[Modding] - Supreme Commander: Tech 4 Edition Mod Project!

Hey, everyone! Lately I've been working on making my own mods for FAF, and I'm currently aiming to create a modpack out of it all at some point!

So far, I've made two mods - T4E Storages and T4E Paragons.

T4E Storages

• Adds Tech 2 and Tech 3 Storage units for each faction.

• Made in collaboration with Balthazar.

T4E Paragons

• Gives the UEF, Cybran Nation, and Seraphim their own factional equivalents of the Aeon Illuminate's Paragons.

• Made in collaboration with MadMax

Mods in Development

• T4E Gantries - Will add giant factories ("gantries") that can build Experimental units.

• T4E Tanks - Will add a ton of cool new tanks to the game - including Experimentals!

• T4E Adjacency - Adds new structures with unique Adjacency Bonuses.

• T4E Defenses - Adds new Point Defenses and changes up vanilla PD.

• T4E Air Superiority - Adds a ton of new air units (because T3 ASF spam is boring, imo).

• T4E Show Your Support! - Revamps Engineers and SACUs, replacing them with "Support Units" - which are basically Engies and SACUs combined. You need to manually upgrade your Supports' Tech Levels (like Mexes or your own ACU).

Feedback on my mods would be greatly appreciated, and I'm more than happy to collaborate with other modders to help make my modpack a reality at some point.

This looks cool, do you have any plans for what the Tanks and Air Superiority units will be?

good job, pls more

@zeldafanboy Sorry for taking over a month to respond, first and foremost. I've been busy, admittedly - though not entirely with stuff related to my modpack.

For starters, I'm currently merging my "T4E Tanks" and "T4E Air Superiority" mods into one, larger mod - T4E Evolution (AKA - "The Eternal War Mod").

T4E Evolution details

• All lower-tech units from the base game will be mixed into the higher-tech branches of your factories. As the name of the mod implies, these "Evolved" units are better than the base units they're derived from, albeit more expensive, as well. (I.E - T1 Interceptor -> T2 Interceptor -> T3 Interceptor)
• Lower-tech units will still be available to build, fortunately, just in case you lose your HQs or want to make cheaper units.

Cybran Units

Land

• Mole -> Spy -> Sleeper Cell (Land Scout)
  • Gains Omni Radar and Personal Stealth at T2.
  • Gains a weapon at T3, but must uncloak to use it.
• Hunter -> Wrecker -> Echo (Light Assault Bots)
  • Higher tech variants are shamelessly named after members of the Bad Batch from Star Wars.
  • Damage output is improved with each tech level, but still are pretty "lightweight" compared to other options.
• Mantis -> Swarmer -> Quadrantula (Assault Bots)
  • Weapon damage and Build Power improve with each Tech Level.
• Sky Slammer -> Sky Spammer -> Sky Jammer (Mobile Surface to Air Missle Launcher)
  • Missile damage/velocity increases with each tech level.
  • Gains the ability to Jam enemy radars at T3, creating fake radar unit signatures that can trick enemy units' weapons. Doesn't fool them if they have vision, however.
• Gorgon (Renamed) -> Cobra -> Black Mamba (Self-Propelled Mortar)
  • EMP weapon gains more range, damage, and Stun duration with each tech level.
  • Can briefly stun T3 units at T2. This stun lasts a bit longer at T3, but not by a lot.
• Hoplite -> Trifecta (Rocket Bot)
  • Shoots rockets faster than its T2 counterpart.
  • Its weapon costs energy to use, however.
• Rhino -> Elephant (Heavy Tank)
  • Gains two additional, shorter-ranged (but faster-firing) weapons.
• Wagner -> Beachcomber (Amphibious Tank)
  • Loses its Rocket Launcher, but gains more damage to its Torpedoes and primary weapon. Did I mention it also gets a second Torpedo launcher?
• Banger -> Powder (Self-Propelled Flak Artillery)
  • Gains more range, superb weapon velocity, and better damage.
  • Named after my favorite League of Legends character - Powder (also known by her alias - "Jinx")
• Viper -> Blackhead (Self-Propelled Tactical Missile Launcher)
  • Simultaneously fires three Tactical Missiles at T3.
• Deceiver -> Manipulator (Self-Propelled Stealth Generator)
  • Gains Jamming and a small, weak Shield Dome at T3, without sacrificing its Stealth Field.
• Fire Beetle -> Fire Hazard (Mobile Bomb)
  • At T3, the detonation will also Stun nearby units.
  • Slower at T3, but will have better HP and will hurt like Hell.

Air

• Flying Eyes -> Spectator -> Activist (Air Scout)
  • Not as fast as Spy Planes, even at T3.
  • Gains Omni at T3.
  • Gains an okay-ish Air-to-Air weapon at T2.
  • Gains an Air-to-Ground weapon at T3, pretty much doubling as a weaker gunship.
• Prowler -> Patroller -> Creeper , aww man! (Interceptor)
  • Faster than an ASF at T3.
  • Designed to engage other T3 air units - shooting them down before they can bomb your mexes, etc. Not reliable against units with strong AA weapons, however (like ASFs or Aeon T3 Gunships).
• Zeus -> Poseidon -> Hades (Attack Bomber)
  • Cheaper than Strategic Bombers.
  • At T2, they gain Jamming and their bombs can Stun T1-T3 units.
  • At T3, their carpet bombs leave fire where they land, dealing periodic damage.
• Corsair -> Jetstream (Fighter-Bomber)
  • Takes more time to build than an ASF, but less than a Strat Bomber.
  • Equipped with powerful Air-to-Air missiles at T3.
• Cormorant -> Swan Dive (Torpedo Bomber)
  • Torpedoes deal Hella damage at T3, and drops more of them, too!
• Sky Hook -> Dragon Fly -> Death Drop (Air Transport)
  • Gains a second rack at T3, along with a Stealth Field and Jamming.

Sea

• Sliver -> Fragment -> Fracture (Attack Submarine)
  • Anti-navy capabilities improve at each tech level, but are still vulnerable to Barracudas and the like.
• Trident-Class -> Lancer-Class -> Munificent-Class (Frigate)
  • T3 variant is named after the frigates used by the Confederacy of Independent Systems, from Star Wars.
  • Gains a Torpedo launcher at T2, which will have a moderate fire rate that fires 1 torp at a time, but will have high damage.
  • T3 Torpedo launcher Stuns enemies.
• Barracuda -> Hammerhead Shark (Submarine Hunter)
  • Gains better Torpedo Defense capabilities at T3.
  • Gains Omni at T3, too.
• Salem-Class -> Scarlet Witch (Destroyer)
  • Has better movement speed on Land, compared to the Salem.
  • Armed with a moderately strong Microwave Laser - but it doesn't hurt anywhere near as much as a Monkeylord's.
• Siren-Class -> Venator-Class (Cruiser)
  • Equipped with a somewhat weaker Gunther arty gun to go alongside its Tac Missiles.
  • Fairs better in ship-to-ship combat than Sirens, but still relies on its range advantage.
• CI:18 Mermaid -> CI:36 Ariel (Counter-Intel Boat)
  • Equipped with Omni at T3, but costs a good chunk of Energy to maintain.
  • Has better Torpedo Defenses, too.

And that's not all! I plan on making a brand new Forum post all about what to expect.

@saver It's only been about a month, and I've gotten more and more skilled at this whole thing as I kept working on it, all things considered. Lots of polishing to be done, but I think it'll all be worth it.

The unit models are really good!

I have a similar mod called Quantum Resource Generators,
and your units are also named "Quantum Resource Generator".
It's a bit confusing.

The Mod has 3 units, but i am missing support for the Nomads faction.

There is no AI support so the AI will never build those buildings.
(Creating a CustomUnit folder does not work here because the T4EconExperimental
platoon builder only runs for the Aeon faction. see: AIExperimentalBuilders.lua)

Some obsolete files in mod directory:
No one will see these pictures:

Promo2.jpg
PromoArt.jpg
PromoArtSmall.jpg

Some issues inside mod_info.lua:

URL is missing:

url = "https://forum.faforever.com/topic/3514/"

enabled flag is missing:

enabled = true

the placeholder tables are missing (unimportant):

requires = { }
requiresNames = { }
before = { }
after = { }

tsb1401_script.lua
teb1401_script.lua
trb1401_script.lua
The script files for the paragon unit are copied from the original file,
but copyright notes from the original file are removed!

Unknown Displayability: Explodes like a Nuke
This ability string does not exist

No localisation found: Explodes like a Nuke
(no translation tag inside the sting and no translation files inside the mod)

Displayabilities mismatch:

• Unit teb1401 Name: Overlord (Quantum Resource Generator) Ability mismatch!
  Missing Ability: "ability_deathaoe"
  Unknown Ability: "Explodes like a Nuke"
  Please Change "Display.Abilities" in file [teb1401_unit.bp]

        Abilities = {
            '<LOC ability_deathaoe>Volatile',
        },

• Unit trb1401 Name: Monolith (Quantum Resource Generator) Ability mismatch!
  Missing Ability: "ability_deathaoe"
  Unknown Ability: "Explodes like a Nuke"
  Please Change "Display.Abilities" in file [trb1401_unit.bp]

        Abilities = {
            '<LOC ability_deathaoe>Volatile',
        },

• Unit tsb1401 Name: Oohlala (Quantum Resource Generator) Ability mismatch!
  Missing Ability: "ability_deathaoe"
  Unknown Ability: "Explodes like a Nuke"
  Please Change "Display.Abilities" in file [tsb1401_unit.bp]

        Abilities = {
            '<LOC ability_deathaoe>Volatile',
        },

Errors:

WARNING: Error running OnStopBeingBuilt script in Entity trb1401 at 19109808: Invalid bone name "Orb".
         stack traceback:
         	[C]: in function `CreateAttachedEmitter'
         	...o\mods\t4e paragons\units\trb1401\trb1401_script.lua(24): in function <...o\mods\t4e paragons\units\trb1401\trb1401_script.lua:18>

WARNING: Error running OnStopBeingBuilt script in Entity teb1401 at 19105908: Invalid bone name "Orb".
         stack traceback:
         	[C]: in function `CreateAttachedEmitter'
         	...o\mods\t4e paragons\units\teb1401\teb1401_script.lua(24): in function <...o\mods\t4e paragons\units\teb1401\teb1401_script.lua:18>

trb1401 and teb1401 are creating an emitter:

CreateAttachedEmitter(self, 'Orb', self.Army, v)

but the anchor bone 'Orb' does not exist in the unit model.

Overall a solid mod with nice unit models.

I really like the idea of the "evolving units." I do have a question though. Are the units going to be built in the t2 and t3 sections, or are they going to stay in the t1 sections and replace the existing units already there? Total Mayhem does something similar with its lower-tech units. You have an Mk1 version of a unit in a t1 factory, but at t2, you can make an Mk2 version of the unit, which is stronger, has more guns, and typical Total Mayhem shenanigans.

@zopto
The lower-tech base game units will still be available to build at higher Tech level factories. I don't plan to "replace" them entirely, and there might even be situations where you'll have to use the cheaper lower-tech units over the higher-tech upgraded variants of said units.
I think what I'll do to help incentivize the production of my "evolved" units, so to say, without rendering the base game units completely obsolete, is to ensure that these units can be useful for a variety of team-based roles - especially since my mods are being designed with the intention of adding more variety to the meta of said team-based maps (DualGap, Millennium, etc.).