General impressions

[Chimaera717]

Another question - in this new version, there are "string not found" errors on practically every other line of text. I would like to help correct this (it's a small fix, but it's substantial), but I don't know what files those codes are located in. Any help?

[Evaders99]

All the strings are in the english.str file

[Chimaera717]

K.

 

On another note, firepower for the new races needs to be SERIOUSLY amped up - whereas an Impstar Command's forward batteries do 106 damage, the MC90's do like 40. I've been trying to play as the NR against the Empire and the ships just simply cannot compete in terms of firepower.

[Evaders99]

I know the MC ships are supposed to be less weapons, tougher armor. Whether that is what Eville intended with this, I'm not sure. Might need to see if he responds to this

[Chimaera717]

I agree with that...but this is WAY too little of weaponry. I would say the proper ratio is 100 to maybe 75 or 80.

[jester17]

It's not just the MC 90, all the NR and Vong ships have very low firepower. I don't think Eville intended this, but just hasn't quite worked on balancing the new factions yet.

[Chimaera717]

Yeah. It just makes it very difficult to compare factions as far as balancing goes at this point.

 

It really makes no sense for the cruiser-class Nebula SD to be ridiculously more powerful than the MC90. xD

[Chimaera717]

Also, I feel like the Rebellion's ships are a little overpowered - a good player with a Liberty-variant can hold off, at the very least, a ISD Command and an ISD-II just by using backup shields at the appropriate time.

[psychoak]

That's just AI versus a player though. An ISDI with level 3 ion blast can disable the alliance ship for 20 seconds a pop, and pull off three in succession. Level 3 backup shields will replenish 15000 shield points and has a two minute cooldown. Ion blast becomes vastly superior to backup shields when the dps exceeds the requirements to make a kill before it wears off. It's not a good match 1vs1, but the ISDI is a fleet command ship, not a solo tank.

 

Use oppression to draw fire to them, disable the main threats, and polish them off while they're disabled with your relatively safe supporting fleet. I recommend Broadsides and Loronars early on.

[nagatron]

So far so good. I'll start posting in the next week or two often enough that you'll probably want me to shut up.

 

I haven't seen another place to list our backgrounds but I've beta tested many kinds of software including numerous Star Wars mods across various genres and companies. I've had limited experience with open projects like this one but I understand the system you all have set up.

 

Games tested since Alpha or closed Beta not counting some of the ones I'm doing now under NDA:

Lineage

Guild Wars

WoW

Warhammer Online

Age of Conan

Aion

Battlefield 2142

Bad Company

Bad Company 2

I'm forgetting a few but the rest either went vaporware or weren't big enough to mention.

 

Like I said before I've tested a lot of mods and I know the Star Wars universe very well. Looking forward to seeing this project completed. Thanks for bringing me in.

[NovaCameron]

Welcome. I hope you can test out my planets soon. Help me balance them a bit. Oh and the maps. Lots and lots of maps.....

Though I do agree the ALL ships need balancing... Not sure about the rest, haven't played it enough. Ah well it's beta time!

[Evaders99]

Hey, whatever you have time to contribute - go for it!

 

We're not really going to "hand-hold" people doing modding, so just find something interesting you want to work on and do it. If we like your changes, then we'll add them to the mod

 

This is a free mod project after all, done in our own spare time. So it's not really like any actual production game, with it's own funding, servers, beta cycle, deadline, etc.

Looking for people that are really self-directed, as I know Eville and myself don't have time to micromanage anyone (nor would we want to).

[Lharrs]

I have not yet played the NR or Vong, yet I have played some of the 1.0e mod with friends - that have recently been burnt out by warlords

 

so far we found these basic things through general playing and some instanced testing.

Generalities for the factions:

 

- Rebels have tough MC80/MC80a cruisers. When tested against comparable numbers of ISDs and fleet caps, the MC80's were able to ripe apart the ISD's w/o having to use their back up shields. I say rip apart because they have about the same firepower as the ISD's with a few thousand more shields and backups. Even in fleet combat with mulitple vessels, the indipendant ability of the back-up shields far supasses the ISD's ablitlies.

 

- The Empire is fairly weak in the cruiser department but more than make up for it with the SSD. Many of their Cruisers are in fact as advertised multipurposed, but too much so. When watching hte movies, there was a sense of dread when seeing an ISD but not in the game. I find myself going with more dreadnaughts mixed with carracks. I do this because in the game crystal is difficult to come by (unless you buy for the black market which, imo is a bit meh to me, I mean to me it isnt very 4x it is more of a time increase button for an RTS). I save to build the SSD and once I do that it is pretty much game over. I build enough dreads (and carracks until I get a strong econ going) so soak up fire and expand the empire since metal and creds are easy to get while saving the crystal. Once I get a SSD I have never had a problem in killing everything this is why I stopped playing the empire.

 

- The CIS, well they kinda bit to be honest. Not ship wise just feel I guess. Ex. would be the fastest way I found to expand with them is trafed IIs; Lucrehulk Core's, maybe some Bulks but more likely Providnce Cruisers. I spam the heck out of the trafeds which have the 15 crys req for them. They are great sept that unlike any other ship of its size the need to turn to about a 45 degree angle to their target before they launch the missiles, their main weapon. Since they turn to broadside the missiles, they take a long time to go from target to target. I would assume though that if there are a zillion ships in the enemy fleet though then that would turn around a bit. The rest is basicly a feel thing. I like the look of the Banking clan frigs and the more ship looking ships. I personally dont fancy having large fleets of rectangles, spheres, and ovals (trafeds, LCSs, and Bulks) attaking a fleet unless they look like the borg of course. That being said, it just happens to be that those ships as far as I have seen the smartest way to go about things with the CIS. I have 2-5 frig facts going with at least 2-4 frigs qued, when I get to the point that I have about 500-1000 crystal on hand, with the qued ships I add a few others in there and research. As it is, I have exspansion fleets of 50 trafeds and a one LDCS. I also havent noticed a huge effect of the buzzdroids, I assume I am using them incorrectly. My early battle fleet normally has about 100 trafeds 10-20 LCS/Bluks and 5-10 Provs. The CIS has low fleet cohesion abilities with few strong independant ships.

 

- The Republic is the one I like the best because of the fleet abilities it has, I mean the Clone Venator and hte Jedi Venator are awsome for early fleets. With the firse 100-150 fleet cap I get a ARCS Venator Cap and like 20-30 bayos. I have yet to see how a battle between bayos and Vics would go down. Anyhoo that is a long tangent I wont get into. Overall, fleet wise it would seem that the Republic could kick some serious but with 1-2 ARCS or ACRS or whatever venators same of Jedi Ven. the mandator and Praetor caps mixed in with a few other ships of the line. All the fleet bonuses that are given to them make them dang hard to beat in a fleet, which in most cases I have found has beat evetrything in it path save for an SSD heavy empire fleet.

 

Bottom line, when it comes down to single ships, the rebs seem to hav the upper hand, frigs get the assault frig 2 and cruisers get the MC80's and the MC80a's. For Cap ships the Empire and only for its SSD, I have never used the torp sphere. I have seen 4/8 Mon Romandas die to 1 SSD before they got its shields down. For overall fleet strength it is the Republic unless they meet up with an Empire player tat has managed to SSD their fleet. The CIS are at the bottom of the barrel in this one. I like robots but these ones are toasted to all others.

 

Again I havent played the NR or Vong and I have only played with my friends that only played a little bi themselves. I love the mod cant wait to play more. Hope this helps point out strats that work against what i have stated and I will try to test them out.

 

Take Care and God Bless,

Lharrs

[Chimaera717]

Eventually, the NR will be able to match the Empire in capital ship strength - the Viscount was built for the exclusive purpose of taking out a Super Star Destroyer. I love your assessment, and although I don't hate the CIS like you do, I agree with most of it.

 

I also despise the Torpedo Sphere and wish we could replace it with something else.

[Lharrs]

Perhaps I came off a bit too much as a CIS basher, I love the CIS from a cool robot point of view. As it stands right now though, when I play them it seems that all the ships I would be hitting the enemy with just dont feel very... something. Can't really pin point that, there is just something missing when I play the CIS. Like I said before with their lower class of frigates the trafedII seems the way to go but the way it fights seem to make it less of a power house then what it might be, again I haven't played with them in large ship engagements however in small ones, I always need a cap ship there to to pull the computer to it so the trafeds can position themselves. I have even had half of my trafeds going after fighters when there was a cap ship and a few heavy cruisers inplay to content with. Back to the ships though, I goto the cruisers, I like the look of the recuesnt or whatever it is called ( I can never remember the names, Lharrs=Dunce) but the ship has low firpower and looks to be fighter killer not a combat ship (ooh, that brings me to something else *) and as such is on no real use to me. The munificent looks cool but it is an EWar cruiser and not a main line combat ship and again is nearly usless to me. Sure it helps to ahve a few in the fight but really, when there are about 2 to 3 hundred ships malling each other the munificent isnt that big of a use. I guess it is because the way I look at the game is in terms of crystal not anything else, at least not in the long run or even middle run for that matter. Why spend say 315 crystal, i think, on a bulk cruiser when I could spend it on 2-3 LCS or on like 30 trafeds. The way the game is set up ( not the mod, the game itself) it makes trying to have a functional economy a non issue. Spam trade centers and sell you excess metal that builds up, buy crystal or in my case spam lower class ships to have a large fleet that covers everything then when you get attacked converge and simply replace the 40 ships lost, no biggy. They lose 2 to 3 times your number and it is frigs cruisers and caps, you lose frigs, fair exchange in my book, well not entirly.

 

Kinda got off track on my CIS there but it is kinda valid. That is how I had to fight a three front war against two allied comps on one side and one irritant on the other. I just made sure I had a war fleet ready to go against he lesser of the two fronts and held the other on off with numbers. I mean when I have the crystal to build cruisers at hand, I do it but normally since I constantly build ships the whole game, it is a question of 1 LCS or 6 trafeds, and crystal wise it is an even bigger difference like 10 trafeds or something. Perfect example, 1 Bulwark cruiser or 21 trafeds. Granted I have ot keep eating up fleet cap and with that there is the added cost of maintinance but when I plan to lose half my fleet ina fight because I have so many fronts to cover then it is ok. Also because the econ focus I give to my planets, if I ever need to make a heavy hitting fleet, then I just stop adding frigs to the ques wait 30 secs and build a few cruisers, since i have tons of cred and met, I can also just sell that off to get what I need to in crystal.

 

I would think that (if there is a way to do it of course) a way to add a bit of a strategic element to the game, is to eliminate the ability to buy crystal and or metal. Just allow players to put metal and crystal up for auction. Basiclly, just make it so the only way anyone could get my crystal is through another player, that would totally change the game cus right now there is no real need to go after crystal righ planets in the mid to late game when all you have to do is build trade centers. I dont even build refineries anymore. I only say this because a strategy used by one of the people I play with is to sell tons of metal and buy crystal to build Vic class cruisers for the Republic and just make fleets with those, which is fine and all, but as a result it make the game tougher for me in the long run. They whine whe nI attack them early in the game so I have stopped and because of that I dont fight them at all until late game which is when they have mandators and praetors. If I would be able to hit them early in the game with the 40 bayos and 1-2 Command Clone Venators i have then they could see that their plan is folly....

 

Again I stray, sorry, basiclly it is this if the buy and sell option for the pirates was negated somehow then the game takes on a more strategic role due to the fact the we can now not just summon crystal from thin air, I mean if all the grav wells were colonized then who are we buy crystal and metal from and where are we getting it. The Ideal fix would be to only allow crystal and metal trade between players. Anyway, I have to go eat.

 

* I have noticed that (and I could be wrong or have just missed it) fighters and bombers arent, it seems, having as big an impact as they had in the Star Wars series. I mean shouldn't there be something in the abilities section of bombers in general to allow a chance for a critical hit every now and then, an ability perhaps, that disables something or does large damage or something. I know that the Jedi squadron has something like this but I havent ever felt threatened by them. As it stands right now, I feel no fear or dread when I see hordes of fighters coming my way. I have never built anti-fighter ships in any quantity to support my fleet, I just build fighters on my cap ships and heavy cruisers along with a couple bombers. Perhaps I am missing it, but as of 1.0e release the fighters I have been tangled with seem extra and non-itegrale to the over all fleet. I may lose a couple frigs to them but that is about it. My bombers may hunt down the one or two enemy ships runnning away but when all is said and done, due to the shear amount of resources that can be generated in the game when you have 5-10 planets let alone 20-50, two ships run down are no big deal.

 

Take Care and God Bless,

Lharrs

[Evaders99]

Great feedback so far. If anyone has time, we'll continue to tweak and see how to make each side play better

[Lharrs]

Hello again,

 

I didnt point this out earlier but I am not skilled at all in modding anything just an amateur at playtesting as of right now. As I progrees in my Game Design career path I can help out but for now I can only sight things I notice. Sorry if I normally type a lot.

 

Have a good one, take care and god bless,

Lharrs

[Lharrs]

Hello again,

 

Played the Vong and the NR a little bit, so far since they aren't near completion yet, not much to say. The NR look like some Republic mixed with lots of Mon Calamari. The Vong, different.

 

NR - It was mention some place about the NR having a ship that was invisible in the middle, pretty much true, it looks to me that the out layer of textures are showing like the exit of a hanger bay or the end rings to the engines and the like, the core of the ship isn't showing (no clue if that helps but I try). I am sure that the Viscount Cruiser is perfect but it does kind look like a shoe horn dont it (top down view)? I mean what were its designers thinking.

 

Vong - I didn't see to many pics on them so I understand the bind your team must be in but the rendered ships seem to me to look too much like dirt clods, bug larva and weirdly color whales with tree branches sticking out of them. I am not complaining, again, I am just stating what I see. When I had looked at what pictures there were (and please point out if there are good representations or better yet, canon pics anywhere), I noticed that there were varying interpretations of the same ships. Seeing as the Vong grew their own ships, I would think that for the more whale like ships the thread like protrusions would be tentacle like in nature and as such for the mod, they should be moving or if proving to be a difficult thing to do (making look like a tentacle and move like would I would think would be tough to do) then not have them at all. To me the Vong ships look funny with the short stubby branches coming off of them. Would it be possible do you think to take a bit of artistic license and change the pattern of the skins for them? Say to a dark toned version of what the Vorlons had in Babylon five (just as a ball park idea). Some kind of living skin armor, the shifting of color pattern wouldn’t be necessary. Just a thought.

 

Take Care and God Bless,

Lharrs

[IronFist]

I think the New Republic could need a a heavy upgrade in terms of firepower, I don't know if you want to "design an new balance" or the NR is just too weak.

 

In addition I use the solution for the 2 gb ram problem, not hitting any minidumps or major bugs so far. Plenty of String not found errors but I think you're aware of them?

[soul0reaper]

Iron Fist, download the addon to the mod that was posted under the 2 gig limit fix topic. It fixed the strings not founds

[captain_chau]

it seems the bothan assualt cruiser doesn't have enough antimatter to use it's shield restore function but good mod so far!

[L0KI84]

I don´t know if it was mentioned before and its not really a bug. The Empires colony ship (Gladiator SD) can not be selected if you created a bomber oder fighter squad. If you try to select it you always got the bomber squad selected so you always need to zoom in an select it in close up^^

This is kinda annoying and should be easy to fix

[Evaders99]

Not easy as you would believe. Because Sins selects combat ships over colony ships, this will always happen. If the ship isn't defined as a colony ship, the AI isn't going to use it. So either you have a colony ship that doesn't actually work - or you remove the fighters completely.

[magnus64]

I have a request in terms of audio. I realize that this will probably be the last thing you guys work on along with aesthetics, but it's just a suggestion.

 

The music- The Sith Lords soundtrack fits magnificently. Hell, I'd say put in a few more tracks (Mark Griskey is very underrated and does excellent work)! You could always have more ambiance, and few of the battle themes would work great:

 

 

 

 

One thing about the music I don't like however, are those midi files of The Imperial March and The Asteroid Field. No offense if anyone here made them, but they just stick out like a sore thumb and end up sounding a bit silly. I mean, one moment I'm going from the TSL soundtrack with it's magnificent full orchestra (if you can't tell, I REALLY like TSL ) and then all of a sudden, I enter a battle it feels like I'm playing Atari. I understand if you can't use John William's stuff for copyright reasons (which you should be able to because you're not selling the mod for a profit), but those midi files really don't do credit to the original works at all.

 

If it's just a case of just not having the tracks, I have the entire clean unedited soundtracks of all six movies in mp3 format that I would be happy to contribute. Heck, if you need someone to handle music in general (if you don't already have someone that is), I would be delighted to help out.

[Evaders99]

I don't know if we could distribute it, but if you crafted your own soundtrack mod, we'd be happy to link to it