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.

@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.).

@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.).

Hey, I admit I want to ask to help promote my mods, but what do you think of the stuff I've uploaded to the Mod Vault so far?

@jip Ty for letting me know.

@archsimkat said in Ban EcoManager & Similar Mods:

I propose we ban mods that automatically throttle energy and mass spenders (mass fabs, engineers, factories, etc.) to prevent stalls such as, but not limited to, EcoManager and UI Mass Fab Manager - Auto Fab Manager.

The way EcoManager in particular works is that it will throttle energy users when your mass/energy in storage falls below a certain threshold. It provides a huge gameplay advantage, preventing shields from going down, without any input from the user since it just plays the game for you.

Here is a recent example of it being used. You can see the streamer lilSidlil add 14 hives to a t3 pgen, which crashes his power to -30k. The mod immediately reacts to pause all mass fabs and other engineers to save as much power as possible.

https://youtu.be/vbKlS3k-LRE?t=8032

EcoManager has some features that are acceptable, such as the Mex overlay and the Nuke overlay (displaying mex tech level/number of missiles loaded) that don't need to be banned, but those non-cheat should be bundled into a new mod or the cheat features removed from the current one.

In my opinion this mod far surpasses the threshold for a cheat mod, and honestly am a little confused at how it is still allowed to be used. It should be straightforward to just remove it from the vault and ban people that still use it, since it's pretty obvious when it is being used. What are your thoughts on the issue?

Why don't we just implement some of the features of these mods into the core game so everyone is on the same level? A mod that helps lighten the load on your APM, in my honest opinion, should be welcomed - not shunned. Not everyone is capable of high APM, and mods like these can help make the game more accessible without excluding people who have faster APM. To put it bluntly, I think mods like these are good (albeit flawed).

Heck, now that I talk about it, I think I'll try and see what I can do to help be the change I want to see - to make the game more accessible to lower-APM players without excluding people that have near perfect muscle memory, etc.

@melanol said in Ladder suicide:

In this game: https://replay.faforever.com/16883598 my opponent (blits) CTRL+K'ed to blow up my ACU; according to FAF Analitics (https://kazbek.github.io/FAF-Analytics/) he received points, I lost points. How does it work?

"Com-bombing", is what this is called. It's a very cheesy strategy, but it will work on ACUs that are below 2.5k HP at the time of their self-destruction. It's the ultimate way of saying "If I'm going down, I'm taking you with me!"

Some people take it a step further, putting their ACU in a transport so they can get shot down by anti-air weapons while they're flying above their target. Unlike a typical Ctrl+K, this is more akin to a traditional "kamikaze/suicide bombing", and is often done to damage enemy infrastructure on top of wound and/or destroy enemy ACUs - which is helpful in games where Full Share is enabled.

@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.

@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.

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.