Whereas modern client programs support playing with non-standard race assignments, older client programs do not. In those, the special mission listed for each race will not change, so the player needs to remember that his special mission may be different, depending upon his race assignment. For example, if player 11 selects the special mission on one of his ships then the client program will show the mission as Build Fighters. But if player 11 has been assigned race 6 (or, rather, special mission 6), then the ship will actually perform the Self Repair mission. Using the Special Mission extended mission, players can bypass this confusion.
► Note: It is suggested that players edit the mission.ini file to have the Special Mission extended mission reflect their true special mission, and use this extended mission instead of the usual one.
Some client programs may refuse to set your special mission. For example, the Build Fighters is only permitted for fighter ships, so a client program will not allow the Cyborg-playing player 11 to set this mission on a torpedo ship. Using mission 31 instead also avoids this problem.
The following table summarizes the abilities controlled by the two options, PlayerRace and PlayerSpecialMission:
| Value | PlayerRace | PlayerSpecialMission |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fed crew bonus (if enabled, AllowFedCombatBonus): Receive 25% shield bonus between fights; 50 kt mass bonus; all weapons fully functional until end 90% run traitor when ship is boarded | Super Refit mission |
| 2 | Takes up to 150% damage in combat, and related benefits Colonists are immune to Glory Device | Hiss mission |
| 3 | Immune to NUK if ship has weapons but no fuel | Super Spy and Standard Spy missions Immune to Force Surrender when doing Super Spy/Standard Spy |
| 4 | Ships have Planet Immunity if configured so (PlanetsAttackKlingons) Support 60 clans on desert planets | Pillage mission |
| 5 | Beams have 3X kill bonus in combat complete crew runs traitor when ship is boarded | Rob mission Can board enemy ships if allowed (AllowPrivateerTowCapture) |
| 6 | Beam aboard debris after destroying an enemy ship Assimilate natives | Self Repair mission |
| 7 | Prefer desert planets (CrystalsPreferDeserts) Colonists are immune to Glory Device | Can lay web mines (using the standard/extended missions) Web mines owned by this race drain fuel Can board enemy ships if allowed (AllowCrystalTowCapture) |
| 8 | 40% run traitor when ship is boarded Can't be found by bioscanners | Dark Sense mission |
| 9 | Support 60 clans on desert planets | Build Fighters mission (see AllowBuildFighters) |
| 10 | Ships have Planet Immunity if configured so (PlanetsAttackRebels) Support 9 million colonists on ice planets; 60 clans on deserts will find Empire using bioscanners can't be found by Dark Sense | Rebel Ground Attack mission Automatically build fighters on ships (see AllowBuildFighters) |
| 11 | Support 60 clans on desert planets Can sweep web mines with fighters if configured (AllowColoniesSweepWebs) 70% run traitor when ship is boarded | Build Fighters mission (see AllowBuildFighters) |
| 12 | none | none |
For example, if a race has PlayerRace=7 and PlayerSpecialMission=7, he plays a "standard" Crystal. Giving him PlayerSpecialMission=6 instead, he'll still be like desert planets and be immune to glory devices, but will no longer be able to lay web mines or board enemy ships. Instead, he'll be able to repair in space.
Not all of the possible combinations make sense. Unless you explicitly want to try out the new possibilities, we strongly recommend anyone to not have a PlayerSpecialMission option in his game, so that only the 11 standard races are used.
Many other racial abilities are configured by array options. When playing with non-standard race abilities, you have to change them manually. Options which fall into that category:
- AntiCloakImmunity (normally, Feds, Lizards and Birds are immune)
- AllowBuildFighters (normally, only Robots/Rebels/Colonies can build fighters in space)
- ColonistTaxRate, NativeTaxRate (normally, Feds have 200%, others have 100%)
- ExtraFighterBays (normally, Feds get 3, others get none)
- FighterSweepRate, FighterSweepRange (normally, only Colonies may use this; all others have value 0)
- GroundKillFactor, GroundDefenseFactor (normally, Lizards have 30/10 bonus and Klingons have 15/5)
- RaceMiningRate (normally, Feds have 70%, Lizards have 200%, rest has 100%)
- ShipCloneCostRate (normally, Crystals and Privateers have high values to make cloning un-attractive);
- UnitsPerTorpRate (normally, Robots have 4X bonus)
In recent PHost versions, some options only affect the default assignments for hull functions. You can modify or cancel these using your own shiplist.txt.
