Its going pretty well thanks! I`m working on addind the commodities to quite a few bases by using templates and i`ve made up a new bomber run type encounter for a few ships to attack capitals. Totally stopped creating ships for the time being and just working on usefull things.
I have spent quite a bit of time playing Total War and they`ve given me a few ideas for things to add.
Can`t really give a date yet, but once the bases are all equiped, mbased and have commodities it isn`t going to be too much longer for me to finish off. The commodities are the last of these.
Gotta question, do u think its important to have unique names for every base? I have had them given generic ones for the time being like supply station and pirate stronghold. I`m not totally happy with that, but the prospect of adding names to an uncountable amount of bases isn`t much of a prospect.
It`ll probably be the last thing that i do before releasing, if i decide to do it.
The shadows will be staying, but i`d like to get a really good beam effect without having multiplayer ruining lag.
Thanks for showing an interest.

Good news!

In my opinion it should be okay, if you just give generic names to the bases. Only some special bases should get unique names, so that maybe in each system there is at least one base, which has a unique name.
If then you have some more time and have released a first version, you could still add some more names, if necessary.
Unfortunately I don't know any solution for the problem with the beam weapons. They really cause lags and maybe you can try to replace them with similar weapons, which do not do this.

So, good luck with all this and keep working on this. I'm really keen to see your work!

Black Eagle

Been pretty busy! I`ve re-done all shields, modified a few powerplants and added quite a few new sounds to the game.
This is really good, if you get close to an alien vessel you can hear their distinct sound. I`ve added sfx_.. type rumbles to their ships and som of them are a little "unsettling". Another good one is a system which is a shortcut between omega and hudson, its pretty much a derelict graveyard with over 30 wrecks (most containing nothing) and quite a few high level pirates doing the rounds. If you`re gonna use the shortcut, ur gonna have to work for it! Also, in this system i`ve added 8 black nebula fields to the main debris field. These have sounds added to the zones, so you can hear sampled distress calls repeating throughout the system. There`s 6 different samples so far, i `m really happy with them so i might add a few more. Its really erie.
I`m still finding quite a few things to change. I tend to start play testing, then fill up 2 pages of A4 for things to change. Then go through the list.
Blackeagle, Would you mind if I used your liberty gunboat in this mod? Promise to give proper credit if you don`t mind..

Hi Mace!

This sounds really cool. In most mods I miss some new sounds or music. Very good addition. And the shortcut system is a great idea. I hope I can try it out soon

Of course you can use the Liberty gunboat. Just be sure to give credit to the creator of the model ( it was made by "v(aster" for the Excelcia mod).

I hope everything goes well!

Black Eagle

New things today! I`ve gone through and got rid of the homeworld factions and ships. They have been replaced by factions more linked to the rest of the map.
The new factions are Independent Pirates, Sirius Rogues, Sirius Trade Guild, Altairans and Edilazians. The last two being from Altair and Edilaze respectively.
I think It might be a direction that I go in of creating factions that are assigned to a couple of systems. I could quite easily create another 10 factions each with their homeworld and border space. I think it would make things more interesting and mean it would be worth exploring.
The Independent Pirates and Sirius Rogues are really good. The Pirates have loadouts from every other pirate faction and even some bounty hunter and zoner ships. The Rogues have less factions but still a ridiculous amount of ships possible. The job i`m going to have is to make the new corporate factions interesting and unique. So far the Trade Guild use loadouts assigned to both house weapons and civillian weapons ( as do all corps), but they use all of the houses so you get a mixture of all of the weapon types. It works really well.
The Altairans have been given zoner and Br-corp loadouts for now. They`ll most likely get their own ships assigned to them as will the Edilazians who have ku-corp and zoner in the mean time.
I will most likely use some of the homeworld ships as they have a really unique design to them.
As usual, if you have any ideas then let me know

Can help but feel i`m actually getting somewhere, still can`t see a definite end but its at least getting nearer.
Got a pic from Wolf 359, Its going to be one of the biggest systems in the game (interest wise). I`ve changed the weapons now, the imperials no longer use rhineland capital weaps.
Federation vs Imperials

Federation vs Imperials
Also thought i`d show the new Navmap pic (i`d rather that nobody grabs it.. )
New Nav map

Edited by - M-A-C-E_166 on 8/9/2005 4:28:57 PM

Hi Mace!

This looks great. I saw some of your posts in other forums (general editing and so on) and it seems that you add some very nice features to the mod. So, go on with this and good luck.

I hope that the release is coming! (I'm currently very busy with other things and cannot play FL or work on my own mod the Monkeys, but I will come back as soon as possible).

Black Eagle

I think i'm getting close to the end of version 1.0. Most of the work is done i'm just finishing up some loose ends. Checked the size and it comes in at about 250Mb unpacked. Which is crazy. I have already gone through the ships i've added and redone all of them (like 40) so that they have one mat file rather than the previous one each (I was learning so i guess its ok) and i've saved about 4/5 of the size and its still pretty damn big.
I really ought to bring this version to a close so i can get some feed back. There is a few things i've done that i'm not happy with. But, i think i can work around it. I've been playtesting a bit and I really like it, Its my favourite mod that i've played and, I think, going to be a real challenge for anyone to fully complete it.

If anyone has any ideas regarding a commodity based quest sending the player around the systems then I could use a few. Its hard to really reward the player in an interesting and refreshing way.
One of them is going to be,"The person who you are seeking has been captured by the Imperium. We believe that the is being held at Jacobi Prison in the Sohoa system. For more information, we recommend you let the Federation hire your services and destroy the prison. I believe there is a Long range destroy mission available at.."
Then the player heads to federal space, heads to the base. Buys the Long range Destroy mission target commodity and learns the location of the Prison. It'll take a while to find the best way to pass through Imperial space, but the player does the base tractors the prisoner (and his journals) and heads back to the base of operations to get rewarded for the mission. Inside the journals is information on where to head next..
Thats just one of what will most likely be a dozen or more tasks to take the player through until the end of the quest..


Edited by - M-A-C-E_166 on 8/3/2005 8:04:03 PM

Hi Mace!

Great news! About the filesize: I might sound a bit hard for modem users (I got a fast connection), but I think that you should not leave things out just to reduce the size of the mod. So, do whatever you can to reduce the size, but do not make the filesize your most important aim

During the last days I worked on my mod very often and I will go on with this. So, if you release your mod soon, it will take some time, until I will play it, but I will definitely test it and come back here then!

So, see you around!

Black Eagle

Ships of Frontierspace ver1.0.
This isn't all of them obviously, just some of the custom ones that I have either made up or customised specifically for the mod.
I'm gonna have to use links to keep the moderators happy (there are quite a few). Some of the ships like the IMG water scheme and the Gaian Camo scheme were released previously. I have modified them in that all of the civ ships have their own unique archetype and skin. Also, the above two have been slightly improved in that i have layered the texture so that you can see the original civilian scheme underneath. All credit will be given when the mod is released so i'll just do it then.
Gaian Starblazer (Camo Scheme)
Gaian Hawk (Camo Scheme)
IMG Falcon (Water Scheme)
Hacker Dagger (Green Scheme)
Hacker Stiletto(Green Scheme)
Bundusch Dagger (Black Scheme)
Bundusch Stiletto (Black Scheme)
Bundusch Sabre (Black Scheme)
Bundusch Dromedary (Black Scheme)
Corsair Heavy Freighter (Normal Scheme)
Red Hessian Dagger (Red Scheme)
Red Hessian Stiletto (Red Scheme)
Red Hessian Sabre (Red Scheme)
Red Hessian Dromedary (Red Scheme)
Blood Dragon (Blue Scheme)
Blood Dragon (Green Scheme)
Blood Dragon (Red Scheme)
Bounty Hunter Tetra (Leopard Scheme)
Bounty Hunter Tetra (Black Scheme)


Edited by - M-A-C-E_166 on 10/3/2005 9:49:01 AM

Hi!

The ships look great! I also saw some other ideas from you (like the commodities you showed in another thread as an example). I can only say the mod seems to be awesome!!!

So, how long do you think will it take until you release a first version? It would be cool to see all this in a playable mod soon

But as I know from my own mod, take your time, until you think you're ready
I just want to say that your mod could be one of the best available FL mods, when it is out.

See you around!

Black Eagle, leader of the Monkey Universe Modding Team

Cheers Blackeagle, I know i did promise to release soon a while ago. Most of it is done. I did want to add an extra system called Belliati, a borderworld mining colony being plagued by pirates, but i'm not sure where i could fit it into the current layout of things.
I've got to:
Add new varied loadouts of all Armoured Transports
Add property flags to around 40 systems
Turn all of my destroyable targets into undockable bases
Move around most of the wrecks from the original game
I planned to add about 24 hostile factions throughout Sirius that could serve as clan factions. You cannot join them at all. Add their bases and patrolling ships.
Get rid of infocards showing up on the trade routes screen (might be a nasty one)
Go through who I acknowledge for all of the ships that have been added from various shipwrights and modellers. There's not actually that many unoriginal ships, I wanted to keep the feel of the original game by not adding too many ships of wild designs.
Well, thats pretty much it. Its not all that much, but, i'm sure i'll hit every bump along the way .
I have added some pretty good recent stuff. The blood dragons now also use variants of the drake with the komodo dragon scheme. In two options, the superiority "Mantis" and the Intercepter "Talon". Their stats are pretty much the same as the ku_p versions. I've also redone Liberty.. I've had to remove the story aspect (sorry to those who wanted that). I was just fed up with Liberty being so easy, so now you start at difficulty 5. The systems have been re-arranged and a few more new bases added. Its a hell of a lot better in my opinion. Bretonia (and the rest) have remained the same at least for now. I have increased difficulty throughout, bringing New London to be close to New Berlin and New Tokyo.
The police and more organized pirates also get the intercepter class in their ranks, overlapping loadouts with other ships.
Things like the superiority hawk have been changed. They all are 5/0 but lose their CD. It might seem weird, but if they are mixed in with Intercepters (faster and aimed at catching and holding ships), you get ships which are stronger than normal. Thus has been done for most ships with a 4/0 config and the Banshee Superiority is pretty awesome.
One of my main problems is with commodities. I've added them throughout, but (in hindsight) I should have limited the amount that each base deals in. In such a massive mod and using my base specific/generic system there's bound to be some short and easy trade routes. I think that'll have to be one for version 1.1.
Cheers for you support Blackeagle, u've been following Frontierspace's development for months.

Edited by - M-A-C-E_166 on 10/3/2005 2:02:47 PM

Hi again!

Just remembered that you were working quite hard on this nice mod here Mace.

However, it seems a long time, since you posted about it. Are you still owrking on it, or thinking about releasing it? Or did you stop this?

I hope the mod is still there and you can at least sometime release, what you have!

See you around, Black Eagle

So, is this one dead now?

That would be sad news...