Introduction: The Jia Kuja Anomi Faction Mod is intended as a complete mod, offering a unique faction experience with a custom tech tree, unique techs and improvements, custom ships, and more. This is best used as a long-game mod because this faction starts off with some serious limitations which are overcome with time. This is also the first full-scale mod that I have shared publicly. As such, there are likely many little mistakes, typos, and certainly some issues with balance and AI. This is, and will be for some time, a work in progress as I hammer out problems, errors, imbalances - as well as keep up with game updates which make "break" the mod. If you try this mod, I would really welcome any feedback you have to offer, including reporting of bugs, typos, or noticeable balance issues. So, with that out of the way, here we go.
I. Acknowledgements & Credits
Current Race Leader image: Created by Der-Reiko (http://www.deviantart.com/art/black-ooze-360703584)(Permission Pending)Current Race Background image: Created by Vidom (c)2015 Vidom (Vincenzo Bagni) (vidom.deviantart.com)(Used by Permission)
II. Features
III. Download and Installation Instructions
IV. The Jia Kuja Anomi Story
Jia Kuja Anomi, or Kuja for short, is a non-humanoid race whose existence had previously been assumed as myth or legend. Visually, Kuja appear, in natural state, as blob-like entities with a slightly translucent dark blue-grey body with a glowing area in what is assumed to be the "head". Their home planet is a highly humid environment. Kuja are apparently amphibious, able to dwell in water as well as on land. In early space exploration, Kuja found most planets uninviting because of the lack of moisture in the air.Thus, they dwelt in deep waters. Emerging from deep oceans, native races, including those which now dominate the galaxy treated them with great fear and created stories of suspicion and fear. Over the many milennia, these stories have become legends, children's stories used to scare young ones away for turbulent seas.
Jia Kuja Anomi is ancient. Their precise origins are unknown but it appears that they may have been around in some form during the age of the Precursors. Having had little previous desire for conquest or expansion, Kuja have been relatively quiet on the galacitc stage, aside from their occasional exploratory sorties which gave rise to the myths about them. From their perspective, such exploratorations were proof that the galaxy was filled with races and beings hostile to their existence. As such, Kuja are naturally xenophobic and afraid of these solid mostly humanoid races who appear to fill the galaxy.
Within Jia Kuja Anomi, the collection of entities called Kuja are considered a part of a single extended family of billions of mostly automonmous beings, each with their own glow of life and being. In addition to their highly complex kinship structure, Kuja appear deeply religious - if religious is the right term. They are deeply committed to the apparent ideas or prophecies of one they call Kuja Kai, an entity believed to be the one who gave them the glow of life. They are protective of their way of life, honoring the forebearers of their kind.
Kuja are highly intelligent and capable of great adaptation. They have strict atmospheric requirements which cause their abilities and skills to diminish in environments which are not ideal. As such, despite technology, Kuja are never able to colonize radioactive or toxic worlds. Further, they require certain atmospheric regulators in order to fulfill their ability. Kuja are also less adept with all manner of inter-species relations. However, great strides are being made to allow Kuja to better understand and interact with those they call "Other".
The story of Jia Kuja Anomi. then, is a story of an ancient race trying to take a courageous step forward, against their own fears and against the fears of others. They understand that, against hostile races, they will quickly become the target of aggression and mistreatment. However, within Jia Kuja there is hope, or even a quiet confidence, that they will rise to prominence, elevating the family to new heights and new paths.
V. Kuja Technologies and Improvements
I will not list all the technologies but point out where to find them and what they are for.
The Kuja Faction starts off with penalties in growth, production, and diplomacy (and all other "social" stats). They are, after all, treated with suspicion by others. All techs and improvements (and starbase modules) are designed to compensate for these deficiencies within the framework of their story.
Atmospheric Controls: One line of tech and improvements relates to the control of atmospheric conditions to become more favorable to Kuja life and wellbeing. After developing the basic improvements, further research will allow for fine tuning of the atmospheric environment to enhance Kuja life even more.
Genetic Direction: Another line of tech and improvements relates to the genetic manipulation or "improvement" of the species as well as the bodily improvement of Kuja through the use of rare materials. There are several types of modification which can be made. But these are not simple stat boosts as they come with trade offs (negative effects). These are tied also to improvements.
Intercultural Research: Because Kuja are naturally bad at relating to humanoids and other "solids", they require a bit of extra work to become palatable, trade-worthy, and influential. Research allows the contruction of Starbase modules that serve as "off-world" training centers... displacement experiences, if you will, to help Kuja learn to adapt. Eventually, this leads to ultimate adaptation in the form of shapeshifting and the benefit this brings to diplomacy and such.
VI. Version Log
0.45 - Changed tech/improvements in Genetic Direction (no longer specializations, some improvements have disadvantages added)- Removed Economic trait, added Observant trait- Fixed a few typos
0.4 - Fixed AI ideology preference
- Translated Tech Tree into Kuja Style- Adjustments to Tech Tree and addition of a couple more improvements
0.3 - Initial public release (probably with bugs and problems with balance and AI) - Added techs/improvements related to Genetic modification - Reorganized tech tree, patterned after Iconian Tree (as opposed to Terran) - Fixed a few text errors
0.2 - Edited Ship Defs for compatibility with game version 0.9
0.1 - First attempt....
VII. Future Development
VIII. Screenshots
Starting position (with Colony Ship, Scout, and Survey)
Constructor:
Large Combat Ship:
IX. FAQs
(Will add if needed)
@Dumhed
In your next update can you add a prefix to your ship designs with Jia_ or something like that. I would like to be able to quickly find them if they are to be in the main game directory.
I would like to... my problem is that when I designed them all in game, I didn't use the prefix. The game doesn't seem to like it if I just change the file name and then xml to call that new file name. I wonder if there is something in the file itself that refers to its file name, causing conflict if I change the name.
Anyway, that was my impression the first time I tried to do it. I'll try again later. I also would prefer the designs to be named properly.
Edit: When I had made them, I had thought that I would be able to put them in a mod folder so as not to confuse with any other designs. It was my mistake not to test it before I made all those ship templates. I'm still hopeful that whoever is in charge of the mod system will just add a couple lines in the game to make it look for designs in a design folder in the mod's subfolders. That really is how it should work. :/
Edit2: Yeah, I tried to change it in both the ShipDefs and the filename... the game crashed. I have 2 choices - 1) remake them all (that would take some time). 2) hope that they make it so the designs can sit in a mod folder.
Ah, ok.
I finally got it to run after reinstalling the mod again. I like the look of this.
I have discovered that the game does not like to have my faction as an AI faction... the game runs fine if you play the faction yourself. Otherwise, it crashes. Not yet sure why.
The error log says you don't have a idealogy preference chosen in debug.err.
For the Ideology preference add to FactionDefs.xml
<PersonalityTraits>Neutral</PersonalityTraits>
or
<PersonalityTraits>Merciless</PersonalityTraits>
<PersonalityTraits>Benevolent</PersonalityTraits>
Had this problem too, but now fixed. Thanks to Niedzielan.
After fixing this, can your game run the mod as an AI faction? I did the same and it is still crashing... and nothing useful shows up in my debug.
(btw, I had intended it as a Benevolent leaning faction)
Looking for someone who has the time to work with me on debugging... for whatever reason, my debug file does not show the proper errors. If you might have time to work with me, and have some knowledge of xml or are willing to have me send files to you as we fix on the fly to knock out the bug(s), ... hit me up on steam (Search "Dumhed")
I've updated my mod to version 0.4.
My version numbering is pretty arbitrary, but oh well. My hope is that 1.0 would be the point at which this thing is a full mod (with ships automatically added rather than having to be moved, and with a campaign in which the story of the faction is fleshed out).
(bump to get noticed so mods move to the new Mod forum)
Edit: Nevermind... I can move it myself.
I'll give this a try in my next game.
OK some initial comments:
Typos:
Technologies:
Very Well Done indeed . So you created custom ships and when being played by the AI it'll use those ships? I'm very interested in how to do this as it's the only issue I had trouble doing in my GC2 edits. I'll definitely be giving your mod a try!!!What xml's did you need to edit/add to so you could get their ships to be used by them?
Yeah, this is true. I suppose it would true of any race that starts of with serious disadvantages.
Why did you pick content and economic traits? Contentment I can sort of see based on their history, but I am not sure where economic comes from.
Honestly, it is left over from before when I was starting this thing. I wanted to give them a few helpful things to make the limitations less crushing. But you are right, it does not fit. I might remove it and come up with something else.
Tech: Precursor Sole should probably be "Soul"
Hehe... this is left over from Stardock's Iconian tree. I think it is a typo for them. For me, it should have been renamed completely.
Why are the integration buildings visible in the build list right away? Viewing the technology tree it looks like they need to be researched first, or am I wrong in this?
I have no idea. I've seen this too,... and have been pulling out my hair. If anyone has ideas, I am all ears.
Path of Ancient Wisdom mentions research bonuses but all the benefits appear to be around starships? The next technology in the queue also has identical benefits?
Thanks for pointing this out. I failed to edit the tech after editing the text. The ship bonuses are what the Iconians have for that tech (named differently).
Bioresource Research unlocks nothing?
This thing has seen multiple iterations as I have been working around the limitations of the game. I think what happened here is I had an improvement unlocked that ended up not working. Then I couldn't think of what to put in there instead. I'll come up with something for the next version.
Thanks for the feedback. I am especially hoping that someone can help me figure out what is wrong which is causing the integration buildings to appear even though the tech is not yet researched. This is... very annoying.
The key xmls for this are ShipClassDefs and FactionShipStyleSetDefs
The key is, you use the ships you designed as templates. Then you make sure the xml points to the correct file name. As mentioned above, the lame thing is that the modding system does not yet look for ship designs in a mod folder (or even in your own design folder in my tests). It only looks for designs in the program folders version of the design folder. Anyway, the xml looks for a png (thumnail) and then a object file. Then the AI adds components based on the blueprints for each ship type (which are specified in the ShipBlueprints xml file). If you plan on making the AI do different things with the ship, then you can make your own blueprint file as needed.
doublepost
updated the mod with changes to the techs related to "Bioresources". The game just didn't like the use of upgradable player wonders. As a result, I've moved the techs away from a specialization model, allowing the use of all related paths for the bioresource stuff. That means each improvement is also separated and not on an upgrade path. So, I've adjusted the stats, made the more costly, and also added some negative side effects to those improvements. My intention in using the specialization/upgrade path option before was to make it so there is a meaningful choice to be made. Now, if you play the mod, you have to decide which of the buildings, if any, you want to build, given some of the drawbacks.
Minor issue but how do you get the ship preview to work properly in the create race menu? When I select Kuja style, nothing appears.
accidental post
Hmm, with the latest beta patch 1.02 the Pragmatic ideology that grants 3 constructors does not do anything.
Edit: Seems that none of the ideologies that spawn ships work for the Kuja. Anomalies that reward ships also do nothing.
k, I'll look into it. :/
@Sargo Thanks for finding this. I found the problem and it will be fixed in the next version.
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