Light Fleet-Ops Mod for stock STA2

posted on August 1st, 2010, 12:20 pm

Is it possible to make sort of a lite version of the fleet-ops mod for the stock STA2 installation?  I know it won't have as many features as the full fleet-ops mod, but it would add an interesting twist to the stock STA2 gameplay.

posted on August 1st, 2010, 12:22 pm

some stuff would be portable, but almost everything is FO specific now

I don't get the idea behind that. If you want to play FO, why not play FO? ;D

[TChapman500]

posted on August 1st, 2010, 12:39 pm

Last edited by TChapman500 on August 1st, 2010, 12:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.

A lighter version in the stock STA2 installation would improve performance on low-end machines.
Map depth gives you more of a challenge when setting up your defences.
The resource system makes maintaining your resources slightly more challenging.
It's easier on the developers to have those #include lines in the ODF files.

I like most of the game-play in the fleet-ops mod in terms of player units.  It requires the use of less powerful ships in combination with the more powerful ships to win battles.  But the stock STA2 has a more realistic feel in terms of what map objects will interact with your fleet.  Such as gravitational fields slowing your ships down.  Or having an asteroid wall in tactical view literally blocking your path (as opposed to a flat asteroid field that technically, a ship could just go over and around.  The fact that stations, map objects, and ships can be placed at different heights.  And you are capable of travelling at warp speeds.

And one more thing, it's possible to do missions for the stock STA2.  Although, I would like to see more of a flexibility in the mission pack by having a custom missions area.

posted on August 1st, 2010, 1:00 pm

vanilla a2 had a lot of problems that you seem to like lol

the 3d nature was annoying, it may have been more realistic than 2d but it still had problems, it wasnt fully realistic as space has no boundaries. plus 3d placement was just boring, i hated when my fleet would go really high or low for no reason, whats worse was that height was controlled by the same key as multiple selections.

the resources were interesting, but relied on a stupid planet system where colonies were formed and people had babies really fast. and the planets were tiny.

Warp was a mistake, plain and simple, you could run everywhere at warp, warp in, fire off a salvo, then warp out, all torps fired would then not hit you. it seemed good on paper, but was awful for a game.

the only way i would like to see warp in fo is maybe a "warp lane" where map makers can place routes where warp can be used. so these routes would go nowhere near bases and would allow getting accross huge maps without boring wormholes.

fo doesnt have very high system requirements, turn down the graphics/resolution and optimise your computer and it will run, unless your computer is really really really really old. in which case its time to buy a new one or upgrade this one.

posted on August 1st, 2010, 1:15 pm

Have the devs consider a warp capability for ships that requires a cool down before reuse? So ships could get places more quickly, but once stopping, they couldn't jump back to warp again for a while. This would make for quite interesting tactics, but bigger maps would be needed as small maps would become "smaller", too small...

posted on August 1st, 2010, 1:21 pm

many of those features are still possible and i had made a more realistic warp feature

posted on August 1st, 2010, 1:23 pm

I know how to fix that planet population thing.  However, having a realistic population growth rate is not feasible in a game where the growth rate of everything has to be increased enough for the game to be playable.  What if everything took weeks, months, or years to build.  Nothing would get done in a playable manner.  We have to overlook that fact.

And in STA2, where a map can be a maximum of 50,000 units across, well, even if 1 unit was 30 meters, that would only make the map 1,500,000 meters across.  Only about 3 times the distance between Earth and the Moon.  The planets cannot possibly scale with the ships unless the ships are so small that you can't use them.  It's a limitation of the STA2 engine.

Selecting a units height is easy.  Although I will admit that it's a bit annoying to have the height select key the same as the multi-select key.  Bypassing that bug is easy.  And on deep maps, you can place stations right underneath each other and none of the stations interferes with ships docking or unlocking with stations.  That's my favorite part.

A warp cool-down time would be realistic.  I like that idea.  But I would like a lighter version of fleet-ops for the stock STA2 installation.

posted on August 1st, 2010, 2:20 pm

The idea of a "lite" FleetOps had occurred to me too, and I've been (slowly) working on it in my own game. For now, all I plan on doing is transferring the textures. But once that's done, I'll begin the real modding work. I'm not sure if I'll ever finish my mod, but if it works and I really like it, I'll post about it.

posted on August 1st, 2010, 2:52 pm

well the fo team are (or were) working on the patch project that was to bring fo features to stock a2 but due to rl and fo development (and some other issues) it has not been updated since MVAM was introduced) I did have a mod for an old version of FO that makes FO into A2 but there were issues such as cargo ships not working and 8472 behemoths neb creator just kept ctd (also now pdp do not work) so i fear that there aint much that can be dne to make a 'lite' version of fo in a2 as 90% of the coding has not be brought accross yet

posted on August 1st, 2010, 3:25 pm

The coding might not need to be brought across.  I just want the basic fleet-ops balance in STA2.  Where vessels don't become obsolete as easily.  Although, I would like to have as many of the units in as possible.

posted on August 3rd, 2010, 10:32 am

the balance cant be seperated from the coding, sorry. Its possible to port perhaps 15% of fleet operations. Wont happen 

posted on August 13th, 2010, 4:08 pm

... that would only make the map 1,500,000 meters across.  Only about 3 times the distance between Earth and the Moon...

The thought of the moon being only 500km from the Earth's surface is a terrifying one...

posted on August 13th, 2010, 4:25 pm

The thought of the moon being only 500km from the Earth's surface is a terrifying one...

it doesnt terrify me, the lower gravity would mean i weigh less

the instant way to lose weight, go to a lower gravity environment.

as part of a healthy balanced diet