Star Wars Mod - II (Sci-Fi Xover Mod)

[Kamog]

Maybe you can stretch the image horizontally to make it square? Nah, bad idea, it will mess up the aspect ratio...

[mlmbd]

Yeah, don't want to mess with any aspect ratios!!

mlmbd

[Starkiller]

Stop discussing about avatars and get back to the mod!

[Erax]

Actually, Andres is doing the mod, all we are doing is kicking around some ideas about ship and fighter stats. If he likes them, he will try to mod them in.
But you are right... we should get back to SW ship stats. Be with you soon with more numbers.

[Urendi Maleldil]

Here are links to SciFi stats and stuff

Trek:
http://www.ex-astris-scientia.org/

Starwars:
http://www.galacticempiredatabank.com/Main.html
http://www.theforce.net/swtc/
http://www1.theforce.net/CUSWE/default.asp

Starwars/Startrek:
http://www.stardestroyer.net/Empire/index.html

Battlestar Galactica:
http://www.tecr.com/galactica/

[Andrés]

Sorry for the long time without working on this mod.
If I continue at the current speed this mod will never be finished.

I need to recruit some volunteers to help me put together this project that from the beginning was meant to be bigger than me.

I need someone to mod the maps, the FQM could be a good start, but there are several details I'd like to change. Remove some "unrealistic" systems, add some others, add station/planets (there was a thread about this recently).

I need someone to make the B5 mod fit into the standard techs that are being to be shared by everyone, that means shortening or splitting some tech areas. Somehow reduce the number of redundant components, consolidating too similar ones, and if possible making different sizes into weapon mounts, add custom ship sizes for every race according to my "scaling".

With AST mod out and TNG mod in beta testing there should be enough for someone to start working in making trek fit the base tech tree.

I'll try to add SW bases and interdictors to finish the basic part of the two main SW races.

We'll sure want to add more races (B5, ST and SW) that I had not included in the original release.

I also need someone with web design experience to help me manage and improve my site.

[Fyron]

What exactly did you plan on changing with FQM? Tell me, and I'll do it for you.

[Andrés]

Let's see...

* warp points: I had tried to add B5 jumpgates and ST-DS9 wormholes, to make the game pick a normal se4 wp or any of those at random. But it didn't seem to work, although I could pick any of the 3 pics in the map editor, the map generators always seems to pick the first one. This needs more testing and maybe you know a trick involving special types or something like that.

* remove most multi-star systems with planets. Not even binary systems are supposed to have planets, but there are already canonical planets in binary systems so they will make an exemption.

* Sometimes the word system is used to described a close cluster (either physically or only politically close) of several star systems.
I was planning to use this concept in the SW map (that is something else I'd need help with) to overcome the 255 systems limit, by condensing two or three systems into one but making it look like each planet orbits only one of the multiple stars of the system.

* There are at least 2 SW examples (Ossus and Byss/Abyss) of binary systems where the planets follow a bizarre 8 shaped orbit around its two suns. I tried to make these systems but they didn't look very good.

* Most stars are damaging and cloaking.

* Asteroid abilities should be only damage and cloaking.

* Athega system (planet Nkllon) - Description: Strong radiation from the star damage space vehicles, making travel through the system dangerous, but is an invaluable source of metals.
damage + forced None atmosphere planets (at least the inner/s one/s) + very high value or some mining bonus if possible. Too bad we cannot make Shieldships.

* B5 hyperspace system (also SW Version of hyperspace?).

* ST badlands.

* add a few tiny-none planets (large inhabitable asteroids) scattered among the asteroid systems.

* Lonely gas giant system, with 20+ moons!

* Perhaps also some gas giants in other systems with 20+ moons.

* I want medium moons back, even if we have to set some systems to "empires cannot start in" to avoid location problems.

* I had also added a couple of custom planet with and their respective sector types. There will be more.

* add station looking micro planets. 2 or 3 facilities (0 domed) + a relatively large cargo space to make them able to have more platforms and fighters and make them look more station-like. Rock-ox since that’s what most, if not all sci-fi races will breathe. I don't care about having them randomly added. As a matter of fact some rock-ox should have or have the potential to add dozens of them orbiting them.

This is all I can think of right now. While researching data to make the starwars galaxy map I had been studying many description of SW systems and planets. I'm sure there are additional things from other sci-fi that can be added.

[Fyron]

* warp points: I had tried to add B5 jumpgates and ST-DS9 wormholes, to make the game pick a normal se4 wp or any of those at random. But it didn't seem to work, although I could pick any of the 3 pics in the map editor, the map generators always seems to pick the first one. This needs more testing and maybe you know a trick involving special types or something like that.

The game will only use the first entry for normal warp points. You have to make them Unstable Warp Points (I think that's the right term) instead, and then it will use random pics for them.

* remove most multi-star systems with planets. Not even binary systems are supposed to have planets, but there are already canonical planets in binary systems so they will make an exemption.

Does that involve removing the whole system, or just the planets?

* Sometimes the word system is used to described a close cluster (either physically or only politically close) of several star systems.
I was planning to use this concept in the SW map (that is something else I'd need help with) to overcome the 255 systems limit, by condensing two or three systems into one but making it look like each planet orbits only one of the multiple stars of the system.

That is not a problem. I think the limit is something like 255 objects in a system (or maybe it is in the 1000s). How common would such systems be?

* There are at least 2 SW examples (Ossus and Byss/Abyss) of binary systems where the planets follow a bizarre 8 shaped orbit around its two suns. I tried to make these systems but they didn't look very good.

The only way to simulate that would be to place the planets in a figure 8, which would indeed look odd.

* Most stars are damaging and cloaking.

Do you want that for the whole system, or just the sector the star is in? The system would require lots of extra work if you want, for example, some 6 planet systems with cloaking and some 6 planet systems without cloaking. But if you just want it for the star itself, then SectTypes.txt already has entries for those, and the chance of occurence can be increased quite easily.

* Asteroid abilities should be only damage and cloaking.

Easy enough.

* Athega system (planet Nkllon) - Description: Strong radiation from the star damage space vehicles, making travel through the system dangerous, but is an invaluable source of metals.
damage + forced None atmosphere planets (at least the inner/s one/s) + very high value or some mining bonus if possible. Too bad we cannot make Shieldships.

You can not affect the random planet values for specific planets in the data files.

* B5 hyperspace system (also SW Version of hyperspace?).

This can be easily lifted from the B5 mod.

* ST badlands.

I am not quite sure what those would do.

* add a few tiny-none planets (large inhabitable asteroids) scattered among the asteroid systems.

The systems that are just a big field of asteroids with no star? Actually, that is a good idea for the normal FQM.

* Lonely gas giant system, with 20+ moons!

* Perhaps also some gas giants in other systems with 20+ moons.

Eek! 20+ is a huge amount! I don't think that many is a good idea. For the gas giants with 4 moons, I was thinking that those would be the only ones that could support reasonable colonies, or that they abstractly represent more than 1 smaller moon each.

* I want medium moons back, even if we have to set some systems to "empires cannot start in" to avoid location problems.

I don't think I ever removed medium moons. I removed the few large ones I had in the original Versions, but I thought I had left a number of medium moons in.

* add station looking micro planets. 2 or 3 facilities (0 domed) + a relatively large cargo space to make them able to have more platforms and fighters and make them look more station-like. Rock-ox since that’s what most, if not all sci-fi races will breathe. I don't care about having them randomly added. As a matter of fact some rock-ox should have or have the potential to add dozens of them orbiting them.

Kind of like those Machine planets and all, right?

So... do you want domed colonies to be 1/3 as big as in FQM Deluxe, or the 1/5 as large as in normal SE4?

[Andrés]

Maybe making all WPs unstable but with a low chance to have actual abilities.
Would it be possible to invert the roles of normal and unstable WPs?
BTW picture numbers of those WPs will have to be changed, I had added them to an old Version of the image mod bmps, and didn’t submit them, we should do it now.

Does that involve removing the whole system, or just the planets?

In some cases removing the extra stars should be easier.
Hmm yes some multi star systems can remain as "useless systems that only get in the way" but of course their number should be lowered accordingly.

We should also remove organic infestations and the other new-gold systems.

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* Sometimes the word system is used to described a close cluster (either physically or only politically close) of several star systems.
I was planning to use this concept in the SW map (that is something else I'd need help with) to overcome the 255 systems limit, by condensing two or three systems into one but making it look like each planet orbits only one of the multiple stars of the system.
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That is not a problem. I think the limit is something like 255 objects in a system (or maybe it is in the 1000s). How common would such systems be?

Yeah the number of planets is not a problem I don't think it should be that high anyway, but the actual layout of the system is more complicated. I don’t want planets in the same sector of the star but in adjacent ones and in the following “rings” around it. Probably random positions will not be possible.

They shouldn’t be very common but enough to make two or three appear even in a small map.

The only way to simulate that would be to place the planets in a figure 8, which would indeed look odd.

The concept is odd, but it can be a funny variation.

Do you want that for the whole system, or just the sector the star is in? The system would require lots of extra work if you want, for example, some 6 planet systems with cloaking and some 6 planet systems without cloaking. But if you just want it for the star itself, then SectTypes.txt already has entries for those, and the chance of occurence can be increased quite easily.

Yes only the sector.

You can not affect the random planet values for specific planets in the data files.

I know but perhaps some bonus ability can work.
Maybe it was an exaggeration, but Nkllon was described to be the source of most metal ores (minerals) of the NR in the times of Thrawn, and attacking it would cripple all production of an empire that by that time dominated half of the galaxy.

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* B5 hyperspace system (also SW Version of hyperspace?).
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This can be easily lifted from the B5 mod.

Yes.
On second though, the blue tunnel look of hyperspace in SW cannot be made into a good looking SE4 system, besides nothing interesting ever happens in hyperspace, if anything goes wrong (either a malfunction or enemy interception) the ship will always drop to realspace immediately.

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* ST badlands.
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I am not quite sure what those would do.

Probably damage, random mov and low cloak.
Use the standard SE4 red nebulae pic until we get a more appropriate one.
Can anyone provide a nice sounding description of the badlands?

The systems that are just a big field of asteroids with no star? Actually, that is a good idea for the normal FQM.

Also the ones with star in the center and concentric rings, placing a planet in the ring shouldn't be a problem. Adding one in the asteroid ring of a system with planets can be possible but rare.
I remember the description of a system that consisted of 7 concentric asteroid rings, with a few colonized asteroids in different rings. But 7 rings would be too much for the limited space in a SE4 system.

Eek! 20+ is a huge amount! I don't think that many is a good idea. For the gas giants with 4 moons, I was thinking that those would be the only ones that could support reasonable colonies, or that they abstractly represent more than 1 smaller moon each.

Well ten or a dozen moons would do fine, more or less the same number of planets a normal system has, but all of them orbiting the gas giant.

I don't think I ever removed medium moons. I removed the few large ones I had in the original Versions, but I thought I had left a number of medium moons in.

Right I must be mistaking it with someone else’s changes.
The FQM sometimes adds moons that are larger than their host planet what looks odd, but is not a major problem.

Kind of like those Machine planets and all, right?

We had agreed that some stations should be better represented by planet sizes than by ship hulls.
Something like Machine planets but smaller than a tiny planet, with a picture that looks like a base and not like a planet and with the possibility of making a specific tech to create them, that may be researched independently from that to create actual planets.
Perhaps also some kind asteroids around some planets to enable the “construction” of these things.

So... do you want domed colonies to be 1/3 as big as in FQM Deluxe, or the 1/5 as large as in normal SE4?

Increasing domed to 1/3 reduces the importance of breathable planets, doesn't it? I don't think that's the effect we want here.
I was considering making all planets in general slightly larger, but that can wait until we want to balance other things.

Another system variation, a perfectly closed asteroid belt "shields" the planets inside, and ships are forced to pass through the damaging asteroids to get in.