[MOD] Distant Stars - Rebellion Alpha 0.13 Released! [17/06/13]

Published on January 5, 2009 By Nacey In Sins Modding

Article Link

Feedback of any kind is always welcome. Ideas, balance changes, and bug reporting of any kind is always useful!

Version 1.00 Released!

Make sure to ask for permission before republishing any part of this mod to the public!

Downloads

Rebellion Logo

1.05 + DLC Compatible:

0.12 ALPHA Release:
Full Download:
http://distantstars.mmobase.com/rebellion/Distant_Stars_(R)_ALPHA_0.13_[45189661].7z

Full Download MIRROR:
http://www.moddb.com/downloads/distant-stars-rebellion-alpha-013

MD5: 69486D2FCD3F35E46E6F5EF8C9F1634A

Diplomacy Logo

1.34 Compatible:

1.01 Release:
Full Download:
http://distantstars.mmobase.com/diplomacy/Distant_Stars_(D)_1.01_[45685832].7z

1.051 Compatible:

Beta 0.9951 Release:
Full Download:
http://distantstars.mmobase.com/entrenchment/DS_Entrenchment_Beta_0.9951_[36672852].7z

1.14 - 1.181 Compatible:

Version 1.01:
Full Download:
http://distantstars.mmobase.com/soase/Distant_Stars_v1.01_[453701567].7z

Make sure to ask for permission before republishing any part of this mod to the public!

Multiplayer Games:
We've setup a thread for everyone to organise their multiplayer games in and also setup example times and dates for most people to meet up and start games. These are what we hope to be the main times for people to be around and want to play games together.

The times are:
4pm EST (9pm GMT) Saturdays & Sundays
9pm EST (2am GMT) Saturdays & Sundays

If you want to organise other games please go ahead using the same topic to consolidate all the information in one place and hopefully get more games together within our community. These games are for PvP, PvAI & PvPvAIso come along and we'll get some games going!

Screenshots:
We've setup a thread so you can all post your screenshots to share with us the Distant Stars team and its players. Im sure we're all intrigued to see what kinds of battles and events you've all been having on the mod aswell.

Lore:
We know some of you guys love to role play whilst using Distant Stars, and here's a topic for you guys to post all of your role playing stories, character profiles and anything else you can imagine.

Maps:
Some of you avid map makers out there have produced some great maps but never really had them recognised because they've got lost. Well here's a topic for you to post a link to the download (we can even provide mirrors if necessary) a screenshot or two of the map for us all the preview and if enough people like it we'll even include the map in with the actual mod!

Please visit our website and for more information, change logs, downloads, and to report bugs. Our website can be found here: http://distantstars.mmobase.com

Bug Reporting

If you want to report a bug please use the Bug Report feature on our website:
http://distantstars.mmobase.com/?m=reportabug

Please include as much information as possible, if you have an error log feel free to post it on these forums and we'll take it from there. If you can reproduce the error please include the error log (read below to find out how to enable error logs) and include as much detail on how to reproduce the problem.

To enable logging:
Windows Vista/Windows 7:
C:\Documents and Settings\<Your Windows Username>\Local Settings\Application Data\Ironclad Games\Sins of a Solar Empire\Setting
or
Windows XP:
C:\Documents and settings\<Your Windows Username>\Local Settings\Application Data\Ironclad Games\Sins of a Solar Empire\Setting

Open the user.setting file (using Notepad, Wordpad or any text editor) and scroll down to the bottom 7 lines from the bottom is the line:
LogOutput FALSE
Change FALSE to TRUE
LogOutput TRUE

and from then on any Log files will be saved to the debug folder:
Windows Vista/Windows 7:
C:\Documents and Settings\<Your Windows Username>\Local Settings\Application Data\Ironclad Games\Sins of a Solar Empire\Debug
or
Windows XP:
C:\Documents and settings\<Your Windows Username>\Local Settings\Application Data\Ironclad Games\Sins of a Solar Empire\Debug

If you get these log files to us (you can just paste them in to a forum post) we can hopefully get your issues sorted.

Frequently Asked Questions

All files are compressed using 7Zip to shrink the download filesize. To extract these files you must use WinRAR or 7Zip.
Any Patches should overwrite the original install directory, either by extracting over the original folder, or cut/copy & pasting over the existing file/folder structure.

1) My game keeps crashing, is there anything I can do to stop it?
i) Are you running the game on maximum (highest) settings? if so, lower them to High or Medium, there is a known issue with the game using up too much memory, there is nothing we can do about this, also no matter how powerful your pc is, it is affected by this issue no matter the pc it is not above this crashing issue, it is a game problem not a hardware one, so quite simply lower your settings. If you still have an issue with crashing see point two.
ii) Give us as detailed information as possible about the crash, what was happening at the time of the crash, what races, ships, abilities were involved. If you can supply a Debug Log (see above for more information about logging) and post a bug report on our website.

2) The loading screens and portrait pictures dont appear properly, whats wrong?
i) This is an issue with ATI based graphics cards (rarely affects Nvidia based cards) we're looking in to the issue.

3) Why dont you support converting Distant Stars in to TXT format?
i) Quite simply many things can go wrong with converting your mod to TXT, we cant help you with something you've probably broken yourself.

4) Can I mod Distant Stars for myself?
i) Yes you can however please do not distribute our mod or our mod that you have edited to the public. You must ask for permission to do so, we will regrettably stop distributing our mod to all if users abuse our work.

5) Your mod is in BIN format I can't edit the files, what can I do?
i) You can convert the mod to TXT format however we wont offer any support to versions of the mod that have been converted to TXT.

6) Why is Distant Stars distributed in BIN format?
i) Mods load faster in BIN format and are less likely to have issues in this format.

7) I'm having trouble installing the MOD, do you have any more instructions?
i) Carbon was kind enough to do some more advanced instructions out here.

8) Is there any way to make new maps for Distant Stars using GalaxyForge?
i) Within the Distant Stars Extras folder there is a folder called Galaxy Forge, Copy and Paste this folder (or its contents) over your original Galaxy Forge folder (or its contents) replacing any files if it asks you to. When you start Galaxy Forge next you'll be able to use all of our planets.

Or, the DIY approach (without custom icons):

ii) The GalaxyForge supplied by the devs will still work with our Mod, however to be able to access all of our planetary bonuses, templates, planet types and stars you will need to take our GalaxyScenarioDef.galaxyScenarioDef (found in the GameInfo folder of the mod) and place it in to your GalaxyForge folder, overwriting the original GalaxyScenarioDef.galaxyScenarioDef (if you still wish to make maps for the original game keep a backup of the original file). This will allow you to use all of the Galaxy changes included in our mod.

Note: Any maps made for Distant Stars will not work with other Mods. See #8.2 for DIY instructions for map making or take the appropriate files from Entrenchment, they're cross-client compatible.

Some statistics...

Since August 2009 to February 2011 we have had over...

400,000 Unique visits to the website
12,000GB (12TB) of data transferred from our website

That equates to over 60,000 Unique downloads of the entire mod, excluding the excess of 20,000 Patches downloaded.

Thanks to everyone that has supported us this far and making our mod as popular as it is!

dyMRNwSFh9gw

Comments (Page 235)

3511

jozmar

on Jul 29, 2010

This may have been covered elsewhere, but as I do not feel like traversing nearly 150 pages, I'm just going to ask - what is the title of the piece playing in the menu of Distant Stars?

3512

Stant123

on Jul 29, 2010

Refer to the original post at the top of every page.

Inbuilt Mini-Mods:
Sound Effect Replacement MOD:
Enchanced and/or replaced sound effects and replaced Battle music, it mostly consists of the remastered versions of the Haegemonia: The Solon Heritage OST, Band Of Brothers OST and the menu music is from E.S. Posthumus.

You want the last one mentioned. Which song exactly? Dunno, never really paid much attention, but you should be able to sample a bunch of tracks and figure it out.

Edit:

Looked on Google, sounds like Ebla. So I guess E.S. Posthumus - Ebla is the answer.

3513

lbgsloan

on Jul 29, 2010

There was some discussion on cap balance in the general forums a while back. I largely lost interest due to the stagnation of the game (this mod is the only reason it's still on the my drive), so I don't know what became of it. There were some generally agreed upon changes regardless of how bomber and LRM spam warp the metagame, like rebalancing the Kol shield ability to a passive, major ability buffs to most of the support caps, throwing Animosity into the garbage and coming up with something entirely new for the Radiance, etc.

May be worth looking at if you need some ideas for the next major DS patch.

3514

goodgimp

on Jul 29, 2010

Is there a location I can get some specifics on stuff like EWS Bombers (I know what the special ability does, but how do they stack up to regular bombers, damage wise?) and how the "Elite" strikecraft carrier capships can build differ from regular? What about stats for Gunship strikecraft, how much better vs. strikecraft are they over Fighters? Are they decent against anything else? Just tried the mod last night and loved it, but had lots of questions about the new stuff. Thanks!

3515

Stant123

on Jul 29, 2010

Well you can get a lot of information about the mod from it's Wikia page. It's not fully comprehensive and probably wont be as long as the mod continues to be developed, but it's usually good enough for most people's questions.

Specific differences can be deciphered from comparing that one to the wiki for the original.

3516

Xer07

on Jul 30, 2010

TBH I almost NEVER have Kol's in any of my fleets, I always have Marza's, Dunov's, Sova's and Akkan's, but never Kol's. I honestly never saw any use for them, Garda's provide enough flak, Marza's and Sova's do enough damage, and Akkan's and Dunov's increase the battle effectiveness and capability of the fleet alot more than any Kol could.

Xer0 \^/

3517

Masakary

on Jul 30, 2010

My example with the Bombers-Flaks-Gunship was meant to show how fast the Bombers are replaced and there is very, very hard to counter them in huge numbers. So my solution would be to increase the respawn time/cost, so you would actually need to micro them instead of "LETZ SPAM MOR CARRIARS".

The Kol could really would use some love, also the Advent 2nd Capital and the Marauder need some buffs to even make them a little useful. The Kol could use some increase in dps/hp, also its first ability should stop the sublight engines, so it would make it a capital-counter; this would make you think twice before getting a first Colonizer/Carrier capital. For the rest, i'll go look at that mod and suggest some slight buffs or nerfs, so that the balance of the mod won't be fundamentally changed.

As i haven't mentioned, me and all the people from my group use the DS 0.7 beta + 1.1 MP patch. I think these changes, if they will ever be implemented, should be added to the MP patch.

Also, a quick question : can the pacts be modified, so you can make multiple pacts of the same type with different people ?

3518

Stant123

on Jul 30, 2010

I wish pacts could because it would be really nice and the number one thing on my list to fix, but I'm reluctant to say yes.

Edit:

Oh, and about the Kols, I find them to be useful as roadblocks and speed bumps. When you have to slow an advancing fleet so you can assemble yours, sending in the battleships to soak up a lot of punishment buying you time can really help in a pinch. Probably more helpful on the bigger maps with more opponents when the possibility of your fleet being stretched thin is a constant problem.

3519

Draakjacht

on Jul 30, 2010

The first ability of a Kol would be the railgun, correct? That does stop sub-light engines, I believe. It just doesn't last as long as an ion bolt or such, but since it does damage, that seems fair.

3520

Masakary

on Jul 30, 2010

The damage is pretty low, also the Kol's manapool doesn't allow it to spam the ability more than 2-3 times, after that the Kol becomes a glorified Kodiak. And let's be serious, the damage is neglijable, after shield mitigation/armour it barely scratches a frigate, let alone a capital. Also, it just reduces the max speed to 0; that's a different thing from disabling the sub-light engines. The ship may not move from its curent position, but it can rotate, making flanking a capital ship an imposible tactic.

Also, not just the cost of the capital ships should be tweaked. Supply is a very important factor in the game and the capitals should reflect that. A colony ship should have the max supply cost, while a support cap should have the least, in my opinion.

@Stant : The problem is, even if i build a battleship, the oponent focuses on other ships/capitals because they know it doesn't poses a threat and it's better to kill the suppor/carrier cap or the frigates. As i said, a battleship should be a force to be reckoned, with high dps/hp, made to stand in the frontlines and to actually make a difference.

3521

Draakjacht

on Jul 30, 2010

I feel that being able to spam any ability would be a mistake from a design point of view. With a few Dunovs and an Akkan, I find my Kols serve me well, taking out many frigates before it potentially falls apart. As for supply, I do agree taht the colony ship should take a bit, but the frigate is cheap for the sake of getting the game rolling. A support cap would not have the least because of technical aspects. With automation, a Marza would require fewer operators than a Sova or Akkan. Dunov is perhaps debatable. If you're talking least support cost of all ships, a frigate should never compete with a cap for crew.

Again, just my opinion. As far as balancing the game, it would (if done at all) be done in small increments to determine the best effect.

3522

Masakary

on Jul 30, 2010

I'm not refering to "spam" as using the ability like 30 times/battle....but at least 10 times would be nice, now it's a wonder if you can at least 4-5 times. Its manapool simply can't support 4 activables, so we can either make one of them passible, as they made in Project Equilibrum (They made the 3rd ability passive) or we can lower the mana cost...or we can do both of them. Right now i see the Battleship alot weaker than a carrier in combat. I even made a test to see if i'm wrong. I attacked a powerful neutral force - 2 heavy cruisers, 4 flaks etc. first with a Kol, after with a Sova. The Kol barely killed them all with like 1000hp, while the sova was at like 1700 and the latter killed the neutrals alot faster.

So...my ideea would be to make the 3rd ability passive...and add like 10-20 dps to its autocannons. Also, descrease its supply cost by 10, the cost by 1000/200/200 and i think i will actually build a Kol instead of a Sova Or we can leave the cost like this and massively increase the hp/dps. Well, what do you tihnk ?

3523

Stant123

on Jul 30, 2010

I'm more for increasing the HP/DPS end of it, cutting the cost wouldn't seem right for a capital.

3524

Draakjacht

on Jul 30, 2010

Keep in mind that Dunovs can cut down on AM cost.

3525

Masakary

on Jul 31, 2010

How many games you get a Dunov to lvl 6 ? Right, just 1 of 10

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