For sometime now I've been toying with the idea of allowing direct jumps from anyone planet to any other planet within the same system.  I had a few reasons for this. 

1. I never liked the idea of having choke points in space.  Space is very open, and if one area is heavily defended, then you could just go around that area. 

2. With research you can travel great distances from one star to another or traverse wormholes with a single jump, but to get to the other side of a single syetem you have to make multiple jumps. 

3. After playing several games,  I usally only end up having to work on defending 1,2, or maybe 3 planets on the frontline to keep my empire safe.  By allowing direct jumps to any planet within a system, it greatly changes the stratgey you need to defend your empire.

Now with that said, this mod dosen't just give everyone the abilty from the start to travel to any planet directly.  First you have to research the Direct Jump ability.  This abilty is then given to your scout ships which then have to explore each planet before a Direct Jump can be made to that planet.  This gives a new focus on scout ships, because not only are they scouting for you now, they also give you direct jump access to any planet they visit.  All three races will have access to this abilty.

I replaced the Unstoppable Phase Jumps each race's scout ships got with the abilty to allow for Direct Jumping.  Those are the only files I have changed.

I hope you guys enjoy this,  I know I have.

Also I want to thank Zelin78 for his help with this.

Link for download...

http://files.filefront.com/Phase+Scoutszip/;10082070;/fileinfo.html

 

42,885 views 31 replies
Reply #1 Top
Sounds very cool.....been working on something similar myself but you've now saved me a lot of time...cheers!
Reply #2 Top
Vasari can jump directly between planets whit adequte research.

But that's a pretty good idea :CONGRAT:  :CONGRAT: 
Reply #3 Top
As far as I know, the Vasari can only jump between thier own planets which have Phase Gates built. This mod allows jumps to unowned, enemy, or even uncolonizable locations, as long as the scout ship has been there after the research for Direct Jumps is done.
Reply #4 Top
Might i ask, from a modders perspective, how you accomplished this? From the sounds of it (no, i havent downloaded it) you use the research to unlock an ability on the scout ship which applies the IsPhaseGateEndPoint modifier to planets it passes, presumably by a passive aura?
Reply #5 Top
I used the AbilityPhaseGateCapital as a template. I created a new abilty from it and then created new buffs for my new abilty which I called AbiltyPhaseGateScout. I then turned off finish conditions so that once the scout ship placed its node, it remains in place indefinetly. I then created new reseach for the abilty, replacing the the UnstoppablePhaseGate abilty that all scouts ships got.

Its not a passive ability. You have to actually use the ability by hand or set it to auto, in which case it will execute on its own. It dosent cost any antimatter and its cooldown is only 10 seconds, so that it is ready to be placed all the time.

I'm not much of a modder,this is in fact my first mod, but it works the way I intended it to. I just liked the concept of Direct Jumps to change up the strategy of the game a little bit. Now I can send a massive fleet directly to an enemies homeworld to reak havo, but while my fleet is away, my homeworld is also vulnerable. That is unless I do my best to stop any scout ships from reaching my homeworld. Also once detect phase jumps is researched, if a enemy launches an attack from across the system, I will have some warning and time to mount up a suitable defense.

Hopefully somewhere in there I answered your question.
Reply #6 Top
Nice job, many mods have talked about phase lanes limiting them, namely the SW mod comes to mind. With this it would really allow for a SW atmosphere, aswell with other mods.
Reply #7 Top
you could try editing all planets themselves to have the phase ability but meh, this works too.
Reply #8 Top
This kind of goes along with the travel-anywhere style of this mod. Does anyone know how to set up a planet module to work like a wormhole and send ships to a similar planet module. And no, just adding the AbilityWormhole doesn't work. (I knew it couldn't be that easy.)
Reply #10 Top

Doubtful since the last post was in 2008. Way to necro a topic lol.

The only way to do it is to ether have every world fully connected on the map, or have every world be like a phase gate.

Reply #11 Top

Perhaps I should restart work on a similar project I was working on before Rebellion came out, from what I see with buffs; there's a chance I'll be able to get it to work now...

Reply #12 Top

Quoting Lavo_2, reply 12
Perhaps I should restart work on a similar project I was working on before Rebellion came out, from what I see with buffs; there's a chance I'll be able to get it to work now...

 

If you could get it to work, that would be phenomenal. :D

Reply #13 Top

This mod is essential to my gameplay experience.  I've not played any mods since this one that incorporates this concept (not saying they're not there, just never found them).  Not being a modding expert, I have never figured out how to make planet modules that use this ability, but have managed to update this one so I have direct jumps in both Diplomacy and Rebellion.  It's a very crude, stripped down version (no research-available at beginning of game; assigned to colony ship) and has a few quirks, but it works for me.  If someone wants to take it and make it better or just use it, I'm happy to share it.  Just let me know and I'll upload it.

Reply #14 Top

Quoting boshimi336, reply 13
If you could get it to work, that would be phenomenal.

Well, what I made before worked partially. I made a custom invulnerable/immobile trade ship with a passive phase gate ability, and with GSD tinkering spawned it at every planet (1 per player). I say it worked partially, as it didn't always work for every race or player, and this changed depending on how the mod's components (SoGE's) was done.

Reply #15 Top

Quoting Lavo_2, reply 15

Quoting boshimi336, reply 13If you could get it to work, that would be phenomenal.

Well, what I made before worked partially. I made a custom invulnerable/immobile trade ship with a passive phase gate ability, and with GSD tinkering spawned it at every planet (1 per player). I say it worked partially, as it didn't always work for every race or player, and this changed depending on how the mod's components (SoGE's) was done.

 

What is neat about this though is that there is another idea using similar philosophies that could work in conjunction. Spawn an item at the beginning of the game on every planet, one item at every planet for each player. This item lasts 5 seconds or 10 seconds and then detonates. This will reveal the map plus it's map names (like 'fog of war').

 

This could be used in conjunction with the 'jump to any gravity well' mod or the 'explore it first and then be able to jump to any gravity well' mod. Just throwing ideas out there.

Reply #16 Top

It'd be cool to combine that with a new type of ship or building, maybe even using the phase interference thing, to allow players to re-create those choke points.  With the difference being, those buildings could be destroyed. 

Then it'd create a good reason to go in, blow up the phase interference device, then go back out, just to then jump in behind the front lines.

Reply #17 Top

Quoting boshimi336, reply 16
What is neat about this though is that there is another idea using similar philosophies that could work in conjunction. Spawn an item at the beginning of the game on every planet, one item at every planet for each player. This item lasts 5 seconds or 10 seconds and then detonates. This will reveal the map plus it's map names (like 'fog of war').

I could just switch the ship from a trade ship to a random frigate, and in it's invulnerability ability, put in a timer which causes the ship to die in 5 seconds. Or, alternatively if that doesn't work well (ship has to be alive for the stuff to work, etc), I can easily put a new ship in the GSD template, or add an ability to the ship which spawns said item.

Quoting damiac, reply 17
It'd be cool to combine that with a new type of ship or building, maybe even using the phase interference thing, to allow players to re-create those choke points.  With the difference being, those buildings could be destroyed.

Not possible; militia forces would destroy them at the beginning of the game.

Reply #18 Top

Quoting Lavo_2, reply 18

Quoting boshimi336, reply 16What is neat about this though is that there is another idea using similar philosophies that could work in conjunction. Spawn an item at the beginning of the game on every planet, one item at every planet for each player. This item lasts 5 seconds or 10 seconds and then detonates. This will reveal the map plus it's map names (like 'fog of war').

I could just switch the ship from a trade ship to a random frigate, and in it's invulnerability ability, put in a timer which causes the ship to die in 5 seconds. Or, alternatively if that doesn't work well (ship has to be alive for the stuff to work, etc), I can easily put a new ship in the GSD template, or add an ability to the ship which spawns said item.


Quoting damiac, reply 17It'd be cool to combine that with a new type of ship or building, maybe even using the phase interference thing, to allow players to re-create those choke points.  With the difference being, those buildings could be destroyed.

Not possible; militia forces would destroy them at the beginning of the game.

 

Invulnerable with an ability to destroy it....

Reply #19 Top

not sure why planet couldn't have ability (passive and any owner) that makes it have a node stabilizer.  this way, no home planet has one and maps can be made so "home" systems are defensible.  I'm not sure how Ai would handle this.

Reply #20 Top

Not only that you would have to figure out a way to make all factions be able to use the phase gate, or phase node at a planet. AFAIK it is coded only for the Vasari factions.

Another thing you can try is make stars themselves into planets. They dont need phase lanes. However you will have to make interstellar phase jump tech automatic.

Reply #21 Top

Quoting Major, reply 21
AFAIK it is coded only for the Vasari factions.

Another thing you can try is make stars themselves into planets. They dont need phase lanes. However you will have to make interstellar phase jump tech automatic.

The first comment is incorrect; ANY faction can have a phase gate-like structure, assuming they have the proper techs for the ability and the ability is placed on one of their structures or ships.

Stars can work just fine as phase gate points; one just can't do interstellar jumps using them.

I believe it's time to restart this project.

Reply #22 Top

Sins of a Free-Roam Empire!

Reply #23 Top

Quoting Lavo_2, reply 22
I believe it's time to restart this project.

I could be wrong, but I seem to vaguely remember someone having difficulty with this type of mod because only one player can have a phase node at a given planet at a time. Perhaps that's been fixed in some patch though.

Reply #24 Top

So far it seems, after some slight tweaking, that two players of the same race on a Small map are thus far able to directly jump anywhere without issue. More testing is required. Edit: Works on a custom map with 3 players, 2 races, being played. I'm excited now. Edit 2: 6 players, 3 races, all work. I believe I've got it to work now!

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Reply #25 Top

Quoting Lavo_2, reply 25
So far it seems, after some slight tweaking, that two players of the same race on a Small map are thus far able to directly jump anywhere without issue. More testing is required. Edit: Works on a custom map with 3 players, 2 races, being played. I'm excited now. Edit 2: 6 players, 3 races, all work. I believe I've got it to work now!

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Time to reinvent the concept of 'Home Fleet' with smaller skirmish fleets vying for resources. :D Now, for ships in one star system to get to the planets in another star system, they still have to go through the star or can they just jump from planet to planet between the systems?

 

Depending, I would still like to keep the 'Long Distance Jump' star to star research relevant if possible.