Readme file for Emperor of the Fading Suns Hyperion Patch
By
Matt Caspermeyer

This document needs updating - I'm waiting for finalizing things before I update this document. The Manowitz
Volumes are now the best source for unit information in the game as well as technology requirements, etc. I'm
using the Manowitz to contain all the information needed to play the game, and this document will be more an
insight into design philosophy, etc.

My intentions
I’ve tried to make the game much more interesting by balancing the units and quantifying their expense. 
For instance, in the original EFS pretty much all I basically built were Artillery and Anti-tank Guns. All the 
*cool* units used way too many resources and were dusted too easily by Artillery and Anti-tank Guns. So I 
decided to create formulas that generated the unit’s statistics from the resources used to create it. This way 
if I used 40 electronics to build a unit then it had some good spotting, movement, accuracy, etc and would 
be much better than an Artillery unit that only uses 20 metal. I also used a scoring system that rated each 
unit depending on the number of technologies required to build the unit. The Church like / dislike bonus 
comes into play here as well because units that require tech proscribed by the Church are bound to be more 
powerful.

As far as technologies are concerned, I applied a similar formulaic approach to determining how many 
research points a technology requires to research. As technology progressed, research cost increased.

I also wanted to expand the number of units in the game, especially space, naval, and air units. There are 
now ~200 new units in the game. The use of naval and air units are now much more interesting as well as the 
new possibilities with space units.

I've also been experimenting with getting the different computer-controlled players to build units. The League,
Church, and Vau (if they're at war with somebody) now all build units provided they have the correct structures.

The League requires the following structures to build units:

Agora*:
  3rd-Republic Enforcer 
  3rd-Republic Hover Tank
  3rd-Republic Hover TK
  3rd-Republic Hover A-A
Alien Ruins (must be owned by the League):
  3rd-Republic Siege Tank
  3rd-Republic Hyper Bomber

* The Agora will only build units if there are less than 7 units in the Agora. This is because the game assumes
  that there will be the 13 different mineral types as cargo pods in the Agora.

The Church requires the following structures to build units:

The Church requires the following structures to build units:

Monastery* (must be owned by the Church):
  Inquisitors
  Mega Psy-Tanks
  Killer Psy-Gunships
  Laser Psy-Fighters
University (must be owned by the Church):
  Monk
  Heavy Psy-Tank Killer
  Hover Psy Tank
  Hover Psy-TAnk Killer
  Hover Anti Air Psy-Tank

* The Monastery will continue to build units until the structure and the 6 surrounding
  hexes are completely full.

The Vau will build the following units in a Vau City:
  Vau Mercenary
  Vau Jet Bike
  Vau War-Skif
  Vau War-Tower
  Vau PTS Weapon

The University can also build the following Ministry units provided that a Ministry-controlled University exists
in the Galaxy and the required technology has been researched (see Volume 1, Chapter 9 in the Archives Menu):
  Imperial Eye:
    Imperial Eye Agent
    Imperial Eye Scout
  Stigmata Garrison:
    Stigmata Defender
    Stigmata Mech Defender
    Stigmata Hover Fortress
    Stigmata MegaFortress
  Imperial Fleet:
    Imperial Assault Fighter
    Imperial Assault Mech
  Imperial Guard:
    Imperial Missile Battery
    Imperial Siege Tank

I didn’t think the Symbiots were tough enough, and so I decided to make their ground and air units much 
stronger. The Rebels also now have tougher units and so do the Vau. The League, Church, and Ministries also
have new units that make playing with or against these sides tougher.

Another thing that I didn’t think had a strong enough influence was the Church and so I decided to make 
powerful technologies more likely to be proscribed by the Church so that if you wanted that powerful unit 
you’d have to pay for it by risking the Church’s wrath. The Church Inquisitors were okay units in the 
original, but I decided to make them a lot tougher, too, so that you would really fear the Church’s sting, 
especially early if you decided that you could take on the Church.

Attack Modes

The attack modes in EFS represent an interesting way to engage in combat and they also present many 
different strategic possibilities. In order to design units, I needed to understand the differences between the 
different combat modes, as well as each mode’s strengths and weaknesses.

Underwater combat is the first attack mode available, and so makes naval units with this capability 
extremely powerful against other naval units. Since it can only be used against naval units, it doesn’t have 
any other implication besides naval combat. A unit with Underwater attack capability gets 4 chances to hit 
its target(s).

Indirect combat is the first attack mode for ground battles and is a very powerful attack capability because 
of its precedence and the units that it can hit. Indirect can hit Foot, Wheel, Tread, Naval, Hover, and 
Crawler units and so therefore can be used as a general-purpose attack mode for a given unit. Because it 
doesn’t target a specific unit type, Indirect combat is not good for taking out specific units, but rather a one-
glove-fits-all approach to combat. Air units with Indirect are very deadly because of this. Units with 
Indirect attack capability get 2 chances to hit its target(s).

Air is the next combat mode, and is useful against both air and naval units. Ground units (Foot, Wheel, 
Tread, Hover, or Crawler) that have this mode can be very effective against air units that do not have an 
Indirect-attack capability. A unit with Air attack capability gets 2 chances to hit its target(s).

Direct attack is the next attack mode and it allows a unit to specifically target armored units (i.e. Wheel, 
Tread, Hover, and Crawler). Units with a Direct attack mode can be used specifically to take out armored 
units. A unit with Direct attack capability gets 3 chances to hit its target(s).

Close combat is the next attack mode and allows a unit to specifically target foot units. Since it is target 
specific like Direct combat, it allows units with this attack mode to be very effective against foot units. A 
unit with Close attack capability gets 4 chances to hit its target(s).

The next attack mode is Psychic attack. Although, coming last in the planet attack modes, its ability to 
target any unit makes its use extremely potent against any other unit. A unit with a high accuracy / high 
strength Psychic attack can be very powerful if it survives to the Psychic attack phase. Units with Psychic 
attack capability get 2 chances to hit its target(s).

The space combat modes are similar to planet combat modes when it comes to the order, but with the use of 
a clever targeting adjustment, some interesting space combat battles can now occur. Ranged Space is the 
first attack mode used in space combat. Because of this, it can be deadly against other space units. 
However, to keep units with Ranged Space from attacking fighters, bombers, and space marines, space 
units are not targetable by Ranged Space weapons. This makes Ranged Space weapons use against capital 
ships only. Also, since Starbase units are space units they cannot be targeted either. This makes space units 
with Ranged-Space capability extremely useful against Jump and Lander units. A unit with Ranged Space 
attack capability gets 2 chances to hit its target(s).

The next space combat mode is Direct Space. Any unit can be targeted with Direct Space, so it is a very 
effective combat mode against any space unit. A unit with Direct Space attack capability gets 3 chances to 
hit its target(s).

The last space combat mode is Close Space.  It is just like Direct Space in that any unit can be targeted with 
Close Space. A unit with Close Space attack capability gets 4 chances to hit its target(s).
The Units
Before I discuss the new units, I want to talk a little bit about the thought process I used to both modify and 
create new units. I liked EFS’s use of both planet units (ground, air, etc) and space units. However, the 
number of naval, air, and space units seemed somewhat lacking compared to the number of ground units. I 
decided to apply many of the technologies in the game to greatly expand these units. Now naval and air 
units are much more a part of the game, where before, I hardly even used them, and now there is more 
variety in the number of space units to build.

In modifying the existing units, I paid particular attention to the attack modes for each unit. For instance, 
what was the difference between a Medium Tank, a Tank Killer, and an Anti-infantry Tank unit? All three 
units had the same score, but different roles. In the Table below, are the unit’s attack modes and statistics.


			Indirect	Air		Direct		Close
Anti-infantry Tank	2 / 20						4 / 45
Medium Tank		2 / 25				2 / 20		2 / 20
Tank Killer		3 / 30				3 / 35



To make the Anti-Infantry Tank effective against foot units, I decided to make its main attack mode Close, 
and its secondary attack mode Indirect. With its Close combat mode being higher than its Indirect it would 
have more of its damage applied to foot units as opposed to other ground units in general. The tank, I 
decided, would be the general-purpose unit so its accuracy and attack strength was evenly divided amongst 
Indirect, Direct, and Close. This way it could be used against both armored and foot units but would not be 
as effective as the Anti-Infantry Tank against foot units and not as effective as the Tank Killer against 
armored units. Since the Tank Killer needed to be effective against armored units, I evenly distributed its 
accuracy and attack strength between Indirect and Direct attack modes.

I also needed to differentiate between the three different space-attack units: Space Fighters, Torpedo 
Bombers, and Space Marines. I decided to make Torpedo Bombers have a Ranged-Space attack, which 
represents their use of capital ship torpedoes. Space Fighters have Direct-Space weapons representing their 
lasers, etc. Lastly, Space Marines have Close-Space weapons represented by their laser rifles and their 
spore delivery system.

Unit Descriptions

This section has been removed from the README.TXT file and the information on the units can now be found
under the Archives Menu within the game. For House units, refer to Volume 5: Military units, while units
to a particular computer-controlled side may be found under their heading in Volume 1: The Known Worlds.

Unit Design Discussion

Along the way, I’ve learned a great deal about the game. Some of my ideas I could not implement exactly 
the way I wanted. For instance, I wanted to have Ballistic Submarines and naval Meson Destroyers and 
Battleships with Ranged Space capability. Unfortunately, I discovered that Crawler units are the only ones 
that can use their Ranged Space weapons on a Space unit that bombards planets. As it turns out, you can’t 
attack naval units with Ranged Space weapons, so even if naval units could use their Ranged Space 
weapons against Space ships, they would be invulnerable to Ranged Space attacks (this isn’t all bad, see 
below). Modifying the TARGET.DAT file made no difference. So I decided to make all of the PTS crawler 
units move zero, changed crawler units so that they can move only on water, and added the Ballistic 
Missile and Mini Missile Submarines and Meson Destroyers and Battleships. So even though they are 
crawler units, they can only move on water.

To support the use of Mini Missile Subs on enemy planets, I decided to make crawler units immune to 
Ranged Space attack. This makes PTS crawler units extremely powerful for both defending planets and 
harassing enemy planets. Since naval units are also immune to Ranged Space attacks, they can be very 
useful when used to attack enemy coastal cities.

To prevent the movement of the real land PTS units from moving into the water, I made all of their 
movement zero. They are still loadable, so that is the only way they can be moved.

I had to modify the DAMAGE.DAT file so that units with a low Attack Strength / Defender’s Armor ratio 
would not do very much damage when the made a hit, and units with a high Attack Strength / Defender’s 
Armor ratio would do a lot of damage. Before I made this change, a single Space Marine or advanced space 
fighter could destroy a Cloaking Dreadnought. Now, Space Marines and fighters can still hit them easily, 
but cannot destroy them single handedly and often only damage them slightly. Now units with high armor 
class or more likely to survive a battle, especially against foes with weak Attack Strengths.

Upgrading units presented an interesting problem in that only the first unit of the subclass can be used as a 
unit needed for an upgrade. So, unfortunately, there are several classes of units that once you upgrade, you 
can’t upgrade any more. To get around this problem, for instance I wanted Chem Shock Legions to be 
upgraded to Genetic Warrior Legions and then the Genetic Warrior Legions upgraded to Rangers. To get 
this to work, I had to move the Genetic Warrior Legions to the Ranger unit class and make them the first 
unit in the subclass. Then I could upgrade them to Rangers. But other units, like the jet fighters are all in 
the same class, so that means only the Jet-Propulsion Fighter can be upgraded to the different fighter units 
and all of the others in that class cannot.

Adding units was fun, but each class is limited to 6 total units in a unit category. The first 5 slots are
available for building within the game, while a unit in the 6th slot of its unit category is only available
in the galaxy editor.

Quirks

There are several “quirks” in the Hyperion Patch, some I’ve introduced, but others already existed. In the 
Trojan Map, when units route they disappear and you cannot do anything with them until next turn. During 
the next turn, when you are cycling through your units you will come across an invisible group of units. If 
you use the Select All button and then move them, they will all reappear. This presents a problem when 
dealing with Rebel Partisans because when the next turn occurs they will rebel. So when dealing with 
Rebel Partisans you have to try to boost up their loyalty or try to kill them outright. This side effect, though, 
does make the game more challenging (and fun!).

In order to use Fertilizer Specialists with the Galaxy Editor (they use the Peasant icon which isn’t 
available), I had to put them in the same class as Militia units. This means that you can come across Rebel 
Fertilizer Specialists that look just like Militia, but when you build the Fertilizer Specialist it will only use 
the Peasant unit icon.

I moved the Genetic Warrior Legion icon over to the Ranger icon, but left the Genetic Warrior Legion in 
the same subclass (Chem Shock Legion) so that if an Alien Ruin used them it wouldn’t cause problems.

Since I made crawler units move on water only, they will try to board a Naval Transport or Carrier when 
you attempt to move them onto a naval stack with them in it. The solution is to move the Naval Transports 
or Carriers onto your naval crawler stacks and then they will be able to assimilate into the rest of your naval 
fleet. Please note that since Mini Missile Subs are loadable, they will automatically load onto the Naval 
Transport or Carrier.

The computer seems to build lots and lots of trucks on Byzantium II. The only thing I can think about doing 
to prevent this from happening is try to move them from the Naval Transport subclass to another subclass 
possibly a wheeled subclass (like Anti-Aircraft Guns). I will look into this further.

There is a bug if EFS that occurs when a Ranged Space Crawler unit is in the same stack as a Naval unit. If 
an enemy space ship tries to land within firing range, then the Ranged Space Crawler unit will not be able 
to attack the space ship. Now all Naval units except for the Naval and Armored Transport are Crawler 
units.
The Formulas

By using what is stated in the manual for various resources:

Biochemicals -> genetically altered, drug enhanced
Electronics -> spotting, servos, silicon wafers, think machines
Ceramsteel -> lighter, stronger than composite armor, advanced armor hover and large spaceships
Wetware -> combine people with machines (+ agility, + accuracy)
Monopols -> integral to fusion power generation, fusion weapons and powered armor

I generated formulas for all the statistics except psy defense which I pretty much left alone. Those statistics 
are Movement Rate (MR), Spotting (Sp), Camouflage (Ca), Agility (Ag), Armor (Ar), Accuracy (Ac), 
Attack Strength (AS), Time to Build (TB), and Unit Upkeep / Cost per turn ($).

For each statistic I thought of what would be a positive modifier to that statistic and what would be a 
negative modifier and used the unit’s movement type as the base statistic for that unit. So, for instance, an 
Air unit’s Movement Rate would have a higher base than a Foot unit’s. Also, the resources used are 
assigned to a specific statistic and so you couldn’t use one resource, say Electronics, to improve more than 
one statistic. For each statistic I’ve summarized the positive and negative modifiers and included the 
formula below that particular statistic. All the resources used are totaled for that unit and that represents 
what materials are needed to build the unit.

Movement Rate (MR) is influenced by:
1. Movement Type (MT), i.e. air, crawler, foot, tread, etc.
2. +Monopols (Mo) (plus sign, +, indicates positive influence)
3. +Chemicals (Ch)
4. +Biochemicals (Bi) (foot units only)
5. +Wetware (We) (foot units only)
6. +Electronics (El)
7. -Metal (Me) (minus sign, -, indicates negative influence)
8. -Ceramsteel (Ce)

MR = MT - (Me / 20) + Ch + Bi (foot only) + El - (Ce / 40) + We (foot only) + Mo

MT = air(6), crawler(1), foot(2), hover(6), naval(8), tread(4), wheel(3), space(3), jump(3), lander(3)
Ch, Bi (foot only), El, We (foot only), and Mo are the number of each resource "devoted" to Move Rate

Spot (Sp) is influenced by:
1. +El
2. +MT
3. +Bi (foot only)

Sp = MT + El + Bi (foot only)

MT = air(6), crawler(2), foot(2), hover(2), naval(4), tread(2), wheel(2), jump(2), space(2), lander(2)
El, Bi (foot only) are the number of each resource "devoted" to Spot

Camoflauge (Ca) is influenced by:
1. +El
2. +MT
3. +Bi (foot only)
4. +Ch
5. -Me
6. -Ce

Ca = MT - (Me / 20) + Ch + Bi (foot only) + El - (Ce / 40)

MT = air(4), crawler(3), foot(6), hover(4), naval (2), tread(3), wheel(2), jump(0), space(0), lander(0)
Ch, Bi (foot only), El are the number of each resource "devoted" to Camoflauge

Agility (Ag) is influenced by:
1. +We
2. +MT
3. +Bi (foot only)
4. +El
5. -Me
6. -Ce

Ag = MT - (Me / 20) + Bi (foot only) + El + We - (Ce / 40)

MT = air(6), crawler(1), foot(4), hover(4), naval(2), tread(2), wheel(2), jump(0), space(0), lander(0)
Bi (foot only), El, We are the number of each resource "devoted" to Agility

Armor (Ar) is influenced by:
1. +Mo
2. +Me
3. +Ce
4. +Ch
5. +Bi (foot units only)
6. +MT

Ar = MT + Me + (2.5 * Ch) + (5 * Bi) (foot only) + (2 * Ce) + (Mo * 10)

MT = air(10), crawler(20), foot(0), hover(20), naval(40), tread(20), wheel(0), space(20), jump(40), 
lander(20)
Ch, Bi (foot only), Mo are the number of each resource "devoted" to Armor

Accuracy (Ac) is influenced by:
1. +We
2. +El
3. +Bi (foot only)

Ac = 2 + (2 * Bi) (foot only) + (2 * El) + (4 * We) This is divided amongst all the unit's attack modes

Bi (foot only), El, We are the number of each resource "devoted" to Accuracy

Attack Strength (AS) is influenced by:
1. +Mo
2. +Ch
3. +MT
4. +Bi (foot only)

AS = MT + [(Ch + Bi) * 5 + (Mo * 25] This is divided amongst all the unit's attack modes

MT = air(100), crawler(100), foot(40), hover(75), naval(100), tread(60), wheel(50), jump(100), space(50), 
lander(50)
Ch, Bi (foot only), Mo are the number of each resource "devoted" to Attack Strength

Singularities (Si) is influenced by:
1. +MT
2. +Me
3. +Ce

Si = MT * [Me + (Ce / 2)] / 10

MT = 0 for all, except 1 for Jump or Lander

Time to Build (?) is influenced by everything.

TB = Total of All Resources / 20

Unit Upkeep / Turn ($) is influenced by all the resources used to build the unit.

For this formula each resource was weighted depending what resources were used to create it:

Me = 1
Ch = 2 (Requires En = 1, Trace (Tr) = 1)
El = 2 (Requires En = 1, Tr = 1)
Bi = 4 (Requires En = 1, Exotica (Ex) = 1, Ch = 2)
Ce = 4 (Requires En = 1, Ch = 2, Tr = 1)
We = 9 (Requires En = 1, Ce = 4, Bi = 4)
Mo = 3 (Requires En =1, El = 2)
Si = 5 (Requires En = 1, Gems (Ge) = 1, Mo = 3)

$ = [Me + (Ch * 2) + (El * 2) + (Bi * 4) + (Ce * 4) + (We * 9) + (Mo * 3) + (Si * 5)] / 5

The Score

Before I could generate a unit’s statistics, I needed to have a general idea of how powerful the unit was. In 
order to facilitate this, I created formulas for generating a score for each technology that can be researched 
in the game. Then a unit’s score was a function of the technologies required to create that unit. To calculate 
the score for a particular technology, I determined all of the technology’s prerequisites and then used 1 
point for each technology required + each Church like / dislike modifier + 1 point for itself + its own 
Church like / dislike modifier. So for instance Ceramsteel’s score is:

Ceramsteel requires:

1. Physics = 1
2. Energy Physics = 1
3. Composite Armor = 1
4. Electron Microscopes = 1
5. Itself = 1

So its score is 1 point for each technology + any Church modifiers (all 0 here) + 1 for itself + any Church 
modifiers (0 again) for itself: 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 = 5

For Combat Drugs:

1. Microbiology = 1
2. Pharmaceuticals = 1
3. (+3) Psychopharmacology = 4
4. Itself which has a (+6) Church modifier = 7

So its score is: 1 + 1 + 4 + 7 = 13

All of the technologies’ scores can be found in the Appendix.

A unit’s score is calculated the same way except that if it doesn’t require an applied technology then it 
doesn’t receive any points for itself (since it is not a technology).

So, for instance, a Heavy Infantry requires:

1. Ceramsteel = 5
1.1. Physics = 1
1.2. Energy Physics = 1
1.3. Composite Armor = 1
1.4. Electron Microscopes = 1
1.5. Ceramsteel = 1
2. Monofilament = 9
2.1. Physics = 1
2.2. Energy Physics = 1
2.3. Electron Microscopes = 1
2.4. (+3) Nanotechnology = 4
2.5. (+1) Monofilament = 2

Unfortunately the scores for Ceramsteel and Monopols just can’t be added because the technologies 
Physics, Energy Physcis, and Electron Microscopes would be added twice. So they are counted only once 
and therefore Heavy Infantry’s score = 9 (Monopols) + 2 (Ceramsteel minus duplicated technologies, 5 - 3) 
= 11

Fanatic Legions require Fanatics technology, so their score is:

1. Holy Warriors = 11
1.1. Psychosocial Engineering = 1
1.2. Meditation = 1
1.3. Parapsychology = 1
1.4. Theurgy = 1
1.5. (+1) Indoctrination = 2
1.6. (+1) Liturgical Ritual = 2
1.7. (+2) Holy Warriors = 3
2. Pharmaceuticals = 2
2.1. Microbiology = 1
2.2. Pharmaceuticals = 1
3. (+1) Fanatics = 2

There are no redundant technologies, so Fanatic Legions score is: 11 + 2 + 2 = 15

All of the unit’s scores can be found in the Appendix.

Research Point Cost

To compute the number of research points required to research a specific technology I implemented a 
different approach. The 3 technology base division's starting research cost is 100 Research Points (RP). The 
next level down is 150 base + any prerequisites. The next level down is 200 base + any prerequisites, and 
so on as far down as the technologies go.

So for instance, Pharmaceuticals:

1. Microbiology = 100
2. Itself = 150

So the total number of RP = 100 + 150 = 250

When a technology has two or more prerequisites, it always uses each prerequisite technology only once in 
its score computation, for instance, Powered Csteel Armor:

1. Physics = 100
2. Energy Physics = 150
3. Electron Microscopes = 200
4. Monopols = 250
5. Cyclotron = 300
6. Composite Armor = 150
7. Ceramsteel = 250
8. Cold Fusion Cells = 350
9. Itself = 400

So to compute its score, 100 + 150 + 200 + 250 + 300 + 150 + 250 + 350 + 400 = 2150

For Applied Technologies, the algorithm is slightly different because they are derived from the main 3 
technologies as opposed to being a separate stand-alone tree in itself. The number of Research Points an 
Applied Technology costs is half the average of its prerequisites rounded up to the next 25 RP. So, for 
Special Forces:

1. Covert Legions
1.1. Ceramsteel
1.2. Psychosocial Engineering = 100
2. Powered Csteel Armor = 2150
3. Monofilament = 1000

Covert Legions is not an applied technology, so it doesn’t have a research cost, and Ceramsteel is included 
in Powered Csteel Armor, so the Research Points needed to research Special Forces:

(100 + 2150 + 1000) / 3 = 541.7 or rounding up to next 25 RP, 550.

If an Applied Technology has only one prerequisite, then it is a quarter of the Research Points used for that 
technology. For instance, Demolition requires Neumonic Armor = 4500 RP so 1/4 that is 1125 RP.

Contributors

I’d like to thank Ed Clark, Eric Moon, John Rushinsky, and Bob Wahl for there efforts in helping me make 
this patch and for a very event-filled 3 month Hyperion Patch email game. I'd also like to thank George 
Andonyan for his comments on aircraft. I’d also like to thank Russel Roberts for his suggestions on making 
Space units immune to Ranged Space combat and Chris Donovan for his information on how to fix the 
spotting problem. Also Tom Henderson’s Hacking Guide provided very helpful information on how to edit 
the UNIT.DAT and TECH.DAT files. I’d also like to thank Richard Wein for his Nova patch and inspiring 
me to create this patch. I'd also like to thank Troy Schuler for his Trojan Map - thanks Troy!

The Future

Modifications to this patch will depend on your input and things lurking in the dark (like errors) that I 
haven’t discovered yet. I also have a few ideas for some new units that I haven’t implemented yet which 
might make it into a future patch. I also need to add Manowitz entries for each new technology.

Please send any comments to

casperm4@home.com
