(-(CP: NSC – RS – ISB Balance Master Patch Mod)-)

(-(CP: NSC – RS – ISB Balance Master Patch Mod)-)

Terminology:
NSC = New Ship Classes, and refers to that mod, either Main or Streamlined.
RS = Realistic Ships, and refers to that mod.
ISB = Improved Ship Battles, and reference specifically to ISB Balance. ISB Doomsday separate.

This mod is a compatibility patch for New Ship Classes & More (or New Ship Classes & More: Streamlined), Realistic Ships, plus Improved Space Battles Balance, allowing you to use the 3 most popular ship class mods together properly.

The required mods on the right side are “all possible” options, not all requirements. In order to make this patch work, please abide by the following guidelines:
1. You MUST have one of the NSC mods: Main or Streamlined. Both cannot be used simultaneously, but both can be subscribed if only one is active.
2. You MUST have ISB Balance whether or not you have ISB Doomsday. ISB Balance is required no matter what.
3. You MUST have the Realistic Ships mod.

If you do not have the mods required on the right side of this page in accordance with the guidelines above, do NOT subscribe to this patch.

ISB Doomsday ONLY Compatibility Patch can be found here.

This patch alters and fixes the following to make sure the above set of mods works together correctly and smoothly:

1. Combined country_types files.
This file combination allows the AI to (miraculously) use New Ship Classes & More’s ship classes, Realistic Ships’ ship classes, and Improved Space Battles’ ship classes at the same time. Without this merger, one mod would overwrite the other two, and the AI would only use only one mod’s ship classes. This way, the AI will use all 3 mod’s ship classes at appropriate stages of the game.

2. Realistic Ship classes are now integrated into NSC ship class unlock system for balance and better gameplay, while ISB ship classes are not unlocked until almost all NSC and RS ship classes are researched.
With the original mod setups, you would get the most powerful Realistic Ship class (the species-based Heavy Dreadnought) at the same time as you unlocked the NSC Battlecruiser, which doesn’t make any sense balance wise, plus you could get ISB end-game ships before finishing off the NSC or RS ship classes.

This patch balances the RS Battlecruiser, Dreadnought, & Heavy Dreadnought against their NSC counterparts, but to avoid redundancy, makes the RS variants more tankable but the NSC variants have more firepower. Therefore, this mod changes where/when the RS ships become available in relation to their overall power versus the NSC ship classes, and locks all ISB ship classes until after researching the NSC Superdreadnought (except the ISB Ragnarok – since it’s the ISB “Flagship”, it unlocks after the NSC version). With this change, you now have the following unlock system for NSC/RS/ISB ships with this patch:

Level 1 Spaceports: Corvettes
Level 2 Spaceports: NSC Frigates
Level 3 Spaceports: Destroyers
Level 4 Spaceports: Cruisers
Level 5 Spaceports: NSC Strike Cruisers / RS Support Cruiser
Level 6 Spaceports: NSC Battlecruisers / RS Battlecruisers
Light Carrier Tech: NSC Light Carriers / RS Attack Cruisers
Battleship Tech: Battleships
Carrier Tech: NSC Carriers
Dreadnought Tech: NSC Dreadnoughts / RS Dreadnoughts
Superdreadnought Tech: NSC Superdreadnoughts / RS Heavy Dreadnoughts
ISB Titan/Leviathan/Erebus/Avatar “Final” Techs become available. All other research unhindered.
Flagship Tech: NSC Flagship
ISB Ragnarok “Final” Tech becomes available.
IMPORTANT: You must research these techs in this exact order (except ISB “final” techs) or you cannot get any higher ship classes.
This way, you can unlock and use both NSC and RS ship classes with ship classes that are around the same “level” with balance + purpose, and ISB end-game ships will come in where they need to be: end-game, after you have enjoyed the NSC and RS ship classes.

3. Changed Realistic Ships Heavy Dreadnought tech requirements to meet the new ship class unlock system.
In the original Realistic Ships mod, the Heavy Dreadnought was unlocked automatically at Spaceport Level 6. With the changes above to make it in balance with NSC, it now unlocks with the NSC Superdreadnought tech, which means this patch changes the requirements of those techs.

This also means that this patch will include updated compatibility event files from certain ship appearance mods that are compatible with RS (although the “patch” between said shipset mod and RS might still be required), making sure that they will also unlock at the appropriate time by changing the coding of their event files. The following mods have updated RS compatibility files already inside this mod, meaning that you should be able to play with these shipset graphical mods if you have all the mods that are linked after each dot for the ones you want:

Shipsets found in the Dark Species Collection (NSC, ISB & RS support built into the mods.)
Christmas Holiday Shipsets (NSC, ISB & RS support built into the mod.)
Guilli’s Plantoid Ship Graphics Pack (Required: You will also need all 3 of his patches for this shipset: NSC/ISB/RS)
Guilli’s Vanilla Ship Graphics Pack (Required: You will also need all 3 of his patches for this shipset: NSC/ISB/RS)
I hope to keep the compatibility with ship graphical cultures maintained, so if I miss a graphical culture that is compatible with Realistic Ships that needs updating into this mod, please inform me in the comments.

4. Updated localisation files to give each NSC and RS ship class the appropriate mod title to distinguish ship classes.
Both NSC and RS have Battlecruiser and Dreadnought ship classes, so how do you tell which is which? This patch includes altered localisation files to give each ship either a “NSC” or “RS” in front of it’s name to properly distinguish each ship class to it’s appropriate mod. For example: “NSC Strike Cruiser” & “RS Heavy Dreadnought” are what you will see in-game. ISB ships do not have “ISB” in front of them due to limitations with ISB files, however, considering their nature and late game appearance, they are much easier to distinguish.

5. Updated NSC XL Weaponry to ISB Balance Standards.
ISB Balance overhauls XL weaponry to make them much more powerful, making NSC 3rd level XL weaponry normally useless. This patch fixes this, and adds NSC ship classes to XL weaponry targeting priorities.

6. Combined Guardian Event Files.
Combines NSC Main’s file fixes and improvements for Playable Guardians and ISB Balance’s Guardian boost coding together.

7. Fixes Strike Craft & Ship Size File conflicts between NSC & ISB.

Initial Upload – 7/21/17:
New Patch to support ISB Balance better. See Change Log for more details.