Balance & Flavor submod for Imperial Civil War 2.1

[Vulcanus]

Different audio: Need to edit SFX entries in hardpoint and unit files. EaW has a ton of unused sound files that could be used to make the audio more diverse. For example, every loyal Imperial commander should feel bad about using pirate-produced Preybirds in Era 5, so I gave them Lancet engine sounds and pirate laser cannon SFX in addition to different conc missiles.

Different pictures: New unit icons can be added to the game with Petrolution's MTD editor.

Both campaigns still need custom intro crawls and leader introductions (no, Voss Parck, Grand Admiral Thrawn is not dead).

I'd also like to upgrade Wraith Squadron to have ground combat ability, so suggestions about which land models (ICW infiltrator, EaW infiltrator, Pilot suit ?), weapons (sniper rifles, blasters etc.), special abilities (sprint, emp burst, heal, sticky bomb etc.) and sounds (Red Squadron, Rogues, Infiltrator, Ewok etc.) should be used would be appreciated!

[Singularity]

I think the Dark Side Elite might be OP, they can win literally every ground battle!

[Lord Xizer]

This is very well done. Id support adding the Orinda campaign to TR as a new GC. If you could do Wraith Squadron as a space and ground id back that too for hunt for zsinj gc.

[Vulcanus]

Thanks for the feedback!

Dark Side Elite may indeed be overpowered as they are essentially a test unit to see how a combined fighter squadron/ground unit can function in-game before I start working with the (obviously more complex) Wraiths. How would you like to see them changed? Reduced lightsaber absorb/deflect chance, weaker HP, weaker lightsaber attack, weaker/different special ability or something else?

[Singularity]

Thanks for the feedback!

Dark Side Elite may indeed be overpowered as they are essentially a test unit to see how a combined fighter squadron/ground unit can function in-game before I start working with the (obviously more complex) Wraiths. How would you like to see them changed? Reduced lightsaber absorb/deflect chance, weaker HP, weaker lightsaber attack, weaker/different special ability or something else?

Actually I meant they can win every Auto-Resolve on their own.

Loving the mod by the way! And I second the Wraith Squadron suggestion.

[Vulcanus]

Checking through DSE files, they seem to have leftover Darth Vader-caliber auto-resolve values, so obviously that multiplied by seven makes them beastly in auto-resolve.

[Lord Xizer]

If you find a way to make the wraiths workable you should mention it to the TR team. I remember they almost put them in Hunt for Zsinj but had difficulty. Pilot models would work well. Id say sniper rifle for one, regular blasters for the other three, thermal detonator, and that mine the biker scouts drop out. Maybe a reveal map for one to represent slicer ability

[Corey]

We didn't put them in because they would have to be really powerful to be useful at all, we didn't think any of the models were suitable (and making new ones would be extremely difficult), and because using a fighter squadron as the space vehicle for a ground squadron has a really high potential to malfunction in undesirable ways.

Also, Vulcanus, if you're using old models for the new units you're making up (or just looking for other content we never used), I'd suggest looking through old releases, especially 1.3. A lot of it isn't great, but it's there. I think it was 2.0 when I went through and got rid of a lot of the models to try to compensate for Enceladus going planet-happy.

[Lord Xizer]

We didn't put them in because they would have to be really powerful to be useful at all, we didn't think any of the models were suitable (and making new ones would be extremely difficult), and because using a fighter squadron as the space vehicle for a ground squadron has a really high potential to malfunction in undesirable ways.

I remember some of those difficulties. Was just wondering if this fellow had found a way around it.

[Vulcanus]

May I inquire what sort malfunction did you experience? I'd just like to know what sort of pitfalls I should expect before starting with those Wraiths.

Will check those earlier releases, thanks for the offer!

[rumiks1]

can anyone make the penstar tie hunter buildable from era 1 at all?

[Vulcanus]

can anyone make the penstar tie hunter buildable from era 1 at all?

Not likely to happen in this submod. You've got Combat Escort Carriers to provide TIE Hunters. Pentastar Alignment space unit list will see extensive changes in the next version with only a small number of universally buildable space units, but a large number of regional and/or limited availability units. They will also have several new planet-specific buildable space heroes, so if a guy like Victor Strang is added, he could possibly enable building of proton torpedo-equipped TIE Hunters.

[mynameisyou]

god im so thankful theres a n w fan mod it gets boring playing the same campaigns with the same units no matter how well done they are.

[rumiks1]

Not likely to happen in this submod. You've got Combat Escort Carriers to provide TIE Hunters. Pentastar Alignment space unit list will see extensive changes in the next version with only a small number of universally buildable space units, but a large number of regional and/or limited availability units. They will also have several new planet-specific buildable space heroes, so if a guy like Victor Strang is added, he could possibly enable building of proton torpedo-equipped TIE Hunters.

sounds good to me

[Lord Xizer]

It's a good sub mod. Enjoyed the Orinda Campaign quite a bit.

[Vulcanus]

It's a good sub mod. Enjoyed the Orinda Campaign quite a bit.

I'm glad that you enjoyed the Orinda Campaign. Some questions for you: How was New Republic AI? How aggressive it was, what planets it initially attacked, what unit compositions it used?

In my own experience NR AI is fairly lethargic in Orinda, but I'm not quite sure if it needs to be changed since AI behavior is fairly unpredictable in EaW and tends to function differently on different computers.

Also, Wraith Squadron update:
I finished an early test version with fully functional space squadron, stealth abilities and ground infiltrators. They work otherwise just fine, but there is no way to fix the "space combat immortality"- issue. This is caused by the fact that space/ground squadrons are constructed similarly to Darth Vader in EaW: The squadron leader spawns the rest of the squadron as his wingmen in space combat. The problem is, unlike with Vader, the squadron leader also has multiple ground combat companions who are not connected to his space combat wingmen. Those ground companions need a transport of their own, and since they can't fly squadrons of their own they will:

a) Travel in a transport ship together. If the transport ship is destroyed, the squadron is destroyed.
b) Travel attached to the flagship. In this case, you need to kill BOTH the flagship and the fighter squadron to kill them in space combat.

This raises the question about the role of Wraith Squadron. Because if its considered to be primarily a fighter squadron rather than a commando unit, there is no reason to give them ground combat ability.

[tlmiller]

I really need to download this and try it out...

[Lord Xizer]

NR was a bit sluggish in response at times. Most of their fleets were Lusankya, hero unit and a few caps.

[darthsayrehs]

Is there any way you can add the feature of individual ships hyperspacing out of battle (while the engines are still intact)?

And the super star destroyers namely the eclipse and executor classes are way to powerful, I don't feel like playing as any other faction. I can destroy whole fleets with a single one of them. Is there any way you can balance this issue?

[Senza]

Having individual ships hyperspace out would be very difficult or impossible to even implement in EaW, and COMPLETELY impossible to balance, this is due to the weird way in which EaW handles combat as somehow stopping time for everyone on a galactic scale. Basically, if you were even somehow able to implement such a system, to get the ship to be added back to your fleet at the end of the battle without it being able to simply be jumped back in from the reinforcement pool during the battle undamaged would be pretty much impossible afaik, which obviously would be stupid as it would make all battles a destroy engine fest even moreso than they already are in EaW, as otherwise battles would be unwinnable, since you'd just be able to jump your ship out and then immediately back in, undamaged, in a safe position so that your enemies cannot take advantage of the fact that they take extra damage when emerging from hyperspace.