BuckGodot

I know I'm droning on and on about this, but the more I think about it, the less I am worried about it. Currently, the cost for the single available mercenary transport is: 1200 credits 1 durantium 1 antimatter. Finding the merc base. Now antimatter is the rarest of all the resources, I believe. I just don't think there will be all that many cases where someone will get knocked out before Turn 10 or 15 because of this. Clearl

Actually, now that I think about it, [b]how IS[/b] the resource requirement for mercenaries handled? Looking over the XMLs, I don't see an obvious definition there. Credit cost? Yes. Resource requirement? Not as much. Which makes sense, I suppose, given that resources are tied to map settings. Still, this might not be as obvious fix as I thought. Unless the resource requirement is hardcoded somewhere and/or I'm just missing an obvi

[quote who="Achronous" reply="93" id="3619039"] Hah! And watch it culture flip the next turn [e digicons];)[/e] [/quote] In the extreme early game before one settles a second or third colony (which is the point of contention here), I don't think that would really be a consideration. ;) Still, if we do think this is really a problem then this (or something like it): [quote]I think balance of resources seems to be the way forward. 1 Thulium<

[quote who="Achronous" reply="88" id="3619032"] I definitely see your point. My only problem is that you can completely wipe out an enemy with a transport, but not with a colony ship. [/quote] OK, how's this as a balance fix. Up the resource requirement so it isn't easily obtainable in the very very early game, even if one does find the merc base very early. Make it a spread of resources, perhaps, so people who get the free three constr

[quote who="Rhonin_the_wizard" reply="89" id="3619033"]I'm having a hard time telling apart unexplored stars from the background under the fog of war when playing as the Torians. Change their color do a less darker shade of green would help.[/quote] Seconding this. On my setup it was almost impossible for me to see the unexplored stars unless I was looking directly at them. And even then it was hard to make out.

OK. but how is this any different from unlocking a colony ship that can terraform Tier One Extreme Worlds? It isn't, as far as I am concerned. Yet what's the point of hiring a merc when one [b]DOES[/b] have Planetary Invasion or Extreme World Colonization. Or can reserch it in a matter of turns (since both are early in the Age of War tech trees). No, that's what makes those mercs special in my eyes. 'sides, there's only the one of each type (as fa

IMO, getting one free (non unique) improvement per colonization is fairly more OP than three water tiles empire wide over the course of the entire game on anything medium size or above. On the flip, Aquatic races get free Ultimate Adatability for Aquatic Worlds which is amazing for them and might be OP on its own. On the flip again, Aquatic life support is really limited, so that helps balance that out (along with the rairty of Aquatic worlds). On the flip for a third time,

[quote who="Achronous" reply="81" id="3618994"] Perhaps Mercenary transport ships should be locked until you research Planetary Invasion. [/quote] Well, one of the major points about mercenaries is that you [b]CAN[/b] buy things before you can research them. If possible, just make it so the initial random merc ship isn't the transport one. Problem solved. If not? Eh, it shouldn't come up enough times for it to matter that much in the grand scheme

Finished the campaign about an hour ago or so. Would have liked it to be two or three missions, since it is an expansion and not "just" a DLC, but oh well. Not going to complain too hard. :) As for the campaign, I liked it because it was a bit different than the other ones. Mainly that one needs to hire mercenaries to really have a chance at winning. Unless one is an uber-talented player, I suppose. Or

Not being able to retreat is an intentional design decision, mostly because this is a turn based game. If one was able to retreat all that would happen is that it would soak up movement points as I/your opponent attacked you over and over again on the same turn to get the stragglers that "escaped". It really wouldn't do all that much aside from that unless one implemented a Ship Can Attack Once Per Turn mechanic. And [b]THAT[/b] I assure you would lead to far more compla

You know, I just had something of an evil thought. I wonder just how the Snathi Scavenger ability will work when they attack mercenaries. Even if I have to pay the resource "upkeep" for the merc (and I don't know if I do or not), I like to think of it as them buying my future mercs for me! [e digicons]}:)[/e] Also makes me wonder what happens when one buys a merc via the Trade window and if they can be upgraded or not. So so so many avenues

[quote who="Ex Mudder" reply="73" id="3618870"] I made a custom aquatic race, and I don't have aquatic life support modules, but I did get the +25% to my home planets. When I swapped to the Torian tech tree I got Aquatic Support.[/quote] Yes, I suppose I should have clarified and said "use Torian tech tree". Does seem to be a bit of an interesting loophole for anyone that uses Aquatic as a trait then.

[quote who="Achronous" reply="66" id="3618852"] Could you make Pearl not a Water planet: All other little planets are colonizable by everyone so the Torians can miss out an enemy colonizing that planet (and then getting it for free). Well it's only fair! [e digicons];P[/e] [/quote] I would be against this only because it being a water planet lets the Torians use their +25% Raw Production/Morale/Tourism bonus on the planet. Since they're getting put at an disa

[quote who="Rhonin_the_wizard" reply="56" id="3618834"]I'm liking the mercenaries. Though I would prefer in the Bazaar for the locked ones to be hidden until the appropriate tech age has been reached. [/quote] Did you get your free merc in the campaign as the Torians? I don't think I received one. At least I can't find a "Commander Wassaloo" anywhere in my ship listings. EDIT::: Ah, I see. I get him on the next turn. Bit o

Is the restriction of one per ship for aquatic life support modules* for Torian/Aquatic factions ship intentional? Seems a bit harsh for them, especially on larger maps. * Though one can still stack aquatic life support modules, they just have to be of a different type. *checks a bit more* Ah. I suppose it is a bit of a balancing thing for the faction overall since they get Ultimate Adaptability (+25% Raw Production/Morale/Tourism) for Aquatic Planets on T

On a bit of a roll today. ;p The Governance (Diplomatic) tech tree for the Torians in the Campaign is broken, as it is starting with the Tech Universal Translator instead of Governance. This is leading to misplaced/repeated techs all along the tree. Here is a screenshot of what I am talking about: [img]http://i.imgur.com/2A54kbb.jpg[/img] Since I'm not sure if this is a pure XML error, I am sending in a ticket on this and will edit in the ticket number shor

Found this while looking over changes to the tech trees over the weekend: In all previous versions of the game, the Generic Tech Tree (TechDefs.xml) had the following tech: GenericLifeSupport LifeSupport GenericLifeSupport_Name Generic_Tree GenericLifeSupport_ShortDec</ShortDes

As it says on the tin. :) >> Checking the XML file, it appears all three Aquatic Biosphere improvements have been set to Player Wonder instead of Colony Unique. Not going to post all three improvements, but here is a sample of part of the first improvement: AquaticBiospheres1 <Disp

*checks* Confirmed. Have Merc in my DLC slot. [e digicons]:thumbsup:[/e]

Good News, Everyone! /Prof Farsworth I've gone ahead and converted [b]BOTH[/b] versions of this mod for 1.5 (though it isn't prettified or ready for release quite yet). :) Even better, it looks like the changes in the tech trees for 1.6 will be minimal, so I can plug those changes directly into the mod and release it when 1.6/Merc goes wide. Found a way to automate some of the steps I make when I convert the tech trees from scratch for the Generalized ver

You might have called this a little early. :p

[quote who="Tooonz" reply="25" id="3618551"] hmmm, is there a change log for 1.6 anywhere? If we don't have Mercenaries it would at least be nice to have a list of things we could be looking for in the update. [/quote] Not yet, no. Probably because it isn't an "offical" opt-in. Already saw a fair amount of changes. The Starbase Exclusion radius dropping from 5 to 4 might be the biggest, along with Max Coercion being bumped up to 50% . Map ge

[quote who="Old-Spider" reply="21" id="3618538"]I didn't think of this and just started a game with my regular settings. I was only using race mods, but I don't know what all they changed. I started with my usual settings and the galaxy I got had habitable planets everywhere, resources everywhere, relics everywhere, black holes everywhere - you get the idea. I have turned off mods and will start a new game. I did notice that the list of resources a

[quote who="Chibiabos" reply="15" id="3618530"] Wait, there's no Founder's badge on your profile I see. Were you still able to get the code to work? I would think that's a bug to Founder's early access, unless Brad intended to go by the honor system on a public forum post with the password. [/quote] The Founders Badge reappears and disappears at random for some reason at the moment. Trust me when I say I shelled out the money to be an e

BTW, I've already discovered a couple of errors in the XMLs for 1.6 (might as well look them over, no? ;P). Should I go ahead and flag them in the Support forum or should I do it here or via ticket?