Last updated: August 24, 1999

1. What is Nova?

Nova is an unofficial version of Segasoft/Holistic's computer game "Emperor of the Fading Suns". We believe that EFS is potentially a great game, which has been released without sufficient testing. As a result, it still contains many flaws. Nova is our attempt to fix as many of these flaws as we can, by creating new versions of the game's data files. Since we do not have access to the game's source code, we cannot possibly fix ALL of the flaws. Our main objective is to improve the balance of the game.

In Nova, many of your old strategies will no longer work as well as before. We encourage you to try out units and options which you have previously rejected as ineffective. With Nova, you can expect a much more challenging game. Beginners beware!

2. Who produced Nova?

Nova 1 was produced by 7 fans of EFS, who have no connection whatsoever with Segasoft or Holistic: Richard Wein, Dag Stålhandske, Jason Holbrook, Mike Nadeau, Klaus Borek, Chris Donovan, Ryan Montgomery. Nova 2 was produced by Richard and Dag alone. If you have any comments or questions regarding Nova, please post a message in the Nova Forum.

3. How do I obtain Nova?

Nova is available free of charge to anyone who wants it. You can download it from the Nova web site. At this web site, you can also obtain the latest information on the progress of the Nova project.

4. How do I install Nova?

Download NOVA2-3.EXE ("2-3" indicates the version number). This is a self-extracting Zip file. Download it to any directory, and run it (double-click on it in Windows Explorer). Further instructions will then be displayed.

WARNING: This will overwrite many files in your EFS directory. You should backup your whole EFS directory before proceeding, or make a copy of your EFS directory and install Nova there.

NOTE: With Nova 2, it should be possible to continue old games which you started with standard EFS or Nova 1. However, this isn't recommended, as there have been major changes and you will find that some of your units and technologies have changed into completely different ones. There should be no problem with continuing games which were started with earlier versions of Nova 2. (But in a game with PBEM security you will receive a CRC checksum warning.)

5. How does Nova differ from standard EFS?

5.1 Money

We believe that firebirds were too plentiful. Money has now been made a scarcer commodity. In particular:-

Electing not to use the Noblesse Oblige and Rule of Law traits will also help to make money scarcer. However, players who find that money is now too scarce may like to use the these traits.

5.2 House Traits

We recommend that you play without any House traits, as there are a few problems associated with them, and they add little to the game.

If you choose to play with traits, then you have two options:

1. Select Beginner difficulty level (the default). At this level, you have no default traits, and you must select at least as many negative traits as positive ones.
2. Select Easy difficulty level. At this level, you can have any combination of traits you like.

5.3 Resource Production

The resource throughputs for the processing cities have been changed, primarily to make electronics and chemicals easier to produce, but monopols and singularities more difficult:-

5.4 Resource Prices

The base prices for resources at Agoras have been changed, to bring them into line with the actual costs of production:-

These are the prices at which you SELL to the Agora.

5.5 Disbanding Units

The rate at which the production costs of a disbanded unit are refunded has been reduced from the previous very generous 75% to a more reasonable 50%.

5.6 Research Costs

We've made may changes to research costs, with most of them being increased considerably. Together with the improvements to advanced units, this should make technology a more valuable commodity, particularly in multiplayer games.

5.7 Attack Damage Table

One of our most bitter complaints was about the way that weak units could so easily defeat much stronger ones. For example, it was not uncommon for a Cruiser to be destroyed by a Bulk Hauler. One reason for this was the poor design of the Attack Damage Table (a kind of combat results table), which gave insufficient advantage to higher-odds attacks. For example, when going from 1-1 to 2-1 odds, the average damage increased only from 40 to 48, so a 100% increase in strength only resulted in a 20% increase in damage. The Attack Damage Table has now been thoroughly revised.

5.8 Terrain Effects

We felt that foot units needed some more advantages. So we reduced the speed of tread units in river hexes and reduced the speed of hover units in forest and jungle.

We've also made units (especially foot units) harder to spot in certain terrains.

The cost to enter a swamp hex has been increased from 2 to 3 for all units.

The production of trace in mountain and ocean hexes of a barren planet has been reduced from 5 to 2. Barren planets previously produced a ridiculous amount of trace. They still produce plenty.

5.9 Spotting

Thanks to Chris Donovan, we've now discovered why spotting and camo don't work in standard EFS and we've been able to fix it by changing the unitspot.dat file. You will now find that high camo units such as spies and subs are much more difficult to spot. Foot units are also harder to spot in rough terrain. Mechanized units are easier to spot on roads and in cities.

5.10 Combined Arms Operations

Target.dat has been changed, so close fire can now hit mechanised units and direct fire can hit foot units. This has removed the previous very strong disincentive to creating mixed armor/infantry stacks. It also makes it worthwhile including an Officer (or even a Noble) in a mainly armored stack. The flip side of this is that there is no longer a clear distinction between "anti-tank" and "anti-infantry" units. As a result, some units have been renamed or deleted.

5.11 Indirect attack

Certain units, such as Special Forces, which specialize in covert operations, have been given an indirect attack. This does not represent artillery fire but a "first strike" capability. (Special Forces recon the area, pinpoint weak spots, and prepare the site for an attack.)

5.12 Undercover Units

We use the name "undercover units" to refer to Spies, SEALs (new unit), Assassins and Doppelgangers. These units are likely to be of most use in a multiplayer game, as players struggle to kill each other's Nobles on Byzantium II. They have the following features in common:-

5.13 Emplaced Guns

Some garrison units were previously too powerful. Artillery, in particular, was regularly used as the main component of an attack force, diminishing the value of factory-built units. To remedy this, all wheeled guns (Artillery, Anti-Tank Guns and AA Guns) have been made into "emplaced" guns. Their movement allowance has been reduced to zero, but they can still be transported. [They have also been converted into "tread" units, so that the "wheeled" category of units could be reused for undercover units.] Artillery has been renamed "Howitzer" and Anti-Tank Gun has been renamed "Light Artillery".

5.14 Hover Units

There was previously little difference between hover units and tread units, but the hover units were poorer value and rarely built. We have now enabled hover units to move on sea as well as on land, making them much more flexible, and permitting amphibious assaults on coastlines (previously impossible). To offset this enormous advantage, we have made hover units vulnerable to anti-aircraft fire. (This is stated to be the case in the manual, but was not true.)

Cargo Pods, Relics and Plague Bombs have been converted from hover units to tread, so they can't move on sea.

5.15 Crawlers

In our opinion, crawler (PTS) units are giant machines, too big to be transported as cargo, so we have made them non-transportable.

5.16 Submarine Warfare

Submarines used to be vulnerable to direct and indirect fire, as well as underwater fire, making them little different from surface ships. Submarines are now vulnerable only to underwater fire. We have achieved this by giving Submarines a VERY high agility, and giving only underwater weapons a high enough accuracy to hit them. Submarines can now only be hit by Destroyers, Anti-Submarine Gunships (a revision of the old Gunship) and Hunter-Killer Submarines (a new unit).

5.17 Leader Loyalty Bonuses

We recommend that players always leave the loyalty of their units at its original 75%. Otherwise, the loyalty bonuses given by Officers and Nobles tend to be irrelevant, as players can easily increase their unit loyalty to 100% by raising unit pay. Assuming players follow this recommendation, units stacked with an Officer or Noble have no chance of being routed in Standard EFS, since they receive loyalty bonuses of +29 and +39 respectively (not +20 and +30 as stated in the manual), thus taking their loyalty over 100%. In Nova, the bonuses have been reduced to +20 and +24 respectively, so units with leaders still have a chance of being routed, although it's much less than for other units.

5.18 Unit Costs and Attributes

We feel that many units were previously poor value and not worth building, while others were too powerful. So we've modified the costs and attributes of many of the units in the game. Our aim has been to ensure that all units are worth building in the right circumstances. Only the major changes are listed here. For full details of all units, refer to the revised Unit Chart at the Nova web site. You can also read a description of each unit's role, in the Notes on Play.

We used a spreadsheet to calculate the "cost-effectiveness" of each unit, i.e. the ratio of a unit's value (taking into account strength, speed, etc.) to its cost. This was only an estimate, because there were many factors that were impossible to evaluate precisely. Roughly speaking, we aimed to make all units equally cost-effective. High-tech units have a similar cost-efficiency to low-tech ones, but are generally stronger (and more expensive). Thus, you don't save resources by building a few high-tech units instead of many low-tech ones, but you are able to concentrate more strength into a given amount of stacking space or cargo capacity.

The names of many units and technologies have been changed, to create more consistency between the long unit names, short unit names and applied technology names.

5.19 New Units

Vau Mercenary. (Uses same icon as Vau Warrior.) Vau society is very static (according to the role-playing game). This means that an individual has little chance to improve his lot. A few Vau and subjugated races, not content with this, seek employment as mercenaries. While this practice is illegal among the Vau, officials often accept it in practice, partially because they are bribed, partially because returning survivors will assist the economy by spending their hard-earned wealth. It is also a good way to get rid of armed malcontents. The Vau Mercenary unit is almost identical to the Vau Warrior, but can be built by any House with Vau Psychology. Being mercenaries, they are very quick and cheap to build (just one gem in bribes to Vau officials who do not accept Firebird currency) but demand a very high rate of pay.

Patriots. (Uses "Peasant" icon, which was previously unused.) The fiery rhetoric of the Church combined with an ample supply of crude mind-control drugs in the water supply combines to make a segment of the population extremely passionate about House ideals. Unfortunately, these people are virtually all talk and no action, as shown by their low values for agility and camo. Still, their high armor value (safety in numbers) and their low rank can provide a "human shield" for other, more important, units.

Chemical Martyrs. (Uses "Scientist" icon, which was previously unused.) Patriots that show exceptional spirit are recruited by the House secret police to "validate" themselves in battle. Officially, they are independent fanatics who strap explosives to themselves and seek out the "enemy". The more enemy units they can take with them to the afterlife, the greater the glory.

Spy Plane. (Uses same icon as Strategic Bomber.) Spy Planes are very useful for scouting new planets quickly, and can therefore ease the tedium of planetary exploration late in the game, although the possibility also exists for military application. The resource and maintenance costs are very high, and the technology (Neumonic Camouflage) is proscribed.

Hunter-Killer Submarine. (Uses same icon as Submarine.) The main role of the Hunter-Killer Submarine is to attack enemy subs. It is also reasonably effective against surface naval units.

Invasion Lander. (Uses same icon as Assault Lander.) A more powerful, higher-capacity version of the Assault Lander. Originally designed to facilitate invasions of well-defended planets, but the introduction of Marauders has made this less important.

SEALs. (Uses same icon as Spy.) A new type of undercover unit (see above).

Guards. (Uses same icon as Infantry.) A new kind of very powerful infantry unit has been added, called Guards. These can't be built, and you won't find them in the standard EFS galaxy. However, you may find them in custom galaxies, such as "It's War!", where they are used to guard important locations which players should not be able to capture too easily.

Hover Scout Tank. (Uses the old Hover Tank Killer icon.) A very fast reconnaissance unit, which can move on sea as well as land.

5.20 Renamed Units

DNA Assault Legion. (Was Shock Legion.) The ultimate extension of genetic technology. The elite from the Special Forces are chosen to undergo DNA rematrixing to create a perfect biological weapon. Possessing strength and endurance far beyond the human limits, DNA soldiers carry a full complement of weaponry for any situation. They can stand toe-to-toe with the highest level Cyber units, as well as the Symbiots and Vau. 

Anti-Submarine (ASW) Gunship. (Was Gunship.) This is now a specialist aircraft for anti-submarine warfare. It is also reasonably effective against surface naval units.

Light Artillery. (Was Anti-Tank Gun.) This is no longer a specialist anti-tank unit.

Howitzer. (Was Artillery.) Now more powerful and takes two turns to build, instead of one.

Close Assault Tank. (Was Anti-Infantry Tank.) This is no longer a specialist anti-infantry unit.

Battle Tank. (Was Assault Tank). Renamed to avoid confusion with the Assault Gun. Now uses the old Tank Killer icon.

5.21 Deleted Units

Tank Killer, Hover Tank Killer, Heavy Tank Killer. These three units no longer have a distinct role, now that tanks can be hit by close fire.

Armored Freighter, Armored Bulk Hauler. These units are unnecessary, as their role can be carried out by Space Carriers.

Stealth Tank. A stealthy tank seems like a contradiction in terms, and we decided to free up an icon slot so another unit could have an icon of its own.

5.22 Other Significantly Altered Units

Nobles. To encourage players to risk their Nobles in combat, Nobles have been given a very powerful indirect fire capability. If you want a rationalization for this, you can consider that it represents "pestulator mortars" which have been passed down through generations of the Noble's family, even after the technology to make them was lost. To prevent unauthorized use, they are voice-activated and keyed to the Noble's voice, so can only be used in the presence of the Noble. To make Nobles less vulnerable in combat, they have been made immune to indirect and direct attacks.

Officers. Officers, like Nobles, are now immune to indirect and direct attacks. They also have no attack capability of their own, so they function purely as leaders.

Clergy. Clergy have been made into combat units with a psych attack. They cost nothing to build, but must undergo a long period of training in a Church. They cannot be transported, so it's difficult for them to go far from their Church.

Scepters. Scepters are now immobile. This stops players from hiding them, or from grabbing a computer player's scepters in an easy hit-and-run raid. Also, there are now two types of scepter: Imperial and House. Imperial Scepters can be used by anyone. House Scepters can only be used by the House that controls them at the start of the game. If lost in combat, they are destroyed, and not captured. You won't find any House Scepters in the standard EFS galaxy. But you may find them in custom galaxies, such as "It's War!".

Space Carriers. The movement allowance of Space Carriers has been reduced from 3 to 1. This makes them less efficient for use as general-purpose transports. At the same time, they have been made much stronger to emphasis their combat role, while Freighters and Bulk Haulers have been made weaker.

Space Fighters and Torpedo Bombers. These two units now have separate roles. Torpedo Bombers are best against capital ships, while Fighters are best against Torpedo Bombers and other Fighters.

Infantry Legion. The standard Infantry Legion can now be built without any technology.

Marauder Legion. Originally Marauders were useless, as their ability to fight in space didn't work. Although this bug was fixed in the 1.4 patch, we thought they were still not very useful, so we've implemented them in a quite different way. In Nova, Marauders are primarily ground units which have the ability to "drop" from orbit without a transport. This means that a space transport loaded with Marauders can jump into a hostile system and unload the Marauders, who can then drop down to the planet below and immediately attack on the ground. All in one turn! As an added bonus, Marauders can fight in space, just like Space Fighters.

When you first build a Marauder, it will be a Marauder (Foot), i.e. a normal foot unit. To prepare it for use in space, move it to a Spaceport and use it as an input unit to build a Marauder (Space). This is a space unit, which operates like a Space Fighter in all ways. To make a "drop", just move it from orbit to a ground hex, and then "disband" it. This converts it back into a Marauder (Foot), so it can move and fight on the ground, like any other foot unit. Before it can make another drop, you have to "refit" it, i.e. convert it back into a Marauder (Space) unit in a Starport. To stop a Marauder from burning up when it drops into a planet's atmosphere, it has a heat-absorbing ablative shield, which is consumed in the process. Hence, when refitting a Marauder, you must pay the cost of replacing this shield (20 chemicals, but you get back 10 of these the next time you disband it, since the shield is not entirely consumed). Refitting takes 1 turn.

Tracker Legion. Has a completely new icon.

Symbiot Spitter. Now has a ground attack capability. (In effect, it's now a fighter-bomber instead of a pure fighter.)

6. What's new in this version of Nova?

Nova Version 2.3

  A new unit - Marauder Legion - has been added. See above for details.

  The Genetic Warrior Legion, which previously used the Marauder Legion's icon, has been given an icon of its own. In the unlikely event that you had any Genetic Warriors in an existing game, these will be converted into Marauders when you upgrade to the new version. The characteristics of the Genetic Warrior Legion have been changed. It is now a tough, low-rank unit, useful for protecting more vulnerable units, especially late fire killers.

  The Stealth Tank has been removed from the game, to free up an icon for the Genetic Warrior Legion. In the unlikely event that you had any Stealth Tanks in an existing game, these will be converted into Genetic Warrior Legions when you upgrade to the new version.

  The Invasion Lander ship has been reduced in cost by about 1/3. This is because the introduction of Marauders makes the Invasion Lander less vital for making planetary invasions.

  The PsyDef of all space units has been multiplied by 10 (20 in the case of Cyber Fighter and Symbiot ships). This is because the 1.4 patch allows units with a Psychic attack to fight in space (on board a carrier), and we didn't want this ability to be too powerful.

  Emplaced guns can now be transported. The reason we made them non-transportable previously was to avoid the anomaly that they could be loaded onto a naval transport at an offshore well, but not at any other city. In EFS version 1.4, ships can now enter coastal cities, so emplaced guns can be loaded at any coastal city.

  We discovered a bug which causes the game to clear all the technologies which have been proscribed during the game, each time you exit and then reload a game. So we've now made it so no technologies are proscribed during the game, but we've increased the number of technologies which start the game proscribed. (See the Technology Chart for details.)

  Blademasters have been improved, but it now takes 3 turns to upgrade a Noble to a Blademaster.

  A few other very minor adjustments were also made..

Nova Version 2.21

  The cost of entering an ice hex on a Frozen planet had been mistakenly set to 2 for Foot and Tread units, when it should have been 3. This has been corrected.

  Emplaced guns (Howitzers, Light Artillery and AA) can no longer be transported. This avoids the anomalous situation where these units could be embarked onto naval transports, but only at a Well or Factory.

  In the Attack Damage Table, many of the outcomes at lower odds have been changed to inflict zero damage. Previously, a unit that was hit always suffered at least 1 point of damage, even at very low odds, giving it a chance of routing. A unit suffering 1 point of damage is as likely to rout as one suffering 50, which meant that weak units had too much chance of routing stronger ones.

  The Nova version number is now displayed in the bottom right-hand corner of the Star Map display.

  We found that Nobles and Officers could be killed in combat too easily. So we have made them immune to indirect and direct fire (in the same way as Spies, Assassins and Doppelgangers). For technical reasons, we have also taken away their AA and close attacks (but Blademasters still have a close attack). Officers now have no combat capability. They are used purely for their loyalty bonus.

  Some Vau units have been given a close attack, so they can still hit Nobles and Officers.

Nova Version 2.1

  Modified the Attack Damage Table again, to further increase the advantage of high odds.

  Altered the research costs and/or prerequisites of the following technologies: Special Forces, Assault Legion, PTS Meson Cannon, Space Cruiser, Heavy Infantry and Megatank.

  Renamed Symbiot Psychology to Symbiot Physiology and made it never proscribed. (The technology gives a combat advantage against the Symbiots, so the Church approves of it.)

  Reduced the Officer and Noble loyalty bonuses.

  Reduced harvest of Arborium in urban sprawl terrain (Megacity planets) from 3 to 1.

  Changed the default traits at Easy level, so you can now select any combination of traits you like.

  Made many adjustments to air units and to AA fire of other units, in order to make aircraft more effective, particularly against naval units and other low-tech targets.

  Created new type of Scepters, House Scepters, which cannot be captured (only destroyed). Old-style Scepters are now called Imperial Scepters.

  Removed Spy's attack capability and reduced its to cost to 80 electronics. It is now a pure intelligence-gathering unit.

  Gave Symbiot Spitter a ground attack capability.

  Fixed problem with Stealth Ship by reducing its rank from 10 to 9.

  Reduced build time of Heavy Infantry and Fanatics to 1 turn, but made Heavy Infantry more expensive.

  Removed the Naval Destroyer's indirect fire. It can still do shore bombardment, using its direct fire, but it will now be less effective.

  Created Vau Mercenary unit, which can be built by any House with Vau Psychology.

  Increased Officer's movement allowance to 8, so it can keep up with most mechanized units.

  Gave Clergy a movement allowance of 4. (They were previously immobile.)

  Made some other minor adjustments to various units.

Nova Version 2.0

1. We've carried out a major overhaul of all unit costs and values, to try and make sure that every unit is worth its cost. The advanced units are now much more powerful. Almost every unit has been modified. For details, refer to the Unit Chart at the Nova web site. You can also read a description of each unit's function, in the Notes on Play.

2. We've also overhauled research costs, with most of them being increased considerably. Together with the improvements to advanced units, this should make technology a more valuable commodity, particularly in multiplayer games. For details of the new research costs, refer to the Technology Chart.

3. Target.dat has been changed, so close fire can now hit mechanised units and direct fire can hit foot units. This has removed the previous very strong disincentive to creating mixed armor/infantry stacks. It also makes it worthwhile including an Officer (or even a Noble) in a mainly armored stack. The flip side of this is that there is no longer a clear distinction between "anti-tank" and "anti-infantry" units. As a result, some units have been renamed or deleted.

4. The following units have been renamed, deleted, added or converted into entirely new units:-

5. Other changes:-

Nova Version 1.4

This version fixes a potential problem that was created by version 1.3. The high agility of undercover units makes them completely immune to low accuracy close combat fire if they enter combat hidden (giving them a +3 agility bonus). Before version 1.3, this rarely occurred, because the spotting/camo system was broken. Now it happens much more frequently, and, although no-one has yet complained about it, I'm afraid it could make undercover units much too powerful.

The way I've fixed the problem is a bit technical, and you won't notice much difference in practice. If you want to know the details, read on. I've reduced the agility of all undercover units by 3. Then, to keep them immune to indirect fire, I've converted them into "wheel" units, and made "wheel" units immune to indirect fire. I've changed the characteristics of "wheel" units, so that undercover units continue to have the movement and spotting characteristics of foot units. The emplaced guns, which used to be "wheel" units, are now tread units, and their movement allowance has been set to zero (which means they can no longer be loaded onto naval transports). Guards are now foot units, with a movement allowance of zero. Effectively, this reverses some of the changes made in version 1.0. However, I've been careful to check that this hasn't reintroduced the old symbiot crash problem (which was finally solved by version 1.2).

If you've been playing an earlier version of Nova, you can continue your old Nova games after updating to version 1.4. However, you may notice that, on the first turn after updating, emplaced guns and guards are able to move! After one turn, they will become immobile again.

Version 1.4 also fixes another problem. If you've tried building a Chem Shock Legion or Gen Shock Legion in earlier versions of Nova, you'll have noticed that the game won't accept an Infantry Legion as the input unit (it requires a Guard Legion!). Since these two units were overpriced anyway, we've simply removed their input unit requirement.

Nova Version 1.3

Thanks to Chris Donovan, we've now discovered why spotting and camo don't work in standard EFS and we've been able to fix it by changing the unitspot.dat file. You will now find that high camo units such as spies and subs are much more difficult to spot. Foot units are also harder to spot in rough terrain. Mechanized units are easier to spot on roads and in cities. This is the only change in 1.3. Now that spotting works, we aim to reintroduce Stealth Tanks and Rangers in a future version of Nova, and also adjust the spotting and camo values of some units.

Nova Version 1.2

It looks like version 1.1 didn't completely fix the Symbiot crash problem. This time I think we've really got it fixed. No need for details. It's a bit technical. Suffice to say, it was a careless error on my (Richard Wein) part. There are no other changes in 1.2.

Nova Version 1.1

Nova 1.1 differs very little from Nova 1.0. The main reason for this new version is to correct a problem which was causing the game to slow down and sometimes crash during the Symbiot move. It seems that giving static units (Guards, Artillery, Anti-Tank Guns and AA Guns) a movement allowance of zero was confusing the AI. To fix this, we have given all such units a movement allowance of 4. The other changes are mostly minor adjustments, some of which should have been in version 1.0 but were accidentally omitted.

 
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Nova is not associated with or authorized by Segasoft Inc or Holistic Design Inc. Emperor of the Fading Suns, Fading Suns, and the Fading Suns Universe and its distinct characters, logos, and marks are trademarks of Holistic Design, Inc. SegaSoft and the SegaSoft logo are trademarks of SegaSoft Inc. (c) 1997 Holistic Design, Inc. All rights reserved.