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About this mod
Why would kinetic weapons have range limits in SPACE?
This mod aims to alleviate this illogical game mechanic.
Updated to 3.76 but should work on older versions.
Old 3.49 version still works on 3.76 - update is optional, not required
- Permissions and credits
- Changelogs
Now, Serviceman Burnside, what is Newton's First Law?
Sir, an object in motion stays in motion, sir!
No credit for partial answers, maggot!
Sir, unless acted upon by an outside force, sir!
Damn straight! I dare to assume you ignorant jackasses know that space is empty.
Once you fire this hunk of metal it keeps going until it hits something!
All non-point defense kinetic weapons (chemical & magnetic) now have a range of 1000km.
All non-point defense energy weapons all have a range of 1000km.
30mm Autocannon can now be used offensively to 1000km.
(Damage for the 30mm Autocannon is based on real world GAU-8 Avenger used in the A-10 Warthog. Yes, I really did look up how many joules of energy the round delivered and copied that for the in game damage. However we are talking about giant space ships with hundreds of tons of armor, so don't be surprised if it just bounces off the enemy's hull.)
All point defense weapons (except for the 30mm autocannon) have had their ranges fixed to 250km.
(For some weapons this is a reduction in range, so interception is potentially more difficult)
All particle beams have had their "doubling range" increased to 1000km, so there no longer be any degradation to their performance over range. Game will still list damage at a 20km base - I can't change that, but you can now assume that 20km is no different than 1000km.
(This was done for balance reasons, as before I could find literally no reason to ever use particle beams. They hogged energy, fired slow and did little damage compared to lasers. Now they have a real purpose as an instantaneous energy weapon that can still hit hard at maximum range.)
All base defense modules, both human and alien, have had their weapon ranges fixed to 1000km. This should make station sieges more viable for both sides, as attackers can no longer be destroyed before they can even get into weapon range.
Human missile systems have had their magazine capacity doubled, with Athena missiles in particular getting a major speed boost.
(This also increases mass and reload cost, so missiles will slow your ships down more as well. This looked like the easiest way to make it feasible to overcome PD for now.)
All old fashioned guns have been revamped. First, velocity has been roughly doubled because there is no air resistance in space. Second, Pavonis neglected to include the actual explosive payload of cannon shells into their damage calculations - I have added it back in, so cannons should do a lot more damage now. They're still inferior to magnetic weapons, of course, but they're no longer completely useless.
(Math on increased muzzle velocity is just me blindly guessing. Math on explosive MJ damage increase is based off average explosive payload weights in real world US & British naval cannon shells.)
Range modifications includes alien weapons as well - they'll hit you at 1000km right back.
On the plus side, alien PD has been reduced to 250km just like yours. Maybe missile are viable now?
What this mod does not change:
The damage reduction over range coefficient of lasers has not been changed, so even though your dinky little Mk1 laser turret might now be able to reach out to 1000km it probably won't even be able to cook a slice of toast at that range, let alone hurt an armored warship.
Magnetic, plasma and missiles (except Athena) have not had their velocities changed in any way (as of 3.49).
What all this means:
If you decide to manually fight battles you will want to manually toggle your weapons on or off rather than just leave everything to "fire at will" from the get-go, otherwise you'll likely burn through all of your ammo and/or batteries before you can even see your target. Just because the projectiles will travel that far doesn't mean they'll actually hit anything, and likewise lasers still drop in damage over distance at the same rates as before. Even though plasma weapons don't fall off in damage over range they still have limited speed and ammo (just like kinetic weapons), so again it is entirely possible to burn through your entire magazine without hitting anything if you're too trigger happy.
The point, then, of this mod is that you - the player - now have the option of engaging at maximum range if you want to. There is no guarantee this will be the least bit effective, but the choice is now yours to make. Do you want to take the shot now or wait until you close in on your target and get a better chance of hitting and/or doing any real damage? It's up to you.
This should also make base attacks more feasible as bases don't move, so hitting modules (even with mere cannons) at maximum range should be easy.
What this mod contains:
A small zip file that contains a folder structure that can be easily dropped into your Terra Invecta main folder. Overwrite when asked.
There should be no need to mess with the game's own mods interface for this.
Backing up your original files is your job, not mine.
Sir, an object in motion stays in motion, sir!
No credit for partial answers, maggot!
Sir, unless acted upon by an outside force, sir!
Damn straight! I dare to assume you ignorant jackasses know that space is empty.
Once you fire this hunk of metal it keeps going until it hits something!
Updated to game version 3.76
3.49 version still works on 3.76 - update is optional, not required
New to 3.76 version:
Particle beam power consumption has been doubled, so they can actually make a dent in your batteries now. Efficiency has also been increased, so expect to do more damage now. As before, degradation over range has been kludged out so the damage it says at 20m is the same as the damage at 1000km. They are now medium damage weapons, as accurate as lasers but harder hitting and with no range penalties. The drawback, as before, is they fire really, really slow.
All human magnetic weapons have been revamped to reflect that when you're making a kinetic-kill weapon the size of the slug is not as important as how fast you can make it move. As the technology gets better the ammo actually gets smaller but the velocity gets ever faster.
Mk1 versions are unchanged, as this is the baseline/prototype where people haven't figured out how to do this better.
Mk2 versions have ammo that weighs only 10% as much as the Mk1, but the projectile velocity is doubled for railguns and tripled for coilguns.
Mk3 version have ammo that weighs only 1% as much as the Mk1, but the projectile velocity is doubled and tripled (respectively) once again.
This means that a Mk1 railgun that was firing it's shots at 2.5kms will, when upgraded to Mk2, fire shots at 5kms and then, at Mk3, fire them at 10km. Likewise a Mk1 coilgun that fired shots at 3.6kms will, with the Mk2 version, fire at 10.8kms and then finally, with Mk3 tech, fire at 32.4kms.
Thus as your technology gets better these weapons will become ever more accurate and able to overcome enemy PD systems better.
However keep in mind that, due the ever reducing mass of their ammunition, the damage output per tech level for coilguns will barely increase whilst railguns will actually go down as the tech scales up. While that may seem more like a nerf than a buff on paper, in practice it is still definitely a buff because your shots will be more likely to actually hit. In other words, a 5MJ damage round that hits its target is far more effective than a 10MJ damage round that gets shot down by PD.
Only human magnetic weapons have been changed in this way. The aliens lack the imagination to do this themselves or something.
Alien particle weapons have been changed to match, however. Armor up your ships or get blapped.
"I don't like these changes!"
Then don't use them. The 3.49 version of this mod that you (probably) already have is still perfectly compatible with 3.76 and available in the Old Files section if you don't already have it. For info on that version, keep reading the info below.
What this mod changes:3.49 version still works on 3.76 - update is optional, not required
New to 3.76 version:
Particle beam power consumption has been doubled, so they can actually make a dent in your batteries now. Efficiency has also been increased, so expect to do more damage now. As before, degradation over range has been kludged out so the damage it says at 20m is the same as the damage at 1000km. They are now medium damage weapons, as accurate as lasers but harder hitting and with no range penalties. The drawback, as before, is they fire really, really slow.
All human magnetic weapons have been revamped to reflect that when you're making a kinetic-kill weapon the size of the slug is not as important as how fast you can make it move. As the technology gets better the ammo actually gets smaller but the velocity gets ever faster.
Mk1 versions are unchanged, as this is the baseline/prototype where people haven't figured out how to do this better.
Mk2 versions have ammo that weighs only 10% as much as the Mk1, but the projectile velocity is doubled for railguns and tripled for coilguns.
Mk3 version have ammo that weighs only 1% as much as the Mk1, but the projectile velocity is doubled and tripled (respectively) once again.
This means that a Mk1 railgun that was firing it's shots at 2.5kms will, when upgraded to Mk2, fire shots at 5kms and then, at Mk3, fire them at 10km. Likewise a Mk1 coilgun that fired shots at 3.6kms will, with the Mk2 version, fire at 10.8kms and then finally, with Mk3 tech, fire at 32.4kms.
Thus as your technology gets better these weapons will become ever more accurate and able to overcome enemy PD systems better.
However keep in mind that, due the ever reducing mass of their ammunition, the damage output per tech level for coilguns will barely increase whilst railguns will actually go down as the tech scales up. While that may seem more like a nerf than a buff on paper, in practice it is still definitely a buff because your shots will be more likely to actually hit. In other words, a 5MJ damage round that hits its target is far more effective than a 10MJ damage round that gets shot down by PD.
Only human magnetic weapons have been changed in this way. The aliens lack the imagination to do this themselves or something.
Alien particle weapons have been changed to match, however. Armor up your ships or get blapped.
"I don't like these changes!"
Then don't use them. The 3.49 version of this mod that you (probably) already have is still perfectly compatible with 3.76 and available in the Old Files section if you don't already have it. For info on that version, keep reading the info below.
All non-point defense kinetic weapons (chemical & magnetic) now have a range of 1000km.
All non-point defense energy weapons all have a range of 1000km.
30mm Autocannon can now be used offensively to 1000km.
(Damage for the 30mm Autocannon is based on real world GAU-8 Avenger used in the A-10 Warthog. Yes, I really did look up how many joules of energy the round delivered and copied that for the in game damage. However we are talking about giant space ships with hundreds of tons of armor, so don't be surprised if it just bounces off the enemy's hull.)
All point defense weapons (except for the 30mm autocannon) have had their ranges fixed to 250km.
(For some weapons this is a reduction in range, so interception is potentially more difficult)
All particle beams have had their "doubling range" increased to 1000km, so there no longer be any degradation to their performance over range. Game will still list damage at a 20km base - I can't change that, but you can now assume that 20km is no different than 1000km.
(This was done for balance reasons, as before I could find literally no reason to ever use particle beams. They hogged energy, fired slow and did little damage compared to lasers. Now they have a real purpose as an instantaneous energy weapon that can still hit hard at maximum range.)
All base defense modules, both human and alien, have had their weapon ranges fixed to 1000km. This should make station sieges more viable for both sides, as attackers can no longer be destroyed before they can even get into weapon range.
Human missile systems have had their magazine capacity doubled, with Athena missiles in particular getting a major speed boost.
(This also increases mass and reload cost, so missiles will slow your ships down more as well. This looked like the easiest way to make it feasible to overcome PD for now.)
All old fashioned guns have been revamped. First, velocity has been roughly doubled because there is no air resistance in space. Second, Pavonis neglected to include the actual explosive payload of cannon shells into their damage calculations - I have added it back in, so cannons should do a lot more damage now. They're still inferior to magnetic weapons, of course, but they're no longer completely useless.
(Math on increased muzzle velocity is just me blindly guessing. Math on explosive MJ damage increase is based off average explosive payload weights in real world US & British naval cannon shells.)
Range modifications includes alien weapons as well - they'll hit you at 1000km right back.
On the plus side, alien PD has been reduced to 250km just like yours. Maybe missile are viable now?
What this mod does not change:
The damage reduction over range coefficient of lasers has not been changed, so even though your dinky little Mk1 laser turret might now be able to reach out to 1000km it probably won't even be able to cook a slice of toast at that range, let alone hurt an armored warship.
Magnetic, plasma and missiles (except Athena) have not had their velocities changed in any way (as of 3.49).
What all this means:
If you decide to manually fight battles you will want to manually toggle your weapons on or off rather than just leave everything to "fire at will" from the get-go, otherwise you'll likely burn through all of your ammo and/or batteries before you can even see your target. Just because the projectiles will travel that far doesn't mean they'll actually hit anything, and likewise lasers still drop in damage over distance at the same rates as before. Even though plasma weapons don't fall off in damage over range they still have limited speed and ammo (just like kinetic weapons), so again it is entirely possible to burn through your entire magazine without hitting anything if you're too trigger happy.
The point, then, of this mod is that you - the player - now have the option of engaging at maximum range if you want to. There is no guarantee this will be the least bit effective, but the choice is now yours to make. Do you want to take the shot now or wait until you close in on your target and get a better chance of hitting and/or doing any real damage? It's up to you.
This should also make base attacks more feasible as bases don't move, so hitting modules (even with mere cannons) at maximum range should be easy.
What this mod contains:
A small zip file that contains a folder structure that can be easily dropped into your Terra Invecta main folder. Overwrite when asked.
There should be no need to mess with the game's own mods interface for this.
Backing up your original files is your job, not mine.