"Very Difficult Choice" Mod, irc channel: irc.quakenet.org/vdc

[Overlord2]

I changed the Frequency rate from 2 in your mod to something close to the original number and will see what happens now

They will attack more rarely but with stronger force.

[Ilya]

Hi,
it's a great mod for a great game, thank toy for what you are doing.
I began to play from version 19b. It was much more interesting then vanilla. Amended tech tree, different race pick costs, better AI behavior. Great pleasure from the game. There were some issues with balance, but very small. The antarans were helpless, because their weapons couldn't destroy a star base. (frigates beams could blow up a ship, destroying its systems, but couldn't do the same with a star base, so if there is a missle base on a planet you win)
A couple of weeks ago I downloaded the last version of the mod. The changes are great, but I seems to be interesting. I began play on impossible as usual, but I was completely wiped out by antarans! Now they are too overpowered. They arrive every single turn and attack only me. I can't imagine how to build a defense to fight with 6 antaran ships for 30 turns. They destroy my bases for a couple of turns of battle. And all my colonies fall one by one.
I saw, there are people, who complained that antarans are too weak. (WHAT???) However there was a proposal from another guy to make antarans adjustable. I think he is right. But making their attacks rare but more devastating it's not a way out. They will erase my planets as earlier, but not so fast.
And it's boring to turn antarans off completely.

[Overlord2]

Hi,

On normal level of difficulty antarans should be easier. Try that setup and let me know if they are still unstoppable. If so I will make appropriate adjustments.

[kapcidbabci]

Hi,

I also tried the VDC Mod and had major problems with the Antrans.
Even on very easy, the antrans crush me merciless... I dont consider myself a very good MoO2 player but on very easy the game should be well... very easy...
Also i noticed, the AI opponent has massive problems with the antrans to. I once started a game with the "lucky" trial, so the first 2 waves of antrans attacks went to the opponent. he was crushed in 20 - 2 minutes. The whole empire. The moment I made contact with him, I had like 20 colonies, he had one planet.
The same happend, when i played with 8 opponents. After the antrans started to show up, every ai civ went extinct in a matter of 30 - 50 turns.
This mod is just great (I really mean it). The only think that keeps me from playing and fully appreciating your work are those pesky antrans...

p.s. Sorry for my english...

[Overlord2]

VDC 51 Uploaded with Antarans attack frequency reduced. Unfortunately I can't make antarans adjustable, but if you find attack frequency still high you can reduce attack frequency by setting attack frequency determinant higher with OCL_Improved editor.

edit: Uploaded VDC 52 with a quick fix.

edit#2: forgot to add one more change in change-log for v52, namely starbase specials list updated: Reflection Field replaces Achilles Targeting Unit. Re-uploaded with correct description.

[negatratoron]

When I pick uncreative, I only get one of transport/outpost/colony ship/nuclear drive. This means I often miss colony ship.

I think it's a bug! Is this known?

[Overlord2]

No, it wasn't known. I'll look if I can fix that.

[Overlord2]

VDC 52c uploaded with OP tolerant race nerfed.

[Fisherman Bob]

Just a question about missiles. Perhaps pulser and spatial compressor should not hit missiles, or hit at a severely reduced effect. At the current moment there is little to no reason to take anything besides specialied beam attacks with 5+ spatials to instnatly destroy entire fields of fighters/missiles. Currently missiles appear to be completely useless, and I keep trying different methods.

[Pawlys]

Missiles work really well early game but I agree, once AI get those AOE weapons you can forget about hitting missiles from anywhere but point plank.

[Overlord2]

Hi Guys,
Thanks for your interest in VDC. The thing with AOE weapons is that it either works or it doesn't work. The reason behind is that hit points of missiles and weapons damage is integer and their ratio is limited. At some point damage of the weapons will be enough to destroy the salvo completely. Its possible to increase space of the weapons thus decreasing the effectiveness, but then other weapons like pd beams or antimissile rockets will be better choice. Also don't treat pulsars or compressors as panacea vs missiles. They are countered well with proper tactics. Like shooting at the pulsar/compressor ship from different ranges, while this weapons can be used only once per round.

[Fisherman Bob]

Well, vs the AI you're right, you can work around it slightly, but it doesn't make up for the fact beam weapons and fighters/torp/compressor are FAR better damage ships. As for beating AI missiles, it's simple to put multiple AOE weapon slots in so you can move around wiping volleys. I'm going to keep testing missile ships to try to find a good fit. In a current game with + 50 defense and creative, gonna go for a ship that can survive and has good mobility to unload and get out of beam range.

[Fisherman Bob]

Yeah, I just can't make it work. I'm playing impossible difficulty mind you. But when I unload FULLY modified nuclear missiles, they get insta wiped by 5 pulsars. It just makes far more sense to use beams throughout the whole game, with the exception of maybe using fighters mid game and some torpedoes mid-late. Reason being is there are too many anti missile capabilities. Beams can't be killed mid-air, and missiles don't have enough damage for the rare times they do hit. I'll keep playing into full zeon missiles and see if they do better. But so far, on a damage:space ratio the missile doens't even win if they all hit the target.

[Fisherman Bob]

Ran up the missile/armor tech tree to neutronium armor thinking it would help with antaran attack also. Got wiped by a titan antaran no problem. Pretty disappointed. The AI LOVES to hit the missile boats first thing, adding yet another disadvantage to the missile build vs AI. They make nice bait though for suicide ships.

[Overlord2]

Missile are no way underpowered since they allow the strongest modification, namely emg. Comparing nukes with pulsars was bad example - nukes are the earliest missiles and are supposed to be destroyed with lasers. Naturally pulsars will wipe out the nukes. Pulsons or Zeons should be much better in this case. But generally with higher quantity of pulsars/compressors you may destroy the cluster of missiles easily. As noted before, its possible to overwhelm such ships with proper use of range combined with shooting at point blank. To sum it up missiles are heavily used in MP games as its the earliest weapons, which kicks. Practically no game goes without missiles. Btw, I've got a player who thinks that missile base is even OP

Edit: two things to add:
#1 Beams effectiveness could be reduced too with proper specials
#2 Beating antarans is different story. Their ships were optimized vs missiles not to allow easy kill by means of emg missiles