Genesis Conflict Test Log

[AdmiralFishface]

Okay, well, the first test log is pretty useless, but I want to start this thread before I forget about it, and maybe this is good for a laugh or two.

 

"Date: Nov 16, 2004

TC status: Beginning phase.

Changes so far: Stats of every ship, fighter, troop, character and specforce changed, galaxy redecorated, some sound effects and graphics changed. Too much still missing.

 

Test Game: K1. Side: Klingons. Galaxy size: Large. Normal game. Easy difficulty.

 

Day 1

The story begins. Khan (who needs to have his throat examined, it seems, and who has an unhealthy blue aura sometimes) and his superior intellect go to recruit people on Kronos, the Klingon imperial homeworld (conveniently located in the not-yet-renamed Sesswenna sector in the very north of the map. General Chang (who has slight troubles with his voice as well) moves to the head of the starship research team in the Wistril system. (Yes, I've given main chars research abilities)

Chancellor Gorkon and his daughter Azet'bur try to add some worlds to the empire via diplomacy, and they have two Romulan ambassadors to help them. They're doing a good job, too.

Two Romulan-refit Klingon D7 cruisers are found in the orbit of Kronos (telling me I have to switch the slots for the Romulan and Klingon D7). They team up with two troop transports fully loaded with Klingon warriors and move to the Federation world of Balmorra.

 

Day 14

Balmorra is in Klingon hands. No resistance from the citizens. Romulan diplomat Nanclus does his best to calm the inhabitants down and, eventually, convince them of the superiority of Klingon rule.

Two B'rel class scouts move to the Sumitra sector, where Earth is located (yeah, I know, I'll change all the system and sector names later). Their fast warp drives will take them there in a matter of two weeks. (Their engines are among the fastest in the game now; I want to "force" the player to use them a lot; maybe I'll enhance their bombing abilities as well)

Two Romulan Birds of Prey warp over to a nearby system. Unfortunately, their warp drives are among the slowest, so they'll need a week only to cross the sector. (Their heavy plasma cannons make them good bombardment units, but they are meant to be obsolete pretty soon)

 

Days 30-100

A few minor skirmishes along the border. Romulan and Klingon ships raid Federation planets, meeting only minor resistance. Two Klingon ships damaged, one Feeration ship lost. The two Birds of prey meet with the B'rels to assault Obroa-Skai, where the Federation HQ is said to be (why it would be in a colonized system is beyond me). Together they destroy five Oberth-class scout ships and a squadron worth of Federation shuttles. The Romulan infiltrators, however, fail to bring down the planet's shields due to the planning of General Sulu (who looks awfully Wookie-ish) and a division of stationary defense systems. But the HQ is gone anyway, so the fleet moves on.

 

Days 100-200

After the unsuccessful assault on Obroa-Skai and the rapid departure of the blockading ships the whole sector declared themselves allied with the Federation. The Sluis sector is firmly in Klingon hands, after two disgruntled Federation worlds were "liberated" by romulan agents and the last planet fell to the mighty Klingon army. The fleet gathered again for a short raid on Earth, only to discover a heavy defending force (relatively) and the Federation HQ. One Klingon scout was destroyed in the battle, but the defenders' lines could not withstand the plasma firepower of the Romulans.

 

Day 236

After a short blockade, the Federation HQ is destroyed by a Klingon sabotage team (the Romulans were busy). One brave warrior died during the mission; he will be honored by those who fought at his side. Due to a error in the Klingon database, the recordings of the destruction were replaced by a wing of Dupes bombing a floating city to rubble, but the event was celebrated anyway; The warriors were too drunk to notice anything.

 

after that:

The damaged ships return to the drydocks for repairs. A small group of D-7V carriers raid the Federation borders, accompanied by even more B'rels. I save and quit.

 

Summary:

This TC needs a lot of work. Today's test, however, showed some positive results. The AI builds the troops I want them to and the new sound effects for the tactical battles add 100 points of Trek atmosphere. I hope I can change the models soon. Apart from that, there is still way too much of the original game still here. No surprise there. I knew I would advance slooowly.

Summary of the Summary: Woohoo!"

[Stellar_Magic]

Good work so far I think, just one thing...

 

The Romulan Bird of Prey from the Original Series actually doesn't have any Warp Drive, thats right zip. You made it the slowest, that is good, but maybe you should make it even slower.

[AdmiralFishface]

Well yeah; I'm just gonna pretend they fit a very basic warp drive into it... I mean a ship without FTL ability is pretty much useless.

Right now she has a warp rating of 3.5 in my calculation system; which equals a Reb Hyper value of 107 (the slowest there is). The Constitution has a Warp value of 7 (54) and the B'rel has 9.3 (40).

I might change it down to 3, but probably no further.

[BadSamaritan]

Looks good man. Keep up the good work!

[PHSYCOBOB]

Sounds like you're doing a great job!

[AdmiralFishface]

Had Test Game #2 yesterday... a worst-case scenario (finding out what the Klingon AI builds if I give him all the time and resources he needs). Well, after a few thousand days I encountered Romulan Birds of Prey. Loads of them. 30 of them over Kronos alone. And while their weak shields made each one individually very vulnerable (I attacked with superior ships, Excelsior IIs, Ulysses' and Soyuz'), their Plasma Torps (giving those BoPs one of the highest Torpedo firepowers in the TC) killed me. I need to reduce their rate of fire(but, actually, each individual torp salvo could be stronger).

 

So this is a problem. I wanted to have the Klingon AI build mostly Klingon ships. They build B'rels, which is good, but they're not using D7s and K'Tingas, as should be typical for them, which is bad. How do I make the AI like D7s?

 

Apart from that, most ships act too much alike in combat. Sure, they have different firepowers and shield strengths, but that's about all. I've had some thoughts aleady; like making the Rom BoP a bombardment ship, removing torpedo firepower from smaller ships and make them more anti-fighter (only real anti-fighter platform being the Soyuz) and have some cruisers that are good for little but ship-to-ship combat.

 

Come to think of it, Federation vessels are rarely specialized. If I focus this change on the Klingons, I might get a different gameplay for either side (<--desirable). That'll be my next objective (yeah, apart from replacement of graphics and texts).

[AdmiralFishface]

Another Klingon Test Game today. Changes since the last time:

 

- Replaced a good portion of system names with ST universe ones.

- Moved the sectors around so the map is roughly consistent with official maps (with the Klingons located to the right of the Federation)

- Switched some ship slots, so each race now gets some of their most classic ships as starting units.

- Adjusted some stats to make things interesting: Klingon ships now have a lot less shield power than Federation ones, but repair a lot faster (they use simpler technology), and they're generally cheaper and more maneuverable.

- More graphics replaced.

 

Things not quite right and some odd events:

 

- I tried to change Sol sector to high importance, with a most interesing result: Earth (formerly known as Yavin) was neutral, but my main characters were there. (I was playing Fed at the time). I could not control the characters, so now Sol once again is a low-importance sector. I guess turning Earth into more than the backwater hideout moon Yavin was isn't possible, either (Is it?)

- Fighters are still too weak and too expensive. I think they're ruining the AI's economy, so all I ever saw from them was a handful of scouts.

- Some characters have odd stats.

- I still don't like the thought of the Federation at war with the goal to conquer the enemies' home planet, while all the Klingons want is to destroy an HQ. I had the thought of Earth falling into the Klingon Empire's hands during the backstory, which would make taking it back the Federation's main goal, and would free up the Yavin planet slot for some more fitting backwater planet.

[Stellar_Magic]

Great start Mad78 but I've got a few suggestions.

 

With the Klingons, it would probably be good to make some specialized types of vessels, but I wouldn't have the klingon craft themselves be those vessels, make the specialists the Romulans, which is more fitting with their culture and style.

 

First off Klingon vessels (Except BoPs) have a lot of offensive firepower and a lot of shielding, but they're not manueverable and relatively slow. Federation ship weaponary is generally weaker as is their shielding, but the Federation weapons fire is more accurate (You can simulate high accuracy by giving the feds a lot of ion cannon firepower) so they can knock out individual systems on an enemy vessel. Also federation ships have better shield recharge rates and damage control then the klingons.

 

You shouldn't see a ton of the D-7s and K'tinga class ships, especially at game start. But there should be quite a few. The D-7 should only be second to the Bird of Prey (B'rel) in numbers. Also the D-7 is an intermediate ship equivalent to a Victory class in Star Wars. The K'tinga is much more like a Imperial class, but the Romulan Warbird of the era was its superior in firepower. The most powerful ship in the Klingon arsenal however would be a massive Klingon Superbattlecruiser (Can't remember the name of the class right now) That vessel featured enough firepower to make a Federation Galaxy class from seventy years hence wince (Indeed the Klingons kept using a heavily modified version of it alongside the Vorcha class vessels.)

 

Could you post a list of all the vessels you're using, it would help our critiques of your work.

[AdmiralFishface]

Hm, some very good thoughts! Sorry if I dissect your post a bit here, but I want to be sure I'm missing nothing.

 

Great start Mad78 but I've got a few suggestions.

...Hi, the name's Fishface.

 

...make the specialists the Romulans, which is more fitting with their culture and style.

Very true. Hadn't thought of that. I just don't use a lot of their ships. If I make the BoP a bombardment ship for planetary raids, and turn one of their ships into a carrier for Gravity Wells... Really a pity I can't introduce cloaking devices into their ships.

 

First off Klingon vessels (Except BoPs) have a lot of offensive firepower and a lot of shielding, but they're not manueverable and relatively slow. Federation ship weaponary is generally weaker as is their shielding, but the Federation weapons fire is more accurate (You can simulate high accuracy by giving the feds a lot of ion cannon firepower) so they can knock out individual systems on an enemy vessel. Also federation ships have better shield recharge rates and damage control then the klingons.

That's a bit different from my own thoughts now. Sure, Klingon ships have better firepower and maneuverability while Federation ones have better accuracy and shield recharge, but I don't see Klingon shields superior to Fed ones. I see their ships following a philosophy of 'the simpler, the better', so instead of high-powered shields they just add armor to their ships and keep their systems low-tech and easy to repair (that's why my Klingons repair ships faster than the Federation, which surely has the better repair teams. Only later technology Fed ships have superior repair rates to their Klingon counterparts). Good idea with the Ion Cannons, by the way, though if I don't find a way to change their color, I'll go with my current plan to slap them onto a romulan ship as 'special weapon'.

 

You shouldn't see a ton of the D-7s and K'tinga class ships, especially at game start. But there should be quite a few. The D-7 should only be second to the Bird of Prey (B'rel) in numbers. Also the D-7 is an intermediate ship equivalent to a Victory class in Star Wars. The K'tinga is much more like a Imperial class, but the Romulan Warbird of the era was its superior in firepower. The most powerful ship in the Klingon arsenal however would be a massive Klingon Superbattlecruiser (Can't remember the name of the class right now) That vessel featured enough firepower to make a Federation Galaxy class from seventy years hence wince (Indeed the Klingons kept using a heavily modified version of it alongside the Vorcha class vessels.)

I've yet to see how the AI reacts to my latest changes with Klingon ships, there's always at least one D-7 among the starting units, so that's fine. The K'tinga is researchable later in the game, much like the refit Constitution, as an improved cruiser, and I also use some Super cruiser (taken directly from Starfleet Command and Klingon Academy, don't know if that's the one you meant).

 

Could you post a list of all the vessels you're using, it would help our critiques of your work.

Sure.

Federation Ships, side views

Klingon Ships, side views, sans Troop ship

Both sides also have immobile Battle Stations as well.

[Stellar_Magic]

Sorry about the mad thing Fishface, been talking to Mad alot on mods lately. Okay looking at the list of ships I've noticed something, many of the vessels you've chosen aren't the most accurate list of vessels in the Federation and Klingon fleets during the time period you're showing.

 

Some of the vessels in the klingon list look more like ships from TNG (70+ years after the Kirk's 'death') They're are probably better vessels for you to use on both sides.

 

The Cruiser thats on the top of the page was what I was thinking of I think, when I pointed out the Klingon Supercruiser. I'll see if I can dig up some more info for you.

[AdmiralFishface]

I selected the ships for the list mostly for availability, as I planned to use converted Starfleet Command models, and many of them by personal preference. I realize this may not the best list to go with. I'd be glad to take suggestions. (For ground units, characters and everything else as well, by the way.) I'm not happy with some of the non-canon game stuff, anyway, but in case of the Klingons, I simply didn't find enough stuff (one of the primary reasons for introducing the Romulans at all).

[Stellar_Magic]

Well here's what I'd use off the top of my head:

 

Klingons:

B'rel class Bird of Prey

K'vort class Bird of Prey

D-7 class Cruiser

D-7A class Cruiser

K'Tinga class Cruiser

(Can't remember the name) class Battlecruiser

 

Romulan:

Romulan classic Bird of Prey

(Can't remember the name either) class Cruiser

Romulan refit D-7

 

Federation:

Oberth Class

Constellation Class

Constitution Class (NCC-1701)

Refit Constitution Class (NCC-1701-A)

Excelsior Class

Excelsior Refit Class

Ambassador Class (NCC-1701-C)

Miranda Class

 

Thats a start, I'll have to dig up my Star Trek Encyclopedia for more.

[AdmiralFishface]

D-7, D-7A and K'tinga? That would be 3 ships looking alike, with the same cruiser role. Isn't that a bit much?(Sure, I have the D-7V, but it's not a cruiser) IIRC, the D-7A was just a cloakable upgrade to the D-7, and we don't even have cloak.

Likewise, I'm not sure about using both Bird of Prey subtypes. We only ever see one type in the movies, and the bigger one doesn't appear until TNG (I wouldn't mind using both, though. Just make one of them a heavy destroyer available later in the game).

 

I think I know which supercruiser you mean, now, judging from your list; theBer'taa-class from Starfleet Academy. And your Romulan cruiser would be the Garuda class or Bird of Prey Mk II.

 

Constellation class is also a very good idea, but leave the Ambassador. It came into service at least 30 years after Kirk's "death".

[AdmiralFishface]

Status of the TC:

(warning, long post ahead)

 

- Majority of major planets replaced with ST names, and the galaxy (quadrant, actually) has its desired shape.

- New shiplists with some less-known but well-fitting starships of the franchise

- More tweaks to capital and fighter balance. Ships now die more easily under mass fire and don't regenerate shields as fast (giving fighters more of a fighting chance).

- More sounds changed. UI sounds replaced. Began to replace speech (but finding source material that fits is hard. My favourites are "Fascinating" for Spock leaving for a mission, and "Please let me know if there's some other way we can screw up tonight" for Kirk failing a mission.)

- More ship, troop and character graphics changed, and I decided for a look for the UI (it's gonna be hard, but doable.)

- Some more thoughts given to backstory - Earth now receives a treatment by the Genesis Device after which the Federation essentially breaks apart. graphics for Earth changed accordingly

- Strings changed a lot. The two sides were renamed to Federation and Klingon Alliance. This can cause confusion now, if remaining strings about the 'Alliance' show up. Needs to be fixed.

 

Test Run: Federation, Large Galaxy, Difficulty: Hard

The random unit allocation left me with only a couple Oberth-class survey ships and a few troop transports. I suppose Starfleet has suffered greatly under the war in my new backstory. (I wish there was a way to randomly damamge starting ships. Would give a nice touch.) Character randomization is nothing special: I get a few diplomats, a few admirals, one or two mediocre agets - nothing unexpected for the Feds.

 

Scotty goes and researches ships on the provisional HQ on Ceti Alpha, joined by Doctor Marcus and her son who work on new facilities.

 

Spock persuades Vulcan to join the Federation, and goes recruiting there (I always do this, and funnily enough he seems to recruit every Vulcan character there every time). Klingon agents manage to abduct him later.

 

Kirk searches the remains of Earth for remaining Starfleet personnel. He, too, is abducted by Klingon secret forces.

 

The remains of Starfleet roam the galaxy in an effort to free Federation worlds the Alliance has captured during the brief war, but is forced to flee the Klingon fleet. One Oberth falls victim to the heavy plasma cannons of a Romulan Bird-of-Prey.

After Federation shipyards finish the first Federation class dreadnought, I'm able to kick the Klingons' butts for the first time. Several enemy ships are damaged or destroyed, but the new ship, the USS Entente, suffers catastrophical damage, too, and is drifting above the newly-liberated planet, without guns, shields or warp engines. Another Oberth is lost, too.

 

The game crashes after a battle of a refit Constitution class with some Klingon Assault shuttles, but I manage to get some interesting results out of the test:

 

- Balance of the low-level ships works as intended. Romulan BoPs can blast Federation ships to pieces in just a few shots, but die easily when tagetted themselves. Fighters pose a threat to capital ships, but scouts and destroyers are very efficient against them. Ships often take heavy damage in battles, owing to their weak shields in comparison with their weapons.

 

- The Klingon AI is rather aggressive, but not extremely so. I've lost three worlds near the Klingon home system in 150 days, and several others were bombarded or raided.

-- Very interesting point to see there was that the AI seemed to use ist ships very much as I had intended them:

Fleets of D7 cruisers and Bird-of-Prey artillery ships fell into said systems, bombarded the hell out of them and landed troops, while several single B'rel scouts (which have the highest warp speeds until late game and very good bombardment ratings because of their ability to go into atmosphere and attack targets from close range) raided my worlds with quick bombardments which didn't do much damamge but upset the population.

 

- Something's not yet right with the galaxy settings and/or characters, as I don't see the AI use diplomats as much as it used to in vanilla Rebellion.

 

- Something's definitely not yet right with character settings, as characters which I designed for specific roles fail at their respective roles. I get Admirals with Leadership as low as 50!

 

- Need to replace more voices, now that I've started. And graphics, too. Mr. Chekov still looks like Wedge Antilles, and, still left from an earlier (mostly joke) modification, one Romulan researcher has the face of Wile E. Coyote. And don't get me started about Captain Kirk going to Dagobah.

 

But it's showing promise. As soon as I find someone to supply me with tactical models, or finaly get the skills to do them myself, it will really start to get interesting.[/url]

[DarthTex]

Fascinating! I think I'll have to go dig up my old ST encyclopedia book from the attic. If you have any quandries or problems are you going to ask (the peanut gallery) for suggestions? Keep up the good work, I like where this is going.

[AdmiralFishface]

Thanks Tex; I'm open to all questions and suggestions.

Only limit I've put on the story is that it's supposed to take place in the late 23rd century, i.e. Kirk's era. Most stuff after the Enterprise 1701-B's launch is ignored.