The next track on our Modify Playlist is the combination of the 5X and the Unofficial Code Patch mod for Master of Orion: Conquer the Stars!
We’ll focus on the 5X “Ultimate Balance Mod” (Steam Workshop Link) first! Creator “Spud Dastardly” has massively overhauled many aspects of the base game to make it bigger, better, and frankly, more fun. In his own words, Andrew “Spud Dastardly”, says this on his Steam Workshop page:
This mod is massive overhaul of the gameplay experience. It’s like a whole new game! It includes a total rebalance of every aspect of gameplay, new technologies, improved AI, and much more. For a more specific overview of what this mod does, see the Readme on Nexus Mods.
There’s a lot more to this mod than we could ever cover in one article, which is a testament to how massive this mod is, but we did manage to wrangle in Andrew for a short interview about the 5X mod and this is what he had to say:
1) First, thanks for taking the time to answer our questions, Andrew! Please tell us a little more about yourself and your modding history!
I’m a 29-year-old American graduate student who is a few months away from getting my PhD in mathematics. I grew up playing MoO 2, and it has always been my favorite 4X game. Prior to MoO:CtS, I hadn’t modded any games before.
2) Why have you decided to mod Master of Orion? What have you hoped to accomplish?
When I first got to play MoO:CtS in early access, I really enjoyed it, but I could see that there were some glaring flaws in the game, particularly in the way it was balanced. When the modding files became available, I discovered that modding MoO was actually relatively easy and could be done with a simple text editor, so I decided to try to fix the balance issues as I saw them myself.
Over the next month or so, I made 5 different mods addressing different parts of the game like race balance and tactical combat. I then decided that I could do more if I integrated those 5 into one big mod, and that’s how 5X was born. My goal with the mod since then has been to overhaul not just the balance of the game but the gameplay itself with as many new and interesting features as is possible within the modding system in order to provide the best experience MoO:CtS can offer. I had always hoped that with mods we could keep this game alive and well long past the end of developer support of the game.
3) What’s left on your agenda?
At this point, 5X is largely complete, and I don’t have much else to do outside of some minor balance tweaks. I would add more features if I could, but at this point I have reached the limits of what MoO’s modding system is capable of doing. However, WhatIsSol’s Unofficial Code Patch (UCP) does add new modding features with almost every new release, and I intend to take advantage of those as they come along.
4) What is the most satisfying aspect of the project for you? The most frustrating?
The most satisfying thing has been the positive response I’ve gotten to the mod. I never expected it to get so popular, and it’s nice to know that a hobby of mine has had a positive impact on thousands of people. Perhaps the most frustrating thing was when Wargaming suddenly stopped development on the game without any official announcement or explanation, leaving promised modding features unimplemented and numerous bugs that modders have had to fix without developer support. Fortunately, most of the bugs have since been fixed by UCP.
5) Anything else you want our audience to know about this fantastic mod?
If you’re going to use 5X with UCP, and I recommend that you do, be sure to pick up the 5X UCP Compatibility mod as well which makes them work together. There are some add-ons linked on the 5X mod page that you might enjoy as well. Feedback and suggestions are welcome. I hope you enjoy the mod!
Thanks a lot to Andrew for taking the time to answer our questions. I recently took the 5X and Unofficial Community Patch mod for a spin on Twitch, which you can watch below, if you’re so inclined. Needless to say, the changes are eXtraordinary.
Next up is the aforementioned “Unofficial Code Patch Mod” (Steam Workshop Link)! The creator of this mod, “WhatisSol”, has worked tirelessly to take up the mantle when it comes to fixing those remaining bugs that were left when Wargaming and NGD seemingly stopped working on the game.
We also nailed downed John “WhatisSol” so that he could answer a few of our questions regarding this mod and all the work he’s had to put into it.
1) Please tell us a little more about yourself, John, and your modding history!
My interest in computers started as a kid from a desire to tinker with video games back in the 80s. At the time I imaged working in the gaming industry so naturally out of college I took a job working at a Financial Institution. Wait what?
Anyway, modifying games is just a creative outlet that I find peaceful. I cannot draw or write, but coding is something I consider myself fairly decent at and regardless I enjoy.
Over the years I have released a few mods out there that are still circulating. Probably the most downloaded one would be “Sol’s Six Thousand Implants” for Fallout 4 on PC and Xbox.
2) Why have you decided to mod Master of Orion? What have you hoped to accomplish?
Since 1993, I have purchased and played every incarnation of Master of Orion. With “Conquer the Stars”, I liked the production values, but found some technical issues annoying. The one that got me started modding it was the MIRV missile bug.
This is the one where the missiles would launch, travel to the enemy ship, and then suddenly disappear. They would reappear at the launching ship, this time as MIRVed missiles, and travel once again back to the enemy ship. To make it even more fun, the MIRVed missiles fragments were not target-able by point defense weapons.
I posted videos of this issue and my fix to the Wargaming.net forums. At one point, Spud Dastardly noticed my videos and asked if I would release the code fix for them and as they say the rest is history. So, you can thank or blame Spud Dastardly for the Unofficial Code Patch public release.
3) What’s left on your agenda?
Really, I just work on whatever I find interesting at the moment when I have the time. So my focus tends to shift a lot. Currently, I’m trying to finish up testing and merging so I can release 6.1, hopefully within the next month or so.
The only feature I know of that will make a future 6.2 will be modding support for asset importing.
4) What is the most satisfying aspect of the project for you? The most frustrating?
The most satisfying would be the act of squashing a software bug or adding a new feature.
The most frustrating would be a lack of tools, both in software and hardware. For instance, consider the Mac OS. I do not have access to a Mac OS and therefore cannot support or test UCP on it.
5) Anything else you want our audience to know about this fantastic mod/patch?
I do not always comment on people’s reviews and posts but I read them. It is nice to hear that people are enjoying all the time and effort I have put into this endeavor. I do after all get enough people in my personal life telling me I’m crazy for still working on this after three years.
Both Spud Dastardly and WhatisSol have worked tirelessly to help Master of Orion: Conquer the Stars reach its true potential and it really shows. There are an incredible amount of improvements, additions, and a fine coat of polish here that simply isn’t in the base game. Anyone who has MoO: CtS should subscribe to these two mods immediately, as they vastly improve the game!
Thanks to both of these fine gentlemen for taking the time to answer our questions and for the impressive amount of work they’ve put into making this game so much better than how Wargaming/NGD left it.
For more on how the mod improves the base game, you can see some of it in my stream below. Stay tuned as I will also highlight the changes and improvements in a future short Let’s Play series!
Until next time, keep eXploring!