The Official GBX Balance Mod is packed full of new and improved ship stats, behaviors, AI, abilities, feedback, and mod support. You can download the mod here: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=505794452. Changes and updates to the mod are also documented here.
Updates
August 24, 2015
BIG NOTE – DO NOT run this mod with a campaign. This mod will break your campaign save progress and is not intended for SP testing yet.
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A foreword about balance:
The Balance Mod contains edits to about 627 files. The complexity of the interactions the changes have on the game would make itemizing every change lunacy so instead I'll speak to some of the general changes that affect the game as a whole and include individual sections on races. It will not and can not be an exhaustive, comprehensive list. You will have to play to really feel it out.
New changes to the game-at-large:
- Frigates are a more viable option and are not just exploding armor for your Destroyers/Cruisers. Frigate health has been increased across the board while Destroyer and Battlecruiser health have been lowered to more appropriate levels.
- Probe cost/time adjustments. Base probes were never worth their cost compared to the utiltiy of the scout.
- Cloak Detection and Cloak technology cost normalized. Previously cloaking tech was expensive while cloaking detection was cheap.
- Fire Control Tower/Vaygr Command Corvette weapon accuracy and damage boost lowered from 15% to 7%.
- Weapon and Accuracy accrued cap lowered from 40% to 20%
- Retaliation ranges increased on all Motherships, Carriers and Shipyards. In Homeworld 2 Classic these ships would frequently perseverate on targets well outside their weapon ranges leading to them not utilizing their defense weapons on attackers.
- New defense weapons on capital ships to help counter strikecraft swarms
- Cruiser/Battlecruiser unitcap set to 2
- New scuttle damage set for most ships
- Single tiered upgrades. Yes, there was a definite strategy between the original HW2 races that is lost but now there are two races without upgrades who must remain a viable play option. HW2 base stats for ships are higher than Classic and when upgraded ships usually fall close to where they would have been at the level 2 upgrade. For HW2 races this frees up Resources that can be used elsewhere. Vaygr, with their particularly expensive family-wide upgrades benefit from this.
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Race specific changes and improvements (not comprehensive):
Hiigaran
- Gunship Corvettes now have less banking to allow their turrets to more properly do their job
- DefenseField Frigate duration increased, unit cap lowered to 2 to reflect their effectiveness
- DefenseField Frigate can now fire its turret (HW2 Classic bug)
- Marine Frigate attack family now set to Frigate instead of Capturer. Utilizes AttackPriorityMultiplier instead of making every weapon have 100% accuracy against it
- MineLayer Corvette has increased health
- Ion Cannon Frigate now has increased anti-corvette capability to help surgically remove Salvage Corvettes.
- Ion Turrets have greater declineation values to minimize a deadspot they had right at the horizon against certain ships
- Resource Collector health boost
- Destroyer health lowered to reflect its cost
- Destroyer damage against resourcers lowered. Hyperspacing a single Hiigaran Destroyer into a Resource patch and wiping out all the collectors should be a lessened threat
- Battlecruiser health and damage lowered to reflect its cost. It is still a heavily armored projection of force but does not have 3x the health of a Destroyer
- Increased subsystem health on select production modules
Vaygr
- Assault Frigate has been updated to provide Vaygr with a more viable anti-strikecraft frigate platform and has been refitted to more closely reflect its high cost
- Vaygr Command Corvette health increased and has gained the Sensor "Ping" ability
- Lance Fighter damage against resourcers increased to supplement their role
- Laser Corvette firing rate normalized. Vaygr Laser Corvettes have always been good at frontloading damage on their first pass but:
- upgrading their speed meant that when targets move towards them they occasionally could not realign their weapons after a pass, resulting in a large loss of dps and:
- they have an unusual firing cycle that could prevent their weapons from firing until they were passing over their target
- Vaygr Missile Corvette effectiveness against fighters slightly upgraded to provide Vaygr with a moderately more viable anti-fighter corvette platform. Their overall loss of DPS due to firing weapons into their wingmen has been erased.
- Vaygr Hyperspace Gate is now slightly faster and has a minor built-in sensor distortion ability to incentivize its use
Vaygr Resourcing:
- Vaygr Resource Collector load increased from 200 to 208
- Vaygr Mothership resourcer exit paths altered to expel resourcers faster (to compensate for Vaygr Resourcers ejecting from the opposite side of Resourcing patches)
- Vaygr Mothership resourcing paths altered to allow for faster resourcing.
- Vaygr players start matches with 7 resourcers instead of 6
Note: Due to the immense size of the Mothership resourcers have to travel much further than the other races to complete a resourcing cycle. Ejecting from the opposite side of a huge ship and having to navigate either over or under it to begin resourcing can mean that Vaygr fall behind in the number of RU loads. All of these changes allow Vaygr to remain competitive with the other races and provide a larger margin of error in the exact positioning of ship for optimal resourcing cycles.
- Infiltrator Frigate attack family now set to Frigate instead of Capturer. Utilizes AttackPriorityMultiplier instead of making every weapon have 100% accuracy against it
- Vaygr Heavy Missile Frigate range slightly increased to help it compete at the same level as Ion Cannon Frigates
- Increased subsystem health on select production modules
Kushan/Taiidan
Cost/Health/Performance adjustments for almost all ships
Fighters:
- Scouts now suitable for harassment and can take down Interceptors with numbers
- Interceptor effectiveness now carries through HW2 fighter upgrades
- Cloaked Fighter cloaking rate adjusted. They do not cloak while attacking but they do have a cloaking rate that allows for hit and run harassment. Effectiveness vs fighters adjusted to reflect their research cost
- DefenseFighters updated with a smaller version of the MagneticField to help block projectile munitions.
- Defense Fighter anti-missile laser adjusted downwards to help reduce their overwhelming effectiveness against Vaygr (being the most missile based race)
- Defenders are less of a DPS monster but are still effective against fighters and corvettes with their high rate of fire and high health
Corvettes:
- Light Corvettes now properly effective against fighters.
- New AttackStyles for circle strafing and facing targets
- Heavy Corvettes now moderately effective against fighters and have the punch and health to hurt Frigates
- Properly utilize frontal attack styles
- Multigun Corvettes now very effective against fighters and have the fire rate to hunt Corvettes
- Properly face their targets and turrets adjusted to reflect their coverage
Frigates:
- Assault Frigates now properly effective against Corvettes and Frigates.
- Equipped with the health to properly form the backbone of your strike groups
- Ion Cannon Frigates now equipped with the range and damage to attack Frigates/Capitals/Subsystems
- Field Frigates now equipped with a fulltime MagneticField
- Drone Frigates remain an effective anti-strikecraft frigate platform
- Drone duration greatly increased to reduce the need to constantly monitor the deployment of drones
SuperCapitals:
- Missile Destroyers are now effective at their anti-strikecraft roles
- Carrier/Cruiser engine health matches HW2 numbers
Repairers:
- Repair and Support Frigate healing rates adjusted upwards
- Healing ranges increased to allow for repairing larger ships like the Taiidan Mothership and increase the overall repair effectiveness
NonCombat:
- Gravwell ability range more closely matches the original HW1 radius
- Hyperspace Inhibitor range set to 10,500 to help protect Motherships from hyperspacing cruiser attacks
- Gravwell now can not be regenerated once activated
- Gravwell innate hyperspace ability now self disables upon activation
Resourcing:
- Kushan Resource Controller resourcing path altered to compensate for the rotation of resourcers when dropping off their RU loads
- Drop-off rates specifically tuned by race to allow HW1 races to remain competitive
- Kushan Carrier's innate resource drop-off altered. Attackers will no longer attempt to attack from the top of the carrier, preventing their weapon fire from striking the drop-off
- Kushan/Taiidan resourcers have their innate hyperspacing ability restored
- Resource Controllers no longer have pre-requisite research and can now be built at map start
Research:
- Research Ship build times adjusted to more smoothly move through research timings. It is now more desirable to build all Research Hubs.
- Research time/costs adjusted to allow a HW1 player to choose to start at either fighters, vettes or frigates and not be at such a severe disadvantage when matched against a HW2 opponent
- Attack bomber research removed to give HW1 races more options upon completion of "FighterChassis" research
- Repair Corvettes no longer have a prerequisite research
- Light Corvettes are now granted upon completion of "CorvetteDrive"
- Salvage Corvettes are now granted upon completion of "CorvetteChassis"
- SuperCapitalDrive now grants Carriers instead of Destroyers to give HW1 players more flexibility in choosing their next upgrade path and to help match the HW2 Shipyards/Carriers they are likely facing
- Destroyers and Cruisers now require "IonCannons" to be researched first due to their Ion based weaponry
New Multiplayer Gametype Options:
Disallow Cruisers - Enable/Disable
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New Player vs CPU AI Improvements:
- HW1 race AI now has better logic for calculating the number of resource drop-offs required and Resource Controllers should no longer circle a resourcing patch like sharks
- Vaygr AI now better at upgrading its ships
- Hiigaran AI now more frequently upgrades
- HW1 races now apply separate scalars to fighters and corvettes to make itself more aware that one interceptor is not equal to 5 or 7 interceptors
- classdef improvements, ie Vaygr laser corvettes is not an effective anti corvette strategy
- HW1 races now more likely to utilize their multiple build production queues
- HW1 AI does not understand how to effectively utilize repair ships so they won't build them just like HW2 won't make platforms
- HW1 AI now knows about CloakedFighters and Defenders
- HW1 AI now has a better concept of building mixed units and is less likey to forget about strikecraft when frigates and higher are at play
HW1 races in general should be more challenging and fun to play. The underlying chassis determination system is still in effect.
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Effects:
- New art for Taiidan MagneticField
- New hit FX for Taiidan MagneticField
- Fixed missing hit FX for Hiigaran DefenseField
- New weapon FX for HW1 bombers
- New weapon FX for HW1 Assault Frigate Plasma Bombs
- New hit FX for select rapid firing HW1 strikecraft to minorly reduce overdraw
- New missile/torpedo trails
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Missiles:
- Many improvements to lifetime/maneuverability, etc.
- Kushan/Taiidan Missile Destroyers are now effective anti-strikecraft platforms
- Vaygr frigate concussion missile launchers have had a complete overhaul. Instead of having too short of a lifetime and such poor maneuvering stats to ever hit anything, Vaygr Assault and Heavy Missile Frigates have top mounted concussion launchers with separate stats that complement the role of the ship they are mounted to.
- Mine duration increased from 3 minutes to 10 minutes
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For Modders
New Systems:
- doscanpath
- dofilepath
- AttackPriorityMultiplier
- Dynamic Target Priorities
- RequireTag
- noCollisionTime
- MagneticField
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doscanpath & dofilepath
Race research has been broken out into separate files using the new 'doscanpath' function
Example:
doscanpath("data:Scripts/Races/Vaygr/Scripts/Research", "*.lua")
The above script reads all the .lua files in the path and internally builds a research index.
This directory looks like:
Ability_Ugrades.lua
CapitalShip_Upgrades.lua
Corvette_Upgrade_Health.lua
Corvette_Upgrade_Speed.lua
etc...
This allows future mods to explicitly pick and choose which base research or upgrades to use and to insert the modders own .lua into the research index
Example:
dofilepath("data:Scripts/Races/Vaygr/Scripts/Research", "Ability_Ugrades.lua")
dofilepath("data:Scripts/Races/Vaygr/Scripts/Research", "CapitalShip_Upgrades.lua")
dofilepath("data:Scripts/Races/Vaygr/Scripts/MyModsResearch", "Corvette_Upgrade_Health.lua")
dofilepath("data:Scripts/Races/Vaygr/Scripts/MyModsResearch", "Corvette_Upgrade_Speed.lua")
etc...
The above example mixes in the mods Corvette Health and Speed upgrade settings so that you don't have to maintain a single research list.
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* AttackPriorityMultiplier
This system allows you to specify which ships are more dangerous amongst groups of ships of the same class. As Homeworld 2 Classic shipped, Marine and Infiltrator frigates had their own AttackFamily that was very high on the targeting priority list of almost every ship. AttackPriorityMultiplier allows you to move the ship higher (or lower) in the targeting priority list dynamically. When bandbox attacking a group of enemy ships, ships with an AttackPriorityMultiplier are weighted more towards being attacked.
Usage:
NewShipType.AttackPriorityMultiplier=0.93
Many ships in the Balance Mod have been updated with an AttackPriorityMultiplier - capturer frigates, salvage corvettes, defenders, resourcers, etc. AI understands this system and will now attack resourcers. This system is only active during bandbox, AI, and automatic retaliation attacks, explicit player targeting overrides the multiplier.
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Dynamic Target Priorities
In conjunction with AttackPriorityMultiplier, the Balance Mod updates many ships with the ability to make smarter choices when attacking ships they are less effective against.
Example of the default targeting priority of an Hiigaran Interceptor:
"Fighter, Fighter_hw1, Corvette, Corvette_hw1, Frigate, Utility, SmallCapitalShip, BigCapitalShip, Mothership"
Example of an updated targeting priority of an Hiigaran Interceptor:
"Fighter, Fighter_hw1, Corvette, Corvette_hw1, Frigate, Utility,,,,, SmallCapitalShip, BigCapitalShip, Mothership"
The extra commas create a delineation point in the targeting priority. Homeworld 2 Classic/Remastered prioritizes targets on 0 to 10000 scale (lowest is highest priority) but it's fixed, linear and weighted by distance. Inserting blank commas into this example means that the Hiigaran Interceptor will be more likely to retarget and attack ships that it is better against (Fighter through Utility) even if they are a little further away then ships that it might be closer to (in this case Destroyers, Cruisers, Motherships). This system is designed to reduce ships from fixating on targets just because they are closer. This system is only active during bandbox, AI, and automatic retaliation attacks, explicit player targeting overrides the priority.
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RequireTag
This is a new function in the Research system that works in conjunction with "RequiredSubsystem" and "RequiredResearch".
Example:
RequireTag = "VaygrCorvette",
This system allows Homeworld Remastered and mods to explicitly allow or disallow upgrading of specific ships which ships research applies to, even through family class upgrades.
Example:
{
Name = "CorvetteSpeedUpgrade1",
RequiredResearch = "",
RequiredSubSystems = "CorvetteProduction & Research",
RequireTag = "VaygrCorvette",
Cost = 1000,
Time = 60,
DisplayedName = "$7763",
DisplayPriority = 201,
Description = "$7764",
UpgradeType = Modifier,
TargetType = Family,
TargetName = "Corvette",
UpgradeName = "MAXSPEED",
UpgradeValue = 1.3,
Icon = Icon_Speed,
ShortDisplayedName = "$7341",
},
This example allows for upgrading the speed of all corvettes ("Family") by 30% but only to ships that are tagged as being "VaygrCorvette". This prevents another race from donating their races corvettes to a Vaygr player and having those corvettes enjoy the same Vaygr benefits of upgrading their entire class. This also allows future mods to apply family upgrades to only certain ships, ie you could upgrade the maximum speed of all fighters except those that are not tagged (Scouts, Interceptors, Bombers but not Cloaked Fighters or Defenders, for instance).
Usage:
// this goes in a research lua
RequireTag = "xxx",
// inside any given ship's folder, in a folder called 'Tags' (or a sub-folder for that Game Rule), any .lua file can contain tags
Tags = "xxx,yyy,zzz"
RequireTag only supports one tag but a ship can contain multiple tags.
Example:
// this is what the tags of the Vaygr_Carrier look like
Tags = "VaygrCapital,VaygrBuilder"
In this example the Vaygr Carrier can have its health and speed upgraded (via a "VaygrCapital" RequireTag) and also have its build speed improved (via a separate "VaygrBuilder" RequireTag). The Balance Mod updates many ships with preset tags for future use by modders.
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noCollisionTime
This system allows for the specificity of the invulnerability and collision of missiles/torpedos for X number of seconds after launch.
Usage:
NewShipType.noCollisionTime=1.5
Any missile/torpedo with a noCollisonTime set will have its invulnerability flag set and collsion disabled for the specified time. Vaygr Missile Corvette wingmen and Taiidan pilots who foolishly fly too close to a Taiidan Missile Destroyer are particularly grateful for this new technology.
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MagneticField
Taiidan Field Frigates now utilize this new system which allows for the fulltime projection of a protective magnetic field.
Usage:
// this ability is inserted into a .ship file
addMagneticField(NewShipType,<fieldname>, <radius>, <missile block percent>, <missile blocked effect>, <bullet block percent>, <bullet blocked effect>, <instant block percent>, <instant block effect>, <field effect>)
// weapon penetrations can be defined against this field type
setMagneticFieldPenetration(NewWeaponType, <default penetration percent>, {<fieldname>,<penetraction precent>}, …)
Example:
addMagneticField(NewShipType,"MagneticField",1000,70,"defenseField_generic",50,"defenseField_generic",60,"plasma_hit_spray_MagneticField","defensefield_sphere_spray_TFF");
New field art and hit effects have been created for this. I also fixed up the existing hit effect for the Hiigaran DefenseField that shipped with Homeworld 2 Classic/Remastered.
Note: Due to the technical difficulty creating systems capable of targeting ballistic munitions in the Homeworld 2 engine, Taiidan DefenseFighters have been updated with miniaturized versions of the Taiidan MagneticField in order to help them reclaim their original purpose.
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Scripts:
- New and tweaked AttackStyles for many ships
- HW1 scouts/interceptors fly a little crazier than their more measured HW2 counterparts
- HW1 corvettes now properly face their targets when needed and should be closer to the behavior of their original intent
AttackRun
This attackstyle has been updated with a few new options
Example:
minBreakDelay = 8,
maxBreakDelay = 12,
If set (defaults to inactive) the break distance will be a factor of time instead of the break distance.
Example:
approachAngle = 17,
approachFloor = 1700,
These are used to describe how far the unit's weapons can adjust from ship heading, as well as the 'min distance' to stay off-axis. Less than 'floor' and the weapons are unlikely on target. Should be some fraction of max Weapon engagement distance.
Parade Data:
- New parade data for Vaygr to minimize ships turning into each other and helps prevent the shipyard from hyperspacing in out of the playspace on smaller maps where the mothership spawns close to the edge
- New parade data for Taiidan to minimize certain edge cases of the carrier hyperspacing in and becoming stuck
Starting Fleets:
- Vaygr now begins a multiplayer game with 7 resourcers to compensate for the Vaygr Mothership's large collision necessitating resourcing dock paths to extend further from the ship than other motherships. More on Vaygr resourcing later.
Families:
- Familylist.lua updated:
- New Attack families added for HW1 fighters and corvettes
- New Armor families added for HW1 fighters, corvettes and gravitywells
- New Unitcap families for:
- Defenders
- DefenseFighters
- CloakedFighters