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Cosmic War

Cosmic War mod Version 2.0 (Ubermod)

Moderator: JC Denton

Cosmic War mod Version 2.0 (Ubermod)

Unread postby icycalm » 26 Dec 2020 04:52

Designed by icycalm
Programmed by Robomoo

We used to call this mod "Insomnia Legion", and we used to have other threads to talk about it, but it's been a long time since then, the game has undergone considerable changes, and we want to build the mod from scratch, one change at a time, and with many new ideas, so we'll be using a new thread. And we'll be calling the mod "Cosmic War" from now on, or "Ubermod" for short.

So first things first. You don't need the mod if you'll be participating in our events. Only the person hosting the lobby needs to have it, and everyone else automatically downloads it when they join his lobby. And since I'll be hosting almost all our events, you don't have to worry about it. You only need the mod if you'll be playing in King of the Planet and have to host when I am not around, or if you just want to play random games with people with the mod of course. For those cases, get the mod from here: http://cosmicwar.net/mods/com.pa.ubermod-megaserver.zip

[This version superseded by later version. Scroll down. -icy]

Once you've downloaded it, extract the zipped folder to a folder with an identical name. Then place the unzipped folder in the following location, replacing "icycalm" with your username on your computer:

C:\Users\icycalm\AppData\Local\Uber Entertainment\Planetary Annihilation\server_mods\

Note that if the folder \server_mods\ doesn't exist, you must create it.

Note also that the AppData folder is hidden by default in Windows, so in Windows Explorer you have to go to "View" at the top and tick on the "Hidden items" option to see the folder.

Once the mod is in the correct folder, launch PA, go to the "COMMUNITY MODS" menu, and then the "INSTALLED" tab. If you've done everything correctly, you should see the "Ubermod" listed there. Activate it, by clicking on it and then "ENABLE" at the bottom of the screen. And that's it. You can now host lobbies with the Cosmic War mod.

In the next post, I will list the changes we've made, and in the post after it I'll explain why we made them, and what precisely we're trying to achieve with them.

Every week or every couple of weeks we'll be making more and more changes to the game via this mod, so if you'll be taking part in our events you'll need to keep an eye on this thread so you don't get blindsided in the game, as many of the changes will be quite radical. Also, if you'll be hosting King of the Planet lobbies, bear in mind that you'll have to keep updating your version of the mod whenever we make changes. So, again, you'll need to keep checking this thread religiously.
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icycalm
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Unread postby icycalm » 26 Dec 2020 05:30

List of Cosmic War mod/Ubermod changes:

  • Jig metal production nerfed from 30 to 15 (same as a T2 mex), and energy production nerfed from 7,500 to 0
  • Tyr added
  • Helios and Tyr are no longer permanently visible
  • Commander no longer has system-wide orbital vision
  • Orbital and Deep Space Radar added as Titan building, with metal cost same as the Ragnarok's, health 7,500 (half the Ragnarok's) and power draw 20,000 (about four T2 pgens)
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icycalm
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Unread postby icycalm » 26 Dec 2020 05:59

Jig nerf: My goal with the Jig nerf is to make the Jig (and by extension the gas giant) just another way of getting metal, instead of THE way to get metal, when there's a gas giant in the system. I do not want every system with a gas giant to degenerate to a gas giant rush. I want gas giants to enrich a system with extra possibilities, not to impoverish them by becoming the ONLY possibility. In the old Insomnia Legion mod, we accomplished this just fine by drastically reducing the Jig's metal production, and by slashing its energy production to zero. There's no reason for the Jig to produce energy when there are so many other ways to produce energy in the game, including orbital Solar Arrays. So now the Jig produces as much metal as a T2 mex, but it costs twice as much to make. This makes sense because first of all the Jig is in orbit, so it must be harder to build than a ground structure, and also because on a gas giant you don't need to look for metal spots, and you can just lay down row upon row of Jigs. That's a MASSIVE advantage, and the way you compensate for it is by making the Jig harder to make, ergo more expensive. All things told, I am sure we've solved the Jig problem now. We might end up playing around with the metal production figure at some point, but I doubt even that will be necessary: keeping it equal to a T2 mex is probably the optimal balancing point.

Tyr addition: The Tyr is the coolest unit in the game, bar none. We might end up having to make it more expensive for this reason. In the old Insomnia Legion mod, we did end up making it quite a bit more expensive, and people still pumped them out. For now, we're sticking with the original Legion cost, but after a few Wars we'll re-evaluate, and probably make it more expensive.

Helios and Tyr visibility: In vanilla Titans and Legion, these units are always magically visible from across a star system, the moment they are built, even if you have absolutely nothing beyond your commander. Fuck that lame shit. Build visibility options, or perish by these terrifying units without even being able to see what they are doing to you.

Commander orbital omniscience and the Orbital and Deep Space Radar: There is an ongoing saga around this sorry issue going back half a decade. I've already said all there is to say about it in an article and a forum post, so I won't repeat myself here. Just go read these links:

http://cosmicwar.net/pages/features/wha ... a-needs-it
https://culture.vg/forum/topic?p=33142#p33142

In sum, neither Uber, nor mikey have the faintest clue of how to deal with orbital visibility and radar. But I do. My changes to the mechanics allow for exciting clandestine early-game orbital rushes, and punish in the mid- and late-game players who fall behind in orbital radar efforts, while elevating the Orbital and Deep Space Radar to the level of a Titan building, which is what it should have been from the start given how OP it is. It is now extremely expensive to build, and guzzles down energy, but is now quite durable when attacked.


And that's what we've got for now. The first version of the new Cosmic War mod adds the most exciting unit to the game, and quickly solves the game's two biggest problems: the OP Jig/gas giant, and the crummy orbital visibility and radar mechanics.

We have more exciting changes coming soon, possibly even next week, or if not definitely the week after, so keep an eye on this thread, and have fun testing all these changes out. Any comments and ideas, post them here, or if you don't have posting privileges in the forum, post them in the PA Discord channel.
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Ubermod 1.1

Unread postby icycalm » 02 Jan 2021 02:41

We have a new version of Ubermod. Make sure you're using this when hosting King of the Planet lobbies. If you have the previous version installed, you should disable it before enabling the latest one.

Ubermod 1.1: http://cosmicwar.net/mods/com.pa.ubermo ... er-1.1.zip

List of changes:

  • Kaiju can now use Teleporters
  • Teleporter renamed to Stargate

Both these changes were taken from existing mods on CMM. Normally, I would have just used those mods, but they both contain little errors that there's no way to fix because mikey and the PA scene in general are uncooperative, especially when it comes to errors they've made. So I just folded the mods into our own and fixed stuff myself (i.e. I asked Robo to do all this).

The original mods are called "Kuiju can use teleporters" (from 2017) and "Stargate Name Bug Fix" (from 2015). Their errors are both cosmetic; the first has the unit's name wrong in the mod's name (and we'd be seeing it in the lobby server mod box every time we made a lobby if I hadn't fixed it), and the second has an awkwardly phrased unit description for the Stargate in the build bar, which again I fixed.

We'll have more, and more substantive changes next week or the week after. But for now I thought it'd be nice to add these cool little mods to our latest build.
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