Lavo

Update: September 16, 2011 | Revision: 624 Hajen, Sacheen, and Agave (using the Tartan as a filler model) have been added to the game, completing the NR's frigate fleet lineup for now. Galofree and C9979 lander now cost 2 supply instead of 3, Lancer will now focus fire, Diamond Cruiser main gun range extended from 6000 to 10000 for balance, and some minor non-combat stat related changes to the Corona and Prowler.

Much obliged. Mmk. If my understanding of the ability is right, I can stack/cap the hull damage only while leaving the effects untouched. Will try that. Eh. Seems like a bit of a waste of time to code imo, and the Recusant is nice as it has decent hull for the price, though I admit I don't use it either. Unfortunately I only have access to the same files you do, those being the ones in the mod itself. Only EJ has the PSDs, if they exist. The Pirate raid bit is fairly glitched... It's something that's been noted on the Sins modding forum, that even though there is a limit for how many Pirate ships spawn per raid, the game doesn't adhere to them. The Pirates are essentially godmodders and hackers, no joke. Will do, thanks again for this. I know that IA2 and RaW merged. I was IA2 staff for a little while, and post on the IA2 forums from time to time. Good luck... All of those have either been requested, or in the case of the latter, circumvented, already. You should check out the Sins' modding forum. To explain what I mean by circumvented, while one can only have a max of 6 or 7 factions per mod (forget how many exactly), you can get around this by stacking multiple "mods" upon each other which each have different races in them.

Structures already have flak ability. Build more Hangar Defenses. Sins engine limitation. The file being called upon for the CIS/Rebels' lasers is RED_BLAST.tga in /Textures. Think you can take a look at this? Will look into this. I've yet to see a sensor scrambled vessel able to spawn fighters; iirc they've been screwed with so they take infinitely long to build. I have to disagree with this, and it would also entirely change SoGE. Matter of opinion. Not all factions have ships which fill each role. Each ship's counterdesc clearly says (or rather, will once I finish them) what they can do, aka. colonize, lay mines, etc. Shield Piercing tech is ONLY for missile hardpoints on ships. Hrm. Any suggestions on how large of a cap? I'm thinking somewhere between 5-15. Not sure why this is an issue. Why so? It's a cheap cruiser, meant to flood enemies, much like the Vindicator. Texture files can be found under the name: CAPITAL_IMPISDI***.dds With the *** representing the rest of the file, ex. _HULL_DA Activates a few of the Lucrehulk DCS' abilities. The mod needs a manual for many things... Won't lie, this is an issue, something I hope to do, or someone else to do, but I just don't have the time for it with doing other stuff. Plus... I don't even understand every ability in the game to be frank, such as Mag Pulse Warheads, I don't even know if it works. You mean for raids? The Republic's Dreadnaught has massive supply cost due to it's massive canon crew requirements. Though if you get 8 Dreads together they can match, if not a bit surpass, a Venator cruiser in total DPS (that is, each of the individual ships would surpass a Venator). Why? The Golan is canon and the time is better spend elsewhere. Will look into this. The ARC-170 is a filler, like how the Rebels have a B-Wing as a Y-Wing. If you've been watching the models thread, you'd notice I have plans to rig an Eta-2. Link's here. I also have the Delta-7, though I believe the Eta-2 would be a better fit, plus there's already an icon for it. I'd love having some help with model stuff. Seeing as how you have some 3ds skills, you have no idea how much I'd appreciate the help. If you're curious to reading up on Sins rigging, here's a link which details the entire process from start to finish. Also, converting from ALO to MESH is, for most models, not difficult. As long as all the materials of the ship (excluding muzzle flashes and the like) are under one material (which is a must for Sins), and it already has a UV map, I can rig things easily and fairly quickly. The ARC-170 is already a pretty good bomber. Though fighters as a whole need reworking; I was thinking of using the NTB-630 (EJ made a great model for it, which I have) for that role. Malevolence skin? Nice. ...Mind you IA2 has a skinned Malevolence, I'll check if it's EJ's.

I would imagine it would be a simple file change... Though I don't know specifically which file to replace, NovaCameron knows though. I also note that you'd likely have to replace it after each time you update, as iirc SVN will replace it with the 'correct' version.

iirc the smudge is a black hole. Only way to get rid of it is to slap in another backdrop.

Update: September 12, 2011 | Revision: 623 VSD II will now fire forward instead of turning to the side by default. The two side banks for the ANTIMEDIUM laser were halved and added to the forward bank, and thus not changing it's DPS. Kudos to the50first for bringing it up. (R. 621) Botajef Frigate now will join fleets automatically and has medium armor instead of light. This was done so the AI will properly use it as a repair ship. Not sure how well this will go down; feedback would be appreciated. The Acclamator I will now not automatically join fleets and has autofire set to off. (R. 623)

Update: September 11, 2011 | Revision: 620 Corona frigate has now been added to the game, for the NR. The Nebulon-B has had it's detect mines ability removed; it had it temporarily so the NR would have a mine clearer, the Corona will now preform this role until the Agave is added into the game. Alliance Heavy Gunship cost decreased. (R. 619) Prowler recon vessel added to the game. Originally, I intended to put in the Ferret (as the model is originally for the Ferret), but it's lack of shields made it useless, even with 500 hull and the sprint ability. (R. 620)

Little update... Using the links on Warlords' downloads page, (can anyone confirm if this is the most recent version of Warlords?), I've been able to find and get access to a handful of models. These models and textures, in .obj and .dds respectfully, will need some work before I can rig them up, namely merging all the materials of the model into one (this has to be done due to Sins' engine) and fixing the UV map. Some could use a skinning or two, though that's a minor issue. Full list of models: HW2's Warlords: Y-Wing (needs re-skin) Agave picket ship/Warrior EaW Warlords: K-Wing (turret material needs to be combined/merged with the main material) Sacheen/Hajen (ingame) Ferret (ingame) Eta-2 (haven't converted this from ALO yet) MC75 (will take the place of the MC60, haven't converted this from ALO yet) VSD II (not sure if the model will work well, it seems a bit borked... Have HW2's VSD II though, not sure if that one's better admitadly)

Doho! I've gotten my hands on a .Big extractor, and I now have access to EJ's old HW2 models, namely the Agave, Endurance, Ferret, and (another) Sacheen. Now all I gotta do is convert these and the NR fleet will virtually be complete. Just need another frigate, preferably the Defender, to complete the NR's set. I believe there might be a Warrior in here, which would do the trick. Edit: Would anyone here by any chance know how to convert from .ship (HW2's format) to something like .3ds or .max? Edit 2: Seems the Relic Dev Network comes with a bunch of Maya plugins, will get Maya and see if that does the trick (I really do love how Autodesk gives out free stuff to students).

I don't know, you'd have to ask EJ. Nope, it's the highest detail I got. It's one of EJ's older models, so the skinning might not be as good.

Shame. =/ In the meantime, I've found a nice looking (in comparison to Cracken's Dossier) model of the Sacheen/Hajen which I'll be putting in soon. Also put in a better picture of the Corona in the OP.

As you all may or may not know, I'm currently working on assembling the NR frigate fleet, and completing the NR cruiser lineup. However, I lack the models to do so As such I am are requesting, if anyone has them, to send me .3ds, .max, or the model format of your choice, as long as it's usable in 3ds max, plus textures if available, the following: Ferret (I will put in the Ferret or Prowler; whichever I get first) Prowler (I will put in the Ferret or Prowler; whichever I get first) Defender carrier Agave Sacheen Endurance (EJ did a beautiful version of this, I believe it might have been used in Warlords for HW2; if anyone can send me that regardless of the format it'd be much appreciated) I'm also open to suggestions for what should be used for the NR's colony frigate. I guess the Hajen would work for this, but it looks rather ugly, to say the least. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://i919.photobucket.com/albums/ad33/Lavo_02/SoGE/corona01.png Here's a little preview of what I'm working on right now, the Corona-class frigate, skins now displaying as intended. Kudos to Goafan for making the NM/DA skins and fixing up the main skin!

I don't understand this. Why should adv. fighters be lower down the line? In addition, advanced fighters are not necessarily better, except in the case of bombers. For advanced fighters, with the exception of the Empire, health is decreased for the gain of more firepower and/or speed and maneuverability. They are already coded like this; do more research in the Defense tree. The turbos receive two health and a firepower upgrade after research. While frigates could use some tweaking, to say that they are useless is false. They are not useless and can be integrated into ship fleets if used correctly. Mine layers and clearers, grav well, carriers, and anti-fighter frigates fill their roles extremely well. Combat-oriented frigates can be an invaluable addition to a fleet. The Nebulons and Bayonet for example have powerful forward firing weapons that deal great damage, and amassing them in numbers can take down individual capital ships with ease. Adding them to a fleet which has a few cruisers and a capital ship and you have one hell of a fleet. Like in Star Wars proper, frigates are meant to support fleets, attack in numbers, or both. I will also note that I plan to rebalance frigates later on; for now I wish to focus on finishing strings, missing ship models/art, and the NR and Vong, as when that is done I honestly believe SoGE will be ready for it's next public release, assuming all goes well with that. I am against this as unlike mines you build through the planet menu, ship deployed mines are not invulnerable and thus can be targeted by any ship at any time. Do you mean the last missile tech research? If so, as the game indicates, yes they do. The Gunship is a scout. It also has high mitigation, which makes it more durable than the Nebulon. I wouldn't use it for combat due to it's lack of weapons however; I'll look into the cost of weak scouts. More details please? Abilities, less supply, superior speed over the VSD I, and different armament from the VSD II. The Acclamator II is an extremely powerful ship, one whom I will likely nerf a bit. Though, whether one should use one over the other is a personal decision; I personally like using them over the VSD I due to their better speed, which allows them to keep up with the fleet and their abilities, even though they can't dish out as much, and cannot take as much, damage than a VSD I in ship to ship combat. This isn't a glitch in either case. In the case of the Venator it makes perfect sense as it's main cannon are more powerful on a broadside as then it can fire all four of them. In the case of the Victory II this is due to it's "secondary" lasers being side firing only. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I believe CG is an abbreviation for cruiser. "S" means either star or super; the former applies to the MC90 while the latter applies to the Providence. Originally the Providence had SD, for Star Destroyer, attached to the end of it's name but this ship is not a Star Destroyer, contrary to some silly comment on George Lucas' end, and thus I changed it.

That's bad luck on your end mainly. There's seven planet sizes (as in scale) in the mod (in order of size): moon, dwarf, normal (Sins' standard), large, huge, super, and titan (this one's an uncolonizable gas giant). As you see odds are you may or may not have an abundance of larger planets; it all depends on how the random generator decides to play out. As with planet sizes, this all depends on luck. There are games where I've found crystal-rich Ice and Crystal planets early on, or an Asteroid Belt/Space Junk which has a ton of resources period. Once you colonize some planets, aka. by mid-game, or as soon as you get a high population planet (like an Ecumenopolis or High Terran), you will notice costs will seem more in line with what you are used to. Prices were increased a little while after the planets mod was added in as they were causing an abundance of resources by mid-game. I'll admit that the NR isn't done yet; they still lack their own frigates. I'm working on this now however.

I'll look into this; odds are I have missed a file or something. Edit: Thanks for the heads up; I did forget some stuff. Update: September 5, 2011 | Revision: 618 Missing files from previous update have been added and Nebulon-B has been reverted back as it should be (I was using it as a testbed for the Corona).

Update: September 4, 2011 | Revision: 616 E-wing has been added in for the NR. Shoutout to Goafan of SW: Requiem for getting this thing rigged up and making the DA and NM textures! This model is one of EJ's old Warlords ones, and ingame it is essentially an A-wing with an extra armor point. (R. 615) Strings added for Alliance and CIS cruisers, Buzz Droids glitched fixed. (R. 616)

The ships that can bomb planets have been chosen to do so; you can control which ships bomb planets. Though your dropship idea, while a bit of a workaround, wouldn't fit in SoGE as there are multiple abilities which clearly depict bombing and destruction, such as Base Delta Zero.

I know all about that lol. Evaders, If you see him around, would you mind telling him I'm interested in grabbing the soase source models. I could do a bit of rerigging for all the ones that are broken (Present and future), for him. Do add in, if possible, to send in NR models, even if they are in .3ds or .max. I've been working on rigging, as seen with the Corona, so I can get things ingame if given the models (and assuming the basic UV map is already in).

There plans to upgrade to Diplomacy once the Entrenchment version is done and ready for another public release. Before adding more things to balance and code, we are far better off getting what is currently on our plate done. This is not possible to my knowledge. You'd have to talk to Nova about this; I know nothing about skyboxes and am not willing to put in time and resources for them.

It's actually impossible. This is one complaint that even players of stock Sins have; it's hardcoded.

Epic! I'm assuming your Mantis nick is the same as your nick here?

Allegiance is a value that can only be changed via culture and abilities. Fleet Supply is increased through research. This is besides the fact that such an ability would absolutely cripple the Empire and make them useless in comparison to any other faction. Here's the importer. Eh. The AI wouldn't be able to use it well, the Imp ships wouldn't work well in the Rebel's fleet, and the AI techs up very early in the game. With regards to this, the Rebels are already the second most powerful faction in the game, after the Vong, they do not need to be beefed up even more. I need a map name as what you are talking about requires more than simply editing the map; it will require GalaxyScenarioDef file editing. I do indeed have multiple IM clients, I'll PM 'em to you.

Impossible under Sins' engine. Yep. Have you noticed how some planets have negative income? Maybe in Rebellion; currently impossible. Not entirely sure what you mean here. Strings, specifically the bit that says what each ship is good for, is being worked on, the Frigates have these already. Also the two ISDs are indeed very similar, from a coding perspective they are nearly the same, the two have different abilities, slightly different weaponry, and the ISD2 has better acceleration. Unfortunately only EJ can answer this question. Also, there's a .mesh to .xsi tool/script on the Sins forum by myfist0, unless that's what you are referring to, can get a link if you want one. If you're able to get this working, do let me know, as I'm planning to do this so I can get some HUD icons for the Vong. They're simple additions to the base name, SD obviously being Star Destroyer, though I admit I'm not entirely sure what "CG" is. They're there for flavor really. I'm really not sure what you're trying to say here. Do you mean something like the Vasari's Dark Fleet ability? Everything can be targeted automatically, engine restrictions. Also these abilities are indeed in the game; the Lucrehulk DCS' Blockade is what you are thinking of. I'm not sure this is even possible to be honest. Can you expand on this? If someone is willing to do that, this would be awesome. I'm no modeler though... Examples please? The Malevolence has no skin. They're only in .mesh atm, unless Evaders knows of a secret file repository or folder that has the originals. =/ The previously mentioned .mesh to .xsi plugin for 3ds max sounds like your best bet. Unfortunately I don't think abilities can be coded to fire from the right or left side, at least on ships. Might be wrong on this though. I'll look up that LRF bit if I get the time. The Torpedo Sphere seems useless but if used right it can be rather useful. Can take out anything under a cap ship instantly with it's Study Target ability, and iirc, that ability when fully upped can take out a level 1 capital ship (save possibly the Vong ones) instantly as well. It can be rather useful, and it's Planetary Shield Breech ability is nice in helping take down planets. The Executor can be taken out with a ton of other ships, capitals, supercaps, the works. The good thing is if you have ion abilities, or other delay abilities like Confusion, which can slow down the monster's rate of fire. When going up against an Executor you will lose much of your fleet, that's simply a fact of life. Another Excecutor or the Viscount or the Vong BB can take it on with some support. 3 Praetors or 2-3 Geo SDNs exceed the thing in firepower. The Malevolance's Ion cannons can temp disable it, as can the Jedi Venator's Confusion. Most of the Rebels' ships have Backup Shields which give them a crucial backup; lead them with a Mon Remonda or two and you should win. This is merely string things; planets are categorized by their tier scale, and not by planet type. I could rename Volcanic Exploitation to Extreme Climate Exploitation if that works better. Which maps are you talking about? I could make it happen. With the Sins Dev.exe you can spawn ships at a given place and let them fight. No need to do such complex things. I really appreciate all the feedback here, thanks for it!

I wish I knew... When I bought Sins, let alone when I started doing my addons/changes to the beta, he was already gone.

Main thing that needs working is missing models and mainview/HUD icons; that just takes time. As for the game itself, critique on the Pirates (recently powered down), NR, and Vong would be much appreciated. I'll just note that the latter are indeed a bit overpowered, but this is somewhat intentional.