heh, build a starbase =p
I'm unsure, sometimes it seems as if the game can't decide if it wants to be small or large... and it has a mix of features to deal with either, but it doesn't alway perfect them both. Seems like it should scale up a little for each planet you own, no?

The game was meant to allow unlimited ships but that got scarped because most peoples systems on MP might not take it with people having better or lower computers

You do realize that increasing the fleet cap will increase it for all players, right? If you're having trouble defending with 2000 against 2000, what makes you think 6000 vs 6000 is going to be any easier? In fact, the *smaller* the cap is the easier it is, because your stationary defenses become more meaningful, and various repair/disabling abilities do as well.

In any case, it's easy enough to mod to your liking, just realize that each ship has a running AI routine, and there will be a pretty considerable difference in performance going from 10 players with 2000 fps worth of ships, and 10 players with 6000 worth

I still think that (and hope) most people would at least like the option of 10k max fleet size. It's nothing that anyone would lose out on. Those that can handle it are able to play a mode that allows for a truly epic empire size with which to take over the universe.

Easy way to make it more 'epic'.

I'm sure its probably quite simple to mod in if you really must have it

The flaw with your logic is that with a smaller system, defending 2000 against 2000 is quite readily accomplished. But defending 6000 against 6000 with a battlefront that is 5+ times in size and scope to where you were when 2000 is sufficient is quite another matter.

Imagine this in a real life scenario to get a better picture for what I am talking about. If the USA was self limited to 100k troops and WW3 broke out, how would they defend from Russia, China, and South America? Right now 100k troops are needed sustaining just two fronts, Afghanistan and Iraq. So logically as your war 'front' expands and gets more dynamic you would need to have more troops to susstain the size of your empire.

At least if it were an option to crank that max fleet size up more, you could maintain the same style and mode of expansion you used since the first move instead of in late game turning into a planet hopping micromanager strike force commander. I want to be able to station a garrison of troops at various choke points throughout my system. Not like a thousand guys, but enough to defend the planet with the assistance of the local defense platforms. But with limitations as they are, that strategy quickly becomes unviable late game which kind of defeats the purpose of 'chokepoint' planets if you can't sufficiently man them.

my .02 cents.

double post

people are saying how easy it is to mod to your liking, but how? not every knows the ins and outs off modding.

Okay, here's a quick guide on how to change the fleet cap and number of capital ship crews.

First, go to the Downloads link on the site, and under the Beta Mod Tools, there's a link for 1.03 reference data download. Grab that (you'll need the 1.04 reference data when Ironclad releases it).

Next, create a folder in your mod path called whatever you want to call your mod. If you don't know what your mod path is, launch the game and go to options > mods, and click "show mod path". For example, if your mod is called "MoreShips", your mod path in Vista would look something like C:\Users\user\AppData\Local\Ironclad Games\Sins of a Solar Empire\Mods\MoreShips

Copy the entire GameInfo folder from the reference data you downloaded into your new mod folder ("MoreShips" from the above example).

Now, you know how there are 8 different researches for capital ships and for fleet cap, these are in the GameInfo folder called "RESEARCHSUBJECT_MAXCAPITALSHIPS" and "RESEARCHSUBJECT_MAXSHIPSLOTS", numbered 0 through 7 for each rank of research, and each race has their own set. So there's a MAXCAPITALSHIPSTECH 0-7, MAXCAPITALSHIPSPHASE 0-7, MAXCAPITALSHIPSPSI 0-7, and the same with normal fleet cap.

For simplicity, we only need to modify the last research tier. Open up, say, RESEARCHSUBJECT_MAXCAPITALSHIPSTECH7, and scroll down for:

researchModifier
modifierType "CapitalShipMaxSlots"
baseValue 0.000000
perLevelValue 3.000000

The "perLevelValue" is how many command crews that rank of research will add. By default, it adds 3, but if you change it to 20.000000 it will add 20. You can do this for the other race's files (MAXCAPITALSHIPSPHASE7, MAXCAPITALSHIPSPSI7) also.

Doing the normal ships is the same way, each race has its own set of files. When you open RESEARCHSUBJECT_MAXSHIPSLOTSTECH7 you'll see:

researchModifier
modifierType "ShipMaxSlots"
baseValue 0.000000
perLevelValue 320.000000

Which means the last rank adds 320 fleet points. You can change it to 5000.000000 and it will add 5000 instead. Likewise, do this for the other races.

Note that for the MAXSHIPSLOTS the value is the base, if you play on Large fleets, this value will be multiplied by 1.25 (+25%) so you would get 6000 added with the last rank of research.

If you want to make an actual progression rather than just making the last rank of research, you'll just have to modify each research subject for the progression you want.

In short, you have to modify 6 files:

- MAXCAPITALSHIPSTECH7, MAXCAPITALSHIPSPHASE7, MAXCAPITALSHIPSPSI7
- MAXSHIPSLOTSTECH7, MAXSHIPSLOTSPHASE7, MAXSHIPSLOTSPSI7

with whatever "end" values you want it to add. It adds to the *previous* total of all the research, so if the previous cap ship rank had you with 13 capitals, changing the last rank to give 20 crews will set you to 33 crews total.

But this is a true RTS game not just command and blow up but also politics, insurgency, treaties, pay for strikes. Just a lot of different RTS tactics to deploy. Oh did I say this is a true RTS game?
Its great to use other means to do what you need. The reason that this game is so loved I hope is because there is a number of different ways to deploy tactics not just simplistic battles.

To make this change is very simple and should take about 5 mins.

First download the 1.03 data files from here

Next unzip the contents, and copy the folder within it named "GameInfo".

Navigate to this location on your PC.

C:/Users/[username]/AppData/Local/Ironclad Games/Sins of a Solar Empire/Mods

Replacing [yourwindowsusername] with your windows user name. You may also need to set "show hidden files and folders" in the Folder Options control panel windows to see AppData.

Create a new folder in "Mods" called "SuperFleetSize".

Paste the "GameInfo" folder from the 1.03 data files into here.

Find the file called "gameplay.constants" within "GameInfo", then right click it and select "Open With" from the menu. Open it with a text editor such as WordPad.exe

Press ctrl-f and type in "fleet supply scalar" top find the entry for fleet supply. Change it to the following -

fleetSupplyData-Small
fleetSupplyScalar 1.00
fleetSupplyData-Normal
fleetSupplyScalar 2.5
fleetSupplyData-Large
fleetSupplyScalar 5.00

This will now mean that choosing normal or high fleet capacity will give you 2.5 and 5 times the default respectivly. You can edit these numbers further for larger/smaller caps.

When you enter Sins, go to the Options tab, then the Mods tab and enable the "SuperFleetSize" Mod.

When you start a game you will begin with 500 supply, and it should scale as you research it.

To upgrade Capital Supply Capacity is more difficult I think (unless I am missing something). You would need to edit the files (also in the "GameInfo" folder in the mod) -
RESEARCHSUBJECT_MAXCAPITALSHIPSPHASE0 to 7
RESEARCHSUBJECT_MAXCAPITALSHIPSPSI0 to 7
RESEARCHSUBJECT_MAXCAPITALSHIPSTECH0 to 7

So that in all 24 files the part like this -

researchModifier
modifierType "CapitalShipMaxSlots"
baseValue 0.000000
perLevelValue 1.000000
researchModifier
modifierType "CapitalShipMaxSlotLevel"
baseValue 0.000000
perLevelValue 1.000000

has the figures perLevelValue and baseValue (only used in the initial research) have scaled up values, say like this


researchModifier
modifierType "CapitalShipMaxSlots"
baseValue 0.000000
perLevelValue 5.000000
researchModifier
modifierType "CapitalShipMaxSlotLevel"
baseValue 0.000000
perLevelValue 5.000000

Hope that helps.

Damn beaten by Annatar

I don't understand the OP's problem. I've won several large 5-star maps, with fleet number set at normal, not even high. I wouldn't want to have to manage larger fleets.

The key, I think, is to realize that ships are for offense, not defense. I like to build several levels of static defenses, typically 8 hangars, 1 repair, and a gun or two. I put that on all planets that are one-jump from a star, and all planets that are one-jump from those planets. I also make sure there is a frigate factory near every star. That way, you can go off attacking with most of your fleet, and you have time to get back if anybody goes after one of your stars.

I also tend to leave about 10 light carriers in the most important choke points. I like to have an invader hit with an immediate swarm of strikecraft that can take out a cap ship in a couple of passes. That intimidates the AI.