I second that!

Spectre

Hostile Universe currently only has 1 starwars ship in it, 2 probably in the next version.

Its mainly about the adventure, the ships are there to aid you in that adventure and are configured for that purpose and not to give you super human powers.

I am a Scifi fan though and there are ships from other TV programs and there will be some original ships appearing soon. I have a plan to build a pirate ship thats as good as a fighter but with a slightly larger cargo bay that fits somewhere between medium fighters and heavy. NOT very heavy. Class 7 weapons are the max i expect.

Theres also a plot in hostile universe that slowly developes as new versions are released. Building up some depth to the new places & ships ive added. Version 6 will see some major changes that make HU very different from other mods. The gap will increase even more as time goes on.

So as long as you can stand seeing an Xwing used by the police force of one faction you should enjoy it.

Its not designed to be easy for the player though, so if your idea of a good game is level 10 weapons and a sabre youd best look else where.

Giskard

I was thinking rebalance and hostile universe for newbies.....as in let them be rich

Heretic

Q. Giskard, how is it that you have a developing plot in upgraded mods?

And let me explain the reason why some of us don't like the other ships. We enjoy those other series just as much as we enjoy this game. But the universes our minds play in whether watching a film or TV or playing an earlier game, bring a life all to themselves. When you start mudding up the waters it diffuses the intensity of each thing unto itself. In a game that has no aliens, it would annoy me to see an alien space craft from another series. Because that sight of a ship which shouldn't be there comes with a whole history that detracts from this universe.

HOWEVER, if people were able to "completely" switch over a universe to an all Star Wars uni or an all B5 uni, then I wouldn't have a problem. The fiction and intensity would fit together, albeit in a form the creators never signed onto.

Spectre

Spectre, your my hero. You were able to put it much more astutely then myself. The idea of battleship conflicts and upgradeble engine components makes be drool, let alone improved AI (assuming it is improved and they don't just beef up the enemy ships, I hate it when the PC cheats to make it harder). But the idea of mixing worlds just takes the wind outta my sails. I like Starwars/Bab5, but I also like the Lancer world, it's factions and it's history.
Seeing a starwars ship flying about the borderworlds would be like seeing the Knightsof the round table ride through the halls of the death star. Knights are cool, they just do not belong in that setting. By mixing settings you make both settings seem less real.

Still, I long for battleship conflicts and more upgradable ships, so I may cave in and use rebalance..... but not before I flood these forums with (polite) request for a mod that adds on to the 'Lancer' world without mixing it with others.


On a slightly different note, I haven't given up on the idea of more random missons... if you can add ballte ship conflicts, I'm sure the other ideas can't be too far away. (For more info see the 'Mod Request: More Random Missions' thread)

Spectre-Man

Now that i can understand completely. I think im more half way between you and the others on this point. You see my solution was to slowly dedicate 1 system to B5, 1 System to Battlestar Galactica and so on. Trouble is, right now custom battleships have problems so the chances of a full TC are remove until we can sort out the lob and sur problems.

As for the Hu plot. Its not a lead you be the neck plot that the original campaign one. Its more subtle than that. Let me give you small example of a subplot that basically has not been finished yet.

The Minari Nial Heavy fighter.

Purchessed in Newmars.

Rumours about its alien apparence can be heard in the bars.
News of its availablity can be read in the news.

A wreck hidden in Newmars in V6 tells the player that Wilberry shipyards didnt design it as they claimed. The original ship appeared from somewhere unknown and Wilberry where simply handed the scans of the ship by the police.

Where the ship came from is part of the sub plot and may eventually lead to a hidden brand new system. The contents of that system is to be decided.

Thats just the small plot about the nial fighter.

But you can see how news, rumours and descovers can build up some depth in a mod and explain some of the confusing stuff you and players like you find so annoying.

So like i said, I think i site on the fence between you and other mods on this one. I dont really like mixing the ships any more than you do but i still want to see them, fly them and shoot at them.

BTW Hyperspace is the key feature to the plots im developing because it does not contain any tradelanes, it has jumpgates to all the legal factions home systems and sensors effectiveness have been reduced. So whilst you can go to Newberlin and use that gate to get into hyperspace, then go to Newlondon and do the same, thus establishing a route through hyperspace. The hidden systems are not connected to the standard systems and can only be find by flying with 1k of the gates in hyperspace. So when i say hidden, i really mean it

This is where the Bar clues are invaluable and why the plot is being built up slowly.

Some of the plots are original ones, others are just fun plots and some try explain why a minbari ship is even present in Freelancer.

What is fun is the way i can use the rumours to turn bugs into plots. Such as the old Starfury white texture problem is now a dodgy paint job problem done by wilberry shipyards. The old ships being recalled, repainted and re-released.

In short, I rebuilt the built model, retextured it and wrote a few rumours to explain it in game terms

Giskard


Edited by - giskard on 03-06-2003 01:54:30

Nice work on the dodgy paint job.
That's is the kind of thing that builds nicely, and your comments on 'quests' found via clues in the news stories is intreaging.....

But there are still starwars ships that just don't belong there. B5 is not that bad (I never watched it alot so I wouldn't know a B5 ship if I came across it) but starwars is so wide spread that a X-wing will never be anything other then a x-wing.*sulks*
The thing is that I (and meany others) want to enhance FL without adding features or other things that make it something other then freelancer. It's hard to explain. I have never been above level 25, I don't know all the systems that are there already, I don't want or need new systems and ships. I don't want bigger, I want deeper. Deeper plots, deeper quests. The universe is big enough, but there is nothing to do there other then "level up" and fly from one pointless planet to another doing one of the four quest types.
Actually, the idea of little plots/quests hidden in the news is just the sort of thing I was thinking of, and the fact it's doable (and that someone is in fact doing it) gives me a nice warm glowing feeling. But the mod you have made is your own world, which is, of course your parogitive. I don't want a new world, I want a little meat on the bones that Freelancer provides.

Anyway, good on you for adding a bit of depth, and I may just cheak your mod out some time. It's interesting to note that everyone is offering new systems and new ships, all vastly inferior to the ample number of systems and ships already provided. What will make a mod stand out will be things like missions, plot and quests. Things that porvide a reason to go to those systems, or at least a reason beyond that of finding a better ship.

Just my 2c

Giskard, is rumour changing in your tutorial? I've read so many now I can't recall the specifics of yours? I still haven't read the "id" tut you linked to, it was down when I went there before and now I just keep forgetting.

I like the goal you are striving for, with your mod. But you're about 12 degrees off what I would have done, all having to do with the ships and the separate systems for those ships.

A system I'm planning at the moment, does the opposite. Battle for Earth has ALL the factions together at each other's throats. It's a gauntlet, no separation and very little actual dominion over space. They still keep their own systems, but around Earth, anything can happen.

Spectre

Edited by - Spectre-Man on 03-06-2003 08:15:54

I'd like to see more mods with themes other than ships my self. There are simply too many ship mods as it is I think. Dont get me wrong. I like my ships and my new systems but without something else, its just one mod that looks and feels just like any other mod.

The battle for Earth mod sounds interesting but it also sounds like your rearranging the pieces of the game without actually changing anything to make it feel different. Thats the danger you face with your mod.

However, there is lots of room to make it different, the ideas cool enough as it stands. Especially when it comes to colony worlds.

Giskard

Giskard wrote in his computer dialect:
"The battle for Earth mod sounds interesting but it also sounds like your rearranging the pieces of the game without actually changing anything to make it feel different. Thats the danger you face with your mod. "

You just spelled out the difference between us. Who said I wanted it to "feel different?" I want an improvement. I just played Privateer 1 & 2 again recently, actually I'm still playing 2. Those games feel different from one another and I like them both for different reasons. There are improvements to each I wish I could make, but if I felt like a certain style I'd play that particular game. Freelancer is a style unto itself. It feels just fine to me. I'm just doing my part to expand and improve the Freelancer universe, just as all of us are expanding and improving our own world everyday with our contributions.

And I don't take flights in Corellian cruisers and I don't have a Star Fury parked in my garage.

Spectre

I have a starfury parked on my Hard drive, 2 in fact. Lets call them the mark 1 and mark 2

I also have brand new ship called the X72 Soulstealer waiting to be fitted out

Giskard

Giskard, does your tutorial include changing rumours?

I read it. But its one of ten that I read and I can't remember which tutoriaal did what.

Spectre

Since it's my mod u're talking about, i just wanted to say that i'm thinking of making a Lite version of it, with only the rebalance issues and no other ships, maybe some original verisons, but not those from SW, WC, or Freespace.
Just the missions, ship encounters, tougher leveling up and of course the 3 levels of difficulty, that were here from 1.0 version.

I am currently working on an 'edit' which includes


Faster charging NPC shields, they go off and on and recharge like yours etc.

Recharging your shield now takes some of your weapon energy, this is greater the higher the shield you get, so dont put a lvl 9 shield on something that cant handle the energy, because you'll get firing probs

NPC shields now take energy like yours, so they'll get firing probs too

Missiles now track for the full life time of the missile, before it was quite short (around 2 seconds of tracking), now the average is about 12. Increasing the need for CM's.. They also have greater ranges and tracking FOV's the higher you go.

Max Cruise is 500.

Engines are faster

Thrusters now give a mix and match of more speed/better thrust times the higher class you go, with the Order thruster somewhere in between.

More chances for asteroid loot, in gold fields etc.

Faster, harder gameplay.



I wanted to include the bigger ships like Reynens maybe, but not go over the top with weapons and too many shields.

Also I thought beam weapons looked really messy ( and possibly caused server overloads, although not sure )


If anyone can help me with the bigger ships or has any changes or suggestions ( realistic only ), then i'll gladly make it joint mod.

I'm East Clintwood and I'm dumb.. well do ya punk..do ya what?.. i dont know[!