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The Epsilon Project

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LM+

LM+

Surreptitious Son of Serendip
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May 28, 2004
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WARNING:
This is an abandoned mod - you will not get any support. It has at least a couple of crash-bugs (probably, but not certainly, event-related) Capable of Ruining Your Game. It is NOT suitable for a casual download; I've updated the links mostly for the benefit of fellow modders.


Blurb:

The Epsilon Project is a major mod for the Doomsday expansion of Hearts of Iron 2. Play begins in 1936 and continues to 1953. Up to about 1940, assuming you play historically, you can expect a close-to historical game by the AI; after this date anything half-way reasonable goes.
The Project's primary objective is to rebalance the game for both single and multi-player matches, adding flavour, plausibility, and verisimilitude without any obligation to conform to historical details or statistics. This mod owes an unusual amount to previous work, especially that of the HOI2 designers, Aregorn and the Historical Stony Road team, Dec152000's Naval Beta for HSR, Mithril's Starfire mod, the DAIM guys, and others.

BASE GAME: Doomsday, v1.3a (JCJS)
VERSION: Epsilon, v0.2 (ZLHF)
Authors: Lew Moore (LM+ on the Paradox forums)


Notes:

This mod is no longer in development. Usage of material from it is welcomed and encouraged; I may (depending on RL activity) be available as a consultant for Epsilon-derived stuff, or (depending on my interest in the mod overall) be willing to join your project and help it take fullest advantage of the changes here.


Installation:

1. Confirm that you have a clean copy of Doomsday for Hearts of Iron 2, version 1.3a. Version stamp will be "JCJS".
2. Copy the entire directory. Rename the new directory to something similar to "HOI2 - Epsilon".
3. Open up the new directory. Delete the folders "/ai", "/db", and "/config". Delete everything in the "/scenario" directory, except for "/scenario/data". Delete the folder "/GFX/interface/models/".
4. Unzip the Epsilon files into the new game directory, replacing files with the same name. Confirm that you now have "/ai", "/db", and "/config" folders again.
5. Fire up the game and check that the version stamp is correct.
6. Confirm that the one available scenario is named "Calm before the Storm". Start a game. Let a day pass and notice the new events.

If all of these things happen, you /should/ have a working game. Enjoy!


Major changes:

1. Rewritten divisions and brigades for land, air, and sea. Many new types to better simulate the options available in the period 1930 - 1953, all other units rebalanced. Revisions also to most aspects of combat, especially battle length and the effect of terrain.
2. Somewhere between a rework and a from-scratch rewrite of all technology categories to allow a detailed look at some of the more interesting developments of the game period.
3. A great many new events, primarily to adjust game rules to make playing various nations more interesting and realistic, or to reduce the effects of hard-coded game limitations, or improve the performance of AI-controlled nations without resorting to outright cheating. More events to add color and historicity (as seen in all other major mods) may happen in future releases.
4. A very large number of textual corrections to game message text. The single most obvious change is in spycraft (where DD v1.2 suffers from hideous grammer/spelling/punctuation and a surprising number of actual bugs, only some of which it was possible to fix).
5. Rewrite of most of the AIs for great powers, heavy revisions for that of all other nations. I installed a complete version of DAIM (thanks go to G'Kar and Spocky for their kind permission!) and am now rewriting it to further optimize the AI for Epsilon. The most obvious success right now is to AI nation's builds: Epsilon probably has the most efficient build AI of any mod. The most obvious failure is in the actual battlefield performance of SOV, USA, and ENG.
6. Adoption of quite a lot of Neat Stuff from other people's work (details in readme).
 
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Future of Epsilon:

Epsilon development is suspended indefinitely. The reasons are several, but they boil down to lack of time needed to make this project truly worthwhile as an independent venture.


Usage of Epsilon Materiel:

- All material created for Epsilon is available for use, however revised, in any Paradox game-related project, without need for further permission or even notice, with the sole requirement of giving full and fair credit. Note that this does NOT apply to material adopted from other mods, unless explicitly mentioned.




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Commentary:

blurb01.png

blurb02.png

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Does this have any part of the Naval Mod in it? If it does, I'll download immediately. Hell, either way I'll download Immediately. Also, LM+, could you make a Zip File? That would really help me because I don't want to spend 30$ on a .rar File Opener. If not possible, Its Ok, I'll pay the 30$ :rofl: Looks quite good from the description, can't wait to play it.
 
Screaming-Eagle said:
Does this have any part of the Naval Mod in it? If it does, I'll download immediately. Hell, either way I'll download Immediately. Also, LM+, could you make a Zip File? That would really help me because I don't want to spend 30$ on a .rar File Opener. If not possible, Its Ok, I'll pay the 30$ :rofl: Looks quite good from the description, can't wait to play it.
Click to expand...
Epsilon and the Naval Beta:
Absolutely, the Naval Beta has been an important influence on the development of the naval component of Epsilon. I've simplified a lot of things (and added some more!) but the focus is very similar.

Using .rar files:
Winrar is free for use for (I think) 30 days. If that's not enough time, check out http://www.winhki.com/en/winhki1.htm . The interface of the free version isn't as pretty as that of Winrar, but it works just fine with the files listed above (I've tested this).

Why I use .rar instead of .zip:
1) .rar compression means files of half the size of .zip, 2) I have only a dialup connection and uploading large files is a Real Problem.
 
TeutonburgerW said:
Just downloaded it and browsed through the files. It seems very ambitious and I will play it at once!
Click to expand...

I came to the same impression.
What I like is the 'clean' appearance of your mod, most changes make perfect sense and on the first sight seem to help to enhance gaming experience. I will try it out asap.
 
LM+ said:
- A very large number of textual corrections to game message text. The single most obvious change is in spycraft (where DD v1.2 suffers from hideous grammer/spelling/punctuation and a surprising number of actual bugs, only some of which it was possible to fix).
Click to expand...

You missed one! Organisation is now organzation in those commentary pics of yours (specifically, refer to the Hood unit card).
 
A quick review of Epsilon-mod (v. 0.1., Vurz) for DD.

No problems installing the mod. However, you should copy our first post (or atleast the part with the installing instructions) to a .txt document included in the zipped file.

I opened the game and encountered the same loadingscreen as in vanilla DD. Man, it's your mod! You need your own loading screen as well as an icon for the scenario (when you press SP and choose the scenario. Help with this can be found here.

When the game had loaded, I saw really nice colours on the map. Great job with chaning the colour of the nations; a better red for SU; FIN hasn't the same colour as GER; no more "alien"-green for Italy; no disturbing orange Yugoslavia and so on. But the UK's colour isn't that good, it should be... another.

Then, a quick look at the provinces. Nice job with some pictures for the capitols; but haven't I seen them in another mod? The pics for hills, plains etc. are nice and adds a good flavour to the game as well as the coloured mini-map in the bottom-left corner.

When sweeping through the technology, I realize that there are many changes. But since I haven't played for a couple of days, there are very (very!) small figures at some names, what does they mean or what do they do? Hell, I almost can't see them. ;)

I especially like the improved naval tech tree; great work! And since you implented (parts of?) the naval mod, it sure going to be funny to engage in some naval warfare!

And as well, good work with bringing some good strucure to the landdoctrine and armor & artillery tree, they always bothered me in vanilla DD.

A quick look in the productinscreen makes me both sad and happy. More units (always good, like reserves and stronger and more expensive ART), but I having a hard time with the models when browsing through the productionscreen: as Germany, I don't want to build allied infantry divisions (it's a pic from 'em), but I'm sure that it's going to be implented later on?

I only played to 00:00, January 6, 1936, but good with the in-game difficulty adjustments as well as the first events wich gains industry-building etc and of course, the practical "slider reminder" from the DAIM-mod.

So, my first thoughts on this one:

Very ambitious project I look forward to play in the evning tomorow. I really hope you continue with this mod since it gots great potential and that you recive lots of interest amongst the modding comminuty!

Best of luck!
 
I've downloaded it an looked through it (haven't played it yet); and I must say - it looks very good.

A few minor questions, though:

I've seen you have (or are planning to) include the Hungarian Improvement pack into your mod. Are you also planning on including other Improvement packs, like the Chinese, Dutch, etc. ones? I've already tried making a hybrid of them all, and I must say : it's a lot of work - but it's probably worth it. I like them all very much, they add a lot of depth to the game for minor nations.

Is it possible to activate the 'Intensive winter training' tech (# 6730) for any other nation than the Swiss, Finns and Afghani's in-game? I ask you this to see if there is any way for the Germans to avoid those nasty combat modifiers in winter, if fighting the Soviets. The event itself includes a "we have not researched "Intensive winter training"' trigger, which led me to believe researching it is actually possible, somehow. If haven't found it, though.

If I have installed the Cpak icons over the 'vanilla' Epsylon installation - will that give me any problems with unit icons in-game? I've only thought of that possibility *after* I did that, silly me.
 
I overcame the troubles and, wow! Excelent Job LM+, not only have you combined some of the other mods into a more cohesive Mod, you have made me a happy man playing HOI2 for the first time in a long time. I got a couple Error Messages in the load, but it worked fine. I wondered if Scyth and Kristof's Icon Work is compatible? If it isn't I'll simply use the C-Pack ones which are good too. I would like to thank you for a wonderful mod. Also one last thing, does it have those events from The Cobra's are Smoking for a Human Brazil? If it does thank you so much!

I just found my new Mod :).
 
Just tried it , and wow. Great Tech Tree, Great Colors (Whether from Sexxicolors or not), amazing un-juicing of Airpower, just a great job everywhere. I am totally making an AAR of this. Britain sounds Interesting :). Keep up the amazing work.

Questions:
Are your Brazil Events Included?

How many of the Improvement projects have you finished installing?

How is the balance, I'm assuming the Difficulty is the Difference, or am I wrong?

Great Mod, Look forward to playing it! I might even play South Africa.
 
Will download once I get a chance to play, but looks very good from the intro. I really need to get off these forums and start playing the game :D.
 
Downloaded it, tried it a bit. Looks pretty ambitious and, if done right, it might be The Mod To End All Mods (except maybe Mod33 :p ).

My first and biggest gripe is with the cost-effectiveness of Counterspying measures: playing as France, I start with over 50 spies at home and soon proceed to assign ten of my best to "Défense du territoire"; one Counterspy action costs over 500 gold and resulted in "No Spy Found" -- twice! So, either I'm really unlucky or there's a big problem here...
 
Very exciting stuff, LM+. Anything with the naval mod you used in your AAR is certainly worth checking out. I assume that from starfire you imported the longer combat / faster speed of units changes?
 
Further testing: there are some very, very wrong things in the Intelligence panel. Such as, sending spies to Germany start at around 100% chance and go upward to 134 percent.

Prices continue to be very weird; I continued trying to get rid of the zillion spies that are having a ball in "la belle France", to no avail (and 450 gold each of the six tries), and I also noted that the cost of almost all other intel actions have gone through the roof. I mean, 9000 for a coup attempt with what? 5-10% chance?

Also, I noted that some tech seem to have their picture wrong: battleship images for light vessels, bomber pic for escort fighter, etc.

I am also trying to understand the different techs; they are not very obvious, at times.
 
UncleAlias said:
Further testing: there are some very, very wrong things in the Intelligence panel. Such as, sending spies to Germany start at around 100% chance and go upward to 134 percent.

Prices continue to be very weird; I continued trying to get rid of the zillion spies that are having a ball in "la belle France", to no avail (and 450 gold each of the six tries), and I also noted that the cost of almost all other intel actions have gone through the roof. I mean, 9000 for a coup attempt with what? 5-10% chance?

Also, I noted that some tech seem to have their picture wrong: battleship images for light vessels, bomber pic for escort fighter, etc.

I am also trying to understand the different techs; they are not very obvious, at times.
Click to expand...



The Estado Novo never fired, and the normal election event fired. I selected Gomes, so I guess that is it. Didn't you delete that election event? If not sorry.
 
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I played part of my test game as Brazil :).

The Game was very realistic and fun, the New Tech Tree was ambitous and a huge Improvement. Yet it also had a couple of Event Mistakes.

1. The Normal 1937 Election Event fired in that guys game, wasn't that deleted?

2. Argentina hasn't joined the Axis, and it was Mid 1937, in your AAR it joined in January, so did the Event to make Argentina Influence Germany Fire? I checked and it did, so thats just one little edit needed.

3. I couldn't join the Allies! I had to use Acceptall :(. Is that Intentional, or a bad Installation?

4. I selected Very Hard if that helps at all.

5. Not a problem with me, but it might be for some people. Mid-1937, I'm just randomly Scrolling through Africa, and I notice Ethiopia is Alive, with Two Provinces.

6. Other than that no Complaints. I'm sure future versions will fix these things. I would really appreciate a response. A short little Summary of what you think went wrong/how to fix it would be useful.

Some things I liked:

Trading/AI builds were noticeably better.
Difficulty Event like in HSR, I chose Very Hard :D .
Revised Doctrine/CAG tech tree! That was awesome :cool: .
Numerous Improvement packages installed, that adds huge depth to Minors! Most important being your Brazil Events!
Naval Icons looked great! Yet I still wonder if someone could modify the SKIF ones for this :D .
Better Map Colors, though you did it through part of another mod, I still think it was awesome.
Looks like Airpower will be a lot less Juiced, and Cheap! They were a Player Abuse arguably.
Love new Unit Stats!
Did I say ambitous mod?
I haven't even gotten to the combat yet, and I'm already excited.

I had no Problems with the Unit Icons for the recored.



Great Mod other than that, I would like a response as soon as possible, I will edit this post as I play deeper into the game. I can't wait to get into the Starfire Combat System, I will tell you if these things fixed themselves- Screaming Eagle
 
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I tested it with Japan...at "normal" and "even" difficulty is a pain to conquer China: your TC is over the roof as soon as you enter Bejing! But it's good to be challenged. The tech tree is very good, the events are wonderful and the units a lot more balanced. Another thing: the Civil War in Spain is finally fixed up, with the Nationalist slowly winning after a long and bloody conflict.
On the bad side...Ethiopia. 2 years of war and it's still alive and kicking, occasionally breaking Italian lines in Somalia!
However, great job LM+! I have waited for your mod since you referred to it in your AAR thread and I'm not disappointed at all!
 
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