HW2 Mod vs Mod games

[Durandel]

This is just a thought, but HW2 might allow us to build one-race fleet mods and then play online against different custom fleets by other modders.

Obviously its a bit optomistic idea given what we know about HW2 modding so far, but if it turns out to be possible it would be a lot of fun.

If could even lead to a modders league. We could agree some basic "fleet-spec" guidelines to provide some balance, and perhaps a build a custom made mod-switcher application (should be easy).

It could add a whole new dimension to modding.

[Newtype]

That sounds awesome. To prevent cheating, of course we would have to chain Delphy and Zefram to the server to watch for it.....

[komninosm]

It sounds cool but I don't see how it can be accomplished. If only relic put an option in game for custom ship design then it could be done. As it is it would be hell to check each modders ships for balance.
Unless ofcourse modders create a universaly accepted ship creation tool. It could use rules for chassis size, armor weight, weapons weight, engine size, price/time to build (and special items) etc. It could use rules like in similar games (Master of Orion comes to mind).

[Newtype]

Hence, chaining Delphy to the host server!
:kami:

[Mikail]

This is a good idea.
You could have a fixed amount of resources to distribute among a ship's speed, size, armament, armor, etc., using multipliers. But how does one determine what these multipliers should be? The resource pool could be fixed for the fleet as a whole or on a ship per ship basis. This way you could weight the fleet toward fighters or toward capital ships. But what would keep someone from giving a scout 1000hp and a destroyer 0?

[Durandel]

Since all of the ship configurations in HW2 are done via spreadsheets it would not be too difficult to create a balancing tool.

I thought that the best approach would be to have a balancing tool based for each ship class, with the factors derived from the standard Higaran/Vaygr sides.

For example, you'd have X amount of each property to share between the fighters in your fleet. Positive attributes, such as speed, weapons, health etc. would be balanced by negative attributes (build time, cost, number supported, etc.). Therefore if your fleet only had a single "super" fighter it would be very expensive, slow to build and you could only have a few at one time. Alternatively your fleet could have ten different fighter types that'd all be weak & slow but cheap, many and quick to build.

The same approach would apply to the other ship classes, and special abilities could be factored in to the calculations. There could also be certain amount of "flexible margin" to be applied to the ship-class of your choice, allowing you to have (for example) better frigates while your opponent may have better corvettes.

If we can get agreement on such a tool then users could "mix & match" different fleets whenever they want!

[Harvey Mk. II]

Yes, but I think you're all forgetting one KEY factor: Just like Avatar pictures and other little goodies, you'd have to download the other person's mod. If they only had a couple of ships, no problem, it'd only take a few minutes. But that's like the average HWI mod if 10+ megs. On even a faster connection that's thirty or more minutes. Not exactly feasible. And what if you've got two or three or five guys all using their own ships? HOURS of time spent just downloading everybody's stuff.

[Durandel]

That's a very good point, dammit! Each player would have to have both fleets installed. Looking at the HW2 files the Higaran fleet is 18Mb (uncompressed). On my broadband connection thats not a problem, so I tend to forget about everyone else.

Ah well. So perhaps it's not such a good idea after all. Sounded good for a while, though.

[Mikail]

Originally posted by Mikail
But what would keep someone from giving a scout 1000hp and a destroyer 0?

Nevermind, building cost would keep people from doing it.

-Mikail

[Delphy]

Moving to HW2 forum

[SvK]

You could restrict it to tweak mods, and keep the same models and textures. That would cut download size considerably.

[TyrealMathias]

uncompressed, eh? well.. once we get the ability to make our own HW2 .big files.. it should reduce size quite a bit..

[verybad]

HW2 doesn't even officially support non broadband games. I have the feeling somebody playing with a modem isn't gonna have much fun...

[Amur_Tiger]

I think that thjis could work out very nicely, I mean look at the warcraft custom games, they're very popular even though they can take some time to dowload, now these races would take a lot more but it would be worth it if you've got broadband, also race/mod packs could be sold to those who can't/don't want to download if there's enough interest.

[Mod Man]

im wondering if the game is capable of handling it *remembers the bad problems with homeworld 1 and mods online*

[Mikail]

I've continued this topic in this thread, as far as it pertains to Homeworld 1:

http://forums.relicnews.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=16668

I've created a spreadsheet containing all of the stats for R1 and R2 that exist in the *.shp files. I've applied calculations to these stats - my attempt at creating a ship stat standard for mods. My attempts, so far, have not produced very much. I'm also missing some information.

I would like to see what ideas you guys may have on the issue. Maybe you have another approach with the same data?

-Mikail

[Tagar]

well if they able one to get a new race in.. why would no one make a Proginator Race playeable in a mod? :)

[Black Emperor]

I had a similar idea for HW1.
A program that would allow you to customize your fleet. Choose ship type, model and equip it with weapons and special abilities at your disposal. The prog would then calculate the cost of a single ship depending in weapon strenght, weapon arc, armor, speed, abilites, ect.
It would be possible to have it custom tech requirements that lowered the ships price. So a Class 2 Bomber would cost as much as a Class 1 Bomber but would require the research of an upgrade.
Master of Orion style ship building.

[Mikail]

Originally posted by Harvey Mk. II
Yes, but I think you're all forgetting one KEY factor: Just like Avatar pictures and other little goodies, you'd have to download the other person's mod. If they only had a couple of ships, no problem, it'd only take a few minutes. But that's like the average HWI mod if 10+ megs. On even a faster connection that's thirty or more minutes. Not exactly feasible. And what if you've got two or three or five guys all using their own ships? HOURS of time spent just downloading everybody's stuff.

If you're going to download the mod anyway...