Space Empires Gold B5 Game (The Second)

[brianeyci]

I'm not to eager to play another B5 game lol. The only thing that's kept it alive has been the RP, and you can't really make that up from the beginning all over... we tried with ST Mod and it doesn't really work. I doubt the RP for any ST Mod game will be as good as the first time, ever.

The balancing and technology tree sucks for B5. The RP has been a crutch... a golden crutch but a crutch nonetheless. Without it any B5 game would fall apart.

A B5 mod would have to be designed from the ground up and sacrifice canonicity for balance to be interesting for me, but at the same time have enough B5 feel to be really B5. Pretty damn hard since the Vorlons and Shadows and Minbari are practically unstoppable in the show in terms of warships compared to the other YR.

You know what would be really interesting. A Stargate Mod. But unfortunately I don't watch enough Stargate, and even if I did SE:V's coming out so it's probably good to wait for that. A Stargate SE:V Mod with SG1 and SGA elements in it would be pretty kick ass.

Brian

[GuppyShark]

Err, the ST Mod game was billed as RP FREE. Of course RP didn't work.

[brianeyci]

When I say work I don't mean work as in it works to stop a person from annihilating another or playing to the best of their ability and using every trick up their sleeve and powergaming.

I mean work as in the RP in the second ST game was boring. I tried my best with the creative introduction, but when I read the RP again it seems boring somehow.

My point is that for B5 not to degenerate into the Vorlons and Shadows kill everything there has to be RP, and any second B5 RP thread would never live up to the first. So maybe B5 would have to be played like ST Mk. II, without RP, but without RP everybody with more powerful races just kills everybody weaker (no reason to play raiders!). So I can't see a second SDN B5 game working. I'm frankly surprised B5 went so far... B5's considered unplayable multiplayer in the SE:IV community I believe. Unless it's a brand new B5 mod designed from the ground up... SE:V should give a fresh chance for it .

Brian

[GuppyShark]

Unplayable huh? We should show them all three of our threads...

The RP in the ST game actually annoyed me a little because the initial game idea was to be non-RP. Especially when my neighbours started flinging me RP ingame messages.

That's the reason the Children of Tama and I fought - I refused to sit there and decrypt poetry.

And you don't know that a second RP thread wouldn't equal the first. Your only example was from a NON RP game.

Yeah, my comment about a second B5 game was a little facetious, but we could get a great SEV B5 RP game going.

[brianeyci]

I doubt the game would've worked without two friends playing the Shadows and Vorlons, and someone so cool playing the Minbari. And someone who held back on turn 20 (me, with 200 ships and troops next to a relatively defenseless EA and Narn).

The only way B5 would work is with game rules to restrict the more powerful races, and PBW's designed to facilitate games between strangers. And then there might be rules lawyering and the game would collaspe if you got an asshole playing the Vorlons and Shadows, or Minbari. Hell it nearly did between good friends. The main reason is the facilities take so damn long to build. Also I don't think people figured out the 300 shipyards thing. I'm pretty sure it's unplayable, at least competitively.

As for Star Trek, it's the most balanced mod yet, and it's easy to master. Had I gone the same strategy as I did last game instead of trying wierd shit, with quantums, the game would've been much different. And in Star Trek torpedoes kick ass, so anybody who researches torpedoes and a few pulse guns survives. But it's kind of boring now... the Warcraft syndrome. Every race's the same now, research torpedoes and phasers, a lot of torpedoes and a few phasers to deal with fighters and that's it. But because it's balanced it works without RP, while with B5 you need additional rules lawyering to balance out unequal races.

I much prefer Adamant, where if you get a powerful race, it's because of your own ingenuity during race creation. Although I think Adamant may suffer from the same torpedoes = uber problem like in ST as with nukes... go nuclear missiles and a few point defense guns dealing with fighters (if they did what Nova did with Graviton Hellbore fighters make sure to research tractor beams to pull them in) and you can't lose. Though I'm really glad that seekers kick ass in Adamant. I think in endgame Adamant direct fire might be more powerful (or what's the point of ECM, CS, Drugs, Combat Bridge, Flag Bridge, everything else?) but not sure. The Decoy Missile, 150 kT damage resistance, makes it hard to believe ships will ever mount enough point defense to deal with nukes, and even though missiles cost 100 supply, you just need a 3:1 or 2:1 ratio of reactors instead of 1:1 and it'll work out. Seekers take time to reload and don't get first shot though, so I might be wrong about them being the end all for the middle and late games. But it takes so damn long to the late game... I can't imagine getting effective direct fire ships before 200 nukers come up your ass and pound your planet/blockade it.

I think for a SE:V B5 Mod, the trick is to make it seem like the Vorlons/Shadows and Minbari are far more powerful, without making them more powerful. My idea is making YR races' ships far cheaper, so they build in a couple turns, and making the Vorlons/Shadows way more expensive, maybe a year for a ship. So you still get 1 Vorlon ship killing 10 YR ships, but the Vorlons can only build 1 while the EA makes 10 given everything else's equal. It would take a little balancing and playtesting though.

Brian

[GuppyShark]

SUCCESS!

Arthur, I've found the problem. Of all things, it was a simple Cargo Transfer. I urge everybody to be very cautious with the bloody things.

Oh, that's balls. When you test the turn it deletes all the old ones. I'm going to have to do it again.

[brianeyci]

Good shit.

Can you host it now. I want to take a look at the turn before I go to work . Link, link!

Brian

[GuppyShark]

Here.

The price - tell me how to get weapon SFX working. I just stumbled across the directory with the B5 weapon sounds. All this time I've been hearing weapons fire as the Windows Ding. Obviously there's a link problem somewhere... where can I stick these files so that the game will find them?

[brianeyci]

Windows Ding? Lol.

Maybe turn off the CD Music (option somewhere in the game). Not sure, there may be something to change in settings.txt... I never watch tactical combat anyway. Even on fast tactical it takes way too much time... I don't have a spare half an hour these days. May be a folder somewhere.

Brian

[Uraniun235]

B5 had such awesome weapon SFX in the series, the EA especially. They always had this nice throaty bass component to them... the bark of the rear guns of an Omega opening up in No Surrender, No Retreat, or the deep rumble underlining the shrill whine of a laser cannon, or the fucking roar of B5's Big Gun in The Fall of Night.

[Nephtys]

Sent my turn in.

Now everyone, I'll be gone for about 10 days. Em. I've set my empire on autopilot, as I don't do much anyway. I don't wanna return and see Minbar on fire or anything, mmmkay? Thanks!

[Uraniun235]

What about a party on Minbar? Can we have a party there?

(although, if someone were stupid enough to bring alcohol, I guess you probably would come back to find Minbar ablaze...)

[brianeyci]

So it begins. That is, I'll warp in a single ship through the wormhole and occupy the same sector as my Minbari "partners." Next, a combined Centauri/Dilgar/Corporate/Brakiri/Shadow fleet comes through. All the Minbari defense bases are out of position in the corner of the map and lose their tactical advantage of first shot. Meanwhile, dozens of small groups break off from the main battle to glass planets, confounding the AI who doesn't have any strategic sense at all.

Have a good vacation .

Brian

[brianeyci]

Hey U235.



Earth Alliance Ultra Weapons Level 4, Molecular Weapons 10. Molecular Weapons you get from Quantum Theory 2.

Brian

[brianeyci]

Get rid of your martini Tuxedo. The turn's ready for manual execution .

Brian

[GuppyShark]

Earth Alliance Ultra Weapons Level 4, Molecular Weapons 10. Molecular Weapons you get from Quantum Theory 2.Brian

That would be hilarious.

Today Earthforce announced a new class of warship, the Omega. It is armed with a new weapon, a 'molecular slicer'. A representative for the Shadows, who previously held a monopoly on this technology, had only this to say: "WTF HAX?!"

[brianeyci]

That would be hilarious.

It's no joke, at least not for Marxis. U235 can research that weapon, I checked.

I fully expect Earthforce to be second to only the Vorlons and Shadows once U235 fields ships like this.



And unlike the Vorlons or Shadows, U235's got the economy to make a thousand of them. The game's not ending any time soon and it'll only take 10-15 turns to get them even if he hasn't been researching them at all.

Tuxedo churn the turn so I can look at my new shiny fleet of super dreads!

Brian

[Kojiro]

I fully expect Earthforce to be second to only the Vorlons and Shadows once U235 fields ships like this.

So long as he's skipping armour and I don't have my shields he's going to whoop my ass, assuming I give him reason. Which I won't.

[brianeyci]

I fully expect Earthforce to be second to only the Vorlons and Shadows once U235 fields ships like this.

So long as he's skipping armour and I don't have my shields he's going to whoop my ass, assuming I give him reason. Which I won't.

Armor's leaky. It doesn't count as armor, but rather components with a lot of tonnage so SE:IV doesn't identify it as armor. The armor skipping ability only skips through the emissive armor's shield channeling ability (since there are no perfect armors aka components labeled armor in this mod), which means you've got it all backwards.

Non-emmisive armor's a lot more efficient for its weight anyway in this mod. Emissive armor is basically a really durable ST shield generator.

Still want your shields? .

Brian

[GuppyShark]

WHAT?!?!

[brianeyci]

WHAT?!?!

I didn't know until Nephtys told me.

Name := Heavy Armor Class 0
Description := A very high density slab of armor plating. It has the lowest total strength, but is extremely hard to pierce.
Pic Num := 725
Tonnage Space Taken := 7
Tonnage Structure := 45
Cost Minerals := 40
Cost Organics := 0
Cost Radioactives := 0
Vehicle Type := All
Supply Amount Used := 0
Restrictions := None
General Group := Armor
Family := 5301
Roman Numeral := 0
Custom Group := 0
Number of Tech Req := 3
Tech Area Req 1 := Inert Armor Physics
Tech Level Req 1 := 0
Tech Area Req 2 := Inert Armor Manufacturing
Tech Level Req 2 := 1
Tech Area Req 3 := Inert Armor Engineering
Tech Level Req 3 := 2
Number of Abilities := 1
Ability 1 Type := Resource Generation - Organics
Ability 1 Descr := Basic Hull Armor which is damaged before any other components
Ability 1 Val 1 := 0
Ability 1 Val 2 := 0
Weapon Type := None

Name := Armor I
Description := Standard titanium armor used to protect a ship from physical damage.
Pic Num := 28
Tonnage Space Taken := 10
Tonnage Structure := 30
Cost Minerals := 50
Cost Organics := 0
Cost Radioactives := 0
Vehicle Type := Ship\Base\Sat\WeapPlat\Drone
Supply Amount Used := 0
Restrictions := None
General Group := Armor
Family := 10
Roman Numeral := 1
Custom Group := 0
Number of Tech Req := 1
Tech Area Req 1 := Armor
Tech Level Req 1 := 1
Number of Abilities := 1
Ability 1 Type := Armor
Ability 1 Descr := Is damaged before any other components on a ship.
Ability 1 Val 1 := 0
Ability 1 Val 2 := 0
Weapon Type := None

As you can see B5 armor does not have the armor ability, while stock armor does. The armor skipping ability does not skip B5 leaky armor, but just the emissive armor ability. The B5 advanced armors are just like really tough ST shield generators, in that if you mount enough of them on a planet killer and you have say 500 shields you can completely negate some YR weapons. But if you do more than that, like how quantum or photons in ST do, then the advanced armor is worse than normal leaky armor in B5 just like putting a shitload of shield generators in ST is a waste against someone who uses a lot of torpedoes. Hence Tuxedo not using advanced armor on his warships anymore, and everybody should do the same if they expect to fight Minbari, Vorlon, Shadow or Centauri scum, and now even Earthers now that they've got light slicer beam with 800 damage.

One piece of advanced armor is good, again a NephtysTM hint, since it stops pesky 40 move boarding ships from getting in when it gives you 25 shields (better than slapping in 10 security stations!). Now when she comes back, I expect all of you to have a sacrifice for her.

<edit>When I talk about emissive armor above, I'm talking about the B5 emissive armor, not the stock emissive armor.

Name := Emissive Armor (Primary)
Description := Armor plating designed to rapidly re-emit any absorbed impact energy in order to reduce damage.
Pic Num := 751
Tonnage Space Taken := 15
Tonnage Structure := 100
Cost Minerals := 650
Cost Organics := 0
Cost Radioactives := 0
Vehicle Type := All
Supply Amount Used := 0
Restrictions := One Per Vehicle
General Group := Armor
Family := 5401
Roman Numeral := 0
Custom Group := 0
Number of Tech Req := 3
Tech Area Req 1 := Passive Armor Physics
Tech Level Req 1 := 5
Tech Area Req 2 := Emissive Armor Manufacturing
Tech Level Req 2 := 1
Tech Area Req 3 := Emissive Armor Engineering
Tech Level Req 3 := 0
Number of Abilities := 3
Ability 1 Type := Shield Generation From Damage
Ability 1 Descr := Reduces damage from weapons by 25 ADU.
Ability 1 Val 1 := 25
Ability 1 Val 2 := 0
Ability 2 Type := Shield Generation
Ability 2 Descr := Can withstand 25 ADU hits without damage.
Ability 2 Val 1 := 25
Ability 2 Val 2 := 0
Ability 3 Type := Shield Regeneration
Ability 3 Descr :=
Ability 3 Val 1 := 25
Ability 3 Val 2 := 0
Weapon Type := None

Compare to the Star Trek shield generators.

Name := Shield Generator I
Description := Generator which creates an energy field around a starship preventing damage.
Pic Num := 31
Tonnage Space Taken := 20
Tonnage Structure := 10
Cost Minerals := 100
Cost Organics := 25
Cost Radioactives := 50
Vehicle Type := Ship\Base\Sat\WeapPlat\Drone
Supply Amount Used := 0
Restrictions := None
General Group := Shields
Family := 11
Roman Numeral := 1
Custom Group := 0
Number of Tech Req := 1
Tech Area Req 1 := Shields
Tech Level Req 1 := 1
Number of Abilities := 3
Ability 1 Type := Shield Generation
Ability 1 Descr := Generates [%ShieldPointsGenerated] shield points.
Ability 1 Val 1 := 30
Ability 1 Val 2 := 0
Ability 2 Type := Shield Generation From Damage
Ability 2 Descr := 5 points of damage per hit will be channeled into the shields.
Ability 2 Val 1 := 5
Ability 2 Val 2 := 0
Ability 3 Type := AI Tag 07
Ability 3 Descr :=
Ability 3 Val 1 := 0
Ability 3 Val 2 := 0
Weapon Type := None

The ability is the same. So just like neutrino beams can beat super shields in ST, Shadow beams can beat tons of advanced armor, but not normal armor. It sucks, I know. And it's not really giving anything away Gups, since everybody's using normal armor anyway and our Minbari and Vorlon counterparts have already figured it out (the Vorlons don't have emissive armor at all I assume)

Shadow beams are still more powerful than all YR weapons anyway even if they cant' skip leaky armor.
</edit>

Brian

[GuppyShark]

This looks like a bug to me.

Ability 1 Type := Resource Generation - Organics
Ability 1 Descr := Basic Hull Armor which is damaged before any other components

WTF?

[brianeyci]

This looks like a bug to me.

Ability 1 Type := Resource Generation - Organics
Ability 1 Descr := Basic Hull Armor which is damaged before any other components

WTF?

It's not a bug. It's a scam. Leaky armor implementation means that the armor's not damaged before any other components but distributed by chance among all the components. Components with the most damage resistance get damaged first, aka armor, while components with the least get damaged last. So structural supports can hold together a ship that's completely annihilated, while heavy armor stops shots from destroying those capital ship batteries and medium armor's the best of both worlds. Oh, so massive mounts may not be such a great idea, since they get taken out first before smaller weapons, but the damage increase is so great it's probably worth having a 300 kT weapon that does 800 damage (also you need to do that much damage to get through pesky advanced armors).

The best is probably a combination of structural supports, light armor, medium armor and heavy armor, but I haven't figured out the golden ratio and I don't intend to since heavy armor stops more shots so less weapons get damaged and the ship can keep shooting longer, as opposed to the ship merely staying together longer if I use a mix. I had a saved game earlier for download with 50 designs in it showing the advantages of mixed light/medium/heavy, but nobody looked at it I suppose .

If the Shadows and Vorlons really want shields they research Physics 2 Chemistry 2 and Armor 2 just like everybody else to get passive armor physics. Although if you do it now I suggest you just research one level of passive armor physics to get one piece with let's say 10 shields, just to stop boarders, since advanced armor is a waste compared to heavy armor class 6 now that everybody does over 600 damage (you can't fit more than 600 shields on a planet killer and that's with everything else stripped out).

If you want to max out armor, get Inert Armor Manufacturing 5, Inert Armor Physics 1 and Inert Armor Engineering 3 for Heavy Armor Class 6A and it's done. Getting Class 6F is stupid, since it's so much damn research and you only decrease the cost instead of increasing the strength. And the Vorlons and Shadows can get it too, I just checked.

If none of this makes sense to you... just know the more damage resistance a component has more likely it is to get damaged, and that's how the leaky armor works. Unless the component has the armor ability, which means it's damaged first no matter what. So structural supports are good only for holding the ship together, light armor is good for protecting delicate electronics, medium armor for bigger shit like engines, and heavy armor for the huge stuff like massive weapons batteries and reactors.

The whole point of leaky armor being, that if someone stabs your leg, your leg bleeds intead of your clothes magically absorbing everything until the guy rips all your clothes apart.

Brian

[brianeyci]

As for the way leaky armor works I have not read enough or simulated enough to figure it out (it'd take a LOT of sims I imagine). But I think we can figure it out just from looking at it. Let's take that Excalibur I designed.

Damage Resistances
Military Ship - 2 kT
Bridge - 10 kT
4x Life Support - 10 kT x 4
4x Crew Quarters - 10 kT x 4
Agile Ship - 5 kT
Multiplex Tracking - 10 kT
Basic ECM - 10 kT
Advanced ECM - 10 kT
Elite ECM - 10 kT
Basic CS - 10 kT
Advanced CS - 10 kT
Elite ECM - 10 kT
30x Ultraefficient Gravimetric Engine V - 30 kT x 30
2x Heavy Gravimetric Reactor - 20 kT x 2
10x Massive Mounted Light Molecular Slicer Beam - 165 kT x 10

Now we have choices to armor (all class 6)
Structural Support - 5 kT
Light Armor - 15 kT
Midrande Armor - 37 kT
Heavy Armor - 75 kT

So to fully armor a ship, that is cover every single component, I imagine I'd need

2x Structural Support (for the military quarters and agile ship)
16x Light Armor (for everything < 15 kT)
32x Midrange Armor (for the engines and reactor)

Now we have a problem. How to armor the massive LMS that are 165 kT, too big for even the 75 kT Heavy Armors. Luckily the Emissive Armor Alternate and Emissive Armor Additional components are 300 kT a piece. So maybe if we can fit in 10 pieces of Emmisive Armor Additionals or Alternates (I knew there was a reason for these), we can fully protect the weapons on the ship.



So there you go a fully armored ship with every component protected. Well almost, it's missing one, but honestly you can get away of 1 of each type, just that I want to make it 50/50 that a weapon damages either the component or the armor. You can add in more structural supports to hold the ship together once it's entirely blasted apart and there's nothing left, but I doubt it's worth it.

Obviously if you want the ratio higher, like you want the engines and reactors to be never damaged, you can slap in 64 medium armors for 66/33 chance that the shot will damge the armor rather than the engines, or even more medium armors, but you'll never reach zero. And if you armor one type of component more, other components become more vulnerable.

Brian

[brianeyci]

I found the leaky armor mod readme!

________________________________________________________________________________

ModWorks Leaky Armor Concept Mod
________________________________________________________________________________

Authors: Fyron and Suicide Junkie
Version: 1.0
Date: 28 July 2005
E-mail: modworks at spaceempires dot net
Game: Space Empires IV Gold
________________________________________________________________________________

Table of Contents

1) Introduction
2) Leaky Armor Theory
3) File Modifications
4) Credits
5) License
________________________________________________________________________________

1) Introduction

This mod is a practical implementation of the Leaky Armor modding concept for
the game Space Empires IV Gold, by Malfador Machinations
(http://www.malfador.com/).

The mod was created as part of a series of such mods for SpaceEmpires.net
ModWorks (http://modworks.spaceempires.net/). Visit ModWorks to find more such
mods or to get more help on the concepts illustrated in this mod.
________________________________________________________________________________

2) Leaky Armor Theory

Background:
===========================
Have you ever wondered why all armor on your ship, no matter which facing it is
on, must be completely vaporized before any damage can be done to internal
components (other than from armor skipping weapons)? The solution to this
conundrum is leaky armor. Leaky armor is armor in the sense that it protects
your ship from physical harm. However, it is not armor in the sense that it does
not have the Armor ability. It will protect from some weapon hits, and not
protect against others. Some hits will leak through the armor layer to damage
internal components. Thus, there is no magic wall to be penetrated as with
normal armor. Leaky type armor first appeared in the Pirates & Nomads mod, in
the form of Bucky-Tube Gel Plating.

How it works mechanically:
===========================
No component with the Armor ability will protect you from weapons with the Skips
Armor or Skips Shields and Armor damage types. Leaky armors treat armor-skipping
weapons as normal weapons, as there is no armor layer to pierce. Components with
the Armor ability are only damaged by armor skipping weapons once there are no
other components left intact on the ship that do not have the armor ability.

When a weapon hits a ship, it will first face the shield layer. If there are no
shield generators, or no shield points, the damage goes to the components of the
ship. If there are any components with Armor ability, they will be hit first.
But, if the weapon was one with armor-skipping damage, such as Shard Cannons,
then the damage will completely bypass the Armor layer and damage "internals,"
where internals are any components that do not have the Armor ability. Only the
Armor ability makes a component act like "armor."

If a ship has "leaky armor" components, they are not actually "armor" because
they do not have the Armor ability. They are treated exactly like other
internals. The reason that we use the term "leaky armor" is because having some
beefed up components (lots of hit points) without the Armor ability makes them
act similar to armor, except that some shots will not hit them but hit other
internals instead. So instead of complete absorption by the Armor, you have
partial absorption by the leaky armor.

A note on abilities:
===========================
Armor-skipping damage has one role, to bypass the Armor layer. Or, in other
words, those components with the Armor ability. However, testing has shown a few
other side effects. The abilities of Shields From Damage and Emissive Armor do
not get triggered by weapon shots with the armor-skipping damage type. Both of
these abilities will function when any component gets hit, even if that
component does not have that ability. This is why combining stock Armor and
Emissive Armor works. Any shot from a regular weapon that hits any armor
component will be emissed by so many damage points. The same occurs with
Crystalline Armor, which has the shields from damage ability. If you assign
either of these abilities to an internal component, then that ability will be
triggered when any component on the ship is damaged. Whether it is internal or
armor is irrelevant. But, their effects do not get triggered from weapon damage
of the armor-skipping type. So, if you mod in an internal component that has the
Shields From Damage ability (such as leaky shields as in some mods), no shields
will be added from the damage occurred by an armor-skipping weapon (such as
Shard Cannons).

Implementation:
===========================
To implement leaky armor, create a component that has no abilities. Give it more
structure (hit points) than the average internal ship component has. This way,
it is more likely to be hit first than other internal components. If the average
component has 10 hit points, then leaky armor with 15 hit points will have a
good chance of being hit first. But, a lot of shots will still hit other
internals.

Since the only purpose of leaky armor is to absorb damage, it should have a much
higher structure to space taken ratio than other components. If it does not,
then those other components might end up as being better leaky armor than your
new armor! The exact values are up to you, but I would recommend as a bare
minimum that all leaky armor components have at least 2 times the structure to
space taken ratio as most internals do. In stock SE4, most internals have a
ratio of either 1:1 or 2:1 (engines being those with 2:1). So, 4:1 is a good
minimal ratio for your leaky armor

Complexity:
===========================
You can implement a system where there is just one type of leaky armor. Or, you
can implement a system with multiple types, to create more strategic diversity.
Let's take a system with two types of leaky armor as an example. Light Armor is
1 kiloton in size and has, say, 20 structure (hit points). Heavy Armor is 10
kilotons in size and has 100 structure.

In this system, the Light Armor has twice as many hit points per kiloton of
space taken as the Heavy Armor. This means that it should create ships much
stronger than Heavy Armor can, right? Well, not quite. Even though the Light
Armored ships can take a lot more damage, you will find that the heavy armored
ships tend to win more often. This is because weapon hits are more likely to
strike a component of Heavy Armor than other internal components with the HA
ship than they are to strike a component of Light Armor than an internal on a LA
ship. The large amount of hit points that the Heavy Armor has individually gives
it a greater chance to be struck. So while the LA ships can take more damage
overall, they tend to be more leaky, so vital internals (engines, weapons) tend
to be struck more quickly than they do on the HA ships. The Heavy Armor has more
hit points than any (unmounted) weapon, after all. Of course, it turns out that
the best design is a combination of LA and HA.

Using this example, you can create complex armor systems. More complexity (to a
point) means that there are more strategic options when designing and employing
your ships. This in turn leads to a greater depth of game play. Of course, you
should avoid going overboard. 12 different types of armor (not levels, but
different types entirely) would probably be too many.

"Leaky Armor" by Nolan Kelly (Imperator Fyron), February 23, 2004.
________________________________________________________________________________

3) File Modifications

Armor in Components.txt were modified:
- Armor ability removed from all Armor type components.
- AI Tag 01 ability added to Armor I-III, which can be used for AI ship
designs.
- Size of Armor I-III reduced to 2 kT. Hit points of each set to double
value over stock.
- Size of Organic Armor reduced to 5 kT. Cost divided by 6 to scale with
size.
- Size of Crystalline Armor reduced to 5 kT. Cost divided by 6 to scale with
size. Shields from damage rate of CA divided by 5.
- Structure of Emissive Armor I-III doubled to maintain more hit points per
component than Armor I-III, as in stock SEIV.

The following is a chart of the structure / tonnage (HP/kT) ratios of all
armors:

Comp Size HP HP/kT
Armor I 2 60 30
Armor II 2 70 35
Armor III 2 80 40
EA I 20 60 3
EA II 20 80 4
EA III 20 100 5
OA I 5 100 20
OA II 5 125 25
OA III 5 150 30
CA I 5 100 20
CA II 5 125 25
CA III 5 150 30
Stealth I 30 100 3.33
Stealth II 30 100 3.33
Stealth III 30 100 3.33
Scatter I 50 150 3
Scatter II 50 150 3
Scatter III 50 150 3

Note that the heavier weapon mounts make ships extremely vulnerable to damage.
In any practical leaky armor system, you should consider replacing them with
mounts that do not massively up-scale damage, but instead make interesting
changes and tradeoffs. Also, the heavy mounted guns become more vulnerable to
damage, due to having more comparable hit points per kiloton as the leaky
armors.

Note further that this leaky armor system has been implemented for ships and
bases. Units will become much harder to destroy now. The leakiness of armor does
not apply to units in any way due to units not taking any sort of partial damage
to components. In any practical leaky armor system, you will probably want to
make the leaky armor only available to ships and bases and create new armor
components with more reasonable hit points for the units.

Leaky Armor systems are naturally complemented by Leaky Shield systems. Most
mods that implement one scheme will also implement the other.
________________________________________________________________________________

4) Credits

The Leaky Armor system in this mod was based on the system designed by Suicide
Junkie. The documentation was written by Fyron. Both are used with full
permissions. The mod was compiled for use by Fyron.
________________________________________________________________________________

5) License

Space Empires IV Gold (SEIV) is copyright by Malfador Machinations
(http://www.malfador.com).

The mod is a practical implementation of an advanced modding concept for the
game SEIV.

The mod was created as part of a series of such mods for SpaceEmpires.net
ModWorks (http://modworks.spaceempires.net/). Visit ModWorks to find more such
mods or to get more help on the concepts illustrated in this mod.

The mod is provided for purely educational purposes. You are free to take the
modifications made by this mod and use them in your own SEIV mod. You are free
to alter them in any way you see fit.
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So it looks like my idea, of combining heavy and light armors in ratios to protect every single component, is a good idea.

Also I confirmed, leaky armor doesn't work on units. So every unit should always use light armor, if you want it to be the most durable, and only heavy armor if you find the light armor makes it too expensive.

Brian