[MOD] Praetorian Industries v1.2b

[size=85]Ladies and Gentlemen, i have the pleasure to present:[/size]

[size=20]Ok, updated the first post as you can see, that huge wall of words is gone (not really, i have a backup in my PC, lol)[/size]

[size=150]Praetorian Industries History:[/size]
The original Praetorian Industries appeared before the “Gratuitous War” under the administration of an “unnamed” uber rich old sciencist, but it was not more than a mid-level research center until the failed defense of his original planet “Caspian IV” a couple dozen years later. The “inaugurator” died that day, but his son, tired of endless war, which was slowly consuming all civilizations, created a long-term plan with the only goal of ending that damned war.
Since then Praetorian industries began to grow steadily, more and more fast, reaching a point where it started to become a powerful Weapons-Scientific organization, with 2 huge research stations, 5 weapons and equipment factories and 1 extremelly secret and never known super-space station, the hiden command center.
When that point was reached, when Praetorian Industries changed to be a faithful partner to a potential threat both economically and politically, the Empire launched a preemptive attack on one of its research stations, no one in the public knew who attacked and destroyed the immense space station in an act of mass murder, except Praetorian industries and the same Empire. An investigation was carried out by the “diligent” Empire and it ended soon after, blame the space pirates.

And that was not enough for the Empire, some weeks after, a Mercenary cruiser attacked and destroyed the shuttle of the President of Praetorian Industries, soon, after the mercenary base was captured by Rebels and they discovered and made public that the Empire used them to make covert terrorist attacks in exchange for weapons, technologies, buildings and huge amounts of credits… two of the targets of those attacks were the Research Station, and the President Shuttle of Praetorian Industries.

But that was not the end, his son, knowed always throught a codename, “Praetors”, take the reins of “Praetorian Industries” and followed the path his father followed to the letter the plan that had created when his father died.

After that, Praetorian Industries started to be powerful enough to be a universal power, but no one out of P.I. knew that… the main hiden space station was upgraded with A LOT of defence systems and shipyhards, at the same time, 3 new orbital shipyhards were constructed.

The Argena Cluster, a group of 4 solar systems, very close to each other, inhabitated and not very known due to a huge area that distorts hyperspace jumps and impenetrable to any type of sensor or waveform. 3 of the 4 solar systems are inside that spatial anomaly.
The only known research station known by the public, the last one as they think, is located in orbit to the second planet (of 2 planets), a gas giant, around the star Argena Prime.
2 Shipyards are located in Argena Second, a star system composed by 6 small planets in small and fast orbits around the star, since they are unstable, the shipyards are orbiting the star at a greater distance from the star, in the opposite direction from the other, in that way they can exchange “materials”, crew, and stuff without needing even something bigger than small short range transports, because in the point of closest approach, the stations pass at just 176 km away, that in comparision of the distances betwen planets, even betwen a orbiting station and his planet, is like… well, just insanely close…
The last shipyard is located orbiting in a relatively low orbit around Argena Third, thanks to its HUGE and powerful shield.
In the second moon (a “moon” with the size of 2.7 medium size planets) of the first planet, a HUGE gas giant, in the same solar system, is located the main command station of Praetorian Industries, exactly at the origin point of the spatial anomaly. Yes, that is because it is a ultra-secret distortion technology generated by the station as principal defence line of almost all Praetorian Industries.
Argena Prime is too far of the main station for be covered by the special hidding tech. Argena Fourth in the other hand is going to collapse because his star has already completed its life cycle and is beginning to expand and cool down slowly at any time it will pass to the stage of accelerated expansion, transforming into a Nova explosion and some centuries later, in a cooling nebula.
The 5 weapons-equipment factories are dispersed everywere, but they were modified and now they are just small stations, almost all the crew and the valuable stuff were moved to the main command station when it was upgraded.
That is a total of 10 space stations. At the moment.

After the arrival of codename Praetors, the shipyards started to build completly new designs frantically. The final objetive is almost the same, but Praetors has changed the ultimate goal to a more striking and ambitious one, finish the war, with Praetorian Industries as the ultimate winner.
[size=50]
(the only coincidence betwen the President and me is the codename, cuz i like that name, nothing more)[/size]

[size=150]Territory: [/size]

[size=90]The yellow and black simbols are stations and shipyards, reading the story you will recognize each one.[/size]

[size=150]The Campaing: [/size]
As most of people knows, this mod comes with a group of scenarios that share a possible reality in that Praetorian Industries is decimated by some hostile race (you control the attackers).
I’ve written a short story (or something like that) explaining what you are doing on each mission, hope you like it, download link below:
http://www.mediafire.com/view/?k36g448v63h23v9

[size=150]Backstory: [/size]
This mod started as a progresive release of innovative modules for the community, but as usually happens with the modders, i wanted more, not just random modules, i wanted “my” own race, and thanks to my first helper and friend in this forum “Darkstar”, the mod reborn as “Praetorian Industries”, a company that reveals their own army of experimental ships equiped with new weaponry, modules and stuff.
With the time, and my insistence, more and more modders wanted to help or to give their own touch or gift to the mod, in many ways, not just: Hey? Can i help? or Can i add this to the mod?. No, with just a comment, these modders managed to make my head explode with new ideas just talking with them, and still happening now.
After some months, thanks to the ever-present and good Darkstar, we managed to make the first contest on the forum: size=85[/size]
The principal objetive of the contest was that the community give their own contribution to the mod, as hulls, as i expected and wanted, the contest attracted the attention and creativity of many modders, as very awesome hulls. At the same time the contest was very fun and I (or we) want to make another some day.
After that awesome days, the mod passed throught A LOT of delays, and now the mod still as a “work in progress” also know as “WIP”, but alive.
Update: Now, at just less than a week from the final release, i want to say that i’m pretty happy with the mod that WE have done, just looking at the incredible ammounts of stuff that this mod offers make me a really happy guy, thanks to everyone for everything!
Update 2: At last, the mod is finished and ready to deal with all of you, sci-fi lovers and gamers, i hope you enjoy all this stuff that we have created. And do not forget to report here any problem, OP issue, and things like that. Feedback is highly apreciated and welcomed!

[size=150]To Do List:[/size]

General Modding:
> Module Making: Finished.
> Turrent Graphics Making: Finished by Darkstar076.
> Design of Hulls: Finished.
> Making of Damage/Hulk versions: Finished by Cptfox and Kalthaniell.
> Hull Coding: Finished.
> Scenario Making: Finished.

Ship Classes Making:
Drones:______________ Target= 3 Designs= 3 Functional= 3
Fighters:_____________ Target= 5 Designs= 5 Functional= 5
Corvettes:____________ Target= 3 Designs= 3 Functional= 3
Target Dummy Ships:___ Target= 5 Designs= 5 Functional= 5
Frigates:______________Target= 7 Designs= 7 Functional= 7
Destroyers:______Target= 3 Designs= 3 Functional= 3
Cruisers:Target= 6 Designs= 6 Functional= 6
Dreadnoughts: Target= 3 Designs= 3 Functional= 3
Leviathans: Target= 2 Designs= 3 Functional= 3
Stations:______________Target= ? Designs= 14 Functional= 14
Cargo Ships:Target= 5 Designs= 4 Functional= 3
Shuttles: Target= 2 Designs= 2 Functional= 2
Elite Experimentals:_____Target= [size=85]one for each combat class[/size] Designs= 9 Functional= 9

Functional Hulls Count:: 66[size=20] =O Epic! =D[/size]
Functional Modules Count:: 163 Modules with 143 new Icons, 102 Visual Effects (FX) and 78 new Sound Effects.

[size=150]Current Version: 1.20b[/size]
v0.5 - Modules Created [size=85]<<100% Complete>>[/size]
v0.6 - Turret Graphics / Weapon FX complete [size=85]<<100% Complete>>[/size]
v0.7 - Ships coded in [size=85]<<100% Complete>>[/size]
v0.8 - Missions Complete [size=85]<<100% Complete>>[/size]
<<Last call for new Modules / Weapons / Ships / Missions / Content>>
v0.9 - Balance Modules / Weapons / Ships / Missions
v1.0 - Remove Unused files and RELEASE !

[size=150]Download: [/size]
http://www.positech.co.uk/gratuitousspacebattles/downloads/mods/Praetorian.rar <- v1.1
http://www.mediafire.com/?tz1rcdjj3scv8td <- v1.2a
[size=150]https://www.mediafire.com/?jq4k8ld7t68dco4 <- v1.2b[/size]

[size=150]Download Info: [/size]
Mod Version: 1.2b
Download Server: Mediafire
Download Weight: 164Mb
Hard Disk Space: 722Mb
Notes: Just download, uncompress the file, copy the “Praetorian Industries” and “Data” folders and paste them inside your Gratuitous Space Battles folder. Please, read the Readme.txt file, read the Campaing Against Praetorian Industries (for better gaming experience), and enjoy the HD Final Release Trailer.

[size=150]Related Stuff: [/size]

[size=100]> Gratuitous Modding Pack[/size]
If you want to make your own mod, here you have a great source of visual and sound stuff, it was used to make this mod:
http://positech.co.uk/forums/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=6888

[size=100]> The Plague Mod[/size]
Prepare to face a large scale invasion of insectoids!!
http://positech.co.uk/forums/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=6928

[size=100]> The Ghosts Mod[/size]
The invisible hand of the Ghosts is claiming for vengeance… Stills as WIP.
http://positech.co.uk/forums/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=7659

[size=100]> The Exiles Mod[/size]
A bunch of fanatics exiled from The Order has started to create giant mechs! Stills as WIP
http://positech.co.uk/forums/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=7794

Moddb Page:

Thanks for your attention. This post will be updated… sometimes Last Update: July 12 of the 2014.
[size=85]If you want to help, you can tell me via PM, or Reply here.[/size]

the first two modules were pretty fun to use! but if you dont take down their armor or shields fast, they are gonna be pushed outside the map… this happend 3 out of 5 times :S

havnt tried second release module but i will SOON™

hehe, then u used a ship full of that weapons hahaha, it’s a tactical weapon not a offensive weapon xD
you need other long ranged weapons for kick some asses, anyways, it need changes, i dont know how to do it, but i want the push without the super damage, because the when you destroy the enemy shield/armor you got a instakill…
Combine the first release with the second, and you have all what you need for destroy any fleet, EXCEPTION: Fighters
Oh, yes, im going to make them more expensive, for balancing, by the way, im thinking on new weapons…

The problem is 2500 dmg is as always, overpowered damage. Once the armour is gone, u destroy the ship in only 1 hit. And thats sad cuz even the ships with high integrity bonuses will be destroyed anyways.
I hope someday clinfski launches a patch to add some parameters to the missile modules, like the push back value xD. Till then, the only way to make a ship push back is placing that insane ammount of dmg, making the module too much overpowered. But i have a doubt, if u put 0 armour and shield penetration, the push back effect applies even if u dont make any dmg???

About the ballista artillery cannon, it is not overpowered, the only overpowered value that i see is the max range, value, but it is compensated with the low relative tracking speed. U made it with only 2 salvos x 32 damage = 64 every 3000 interval, its ok, maybe a bit high compared with the standard weapons, but since the tracking speed is not high and u can miss a salvo sometimes, i think its a good balanced weapon.

argh, i would LOVE it if cliff did a “weapons update” patch!
Just add like 50 new variables to existing weapons… missile salvo’s, pushback, missiles that can aquire new targets if they miss their first one…

[size=50]at last! more reviews![/size]

Yeah, i know, cliffsky need to add a push back value (PLEASE!) and yes, the 0 shield/armour damage is meant for do not insta-kill the ship and just push it, this weapon is like a core energy to kinetic energy conversor.

Yep, you are right, the half of the times the salvos dont hit, if u are lucky, very very lucky, the weapon can shoot down the shield and armour of a cruiser before it reachs his firing range. The low tracking speed makes this canon useless against frigates in minor ranges to +or-1200, and forget the idea of shoot down fightes…
Talking about fighters, the sound of the weapon is related to something of the fighters, not going to say what it’s, hard to not see it in the code, that sound is great for the weapon, and i used the emp canon, just bigger for the graphics, oh and the bullet is longer and very fast.

you have to take in to account that shield modules gets less efficent the more of them you install

U mean shield resistance right? cuz 100 shield strenght is tooooo weeak xD. U can mix shield types, but the efficiency drops exponentially. But yes, if u mix those 2 type shields u will have 100 sstrenght and 0.008 recharge rate. Recharge rate and resistance are not affected by the stack effectiveness if the resistance and recharge rate are the same, while shield strenght is.

The only way is putting a crap tracking speed value. The only defense fighters have in GSB is their speed.

You can get around that with just changing the stack_effectiveness value to 1 in your new modules.

You can even make a shield whose shield strenght grows exponentially when stacked with just putting something like a 1.05 value, but I warn you to be very careful in balancing that - you can quickly break the game’s balance if you take it too far!

Thx for the info, now im working on the “Shield Regenerator”:
Low shield streght, Low shield resistance, High shield recharge, High power consumption, Low crew required, Medium weight, Low cost.
The idea is make a system what accelerates the recharge rate of another shields on the ship.

Any suggestions? im loving to make modules, if you want something, some powerful beam/laser/amour/shield etc etc or anything, post here! im open to new ideas!

Guys, i have a question, recently im trying to make a “Lava Capsule Canon”, what is that? a modified rad gun with just some little changes:

Radiation.dds changed to Lavamelting.dds <-- how i do that?!
Sound changed
Turrent sprite changed
Bullet changed to one more similiar to a fireball, maybe fat red laser bullet from “rapid fire laser canon”

I created a very nice looking “Lavamelting” sprite for replace the radiation.dds, but in the txt of the rad gun there is no option for change that effect, is that posible? i tryed replacing the original radiation effect .dds for the renamed lavamelting image, but that makes no changes, the green rad effect still in game. what i can dooooo!..
Other changes what i need to do to the rad gun is make the radiation effect slower (the lava can’t cold down so fast) for more realism.

Please, answer fast

Hows about for a new turret some sort of area affect weapon or is this impossible/to hard

I’ve barely messed around with radiation weapons but from a quick look at the files of rad weapons there’s no way of changing the sprite from where it picks the effect (that means it will always use the radiation.dds sprite). In theory, overwriting the sprite named radiation.dds should change the effect with the new sprite but that means the non-modded guns will also use that effect.

I can’t say anything sure about the radiation “animation” duration.

I can’t comment about your mod because I’m really busy with my stuff. You have some great original modules around there

Oh wait

you wanted to mean anti-fighter, right?

–EDIT–

Unfortunately, there’s no way to mod AoE weapons in the game.

The sad thruth is that we can’t create new classes of weapons or modules so we are stuck with modding beams, missiles and the other already existing modules that already are in the game. At least we can still be a bit creative with the graphics of some weapons and combine their stats in certain ways that make them really cool.

You are psychic or something?
Today I was thinking about that
But all I know about this game that has area damafe is the shockwave after the destruction of a ship. Maybe with some coding, but I am afraid that is impossible without having the game source code (and even if I have it, I could not change it, yet I haven’t the necessary knowledge in programming.)… sry, but great idea anyways, do u have more?

Waaa, that hurts… I had created a beautiful sprite, at least I think so… Well back to the work…
Oh and thx for the info

Whoooops, i didn’t notice it xD
Fixing

If anyone have more ideas, post them here, and i will try to make it reality

I have a great idea!! Exploding minefield!!! Torpedos with very very low speed, high maneuverability, long range, fast attack rate, idk if they will work against fighters, but im sure they will obliterate any cruiser!!! I can make the “mines” more realistic if i delete the exhaust and make the missile larger.

A good idea, the problem is that u can only fire 1 missile at once, and the mine field i think will be very useless… xD. U can put 7 decoys and make the mine field stronger, but the missiles will stay one closer eachother and the mine field will not like like a mine field… the best option is using only 1 decoy with a lot of launchers, like a missile launcher ship… a very awesome add to the game should be a value on the module file that lets the weapon to fire more missiles (indicated with a number from 0 to 6 for example) while the first one is still active. Then u will need to have another parameter to indicate the fire interval between the first missile and the next one… zzz.

About the size of the missile, u can just play with the missilewidth and height values.

Yeah, already knowed, the problem is the quantity, the solution:

Fighters.

take your own conclusions xP

EDIT: oh, wait, and maybe corbettes

yay, with fighters all is possible ^^ i already did some kind of weapon, not a mine field, but i had figher missiles veeery slow that deals a lot of dmg with a very good turn speed and very tracking speed. In the time i created it, didnt think on a mine field, and they are just missile launchers. If u change it to mine launchers, u can make a good mine field out there. It doesnt need the missiles to be big, just make the missiles just like squares, or just put a size of 0 and make the flare size very big, so it will be plasma mine field or something -.-. I can tell u i have a project to make mines but usint bullet type weapons, not missiles. With bullets u can do SALVOS, and make the fire interval between em very high, so it actually looks like a real mine. The problem is bullet mines cant be destroyed… but wth, all the things can be balanced in a lot of ways.

ooh with mines could you maybe make some Sticky mines that slow ships down but are better than the limpets because you can fire them at an area and like a net i suppose they could stop/slow enemy’s!