DifficultChoiceMod b6

I.) Mod Idea
a) I'm a little bit bored that more than 95% choose Unification. Uni is simply too strong in 1.31. Therefore this mod wants to help the dict and demo races (see also the DemoDictMod-DD; sidebar) by better MapBalance (III.), availabe Morale Techs (IV. b) and new Racepick costs (40 positive picks possible!) (VI.).
b) The DD-Mod solved the above mentioned problem and morale races are a viable option there. But one problem persists. 95% of the decisions in the techtree are no-brainers. This mod tries to change this.......ANY techfield should be a DIFFICULT CHOICE. The absolutely must-haves (automated factories, research labs and robominers) are therefore singletons. See also the TechTable (IV.) and the TechChanges (V.) for further details.

What's new in this betaversion?

There were still a few hangovers from old approaches to solve the morale and bombs problems of Moo2. Special thanks to Cabman who played this mod a lot and pointed out a few problems. I cleaned up a bit:

a) Missiles have their old 1.31 values now. Since I upgraded the planetary shields in DCb5 there is no longer a reason to reduce the missile damage generally.
b) Anti-matter Torpedoes have also an increased damage of 13 now.
c) I liked Cybersaber's mod idea but Structural Analyzers were too attractive in the early tech field compared to EMG. A further reason why missiles where unpopular in DCb5. Nevertheless, I think it is possible now to tech SA in its old 1.31 techfield since there is an additional substitute for the cybercomp (mole and improved mole).
d) No longer early Powered Armor. Psionics moved up in b5 and so did Powered Armor now.
e) PPs of Robotic Factory are reduced to 100.
f) There is a new approach with respect to race pick costs. There are still up to 10 negative picks possible. But if you use them all there are up to 40 positive race picks you can spend now (instead of 20 picks in 1.31).

II.) Installation
1. Find the Install.exe on your Moo2 CD and double click it to start the DOS installer. (INSTALL.EXE....NOT setup.exe or the autoinstall. If u dont have install.exe on your Moo2 CD use the win-installation and copy this rkernel.com file in your moo2 directory and proceed.)
b) Apply the v1.31 patch
c) Apply the v1.40 patch
Unzip the DCModb6.zip into your moo folder. NO BACKUP IS NECESSARY! The new files (different file names) can coexist with the 1.40 patch.

Test the Oriondc.exe ---> Singleplayer should work already.

2. Multiplayer via DosBox:
Instead of orion2~1 (last line of step 8 in this guide, btw that is the exe name of the1.4 version) you can simply paste the exe name of the mod:
oriondc

III. Map Balance
The Orange Mod is quite popular recently and it is even used in the ladder. I have implemented some of its ideas in DC, mainly to help techbased races which cannot afford to build outposts at start:
a) Brown Stars are defacto Red Stars now.
b) I have removed all unguarded UltraRich planets. (They are rich or abundant now.)
c) UltraRich planets have now a basic prod of 7 per worker instead of the previous 8.
d) Tiny and small planets are now slightly larger. Basic Gaia size for tiny and small are 5 and 10 in regular moo. In this mod they are 8 and 12.
e) I have slightly increased the climate modifiers besides Terran and Gaia.
The effects of the modifications d) and e) are summarized in the following table.

DC (& DD) MaxPop Values (click it to enlarge):

See this post for details how the max pop values are calculated.

IV. The TechTable
There are many changes in the TechTable. I recommend a close look at the following jpg (click it to enlarge) for an overview. [Techs in italics are changed in a further way (fe size, damage, maintenance etc.). See point V. The TechChanges for details.]



A small summary of the ideas:

a) The basic econ techs of 1.31 are almost unchanged.
- rlabs, autofacts and supercomps are still in the 1.31 techfields.
- cloners/soil are now 250 RP, but there is a new biology field for 150 RP. (150+250 are the old 400 RPs.)

The important exception are robo miners. They are far better than robotic factories. (Especially for a tolerant race with monster planets.) Robo Miners were too cheap in 1.31 and this was the main reason that the CONSTRUCTION path was uninteresting after the 650 RP-Field.

b) Morale Techs are pretty cheap compared to 1.31. In fact most MP games (1.4 patch) are without any morale techs. This mod makes them available and they are the key to beat some Uni races. I want to see some long run competition between 20-30% morale and the 50% uni food and prod bonus.

c) The absolutely must haves rlabs, autofacts and robominers are singletons. Therefore new war techs are available for non-crea races. --> 2 new early techfields in biology 150 and physics 80 were generated.

d) The main idea of the new TechTable is to ADD further options. Each of the unused techs in 1.31 should have "some" chance to be useful in this mod. (That's obviously difficult to balance and for some crappy techs almost impossible.) Even when adding new options is the priority in this mod.......a few of the old powerful combinations have to be destroyed. So the following popular 1.31 techs are now in the same techfield:

- Subspace comm and Tractor beams: Tractors (and raiding) are the strongest weapon in the long run since there is no countermeasure. But keep in mind that the empty ship exploit (see bottom) is also reduced.

V.) The TechChanges
Furthermore I have modified several technologies to make them useful. Look at the following table:

1.31 Values in brackets, click it to enlarge:

The most important changes are in bold. Some of them were just added in b5:
a) Fighters, Assault Shuttles, Bombers and Heavy Fighters have 100% more structure.
b) Missile bases, Fighter garrison and ground batteries have 100% more structure.
c) Planetary Shields block 50% more damage.

The both last mentioned changes improve planet defense quite a lot. Be aware that fighter garrisons and missile bases are now available for non-creatives and that the very popular substitute (i.e. the warp-interdictor) is no longer an easy choice. The interdictor gives you the option to defend your colonies easily by a mobile fleet. Therefore it should be harmful to use this mighty tech. It is the intention of this mod that some immobile planet defense might be useful. Be also aware that the Planetary Shields are drastically improved. The boring hit and run strategy using missiles or torpedos is no longer sufficient. This was necessary to make bombs, bombers and heavy fighters useful. You shouldn't underestimate these unpopular techs in this mod.

VI. Racestuf
a) Racepicks
There is a fundamental change with respect to race pick costs. There are still up to 10 negative picks possible. But if you use them all there are up to 40 positive race picks you can spend (instead of 20 picks in 1.31). Therefore race picks were doubled when they are de facto unchanged. This change was made because of better balance between positive and negative picks and better classification of positive picks:

DC Racepick screen (click it to enlarge):


DC Racepick overview/comparison - positive picks are divided by 2 (click it to enlarge):
Several unpopular racepicks (denoted by an *) are cheaper now:


b) AI-Races:
Because of the new Racepicks costs I had to change many AI-Races. I improved them slightly:


VII. Miscellaneous
a) Leaders
Cyr (fighterpilot) is almost completely useless in regular moo so I improved him slightly. He adds 5 to beamdefense now.

b) Empty Ship Exploit removed
Empty Ships have a bonus of +10 combat speed in regular Moo2 (details). Empty frigates or destroyers (with augmented engines and battlepods) are therefore extremely fast. These so called runners have also a high beam defense and this means that you are generally unable to shoot them down from distance. This results often in unnessesarily long battles and furthermore it can be exploited to stop an AI with bad tactical combat skills.
Therefore I have reduced this bonus to +4 combat speed. Additionally, the battle pods just add 25 percent more space, i.e. that the effects of the so called battle pods bug (ships are faster by adding bpods) are also reduced.

Your comments and suggestions are welcome. See also the DC thread in the community forum.

Master of Orion II Poll

By using blogsearch I found this Master of Orion II poll here. It was started by green_meklar who has also written this uncyclopedia entry (some wikipedia parody). OK. I think my votes are clear:

Silicoids, Green, Gaia, Capitol (Unification sucks!), Mass drivers, Heavy armor, green DD, 10 and several "yes"-votes (except the last one).

DifficultChoiceMod b5

latest version can be found here:

http://masteroforion2.blogspot.com/2006/07/difficultchoicemod-b6.html

DemoDictMod b8

I.) Mod Idea
I'm a little bit bored that more than 95% take Uni. Uni is simply too strong in 1.31. Therefore this mod wants to help the dict and demo races by better MapBalance (III.), availabe Morale Techs (IV.) and new Racepick costs (V.).

II.) Installation
1. Find the Install.exe on your Moo2 CD and double click it to start the DOS installer. (INSTALL.EXE....NOT setup.exe or the autoinstall. If u dont have install.exe on your Moo2 CD use the win-installation and copy this rkernel.com file in your moo2 directory and proceed.)
b) Apply the v1.31 patch
c) Apply the v1.40 patch
Unzip the DDmodb8.zip into your moo folder. NO BACKUP IS NECESSARY! The new files (different file names) can coexist with the 1.40 patch.

Test the Oriondd.exe ---> Singleplayer should work already.

2. Multiplayer via DosBox:
Instead of orion2~1 (last line of step 8 in this guide, btw that is the exe name of the1.4 version) you can simply paste the exe name of the mod:
oriondd

III. Map Balance
The Orange Mod is quite popular recently and it is even used in the ladder. I have implemented some of its ideas in DDb8, mainly to help techbased races which cannot afford to build outposts at start:
a) Brown Stars are defacto Red Stars now.
b) I have removed all unguarded UltraRich planets. (They are rich or abundant now.)
c) UltraRich planets have now a basic prod of 7 per worker instead of the previous 8.
d) Tiny and small planets are now slightly larger. Basic Gaia size for tiny and small are 5 and 10 in regular moo. In this mod they are 8 and 12.
e) I have slightly increased the climate modifiers besides Terran and Gaia.
The effects of the mods d) and e) are summarized in the following table.

DDb8 MaxPop Values (click it to enlarge):

See this post for details how the max pop values are calculated.

IV. Techs
Just 3 small changes with respect to Morale Techs, 1.31 values in brackets:
Holo Sim 400 (900)
Virtual Reality Network 900 (4500)
Psionics 650 Sociology (2750 Biology)

Additionally, Neural Scanners and Telepathic Training were swapped. (Otherwise it is too painful to tech holo sims.)

V. Racepicks
The AI Races and Racepick costs are identical to the DC Mod.

DDb8 AI Races (click it to enlarge):


DDb8 Racepicks (click it to enlarge):

Updated Map Mods

The Map Mods are now compatible with 1.40b23:

Orange_b23.zip
GoodMaps.zip

Moo2v140b23 released

LordBrazen released a new version of his 1.40 patch. You can find it in his download section.

New fixes:

Corrected several problems with the /nohousing switch.
Fixed the Black Hole Generator bug.
Fixed several problems with the display redraw. (For example: Tractor Beams bug fixed now.)

Details

BTW, I will update several mods in the next days.

Master of Orion II Demo

A new kali player told me that a MOO2 demo is again available:

Download Master of Orion II Demo

DosBox Guide

DOSBox supports IPX since version 0.65 and it improved significantly the efficiency of MOO2 MP Online Games. Keep in mind that by using DOSBox also Linux, 2k, Vista and even Mac users are now able to join our Multiplayer Games. Therefore, DOSBox is now considered as the de facto solution for multiplayer. In the meanwhile, the IRC channel irc.quakenet.org#moo2 (This link works for FF+chatzilla/Opera users. IE users should use the client at the top of the sidebar) is the new meeting point for MOO2 Online Games. It was introduced in August 2006 after most MOO2 players started to use the new DOSBox version.

Before the guide starts, I'd like to add a small FAQ section.

A) Why should I use the DOS version?

First of all, regarding multiplayer the DOS version orion2.exe is far superior to the WIN version orion95.exe. When you have ever tried to setup a MOO2 network game you may have observed this already: The orion95.exe lags extremely. Up to several minutes between the turns. You may ask for the reason, let me therefore quote the developer Rob Corell:

"It [MOO2] was definitely developed under DOS. I did the DOS network support, and don't even remember any Win95 testing for MOO2."

To sum it up: Network games under orion95.exe are considered unplayable but the orion2.exe provides appealing results.

B) I have installed the Windows version orion95.exe. Why should I read this guide?

First, most MOO2 CDs contain both versions, i.e. orion95.exe and orion2.exe. Second, even if you own just a "Windows only" release (e.g. the Atari Download version), you should take into account that there are just minor differences between Windows and DOS version. It is patchable with the last official 1.31. Proceed with step 1B in this case.

C) DOSBox is just too slow. Do I have to use DOSBox?

There are alternatives to DOSBox, but I don't recommend them any longer (there are far too many problems involved on modern hardware). Actually, the newest DOSBox version (with default settings) works pretty fast on modern computers. So you have probably just an old DOSBox version (just update DOSBox in this case) or an older computer. In the latter case you should read step 7 to speed up DOSBox.

DOSBox Guide for MOO2 Multiplayer:

1. There are two ways to "install" the DOS version orion2.exe. In any case I emphasize to use the default folder. Users with a different folder name should take notice of this important NOTE. This 8 character limit under DOS is the main error of most DOSBox users.

1.A Conventional Way (win95/98/ME/XP can use this way.)
Find the Install.exe on your Moo2 CD and double click it to start the DOS installer. For further details see step 1 and 2 in LordBrazen's guide. Note, that step 2 in LordBrazen's guide isn't optional! (I.e. without this step you will need to mount your CD drive, too.) And I recommend to use the default folder: C:\MPS\ORION2
Any trouble? Try it with 1.B then:

1.B Unconventional Way (Linux, MAC, Win2k users or users without install.exe/orion2.exe have to use this way.)
Just copy the entire CD onto the hard drive! Once again, I recommend to use the default folder: MPS\ORION2
If orion2.exe and/or rkernel.com file(s) are missing:
Unzip this rkernel.zip file in your MOO2 directory and proceed. No worries about orion2.exe: The 1.31 zip patch in step 2 contains the exe file of the dos version.)
Once all the files are copied you will possibly need to edit the 'ORIONCD.INI' file within the C:\MPS\ORION2 folder. Change the top line in the file to C:\MPS\ORION2

2. Apply the moo2v131.zip patch. Important! 1.4 will only work with the ENGLISH 1.31 patch. (German or multilingual 1.31patch won't work. But German or other versions are no problem after applying the above mentioned patch.)

3. Apply the v1.40 patch (Latest version - 1.40b23 (MOO2v140 patch FAQ) You should follow these instructions and an 1.4 desktop shortcut is quite helpful (see step 6).

4. Download DosBox 0.72 and install it.

The steps 5-8 are related to the dosbox.conf file. The default location of this text file is:
C:\Programs\DOSBox-0.72\dosbox.conf

5. Open your dosbox.conf file with an usual text editor and and enable IPX, i.e. edit the following entry

[ipx]
# ipx -- Enable ipx over UDP/IP emulation.
ipx=true

6. We need now the exact MS-DOS name of your MOO2 working directory. The above-mentioned 1.4 shortcut is now helpful, especially if you have a different folder than default. Therefore, right click the 1.4 desktop shortcut - Properties - Program tab and copy the entry of the Working field to the clipboard:

After following the steps under 1A or 1B, the default entry should be
C:\MPS\ORION2
Paste now (from the clipboard) this entry to the [autoexec] part of the dosbox.conf file. With the default entry the necessary lines are:

[autoexec]
# Lines in this section will be run at startup.

mount c c:\MPS\ORION2
c:
orion2~1

The first two bold lines represent the so called mounting, i.e. DOSbox will launch an exe file from this working directory now. The third line is the command to launch the orion2v140.exe in this folder.

NOTE: For those without this shortcut and/or different working directory: Keep in mind that the 8 character limit under MS-DOS truncates names. For example C:\Microprose\Masteroforion2 will be translated to C:\Microp~1\Master~1

This note is now slightly emphasized since ~95% of the problems are caused by incorrect mounting. Click now the DOSbox shortcut to test your setup:

MOO2 will be automatically launched inside DOSbox:


Use ALT+ENTER to play fullscreen. BTW there is also a DOSbox Status Window, which will list the incoming connections (see step 8 for details).

7. You will observe that DOSBox is a bit slower than usual Dos under Windows but you can speed it up by editing the dosbox.conf file. Following edits work nicely on my old computer:

frameskip=1
core=dynamic
cycles=auto

But you should test these settings in singleplayer. Some players need a frameskip of 2 or 3. See also the comments: Some players report improved speed by output=ddraw.

8. MULTIPLAYER COMMANDS

The [autoexec] lines for a singleplayer game were explained in step 6. For an MP game you need a further command. And it is important that you add it above the orion2~1 line. I recommend to add the lines as they are mentioned under 8.C but let us first look at the default example separately:

8.A JOINING MULTIPLAYER GAME

[autoexec]
# Lines in this section will be run at startup.

mount c c:\MPS\ORION2
c:
ipxnet connect xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
orion2~1

You have to add the IP of the host behind the ipxnet connect command (for example: ipxnet connect 83.239.211.21) Use http://whatismyip.com/ to obtain your IP.)

8.B HOSTING MULTIPLAYER GAME

[autoexec]
# Lines in this section will be run at startup.

mount c c:\MPS\ORION2
c:
ipxnet startserver
orion2~1

In this case you don't have to add an IP.

By playing against different players (different IPs!) you will have to change the DOSbox.conf quite a lot. I therefore strongly recommend to add a shortcut of your dosbox.conf file to your desktop:


8.C DOSbox.conf Fine Tuning

You may have noticed that the "#" is used for comments inside the dosbox.conf. It is a convenient way to disable unused lines inside your dosbox.conf. For example, my current dosbox.conf for singleplayer games looks like this:


When I am interested in an MP game I just enable one of the bold lines mentioned under 8.A or 8.B. BTW, I have also added further MOO2 Mods at the bottom which can coexist in the same folder with 1.31/1.40. Note, that there are also the so called switches (/nowh etc.) added. They are explained in the 1.40 FAQ.

The IP in this screenshot is just an example. When you try to connect to this IP you will get this error message inside the DOSbox Status Window:


9. The host needs to forward PORT 213 UDP (default), if he uses a router/firewall.

10. Inside Moo2 you have to click the following buttons:
Multiplayer
Network
Join Game (only the host has to click Start New Game)


11. Run the setsound.exe and choose the soundblaster compatible option there. See this post for details and further fine tuning.

12. Ahhhh.......you need opponents? Join irc.quakenet.org#moo2 (This link works for FF/Opera users. IE users should use the client at the top of the sidebar) and you will find some DOSBox players there. See also this post for further IRC clients.

13. Popular Settings/Abbreviations (click it to enlarge)


Don't forget to enable ship initiative (default in Online Games). It is the last entry in this menu:

Map Mods

LordBrazen posted recently interesting data about the map generator in his modification forum.
You can use this data easily to create your own map mods. In fact, a lot of things are possible, especially more MapBalance and even totally different GamePlay. In this zip file is my first approach (see also the GoodMap mods further down this page and the Decent Rocks Mods.):

Download Orange Mod (b23)

Orange Mod
Some characteristics about orange systems:
a) At least 2 orbits of an orange star system are filled.
The exact probabilities are:
30% 2 or 5 orbits filled
20% 3 or 4 orbits filled
Be aware that these statistics include asteroids and gas giants.
b) An orange system does never contain an ultra rich planet.
c) Orange systems contain more often ocean, swamp, arid, terran and gaia planets than other stars.

The orange mod is quite simple. Any unguarded system is now de facto orange. That means that the previous star color is still displayed but the probabilities are identical to orange stars. Since many players complain about empties, singletons or rocky planets in their neighborhood this mod should help a lot. Additionally, an early Ultra rich was often decisive in regular moo. (Especially tolerant races are unstoppable in this case.) Be aware that only monster systems contain UltraRich planets now.

I don't know if these steps are enough. ALEXD pointed out that it is still possible that one side finds a lot of systems with asteroids near his homeworld while the other player has a dream start with a 5 planet system. I just thought this is quite a simple solution for more map balance. We will see....I appreciate feedback.

When you use this mod in a huge galaxy, you should verify that less than 250 planetary objects were generated. Otherwise it might be bugged.

BTW. Budee already created a nice icon for his orange mod launch button: orange.ico
Nice idea. Thanks.

Download GoodMaps (b23)

GoodMap Mods
Personally, I prefer orange systems in regular moo but of course even better system stats are possible. The systems in these GoodMap Mods have even better climate. I decreased the probabilities of toxic, radiated, barren, desert and tundra even further. Additionally, I excluded asteroids and gas giants.

GoodMap5
This mod generates systems with 5 planets. Be aware that there is a maximum of 249 planets in Moo2. Therefore this mod works only for small and medium maps. Don't use it for large or huge galaxies.
GoodMap4
All systems have 4 planets in this mod. This mod works in small, medium and large galaxies.
GoodMap3
3 planets for all systems. This works even in a huge galaxy.
GoodMap2
No, not what you might expect. In this mod there is just a 50% chance for a 2 planet system. The other 50% are 3 planet systems.

Installation
a) Find the Install.exe on your Moo2 CD and double click it to start the DOS installer.
b) Apply the v1.31 patch
c) Apply the v1.40 patch
Unzip the Orange_b23.zip & GoodMaps.zip into your moo folder. NO BACKUP IS NECESSARY! The new files (different file names) can coexist with the 1.40 patch.

Example: orange mod
Test the Orange.exe ---> Singleplayer should work already.

d) Multiplayer via DosBox:
Instead of orion2~1 (last line of step 8 in this guide, btw that is the exe name of the1.4 version) you can simply paste the exe names of the mods, fore example:
orange
or
goodmap2
etc.