EAW: Star Wars Realism v1.0 (Space Combat)

Description
EAW v1.2 mod to bring space combat more in line with my experience from the movies and the EU novels (particularly Rogue Squadron), as well as balancing gameplay elements. Fighters are now more useful, and broken / overpowered units such as the Ion Cannon / Assault Frigate have been balanced. Modded for Skirmish, but all space unit changes transfer over to the Story / Galactic Campaign modes.

Download Link
http://www.filecloud.com/user/files.php?category_id=386624) (127kb .zip)

Installation
Unzip the zip file, transfer the XML folder inside to your EAW/Gamedata/data folder. To uninstall, simply remove / rename the XML folder.

Elaborated Changes (Some, not all)
Fightercraft overall more useful - able to last longer against Corvettes.
Corvettes actually killable by bigger ships.
Ion cannon now balanced - drains 3000 shield instead of 45000.
X-Wing fires proton torpedoes! (non-penetrating)
A-Wing fires concussion missiles! (non-penetrating)
Y-wing's mounted turret actually fires 360 degrees now.
TIE Bomber fires concussion missiles! (non-penetrating)
Power to Weapons / Shield Regen abilities modified to be more usable.
Frigate class vessels now have better firepower and health.
Tweaks to heroes.

History
Decided to play around to satisfy my urge to see a more Lore-linked space combat. Eventually the changes kept growing until I decided to make it accessible to everyone for feedback and to enjoy a better game. Can't stand ground combat though.

Future Plans
More weapons hardpoints, so that all capital ships have at least 1-2 guns still capable of firing.

Additional ship types to diversity gameplay, such as fast moving capital ships for flanking, and ships that fire devastating broadsides but then have to recharge.

Getting new models etc in once people make them (cuz I can't).

Whatever ideas or suggestions I get :)

~MistenTH

nice mod looks to balence fighters. Likein the sound of it

Just tested it in a small skirmish against the AI and it definitely feels much better.
If it is really balanced will have to be tested for longer i suppose.
But still it feels great, and actually inspires me to look into those xml files myself, are they hard to use?

Thanks for the positive feedback, but if you feel anything isn't intuitive or plain wrong let me know, so I can see about fixing it.

It isn't really hard. The XML files are simply in text that EAW takes data from. I don't really dare to create whole new lines of settings, so what I did as a beginner, and what you can do, is to change existing structures to effect your changes.

Probably the biggest problem is understanding what some of the settings mean, or even if you do, how it affects the game. Just start poking around and you'll see :)

Y-wing's mounted turret actually fires 360 degrees now.
Isn't the regular Y-Wing with a non-turret Ion Cannon?
I also seem to recall the Y-Wings with turret mounted Ion Cannons being a two-seater.

From models and pictures I've seen, the turret I'm referring to is a laser turret for anti-fighter use. The ion cannons are still front-mounted.

Nice mod, any plans for expanding into Land Combat territory?

Nice mod works really well. Would be nice if you mod specialists worked together and included all your mods in one, such as this one, the Venator full mod, and possibly get the guys from Legacy of War to add the Executioner into this. One reason I bought this game was all the cool mods being made. Also, I know its not this time frame, but itd be cool to see the Sun Crusher and the Dreadnaughts from Dark Force Rising. Thank you to all modders.

From models and pictures I've seen, the turret I'm referring to is a laser turret for anti-fighter use. The ion cannons are still front-mounted.
Hmmm, I’m going to have to arrest you here. :)

There are 2 types of Y-Wings:
the BTL-A4, which is a 1 seater and most commonly used by the rebels.
and
the BTL-S3, a 2 seater, 1 pilot, and one gunner operating the turretmounted ion cannon on top.


The BTL-A4 are equipped with dual forward mounted laser cannons in the chin section of the craft. It also has an ion cannon turret above the cockpit which usually gets locked in the forward position (sometimes in aft direction to discourage pursuit) since this is a single seated fighter. This is also the fighter I, and I’m sure most others, assumed was used in the game.

The BTL-S3, which is the one you have changed it into, is a two-seater, where one is the pilot and the other is the gunner operating the ion cannon on top. The craft is equipped with the same weaponary (forward mounted, fixed laser cannons, and a top mounted ion cannon turret – no laser cannon turret).


So, no, it’s not neccessarly ment to be able to fire in a 360 degree arc, they just used the more common BTL-S4 Y-Wing.


Other than that, I haven’t been able to try out your modification yet (forums been acting weird today, been up and down, plus I’m working on my own little realism thingy ;) ), but I will have a go at it tomorrow likely, and the other changes sounds spot on so far.

Just thought I had to inform about this one thing.

I stand corrected. Prepare to see the ion cannon firing at fighters in the next version, although I'm curious what happens to an ioned fighter.

Walpurg, that's a good idea. I wouldn't mind really if anyone else is interested in my space mod. The only problem would be conflict over what changes should be kept by whom - let's face it - space combat is the sweetest thing in EAW.

Tom, ground combat, maybe. But right now it's a major turn off for me, and there are others who are doing ground. Actually, the ground files should be mixable with the space files since almost no files are in common.

Yep i know its not so interesting, thats why im asking for some changes, because it would be nice if i didnt want to skip ground battles just to get to space battles.

sence in this game ion cannons do most damage to shields, i sopose it wont do much damage to fighters. which is realistic

Nice stuff.

btw, I'm a modeler and I can't wait for the model tools to come out. I hope to model new kinds of unnits like Stormtrooper commandos, medics, Novatroopers, add in the A280 rifle for some of the rebel troops (specifically on Hoth), but I have no idea how to code them in, although I do hope to learn by looking through all the stuff in the XML mod folders.

I stand corrected. Prepare to see the ion cannon firing at fighters in the next version, although I'm curious what happens to an ioned fighter.
Perhaps you can have the special attack fire in a 360 degree arc?

Wildcat > there seems to be these lines in the XML that you can modify to import your own models once it's possible to make em.

<Land_Model_Name>EI_FieldCommander.alo</Land_Model_Name>
<Land_Model_Anim_Override_Name>EI_TROOPER.ALO</Land_Model_Anim_Override_Name>
<Icon_Name>i_button_ei_field_commander_bust.tga</Icon_Name>

The XML is pretty easy to mod, once you know what all the terms mean, which unfortunately, we don't.

Jan > Not sure how to do that, can't seem to find any XML for altering that ability's firing arcs.

And now posting version 1.1 in a new thread, main feature: Stronger Capital Ships, and lots of minor tweaks.