New Mod Consideration: Opinions welcome
posted on April 24th, 2011, 11:46 pm
I've been thinking of starting up a mod of my own this lately (which I may or may not base on FO's engine) and wanted to present it here. (sorry for the long post! 
)
One of the first ST:AII mods I really got into was “Galactic Wars 2”, an old mod that revolved around sides that consisted of three races allied together, with a tech tree that contained a mix of their ships and stations (the Federation, Klingons and Romulans were one side for example, called the Alpha Quadrant Alliance). The mod was shut down years ago so I doubt a lot of people here remember it, but I’ve always wanted to have a go at resurrecting the concept, and watching FO develop, as well as the capabilities brought into existence during the Patch Project, have inspired me to the point of seeing if anyone was interested in the idea and, possibly to the point of starting a mod group to make it (admittedly my skills are much more in conceptualising than in implementing, so any help would be appreciated). I wanted therefore to present the ideas i've had so far here for comments and suggestions:
The basic idea I had in mind revolved around using existing capabilities of the 1.2 engine to create a much slower, more strategic game play compared to Vanilla AII or FO, with territory control over large maps playing a big role. Players begin with a home starbase which is exceptionally powerful (around 6x the strength of vanilla starbases, though only one can exist at a time), and provides a trickle of basic resources for beginning to build lower-tech assets (up to light cruiser sized). These ships are able to explore the map and establish you in map areas, but cannot even dent the shields of the starbases, requiring players to develop their tree and unlock higher-tier ships/weapons to win. These however require additional advanced resources that are out in the battlefield away from the start points, and the starbase is the only structure you have able to process those resources, making a major game play focus putting together guarded convoys of miners to ferry those resources and establishing patrols, turrets or outposts (weaker starbases which you can build around 3-6 of) to try and secure those resources and the route to them. Ships are much tougher than Vanilla equivalents, but repair and recharge special energy very slowly, necessitating returns to friendly territory (or access to repair/resupply ships) to remain efficient in combat. The game thus is a very long one, necessitating use of the save feature (which AII multiplayer has if I recall right) for on-and-off gameplay.
As you move up the tech three, you are able to build new ships and do research that provides new abilities and upgrades older ships (either making them more powerful or giving them a different role to play in the fleet alongside the newer ships), till eventually you amass a strong enough force to fight your way to the enemy starbase and destroy it, crippling your enemy until he is either defeated or is able to rebuild his starbase to stay in the fight. Such fights will be deciding battles, with both sides likely deploying large fleets in them.
The factions and background for the mod (which I came up with in a desperate attempt to establish some kind of canon link
) is a vision of what the Prophets saw during "Sacrifice of Angels" when Sisko was talking them into wiping out the Dominion reinforcements in the wormhole; this is how the galaxy would be if the prophets hadn't intervened (and it horrified them so much they took action). Its five or so years since Sisko's death and the Dominion Axis (mainly the Jem'Hadar and Cardassians, not sure about the Breen as I might have then not part of the Dominion, since the Cardassians are still strong in this) have occupied most of the Federation (including Earth), with only the third nearest the Beta Quadrant remaining free, propped up by an alliance with the Klingons and Romulans (forming the Alpha Quadrant Alliance). The two groups have reached a bloody stalemate with no end in sight. Other groups may appear later, but the first releases would cover those two sides. Each side has a selection of ships, stations and abilities from all of its member races (from a variety of sources, such as Dominion Wars for many of the Dom/Card ships) takes a different approach in game play.
The AQA focuses a lot on special weapons and systems (including the 'science cruisers', which they are the only side to deploy) and feature three distinct kinds of ships; Fed ships with all-around firepower (most weapons have limited fire arcs, similar to how ships were in Dominion Wars) and support/defensive abilities, Klingon ships with strong frontal firepower and stealthy Romulan ships with many intelligence/espionage-related abilities). By choosing which ships to build the player can move the focus of his fleet between one of the three, and some ships also feature minor tech-sharing according to what aids each race's speciality (one idea I had for example was Negh'vars being able to mount a Corbomite reflector, or Romulan ships with gravity mines). Their highest tech includes super weapons (such as the temporal field and Jach'Eng ship) and a unique 'epic' heavy battleship (perhaps the Cerberus-class, which was in the old mod) that carries special weapons from all three races and infinite special energy, serving as an ace-in-the-hole for the side.
The Dominion focus much more on traditional weapons, and their fleet is much more singular in pattern; Cardassian ships form a cheap beginning force as Ketrecel supplies (a special resource for the side) are built up for superior Jem'Hadar ships to be built, then with upgrades move into a more supporting role (with support abilities such as repairing, or specialisms such as the Norin's focus in crippling enemy capitals) as more and more Jem'Hadar ships are unlocked higher up the tech tree, with other races (such as the So'Na, or Breen if its decided to keep them) also appearing along the way. Their top tech tier includes super capital ships in two flavours; ships to support fleets such as the Hutet (which can repair ships and restock their special energy) and Jem'Hadar Attack carrier (which produces KW and can make attack ships) and brute force super-battleships (namely the Dominion Dreadnought, which would be the most powerful player unit in the game).
Each side would also feature some tech from outside influences. I'm thinking of having the Borg (who likely wont appear as a player side due to lack of allies, instead serving as an NPC map side) as a major one, with each tech-tree including reverse-engineering Borg technology; The AQA are focused on regenerative systems and special shields/weapons, while the Dominion is dedicated to mastering Transwarp (which notably would allow them to bring ships through from the Gamma Quadrant quicker and overwhelm the AQA).
All of the above are only starting concepts; things may or may not change over time. Feel free to suggest any ideas or suggestions you have, or comment on what's here. What do people think; is it worth trying?
Thanks
T-Man
Sorry again for the long post btw; if there's any way to have a "read more" drop down thing, please do let me know or impliment it if your a mod and want to.
)One of the first ST:AII mods I really got into was “Galactic Wars 2”, an old mod that revolved around sides that consisted of three races allied together, with a tech tree that contained a mix of their ships and stations (the Federation, Klingons and Romulans were one side for example, called the Alpha Quadrant Alliance). The mod was shut down years ago so I doubt a lot of people here remember it, but I’ve always wanted to have a go at resurrecting the concept, and watching FO develop, as well as the capabilities brought into existence during the Patch Project, have inspired me to the point of seeing if anyone was interested in the idea and, possibly to the point of starting a mod group to make it (admittedly my skills are much more in conceptualising than in implementing, so any help would be appreciated). I wanted therefore to present the ideas i've had so far here for comments and suggestions:
The basic idea I had in mind revolved around using existing capabilities of the 1.2 engine to create a much slower, more strategic game play compared to Vanilla AII or FO, with territory control over large maps playing a big role. Players begin with a home starbase which is exceptionally powerful (around 6x the strength of vanilla starbases, though only one can exist at a time), and provides a trickle of basic resources for beginning to build lower-tech assets (up to light cruiser sized). These ships are able to explore the map and establish you in map areas, but cannot even dent the shields of the starbases, requiring players to develop their tree and unlock higher-tier ships/weapons to win. These however require additional advanced resources that are out in the battlefield away from the start points, and the starbase is the only structure you have able to process those resources, making a major game play focus putting together guarded convoys of miners to ferry those resources and establishing patrols, turrets or outposts (weaker starbases which you can build around 3-6 of) to try and secure those resources and the route to them. Ships are much tougher than Vanilla equivalents, but repair and recharge special energy very slowly, necessitating returns to friendly territory (or access to repair/resupply ships) to remain efficient in combat. The game thus is a very long one, necessitating use of the save feature (which AII multiplayer has if I recall right) for on-and-off gameplay.
As you move up the tech three, you are able to build new ships and do research that provides new abilities and upgrades older ships (either making them more powerful or giving them a different role to play in the fleet alongside the newer ships), till eventually you amass a strong enough force to fight your way to the enemy starbase and destroy it, crippling your enemy until he is either defeated or is able to rebuild his starbase to stay in the fight. Such fights will be deciding battles, with both sides likely deploying large fleets in them.
The factions and background for the mod (which I came up with in a desperate attempt to establish some kind of canon link
) is a vision of what the Prophets saw during "Sacrifice of Angels" when Sisko was talking them into wiping out the Dominion reinforcements in the wormhole; this is how the galaxy would be if the prophets hadn't intervened (and it horrified them so much they took action). Its five or so years since Sisko's death and the Dominion Axis (mainly the Jem'Hadar and Cardassians, not sure about the Breen as I might have then not part of the Dominion, since the Cardassians are still strong in this) have occupied most of the Federation (including Earth), with only the third nearest the Beta Quadrant remaining free, propped up by an alliance with the Klingons and Romulans (forming the Alpha Quadrant Alliance). The two groups have reached a bloody stalemate with no end in sight. Other groups may appear later, but the first releases would cover those two sides. Each side has a selection of ships, stations and abilities from all of its member races (from a variety of sources, such as Dominion Wars for many of the Dom/Card ships) takes a different approach in game play.The AQA focuses a lot on special weapons and systems (including the 'science cruisers', which they are the only side to deploy) and feature three distinct kinds of ships; Fed ships with all-around firepower (most weapons have limited fire arcs, similar to how ships were in Dominion Wars) and support/defensive abilities, Klingon ships with strong frontal firepower and stealthy Romulan ships with many intelligence/espionage-related abilities). By choosing which ships to build the player can move the focus of his fleet between one of the three, and some ships also feature minor tech-sharing according to what aids each race's speciality (one idea I had for example was Negh'vars being able to mount a Corbomite reflector, or Romulan ships with gravity mines). Their highest tech includes super weapons (such as the temporal field and Jach'Eng ship) and a unique 'epic' heavy battleship (perhaps the Cerberus-class, which was in the old mod) that carries special weapons from all three races and infinite special energy, serving as an ace-in-the-hole for the side.
The Dominion focus much more on traditional weapons, and their fleet is much more singular in pattern; Cardassian ships form a cheap beginning force as Ketrecel supplies (a special resource for the side) are built up for superior Jem'Hadar ships to be built, then with upgrades move into a more supporting role (with support abilities such as repairing, or specialisms such as the Norin's focus in crippling enemy capitals) as more and more Jem'Hadar ships are unlocked higher up the tech tree, with other races (such as the So'Na, or Breen if its decided to keep them) also appearing along the way. Their top tech tier includes super capital ships in two flavours; ships to support fleets such as the Hutet (which can repair ships and restock their special energy) and Jem'Hadar Attack carrier (which produces KW and can make attack ships) and brute force super-battleships (namely the Dominion Dreadnought, which would be the most powerful player unit in the game).
Each side would also feature some tech from outside influences. I'm thinking of having the Borg (who likely wont appear as a player side due to lack of allies, instead serving as an NPC map side) as a major one, with each tech-tree including reverse-engineering Borg technology; The AQA are focused on regenerative systems and special shields/weapons, while the Dominion is dedicated to mastering Transwarp (which notably would allow them to bring ships through from the Gamma Quadrant quicker and overwhelm the AQA).
All of the above are only starting concepts; things may or may not change over time. Feel free to suggest any ideas or suggestions you have, or comment on what's here. What do people think; is it worth trying?
Thanks
T-Man
Sorry again for the long post btw; if there's any way to have a "read more" drop down thing, please do let me know or impliment it if your a mod and want to.
posted on April 27th, 2011, 1:59 am
posted on April 28th, 2011, 9:48 am
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