What would define a balanced Mod?

[rincewind]

I see the term Balanced thrown around and am wondering what it means.

[alterecco]

It means that it does not give the player extreme power, not require some ludicrous effort to use/obtain. In essence, it means it meshes with the vanilla gameplay without disrupting it too much.

[Amariithynar]

Godmod is not balanced, for example. I'd say Playership Drones is, though. The EI7000 is a bit much cargo capacity, but... that's about all it can do, really.

[Atarlost]

If a mod provides pure upside, which playership drones does, it isn't balanced.

To be balanced a mod must either effect enemies and the player similarly or provide new content no more advantageous than the old content. In general any mod not designed to make the game harder produces some option creep and makes the game easier. If the new options are comparable to the old options it can be called balanced, but if you stack up enough balanced mods you can still break game balance.

Wingmen are almost pure upside. Playerships are usually either better than the original three or comparable, but optimized for a playing style not well served by the original three. If you use that playing style they may make the game easier even if balanced. Items at least dilute the existing items so if they aren't better they don't really change things, but mod items tend to be things the modder wants so are probably suited to a specific playstyle even if balanced. Even if not better than existing items they make items suited to that playstyle a little more common.

[Arisaya]

Well, a corrolary to what atarlost said: you can have mods that provide only an upside, but do so in order to fix broken vanilla balance (ie, making the gaian cannon not suck... somehow.)

[rincewind]

I think I got it.
Godmod, TV Ships like Defiant and Galactica not balanced.
Ships like the Wolfen II and Firefly transport would be considered balanced because they have no super advantage.

[Amariithynar]

Playership drones is balanced due to those ships existing in game and being realistically available to the Pilgrim but never made available because the mechanics were never created for it in vanilla to be able to switch ships. Certainly you can add a custom ship to it, but otherwise it is balanced with the sole exclusion of, again, the player having a cargo ship of the EI7000 class, as of the time I installed (it's been updated several times since, so i couldn't give a definitive as of current results).

[Atarlost]

That's not balance. Particularly the ability to operate them as drones is as far from balance as it is possible to get. Even the author has acknowledged that the mod raises the player's power level.

[RPC]

Ricewind: I'm sorry, but balanced is just a term that means "oh, I think it works well with Transcendence." Unfortunately, it is an opinion, and since many people have many opinions, there are also many definitions for "balanced". It just depends on which person you ask. Balanced is not a word defined quantitatively specifically in this setting, nor do I think it will ever be. That being said, I'll go ahead and say balanced:

Code: Select all

Balanced mod: a mod in Transcendence that makes T all the more fun.

[Arisaya]

Actually, balance can be defined quantitatively in terms of a 'fair game', similar in idea to the concept in statistics, but vastly more complex, to the point that its often vastly simpler to let it boil down to rigorous experimental data collection & analysis by trained eye.

I think what you are looking at is 'fun': balanced mods may not be fun for those who like godmods, while unbalanced mods are not fun for those who like an appropriately leveled challenge.

Also note that balance (while technically objective) is still /relative/ to what the game involves.
IE, making a TC means that it only needs to be balanced /relative to itself/, or a balance revamp (perhapse one that does easy, medium and hard modes) only needs to be balanced /within each mode, to itself/; ie, TSB does not need to be balanced with regards to D&O (vanilla), and is instead balance with regards to its own gameplay.


Finally, balance goes both ways: you don't want something that is Over Powered or Underpowered.

[shanejfilomena]

Balance works BOTH ways: not just giving the player advantages otherwise unfair to the game: but giving the Hostiles too much power to throw at an unsuspecting player.

Many of us WANT bigger beasts : we want MORE.......but there is a fine line to tread because those desires can destroy the elements of the game that keeps you going back for more.

MY playership drones carry Tev9s ( so does the 380 Packer ) but that is ME: My game has Hostile ships like you never seen ....yet.

However you will, I am working out details in the codes ( almost done, two stations and a ship need to be tested ) to Nerf and Balance.
The station is not scripted so it wont always show up : the ship........well.....Ill just tell you it don't like you....Im trying to make sure you have a chance to live through an encounter without my shields....