I think splitting up a mod is a good idea for things that can be separated a) reasonably and b) easily.

a) But some things can't be separated from each other if you want to provide a consistent gameplay experience

I tried to use a lot of "modular" and "compatible" mods since vanilla. And it turned out to be a mistake - especially regarding graphical mods. I created ACG exactly because modularity did sound good in theory but proofed very difficult or even wrong in practice. Honestly try to combine a lot of different graphics mods and good luck with the result. I can promise you will get a lot of inconsistencies and bugs even if the mods seem to be compatible. Some parts of the game - especially regarding graphics - are connected to too many other files/codes to simply split them up. Sometimes you have to get the full picture or it will be a mess.

b) Another problem is that in some cases i would literally have to rework the whole mod if i want to split a little detail of the mod. If you ask me to provide a "lite" version that only adds the graphical effects without the scaling etc. it would be such a case. I would really have to rework too many files and i can't work on two or more huge mods like ACG at the same time.

Hence if you want to use modular mods i recommend to use other graphical mods and i hope you will get a good experience by doing that but ACG is not a modular mod and i have very good reasons for never trying to split it up into modular parts. ACG tries to provide a full and consistent graphical gameplay experience with all the inherent advantages and disadvantages. It's up to you to decide if you like it and want to use it or not :)

For easily separatable content of ACG i usually provide addon-mods that revert changes i made for the main mod (see Orbit Lines, Bigger Stars etc. => you can find them in user suggestions thread). I hope for your understanding that i only provide such addon mods if i think the criterias of previously mentioned a) and b) can be met with it


There is no such version of ACG because too many things are connected to it.

For example: For adding some graphical effects you need to marginally adjust some damage values. For making battles look better you will maybe also want to take a look at weapons ranges. Or if you change scaling of ships/projectiles/systems etc. in order to make everything more immersive you also need to rework other parts of the game like speed of projectiles and range again or it will look weird. You will then also need to adjust ship behavior and you will want to have an eye on longer battles for having a better cinematic experience which leads to adjustments to damage etc. i could list more but i think you see what i mean :)


Fleet power is just a number that should provide a very rough estimation of your fleet strength compared to other empire's fleet strength. One huge influencer on calculation of fleet power is damage of ships.

Since damage of all weapons (no matter if human player or ai players or crisis ships etc.
a) has been marginally adjusted to show some graphical effects and
b) has been reduced by ~ 50% with ACG in order to provide longer cinematic battles, it makes sense, that fleet power is also lower once you enable ACG.

regarding b) The damage reduction was done for all weapons. So enemy fleet power will also be reduced and there won't be any disadvantage for you compared to other empires. Numbers will just be lower for everybody - that's it.