Wastelands SLTC

[Terra_Inc]

posted on December 13th, 2010, 6:57 pm

Last edited by Terra_Inc on December 13th, 2010, 7:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Hello, people.

I would like to introduce you to my personal project, the SLTC "The Wastelands".
As an SLTC, or Slightly Less Total Conversion, it provides the gamer with a reasonable number of playable sides, and an equally reasonable number of enemy sides, which are not intended to be played by humans.
This allows me to have a broad range of units in the mod while simultaneously guaranteeing an interesting and unconventional gameplay. So much for the idea.

The mod is set in the fictional Wastelands, an area of space near the Federation Border. It mainly consists of large asteroid fields and dangerous nebulae. Although it lies on UFP territory, the Federation was never really interested in exploring it. Only recently did a StarFleet exploration team discover large dilithium and metal deposits. With most of the Alpha and Beta Quadrants' major forces scarred by the Dominion War, the time has come to establish a permanent presence in the Wastelands.
But StarFleet can't afford to send a large fleet. And this is where you come into play.

As you might guess already, the units in Wastelands are not the most up-to-date. I am a huge fan of R5D5 and have included many of his designs (they are the most innovative designs I have seen for a long time). They just look like some obscure ships that no one at StarFleetCommand really wanted, so they were sold and/or used in underdeveloped areas of space. (let me tell you, they are awesome though!) Another part of this will be non-combat ships, they will play an important role.

Wastelands will be much more economy-based than other A2 mods. Expanding and establishing new mining sites will be an important factor, and most of the battles will be about mining outposts. I also intend to bring trade into the game as a big thing. And losing some good ships (ship = large investment) will not be without consequences.

I could go on and on and on, but for now this will have to do.

[Terra_Inc]

posted on December 13th, 2010, 7:06 pm

Last edited by Terra_Inc on December 14th, 2010, 8:03 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Now let me show you a few beauty shots of some of the units you'll see in the mod. These are really just development screenshots, I was playing around in cineractive just admiring the ships and Yacuzza's MU in their full glory. 

[img width=600]http://i897.photobucket.com/albums/ac180/Terra_Inc/ravenna.jpg[/img]
Here you see a group of Ravenna class cruisers with their characteristic three nacelles.

[img width=600]http://i897.photobucket.com/albums/ac180/Terra_Inc/python.jpg[/img]
A Python class carrier, with two Cairo class strike cruisers guarding it.

[img width=600]http://i897.photobucket.com/albums/ac180/Terra_Inc/fahrenheit.jpg[/img]
A Fahrenheit class heavy cruiser together with three Hunter class fast destroyers.

[img width=600]http://i897.photobucket.com/albums/ac180/Terra_Inc/medical.jpg[/img]
A medical vessel of the Grace class, docked at Hephaestus Station.

[img width=600]http://i897.photobucket.com/albums/ac180/Terra_Inc/niteops.jpg[/img]
Night ops. I love FahreS' rework of the stock running lights...

[img width=600]http://i897.photobucket.com/albums/ac180/Terra_Inc/starchaser.jpg[/img]
And, last but not least, two Napoli class heavy destroyers together with the mod's signature ship, the Starchaser. A monstrosity left over from the TLE era.

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That's it for now. Stay tuned, work is in progress.

Terra_Inc, signing out.

EDIT: Don't we have spoiler tags here? 

posted on December 13th, 2010, 7:08 pm

Looks nice Do you plan on having NPCs dukeing it out as well?

posted on December 13th, 2010, 7:09 pm

Wow! So is your game basically gonna resemble something like Space Empires? I used to play that for hours - it's about expanding your territory, colonizing new planets uilding refinaries/shipyards there and growing as an empire through power and research. You've got my interest peaked can't wait to see/hear some more of the mods features and psst...any way to squeeze an occasional Borg encounter (consider it to be a star trek equivilent of a natural disaster)

posted on December 13th, 2010, 7:10 pm

Looks like an interesting one. Are you planning to edit the lights on the ships hulls? The solid block that doesn't fade looks weird.

posted on December 13th, 2010, 7:16 pm

The models look really nice, Terra.  I actually like the idea of using unusual ships.  It gets tiring to play with Sovs and Akiras all the time.  I know you're working on single player missions.  Keep us updated!

[Terra_Inc]

posted on December 13th, 2010, 7:17 pm

Last edited by Terra_Inc on December 14th, 2010, 8:05 am, edited 1 time in total.

Looks nice Do you plan on having NPCs dukeing it out as well?

Well... you have to understand that these resources out there are something that gets the Klingons' and Romulans' interest as well, and don't forget the pirates. I plan the Feds and Cardassians as playable sides (we'll talk about the pirates later, I don't know about them yet), but all of these forces will be there, and they will not necessary like each other...  :blush: So, I guess yes.

Wow! So is your game basically gonna resemble something like Space Empires? I used to play that for hours - it's about expanding your territory, colonizing new planets uilding refinaries/shipyards there and growing as an empire through power and research. You've got my interest peaked can't wait to see/hear some more of the mods features and psst...any way to squeeze an occasional Borg encounter (consider it to be a star trek equivilent of a natural disaster)

Terradyhne over at FF described it as "Star Trek Tycoon", so think your description applies.
And regarding the Borg: You never know. One of my mottos is: "All you can find in the Wastelands are dangerous pirate cartels, resources to fuel the engines of war, and century-old secrets." A cameo is definitely possible.

Oh, and I forgot to add: This will be one of the first A2 mods making full use of MMM.  :woot:

Looks like an interesting one. Are you planning to edit the lights on the ships hulls? The solid block that doesn't fade looks weird.

Yeah. As stated above, these are just dev screenshots. I am not completely done with the texture edits.

posted on December 13th, 2010, 7:33 pm

EDIT: Don't we have spoiler tags here? 

i dont think so.

one thing i did notice is that the images are more than 600 pixels wide, that makes them not fit in the post.

if you use the following img tag modifier it will make the image fit, and it will preserve the aspect ratio

[nobbc][img width=600]insert picture url here[/img][/nobbc]

you can also add a height parameter if u want to, but then you will have to keep the aspect ratio yourself.

posted on December 13th, 2010, 7:38 pm

i dont think so.

one thing i did notice is that the images are more than 600 pixels wide, that makes them not fit in the post.

if you use the following img tag modifier it will make the image fit, and it will preserve the aspect ratio

[nobbc][img width=600]insert picture url here[/img][/nobbc]

you can also add a height parameter if u want to, but then you will have to keep the aspect ratio yourself.

Thanks, it works wonders!

posted on December 13th, 2010, 7:45 pm

Looks awesome, good to know that it uses the MMM too! Keep us posted 

I like the use of the older ships too and think it being set in a border region where Starfleet can't afford to send the newer ships is an interesting premise!

posted on December 13th, 2010, 8:53 pm

Is it possible for you to describe how the tech tree and general progression route is intended to work in your mode?

posted on December 13th, 2010, 9:00 pm

I honestly really look forward to this. It would be epic if this mod had a more "Sim City" feel to it, which I get the feeling that will likely be the case based on the focus with economy. It's also a perfect place to showcase NPC's in action. 

posted on December 13th, 2010, 10:22 pm

Is it possible for you to describe how the tech tree and general progression route is intended to work in your mode?

Well, how to start... in stock A2 and most mods, stuff is being researched or the respective producers are built (yards for example). Common knowledge. That's not going to work 1:1 though, since you just don't expect lots of laboratories and scientific facilities in an area that has only infrastructure from Kirk's era. So the player will progress just like a company upgrading its factory sites or whatever. You'll start with a rusty old space station and some ships for prospecting. Once you've build a corporate outpost you'll have access to industrial grade equipment, like proper mining freighters. Many players will probably ignore the trade station, but here it is very important since the trade gets you nice amounts of latinum, especially later when you can trade with allies or yourself. You'll also get yards, since several non-combat ships will be constructed there. And everything goes downhill from there. The Wastelands are dangerous, so you can get access to better combat ships once you have a decent base.

posted on December 14th, 2010, 6:12 pm

Welcome to this side of the galaxy Terra I havn't really been on FF in a while.

Oh, I remember reading something about this a few months ago on the FF forums. I will definitly be trying out this mod.

posted on January 28th, 2011, 11:19 pm

Iä Iä NecroThread fhtagn!

I've just been putting a few Klingon NPCs into Wastelands. Sadly, the Klinkers do not have enough fitting material available to make them a full player race, but they will appear as allies... or enemies, depending on the campaign you play. 

These models and textures were done by Avon and used w/ his permission. As for the class names I am completely incapable of pronouncing Klingon names, so bear with me if I don't recall them right now. They are available in his Klingon ship pack, which many people surprisingly aren't familiar with (and which can be found at A2F).

[img width=600]http://i897.photobucket.com/albums/ac180/Terra_Inc/kli1.jpg[/img]
A mixed Federation-Klingon cruiser fleet. Not too uncommon in one or two Fed campaign missions.

[img width=600]http://i897.photobucket.com/albums/ac180/Terra_Inc/kli2.jpg[/img]
The most awesome Klingon ship ever, the Che'var can produce insane loads of butthurt. Here we can see it with two destroyers, obviously ready to pwn. These are two of Avon's absolute masterpieces.

[img width=600]http://i897.photobucket.com/albums/ac180/Terra_Inc/kli3.jpg[/img]
Now what are they up to? Those battlecruisers mix a lot of the D-7 and Vor'cha design features, while looking much more up-to-date than the two. Although they seem quite menacing, I'd bet they're here to talk about some Cardassian mischief.

[img width=600]http://i897.photobucket.com/albums/ac180/Terra_Inc/kli4.jpg[/img]
Now it's obvious that the cruiser in the middle is just a refit of the other ones. The two make a good combination, with the refit being the more powerful, but also more expensive one.

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That's it for now, stay tuned. Work in progress.