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Games Unbalanced !
Apricot Mapping Service Forum dedicated to unbalancing and Documenting Games for maximum player FUN !
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apricotslice
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Joined: 21 Aug 2006
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Location: Mapping Beyond the Unknown Regions.
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 Posted: Mon Sep 04, 2006 5:56 pm Post subject: The Newbie Start / Unbalanced Mod. |
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I'm considering a new mod.
The idea being that before the Player HQ becomes available, I'd like to do a mod that has a complete new starting position, based on retaining some assets from X2.
New ships would be on the basis of the Gunbus and Camel.
Thoughts so far include :
Apricot M1 : Increased ship capasity, more cargo space, all guns, all missiles, more speed, more rudder.
Apricot Tender : Modified Disco that has no guns, single 25mj shield, 2000 cargo space. Allowing it to dock with TL and M1 for purposes of rapid resupply operations. EG. 5 of these getting ecells will be just under 10,000 ecells very quickly loaded on your capital ship.
Apricot TL : More cargo space, all guns, all missiles, more speed, more rudder.
The mod would basically give the player at starting position :
The normal starting Buster (or other ship for other start). Starting merc if Quickstart.
1 Apricot Gunbus.
1 Apricot Camel.
1 Apricot M1.
1 Apricot TL.
2 Apricot Tenders.
In a sector somewhere would be an Apricot HQ and an Apricot Shipyard.
LT's would be upgraded. PBE's given longer range. Kyons range shortened. Some missile damage and speed tweaks.
I'm open to ideas for what else to include.
This is NOT going to be a "put other scifi ships into the game mod", thats already covered by XFP and others.
Its not going to be about bringing in all other scifi into X.
Its about taking X and making it a better place for the newbie and the Trader.
This is more a mod to Unbalance the game in favour of Player fun, and to make starting off in the game a hell of a lot easier.
Anyone making a real contribution will get the chance to add in their own corporate entity somehow.
What do you think ?
Inclusion List :
Ships as above.
Drone Sector patroller.
3 new sectors.
Apricot Shipyard/EQ/TractorBeam
Tractor Beam factory, central to the universe.
Jumpdrive, transporter and Salvage Insurance In Apricot Delight.
Remove the ranks from all ships and products.
Adjust prices downwards to about half.
LT's would be upgraded.
PBE's given longer range.
Kyons range shortened.
Some missile damage and speed tweaks.
Change ppc bullet to ghept bullet.
Up the range of flaks some as well.
No roids.
No nebulas.
Extended Complex Hub and Node Basaare.
XL Factories from Ashleys Factories Mod.
Observes Fortress M0.
M6 as UT.
M6 use Collect wares in sector command.
Claims Software. (System Override Mk 2.)
New Tractor Beam script.
Advanced Mineral Scanner.
Find Product.
Docktl
Lasertower Upgrade.
Lasertower Deployment.
Apricots Emporium - selling all the non-usable items
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Last edited by apricotslice on Thu Sep 14, 2006 4:33 pm; edited 3 times in total |
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apricotslice
X3 Guide Guru
Joined: 21 Aug 2006
Posts: 639
Location: Mapping Beyond the Unknown Regions.
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apricotslice
X3 Guide Guru
Joined: 21 Aug 2006
Posts: 639
Location: Mapping Beyond the Unknown Regions.
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apricotslice
X3 Guide Guru
Joined: 21 Aug 2006
Posts: 639
Location: Mapping Beyond the Unknown Regions.
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apricotslice
X3 Guide Guru
Joined: 21 Aug 2006
Posts: 639
Location: Mapping Beyond the Unknown Regions.
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| Posted: Tue Sep 05, 2006 12:01 pm Post subject: |
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| BobSmalls wrote: | I've read and considered your essay on Unbalancing X3 for Fun.
You're right that X3 is brutally slow to play and hard to get started in.
It would be valid to make a mod to fix that. Make the player's actions more profitable, give them more diverse things to do while still advancing. Fix things, like the Tractor Beam, that are just plain frustrating to use.
However, it's wrong to completely throw the idea of balance out the window. Having played Doom in god mode, I can tell you a game is no fun if it's too easy.
If you don't balance the profitability of the various activities available to the player, or the utility of the ships, the player will simply use the best of what's available to him. e.g. he would never use any ship other than the Gunbus. It's fun taking on Pirate raiding parties in a Teladi Buzzard.
How about this for an elegant, simple mod to make the game faster: Lower the price of all ships, guns, and factories to about 20% of what they were. Suddenly, the player's every action is five times as profitable. Who knows, it may even become worthwhile to hunt pirates for the bounty.
I do like the idea of being able to buy all the equipment even if you're at war with one or two of the races. I also like the extended-range tractor beam, which makes it possible to tow a mine without pulling out your hair (and why would you need to tow anything other than a mine?).
Retention of X2 assets? Well, not my idea of fun. If you start me off with an M1 and a TL, I guarantee I'll sell the M1 for $40m, buy 13 UT SF, and start pulling in a million or two an hour of passive income. Getting to the point where I have $40m and a TL is half the fun, IMO. Provided, of course, that it doesn't take forever to get there.
Anyway, while you don't need to make everything as hard as Vanilla X3, you do need balance.
Bob |
| apricotslice wrote: | | BobSmalls wrote: | | If you don't balance the profitability of the various activities available to the player, or the utility of the ships, the player will simply use the best of what's available to him. e.g. he would never use any ship other than the Gunbus. |
This happens now anyway. People either use a Nova or a Mamba according to their style of play, the others seem to be used rarely. The Elephant is the choice of Sector Patrol, and it wasnt designed for that role, but is used that way by a high proportion of players.
The Gunbus is just an example of this taken further.
Players do choose the best for their play style and ignore everything else. The downside by the way of the Gunbus is a huge increase in price 
| Quote: | | It's fun taking on Pirate raiding parties in a Teladi Buzzard. |
Fun is a relative concept.
Fun for me is not getting killed because your shields are tissuepaper. But thats my flying style, I use the shields as part of my combat style.
| Quote: | | How about this for an elegant, simple mod to make the game faster: Lower the price of all ships, guns, and factories to about 20% of what they were. Suddenly, the player's every action is five times as profitable. Who knows, it may even become worthwhile to hunt pirates for the bounty. |
Yes. I did think of that originally, but had forgotten to mention it. Its not easy adjusting prices, since more than one variable makes the end price, but I did once achieve an appoximate 50% reduction, so its possible to do. Just time consuming and fiddly
| Quote: | | I do like the idea of being able to buy all the equipment even if you're at war with one or two of the races. |
I'd want to think about that one. My original idea was that if you can dock, you can buy. I think docking is controlled differently anyway.
But the object would be to ensure the essentials of jumpdrive, transporter and salvage insurance are available to everyone regardless of who your at war with. Probably through an independent station.
| Quote: | | Retention of X2 assets? Well, not my idea of fun. If you start me off with an M1 and a TL, I guarantee I'll sell the M1 for $40m, buy 13 UT SF, and start pulling in a million or two an hour of passive income. Getting to the point where I have $40m and a TL is half the fun, IMO. Provided, of course, that it doesn't take forever to get there. |
There is that.
It might be feasable to do several versions each giving a different start. These are after all just scripts, so the main mod can be in one file, and the starts in other files. Install the mod, and then install the start of choice.
Getting a TL at the start saves all that mucking around not being able to hire a TL. Getting a M1 at the start allows the capper to get them to market a lot more safely, and the trader to get new ships outfitted a lot easier.
Starting in a Gunbus means you have a safe ship for exploring in and learning to fight in. How much performance you give it is up to the player, and the full upgrade costs anopther 5 odd mil. Having a Camel as well alloys a UT to be deployed immediately.
Not sure how much credits to give the starter though. |
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CLICK HERE for : X3 Handbook; Guides; X3TC Apricot Mapping Service (Gunbus) Mod v1; X3TC Scripts; X3 Mods & Scripts.
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apricotslice
X3 Guide Guru
Joined: 21 Aug 2006
Posts: 639
Location: Mapping Beyond the Unknown Regions.
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apricotslice
X3 Guide Guru
Joined: 21 Aug 2006
Posts: 639
Location: Mapping Beyond the Unknown Regions.
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apricotslice
X3 Guide Guru
Joined: 21 Aug 2006
Posts: 639
Location: Mapping Beyond the Unknown Regions.
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apricotslice
X3 Guide Guru
Joined: 21 Aug 2006
Posts: 639
Location: Mapping Beyond the Unknown Regions.
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apricotslice
X3 Guide Guru
Joined: 21 Aug 2006
Posts: 639
Location: Mapping Beyond the Unknown Regions.
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| Posted: Thu Sep 14, 2006 9:00 pm Post subject: |
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LT's - change from a beam gun to a rapid bullet gun, like a PBE/Kyron.
| Augustini wrote: | | apricotslice wrote: | | Augustini wrote: | | Just changed the bullet type from "beam" to regular "bullet". |
Now theres a thought
I always wondered what was wrong with the LT guns. Thanks for pointing that out.
Edit : Was there anything special to do for changing the gun type that way ? I dont recall the word "beam" being in the spec file, so it must be a 1 or 0 thing in a particular place. I like the idea of changing them to a more powerful PBE. |
I use the latest version of the X3Editor. When editing the TBullets and viewing the LT bullet entry, at the very bottom there are checkboxes to select how the bullet reacts, just uncheck "beam" and there you have it... You've just increased the effectivity of your LT's by.... i don't really have a percentage here but trust me it's extremely effective.
In a little test, 20 LT's eated away the shield of a scripted in Titan testsubject in less than 30 seconds...  |
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Apricot Mapping Services HQ
CLICK HERE for : X3 Handbook; Guides; X3TC Apricot Mapping Service (Gunbus) Mod v1; X3TC Scripts; X3 Mods & Scripts.
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