--- AD Augmented Mod Beta3 ---
Usage: Extract all files from the archive to your AD folder.
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Explanation of abbreviations:
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PD: Physical Defense (Armor/Hit points)
ED: Energy Defense (Energy Points)
PA: Physical Attack (Damage to PD)
EA: Energy Attack (Damage to ED)
SR: Sonar Range (in meters)
BRF: Briefing
COM: Communication messages during missions
AM: Attitude Matrix (defines groups of friends/foes)
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Global changes:
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1. Script & Locations
- Unified naming format of all locations - roman digits are always used.
- Cleaned ALL conversation files (typos, punctuation errors, weird English).
- Changed some conversations significantly (mostly Avalon) - they should actually make sense now...
- Scavenger - Garcia's Lounge - Eva: conversation's end now fits Flint's character much better... :D
- Fixed audio descriptions (clips) for Mole & Polar (errors in scripts led to lack of audio).
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2. Cockpit
- Removed this highly annoying "Caution! System breakdown eminent!" audio message. I think huge "ALERT" info in the middle of the screen is enough...
- Changed/shortened some names showing up in HUD (MaximumImpact I -> Max. Impact I). The new ones fit up the space better.
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3. Flint's boats
- Changed PA caused by ramming into object; added some EA:
old Hiob: 200 PA, 0 EA
new Hiob: 200 PA, 20 EA
old Gator: 200 PA, 0 EA
new Gator: 300 PA, 30 EA
old Zorn: 300 PA, 0 EA
new Zorn: 400 PA, 40 EA
old Succubus: 200 PA, 0 EA
new Succubus: 500 PA, 50 EA
- All 4 boats can use Noise Reduction Skin (previously only Zorn & Succubus); no changes for Silator (Gator/Zorn/Succubus only)
- You can buy Carbon Armor at the Mole (immediately after receiving Zorn) - makes 3 missions against Santiago slightly easier (still: to buy Fixer, Booster, etc., you have to reach the Triton)
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4. Ships / Vehicles / Objects
- Biont Bomber: PD decreased from 240000 to 120000 (makes destroying them MUCH faster); ED decreased from 17280 to 10000 (two Leech 2 torpedoes (EA=6000) are now enough to paralyze a single bomber).
- Biont Scout: PD decreased from 60000 to 40000 (so you can actually destroy them, without paralyzing them first); ED decreased from 5920 to 5000.
- EnTrOx Boat: PD increased from 5800 to 9000
These boats are described as "one of the most powerful in all Aqua", so I made them a bit more durable. They are immune to EA as well (both in original game and my mod).
- Mines do much more damage now: passive ones went from 2000 PA to 4000 PA, active ones from 1500 PA to 3000 PA.
- Changed ammo for regular guns from unified number (900 for all) to the values below. Should affect all users (Flint, allies, enemies).
Vendetta 1: 800 (-100)
Vendetta 2: 900 (no change)
Vendetta 3: 1000 (+100)
MaxImpact 1: 1100 (+200)
MaxImpact 2: 1200 (+300)
- doubled EA for all energy weapons:
Plasma Gun 1: from 40 to 80
Plasma Gun 2: from 80 to 160
Plasma Death 1: from 120 to 240
Plasma Death 2: from 240 to 480
Plasma Death 3: from 480 to 960
Doom Mortar: from 1000 to 2000
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General changes in missions:
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1. Unified naming format of ALL boats, turrets and objects. All names have following format: !!-TYPE @#, where:
- !! = side (AT - Atlantic Federation, AN - Anarchist, PT - Pirate, etc.)
- TYPE = type of boat / object (Scout, Bomber, Gun-Turret, Torp-Turret, etc.)
- @ = squadron for boats / area for turrets (a-z)
- #= unit's number (1-9)
So, "distinctive" names (like AN-Scout LolWat2) were removed. But:
- all duplicated / multiplicated names were fixed,
- it's much easier to orientate now,
- names now work more as "sonar echoes" instead of "boats' registration numbers".
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2. Added names (and numbers, if necessary) & cargo to ALL devices and objects (crawlers, freighters, depots, tanks, etc.).
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3. Enemies now have PD >= 100%
There are no longer nerfed enemies (PD < 100). Most of them have default PD for their type (100%), some of them are buffed (PD > 100%) - as long as it's justified by mission's character (see next section "Changes in missions" for details).
!IMPORTANT!
This makes some missions more difficult.
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4. Allies now have PD >= 100%
There are no longer nerfed allies (PD < 100). Most of them have default PD for their type (100%), some of them are buffed (PD > 100%) - as long as it's justified by mission's character (see next section "Changes in missions" for details).
!IMPORTANT!
This makes some missions easier, but at least these look more like regular battles now, instead of "Flint destroying 100 enemy boats on his own".
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5. SR now depends entirely on unit's type (with some exceptions)
Originally, sonar range of each unit depended on variables set in mission files. Same as in PD's case, some units were nerfed (less than 100 m), some were buffed (up to even 200 m).
Some turrets were able to detect you from 80 m, others (same type) from 140 m. Same thing with boats / vehicles.
As for now, there are 4 values for SR:
100m:
Gun-Turret #6 (1 barrel)
Buggy #2
Buggy #65
Scout #11 (pirate small)
Scout #39 (anarcho small)
Scout #88 (anarcho small)
120m:
Gun-Turret #5 (2 barrels)
Gun-Turret #7 (4 barrels)
Torp-Turret #36
Tank #3 (single barrel)
Tank #4 (double barrel)
Scout #1 (anarcho big)
Scout #10 (shogunate)
Scout #12 (atlantic federation)
Scout #13 (pirate big)
Boat #15 (clansunion)
Scout #89 (anarcho big)
140m:
Scout #8 (biont)
Scout #9 (Hong Long)
Boat #14 (mogh)
Bomber #16 (anarcho small)
Bomber #40 (anarcho big)
Bomber #41 (atlantic federation)
Bomber #42 (pirate)
Bomber #44 (shogunate)
Boat #67 (entrox)
160m:
Bomber #43 (biont)
In certain missions, some units have SR lower than default - as long as it's justified (or required) by mission's character (see next section "Changes in missions" for details).
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6. Checked/fixed/tweaked ALL turrets and vehicles, to ensure that they use proper gun types
There are 14 entries for gun types in Globweap.des file. Entries 0-10 correspond to guns used by boats (from 0 = PlasmaGunI to 10 = VendettaIII), while entries 11-13 correspond to guns used by gun turrets and vehicles (Max1/Max2/Vendetta projectiles will be used in all (1-4) barrels).
To my surprise, in some mission files gun turrets / vehicles use improper entries (0-10). Due to this, such objects shoot more projectiles than they should.
For example, gun turret #6 (single barrel type) should shoot only one projectile per salvo. And that's how it works when you use entries 11-13. But when you use entry #10, it will shoot four projectiles per salvo - the game assumes that this turret is equipped with Vendetta 3 gun (4 projectiles).
And since there are two more types of gun turrets (#5 = 2 barrels & #7 = 4 barrels) you can find turrets, which will shoot 16 projectiles per salvo (4 barrels with Vendetta 3 in every barrel). Which is clearly wrong.
All this is now fixed. All gun turrets and vehicles will shoot 1/2/4 projectiles per salvo, depending on their type (number of barrels).
!IMPORTANT!
Since this change made some units weaker (1-barreled turret shooting Vendetta projectiles is a joke), I decided to:
- use "standard" setting for guns, depending totally on unit type,
- use Max1 / Max2 projectiles for all turrets and vehicles.
New settings (used in the entire campaign) look like this:
model# unit type gun type
2 buggy #1 max1
3 1-barreled tank max1
4 2-barreled tank max2
5 2-barreled turret max1
6 1-barreled turret max1
7 4-barreled turret max2
65 buggy #2 max2
If the change described above was making certain mission too easy / too hard (stronger/weaker turrets/vehicles were required), I was simply changing unit type (instead of gun type - now standardized).
So, boats are now the only units, able to use various gun models (0-10), depending on settings set in mission files (see point #7).
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7. Checked/fixed/tweaked ALL boats, to:
- ensure that they use proper gun types (see above) - some boats were using gun settings 11-13,
- increase game difficulty by equipping boats with stronger guns,
- increase game difficulty by equipping boats with stronger torpedoes / more torpedoes.
Exemplary changes:
- enemies use VendettaI only in 1st hub, after that they quickly switch to V2/V3 and MaxImpacts,
- enemies use stronger torpedoes than in vanilla game (by 1-2 tiers), as long as it doesn't brake particular mission (missions where you have to protect something were tricky to tweak, since it's now much easier for enemies to blow up something),
- enemies generally have more torpedoes than in vanilla game (in some missions they were having 0-2, now at least 2-4); in later missions units generally use their maximum torpedo capacity: 6-8 for scouts and 8-20 for bombers (Flint's boats can use max 12 torpedoes, but original game files sometimes use ntor = 20, so I decided to use it for some heavy bombers).
!IMPORTANT!
This change made the entire game significantly harder, but in a good way. :D
I tested ALL missions in the game and was able to complete them all without using torpedoes (with an exception of missions against Bionts, for obvious reasons).
If you can't finish some mission, you have to improve your skill...
!IMPORTANT!
Both above changes (#6 & #7) can be sum up as follows:
- gun turrets and tanks are not as deadly as in vanilla (especially some turrets were overpowered),
- boats are now significantly more dangerous, since they can use powerful torpedoes,
- the ability to shake off / distract / shoot down torpedoes is now CRUCIAL.
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8. Rebalanced difficulty settings (which boat appears on which difficulty mode)
My goals was to assure that additional boats (appearing on higher difficulty levels) can be a threat to Flint / mission objectives.
For example, if originally number of boats looked like this: 8 easy, +1 medium, +1 hard, it was modified to: 6e, +2m, +2h.
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9. Fixed / tweaked / cleaned briefing information (BRF) for ALL missions
Some messages did not show up, some were incorrect (tips pointing to wrong keys), etc. I also had to apply new naming format here (turrets instead of towers for example).
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10. Fixed / tweaked / cleaned communication messages during missions (COM) in ALL missions
Some flags were incorrect (foes using green text instead of red), some triggers were not taking difficulty modes into consideration (units active in COM did not show up on Easy at all). And of course, I had to apply all changes made to unit names here as well...
