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So, how long has it been since the last mod of Armada 2526 Supernova? Anybody knows? I don't. It's been a long time for sure...

Anyway, here is one!

May I present the ExM Mod. (Current version 03).

ExM is short hand for Ernie's eXpansion Mod or maybe just Expansion Mod. It is really up to you what you want to call it.

In the posts below I will try and explain all the changes I have done, and then after that or maybe in a separate post the challenges I faced, and you will face if you want to make your own.

Now before you read all of that, I have some instructions. To have the complete mod, you will either need to download it from here (both zip files are needed!) or you can download the full version from the dropbox link below:

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/tc2y2kqb ... 1264z&dl=0

Whatever you choose, you now need to unpack these to the right destination. This is done by going to the windows documents folder, then going to the folder my games, then the folder Armada 2526, and ... then the Supernova folder, and FINALLY the Mods folder.

Now to play the mod you need to find your exe file (the one that starts the game up). Then you make a change to the shortcut by appending the following switches " -Sr ExM03 -Mods ExM03 " To do this you need to go to the properties of the link that leds you to the exe, and select the shortcut. The path there is what should get the ending with the switches.

The Sr switch makes sure all the save games with the mod start with ExM03, while the Mods switch tells the game what mods to load.

When you're done with that, hit the apply button, and you are ready to double click the link and go play. Everything will look normal, until you generate a new game. I am not sure the existing scenarios can be loaded. I did not try.

Now before you go complaining about something in the mod, remember, I made this for me. If I find your suggestion fair, I may put it in an update, maybe not. You can always modify my mod yourself, to make the changes you need.

EDIT:
ExM02: I had overlooked some stuff with the Scourge and Terrans, making them start out with the research Destroyer III. Fixed in 02.

ExM03: I had forgotten to include a subfolder, with icons for the Teyes and Cancerian changes to defense weapons. Could cause a crash.

To get an idea of the scope of the changes done, here is a short breakdown of what the download(s) contain:

- 58 New Building Graphics, times two, since you need both a picture of it, and an Icon.

- 2 new races, so 26 new videos, and 2 new UI pictures for if they win, and 2 pictures for the standard fallback picture between the videos

- 7 new ground unit pictures (sadly no new Direct X animations, I haven't learned Blender, yet)

- 6 new Defence unit pictures

- 4 new research pictures, and 1 icon picture for 1 of them

All in all:

- 8 XML files with changes
- 26 videos
- 158 new pictures/icons

Changes to the base game. These are the ones that are applicable to the whole game, not just a single race or faction.

Only 3 standard research centers per planet:
There are other new ones, and it would be overkill to have more, and play style would suffer, as players would tend to load up on research centers and get less of the new special buildings.

Research takes longer, and even longer at higher levels. This was because I found that there was a tendency to get all research done by turn 300, or earlier. Which didn't seem right, and it felt bad to tear down research facilities when ending a branch of research.
Asteroid Mines have been split into Asteroid Mines and Asteroid Refineries. The first has the ability of giving the economic bonus, then can be upgraded to get cheaper upkeep (so it in effect gives more money) and also gives a bonus to production of ships. There is also a research to get them (the Refineries in addition to the Mines, as normal, but research cost is near the same). Also new graphics for them.

A new research Stellar Conversion has been added. It allows for the building of Nova Condensers, that can be built at Yellow, Orange, Red Dwarfs, and Red Giant suns. It has the effect of making ships cheaper (like asteroid refinery does).
Marine barracks have been added, and must be present on a planet to be able to produce Space Marines. Production is still done like regularily. It is available with the Space Marine research.

Elite barracks are the upgraded Marine barracks and allow for building of specialized troops. Storm troopers and Special forces.

Armor barracks allow for building vehicles. A Marines barracks or better must be present for it to be built.

All types of Barracks give +1 security.

Space Marines now require 10 population as do all the other troops and vehicles to be produced.

There is also now a Security hub, which is a small Security center. You can have as many of these on a planet as you please, but only one can be upgraded to a Security center. New Graphics for that.
There is a new building called the Universal Research Node. There can only be one of these, and it can only be on the planet where you've built the Research Nexus you can make. This was the only way I could limit it to exactly one per Empire. It gives a whopping 24 general research.

There are also 2 new races (basically reskinned existing ones).

The Scourge that are Hoon Yon that have been to another galaxy, and come back, a bit more twisted, and believing themselves better than the Hoon Yon, and everyone else.
The Terrans (which have two factions) that are a Master of Orion/Star Trek inspired race. They are reskinned Humans. They are from a parallel universe and they have come to dominate. The ordinary Terrans, the Khanate, are less fanatical than the Schism.

A general trend to the factions are that they have been given 1 less ark ship, and 1 more scout at start. This to facilitate a little slower expansion, but the ability to find planets easier. The Unn Pirates are the exception.

In addition to all of this, the number of colony names have been expanded. There are about twice as many now, and they have been tailored more to the different species.

A deeper look.

These are changes that affect some races, but not just one.

There are 4 "happiness" buildings instead of the Entertainment Center. These are Safarium Galactica, Holosuites, Virtual Reality Entertainment Network and the Pleasure Dome.
To get these you need to research Holo Imagery, Advanced Holo Imagery and Full Sensory Experience. One of each facility type can be on a planet at any time. Except for Personal Holosuites, which you can have any number of.

Note: The Ancient Race of Machines (AROM), The Scourge, Hoon Yon, Gray Order, and Walden are not interested in Holo technology, and so do not have access to it.

Mines, and upgraded mines, are as normal, mostly. Except on Aquatic planets. Here the Jellutions have the advantage, as they produce less pollution for their mines. Cancerian produce what they would normally when it comes to pollution and everyone else pollutes one more point per type.
Space Marines are like their ships, worse for Teyes, and the Space Marines have more defense for the Cancerians. The same goes for the Hover tanks. The Storm troopers for the Cancerian have better defense too.

Speaking of Defense the Cancerian shield types are better than anyone elses. That is the Super Shield and Area Shield. Missiles are worse for the Teyes when it comes to attack and defense.

The changes I made to the individual races reflects how I see them. So it seems prudent to describe them in short before telling any changes, and if there are none, then why. I will do this on a race per race post. That means there will be quite a few, mostly smaller posts. The reason for this is that it will allow me later to go in and change the specific post if something has changed.

So: Let us take that deep dive into the races now.

Beginning with the Humans.

I have made no changes to them. I see them as the base line race, and that means they can be ordinary. The games creator saw the Silq that way, and that is ok too. But for now no changes to the Humans.

The next race on this journey are the Klurgu

I consider these to be a wild and destructive race, bent on the destruction of everyone and everything. They did after all do this to their own planet. They are aggressive, and like to show that off. They like to inflict pain and suffering. Don't trust a Klurgu further than you can throw him, and preferably out of an airlock.
They start the game with what I would call the original Obelisk to Pain. Here captured aliens can experience Klurgu hospitality. It gives the Klurgu a degree of entertainment. They can be built on any planet the Klurgu have. The original one can be upgraded to a Monument to Agony. This gives more entertainment, and the energy it absorbs, and then outputs allow for cheaper construction costs.

Up next: the Qa Qa.

These beings live partially in hyperspace. The game does not really reflect this, when it comes to the buildings they can make, so I decided to do something about that. When you look at the Hyperspace research it mainly shows stuff to do with speed, and black holes. So it had to be something with a reference to that. This is what I came up with:
The Qa Qa have 3 new buildings that they can make. The first of these are the Hyper Security Center (can only be built where there is a shipyard or trading facility) that requires researching Hyperstring Theory, a New Qa Qa only research.

The next one is the Hyper Flux Facility. This building is a research center of sorts, that gives 6 hyperspace research. You need a hyperspace research facility to be present at the same planet, as well as having researched Hyperstate Tension.
Finally the third building that the Qa Qa can make is the Hyper Flux Reactor, which is an upgrade to the Hyper Flux Facility. It provides a reduction in production costs, as well as the research from the Hyper Flux Reactor. Only one of each of these buildings can be on the same planet.

Xspectdrada are known for being self centered, and full of themselves, as they believe they are an elder race, the oldest one, and they constantly seek knowledge of the past, that has been lost in their once Empire.
This searching is done by teaching the past to new members of the species, in their Cult Temples. A Cult temple requires a minimum population of 10 and gives a general research ability. It can be upgraded to a the Cult of Cipher (Information research), Cult of Spirit (Psychic Research) or Cult of Body (Biology Research). There is also a Cult of Archive, a Temple that exists only on their homeworld, which is a Skunk Research facility type.

The Cult of Archive also runs The Echo Archive, which is a Skunk Research center, of enormous abilities (22 research). It functions by listening to the background noise of the universe, and extracting the past information from the Empire of the past. It is an upgrade of the Cult of Archive.
Being obnoxious, and thinking they are the only valuable life in the galaxy, they have their methods of extracting information from conquered planets. On these they can build Cult Extraction Sites. Any type of Extraction is permitted. The actual digsite that they operate to find traces of the past, and whatnot else, give a good level of skunk research, but also causes unhappiness.

To keep this unhappiness from being overwhelming, and to help people accept their style, they also use Echo Reinforcers. These are a form of Xenopacification arrays, and gives a security bonus.
On their own planets they have what they call the Archive Index. It is a psychic network, that gives a level of security, as it allows detection of enemy spies and crimes, and is also a carrier wave for entertainment. This is the official purpose of them.

The Ancient Race of Machines (A.R.O.M.), are a very interesting race. They have individuality and some would say a very strange fluctuating personality. One thing is sure they love big projects. They have three new facilities like the Qa Qa do. These are the Space Elevator, a Nanobot controller, and the Memory Archive.
The massive Space elevator transports materials from the planet to space. It reduces ships costs but does cause some pollution.

The Memory Archive is a place where they can download their personalities and lives. Reliving memories and having the knowledge that whatever happens they can be recreated, has some comfort to them. It provides security as well as entertainment (happiness).
The Nanobot controller, is a primitive, and very big control station to make the AROM able to control the small nanobots, to build their massive projects. It gives a noticeable reduction in production costs, and provides a little imagined security against nano-bot viruses. Only one of each can be built per planet

The treelike Walden that are composite creatures, that are symbiotic, also have some kinds of facilities. The buildings are more concepts than actual buildings. The first of these you will encounter is called the Seeds of Life. One is allowed per Desirable, Habitable or Aquatic planet. It celebrates new life, and nature. It provides an entertainment level, happiness, as well as some bio research.
The Seeds of Life, can be upgraded to Planetary Bliss. This provides the maximum level of entertainment, per facility that is possible, as well a some bio research. The seeds of life require 30 population be present, all Walden, while the Planetary Bliss requires 60.

Another but perhaps more rarely seen Facility/concept is the Wonders of Life. This is possible to build on any planet, but it has to be one you founded the colony of, and has a population of at least 10. But the real reason it is hard to build/experience is that it requires Tourism to be present (that is have a special feature that gives Tourism) but not ancient artifacts (these would not be nature). Ghosts it would seem are a part of the Wonders of Life. Who knew?
The last special building the Walden have is a form of mine. It acts like a level 1 mine. In other words it gives an income of 100 and reduces production costs by 5%. This is because it is really a sort of mining performed by the trees, where they dig up minerals, and the symbiote animals collect these, in piles. The building is called Natural Gathering.

Being very mad about pollution, the Walden cannot build core mines or research core mining. It pollutes too much. Natural Gathering does not pollute at all.

I see the Linkin as a proud warrior race, that believes in combat and honor are connected. I have not played them, and that may be why I have only given them two buildings, where one is an upgrade to the other.

They have a new Facility called Proving Grounds. It is a form of arena where they sharpen and prove their abilities in combat against each other. This gives some entertainment value (happiness) as well as some weapons research (what else would they be using if not new prototypes).
The Proving Grounds can be upgraded to an Arena of Honor. It has more entertainment, and more research attached to it. One allowed on each planet.

The Cryokon are a strange species. They enjoy the cold, and have evolved on cold planets. They look and sound somewhat like multi trunk elephants. Regardless I chose to focus on the advantages that the cold could give them.

They have new buildings. They can build a Cryoresearch center, that gives 6 general research points. This utilizes that superconductivity is possible on their cold worlds. Thus an Icy Planet is needed, as well as a research center.
They are also able to build the Entropy tower. It makes their cold planets stay cold. (I wish I could make it transform other planets to cold ones, alas, no). It reduces general production costs.

The Unn are a race that is bioenhanced, and they are highly customized we are told. Also they are the only race that are pirates. As such they start (ordinarily) without a planet, and have base ships, that they can move around to make their range greater. They also get a victory condition that prioritizes raiding planets.

I tried long and hard to give them something. Seeing however that I do not know how to give them better ships (because my lack of skills with Blender), and that facilities on ground really wouldn't help much... and because they are so different, I decided to wait on doing something with them, because playing them, is already special.

The Hoon Yon and Scourge I'll describe at the same time, as they are very very similar. They are a partially conscious race, that lets their cores control most of their population's actions. They do not have any pshycic abilities, thus, they are more or less a machine horde.
They share all their technologies, except for one. They both have access to building the Fast Assembler, if they've research Fast assembly. It can be built on a planet with a Marine Barracks. The Marines it makes are worse than ordinary Marines, but are produced at double the speed. Scourge ones are more focussed on firepower, while Hoon Yons more on protection.
Each Scourge/Hoon Yon planet can have a Core Processor. This gives a security improvement and a reduction in production costs. It can later be upgraded to a Super Core Processor, that provides even more security and Reduced production costs.

The Teyes are an insect like three eyed penguin bird like race. They scavenge for their part of the flock. What would be more natural than giving them a Marketplace where they can trade trinkets and shiny things that they didn't know they needed. This marketplace provides great entertainment value to the Teyes. So they get happiness for it.
Another Facility they can build is the Recycling Heap. It requires a research facility to be on the planet, and provides some general research. More than an ordinary general research center. One of each can be made on every planet they have.

Aquatic jellyfish like beings, the Jellutions, are focused on research mainly, and live mostly under water. Though they are able to be on land too, they don't prefer it.

They have access to building Seabed Dwellings. These buildings can only be built on Oceanic worlds, and give some security. As they allow for a more controlled environment for the Jellutions to be, and makes it a bit harder for enemy agents to infiltrate.
Another building they can make on Aquatic planets is the Medusa Academy. It produces 6 general research, but requires a research facility already be present. If there is one thing that Jellutions enjoy it is using their minds. Thus it felt natural to include this

The Grey Order is a kind of sect, which spreads via nanoprobes, if I am not mistaken, and includes many races. The first were A.R.O.M. that found a planet with a dormant nanovirus, which then infected them, and created the race. They are orderly and play very differently from other races.

Because they are so different I decided not to change anything about them. At least not until I've played them. I did make one change though. I did not allow them access to holo-structures and research, since they are way to serious to do that sort of thing.

The Florian also spread via converting other planets to theirs. In their case, they do it by spreading seeds that infect the population and thus converts them. They themselves are a sort of meat eating plants, that can move around. Sounds terrifying.

They too are quite different to play, I think, so as with the Grey Order, I did not wish to change them.

Cancerian are a form of Crablike beings that have heavy carapaces and can live both in the Sea and on land. This has meant that they have a quite unique set of requirements to be able to thrive on other planets, than their home one, that is Oceanic planets.

They have a fascination, in my mind, for Crystal structures. They can among other things use them for memory storage, and allow their interconnections to make new ideas come to life. This is done on walls embedded with Crystals. These can only be built on Aquatic and desirable planets as they are placed under water.
A Crystal Wall comes in four types. A general research one, that is better than a standard research center. These can be upgraded to a Biology version, Construction version or Defense version. Only one per planet. The research output is comparable to the 2nd level Research facilities that all other races also can build.

On planets that are eccentric, barren or habitable, they can build a humidifier. No not to get boiled, but to rehydrate, so as to work longer hours on these types of colonies. This is reflected by them providing happiness, which in game terms mean they get entertainment from them.