Mod Name: Carrier Battles

Author: Suicide Junkie

Version Reviewed : 1.0

Well first thing that you see when starting any SE4 mod is the splash screen and the one for Carrier Battles is exceptional. Suicide Junkie has done a great job with all of effects like weapon fire, explosions, and warp-point effect. This splash screen stands out in my mind as being one of the best I have seen.

When you start a new game you only have options that are very close to stock. CB uses slightly modded versions of the stock quadrants. The game currently creates alot of NULL planets that aren't useable. This doesnt get in the way of playing the game and I know for a fact SJ is hard at work fixing it so don't worry. This version of the mod also has very limited advanced racial traits. But where it lacks in racial traits it makes up in very original culture types. CB adds three new types: Preservationists, Efficient Workers, and Disposable Society. These culture types do exactly what they sound like they do. Preservationists have a very slow build rate but once their ships are built they last and have almost no maintenence costs. This is not the race to choose if you want a fast start. Because of the slow build rate it is hard to compete with colonization at the start. Also if you are at war from the start of the game then this is also bad because you will not be able to keep up in an arms race against a non preservationist player. Efficent Workers are really an all around good choice if your planning to stay out of super heavy combat. They are good at everything except Space Combat and Ground Combat. Disposable Society is by far the strangest one of the three. It has a very high build rate but has very high maintenence costs and repair costs so its not practical to keep ships around for long. This race is great at the start of the game because of its ability to pump colony ships out like crazy but later in the game you start to hurt when you try to build up long term defensive fleets and defense bases. The last two are Berserker and Neutral. Beserker is good at combat and Neutral has an ok Trade bonus. Characteristics are very limited compared to stock and some you cannot even change at all.

Next is the gameplay. As you might be able to tell from the title this mod is all about carrier battles. While there are non-carrier combat ships they play a much smaller role. Also gone is the PDC, it has been replaced by defensive missiles. My favorite being the anti-fighter cluster missiles. That thing can take out 20 or 30 fighters in one hit! The best way to defend you ship against fighters is to use other fighters. Also the mod introduces a new mount system for its weapons and armor. It uses the same components for all units and ships but you adjust the size using mounts ranging from 20mm to 100mm. Also the mod introduces a new engine system of engine ports and reactors. For the ship to have any movement you must first put enough ports to have one movement and then you add reactors to bring it up from there. If you are using a smaller ship make you use the small reactor mount or you won't have space for anything else. I don't really like this system but its better than QNP :)

Now onto the big part of the mod, Carriers! You start out with a 400kt carrier and a 20kt fighter at a low tech start. Never make a carrier without defensive missiles and make sure you have a variety of fighters not just ones that attack ships(this was a mistake I made in my first game against SJ). Also the only fighter that has movement outside of combat is the long range fighter which means that you have to have your fighters launched from somewhere like a ship, base, or planet. They cannot just fly around on their own like stock. Planets have almost no cargo storage of their own. The only way to get cargo storage is to build facilities. What this means really is that you cannot just colonize a planet and build the defenses, first you have to have the infastructure to support it already in place. There are some minor facility changes and additions the legacy facilities are great for homeworlds if you can spare the production capacity to get one build. Medical facilities are great during our test game SJ hit me with a Plague intel project and in 2 turns I had a Medical Facility built and the plague cured. Intel is another thing to watch out for in this mod. One ship bomb can cripple a ship if it hits your engine ports and you don't have any backup ones. Also since you mostly use carriers cargo bombs become very dangerous because they can take out tons of fighters very easily.

Currently there is no AI so you must play with another real person SJ has had constant PBW games going so it shouldn't be a problem. Also I know SJ is looking for someone to help him get the AI working so if your good at it drop him a line.

Another nice thing is SJ is always around somewhere so if you have any questions, problems, or concerns hes there to help. Also the mod comes with a few .txt files explaining the finer points of leaky armor and shields among other things.

Pros: Great Splash Screen, Fun Culture Types, Solid Gameplay, and Good Support and Documentation

Cons: Confusing Engine System At First, and No AI, Alot of NULL planets but I know hes working on fixing those so its not a huge problem.

As SE4 mods go this one is exceptional. If I had to give the mod a percentage score I would give it a 92%

-Combat Wombat