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[MOD] Rebalanced Races: Rebellion V2.03 [For Rebellion 1.82]

[MOD] Rebalanced Races: Rebellion V2.03 [For Rebellion 1.82]

An attempt to balance the races and ships of Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion

http://www.moddb.com/mods/rebalanced-races-rebellion

About

A lot of people complain about the state of the balance of the game due to various reasons.  I am one of them.  For this reason, I made a mod that reworks or buffs the underpowered units of the game in an attempt to make them better and nerfs various overpowered units.

Not one of the things I have in here is something I believe is something that could not be in some form effectively integrated into the game.  I am also basing many of these things off the extensive discussions and tests myself and others have had on the subject.  I do not claim perfection, but I do claim a great deal of effort and I would hope improvement.

This mod is not about making cool new additions.  This mod is about one thing and one thing only: balance.  While some in the community feel that the game has intrinsic problems, I believe that without fundamental changes to the gameplay itself, this game can be balanced.  The objective of this mod is to balance as objectively as possible the races, factions, ships, and abilities of the game.

 

Download Structure

As this mod expands, if files are given in text format, it will result in slower loading times.  As a result all the files are given in binary for easy of loading for beginner users but advanced users can simply click on ConvertBinToText.bat to run ConvertData to look at the files in text format.  The needed files for this process are included in the GameInfo folder itself for your convenience and needn't be relocated to function.

 

Reuse

As this mod has expanded, there have unfortunately some changes that have had to be made which modify the entity.manifest, thereby prohibiting the use of it with any other mod that modifies that file.  If you truly wish to combine this mod with another, you will have to take the custom entries in the entity.manifest of one of the mods, add it to that of the other, and drop the files from one mod into those of the other.  In other words, if you already know how to do the above, it's a piece of cake.  If not, there are resources around the forums to help get you started on modding.

If you are releasing your own mod and wish to incorporate either Rebalanced Races: Rebellion or Rebalanced Races: Diplomacy...

  • If incorporated in its entirety, please cite the mod's name and myself in your credits and I would preferably like to receive a PM at some point prior to the integration as I might be interested in helping you.  
  • If not in whole and no modifications requiring entity.manifest changes are added to your mod, I'd ask to be in at minimum a "Special Thanks" category.  
  • If not in whole and a modification(s) requiring modification to the entity.manifest is added, I would like to ask that I be included in your credits list.
  • Artwork reuse is restricted due to the fact that it is the work of Axxo2 and not myself

 

Credits

RespawnedTitanL10, furyofthestars: original versions of the Corsev fixes

Axxo2: He did the artwork for the logo/loading screen

 

NOTE: fixed the startup crash of 1.6.  My apologies for the inconvenience.

 


 

Changelog From Default (as of Rebellion 1.82)

-ADVENT-

Radiance Battleship: port and starboard laser batteries now deal anti-light damage and can target SC; also there are two port and starboard bank targets.  This allows the Radiance to better deal with bombers and corvettes in rush situations.

Deliverance Engine: the DE now captures all culture centers at the target planet, assisting the primary effect of dominating culture.  Depending on user preference, the centers could either be left up to torment the previous owner or scuttled for resources for the user.  See this thread for details.

Guidance: AM changed effect from 10%/20%/30%/40% on ability cooldowns to the same effect on both ability and bombing cooldowns.  This is likely a temporary change until something better comes along or I make this do something else entirely.

Clairvoyance: spawns culture at a power of 0.0/0.8/1.6/2.4 at the target planet, allowing players to increase their odds of having an advantage at a planet when attacking and can be used to cement a cultural advantage in culturally contested wells.  This can also be used early on to culture-bomb your opponents as an Advent Loyalist, handicapping their economy and thus military.

Detonate Antimatter: damage rate buffed from 12/14.9/17.8/20.7 to 16/21/28/35.  For some unknown reason, DAM was nerfed by Starclad between Diplomacy and Rebellion, so I buffed largely to undo this unknown nerf.

Vengeance: The target ship now deals 8%/16%/24%/32% bonus damage for the duration.  This does apply to titans.

DominationDue to various mechanics added in Rebellion that outshine Domination, it has been buffed to have a guaranteed conversion of the target frigate and will also convert 2/3 other nearby frigates if fleet supply for them is available.

Animosity: This ability now synergizes with Ruthlessness for a late-game synergy between underused units.  When the Radiance is within the radius of Ruthlessness, Animosity is amplified to deal a DoT of 8/12/16/20 DPS to afflicted units.  Though this may seem excessive when paired with Malice, consider that at the same point in the game, you will likely have a Coronata or Eradica, both of which have very high damage abilities that work well with malice.  In addition, Animosity now also increases damage dealt to afflicted units by 2%/4%/6%/8%.  Fixed a longstanding bug regarding buff application.

Ruthlessness: now applies a buff to friendly capitals, causing them to deal 8% bonus damage.

Telekinetic Push: Increased range from 4200 to 4200/4700/5200/5700 to help deal with alpha-strike damage as pointed out by the MP community.

Martyrdom: damage increased from 250 to 650 and now stacks infinitely

Unity Mass: base damage reduced from 1000/1500/2000/2500 to 900/1300/1700/2100 and modified to remove 150+2.4/2.6/2.8/3.0 AM per ally nearby.  Also fixed an bug from RR:R 1.3

Fury of the Unity: changed from 10% to 4.5%/9%/13.5% and also added 1%/2%/3% mitigation in culture and increases culture spread rate by 5%/10%/15%

 

-TEC-

Kol Battleship: autocannons now deal anti-light damage and can target strike craft

Adaptive Forcefield:  made passive and nerfed to 3%/11%/19%/27% from 15%/23%/32%/40%

Incendiary Shells: now stacks 2 times instead of 3 and reduces shield regeneration/healing to the afflicted target by 10%/15%/20%/25%

Radiation Bomb: area of effect increased from 1200 at all levels to 1200/1500/1800/2100 and DPS increased from 7/13/18/24 to 8/14/20/26, allowing the Marza to better combat corvette spam

Boarding Party: now converts the ship at 35%/45%/55%/65% health (as per Respawned's modification) and does 10/12/14/16 damage directly to hull.  Capturing results in a 10%/20%/30%/35% hull heal and a 20%/30%/40%/50% shield heal.

Demolition Team: implemented the fix from Fury for the explosion delay.  Stock Rebellion's DT deals damage the moment it is cast rather than when the animation says it should.  The animation and the damage now line up.

Salvage Operations: reduced to 4%/6%/8%/10% from 10%/15%/20%/25% for non-boarded targets and 10%/13.3%/16.7%/20% from 20%/25%/30%/35% for boarded targets.  The string has been changed to accurately reflect that the % is the percentage of the Corsev's health, not the frigate.

Elite Crews: prevents target ship from being disabled from non-ultimate disables

Hardened Defenses: moved to Tier III

Starbase Compartmentalization: moved to Tier V

 

-VASARI-

Kortul Devastator: pulse beams now deal anti-light damage and can target strike craft

Kultorask: forward PM damage increased from 150 per volley to 170

Skarovas Enforcer: damage increased from 103.5 to 113.5

Wave Researchables: now affect the damage output of Pulse Waves

Phase Missile Swarm: increased target count from 4/7/11/14 to 6/8/11/14, leading to more use at lower levels, encouraging players to invest the initial point.

Phase Out Hull: Removed the heal/damage functionality; on friendly units does not disable regen or sublight movement and also increases linear velocity by 300%/455.3%/577.6%/600% and linear acceleration by 550%/766.7%/983.3%/1100%.  Also decreases angular thrust by 25%/45.1%/63%/85.3%.  When used on friendly units, buffed from 6/8/10/12 seconds to 8/10/12/14.  Unchanged duration on enemy units.

Subversion: When used against an enemy planet, now applies buff to neighboring enemy planets as well

Dissever: now applies to capitals, titans, and starbases

Desperation: stacking count changed from 15 to 60, duration changed from 10 at all levels to 10/12/14/16, and cooldown effect reduced to 1%/1.5%/2%/2.5% from 1%/2%/3%/4%, giving the Vorastra better performance in larger battles.  Applies AoE buffs via Phase Missiles and Waves due to the weapon type change of the Vorastra in Rebellion 1.03

Micro Phase Jump: after completion of the jump now increases the Vorastra's rotational thrust by 33%/55.3%/77.6%/100%

Microphasing Aura: buffed from a 20%/30%/30%/35% chance per 4/4/3/3 seconds to a 20%/30%/30%/35% chance per 3/3/2/2 seconds

Regenerative Hulls: Increased regen from 50%/100% to 75%/150% and also gives 2 armor points per level

Energetic Pulse Charging Researchable: 
 now properly buffs damage of Pulse Guns, Pulse Beams, and Pulse Waves

Armor Restoration: moved to empire tree, no longer requires other hull upgrades, requires all trade upgrades, and requires Enemy Relations.

Shared Shield Technology: moved from T6 to T8 and now requires Enemy Relations

Stabilize Phase Space: this ability now has 2 levels with the second level installing a phase drive on the Orkulus

Starbase Mobilization: now requires both levels of Enhanced Tunneling and level 2 Stabilize Phase Space

AbilityPhaseStarbaseSameOrbitbodyDebuff: Orkies around the same star will no longer disable each other.

Jump Destabilization: ships will no longer take damage leaving a gravity well through which an Orky has passed.  Via Yarlen mod.  Also due to the above changes, it now fills the slot ability4 on the Orky, resulting in the player being unable to see it.  It is still applied as normal however.

 

-GENERAL BALANCE-

ANTIHEAVY: now does 160% to HEAVY (up from 150%)

 

Changelog From Previous Version of RR:R (Version 1.6)

  • ANTIHEAVY damagetype now does 160% rather than 150% against HEAVY armor type.  This is to minorly tweak the power of Flak Frigates
  • Fixed a series of bugs with Animosity
  • Reverted the change to GRG.
  • Enforcer damage increased from 103.5 to 113.5
  • Updated for 1.82
  • Support for the DLC packages
  • Removed legacy Yarlen mod
  • Reworked Corsev's first three abilities from my previous fixes for them
  • Fixed a major layout bug with the TEC Loyalist defense tree
Explanation of RR:R V2.02 Changelog

I wanted to update this mod now that the game has gone static.  Flak is also quite powerful.  Argued as OP by some, merely very powerful by others.  As such, a minor increase in the counter strength has been applied.

While I don't like its current state, I don't think GRG needs a change and this mod is about changes that are necessary, not just what I want.

The Enforcer has long been rather inefficient in regards to damage.  As such, a minor damage buff has been applied.

The previous fixes I had for the Corsev didn't really address the fundamental problems which are bug/clarity related.

Boarding Crews is now a guaranteed capture at X% and only affects hull (though does less damage to compensate).  Stock BC is a dice roll as to whether the ship is destroyed or not.  This is due to a race condition with the DoT as discovered by Respawned.  

Demolition Teams was broken due to the fact that it was applying the damage immediately rather than when the animation suggested it should.  This has been fixed.  

Salvage Operations this has been radically nerfed as the percentage of regen is NOT that of the frigate as the infocard suggests.  Instead, the ability actually heals for a percentage of the Corsev's maximum health.  This should help prevent Corsev immortality late-game.

 

2.02

 

Disclaimer and Conclusion

I'm by no means saying that this new iteration is balanced, but I think it has many components which if integrated into the game would help matters significantly.  This is the Rebalanced Races Mod, not the Balanced Races Mod.  If you have suggestions regarding the balance of those above or otherwise included in the mod, feel free to respond in the comments.

128,380 views 137 replies
Reply #76 Top

Quoting Annekynn, reply 75
I get minidumps as well with this mod after a few hours of play. Two different maps each resulted in the same thing after 4+ hours into it. Unavoidable and always happens. Save files will also not load if I disable the mod.

Were you playing as/with the Advent Loyalist?  Volt is trying to track down a crash which appears related to them. 

You're save games won't load I imagine because there is a modded entity.manifest with the mod...Can't load a save from a game with it without it enabled.

Reply #77 Top

Quoting Annekynn, reply 75
I get minidumps as well with this mod after a few hours of play. Two different maps each resulted in the same thing after 4+ hours into it. Unavoidable and always happens. Save files will also not load if I disable the mod.

The saves issue is expected behavior and an unavoidable side-effect of changing the entity.manifest.  As for the crash, that's something I'm working on hunting down now.  Any specifics about your game (races in play, ships built, abilities used, etc) would be helpful to me.

Reply #78 Top

Minidumps still occur in vanilla, so don't kill yourself looking for the issue....might not even be your mod...

Reply #79 Top

Quoting Seleuceia, reply 78
Minidumps still occur in vanilla, so don't kill yourself looking for the issue....might not even be your mod...

True, but it does seem they occur more often with the mod  and an AL player(a virtual guarantee if playing as/with the Advent Loyalist) whereas I just finished a (longgg) 1v4 game with no AL faction and have had no such issue with the mod.

Reply #80 Top

And at the same time, I just played an AL FFA and got no crash..  :'(

Reply #81 Top

I always play as TEC Loyalist. My maps feature all six sides/races though and all have 100+ stars. Ive had no problems on such maps with that many sides until I loaded/enabled this mod. Now twice in a row ive had unavoidable crashes around the 5 hour played mark, and no amount of reloading saves makes the crash avoidable. Happens in a predictable moment that coincides with no event that I can hear or see. In most cases the music keeps playing but the game is frozen and a minidump window appears behind the game screen (alt tab to see it).

Reply #82 Top

Quoting Annekynn, reply 82
I always play as TEC Loyalist. My maps feature all six sides/races though and all have 100+ stars. Ive had no problems on such maps with that many sides until I loaded/enabled this mod. Now twice in a row ive had unavoidable crashes around the 5 hour played mark, and no amount of reloading saves makes the crash avoidable. Happens in a predictable moment that coincides with no event that I can hear or see. In most cases the music keeps playing but the game is frozen and a minidump window appears behind the game screen (alt tab to see it).

I know the crash is coming from the mod..  The question is why...  Hmm...  Guess it's time to throw bots at each other until somebody crashes...

EDIT:

Yay for bot v bot games.  So far, I've found one crash.  It was a VL vs VR matchup and reported the following error before crashing..

Assert @ C:\Projects\P4\SinsRebellion\Release\CodeSource\GS/Entity/Interfaces/IChild.cpp(152)

owner != 0

And in a AL vs AR game, I got this (I've seen this error before and know it's caused by something in Unity Mass; doesn't cause a crash).

Assert @ C:\Projects\P4\SinsRebellion\Release\CodeSource\GS/Entity/Support/TargetFilter.cpp(1470)

false

And in a VL vs VL game, I got this error (which doesn't cause a crash)..

Assert @ C:\Projects\P4\SinsRebellion\Release\CodeSource\GS/Entity/Interfaces/IAttacker.cpp(165)

IsSafeToAttachTarget(target)

 

EDIT 2:

After running all tests so far to completion,  AL vs AR crashed without warning, whereas VL vs VL and VR vs VR never crashed.  Just for the sake of being thorough, I'll probably run a TL vs TR game today as well as another VL vs VL and VR vs VR because the VL vs VR game had the error->crash but the independent games didn't.  Hopefully I can narrow this down further.

Reply #83 Top

Quoting Volt_Cruelerz, reply 51

If you don't mind me asking, which things are you interested in removing?

- At least first the AA capital ship weapons. It's flak's job, so I don't like the idea.

- And also the Domination. I don't like any mass instant-kill skills.

- The third is Cobalt's skill. I thought the current official design is horrible. Maybe that's because TEC has already had the great EMP Charge. (I don't have much MP experience, so I don't know how an experienced player evaluates this point.)

It's so sad I don't have enough time currently, so I still have no chance to try your mod y>o<y

Reply #84 Top

Quoting gundamlit, reply 84


- At least first the AA capital ship weapons. It's flak's job, so I don't like the idea.

I think it is more realistic.  No navy in the worl doesn't have AA on its battlships (infact, almost all vessels have some sort of AA ability...but that would be too much for this game).

 

Volt, does the game offer any sort of "chance to hit" variable that could be applied to SC?

Reply #85 Top

Quoting AceXMachine, reply 85
Volt, does the game offer any sort of "chance to hit" variable that could be applied to SC?

Depends on what you mean..  You can apply buffs with a target filter that are applied to a target hit by a ship's weapons.  That's a random chance event.  There are also buffs that can increase or decrease their chance of dodging.  As for their default chance to dodge, that's in the Gameplay.constants file.

Quoting gundamlit, reply 84
- At least first the AA capital ship weapons. It's flak's job, so I don't like the idea.

- And also the Domination. I don't like any mass instant-kill skills.

Flak's job though it may be, it is more realistic and allows capitals to provide some minor defense against LRF and Corvettes.

As for Domination, it's not a mass insta-gib.  At level 8, your capital captures at best four frigates.  It's really not as powerful as you might expect in late-game battles (which is the only time you're going to see a level 8 Rapture Battlecruiser).

Reply #86 Top

Thanks for the info.  Now back to my issue with the Kortul and its anti SC beams, I think I have a much easier solution and have tested it in0game.  I changed the beamwidth from 30 to 18.  At 18, the beams are approx the same size as the bombers when zoomed in and it looks better when considering the size of the ports they are being fired from..check below:

At 18:

vs 30:

 

It may just be me, but 30 doesn't look right anyways even before it was used for SC with this mod.  18 looks cleaner and keeps with the other races new SC weapons (larger projectiles than their flak frig counterpart, but not too big).  Not to mention the other benefits of 18 vs 30...slimmer, sexier, younger...wait, what was I talking about? lol jk.  Just an idea.  I like this option alot more than trying to edit the mesh to add new hardpoints (ugh...). 

Reply #87 Top

Here is a screen of 2 of the new beams hitting a bomber:

And one striking a corvette:

Reply #88 Top

I'm fine with such a change.  Doesn't affect me really, so sure.

Reply #89 Top

Quoting AceXMachine, reply 85
I think it is more realistic.  No navy in the worl doesn't have AA on its battlships

And no sound can be heard in the space. XD

Well, to be honest, I wouldn't resist against AA guns on board. I really like the design of Homeworld. The problem is, it seems it's unfair to grant just Radiance the AA guns. But considering the effort to add AA guns to at least all the capital ships (and the re-balancing work followed), I just prefer to the current design.

Quoting Volt_Cruelerz, reply 86
At level 8, your capital captures at best four frigates.

Well, it's just personal aesthetics. Not related to actual effect. It's just like my attitude against Subjugation Assault, even comparing it with the Chastic Burst and Nano Leech, and the 7000 damage Snipe.

 

Reply #90 Top

..  The Kol and Kortul get AA guns too...  It's not just the Radiance..

 

As for the concept of Domination, I get what you mean.

Reply #91 Top

Patch 1.03 is out.  I'm liking alot of the changes.  Wonder how hard it will be to convert your mod with the new patch...What are your thoughts Volt?

Reply #92 Top

1.03 is a really good patch overall and I generally support the changes.  That said, it only addresses the coarse balance changes.  I feel like there's still issues with the fine balance, but the devs definitely took a healthy walk in the right direction with 1.03.

Reply #93 Top

I agree totally.  One of the issues is apparently there were to be no game engines changes in this patch that would break saved games so certain changes were a no go this time around.  I think fine balance will come, but I do hope they hurry with it so they can start on Sins 2 already (And if they have already started, which is likely, divert more resources from Rebellion to it).  I guess I am gonna have to go thru my edited version of your mod and check for anything that may need to be altered to be inline with the patch...if any.  Any luck on the crash issue yet?

Reply #94 Top

Two of my curious things are both about the Ragnarov:

- Why the devs increased the damage of Explosive Shot and Scattered Shot?

- Why nerf the gauss gun and then increase the rail gun? To focus on the front side damage?

Reply #95 Top

Snipe was capital-bane and was OP when compared against Unity Mass.  As for ES and SS, my guess is that they wanted it to be used for more than just Snipe.  ES IMO shouldn't have been buffed like that.  IMO should have been buffed in other ways such as impulse.  As for the changes to weapons, Gauss weapons receive buffs via research.

Reply #96 Top

Could you pull Starbase Mobilization down to Tier 6? its rather hard to reach ATM, and is watered down considerably.

Reply #97 Top

Quoting Mick6662, reply 97
Could you pull Starbase Mobilization down to Tier 6? its rather hard to reach ATM, and is watered down considerably.

No.  The Orkulus is and always has been the most powerful starbase and Starbase Mobilization basically turns it into a titan without fleet supply or capital supply.  SM in it's current implementation is OP and there is no way I'm pulling that down.

Reply #98 Top

Quoting Volt_Cruelerz, reply 98

Quoting Mick6662, reply 97Could you pull Starbase Mobilization down to Tier 6? its rather hard to reach ATM, and is watered down considerably.

No.  The Orkulus is and always has been the most powerful starbase and Starbase Mobilization basically turns it into a titan without fleet supply or capital supply.  SM in it's current implementation is OP and there is no way I'm pulling that down.

I was suggesting it because it has like 3 pre-reqs now, meaning it is very much late game.

Reply #99 Top

Quoting Mick6662, reply 99

Quoting Volt_Cruelerz, reply 98
Quoting Mick6662, reply 97Could you pull Starbase Mobilization down to Tier 6? its rather hard to reach ATM, and is watered down considerably.

No.  The Orkulus is and always has been the most powerful starbase and Starbase Mobilization basically turns it into a titan without fleet supply or capital supply.  SM in it's current implementation is OP and there is no way I'm pulling that down.

I was suggesting it because it has like 3 pre-reqs now, meaning it is very much late game.

That's the idea.

Reply #100 Top

Quoting Mick6662, reply 99


I was suggesting it because it has like 3 pre-reqs now, meaning it is very much late game.

Quoting Volt_Cruelerz, reply 100


That's the idea.

Fully agree with this implementation...