An ongoing overhaul of the RTS game Battlefleet Gothic Armada 2. Over 100 new ships, including Titans and Mega Titans, Massive fleets, stats overhaul and changes, tweaks of abilities and a ton of other changes that affects both the Campaign mode and Skirmish mode.
V.1.5 Major Eldar Overhaul. This version of the Skalgrim mod includes several new ships, balancing and further work on the original mod with a focus on Eldar.
+++[Transmission start]+++
+++[To all loyal servants of the God Emperor]+++
+++[Skalgrim Mod v.1.5 Released]+++
+++[Xenos Terribilis Threat Level Omega]+++
V.1.5 Major Eldar Overhaul.
This version of the Skalgrim mod includes several new ships, balancing and further work on the original mod with a focus on Eldar.
Skalgrim mod changes stats for Ordnances like fighters and bombers, decreases their reload time and makes them better and more worth the points spent on carriers. It changes the stats for weapons, units, and campaign related things. It rebalances the game and makes for several times larger battles by both lowering shipcosts and increasing the amount of points available for both fleets and battles.Fleet sizes grow with levels just as in the original game, but to much greater sizes. You can also have more fleets. It rebalances critical hits, making bigger ships more resistant to crits. It rebalances morale, but increasing the rate at which morale regenerates, and several morale related effects. It buffs many abilities, meaning that your choices matter more as a admiral.
In this modversion I'v included the Greater Customization Submod - It lets you change your campaign settings to an higher degree.
The Skalgrim mod does not strive to be perfectly balanced, but guarantees massive battles unlike that in the original game including some new content. Balancing and changes are also an ongoing project, so check back for news. Im just one guy working on this mod so don't expect to much.
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Changelog: Major changes from 1.4.1:
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*New titans and Battleships and a MAJOR overhaul of Eldar factions.
*All factions Escort and Frigates are now alot cheaper. In earlier versions they were made reduntant, but now they are much cheaper and as such can be used more freely to trick the enemy, scout or even suicide-ram enemy ships if you so choose.
*All factions Titans have gotten a big health increase. They died to fast in earlier versions for their often massive pts cost.
*All campaign factions, except Tyranids, get a BS or Titan as a starting ship. People were complaining that Imperial and Necron starts were to hard - now Necron is easy as you get the Cairn Annihilator. Imperial is Medium difficulty as you get the new Agamemnon Battleship for Spire.
*The dreaded Anubis Titan is here for Necron.
Major Eldar Changes from original game:
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General Description: I'v rebalanced all the eldar factions, added new ships, changed and rebalanced most abilities. The most important change is that the three diffrent factions now play differently in certain regards. Also their holofields/shadowfields are now alot better so they will take less damage in general while moving or keeping their shields up. Their eldar movement abilities have been buffed alot which makes them faster.
Corsairs:
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Are weak, but very fast. They have constant regen on their ships - since they are in essence "living" ships made out of Wraithbone, a psychoactive substance that can mend itself. They are a medium to long range faction with very powerfull weaponry and deadly torpedoes.
New Titan: Cegorath (replaces the Vaul Eclipse class cruiser)
This very fast titan is one of the most well armed titans in the game. While having far less armor and health than other titans, it has the advantage of speed, and blistering firepower. A glass cannon in every right with a deadly salvo of torpedoes capable of destroying any Battleship with a well placed salvo.
Craft World Eldar:
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Their ships are slow, for eldar, but also very heavily armored, especially in the front. They also have constant regen on their ships as they also use Wraithbone. They are short to medium ranged, but do very high amounts of damage at that distance.
New Battleship: Flame of Asuryan (Replaces the Starfall/Dragonship IV Cruiser)
This is a powerfull, but expensive Battleship capable of going to to toe with any other Battleship in the game. It has lots of weapons, high armorlevel, and the Hellfire beam cannon special weapon - meaning that its a very capable Heavy ship hunter that can strike, and then retreat.
Drukhari:
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Their ships are very fast, but weak with low armor. They are medium to long range and work best by "sniping" of enemy ships and then retreating. Their main focus is raiding parties that overwhelm the enemy forces and kill of their crews. They do not have wraithbone constructs and thus lack the constant regen of the other eldar factions.Changing between firing modes are usefull depending on which ships you use as the Dark Lance has been buffed.
New Titan: Spear of Khaine (Replaces Balefull Gaze light cruiser)
This is a carrier titan that has lots of torpedoes, fighters/bombers, and a fair amount of lances and missiles. Its weaker than many other titans, but still has more than enough health for it to be dangerous, like all other Eldar ships hit and run tactics are usable for this Titan.
Major Imperial Changes from original game:
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General Description: The Imperial Navy have cheap and thus very numerous ships. They have access to strong and powerfull high-tier ships at a low price.
New ships:
Agamemnon, a Battleship for Imperial Navy. (Replaces Lunar Cruiser)
Defender, a LC for Imperial Navy (replaces Dauntless mk1)
Victus Imperialis, a Gloriana Class Battleship for Imperial Navy. Replaces the Dominator Cruiser.
Eternal Crusader, a Gloriana Class Battleship for the Adeptus Astartes. Replaces Strike Cruiser MkIII.
Achilles, a Battleship for the Admech. Replaces the Endurance Light Cruiser. (Renamed from Speranza - Im building a new Speranza for the 1.6 version)
Major rework of Admech forces that buffs weapons, and differentiate their cruisers as follows:
Gothic Cruiser - Long range with lots of lances and a deadly prow mounted heavy artillery lance. Removed Nova cannon.
Dictator Cruiser - Carrier with 4 launch bays and one Lance turret.
Agamemnon Cruiser - Gets to keep its Nova Cannon. Increased price because of this. (Renamed from Lunar cruiser)
Tyrant Cruiser - Close Combat cruiser. Better morale. Crew. Increased number of turrets and hull. 1X Bombardement cannon and 4 plasma batterys.
Major Necron Changes from original game:
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General Description: Necron ships are faster, have faster turnrates, higher and faster regen, crewcount, regen of crewcount, better weapons, and can jump farther and faster than other races. They are the OP faction that others should fear. But their ships cost alot more now than any other faction. You will always be outnumbered. "Good" I hear your inner Necron Overlord say, "more chattle to strike down."
New Titan: Anubis (Replaces the Cruiser Scythe Harrower)
This is the biggest Titan so far for Necrons. Its a very slow, but ultra powerfull ship. It has more weapons, and life, than any other Necron ship. Its also VERY expensive.
New Battleship/Titan: Cairn Annihilator. (Replaces the Khopesh light cruiser)
This is a behemoth, massive, slow, but with more weapons and range than the standard Cairn. Including the new Weapon Annihilator Beam Turret.
Major Tyranid Changes from original game:
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General Description: I'v redone Tyranids from the ground up with a major overhaul of the faction. They now have much better weapons, all ships have a constant regen, they deal more damage from their shields, they are faster and can turn faster, and their abilities have been buffed just like the other factions the mod affects. This has made them into a very dangerous foe. They also get some new ships.
Also note that all ships that have any of the Claws-weapons are faster and geared to actually use this weapon. Ships with Hook/Feeder tendrils do more damage/troop damage etc. Pyro weapons do more critical = flame damage etc.
New Titan: World Eater Hiveship (replaces the Cruiser Bio infestation razorfiend Theta)
This behemoth is a true monster. Gigantic -while lacking in bioweapons- its bulk and its added Tyranid propulsion abilities, its Ancient Psychic Scream, its Hooked and Feeder tendrils combined with its resilliance makes this a terror on the battlefield. Be aware though that unlike other Tyranid ships it cannot cloak itself due to its vast size and will as such be a prime target for enemy fleets and heavy weapons and ordanance.
New Battleship: Bioplasma Hiveship that only has Bioplasma weaponry. (Replaces the Hiveship)
New BC: Swarm Ship that only has the Feeder/Hook Tendrils, and lots of shields (1200) meaning that this ship can soak lots of damage and deal lots of Area Damage over time. (Replaces Corrosive Tentacles Devourer Epsilon)
New BC: Hardened Clutch Devourer that only has massive claws for close combat damage. It is a specialized ship that is much faster than other Tyranid ships of the same class, has more life and armor.(Replaces Corrosive Clutch Devourer)
Major Chaos Changes from original game:
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General Description: Chaos are a bit fewer in number than Imperials, and cost a bit more. Their ships are faster and in general have lots of ranged weaponry and high-damage dealing weapons for mid-range. Their ships are a bit less sturdy than Imperial counterparts as a result. All in all I have made a massive overhaul of Chaos forces, abilities and skills to broaden the choices you can make with them. Their ships are more specialized now, with certain ships excelling in certain roles instead of just being generally good at most things like in the vanilla game. Do you want a Khornate dedicated brawling fleet or a sneaky long range Tzeenchian? Perhaps you like to spawn thousands of fighters like the flies of Nurgle, or do you feel that striking fear into your enemies using super-weapons? You can do it all now.
New Titan: Balestar (Replaces the grand cruiser Executor) The vanilla game doesn't let you use the Monarchia Titan, well now you can. This behemoth is filled to the brim with deadly plasma and heavy macro weaponry. More than enough to counter the Imperiums Eternal Crusade Titan.
New Titan: Abomination (Replaces the Battle cruiser Hecate) This aptly named Abomination uses the same main weapon as the Planetkiller Titan, and is also armed with the super-weapon Hellfire Beam Cannon, and lots of super heavy missiles and tons of launchbays. Its a bit weaker than other Titans and is very expensive. It can destroy anything with one shot, but aiming might turn out to be tricky and the chaos gods are fickle.
New Battleship: Astra Dominus Battle Barge (Replaces Cruiser Slaughter) This Battle Barge has not been in the service of Chaos for very long, its renegade and traitorus Space Marines defecting during the launch of the 13'th Black Crusade. Its faster than other Space Marince Battle Barges and sports heavy weaponry and assualt capablities.
New Battleship: Render (Replaces Cruiser Emasculator) This ship is unique amongst Chaos forces as it is not only very fast, it also has a special prow made to ram enemy ships and deal lots of damage. While it burrows into the enemy fleets its many macro weapons turn its foes into shredded chunks of metal scrap.
Greater Customization submod:
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This included submod lets you change the campaign settings to a greater extent and also lets you have larger fleets of up to 400% amongst other things. A word of advice though is that Skalgrim mod lowers the ship cost to around half for most ships = 2X Size of vanilla game fleet sizes. It also increases the available Fleet and Battle sizes throught the game - meaning that you will eventually get larger and larger fleets. At 100% setting in the campagin customization this ends up at 3000 pts Battles sizes (with Skalgrim level prices or around 6000 pts in vanilla game sizes.)
Using the changed customization options for up 400% increase leads to quite insane battles at end game levels. (12000 pts or around 24000 pts in Vanilla game!!!) This will most likely cause most players problems in regards to stability. If you have tried the massive battles mode ( 4000 pts vanilla) and your computer had problems with this I would recomend you to lower the settings to 50% Fleet/Battle sizes.
I just give the player the option to have truly massive, insane battles on a scale never before seen. I take no responsibility for how your gpu feels about it.
Below is a chart showing the modified fleet sizes etc for both Imperials/Chaos factions.
Player level and points needed to reach next level,FleetCapacity,MaxRequisition,UpgradePoints,Tonnage,Faction1,Faction2,Faction3
1,0,400,400,0,LIGHT_CRUISER,1,1,1
2,1000,600,700,1,CRUISER,2,1,1
3,2500,650,800,2,CRUISER,2,2,1
4,4500,700,900,3,BATTLECRUISER,2,2,2
5,7000,800,1000,4,BATTLECRUISER,3,2,2
6,10000,900,1100,5,BATTLECRUISER,3,3,2
7,13500,1000,1200,6,GRANDCRUISER,3,3,3
8,17500,1100,1400,7,GRANDCRUISER,4,3,3
9,22000,1200,1500,8,BATTLESHIP,4,4,4
10,27000,1300,1600,9,BATTLESHIP,5,5,5
11,32500,1400,1800,10,BATTLESHIP,5,5,5
12,38500,1500,2000,11,BATTLESHIP,6,5,5
13,45500,1500,2100,12,BATTLESHIP,6,6,5
14,54500,1500,2200,13,BATTLESHIP,6,6,6
15,76500,1500,2500,14,BATTLESHIP,7,7,7
16,92500,1500,3000,15,BATTLESHIP,8,8,8
Known bugs:
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Pictures for new ships are still the old ones. They can (sometimes rarely) be unlocked in the campaign as if they were still their old ship-classes.
The Eternal Crusader and Victus Imperialis both use the Ultramarines insignia. This cannot be fixed, but lots of people ask me about it.
The Endurance LC for Imperial Navy uses the same name-instance as the Achilles. Its called Achilles now.
The Agamemnon Cruiser for Admech uses the same name-instance as the Agamemnon Battleship.
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Installation.
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Important information:
This is made for single (skirmish and campaign) play. Using or trying to use the mod for online (multiplayer or singleplayer play might get you permanently banned unless you deactivate the EAC as per installation instructions.)
NOTE: You can probably play this with a friend- if you both have the same mod version. Have not tried it.
Its higly recommended that you start a new campaign even with changes of modversion. Certain ships, defence stations etc will otherwise keep their old stats and not be completely affected by the mods changes.
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Install instructions:
1: Pray to the Omnissiah.
2: You need change the launch options in Steam. This is done by right-clicking on the game in Steam - Then selecting properties - Then Set Launch Options. Here you need to write -NoEAC . Good, now you need to start up the game. It should read Stormancer disabled in the top right corner. If it does, you are now free to start installing the mod.
3: Make a safe copy version of your gamefiles.
Copy all files in Battlefleet Gothic Armada II\BattlefleetGothic2\Content\Data and \Content\Localization and \Content\Splash (your games install directory) create a folder somewhere for them and name it whatever you want. This is your original files, swaping them with the modded lets you go back to previous configurations if you so wish. Also note that during updates of the game you might need to replace files from your modded versions with the newly added ones from updates if you want the mod to work.
2: Extract Skalgrim Mod from .rar file. Replace all (or selected) folders and subfolders and files with the ones in the rar-archive.
3: Pray to the Omnissiah.
3: Play and gasp in wonder as your might fleets lay waste to your enemies.
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Admirals, its finally here. The 1.5 version of Skalgrim mod. Enjoy!
looking fwd to play'n the update
Hi skalgrim really apreciate all the work you did for this great mod.
Do you plan to also add a version with smaller fleets like you did with v1.3? Just because it gets a really laggy experience with larger fleets.
I have of course tried to reduce fleet size in the game options but this semms to cause some bugs in the campaign.
Also is ther a possibilty to play without the titan from the start? Problem is that it blocks so many fleet points that you cannat reduce the fleetsize enough.
Your titans are great but playing them from the start makesvevrything way too easy...
But anyway thx a lot for your time man!
No I have no such plans. With the extended options one can tailor it for their own liking. If you want even smaller battles you could also use the vanilla renown_design files instead of the mods which decrease fleetsizes even more. This might cause problems with the campaigns starting missions however as you'v seen. Changing out the files a few levels into the game should fix that however as the larger modded fleetsizes are needed for the first lvl.
There is no possibility to play without the BS/Titans that are given to the players at start. If you think its to easy you can always increase the difficulty level.
Ok thx for your prompt reply! I will then further play and test with different options.
So after some testing around I found that it is simply not possible to reduce the fleet size nor the leadership below 625 points due to the added Titan ship. The problem is not the starting mission. Even with preset fleetsize of 50% which is equal to 400 fleet points or something the first mission works with the Titan. The problem occurs afterwards in the campaign. If you reduce under 625 points you cannot use (Amarkum for example) anymore and play a quest battle as he has to be present in scipted missions. I also thought about simply exchange his ship with a smaller one but this also only works with the giant fleet size of + 625 as you need additional free points to do that.
I've also tested to exchange the renown_design files but they only reduce the overall fleet- and leadship points which can be also done in the option menu.
What could maybe help to reduce fleets to a more PC friendly size would be exchanging the ship value / costs with vanilla stats...is there a way to do that manually like with the renown files?
I really like the mod changes of the game but even with my 2080 rig the game starts lagging after the first missions already due to the giant fleets sizes...thx a lot
No dude, that is the hard limitations (for Necrons), its lower for Imp/Chaos, around 300 pts each). While you can pick and choose files from the mod, some overwrite stuff or are directed at other files in such a way its not possible. Want the new ships, then you must have the files that correspond to that. If you yourself mod the UnitStatsOfficial.csv file you can change the points cost of ships there to what you want.
The whole point of my mod is to give the players "over the top" battles. Its geared towards that from the start. Some players computers wont be able to handle that, because lets face it, the game is not very optimized.
That's good news man! I was so into the Necron campaign that I did not notice that necessary points for the other races are much lower...starting with 300 leader ship points performance should be a lot better really appreciate your help!
Only for my interest what programm is required to read/change a UnitStatsOfficial file? Cause when I open it with txt or excel I only see hieroglyphics =)
You need to decrypt it first. There is a mod-guide up here Forums.focus-home.com
Already found you guys on discord... decrypted the files and did my changes today following your and Venoms guide and camapaign works fine now. Again thx a lot for your time!!
Damn, so the -1 in planetary upgrade cost error is now present for all Imperial campaigns after the tutorial has ended, or has been skipped. Altough Im not entierly sure what caused it, it is probably due to the addition of the "skip tutorial" option.
I think I can fix it, but it will have to be a hotfix sometime this week when I have time.
Doesn't cause the game to become unplayable, its just annoying that you get all your planetary upgrades for free when you play the Imperial campaign.
YAY!!!
The new Necron Titan is magnificent, it alone can destroy almost any fleet. It's good when you play him, but play against him...
possibly a dumb question but are the main Skalgrim mod and the Veritatem Imperialis II mods compatible or do I have to chose one?
They are not compatible. VI uses my submod for expanded campaign options and some ships of mine, but that is currently it. The gameplay in both of the mods is very different and theirs is more "vanilla" in how it plays out. Its pretty easy to switch between mods however so I recomend you try both out.
Faction Eldar has become very strong play against it became more interesting, but chaos play against them very difficult they have nothing to oppose.
Do you mean that its hard to play as Chaos against Eldar? If so, the easiest way to play against them is to use close range ships and just charge them and continue to follow them when the AI takes them on that same route as it always does. Up towards the right corner of the map.
Yes, chaos weapons are ineffective against fast moving targets, and now Eldar has increased firepower and chaos defeated. Save only fighters...
sorry but how do I use the customization submod?
Its integrated in the mod and will show up as more customization options in the campaign customization than the vanilla game.
Hey, some months ago you said you had plan to make a sub mod that will increase the production point generation of shipyard for people playing with massive fleet. Is that still coming?
Yes.
I get a "missing key" on most of the ship cards, selecting them causes a crash.
You need to follow the install instructions. This also assumes you have a up to date vanilla game version. There is also a slight (*microscopic really) chance of file corruption, in which case you need to download the mod again.
Did a second clean reinstall and it is working now. Love the mod work.
The nid seem to only spam escorts. IS this a bug?
They will use large amounts of escorts, but no there is no bug and they still follow the same rules as all AI fleets - in other words they will use a set number of escorts for a set number of cruisers for a set number of larger ships etc. They just have more ships in general.
Hi. You can make such a mod so that it simply adds new Titan units for construction in the original campaign?
No.
Hello! Bery cool looking mod thanks for the hard work! Was wondering if this will work with Co-op if my friend and I both have the mod installed
Also, I saw in another comment you said about having a vanilla version of the game, will this work ifmyou have the Chaos DLC?
Yes it should work for Co-op as long as you both have it, however since you have to stop the EAC from working (check install instructions) you might need to run it over a LAN or program that simulates a LAN for online use. I have not tried it myself, so I leave you guys to figure out how to play it best.
Vanilla game in this case means the original game (IE no pirate copied or modded version). Its made for use with the Chaos DLC.
Is there a splash screen or anything that would instantly indicate if the mod was installed properly?
There is, but thats not enough to know that it works. You still need to follow the install instructions if you use my manual install version or the mod manager.