Hi Jamie!

Of course I remember you, and I think I have to explain something to you.

In my E-maols I said, that I mybe would include some of your ideas in version 1.2 of my mod. This was because you wrote your ideas, when I was already finished with version 1.1 and was only trying to find all the remaining bugs and to fix them.

As I said. In the next version (The Monkeys 1.2) I will surely add some of your good ideas. So I didn't forget you. But it will take some time, till I release the next version, because I want to include many new things and I also got other things to do and do not have so much time to mod.But I surely will release a next version.

Anyway, I hope you have fun with version 1.1. And of course you can everytime tell me some other ideas!

Many thanks again!

Sorry forgot this:

I already found a great model for a new Nomad ship, which will be very strong.

Your second question I already answered in one of my E-mails. To make a cloaking device, which is balanced and which cannot be used to cheat in Multiplayer games is very difficult, or maybe even impossible. But I will look into this!

That's it.

Edited by - Black Eagle on 8/15/2004 7:23:09 AM

Black Eagle
The 'Monkeys'mod rocks!This is the best single player mod i have ever installed.For how long i have waited for someone to include the Órder in the game once the story missions are completed, and just out of curiousity, were you involved in the production of 'Freelancer'?, where did you get those house destroyer class vessels?
Just one more thing, i downloaded the milkshape trial package but it has no illustrations in the tutorial so it sux.The only thing i could make was something straight out of Ápollo 13'.I would like to know if people are allowed to send in sketch work of designs for custom ships, i would so much like to release the Darkness in Sirius, ha ha.
Freaking out, Vader{MERCS}

So far I like your mod. I only play in single player mode. But as with most mods I have noticed the new ships that have been put in LOOK great. Why do you guys Always over price and level restrict them so high. Are you afraid that we will actully use them. I have just landed on Kyoto,I go to look at the ships [I am level 12 there is only The Blood Dragon a V.H.F. cost $386.550 level 24. Now how are we susposed to use this ship and others,when you pose unrealistic restrictions on them. Yours is not the only one. Just a point when I do reach 24+ level that ship is never used because now I need a better ship. I have never played in multi-player mode, so I can not compare the differences. I would appreciate an answer to this.

Thanks for your good work keep it up............................ Azar

Black Eagle
Hello again,If you are open to idea's for your next mod,here is one,if the a.i. is now going to have regenerating shields and use of their nano's and batteries,that makes their capabilities similar to your own characters abilities,making them harder to kill(especially facing a group of thugs packing serious heat!)since the effort is needed to stay and kill them all(instead of trying to make a run for it) why not make the enemy craft eject a life pod (sellable anywhere the pilot is considered an enemy-say $500-up)seeing as you have made tradeable items such as scanners and tractor beams?

Still freaking out Vader{MERCS}

Black Eagle
More ideas-What if alongside your Armour upgrades,you could also have 'Speed'upgrades,'Sheild' regenerator upgrades and 'Energy based weapon 'regenerator upgrades? Different class hardpoint purchases?

Freaking out ,Vader {MERCS}

Thanks for your posts!

Azar: I did really think about what level requirement and prices I set for the new ships. You said you are level 12. In my opinion you can easily complete all missions up to level 15 or 16 with a ship like the Crusader (I think you can get it with level 8 or something).
The Blood Dragon is a Very Heavy Fighter. It is capable of mounting strong weapons and shields. It would be really boring to get missions with level 15 and complete them in such a ship. It would be like cheating.
If you look on the level requirements of the original ships, you will see that the Hammerhead got level 26. The Hammerhead is only slightly stronger than the Blood Dragon and thus the Blood Dragon got a level requirement of 24.
I know (and sorry for this) that my mod is mainly for high level players, but I already added some new ships, which have a level requirement under 20.
In my mod, I didn't want to change Freelancer, but I wanted to improve it and add some new things to the game. But I also wanted to keep the story as near to the original as possible, to keep the original Freelancer feeling.
I hope you will understand me, but you are always free to decrease the level requirement of the ships manually.
The only thing to do is to change one number in a certain file. You can look in these forums (search for "level requirement" or something like this) how to do this. It is really easy!
Anyway, I hope you will have fun with my mod. Thanks for playing it!

Vader{MERCS}: Many thanks Vader! I'm affraid, but I were not involved in the production of Freelancer. The Destroyers are in the original game and I only made them appear in the systems.
Your ideas are great. I think I will add life-pods to every NPC, because then you really get something for working so hard.
About the upgrades. I also thought about this and tried to include this already in version 1.1. But I encountered some problems and therefore did not include them. But I'm still working on these upgrades and I hope to be able to add them in version 1.2.

Many thanks to you two again!

For version 1.2:

I completed the new Robot system (2 dockable Planets, 3 Bases, some wrecks and some other things) and started to work on the surprise system. It will have a blackhole in it (the graphics are from Nephilim!) and some other goodies.

Thanks Black Eagle for clarifiying my delema. I just got the Order Ship Anubis.A fairly nice ship,with decent stats. I have played probibly have done this game at least 15 times, and i've noted that for the most part we tend to want an easer go so we can get the missions finished. I do enjoy the freelanceing part,a little more than the storyline. On your site is it always player vs. player? I have read the rules on some sites [excluding yours most of the time it is PvP. Also is there any cost envolved?

What about a system [or part of dedicated or designated for dogfight training. So you do not have about loosing all our stuff.

Well Thanks ........................................AZAR

Black Eagle
Thank you Very much for your reply,in regards to the life pods,would it be possible to make évery other' npc enemy faction a.i. ship eject life pods? I would still like some of the bad guys to be listed as 'MISSING IN ACTION' Heh heh
and would it also be possible to make bounty hunters sometimes challenge you to jettison your life pods if by chance they've scanned your cargo? like what the npc a.i. sometimes do for other items?(scrap metal, food rations,diamonds etc.)
Thankyou once again for the excellent mod and taking the time to reply to the posts of the 'Guild of Freelancers'.

Freaking out ,Vader{MERCS}

I finished the storyline with the Anubis. You are right of course it would feel like cheating,with any of the more powerfull ships. I do wish though that we would finish somewere other than Manhatten. I am almost 24 level and have enough cash for the Red Dragon, or is there another that you could suggest. So far I have realy enjoyed this mod. I have found that the badguys are quite a bit more difficult to defeat. This will ultimately make you a better pilot. Hopefully I will soon come across your Monkey Faction { were ever that is?}. Will you [or is there already a SP version of this mod that has no storyline? So we can start freelanceing sooner!

Keep up the great work.............................AZAR

Hey, Black Eagle,great work.
I've played the SP mode for several times, and you just give me the excuse to play one more time.
I found Lord Tekogo in nomads base, (this fat Japanese is still working for nomads,huh?) but I cannt find other fingures from the story. Why not put Trent's friends, Juni, King, Walker and etc. in your Mod? It will be great to meet them again in bar or battlefield.
B.T.W. there is a little bug. The HUD cannt display the structure of some new ship. In another word, choose a ship that does not exist in original game( conqueror for example) and point the little plane icon on the HUD, you can see nothing but some guns and launchers, the structure of ship is invisible.
Looking forword to your next edition.

Thanks guys, it's nice to see taht you like my mod!

Vader: I'm not really sure what you want to ask with your first question, but if I add lifepods to every NPC ship in the game, all the ships will eject these lifepods, if they are killed (of course not everytime, because some of them were not fast enough: "Where is this damn lifepod, I thought I loaded it in the cargoroom"

To the second question: Yes, this is really a great idea and I will include it in the next version.

Azar: I'm glad that you can understand, why the level requirements for the new ships are so high. In my opinion the Red Dragon is a great ship, if you just finished the storyline. Otherwise you can wait till you are level 26 and then buy the Hammerhead.

If you want really hard enemies, try to fight against the Monkeys and the Robots, if you got a stronger ship (I commend at least an Eagle).

The Monkeys and the Robots are in the bottom Unknown system, which you can reach through Omicron Gamma. From ther you can go to the new Nomad system.

There is and there will not be any SP version of this mod, because it works perfectly with OpenSP 1.1 by Xerx. So if you don't want to play the storyline, download OpenSP and activate it after activating The Monkeys 1.1. Then start a new game and you can freelance from the beginning (It's like in MP)

One question: I got an E-mail from a guy, who also played the story again with my mod. As he reached level 24, something strange happened. He could not level up anymore, and when he sold a weapon, he was set back to level 23. After that he could not level up anymore, because the requirement for the next level was "mission" like during the story.
Did you also encounter such a bug? It would be nice if you can answer me, thanks!

Powerdoll: I will think about putting some other characters from the storyline in the game. It's an interesting idea.

The thing with the new ships disappearing is a known bug. Sorry I forgot to write that in the readme. In the next version, this will be fixed. I only need to use the great Tool FL-AddRadius on the new models. So this bug will not anymore be in the next version.

Thanks again to you three. During the next two weeks, I will not have any time to mod. I will answer your questions here in the forum, but I will not have time to mod. So for the next two or three weeks there will not be any news about the next version.
Till now I got a new Robot system, the surprise system, with the black hole and one new ship.
One last question: As I said, I added a system with a blackhole. But you and the NPCs are not sucked into it, because the Freelancer engine is not able to do this. There are only different radiation damage zones around it. Would you like such an imperfect blackhole, or shall I remove it from the system?

That's it, thanks! Black Eagle

BLACK EAGLE
"Hi"again and thankyou for the reply,in regards to the éjecting life pods' whatever you do,I know it would be simply AWESOME as well dude!(I finished the storyline in the DRAKE K.L.F. ,was tempted to go with the R.B.Dragon but have to have the Guardian instead cause i've always liked the look of it,heh heh would have loved to have been able to do some more upgrades to the DRAKE though heh heh,I'll just wait and see what surprises you have in your next mod heh heh )

Still freaking out Vader{MERCS}

BLACK EAGLE
A Black hole? with danger zones? Wicked! It would be cool if you could have one that sucked in surrounding space and unsuspecting space-craft though heh heh.


Freaking out ,Vader{MERCS}

HI Black Eagle. I did try to do the open sp 1.1. I tryed to get it running, first off the mod mgr. said that it was incompatibility with open sp 1.1.I opened it anyway.The mod opened the same way, into the story line. A the second try I deleted my save games [or rather moved them and tryed again. For the third time it opened the same way. I did as you suggested monkeys then open 1.1 every time, I did not have any other mods open. Do you or could have an another approach that I could try

Thanks.......................................AZAR