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*** THIS MOD IS OFFICIALLY ABANDONED

NEW MOD: AESTHETIC CINEMATIC GAMEPLAY RELEASED ***
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***Information: ACG and ACG Submods won't be updated anymore. I am working on a new mod that will be released after the "Federations DLC and Update" which should be released late 2019***

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IMPORTANT: LOAD ORDER
the new launcher has messed up the load order of mods. In order for ACG to work as intended make sure to use the following load order system by dragging mods into the right position :

1. Z Other mods from workshop
2. Y Other mods from workshop
3. X Other mods from workshop
4. .. W-A Other mods from workshop
5. Aesthetic Cinematic Graphics
6. !Aesthetic Cinematic Graphics Expansion
7. !ACG ... Compatibility Patches and Submods
8. !!ACG AI

=> ACG and ACG Submods should be at the lowest mod position of your launcher's mod list!

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***Updated for 2.4 + new launcher***

@Sovereign interesting. Could you please post more details about your bug into the bug report thread? :)
1. which shields (ethics) did you use? and at which "name" shield are you stuck?
2. was it auto design or did you really not be able to research the next shield tech (i.e. tier 7)?
3. did you switch ethics in between?
4. can you probably provide a sav. file (save game) and tell me which mods you used? (that's in order to recreate the game/bug)

thank you in advance :)

hey man im just letting you know in using this mod im encountering a bug where the tech tree for the shielding for as far as i know at least for me wont go above the tier 6 shields

*** News: some days ago stean released an update that seem to cause issues for some people using mods with stellaris. If you are stuck in loading screen, this may help you:
1. go to Documents/Paradox Interactive/Stellaris
2. delete everything in this folder except "save games"
3. restart stellaris
=> you will have to reactivate your mods again but the game and mods should work properly again***

@Malrama (part 2)

We will try to improve this in the future but it's no easy task because we think it's no error in the code of our files (otherwise it should also not work for ships + defense stations) but more likely an error that is caused by the way vanilla stellaris works for autoupgrading starbases. And it's a little bit like fishing in the dark for a solution that works better in stellaris. So we will try our best, please be patient :)

@Malrama (part 1)

We are aware that some people are experiencing issues with starbase autoupgrading to higher tier components generally, which tends to happen also in vanilla. But it seems T6 shields of this mod in particular are for some people not quickly showing up with auto-upgrade for starbases, while they are working mostly fine with ships/defense stations.

Most of the time one of those things help:
1. sometimes it only needs more time for starbases to adjust to the new upgrades (can take up to some months/years)
2. enable and disable auto-design (sometimes this works like a "refresh" button)
3. Downgrade/Upgrade your starbase

@Ajey I think I found another bug but I do not know where it comes from. I researched the Tier 6 shield a while ago (Same gameplay as my last bug report) but my starbases won't adapt them and stick to tier 5. Even after I researched Tier 7 and new reactors. Maybe there is a weight issue? :/ Here a screenshot https://imgur.com/VZ6ZnZ0 Thank you very much for all your efforts <3

*** Update :
1. rebalanced some costs and other stats for Reactors and Thrusters
2. rebalanced crews
3. improved compatibility with At War: Planetary Defense Force (Patrol Craft will now be able to equip the additional thrusters, reactors, crews etc. provided by ACG Expansion) ***

@Ajey very nice! I am so glad that you are going to add them :3 Thank you again <3

@Malrama (part 3) by the way: i will also add the other ship components (thrusters, crew, ..) that ACG Expansion adds to the game but are not showing up for Patrol Craft I & II at the moment :)

@Malrama (part 2)

Regarding the "At War: Planetary Defense Force" mod's "Patrol Craft I & II":
1. they don't have the reactors from the NSC2 mod because NSC2 authors and At War author did not include compatibility or create reactors for those ships
2. and i just realized i did not provide reactors for the Patrol Craft I & II as well when i published ACG Expansion mod
3. As a result right now Patrol Craft I & II don't show any additional reactors (only the vanilla ones) at the moment

So what am i going to do about it?
i will create new reactors for Patrol Craft I & II that are consistent with the reactors provided with the ACG Expansion mod. But i will not provide additional reactors that are based on the NSC2 reactors because a) in my opinion it's unnecessary because both reactor sets are quite similar anyway and b) that would be the "job" of the NSC2 or At War authors

I hope that helps :)

@Malrama (part 1)

thank you very much for mentioning the reactors for AT War: Planetary Defense Force Patrol Craft I&II. It's a little bit complicated, so let me try to explain:

1. ACG Expansion adds new reactors and NSC2 also adds new reactors to ships
2. Those two reactor sets are not completely identical but they are very similar regarding the power and stats
3. When creating the compatibility patch (ACG Expansion NSC2) i had to choose if i want to replace one set of reactors or if i want to make both sets available => i decided to make both reactor sets available despite the similarity and not replace one with the other. Hence users will be free to choose which reactors they want to use in game (NSC2 or ACG Expansion) for NSC2 ships.

@Ajey Hmm yeah it is NSC, my mistake.

@Ajey tested and it works now! :) Thank you very much. One more question tho: I use the AT WAR: PLANETARY DEFENSE Mod and it seems like NSC2 generator (The ones that provide energy to the ship) is not selectable for Patrolship 1&2. So my question is: Is that a NSC thing or caused by this mod? =)

@Malrama i just fixed it. It should work now as intended. Thank you for letting me know :)

@Malrama thank you for your comment! i will take a look into it :)

@Ajey Is it intentional that the small version of the "Experimental Adaptive Shield" (Tier 6 Shield) does not have any values beside its cost and its power usage? Here is a picture: https://imgur.com/a/gJkbCjU I am using the NSC-Hotfix patch. It is just the small version. Medium or large are fine :3

@Ryu i just took a look into it. Are you sure your vanilla stellaris is providing more ship sections for titans? Or did you maybe use NSC before - which adds more ship sections?

Because:

1. ACG and ACG Expansion (both mods) do not change ship sections.
=> If i turn off all my mods and run vanilla stellaris i only see 3 titan sections:
1. Titan Bow (T Weapon, 6L Util)
2. Titan Core (4L Weap, 6L Util)
3. Titan Stern (L2 Weap, A3 Util)
=> if i turn ON only ACG + ACG Expansion i still only see those 3 titan sections

2. If you want to have more ship sections i highly recommend and i also use this mod together with ACG + ACG Expansion mod:
At War: Advanced Ship Sections

I hope that helps :)

@Ryu thank you for your comment. I will take a look into it :)

Hi, with this mod enabled, the Titan only has three section types available, is this intended? In vanilla, there are a lot more options.

***Update: rebalanced some ship components to better fit into ACG***

***Update: improved several weapon graphic's scaling and reworked some weapons slightly. All in all battles should feel even more immersive now because weapon graphics will be more consistent compared to ship size. Explosive effects will look even more impressive in comparision now (for more details please see change log)***

Ajey,
Thank you! Youre mod is brilliant masterpiece!!

***Update: fixed a critical bug that made all ai empires not building any more ships once they upgrade their ship design to a crew that has food costs and upkeep. I had to change the costs and upkeep of all crew techs/slots to alloys only in order to fix this bug. Now all AI empires should build ships and use the crews as intended

Thank you very much @Value 86 who pointed this critical bug out and let me know about it!***

***Update: incorporated Guilli's latest bug fixes/changes/menu from his original Guillis Ship Components mod***

@Value 86 thank you for your comment! I did not experience any such issues when i used this mod and this mod does not add any new ressources compared to vanilla. I am no expert for AI building ships but if there would be any issues with this mod i guess there would also be issues with Guillis Ship Components mod (since this mod is only an ACG optimized and adjusted rebuilt of guillis original mod) and i didn't see any issues with his mod either.

So maybe you are using an AI mod that's not working or you are using other mods that are probably incompatible. I am not sure. What i can offer is: send me a list of the mods you are using and i will check them for compatibility (via PM or in a discussion thread) :)

Ajey, I've noticed that at some point AI stop building ships at all (Military ships) despite AI has a lot of resources. I assume there are componets which require specifice resources???
This situation appears often when AI looses all its ships in the war.

***News: today stellaris 2.3.3 patch went live. This mod should be compatible with 2.3.3 without any further update***

***News: new ACG AI Expansion/Fix mod released. I highly recommend to try it out with ACG***

@Redfoxx thank you for positive feedback :D

@Sorypsi i am not sure if i understood you correctly. Did you mean you can't use auxiliary addons: hangar bays with your defense stations?
1. I did not change the technology requirements for Guillis Hangar Bays compared to his original mod
2. I just tested that in game and i was able to use them for ships and defense stations like intended once i did the proper research
3. If you can use the hangar bays with your ships like intended but you encounter problems with your defense stations by not being able to use the hangar bays with your defense stations => then it is very likely a mod conflict with another mod that adjusts defense stations/platforms => you can tell me the mods you use at one of the discussion threads or write me a PM (i added you) if you want and i check them for compatibility.

I hope that helps :)

would you happen to know if the hangar bay component for defense platforms is unlocked with a different tech, using your mod or GM ship components? either remove the hangar section from my platforms but they do give the component to other ships as intended

Awesome Ajey!

***Update (purely graphical): reworked graphical animations of Cloud Lightning I & II & III and updated some icons***

***News (for NSC2 users): New Hotfix compatibility patch for ACG + ACG Expansion + NSC2 was just released.
Please read the mod's description! ***

***Update: ACG Expansion mod now has built-in compatibility with Realistic Ships

Note: From now on ACG also has built-in compatibility with Realistic Ships => no more comp. patch needed ***

***Update: ACG Expansion mod now has built-in compatibility with At War: Starbase Improvements

thanks @Cranky for providing the necessary compatibility file ***

Oh nice.

***Update
1. balanced speed of new thrusters
2. (SCX) fixed SCX issue that did not let you see some ship components with Carriers + Dreadnoughts
3. (SCX) balanced some stats of reactors + thrusters for Carriers + Dreadnoughts***

@Ajey Wow thanks man for your quick reply...subscribing to this and keep the other disabled...

@dan5tr4n63r the ACG Expansion mod is NOT a compatibility patch.

The Expansion mod is a reworked Guillis ship component mod that is optimized for ACG and will be used as base mod for further content additions to ACG. So you don't need and should not use guillis ship component mod with ACG because guillis ship component mod is not compatible with ACG.

If you only activate ACG + this ACG Expansion mod, you will basically get all the content from guillis ship component mod - but optimized and reworked for ACG + more of our own content additions in the future :)

@Ajey So with this mod...it makes Gulli's ship components redundant, is that right?...making it in effect useless...OR one should have Gullis's ship components with ACG and this expansion too?
Thank you

@Wacowal thank you! I am happy if you like it :D

@Redfoxx if you want to make sure you have the best possible experience, yes i would start a new game :)

Hey Ajey, should I start a new game?

Awsome!