Nemisis Mod - improved enemy carrier survivability

[Gnrl_Grad 1]

Whoops, that last upload had lots of debug messages left in. I've re-uploaded again, same download links, sorry about that.

[jureidinim 10]

LOL.. i was just about to report that. Also - I had started a new game and the enemy carrier spawned right at my location - instant fight.. lol.. I'll re-download the newer version but if all u did was remove the debug messages, maybe you can check on that (spawn at same location).

[Gnrl_Grad 1]

Yep sorry I forgot that too and some other things, the version I just uploaded should sort everything out. This is why quick releases are a bad idea :p

[Guest]

New version frontpaged on the Carriercommandaholic homepage.

Nemisis Mod v4.0

[Savant1974 1]

Woo hoo!

[jureidinim 10]

Got my first victory in a long time.. lol.. i'm sure its the loss of the super armor that allowed me to win :-)

I was playing at tech 2. Enemy carrier took two of my islands by the time i caught him (caught him as he was attempting island #3). I manually took charge of my mantas.. but still lost two as i got too close to his flak guns. My other two and my flak gun walrus destroyed his mantas. Eventually i was able to force his retreat.

I went after one of the islands he took from me and had to face scramblers. Trying to take the first, i lost my last two remaining mantas.

I led my four walruses (driving manually) on the great adventure and disabled three scramblers. I lost one walrus. I was heading to scrambler #4 when the alert came in that the enemy carrier had returned.

His mantas i destroyed with my one flak-walrus - by keeping the walrus right beside the carrier which gave it some cover from the air.. when a manta flew over hunting him, it would destroy it.

The other two walruses died.

Seems i got lucky and got his engines. His four walruses were in the water. I moved my carrier and crushed two of them. Then i parked my carrier between his last two walruses and my flak-walrus (which couldn't dock because my dock lifts were damaged).

Repaired the one dock lift to take in my walrus - refitted him with shells and sent it out to help pound on the enemy carrier.

Took awhile between those shells and my plasma gun.. but he was sunk.

It was fun - but i will note:

1) I know the enemy carrier "cheats" in taking islands. But does the presence of scramblers/etc slow him down further? He seems to just inhale my islands at a pretty fast pace. I think he should be hindered a little longer espescially on my strong islands or those with scramblers/shields/etc.

2) Not sure about other players - i know i'm just average - but i think he returns to fight a little too fast. Yes i lost my mantas and was using only walruses, but i was still taking ONE island after beating him and he returned from his stockpile fully armed while i was still on the ONE island. Not much time benefit received for beating him off.

3) Could you allow those messages sighting the carrier to happen throughout the game(rather than only at the end)? I think thats a neat feature that

can help the player strategize a little more.

Thanks for the great work on the mod :-)

[Gnrl_Grad 1]

1) I know the enemy carrier "cheats" in taking islands. But does the presence of scramblers/etc slow him down further? He seems to just inhale my islands at a pretty fast pace. I think he should be hindered a little longer espescially on my strong islands or those with scramblers/shields/etc.

I think his capture time mostly depends on the defence rating of the island. If he's attacking a strong island you usually have time to get him from a good distance. Sometimes you might need to make a sacrifice if you're half way through an island attack yourself and having to make that choice from time to time is part of the game. Although I have considered increasing capture time a bit but I haven't had a chance to properly experiment with it.

2) Not sure about other players - i know i'm just average - but i think he returns to fight a little too fast. Yes i lost my mantas and was using only walruses, but i was still taking ONE island after beating him and he returned from his stockpile fully armed while i was still on the ONE island. Not much time benefit received for beating him off.

This will depend a lot on how close his stockpile island is to the island you're attacking. The closer it is after a full retreat the quicker he'll be able come back to it or if it's very far away there's a good chance he'll attack a closer island instead. At least this is what is intended but after 1.05 I need to look at it again in more detail. He might need to receive less help after a retreat. Right now he receives some assisted repairs to engines and defence and some fuel. Perhaps it would be better if he only got some of this retreat assistance some of the time.

3) Could you allow those messages sighting the carrier to happen throughout the game(rather than only at the end)? I think thats a neat feature that

can help the player strategize a little more.

That's really just an aid to make finding him at the end of the game a bit easier. I think it might ruin or at least change the gameplay dramatically if it was available all the time, no more surprise attacks etc. So I don't think I'll change this in the mod but if want to try it out you can edit the classic_campaign.h file and change the code below...

		if (IslandsAPA < 1 && q_RedDragon.GetStatus() != OBJECTIVE_COMPLETE ){
		g_Game.AddMessage( "Reported sighting of enemy carrier near "+ PlayerAPA.GetCurrentIsland().GetName(), COLOR_RED, LMF_EMPIRE );
	}

to just

g_Game.AddMessage( "Reported sighting of enemy carrier near "+ PlayerAPA.GetCurrentIsland().GetName(), COLOR_RED, LMF_EMPIRE );

[jureidinim 10]

@Gnrl_Grad - for points 1) and 2) - looking forward to any tweaks you make

3) Thanks - i did the change - and i put it on a random number so it doesn't come up all the time. But i didnt realize it reports for every island - even enemy islands.... i thought it only reported for friendly islands. As it reports for all - i see what you mean about losing the surprise attack elements (although being on a random number alleviated that a little).

[Savant1974 1]

Just finished my first play-through, and it was a blast. Seriously, this mod should be rolled into the next official patch, its that essential to the experience. I'm properly hooked now :D

Can't think of any changes or improvements you'd need to make... yeah it's pretty solid as far as I'm concerned. Well done!

[Gnrl_Grad 1]

Thanks. I've got a new version in the works. It will re-introduce the modded armour but in a more considered way than before so it doesn't make things too tough on a weaker more damaged player. The time for enemy to capture one of your islands will be increased but just a little bit. He'll receive less fuel in modded assists and when he's defending an island the rate of manta reinforcements he receives mid battle will now also consider the players defensive strength. My aim is to balance it more so players starting with low tech and no or few carrier guns aren't at a huge disadvantage in early battles but that he will also be more formidable for stronger players. :) I've also made some adjustments so the full retreat works even more in sync with the normal flee.

[Tontow 1]

For the armor and extra fuel, when you go to set up the game, add a slider that mods how much he gets.

After all, that is the one thing you keep tweeking the heck out of. :)

Edit: oh, and add another for island capture rate. Actually, we could go crazy with the silders and make everything tweekable.

Edited February 28, 2013 by Tontow

[Gnrl_Grad 1]

I'll meet you half way (or some of the way): In the next version the enemy strength slider will effect the modded armour and some of the assists. Every notch up or down from normal will make it a bit tougher or weaker.

[Gnrl_Grad 1]

New version uploaded...

Again this version is intended for use with the current beta update 1.05.0004

v4.1

* Modded armour has been enabled again with changes

* Enemy strength slider in strategy game menu now effects modded armour and some assists

* More adjustments to bring full retreat in better sync with the normal flee

* Enemy manta reinforcements when defending enemy island now considers players defensive strength

* Enemy island capture time increased by approx 5%

* Reduced amount of fuel enemy carrier receives in modded assists

https://www.dropbox.com/s/imn4k6tzjern2ox/nemisismod.zip

[Guest]

New version frontpaged on the Carriercommandaholic homepage.

Nemisis Mod v4.1

[jureidinim 10]

Thanks for the updated mod!! :-)

[jureidinim 10]

Finished a game ... very nice :-) ... One thing though - the auto-resupply when he is at a friendly island needs a cap maybe. He was taking one of my islands, i timewarped to the island and reached a few seconds after he captured it - so now its a friendly island to him.

I engaged his returning mantas and destroyed them... then he respawned more manatas.. i destroyed those.. then more came...

I think i shot down over 15 mantas... He was continously resupplying mantas.

As fast as I killed them, he would launch four more. So eventually he won out as my forces were wiped out and he just kept spamming mantas.

Is there a way to set a limit on that?

Other than that - it was the longest game i ever had - that was my fourth engagement with him. Fun :-)

[Savant1974 1]

Ok just found a small problem - I started a new game, and had the misfortune of running into the carrier 3 times in pretty short order as we ran for the empty islands. Had three epic battles with basic (tech 1) equipment, but on the third encounter he did no retreat, and rather surprisingly blew up instead. He had no units at the time, and wasn't fully repaired from the last fight, so I expected him to retreat without trouble.

[Gnrl_Grad 1]

Thanks for trying the mod guys.

One thing though - the auto-resupply when he is at a friendly island needs a cap maybe. He was taking one of my islands, i timewarped to the island and reached a few seconds after he captured it - so now its a friendly island to him.

I engaged his returning mantas and destroyed them... then he respawned more manatas.. i destroyed those.. then more came...

I think i shot down over 15 mantas... He was continously resupplying mantas.

As fast as I killed them, he would launch four more. So eventually he won out as my forces were wiped out and he just kept spamming mantas.

Is there a way to set a limit on that?

Yes a last minute capture like that can really turn the tables in his favour :) There is a cap of sorts - if the player takes too much damage (I think it's about 50% damage) then he stops receiving mid-battle reinforcements but of course he could still have 4+2 mantas left at this time. He also receives them a rate that depends on the players defensive guns so for example if you have no aa deck guns he won't receive any but if you have all four flaks for example he will receive at highest rate etc. I'll test the damage cap and the rates some more.

Ok just found a small problem - I started a new game, and had the misfortune of running into the carrier 3 times in pretty short order as we ran for the empty islands. Had three epic battles with basic (tech 1) equipment, but on the third encounter he did no retreat, and rather surprisingly blew up instead. He had no units at the time, and wasn't fully repaired from the last fight, so I expected him to retreat without trouble.

Is it possible you fought him at his stockpile? He won't do a full retreat if you fight him at his stockpile. Other than that it should be very difficult to destroy him especially with lower tech weapons. Hitting him with a torpedo when he is very weak could destroy him or maybe a very heavy hit to his engines when he is overall very weak. What weapon(s) were you attacking him with when he blew up? Having said that I have just thought of something which should decrease the likelihood of an early kill even more, I'll include it in next update.

[jureidinim 10]

No problem in playing this mod - it makes the game so much more fun :-)

To your point - I did have one rear AA gun and one front AA gun. But they were eventually destroyed - and then there is that bug where the rear AA gun doesn't really engage (possibly unless you get both), so i was effectively fighting with only one. And his reinforcements didnt stop even when i was pretty much dead.. so not sure about that 50% cutoff working.. lol..

I don't know if this could be done - but if you capped his reinforcements from the carrier itself (make him get a few but then stop), could further reinforcements be spawned over the island and fly out to him? Maybe only one or two at a time - would make more sense coming in from his friendly island at the rate of a natural spawn time for those units from an island factory.

[Savant1974 1]

Is it possible you fought him at his stockpile? He won't do a full retreat if you fight him at his stockpile. Other than that it should be very difficult to destroy him especially with lower tech weapons. Hitting him with a torpedo when he is very weak could destroy him or maybe a very heavy hit to his engines when he is overall very weak. What weapon(s) were you attacking him with when he blew up? Having said that I have just thought of something which should decrease the likelihood of an early kill even more, I'll include it in next update.

I fought him in the middle of the sea, not near any islands, and I shot at him for over five minutes with the carrier's plasma cannon and walruses with lasers and grenade launchers. I also noticed the turrets blew up much more quickly than usual, so it seemed like your mod wasn't active at the time (even though I had fought it twice previously).

[Tontow 1]

Just ran into a big bug.

The AI carrier was completely inactive during all but the end of the game when I started to attack one of his islands - He did not take unowned islands and did not attack. Leaving me free to take all of the unowned islands. I know the mod was active because the flee movie kicked in.

[Savant1974 1]

Is anyone else noticing that the resupply barque frequently stops en-route? It seems to have trouble going around islands, and if the carrier is parked in the shallows it just can't get to it. Not sure if its the mod or the 1.5 patch...

[Gnrl_Grad 1]

I don't know if this could be done - but if you capped his reinforcements from the carrier itself (make him get a few but then stop), could further reinforcements be spawned over the island and fly out to him? Maybe only one or two at a time - would make more sense coming in from his friendly island at the rate of a natural spawn time for those units from an island factory.

Could probably be done but a lot more scripting involved than the current method.

I fought him in the middle of the sea, not near any islands, and I shot at him for over five minutes with the carrier's plasma cannon and walruses with lasers and grenade launchers. I also noticed the turrets blew up much more quickly than usual, so it seemed like your mod wasn't active at the time (even though I had fought it twice previously).

That really sounds like he was at his stockpile island, even if you are far out at sea the game always considers you or the enemy to be at whatever island is closest, so his stockpile could have been the closest island on that third battle. I've made some minor changes which will reduce the likelihood of a kill even more so long as it's not at his stockpile island.

Just ran into a big bug.

The AI carrier was completely inactive during all but the end of the game when I started to attack one of his islands - He did not take unowned islands and did not attack. Leaving me free to take all of the unowned islands. I know the mod was active because the flee movie kicked in.

I don't think anything in the mod would cause this. If anything the mod should increase the enemy carriers aggression and activity with resupply assists after retreats etc. But I'll keep an eye out for it happening and see if I can figure out what he's up to.

Is anyone else noticing that the resupply barque frequently stops en-route? It seems to have trouble going around islands, and if the carrier is parked in the shallows it just can't get to it. Not sure if its the mod or the 1.5 patch...

Yes I've noticed this too, it sometimes happened to me if I had my carrier around the other side of an island away from the dock. I'm pretty sure this has nothing to do with the mod as I've not changed anything barque related.

The mod should be in pretty good shape for the current game version so I'm just waiting for the next 1.05 update before doing any more with it.

[jureidinim 10]

I had reported the barque stopping issue on their feedback page back in the earlier patches (1.03 i think) - i saw it in the vanilla game when i reported it.

[Savant1974 1]

I hadn't seen it happen for ages, until this new patch, so it's probably related to that. I'm not going to stop using this mod to find out for sure tho :)