Jumpship Mod
From SEWiki
The Jumpship Mod is a mod for Space Empires IV being worked on by Ed Kolis. It is designed as a remake of General Woundwort's Highliner Mod, and as such, only extremely large ships can travel through warp points; the regular SE4 ship hulls are represented as fighters (and called shuttlecraft in-game). The mod is being designed with Low Tech Mod v0.3.x rather than stock SE4 as a starting point, so one can expect some similarities to Low Tech Mod, such as the colonization technology model; however, the grittiness factor is turned down (shields will be more stock-like, engines store supplies, etc.).
No downloads are available for the Jumpship Mod as of this time as it is not yet in a playable state.
Interesting features include:
- Similarly to the SE3-ism Mod, unit construction types are restricted by what type of construction yard is doing the building, by means of resource requirements:
- Space-based yards build with minerals and radioactives, so they can build everything except for facilities, troops, and ground bunkers (since these cost organics).
- Ground-based yards build with organics and radioactives, so they can build everything except for jumpships and drones (since those cost minerals).
- Both types of yard can build additional shipyards: ground-based yards can build Orbital Shipyards (to get the initial space-based construction going), while space-based yards can build both Orbital Shipyards and jumpships containing yard components.
- Each of the six shuttle hulls has its own unique advantage - for instance, the Escort gives +20 to the shuttle squadron's defense, while the Destroyer can use special missile weapon mounts. This ensures that a mix of forces is used even late in the game, and takes advantage of rather than works around SE4's fighter stacking silliness.
- Jumpships and bases are limited in what components they can install:
- Jumpships cannot install weaponry; their sole function is to transport things between systems, be it shuttlecraft, colonists, drones, etc.
- Bases can install an even more limited set of components; their function is to be shipyards / repair docks.
- However, jumpships and bases can install heavy armor and shielding which shuttlecraft cannot install due to their smaller size.
- Beams and cannons cannot target planets; only torpedoes, missiles, and Planetary Bombardment Drones can. Planetary Bombardment Drones are intended for combat use only; they have no strategic movement will self-destruct at the end of the turn as they run out of supplies.
- Troops are all the same (large) size; the difference is in the designs. Troop components represent different components of an army (commanders, infantry, tanks, hovercraft, medics, etc.)
- Weapons and engines use the same tech grid: the Ion Power tech, for instance, unlocks both Ion Engines (via Propulsion) and Ion Weapons (via the various weapons techs: Beams, Missiles, Torpedoes, Projectiles, and Explosives). Advances in Explosives technology will unlock miniaturization mounts for missiles and torpedoes.
