Colony Builder - Starship, Flipped!

[Sirbomber]

It's been a long time since we've seen any new mission releases, and while I don't exactly have something "new" for you tonight, I do have a fun twist on a classic!  After being inspired by some Discord conversations, I'd like to present to you all: Plymouth Starship 1 and 2 (As Eden) and Eden Starship (As Plymouth)!

As the name suggests, these are just the original missions, but hacked so you're playing as the other colony.  For Eden Starship (as Plymouth) and Plymouth Starship 2 (as Eden) the AI player remains completely unchanged, though Plymouth Starship 1 (as Eden) will have you fighting against waves of Plymouth attackers instead of Eden - and there may be some surprises mixed in, too!
As always, if you find any issues please let me know!  I hope you enjoy!

Installation instructions:
Download the attached zip and extract the ColonyFlipped folder and all of its contents to your OPU\maps\ directory.  Launch the game and load the Colony Games menu, and you should see the three new missions in the list!
Update (4/25/25): Fixed an issue where the AI base did not spawn correctly when playing Eden Starship (as Plymouth).Update (5/6/25): Fixed the issue with the AI base on Eden Starship (as Plymouth) again, and added Plymouth Starship 1 (as Eden).

[Earthquake]

Well first of all thanks for releasing this Colonygames. Nice idea to play this missions as the other faction. Are you maybe also planning to flip the other missions too? Could be interesting to play Plymouth Population as Eden for example. Might be easyer to pull of since the enemy has no base in the other missions so maybe even flip them too?
As for issues? Well i found some problems. First one is this 2 Colonygames dont work on a pc without internet. I install it as instructed but when i want to start one of them this messages pops up  "The procedure entry point "Close Threadpoolwait" was not found in the DLL "Kernel32.dll". As for why i have it on a no i-net pc well my old anti virus software thought the game was malware and always put the gamelaucher in quarantine so i played on my second pc. I have a better anti virus now so no problem with that anymore. Maybe worth telling in case other peolpe have a similar reason. Still strange since this are singleplayer games they should work without i-net. I once downloaded the sandbox-scenario distantnoise from the CustomScenario section you install it the exact same way like this to games and they work just fine. Well both Missons are playable on my i-net pc. Played both on easy mode so far to see if enemy Ai behave as well.
Plymouth Starship 2 works perfect no issues at all. Finally you can use the geysers and magma-vents on the map. Yea as Plymouth you could capture a geo-con and a Eden miner but you cannot turn the geo-con into a thermalplant for some reason and you have to wait for the magmawell-tec to become available.
As for Eden-starship as Plymouth. It is playable but there is a problem with the enemy base. They are missing some Structures. A residence, a agradome, a tokamak and they have NO COMMANDCENTER!!! Where this buildings are supposed to be is empty space now. The convec`s with the structure-kits for topleft and the far right base will still move out at there skripted time and build up, but the mainbase is out of commission. But even then the Ai will stop building up. At some point it wants to make MHD-reactores. But since the mainbase is down the Ai has no rare metall and no storage for it. And because the builorder for the Ai is skripted it will not simply skip the reactors. At this point Ai will simply mine commom ore build vehicles and send them on their way, but otherwise stops doing anything else. When you play the original mission as Eden it has the same behavior if you attack their mainbase and destroy the rare ore smelter before they build the MHD-reactores. But that is something that Sierra probably did wrong. Should have made the buildorder so that the Ai builds the rare ore smelter in other 2 bases first and then the reactors. And still Ai is able to build Panther units even if it has no rara metall in store. Cheaters. At least Ai has to follow the rules of tubeconnection to a CC and have enough power for their structures.
Anyway both missions can be played and finished. Thanks again for releasing some new content for this old but still enjoyable game. And my apologies if i write so long texts i am not used to do things like that so i think i have to fit it all in one go.

[Sirbomber]

Thanks for pointing out the issue with the AI base not spawning!  I've attached an updated download that should fix the issue.
The missions shouldn't need (and don't even try to) connect to the internet, so I doubt that's the issue.  What OS are you using?  I tried building the missions with an older version of the MSVC toolkit, let me know if that lets you run on your other machine.

[Earthquake]

What does OS stand for? Sorry, i dont know this shortcut.
If you mean my windows version, well my internet pc has win 10. My no-internet pc has windows XP. That could be a reason why. When i install the entire game on my XP and start it for the first time a messages pops up that it has a problem with the nethelper. It simply points out no i-net so no multyplayer-options. I figured it might has to do something with that.
The issue with playing the new missions on my other machine is fixed. I can start and play them now. Thank you.
But the issue with Edenstarship as Plymouth is unfortunately still the same. The enemybase is still missing halve of their startingstructures. You can compare what the AI is missing by start the original mission as Eden so you have better idea where the buildings are supposed to be and what structure it should be. Mostly for the CC and the tokamak reactor. Would not mind if the AI misses the other 2 buildings. It also does not matter what difficulty is chosen. The enemy start with the exactly the same.
To bad that AI is not smart. If it was it would use the CC-kit in one of their Convecs that are for the 2 expansions.

[Sirbomber]

OS is short for operating system, so yes, you were right to guess I was asking what version of Windows you were using.

On Eden Starship (as Plymouth), is the AI missing its base a consistent thing?  Does it only happen on certain difficulty levels, or after restarting or something?  Does it effect both your computers or just the XP machine?  I'm not seeing any such issue on my end so there's not much I can do without more info.  Might be worth it to verify you're using the updated mission files.

[Earthquake]

I tryed it on both PCs with each diffyculty. And of course i used the updated file. It would not run on my XP otherwise. The Ai is missing the same buildings. A Tokamak, the CC, an Agradome and a Residens. Strange thing is that the tubeconections are in place, only the buildings are missing. Starting the mission, restarting it, the reasult is always the same. So yes it is consistent on both Computers.
Would the game version matter? I have both 1.3.8 and 1.4.1. I even have a Original CD version, but it only runs on my XP. Windows 10 is to good for it. And Updateing the CD version does not work. The OPU-installer does not reconize it as a known version. But i can Updated the 1.3.8 version in the 1.4.1 version and copy the music and videos from CD into it.
Whatever the problem is, it only effects Edenstarship (as Plymouth), Plymouth Starship 2 (as Eden) works perfectly. Played and finished both missions on normal diffyculty. I dont see any other issue so far. Only the AI base-thing on Edenstarship. The missions are running on both versions.
I keep the older version mostly for the mission "Outcaster-Starship", since it does not work with the 1.4.1. I like the idea of having an AI-ally, and it is unique in how you get the Starshipparts.

[msimus]

Thanks for putting this together, SirBomber. I'm excited to play.
I also have missing buildings on Eden starship, this time the command center and agridome. This happens on all difficulties. My system is on Win11 and I'm using the your latest files. Any ideas? Let me know if there's a way to help.

[Sirbomber]

Okay the missing AI structures should be fixed for real this time.  I've also added a third mission - Plymouth Starship 1 (as Eden).  For this one, not only are you playing as Eden, the AI's colony has also been flipped to be Plymouth.

[msimus]

It's working well. Thanks for the update!

[Earthquake]

I can also confirm that all 3 missions are working fine and Ai bases are spawning correct now.
Regarding the new Mission. Plymouth Starship 1 as Eden. Yes the Player is Eden. But the enemy did not change. I played it on "normal difficulty" and the Ai send vehicles with Eden-weapons at me. Laser, Railgun, acidcloud etc. No Plymouth-weapons on them. The only change is that player and ai are now a different colour (Eden is usually blue).
And what is the surprise supposed to be. I did not noticed any extra stuff happening in the entire run. Did you ad that the blight approches at some point of the mission?
The blight comes in on "Plymouth Starship 2" anymay. I think it comes at "Mark 2000" and covers the map slowly in purple. I am normaly done with the missions around "Mark 1500", but there is a youtube-video showing that the blight approches at some point.
So basicly Plymouth starship 1 is another "Eden-civilwar", just with the player start in the middle of the map and Ai has no Base.
Still thanks for the update. I appreciate the new content that you provided.

[Sirbomber]

The only time I got this to happen was when I tested with the base version of the game, without the fan patch.  So... why are you running the game without the fan patch?

[Earthquake]

There is no rule that says i have to play with the fan patch. I have the game installed twice. One with the patch and one without. So i play the version that i feel like playing.
I simply happend to test Plymouth-starship 1 ( as Eden ) with the base version first. I played it now with the fan version on hard difficulty. Enemy spawnes with Plymouth-weappons. But only RGG, ESG, EMP and Starflares. No Microwave, Sticky-foam or Supernova and no Spiders. I guess the surprise is that the Enemy comes in stronger waves now. First Combatunits are RGG right away. Enemy never comes with Microwave or Sticky-foam at all. Was that the intention? Or was there more supposed to happen? If there was then please tell. I gladly test it until it playes out like you planned it.
Also, no offense but i could ask you too why you test it on both versions. Besides Plymouth-starship 2 ( as Eden ) and Eden-starship ( as Plymouth ) both are running fine on the base version so i did not expect a difference like this to happen.
You can also simply view it like this, if someone wants to play this mission as Eden vs Eden, then play it on the base version and if you want to fight Plymouth then play on fan version. A nice sideproduction.

[Sirbomber]

No that's not the surprise.  If I tell you what the surprise is, it isn't a surprise anymore!  Try playing on hard if you really want to know.
Play on whatever version of the game you want, just be aware that if you aren't using the fan patch, some things may not work as intended.  In fact, that may be the reason the AI base didn't spawn for you correctly on Eden Starship.

[Earthquake]

The thing with the Ai base not spawning correctly was a problem on Base and Fan version. I surely tryed it on both and now it works fine.
I played Plymouth Starship 1 ( as Eden ) on hard with fan version and won. Maybe the surprise did not happen because i keep my Combat-units low. If you dont make many vehicles the the Ai also comes with less to attack. Or was it because i relocate my entire base in the bottomleft corner of the map? If some of the other players could confirm that something else triggers at some point then at least i know that it works. No one has to tell what it is. There are not many things i could think of anyway. Maybe the Blight comes if you play long enough or maybe the Ai comes with Convacs and build a base of their own ( but where? topleft and bottomright corner get hit hard with Seismic activities. A base there would only get destroyed by natural desasters). But i played it on Hard for sure. I will try again. If i notice something i will tell ( of course only that the surprise works not what it is ). You only build the surprise in on Plymouth-starship 1 or did you do it on all 3 Missions? And it only triggers when played on hard difficulty?
I am confused why only 4 of the Plymouth-Weapons spawned. Even when i had a huge amount of vehicles on the map, the enemy only came with Rgg, Emp, Esg and Starflare. It never had to deal with Microwave, Sticky-foam, Supernova or Spider-weapons at all. Not thats a problem, i only would like to know if that was supposed to happen.
That the Base version spwaning Eden-weapons, i would say is fine also. You just made an extra version of Plymouth-starship 1 without the intension of it.

[Earthquake]

Alright. I played Plymouth-Starship 1 ( as Eden ) on hard mode again. I can confirm now that the surprise is working. I just did not play it long enough on my previous try. Happens around the Mark 2000 the first time. Nice that you are able to pull something like that of. Are you sure it only happen on hard difficulty? I understand why not on easy mode, but on normal the surprise could also be a thing. If you play Eden-Starship the Ai will also do that on normal and on hard difficulty as long as you let the Ai build the base on the far right. It just takes long until the enemy is ready to do it.
To bad the surprise is not a big problem since it is out of sync with the actual attack. The enemy just spawned and was still gathering by time the surprise was dealt with.
I also tryed something else with this run. Since the Ai does not come with Microwaves i had the idea why not surround my base with walls? Like close myself in. Microwaves are the only Weapon that Plymouth uses in order to shoot a wall if it is in their way. I still had access to 2 common ore beacons and i used the magma-vent north of my base for rare ore mining. It worked like a charm. Was kinda funny to see the Plymouth-vehicles standing in front of my wall doing nothing. It appears that if an enemy vehicle is on the map for too long then it destruct itself. That was the only thing i had to be aware of because selfdestruct does damage to walls, so i fixed my walls when there was no enemys on the map. The wall did buy me more time to get better Weapons. And when i was finally at the point i could launch the final Starship-part in space to finish, i made a save and waited until the surprise came. And waited a bit longer to see if the surprise comes again. Well like 400 Marks later it happen a second time. I am usually done with Starship-missions by the Mark 1500 given or taken.
Oh and the enemy does bring supernovas eventually. I probably did not noticed on my previous run. Just no Microwaves ( and no Sticky-foams but that weapon is annoying anyway ).