Balance of Power mod beta

from Stardock Forums
I've been working on a major GalCiv mod lately, and I thought I'd release a beta version with some of what I've got so far. I've included everything that doesn't depend on the tech tree, as I'm still working on that.

Anyway, for anybody who may be interested, here's the Overview:


This is a beta release of about half of the full Balance of Power mod. It includes:

75 new starting abilities, rebalancing the old ones and adding several new types (including a set of Logistics bonuses)
10 political parties, some new ones, some old ones heavily modified.
31 new anomalies, to replace the old ones.
12 new events, and the old ones tweaked for balance
9 new invasion tactics to replace the old set

A slight rebalancing of the new Logistics Achievements to accomodate the starting bonuses. A few minor bug fixes.

As it is a beta release, some descriptions may be incomplete (or lame), and I do expect to run into a few bugs or balance issues I haven't squashed yet, but it has been tested, and works fine (so far) on my installation of GalCiv. I would greatly appreciate any feedback on what you like, or don't like, about the mod (see below).

Still to come in the full version:

A whole new tech tree (up to around 360 techs so far)
A new set of ships (37 so far)
A new set of SB modules (50 so far)
A new set of improvements (94 so far)
Hopefully new graphics (eventually)
End of quote


Details of the changes made can be found in the readme, and the in-game information is all up to date.

The mod can be downloaded from the Orion Sector at the link below:

http://www.orionsector.com/pages/galciv/downloads/Mods/Balance_of_Power_0_5b.zip

Questions, comments, bug reports, etc. are more than welcome below (and greatly appreciated at that). Further updates to come as more of the mod is completed (check the end of the thread for the latest version).
2,433 views 9 replies
Reply #1 from Stardock Forums Top
Looks interesting, I'll give it a try. Not much time to play lately but hopefuly, I'get to play a full game with it ^_^.

You say you're going to scrap the whole tech tree and remake a new one? That sounds interesting. Is it a new concept for tech or just more of the same so to speak heh.

As for the graphics, you'll get to use the gfx editor pretty soon!
Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top
Looks interesting, I'll give it a try. Not much time to play lately but hopefuly, I'get to play a full game with it ^_^.
End of quote


Excellent. Be sure to let me know what you think. :)

You say you're going to scrap the whole tech tree and remake a new one? That sounds interesting. Is it a new concept for tech or just more of the same so to speak heh.
End of quote


Well... sort of a little of both. It's still recognizably based on classic sci-fi, so old stand-bys like warp drives and phasors and such are in there. There are also several techs that have important, hard-coded effects, so I had to keep versions of those, and many of the ones in the game were fine and just had to be moved or tweaked somehow.

There are a number of new things in there though, and some things borrowed from other related sources (including the vanilla game). There are also some elements I'm working on that will be pretty unusual for the genre, but I won't spoil the surprise by going into too much detail... ;)

The basic idea is provide more techs, a more balanced tree, make it more intuitive to understand and just sort of shake things up a bit.

As for the graphics, you'll get to use the gfx editor pretty soon!
End of quote


Sounds good, although I've got a lot of work to do before I'm likely to need it. LOL

Btw, I've recently taken over managing the GalCiv section at the Orion Sector, so when your editor's ready, e-mail it to me at: bardofprey [at] orionsector [dot] com, along with whatever docs/description you've got, if you're still looking for hosting.
Sins of a Solar Empire II
Reply #3 from Stardock Forums Top
Hey, I got a hold of it, though I haven't had the time to play as of yet, I did read through the files...very interesting.
I noticed the Church of Earth political party -does this mean that you will including religion (or at least aspects of) in the mod? (something I have toyed with in my own mods...though it is currently a mess :) )

It sounds and looks great so far
Reply #4 from Stardock Forums Top
I noticed the Church of Earth political party -does this mean that you will including religion (or at least aspects of) in the mod? (something I have toyed with in my own mods...though it is currently a mess )
End of quote


Yep. As a bit of a teaser, the Mystics are in there for similar reasons... ;)

It sounds and looks great so far
End of quote


Thanks. I'm still working on the other half of the mod, and the bad news is that I'm not going to be able to do it through the Mods folder. There just doesn't seem to be any way to prevent the AI from researching the old techs. Plus, the old ships turn up through anomalies and so forth, it's a real pain... :p

What I think I'll do is just include a folder with backup data files from the latest version of the game, and make a point of warning people that their data files will be over-written by the mod. Hopefully that won't turn people off...
Reply #5 from Stardock Forums Top
I've updated the mod to take care of a few issues with events, as well as rebalance them in general. Altogether there are 30 events, most new and some heavily tweaked from either the base game or the first version of the mod. There are also a bunch of new (sort of... ;) ) graphics for the events.

This is also the first version that over-writes the default data files, so a word of warning: backups of the affected files are included in a folder called BoPBackups, but if you're using a game version other than 1.20.086, make sure to back up your own data files before installing the mod!

The link to the the latest version is here:

http://www.orionsector.com/pages/galciv/downloads/Mods/Balance_of_Power_0_6b.zip

Enjoy. :)
Reply #6 from Stardock Forums Top
So to be clear... The Balance of Power overwrites the following files that are shipped as part of the default GalCiv install:

bonusevents.EVENT
CoreEvents.EVENT
Expansion01Events.EVENT

With files that are basically empty.

Backups of the above files from 1.2.086 can be found in the BoPbackups directory.

Not that I have a problem with any of this, I just want to be sure I understand what is changing.
Reply #7 from Stardock Forums Top
Your mod sounds very interesting, especially with all the new stuff in there :). Hopefully, I will be able to play it soon (busy with something else currently).
Reply #8 from Stardock Forums Top
So to be clear... The Balance of Power overwrites the following files that are shipped as part of the default GalCiv install

bonusevents.EVENT
CoreEvents.EVENT
Expansion01Events.EVENT

With files that are basically empty

Backups of the above files from 1.2.086 can be found in the BoPbackups directory

Not that I have a problem with any of this, I just want to be sure I understand what is changing.
End of quote


Heh... sorry for the extremely late reply, but I've been out of touch for a while... :)

Nevertheless, you have it exactly right. In addition, CariElf provides a link in a stickied thread (in the general forum, IIRC) to a full set of backup data files for the latest game version. The ones I included are just there for the added convenience of having them handy.

[Edit: Actually, that thread is in this forum, here: http://www.galciv.com/forum.asp?BID=GM&id=111702]


[Message Edited]
Reply #9 from Stardock Forums Top
Cool... Thanks. :)