engineermdh

I was looking through for anyone with a similar problem/bug or who had said anything about this before and didn't find anything addressing it directly so here goes

The mini map does not scale with the size of the galaxy for GC games (GFFA and Core use the same mini map, just with different planets) and everything on the minimap seems so jam packed and not very useful since the viewing pane does nothing. I've attached a couple screen shots that show what I'm trying to convey to words.

I am playing PR 1.1 + the space only mini mod with some minor changes to some of the unit xml files.

I'm not sure if this will be a big deal to fix or just a quick thing, but not being able to effectively use the mini map bothers me. please let me know if there is anything i can do to help, or what would be required.

And I know that it cannot be said enough how hard you guys work to keep this mod project running and developing so thank you very much for taking the time to do so!!

Something I noticed in various GCs I have done are that the dreadnought class ships are given non or minimally upgraded fighters. A prime example is the complement of the Executor class, which has TIE Targeters and TIE Starfighters. On most other classes, the complement level scales with the ship level (e.g. ISD complment goes from TIE starfighters with mark I to TIE Fightersx3 at mark IV). This does not happen with the dreadnoughts because they only have one level. Now from several stand points you would want your most advanced ships to include more advanced fighters. So what I did on my personal copy was to change in the xml the spawned squadrons, notably on the dreadnoughts to x6 versions for the ones with only 1 version (e.g. Executor) and x3 and x6 respectively for mark I and mark II ships (e.g. Praetor).

The first suggestion I have is to look at the complements and how they level compared to the ship, the start and ending level of the complement, and how the complement's relative strength compares to its carrier's strength. An example might be the Carrack class light cruiser. This class carries one TIE squadron. It might start at TIE Fighters, but only level up to x3s through 6 levels of Carracks. On the other hand, an ISD might start with TIE fighters, but jump to x2s on mark II, x4 on mark III and x6 on mark IV. And a 2 level dreadnought might have x3 for mark I and x6 for mark II. There are two reasons why this might be a worthwhile change. The first is that fighters that are brought to battle die in lots of little explosions throughout a battle and it is a pain in the tail to bring your own fighters with a fleet and not rely on the complement fighters. A pain because they die and have to be replaced, and some of them have a hyperdrive class 4.0 compared to most military ships have a class 1.0. The second issue is the one I stated for changing them on my copy; that more advanced and expensive ships warrant the protection of a better fighter complement than a dime a dozen light cruiser.

The second is to add minor defenses and garrisons to the Star Colonies, nothing fancy but something. The logic is that it isn't defenseless, just mostly. I'm thinking along the lines of the pirate asteroid bases in vanilla EAW/FOC, nothing like the defenses or armament of a Golan or Star base, but something.

Third, making the garrison of the star bases represent what types of ships they build and limiting the number that can be deployed. For example, a star base 1 might have lots of fighters, but a star base 4 might have a single ISD to defend it while a SB5 has 2 ISDs.

These last two suggestions are more of a thought than anything else because most players create garrison fleets for planets that do the same thing and are more customized to their play style. The only reason I am suggesting them is that it creates a little safety net if you make a mistake in how/where you setup/place your fleets.

I'm curious what the general thought on these is and am totally open to discussing ways to make them more balanced/canon/workable/etc. I'm also willing to help with xml coding, just bear in mind that my experience in in xml is xaml/C# programs and what little I have picked up from reading xml files on various mods for various games, but I am more than willing to learn more as my schedule permits (dang school and whatnot).