[Captain Kwok]

Greetings!

It's been a long time since I posted a progress report, although I have been continuing to work on my mod as time permits.

Currently I'm working on a major update that addresses a variety of concerns I had over previous versions of the mod. Some details are presented below:

One of the big projects was to re-organize the technology tree, which was initiated by some planning I had done for the Space Empires V version. I'm a lot happier with the current tree, but it's required lots of changes to the data files, which has taken awhile. In many cases, outside of theoretical science and technology areas, you are essentially researching for specific components or facilities.

I've also started adding an AI racial trait to provide the AI with a few technologies to improve their performance. Some of these include special items to simulate remote mining or for the AI to use certain technologies in a more helpful manner, like intelligence or weapons.

I also had to drop the pollution model (since it doesn't work) although I've retained a number of elements of the population happiness scheme I had implemented. Unfortunately, it's a bit simplistic, but this is an area which can be really developed in SE:V, along with with some 'cultural' type elements I would have liked to add in the SE:IV version.

The major races are also getting a few new items, mostly custom components in the primary systems group for ships. Some of these include specialized life support and crew quarter components that fall along each race's characteristics.

I'm also going to add some basic mini ship images in each race's style to replace the current colour-coded placeholders. I'm hoping these little images make for more enjoyment until I get an opportunity to work on the actual models and stuff.

Lastly, although the website for the mod hasn't been formally updated, I have been patching in new elements over the last few months in some of the general technology areas. I had also started a database, but was discouraged by the amount of work it took to make. However, Fyron's hopefully working on some templates based on his site that I'll be able to use.

I'm aiming for late Feb for this update. My final school semester is relatively light and I also have a full week break during that time as well.