Starscape Released
 

Starscape, the remake of the original PBEM mod for Stars! has finally been completed and is now ready for download.

The website is at: www.starscapecentral.com

Those who would like to play in the next official game should download the mod and create a race. NO EXPERIENCE IS NECCESSARY! Though some general SEIV experience is recommended, very few people (if any) will have any experience with Starscape itself. This is intended. Starscape is adaptive. In the official moderated game, the game will accomodate players, and we use human-controlled balancing to insure even newbies have a fair shot. Starscape is all about roleplaying and having fun, as well as being involved in a dynamic, mostly player-driven storyline.

NOTE: Starscape is not like other mods for SEIV. It is played and run very differently. The mod itself is designed as a cross between an RPG and 4x. It is a bit tough to explain, but it worked in Stars! and works in SEIV.

Also, the majority of Starscape's development has been spent with very little contact with the existing SEIV community. This is mainly because there was limited time to interact, and I focused most of the development energies on working on the mod itself. An early Version of the imagemod was used as a base, and then original content was implanted into this over the years it has spent in closed development. Some features were inspired by older Versions of other mods, but most of it is original, new content.

Limited beta testing was completed around the end of Last year and finalization was completed Last week, along with pre-release testing.

What we have now should work well for the official moderated game, which is scheduled to begin sometime this month (depending on how many/quickly signups come in). AI's are not specifically supported, and neither is single player gameplay. There will be oddities in single player games, but they should still work marginally well enough to run testbeds and practice games. AI support is planned for the future, but it is not critically neccessary for the official games (which do not use AI controlled empires).

Keep in mind this mod was designed from the ground up to be run in a somewhat non-standard way. It is an experiment, sure, but I think it can work.

If you're interested in playing, check out our website. It has lots of information, and the download as well. If you download the mod, please consider signing up for the official game. All you need to do is use the mod to create a race, and send it in. Be sure to read the Online manual regarding race creation as there are some differences in making a Starscape race as opposed to a standard SEIV race.

If you like roleplaying, this may just be the mod for you. In Starscape, roleplaying isn't just for fun, it's part of the game.

NOTE: This mod was designed in and for SEIV Gold. I don't think it will work in original SEIV.

[ March 08, 2004, 10:39: Message edited by: Shadowstar ]

Re: Starscape Released
 

Thanks for the info.

Re: Starscape Released
 

sounds interesting.

Re: Starscape Released
 

What SEIVG patch number is this mod built on?

Re: Starscape Released
 

Well it started in patch 2, but most of the development was in patch 3, but it works in patch 4, as far as I can tell. The timing was kinda odd since I finished the mod yesterday, coincidentally at the same time the patch came out. But there shouldn't be any problems.

Re: Starscape Released
 

I like the way that the 350kT transport has a hull size of 350kT. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon6.gif

On a more serious note, it looks like an interesting mod with a bit of a twist - worthy of a download.

Re: Starscape Released
 

Some helpful advice:

You do not need to include the stock planet images in the mod! And if the other planet images (as I suspect) are correctly matched with the ImageMod planet pack - they are also unneccesary to be included in the mod directory.

Again, this goes for any items you've included from the imageMod in this mod, such as combat images, facilties, components etc.

This will save us, and yourself much disk space and bandwidth respectively!!!

Re: Starscape Released
 

I notice when using a starscape quadrant, only maybe 1 in 5 systems actually have anything in them.

Re: Starscape Released
 

One of the early requests I had from my old Stars! player base was to somehow recreate the feeling that there is actually empty space between star systems, so this was an attempt to do that. The theory is that warp points aren't just confined to systems, they can appear anywhere. It also presents some interesting territorial situations, such as deep space stations, and areas where anomalies can spawn. It also allows players with the right tech to build thier own star systems in areas that are otherwise empty.

As for the graphics, no stock images should be included anywhere in the files, except for the components.bmp and other icon sheets (those are included since they had to be modified). As for the imagemod, without it, those images would come up as blanks. I tried to seperate them at one point and lost some of the graphics, so I decided to keep them in.

If you know of a way to do it in a cleaner way, let me know. Otherwise, one of these days I am planning on replacing the parts of it that I'm using with my own content anyway, since I can do it, just didn't have the time. Ideally, one day Starscape should be completely independent of any other mods, namely the image mod. I always prefer to use my own graphics anyway.

BTW, the majority of new planet pics are my work, I only used a few from the image mod that I liked. I could probably remove most of that stuff in a later Version.

Re: Starscape Released
 

Ok, what I've decided to do is make a bit of an update to Starscape. I'm gonna get the latest Version of the imagemod and compare that to what's in the current Version of Starscape.

After that, I'll see if I can reduce the size of the download, and post a new Version on the site. Sort of a "spring cleaning" so to speak. The mod's spent so much time in closed development, it could no doubt use some community resynching. Thanks for the advice, Kwok.

Any races created with the current Version of Starscape should be just fine in the new Version, so if there are any of you out there making races, don't worry, go ahead and finish them and send them in when ready.

Re: Starscape Released
 

Is there any sort of specific background to this universe that we ought to tailor our races to, or can we run wild? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Re: Starscape Released
 

Starscape has a history, a long and complex one at that, but it doesn't really affect new races that much (at least not at this stage). In fact, its sorta meant for players to discover the history of the universe as they play. Here are the basic facts though:

1) Approximately 600 years ago, there was a major astronomical cataclysm (a quantum supernova) that caused skies to burn on all of the planets in this area for about a week. Whether or not this was significant to your race's history is up to you. Some races see it as a religious sign, others recognize it as a natural event. The event will be used as a chronological milestone in intergalactic relations. The event caused some races to experience heavy loss of life and destruction during its duration, depending on thier exposure. You could put something like that into your history, if you want, but its not neccessary.

2) There seem to be alot of humans in this universe. Nobody really knows why. If you're not creating a human race, this fact probably has no bearing on your race. If your race is human, perhaps there are rumors or artifacts that indicate your people were part of another race of spacefaring humans at one time? Again, up to you, as the creator of the race.

3) Terrans are allowed, but there are special rules regarding them. Confer with me through email if you want to create a terran race.

4) This game takes place somewhere in the Milky Way galaxy, some distance from the Orion Arm (not too far though). Where exactly will be determined by the sole player who has made the transition from the old Stars! mod to SEIV. He is sort of an "elder race" and the actual starting location depends on where he chooses to land his generation ship.

5) There is a form of energy called Chaos Energy, which some races have attempted to control over the years. You could have a race that worships Chaos or tries to control it if you wish. This could have effects on your race throughout the game.

6) The Starscape universe works as follows: Normal space is just that: normal space. It is surrounded in four hyperdimensional vectors, seperated by interspatial barriers. Along these vectors lie Hyperspace, with Subspace in the opposite direction, and then Metaspace, with Q-Space opposite it. Theoretically there are more hyperdimensional vectors, but they are not known yet. Null-space was removed after we moved over from Stars! (the term was used to describe a form of space that no longer exists as a result of the cataclysm). Warp points are an unknown phenomenon to new races (but they can still use them).

Additionally, the transition from Stars! to SEIV came with some fundamental changes to the way ships have to move through space (anyone who used to play Stars! will understand this). The Cataclysm was the event that altered the universe in this way. It had little effect on the planets themselves, but made warp drive impossible. Artificially-created warp points are now used to get about. Thier creation is another story, which players will discover as they play.

Starscape also allows players to create thier own home system along with thier race, with some minor balance-related limitations. If you're interested, discuss this with me through email.

Re: Starscape Released
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">I thought it might be an attempt at realism like that. Just making sure you knew.

Re: Starscape Released
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Nah, my idea would probably have been a copyright infringement anyways. I'll just do something unique. Thanks for the background though.

Re: Starscape Released
 

Sounds cool. Could you post the necessary pics for an original shipset (and any variations thereof)? For instance, I noticed that you were using the standard troop pics as infantry, added in mech sizes and such. Having a quick reference of what we need would be helpful.

Re: Starscape Released
 

Any SEIV shipset should work, though there are new sizes for Starscape (they have defaults so they are optional).

The mod download contains one complete Starscape shipset. Look in races/Empire. I added some mech pics into the original race sets for some variety, but they are also optional. The game will default to using troop pics for mechs if there are none.

You can use the filenames from the Empire shipset to design your own shipset, or modify an extended shipset to work with Starscape. It contains all of the filenames needed to make full use of Starscape's extended vehicle sizes.

[ March 12, 2004, 08:14: Message edited by: Shadowstar ]

Re: Starscape Released
 

We now have 4 players signed up with races submitted. We have plenty of room left for more players, so if you're interested, please send me an email at starscape@inficad.com, and I will keep the game open a bit longer.

Otherwise, we're going to start tomorrow.

Re: Starscape Released
 

Well, the game has begun.

If you missed it, email me and I can put you on the list for the next game when it starts.

A new Version of the mod is up. I managed to shave off 6 mb from the download while also adding in a ton of new graphics. Hopefully it all still works. Remember that single player and AI's are not specifically supported yet, though they should still work, if a bit roughly.

Also, if you would like to recieve regular updates on the progress of the game (storyline and such), email me. I can include you in most of the public communications, giving you an outsider's view of the continuing story. I may even consider the possibility of allowing people to play minor characters in the game and experience/influence the story that way, without actually playing the game itself. Starscape is nothing if not adaptive, after all.

I want to thank the community for thier help and hope that Starscape and it's rather experimental concepts will have a bright future.

starscape@inficad.com
www.starscapecentral.com

Re: Starscape Released
 

The top banner frame does not look right in Gecko based browsers, such as Mozilla Firefox. The frame is too big and the image tiles. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon9.gif

Re: Starscape Released
 

Same in Opera. I think this banner (and whole page as well) is dependent of screen resolution.

[ June 17, 2004, 00:05: Message edited by: aiken ]

Re: Starscape Released
 

The problem looks to be this in the index:

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">code:</font><hr /><pre style="font-size:x-small; font-family: monospace;"> &lt;frameset rows=&quot;161,540&quot; </pre><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">It should instead be:

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">code:</font><hr /><pre style="font-size:x-small; font-family: monospace;"> &lt;frameset rows=&quot;161,*&quot; </pre><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Edit: Actually... the image is only 150 pixels in height.

[ June 17, 2004, 00:14: Message edited by: Imperator Fyron ]

Re: Starscape Released
 

i noticed the site is down...