Sins of a Solar Empire

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Septimus Raven

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SeptimusRaven

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About this mod

A huge collection of modified stats and features, aiming to balance and improve on the gameplay and give it a realistic feel... or just add more fun to the game, if nothing else.

Permissions and credits
This mod is a sum of altered and modified game stats and features aiming to improve gameplay.

In order to be able to use the mod you will need game version 1.93 with 'Stellar Phenomena', 'Forbidden Worlds', 'Outlaw Sectors' and 'Minor Factions' DLC installed.

Installation of the mod is done by extracting the archive provided in the game's main folder (example: D:\Games\Sins of a Solar Empire; where the game's exe file is located). The mod replaces the contents of the 'GameInfo' folder thus backing it up is recommended.

Features include, but are not limited to changes done to weapon systems, hulls, armors and shields of most ships and structures within the game, such as titans, capital ships, frigates, starbases and squadrons. Changes were also made to many abilities related to cooldowns and damage ratios.
Details are as follows:

Titans:
 -Greatly increased hitpoints for all titans, by at least 300% retail values (before they were just a bit higher than capital ships witch is ridiculous). All titans should have at least 28k hull and 15k shield at max level, if maxed out durability skill and no other hull or shield research done.
 -Greatly increased armor for all titans. Again, if maxed out durability and no other research done, titans should have 65 armor at least. With armor research completed, they could go up as far as 80 armor (it may not sound like much but compared to retail when they couldn't even hope to get past 40... you get the picture).
 -Large increase to antimatter pool, by 100% at least. This is only a side improvement as titans are now able to tank out and deal severe amounts of damage, but since most of the titan abilities are now more or less game changing, i figured they should have a decent amount of antimatter to back it up. All titans should have at least 700 antimatter at max level.
 -Greatly increased damage for all titan weapons. By at least 400% (retail values were just r3tard3d). Also, added extra weapon slots for titans that had less than the others. That's right, all titans now have 5 weapons and each of them fires at a rate that is determined by their size and intended purpose; main weapons are meant to be more damaging but fire slower, perimeter control weapons fire omnidirectional and a bit faster and anti-fighter weapons are light damaging but fire rapidly to compensate for low damage. Needless to say that all titan weapons have been balanced between them; every titan will do just about the same damage as the other one... not the most meta approach but then again not game braking imbalanced either.
 -Greatly increased weapon ranges for all titans. Before, considering the bulky size of the titan hulls you'd think they were barely trying to fire those weapons as most fights looked like melee engagements. 5km range for something that's 2-3km long/wide? Rly Stardock?! Anyway no more of that.
Now titans have 12km range on main and perimeter weapons and 4km for the anti-fighter ones.
 -Balanced squadron configuration for all titans. At max level every titan will be able to field a total of 9 sqadrons of strike craft. Bang. Done that too.

Starbases:
 -Greatly increased hitpoints for all starbases, by at least 400% retail values. Because considering the previous stat layout, a starbase had just about the same amount of hull as 4 defense hangars and 2 point defenses put together. Same damage potential too. Now each and every starbase should go up to about 35k hull and 16k shield with maxed durability upgrades and no other research done.
 -Only a slight increase to armor for starbases, as i tried to avoid no-win scenarios (such as being unable to pass through a certain point because the defenses are unbreachable... like that 1 mil hull and 130 armor starbase mod... gl taking that out). All starbases should be able to reach a comfortable 40 armor with maxed out durability upgrades.
 -Greatly increased damage for all starbases and, as with the titans, redone weapon systems in a way that completely balances them in between. Same deal here, heavy weapon that fires slower but packs a bigger punch and 2 medium weapons that fire faster but deal slightly lower damage. All in all, starbases should be able to hold off fleets more reliably and be able to fulfill their intended purpose: the ultimate perimeter defense. You can also build 8 of them now (10 for TEC Loyalist, becoz they're the best at defense.. hehe ) so, y'know... Of course, this is all achievable via research, and applies to all players and the AI too.
 -Greatly increased weapon ranges for all starbases. Needless to say the previous setup was embarrassing and it had about double the range of the basic defense platform. Yea, it was that bad. Now, all starbases have 14km range on all weapons. And if any pirate wishes to get closer to one and think they're fine and safe because they're outside of weapon range, they should think about it again because now they're ship is about to blow up.
 -Re-worked upgrade system for all starbases. Less of a priority than weapons and hitpoints, but helps tremendously at balancing starbases between one another. This feature covers weapon, durability and fighter hangar upgrades and gives all starbases 3 levels of weapon upgrade, 4 durability and 3 fighter hangar. Barring any other upgrades you might install (faction based ones) the starbases are completely balanced at these 3 categories.
 -Balanced squadron configuration for all starbases. At max upgrade level, all starbases would be able to field the same amount of strike craft squadrons as their faction counterparts.

Capital ships:
 -Greatly increased hitpoints for all capital ships. The amount varies between classes but if i were to give approximate values i'd say battleships got over 100%, carriers got about 130% and support/auxiliary ones got 120%. All capital ships minus the carriers should have over 10k hull and 6k shield at max level with no research done. Again, retail values were allover the place and the first thing i've done was to balance each class out, across factions. Now, regardless of faction, each capital ship class has the same amount of hull and shields like the ones from the other factions.
 -Antimatter pool got upgraded. Retail values were allover the place and some ships that should and perhaps benefited from a dencent antimatter pool had none, while others that didn't need it had plenty. Just... WHY?!!? Anyway fixed that; now all battleships have about the lowest amount (doesn't go below 500 at max level tho) seeing as they're intended for frontline assault and should rely mostly on their weapons, carriers are in between (Vasari carrier is a healer so it should have an adequate amount of antimatter, right?) with about 700 antimatter at max level and lastly support/auxiliary with 900-1000. Also, i can't press this enough, each capital ship has the same amount per class for every faction (TEC battleships/carriers/support have the same amount as Advent or Vasari ones because BALANCE).
 -Completely overhauled that steaming mess of things that was the retail weapon sytem for capital ships. Now EVERY capital ship will be able to engage 4 targets in the front arc, 3 targets for each side of the ship and 2 targets at the rear. Also every capital ship, minus the carriers received an extra weapon slot to better complement the already existing ones. Carriers didn't get a bonus one but they did get bonus damage on the heavy weapon they already had, to compensate. With this feature i've managed to successfully remove all the blind spots that some of the ships had (TEC carrier had NO weapons to cover the back of the ship for example) and the completely r3tard3d bias of some ships having 3 weapons but others just 2... because why the fck not?! Now all capital ships have 3 weapon slots. Carriers have only 2 but got a buff on the heavy weapon to compensate.
 -Balanced squadron configuration for all capital ships. At maximum level, all capital ships would be able to field the same amount of strike craft squadrons as their faction counterparts.

Frigates and cruisers:
 -Standardized supply requirements for all frigates and cruisers across factions in an effort to simplify the supply system and balance the requirements across factions. Supply requirements were changed in order to better reflect the ship size and intended purpouse as follows: light vessels require between 2-5 supply, medium vessels need between 5-10 and heavier vessels and carriers require above 10. Carriers in particular require 15 and that was made in an effort to persuade the AI to stop fckin spamming them and completely ruin the game because of it. One of the main reasons why the game slow down to an unbearable degree after a while is because the AI spends more than half of it's fleet supply on carriers. Well no more of that.
 -Standardized hitpoints, armor ratios and weapon damage across factions. Also made changes to certain weapon systems to better reflect their intended purpouse (long range frigates hit from afar and have relatively slow firing speed an decent damage, by contrast, assault frigates and cruisers fire faster and pack a decent punch considering the fact that most of they time they're in the thick of it and need to make the most of the situation).
 -Standardized build time and costs across factions. Some of the frigates ment for mass-producing were made cheap and quick to build while others, like the heavy constructors were changed to be more expensive or build slower. But still, they all build faster than retail versions.

Strike craft:
 -Reduced strike craft amount per squadron. Current amount is at 2 fighters per fighter squad and 1 bomber per bomber squad and the main reason (and only tbh) for that is that it helps mitigate the bullsht that is the AI spamming these things like it's a genuine and original strategy that noone has every thought about ever. Build something that costs Nothing and build Infinite amounts of it and you win. Yayy. Except fckin more Framerate Plz!!
 -Greatly increased damage output for all strike craft across factions. By at least 100%. Also increased firing rate.
 -Greatly increased build speeds for all strike craft across factions. By 200%, i think. So far, all strike craft related changes were done in an attempt to reduce their impact on performance, however, i didn't just threw them out the window per se. Instead, i balanced the now much lower deployed amount (witch amount increase is directly proportional to a decrease in framerate) and increased damage and deployment speeds to compensate. Now, every time one of them gets destroyed it quickly gets replaced by another, damage output potential stays relatively the same, framerate is less affected and everybody is happy. Except the AI becoz no free win i guess...

Structures:
 -Standardized build size radius requirements for all structures into 3 categories: small, medium and large. Having witnessed many times when bots just fckin built buildings within buildings and completely ignored placement requirements, i've decided to have that feature where building placement radius was decreased within reasonable parameters but decreased nonetheless. And have standard sizes for all building types between factions. All these changes may be small and have no impact over actual gameplay but they help speed up building phase of the game and not hinder the player with a constant "Another structure already fills this space" bullsht.
 -ALL structures received a basic amount of shields. Small shields (50 hp) for small buildings and large ones (100 hp) for large ones. Because space... don't think i need to explain this one where the debris floating around in space if accelerated to a fast enough speed and with the right trajectory and a lil bit of luck... It makes sense adding shields to all buildings, don't argue.
 -Super weapons build costs were increased. Initially by alot (1mil creds range) but i quickly found out this is a bad idea, since the AI (ofc it had to be the AI, what else is new) had a tendency to need to build supers SOO BAD in early game especially on harder difficulties, and since the costs were so high they were like "Well sht, guess i'm gonna wait till i have the money". I wish i was joking. Anyway, since then i brought the price down by a lot, but it's still worth to note that building a superweapon is more expensive than retail. But it's also worth it. More about that in the "Abilities" section.

Abilities:
 Okay, let's get this out of the way first. I Completely disagree with the way the AI (ofc it's the AI again) outright exploits some abilities in a way, and to such extent that it will cause you to quit the fckin game. I like to call those "Troll Abilities" and did not hesitate to nerf or change them in such a way that allows for a fair and balanced (and yes, that means non-biased too) use of said abilities. Most note-worthy are "Cease Fire" where the AI builds 3-5 "Akkan" battlecruisers (enough to cover all the cooldowns and antimatter requirements) at witch point the game is officially over. They'll keep on spamming "Cease Fire" over and over again and every time you have an opportunity to damage the enemy fleet, boom... "Cease Fire". Another Troll Ability would be "Phase Out Hull". Whenever (and i do mean it) the AI has an opportunity to use it, regardless of tactical situation (even if it's just one target left and the AI is sure to win) they'll keep spamming that ability making a battle that should last 3 minutes last 15 in the end. These 2 abilities had to be fixed for obvious reasons. That being said...
 
-Greatly increased cooldown and antimatter requirements of Troll Ability "Cease Fire", while greatly decreasing duration and effective range. Current cooldown is at 420/500 (level 1/2) while antimatter requirement is at 420/500. Ability duration is 12/15 seconds and effective radius is the ship's maximum weapon range. The way this ability is now set prohibits the AI from abusing it like they did before.
 -Changed ability "Phase Out Hull" intended target to be hostile only (too many debuffs to be considered a 'friendly' ability, also why be both? either hostile or friendly, pick one Stardock!). Decreased duration and increased antimatter costs, again, to prevent abusive use. Most other capital ship abilities were left intact (i didn't feel the need to change anything if there was no need to).
 -Superweapon abilities were generally improved. Novalith warhead will instantly destroy smaller planets or planets with no research or infrastructure upgrades done, Kostura warhead will affect smaller targets and structures better and Deliverance warhead will impact the planet's allegiance more efficiently than retail. Also noteworthy, all warheads were modified to enable them to accelerate and impact their targets much faster.
 -All titan abilities recieved improvements, wether related to damage output, cooldowns or stripping away mind boggling features like having your ability destroy your ship after use, all changes were done with balance in mind (first and foremost) but also to make titan abilities feel more powerful and effective, not barely worth mentioning like before.

Miscellaneous changes:
 -Less noteworthy changes done to enable faster gameplay such as faster build times, faster ship speeds, faster research speeds and more. Achievable by selecting the appropriate setting in game configuration at game start (slow/medium/fast/faster). Values were greatly increased compared with retail. Applies to all players and AI.
 -Fleet sizes and upkeep costs were changed. Now you can easily go above 2k fleet supply at normal fleet setting (game start) and maxed research and have up 34 capital ship crews. Again, this applies to all players and AI.
 -Another less noteworthy change, capital ships and titans xp system was changed in a way that enables them to level up faster. If you've always had that feeling that the AI cheats when it comes to leveling up, you were right. This change is meant to (more or less) render xp less important as there are more pressing issues and concerns to worry about (the AI cheats financially too). Now all capital ships and titans will level up faster than before. Affects all players and AI.
 -Yet another less noteworthy change, rebellion strength and pirate raiding strength were increased by a considerable margin. And this one ties itself a bit with the xp system but it also makes building defenses a higher priority. Ever had that one too many matches when you noticed the AI doesn't even bother building too many defenses but instead pours everything it has into a fleet that fills your command card with dots (i have a 4k screen and it still fills up with dots from one end to the other) and it just goes into a celestial crusade or some sht... idk... but doesn't bother to build defenses? Well, now it has to, otherwise it's gonna pay dearly for it.
 -Added a special effect to all starbases that enables them to work much like a phase disruptor. It affects all enemies attempting to leave a gravity well that has a starbase in it by slowing down phase drives charge rates and causing them to suffer hull and antimatter damage if they do manage to leave the gravity well. This feature was made in response to issues caused by AI controlled fleets that had them just zip around from place to place with no consequences whatsoever, and no regards for when the gravity well was defended or not. Now, if they jump into a well that's defended by a starbase, they have to deal with it or put an entire fleet at risk. Major game changing tweak and it applies to all starbases, both player and AI controlled ones.
 -Also did a few minor changes to stellar phenomena like "Coronal Mass Ejection" debuff that disables weapons and replaced that with disable abilities. Makes no sense to be unable to fire because intense light?! It may be able to interfere with abilities and whatnot but weapons? Also small change, increased damage done by Black Holes as it was ridiculously low before and seeing as it's one of the main type of stars i'm using for my maps, and given the fact that the AI likes to camp around stars... this fixes all that. No more camping... around friggin Black Holes!
 
And many more small changes that i honestly don't remember or lost count of...

Added a set of maps to help new players get more familiar with the game. They provide a significant advantage to the player/players and while that may seem unfair at first, after a few matches it will become abundantly clear that the advantages are more than necessary. Especially on the harder difficulties.

#Update 1.9.f: Regarding actual version of the game, witch is 1.93, i did manage to port my mod over, however i was unable to edit the new file system with current editor version. New update, new file system... i should probably get used to it already. Anyway, all the major features are still here, faster build times, improved titan/capital ship/starbase stats, fighter enhancements and so on. The only thing that i didn't manage to port over was the planetary changes witch had to be reverted to vanilla stats. Not that big of a deal, but in my previous version i did try to standardize them a bit. They felt too random. Anyway, aside from that the other features seem to be working fine.

Barring any new releases or updates, this is probably gonna be the last update i make, as it already covers most of what you can do within the game and i can't see anything else that needs changing. All the changes i've made were to make the game flow faster on one hand, but also to keep things balanced on the other. I've done my best to avoid no-win scenarios while i was doing it. If you feel that something's not right or out of place, let me know in the comments. I've also included the tools i used to make changes, tools readily available on ModDB.

Other than that, i can only wish you to have fun.