#!TanksyTweak – Outposts And Expansion – 1.9 Legacy Version

Supported Version: 1.9.*

This mod is designed to combine the concepts of several mods that change the strategic value of Frontier Outposts, whilst maintaining a balance that doesn’t benefit one play-style over another.

Note: In the Balance Discussion thread are the full details on why certain changes have been made. I encourage you to have a read and if you like throw in your own two-cents if you feel like it could be adjusted further.

• Drastically reduces the Influence cost to maintain a Frontier Outpost by 85%
  • From 1.0 Influence per month, to 0.15 per month.
• Increased monthly Energy cost to maintain a Frontier Outpost by 33%
  • From 3.0 Energy per month, to 3.99 per month.
• "Cede Frontier Outpost" as a war goal.
  • This idea was seen in the "Improved Border System" mod, and I’ve recreated that ability with this mod.
  • Ceding an Outpost has a base War-Score cost of 15.
• Cost Scaling for expansion has been increased whilst the base Influence cost is reduced by 50%
  • From 100 Influence to 50, but scales harder with range.
  • "Free" Expansion Range reduced from 30, to 25.
  • Influence cost for expansion beyond the "Free" range is increased to 4 per 1 range — up from 2 per 1.
  • "Far" Expansion cost penalty is increased to 50k from 100. This number shouldn’t be reachable, as the new scaling
  • Border’s are tweaked, every-so-slightly reduced with Colonies having a slower growth over their progress.
  • From a base range of 20, to 10.
  • Colonies, when started, produce 0% of the completed border radius, down from 20%.
  • Border Growth gained from Pops is increased from 20% to 25%.
• Added components with the ability to design Outposts in the ship designer, with NSC Support.
  • Outposts can be upgraded with new "Exclusion Beacon" or "Power Distributor" components.
  • Military Stations can sacrifice Sensor range for a small boost to Border range.

I’m open to discussion on how this balance works and any proposals you may have, just put them in the Discussion thread.

This mod doesn’t overwrite any vanilla files. That being said, this mod DOES overwrite the Border Extruder NSC components, the outpost_station ship class (The Frontier Outpost class. This is the same as NSC’s version, though.) and the military_station_large_fallen_empire ship class. This mod also overwrites some of the NSC localisation strings for the technologies and component descriptions.

This mod, like all of my mods, loads low down in the load-order (Which is Reverse Ascii Alphabetical.) due to the "#!" prefix. If you’re unsure if this mod and another will "clash", then just remember that my mod will most likely override the other. Generally speaking, I try to make sure nothing is overwritten that isn’t necessary.

My mod is 99% compatible, but be aware that I have changed some conditions on the AI’s use of Outposts. This shouldn’t cause any major problems between the two mods, as my defines will simply overwrite his. As such, there’s no need for a compatibility patch (As it would only be limiting the AI’s use of the Outposts again, and the AI will colonize less due to the increased cost growth if it can’t find planets close by.).

My mod should be completely compatible. I haven’t played with Fallen Empires Expanded, but it does look really good. My mod alters a vanilla Fallen Empire station ship class, and according to the description of Fallen Empires Expanded — That mod does not touch vanilla entries.

A few defines are overwritten:

• Outpost Station Influence Maintenance
• Outpost Station Maintenance
• Expansion Cost Base
• Expansion Cost Distance Far
• Expansion Cost Distance Cost
• Border Base Radius
• Border New Colony Start
• Border Population Modifier
• Expansion Min Planets
• Outpost Station Resources Build
• Outpost Station Resources Neighbors Build
• Outpost Station Range
• Max Colonization Cost
• Max Colonization Cost Subject

If you think my mod is not compatible with another mod and you’d like it to be, please leave a comment or post in the discussions that you want a compatibility patch made and I will take a look.

• The AI defines have been tweaked slightly to adjust to the changes in border radius and influence costs.
• If the balance and costs come into discussion, this mod may be subject to several changes to find a good balance that we can agree on.
• The AI should use the new modules, but I am not sure if the AI will update their Frontier Outpost designs. I will have to watch it carefully, though I believe it will.
• The balance of this mod has been carefully set out following discussions with friends who find the game unbalanced against the AI. As such, the mod is aimed at benefiting both the player AND the AI. There’s nothing here that the AI can’t use — At least theoretically. The AI might not use the changes effectively, or it might dominate because of it. You’ll have to try it and find out.

Enjoy.

All Random Empires
Galaxies – 2.0 Legacy Edition