

[darkstar076]

@GATC

Before posting information about this new mod, I ask you this two simple question:
Which one of this two colour is the best?

I prefer the white - easier to see on my ancient CRT monitors.

@GATC

Is the name “Battlestars” too confusing? (Must I change it? Add a "GATC’s " before it?)

personally i dont think so. Of course you could always add in more info like:
Battlestars - Plague from the Unknown
or
Battlestars - Dominance of the Dreadnought

Anywho - i like the designs look forward to more updates

[Archduke_Astro]

GATC, thanks for sharing your new mod with the forum. I do look forward to future development of it. I’m going to offer you well-intentioned advice about some specific qualities of your mod, as well as thoughts about the overall nature of the mod. Be prepared for some critical opinions here and there.

@GATC

Before posting information about this new mod, I ask you this two simple question:
Which one of this two colour is the best?

I like the white sprite more than the dark gray/black sprite.

@GATC

Is the name “Battlestars” too confusing? (Must I change it? Add a "GATC’s " before it?)

Like Darkstar, I am also in favor of adding more information to the mod’s title.

@GATC

The two races are equilibrated between themselves but not with the other races (They are far more powerful)

If each of this mod’s races are planned only to bash each other, that’s fine. But at the same time, it’s strongly sounding like neither of them are even remotely suitable for fighting against the forces of the nine official races, and I consider that unfortunate.

@GATC

The CUP use massively cannon and machinegun mounted on heavy battleship called “Battlestars”, supported by cruisers, frigates and fighters.
The LFUS use more missile systems and less big ship than the CUP, but with bigger armour.

Battles are inspired by the one of Galactica, with hundred of ammo filling the space.

Warning: there are limits as to how many individual shots you can have onscreen at the same time for any single type of weapon. For example? If I recall correctly, GSB will only allow about 80 shots from a single bullet-type weapon to appear; any others will be invisible – on account of graphics overload by the modded content. Use caution here.

@GATC

Each ship (beside the fighter) have 4 big plate of armour (For example: BreakingStar: 577.5 armour points each; Starfinder: 3025 armour points each) and 3 hull/reparation module with relatively low health (The StarFinder got a total of only 300HP) .

For the moment, forget the total number of armor points that you can stuff inside of one of these new hulls.

What you need to be most concerned about is the actual Armor Resistance value. That is the number which shows you the true in-game effectiveness of a ship’s armor, after you have fully loaded that hull with all of the engines, power reactors, guns, shields, etc. that it will need for combat.

If a ship’s armor resistance is 73 or greater, your ships are essentially invulnerable to all official weapons of GSB. To put it diplomatically, that is quite imbalanced. The only chance to damage a ship with such colossal armor resistance is through the very small chance (2-3%) of a “lucky hit”. Your ships could have 300 HP or even just 30 HP; with such god-like armor, it doesn’t matter – the defense is already so wildly overpowered that your planned Hull Integrity penalties are meaningless.

Even the forces from many other player-created mods (quite a few of which are already overpowered in their own ways) will be unable to have any realistic chance of winning against battlestars equipped with such impossibly solid armor. If the final Armor Resistance of your combat-ready hulls easily goes well over 73, then I urge you to consider some substantial changes to your planned ship defenses.

Remember: players are rarely going to play your ships the way you intend them to be used. Not everyone is going to confine their use of your mod to nothing but “battlestar-versus-battlestar” fights…hulls / weapons / modules from other mods, and also from the 9 Great Powers of the vanilla game, are inevitably going to get involved to some extent. So why not tweak things now so that when it happens, it won’t be a frustrating bloodbath???

After all, most of your mod likely doesn’t even exist at this early stage of development; there would be not be much content to overhaul. It is not hard to do, and the end result can still quite easily be a mod that satisfies you while also being more accessible to a much greater number of players than would otherwise be interested in this.

In order to create a good mod that’s going to please the largest possible number of players, you have to plan to cover a very wide range of possible situations caused by variations in play style. Please don’t make it too easy for people to create unstoppable armor tanks with your battlestars. You might not be able to stop all chances of that, but in order to have a well-balanced mod that appeals to people, you will need to make sure that anyone who tries that design strategy has to pay appropriate (and large) penalties when trying it.

Thanks for reading this – enjoy your weekend.

[darkstar076]

Archduke has raised some very good points if your considering this mod to be a public release

@Archduke Astro

@GATC

The two races are equilibrated between themselves but not with the other races (They are far more powerful)

If each of this mod’s races are planned only to bash each other, that’s fine. But at the same time, it’s strongly sounding like neither of them are even remotely suitable for fighting against the forces of the nine official races, and I consider that unfortunate.

I can speak with some authority on overpowered races. While its fun for the 5 minutes to steamrole the Vanilla ships with an uber fleet - the real fun is trying to beat them when you know there is a very real chance at faliure.

@Archduke Astro

@GATC

The CUP use massively cannon and machinegun mounted on heavy battleship called “Battlestars”, supported by cruisers, frigates and fighters.
The LFUS use more missile systems and less big ship than the CUP, but with bigger armour.

Battles are inspired by the one of Galactica, with hundred of ammo filling the space.

Warning: there are limits as to how many individual shots you can have onscreen at the same time for any single type of weapon. For example? If I recall correctly, GSB will only allow about 80 shots from a single bullet-type weapon to appear; any others will be invisible – on account of graphics overload by the modded content. Use caution here.

Very good point - As you can see each turret is still firing but the game will only draw the first 80 or so bullets for each turret.

So keep the range short if the refire rate is high or use kinetic weapons with the short range

@Archduke Astro

@GATC

Each ship (beside the fighter) have 4 big plate of armour (For example: BreakingStar: 577.5 armour points each; Starfinder: 3025 armour points each) and 3 hull/reparation module with relatively low health (The StarFinder got a total of only 300HP) .

For the moment, forget the total number of armor points that you can stuff inside of one of these new hulls.

What you need to be most concerned about is the actual Armor Resistance value. That is the number which shows you the true in-game effectiveness of a ship’s armor, after you have fully loaded that hull with all of the engines, power reactors, guns, shields, etc. that it will need for combat.

If a ship’s armor resistance is 73 or greater, your ships are essentially invulnerable to all official weapons of GSB. To put it diplomatically, that is quite imbalanced. The only chance to damage a ship with such colossal armor resistance is through the very small chance (2-3%) of a “lucky hit”. Your ships could have 300 HP or even just 30 HP; with such god-like armor, it doesn’t matter – the defense is already so wildly overpowered that your planned Hull Integrity penalties are meaningless.

Even the forces from many other player-created mods (quite a few of which are already overpowered in their own ways) will be unable to have any realistic chance of winning against battlestars equipped with such impossibly solid armor. If the final Armor Resistance of your combat-ready hulls easily goes well over 73, then I urge you to consider some substantial changes to your planned ship defenses.

Ah the ol Armor tank ploy - get that armor level above the max penetration of vanilla weapons and you will only fear other modded content. Indeed a trap that one must be careful of when designing new armor modules - you need to test that module by trying to make an invunerable armor tank

@Archduke Astro

Remember: players are rarely going to play your ships the way you intend them to be used. Not everyone is going to confine their use of your mod to nothing but “battlestar-versus-battlestar” fights…hulls / weapons / modules from other mods, and also from the 9 Great Powers of the vanilla game, are inevitably going to get involved to some extent. So why not tweak things now so that when it happens, it won’t be a frustrating bloodbath???

I must admit that is one aspect that has always proved challanging to anticipate - just when you thought you had considered every possible comination the player could come up with, you find out that someone has developed a unique setup that proves to be impossible to beat.

@Archduke Astro

After all, most of your mod likely doesn’t even exist at this early stage of development; there would be not be much content to overhaul. It is not hard to do, and the end result can still quite easily be a mod that satisfies you while also being more accessible to a much greater number of players than would otherwise be interested in this.

In order to create a good mod that’s going to please the largest possible number of players, you have to plan to cover a very wide range of possible situations caused by variations in play style. Please don’t make it too easy for people to create unstoppable armor tanks with your battlestars. You might not be able to stop all chances of that, but in order to have a well-balanced mod that appeals to people, you will need to make sure that anyone who tries that design strategy has to pay appropriate (and large) penalties when trying it.

Archduke point is well made if your plan is to let this mod into the wild with the intention for people to use it against other mods. Ultimately the decision is yours to make but i would also urge you on considering spending that extra effort on the mod part to make it a part a larger universe.

[AcePalarum]

Personally, I like both colors. But if you’re going to limit yourself to one or the other, I think the white is probably the way to go (it’s a smart-looking ship, plus we do seem to have a lot of charcoal-hued mods kicking around the GSB universe). I also agree with Astro and darkstar about the name - “Battlestars” is a good title, but it needs a subtitle as well (I won’t get snarky and suggest Battlestars 2: Electric Boogaloo - damn, I just did).

And while I won’t reiterate the cautions already put forward by my esteemed modding colleagues, I will go ahead and say that the Mod Squad is always around to help with any questions or problems that may come up in your endeavor. Good luck sir!

[GATC]

@Archduke Astro

If each of this mod’s races are planned only to bash each other, that’s fine. But at the same time, it’s strongly sounding like neither of them are even remotely suitable for fighting against the forces of the nine official races, and I consider that unfortunate.

With the system I use, they can’t be equilibrated against the nine official races, sorry ^^’

@Archduke Astro

Warning: there are limits as to how many individual shots you can have onscreen at the same time for any single type of weapon. For example? If I recall correctly, GSB will only allow about 80 shots from a single bullet-type weapon to appear; any others will be invisible – on account of graphics overload by the modded content. Use caution here.

Don’t worry, because I use “Plasma gun” mod turret, they will never be more than 6 bullet per gun but are very fast moving one.

@Archduke Astro

For the moment, forget the total number of armor points that you can stuff inside of one of these new hulls.

What you need to be most concerned about is the actual Armor Resistance value. That is the number which shows you the true in-game effectiveness of a ship’s armor, after you have fully loaded that hull with all of the engines, power reactors, guns, shields, etc. that it will need for combat.

If a ship’s armor resistance is 73 or greater, your ships are essentially invulnerable to all official weapons of GSB. To put it diplomatically, that is quite imbalanced. The only chance to damage a ship with such colossal armor resistance is through the very small chance (2-3%) of a “lucky hit”. Your ships could have 300 HP or even just 30 HP; with such god-like armor, it doesn’t matter – the defense is already so wildly overpowered that your planned Hull Integrity penalties are meaningless.

Even the forces from many other player-created mods (quite a few of which are already overpowered in their own ways) will be unable to have any realistic chance of winning against battlestars equipped with such impossibly solid armor. If the final Armor Resistance of your combat-ready hulls easily goes well over 73, then I urge you to consider some substantial changes to your planned ship defenses.

Remember: players are rarely going to play your ships the way you intend them to be used. Not everyone is going to confine their use of your mod to nothing but “battlestar-versus-battlestar” fights…hulls / weapons / modules from other mods, and also from the 9 Great Powers of the vanilla game, are inevitably going to get involved to some extent. So why not tweak things now so that when it happens, it won’t be a frustrating bloodbath???

^^’
Currently, my ship use armour like the other use shield: ablative protection.
The 12100 total armour point of the StarFinder are not here for nothing, it is how they resist attacks of other ship of the mod without dying instantly.
All ship got more than 73 Resistance (~200 for the Starfinder) but all weapons 440 armour penetration

@Archduke Astro

After all, most of your mod likely doesn’t even exist at this early stage of development; there would be not be much content to overhaul. It is not hard to do, and the end result can still quite easily be a mod that satisfies you while also being more accessible to a much greater number of players than would otherwise be interested in this.

In order to create a good mod that’s going to please the largest possible number of players, you have to plan to cover a very wide range of possible situations caused by variations in play style. Please don’t make it too easy for people to create unstoppable armor tanks with your battlestars. You might not be able to stop all chances of that, but in order to have a well-balanced mod that appeals to people, you will need to make sure that anyone who tries that design strategy has to pay appropriate (and large) penalties when trying it.

Thanks for reading this – enjoy your weekend.

Part of the mod is in development and the rest is on the paper, but it’s not too difficult to modifies some elements.

@darkstar076

I must admit that is one aspect that has always proved challanging to anticipate - just when you thought you had considered every possible comination the player could come up with, you find out that someone has developed a unique setup that proves to be impossible to beat.

^^’
Because the “limited fire arc” weapons are not editable In-game, 99% of the ship are pre-made. They is 4 modules than can be install to personalise some aspect of your fleet (Speed boost, tracking boost…)

Thank you for all your comments, and I’m waiting for the next one ^^

[GATC]

V0.1 release.

A small release of the actual work of the mod.
Introduce for now only one race and:

3 Fighter (+1 Small defence systems The mine field)
-Swarmer (Superiority fighter)
-Heavy Swarmer (Bomber)
-StarRage (Interceptor) (I3S)

4 Frigate
-BreakingStar (Anti-Fighter Escort)
-Caitanian Carrier (Proximity repair platform) (I3S)
-Dzeta (Battle frigate) (I3S)
-Gauss Frigate (Ultra long range bombardment ship)

2 Destroyer
-AgMarEron (Anti-missile) (I3S)
-WarLuck (Ultra-Heavy Destroyer) (I3S)

2 cruiser (+1 Prototype only in the editor for now)
-ShinyStar (Bombardment ship)
-TwinsStars (Tactical torpedo platform)
[-HICC-P374-B (Heavy Ion Cannon Cruiser Prototype)]

6 Battlestars
-Behemoth (Shield destroyer) (I3S)
-StarBearer (Battle Carrier)
-StarCrusher (Heavy long range missile ship)
-StarDefender (Tank)
-Starfinder (Multipurpose)
-StarReaper (Heavy Bombardment ship)

1 Heavy Battlestar
-Initiative (Ultimate destroyer)

http://www.mediafire.com/?d93hjhnvh38hjaa

Engine are place-holders!

[Redd13]

Just a quick question about the name. Do you actually mean Wraith (a ghost or spirit)? Or do you mean Wrath (strong or fierce anger)?

[GATC]

^^’
Small typo!
It’s wrath

[Archduke_Astro]

@GATC

^^’
Small typo!
It’s wrath

I have corrected titles of posts made in this thread, by using the word “wrath”. Onwards!