Favourite A2 Mod?

[Knight]

Its something I've been thinking about a lot recently, what do people generally consider to be their favourite Armada 2 mod?

I'm talking specifically Total conversions here, or full race mods, rather than the odd replacement ship or new ship addition.

Just remember, this is a civil discussion, everyones entitled to their own opinion and no flame wars please!

I know a lot of people will probably answer fleet ops, and i have to agree its good. but its not my favourite. AoW, an excellent mod. There are a lot of good mods out there, all thats being asked is which is your favourite? not the best, just your favourite.

For me at the moment, its Freyr's dynamic music demo and BSG mini mod (although i swapped out the TOS Battlestar for Maj's PRP Columbia - its only right with Maj's basestars being in there). Its only a small game, its relatively simple, but theres something pure about it lol. I love playing as the Colonials, i love the need to thing tactically in it. If your the colonials, you need to plan your attacks, take out the basestars one by one. You can't engage all 3 at once, or you'll quickly be dealt with in true Toaster fashion . Hard to do when the AI tends to keep them fairly close in.

Cylons have it fairly easy if you play as them, you just have to keep them together, find the battlestar and blow it to pieces.

Are there flaws? yes. I find the sensor ranges much too large (you can generally see the entire map) for my personal taste, but thats an easy fix. and really, you need them that big. but its simple, and tactical and surprisingly challenging.

So, whats everyone elses favourite mod?

 

[Terra_Inc]

*sighs* There are many excellent mods out there. Why couldn't you simply write "favourite Armada 2 mods"?

Joke aside, there are a few mods I'd think of.
AOW3, of course. Although you need a nuclear-powered graphics card to enjoy some of the battles without lag, it's an awesome mod. Possibly because Achilles is such a multi-talented modder - great textures, fantastic models, carefully balanced gameplay and powerful AIs... You can find all of that in AOW. While speaking of AOW3, I'd like to mention the AOW4.1.7 beta, which was basically AOW3+ (no new races to play as, but a lot of allies and new units). It's a shame that Achilles s****ped this beta, I would have loved to see it finished. Although the new AOW4 he's working on might turn out even better than what 4.1.7 would have become.

Then there's BI:VR. Great gameplay, too. It kind of reminds me of what the A2 modding scene was like a few years ago (long before I even thought of A2 modding). I call mods like that "oldtimer s****yards". That's not meant to be derogatory. The mods contain lots of interesting models but these don't look good in today's mods because they lack lightmaps. The texturing tyle also changed (for example, early romulan textures were light green - today we use darker green). Those were the days... MaP stated that he's working on a new one.

And then there's FlOps. Sorry... its FleetOps.
I really like the game they turned A2 into, but it's incredibly hard to mod. Sometimes I play a game or two. Their unit designs are really great, a lot better than the STO stuff I've seen.

(By the way, dear Admins, could you please take a look at your replacement system? I can't even write "s c r a p y a r d" without getting those *beep*-stars.)

 

[Knight]

*sighs* There are many excellent mods out there. Why couldn't you simply write "favourite Armada 2 mods"?

Cos that'd be too easy lol. And because I'm evil.

That said, some nice choices there. I love a good game of AoW, and I especially love the Metathran. never really played BI:VR. probably because it had been around a while when i first started the community, and because at the time my internet connection wasn't particularly brilliant for downloading.

FleetOps is a technically brilliant, visually stunning mod, and what theyve done is impressive. While I do occasionally like a game of it, something about it has always put me off, but I honestly couldn't tell you what it is that has that effect. But its definately a very impressive mod.

 

[thunderfoot]

I too, am having a difficult time picking out just one favorite. AoW is professional grade work and if Achilles isn't getting paid for doing things like this, he should be. Tactical Assault by Yacuzza as well. Interesting ship choices and even more interesting station and weapon choices. Midnight Universe, also by Yacuzza. The background stuff got ignored for a very long time. Yacuzza's MUv2.0 can make any ship look good.

But I have to say, my very favorite mod(s) currently do not add any new ships or maps or anything like that. FahreS Projects Blue and Orange. Along with his Running Lights. Last but not least the Compact Dream GUI. Installing all of these together makes even the Stock Game look vastly improved. The GUI is a necessary evil. But there is no reason evil should look and function very attractively, is there?

 

[Majestic]

Very difficult topic you've started Knight. There are some many good mods out and more being developed all the time.

But considering this is about released mods I would have to agree with what has been mentioned above:

• Project Blue by Fahres
• Project Orange by Fahres
• Running Lights by Fahres
• Art of War by Achilles
• Tactical Assault by Yacuzza
• Midnight Universe v2 by Yacuzza
• Fleet Operations by Doca Cola, Optec and the Fleet Operations team
• Star Wars Fleet Command by Stalker and co
• Babylon 5 Armada 2 by Rivendell Studios
• Star Trek Future Wars by Flam Modding Team (wished it would work correctly though)
• Borg Incursion Vital Responses by Major Payne

And you want me to pick just one?

No I can't. I look at them all and they all bring something new to Armada 2, whether it be scuttle but unique improvements, complete rewrites of the game, new races, new universes/shows and so on.

Simply put I can't choose, please don't make me.

(By the way, dear Admins, could you please take a look at your replacement system? I can't even write "s c r a p y a r d" without getting those *beep*-stars.)

We'll look into it however the reason it's doing it is because in the word there's a less than family friendly word. However there are changes to come about to MSFC, when we the staff can find the time to do so. So it's something we'll look into.

 

[Achilles]

wow, never realised AOW was so highly regarded, thanks peoples, I just got a second wind

Err for me It'd be Tactical assault, BIVR and Kleotol's Xtreme mod, I simply aim for the same features when I mod.

I always incorporate bubble be gone, MU and blue shields.

 

[CptBenSisko]

standard FO is nice..but FOtoA2stock is even better...as you can beginning modding it like it was the stock game..only with all of FO3's features and backgrounds and abilities....like race specific shields etc

 

[Jetfreak]

Yeah, F03 and AOW are really one of the best out there so props for them too.

But my personal preference for mods lie on single ship downloads rather full scale than TC's. I've always liked them since getting into modding and integrating them to your personal build is always a joy.

 

[FallenGraces]

Well personally my favorite A2 mod AOW. Now my favorite Armada mod is Alliances for A1...yes A1. The thing looks ad plays like a beast on all sides. No matter how many times i play it i HAVE to go back and play again. When playing the Dominion i often have to have an AI ally on medium just so i dont get butchered (despite this about half way though my "buddy" is dead and im barely fighting on par with the AI, victory really comes from a well timed maneuver). The maps play amazingly and the positioning is suburb team wise. Overall Achilles' best work IMHO with AOW coming in a close second. This mod got me interested in modding so thxs Achilles been its fun

 

[Adm_Z]

Fleet Ops by far, but A2: Tactical Assault is next best, follow'd closely by Future Wars

 

[Ryderstorm]

I refuse to pick a favorite as I think all the total conversions for A2 have been excellent for there times.

But the ones that stand out most to me are

B5A2
FO
Future Wars
AOW

 

[Elrond]

Babylon 5 A2
Fleet Ops (3)
Kleotol's Xtreme mod (Armada 1) - 'cause of the Dominion and Cardassians

 

[StarBlade]

Pink Blob Be Gone.

 

[Majestic]

Pink Blob Be Gone.

That's one of my favourites as well, I can't believe I forgot it. It's the small mods that improve the look and fell of the game that are some of the best in my opinion.

 

[Terra_Inc]

That's one of my favourites as well, I can't believe I forgot it. It's the small mods that improve the look and fell of the game that are some of the best in my opinion.

Me too. As a screenshot maker, I couldn't live without it!
And I'd like to include the Blank Fonts And Pause Dialog. Another essential mod for screenshot makers.

 

[Achilles]

And I'd like to include the Blank Fonts And Pause Dialog. Another essential mod for screenshot makers.

****, forgot that one but it's another auto install.

 

[StarBlade]

It's the small mods that improve the look and fell of the game that are some of the best in my opinion.

Absolutely. This is why I'd include FahreS' various Project Colour Name Here mods, the Physics Project, Freyr's A2 Upgrade Project (which is absolutely always the first thing I do to a new install), Midnight Universe, and basically any new map that's ever been made. And I'd be remiss if I forgot STAUM and Terra's calculators. It's an axiom I learned from thunderfoot: if it's not a shiny new ship, it's easily forgotten. But it's also absolutely essential.

On the subject of ships, I have had a serious fondness for the Dawnstar ever since I found out she existed. I also think any of Achilles' models, Aad's models, Ash's stuff or Majestic's mods deserve a mention. And the stuff that's been ported by k_merse, the Battlestar stuff, SWFC, B5A2, all those ships from other universes that both make good screenshots and often come in mods that are seriously rockin'.

And I want to give special mention among special mentions to Future Wars. I don't know what those Germans are saying in-game, but I sure know they can make one hell of a mod. Having a modder presence in countries other than the US and UK --places like Hungary, Chile, the Philippines, Germany, France, Belgium, Canada (eh!), Australia, and other countries the world over-- truly makes me feel like the Star Trek dream is worth realizing. This community may not be a huge number of people, but it represents humanity across our planet (at least until we get a new one). And that's magnificent.

 

[thunderfoot]

Absolutely. This is why I'd include FahreS' various Project Colour Name Here mods, the Physics Project, Freyr's A2 Upgrade Project (which is absolutely always the first thing I do to a new install), Midnight Universe, and basically any new map that's ever been made. And I'd be remiss if I forgot STAUM and Terra's calculators. It's an axiom I learned from thunderfoot: if it's not a shiny new ship, it's easily forgotten. But it's also absolutely essential.

On the subject of ships, I have had a serious fondness for the Dawnstar ever since I found out she existed. I also think any of Achilles' models, Aad's models, Ash's stuff or Majestic's mods deserve a mention. And the stuff that's been ported by k_merse, the Battlestar stuff, SWFC, B5A2, all those ships from other universes that both make good screenshots and often come in mods that are seriously rockin'.

And I want to give special mention among special mentions to Future Wars. I don't know what those Germans are saying in-game, but I sure know they can make one hell of a mod. Having a modder presence in countries other than the US and UK --places like Hungary, Chile, the Philippines, Germany, France, Belgium, Canada (eh!), Australia, and other countries the world over-- truly makes me feel like the Star Trek dream is worth realizing. This community may not be a huge number of people, but it represents humanity across our planet (at least until we get a new one). And that's magnificent.

Hey, you forgot to mention the SB34 Comp Mod! Lots of hard work by lots of talented people to bring all the Federation FanBoys out there the Holy Grail! And you were the project manager, for goodness sakes! Canadians. Sometimes, I worry deeply about my neighbors to the north. They all seem a little...forgetful. lol.

 

[Freyr]

Its something I've been thinking about a lot recently, what do people generally consider to be their favourite Armada 2 mod?

SWFC.

I've been playing it on and off since like '03 and i've yet to get fed up with it because it plays so well.

For me at the moment, its Freyr's dynamic music demo and BSG mini mod (although i swapped out the TOS Battlestar for Maj's PRP Columbia - its only right with Maj's basestars being in there). Its only a small game, its relatively simple, but theres something pure about it lol. I love playing as the Colonials, i love the need to thing tactically in it. If your the colonials, you need to plan your attacks, take out the basestars one by one. You can't engage all 3 at once, or you'll quickly be dealt with in true Toaster fashion . Hard to do when the AI tends to keep them fairly close in.

Cylons have it fairly easy if you play as them, you just have to keep them together, find the battlestar and blow it to pieces.

Are there flaws? yes. I find the sensor ranges much too large (you can generally see the entire map) for my personal taste, but thats an easy fix. and really, you need them that big. but its simple, and tactical and surprisingly challenging.

I, uh. I didn't expect this to be anybodies favourite mod, or even that popular to be honest. It was only developed at all because Thunderfoot said he wanted some competition in the gameplay section of the contest at the time. I ended up cutting about half of the features i'd planned to get it finished in time, because I only had a week to do it in.

Your quite right that it's got a bunch of flaws, the problem I had with the sensors is that the AI doesn't come after you if it couldn't see you. I was planning on fixing that, but I ran out of time and just went for the easy fix by maxing the sensor ranges.

Hopefully one day we'll get a resurrection ship as well. Then i'll actually be able to finish the mini mod off the way I wanted to do it.

Me too. As a screenshot maker, I couldn't live without it!
And I'd like to include the Blank Fonts And Pause Dialog. Another essential mod for screenshot makers.

Heh. The smallest mods I've ever created seem to have been the most popular. Maybe I should just stick with creating mini mods.

****, forgot that one but it's another auto install.

Only when it comes bundled as part of the Upgrade Project. It's zipped otherwise, as I figure that anybody that wants it is going to know how to install it.

 

[Knight]

I, uh. I didn't expect this to be anybodies favourite mod, or even that popular to be honest. It was only developed at all because Thunderfoot said he wanted some competition in the gameplay section of the contest at the time. I ended up cutting about half of the features i'd planned to get it finished in time, because I only had a week to do it in.

Your quite right that it's got a bunch of flaws, the problem I had with the sensors is that the AI doesn't come after you if it couldn't see you. I was planning on fixing that, but I ran out of time and just went for the easy fix by maxing the sensor ranges.

Hopefully one day we'll get a resurrection ship as well. Then i'll actually be able to finish the mini mod off the way I wanted to do it.

Fair enough. Like I said, its my favourite at the moment, because you have to play it tactically as the Colonials, otherwise you get your backside handed to you. and even then, there's no guarantee of winning. I've actually adopted a similar play style for Legacy on the Xbox, picking my one ship and going up against the AI's fleet with 3 or 4 on 1 battles, just to see what happens. Great stuff . But its inspired by the way the BSG mini mod is set up. I thought there was a resurrection ship being done, im sure i remember images being on the FF forums at some point?

Hope so, I for one would like to see it developed further.

 

[Achilles]

Only when it comes bundled as part of the Upgrade Project. It's zipped otherwise, as I figure that anybody that wants it is going to know how to install it.

Oh lol, I didn't mean auto install as in an exe, I meant I automatically include it in all my installs.

 

[thunderfoot]

I, uh. I didn't expect this to be anybodies favourite mod, or even that popular to be honest. It was only developed at all because Thunderfoot said he wanted some competition in the gameplay section of the contest at the time. I ended up cutting about half of the features i'd planned to get it finished in time, because I only had a week to do it in.

Good work is just that. Does not matter at all how big it is or how complete it is. This is a mod which shows even after all these years, A2 can still surprise us with what it is capable of.

 

[Lord_Trekie]

Some of my favorite mods include SWFC, BIVR, and FO3, I've yet to play AoW because I honestly had no idea it had been released in any form lol.

The texture upgrade project is nice when I want to play the original campaign, MU is also a must for me.

I really look forward to Zero Hour though, when Ash completes it.

 

[Freyr]

Fair enough. Like I said, its my favourite at the moment, because you have to play it tactically as the Colonials, otherwise you get your backside handed to you. and even then, there's no guarantee of winning. I've actually adopted a similar play style for Legacy on the Xbox, picking my one ship and going up against the AI's fleet with 3 or 4 on 1 battles, just to see what happens. Great stuff . But its inspired by the way the BSG mini mod is set up. I thought there was a resurrection ship being done, im sure i remember images being on the FF forums at some point?

Hope so, I for one would like to see it developed further.

Chiletrek has done a resurrection ship for the BSG mod, but it's not been released yet. I did ask after it, but he's saving it for the BSG mod. Obviously, without it I could only do the Colonial side as I don't model myself which would leave the Cylons incomplete.

I'm really happy that it's inspired someone to use the gameplay style for the BSG mini mod. I'm pretty sure that i've said in public a few times about some of the other ideas intended for the BSG mod, but i'll post here them just in case you haven't seen them and find them useful.

Remember that the tech tree can be abused to work in reverse. To me BSG is not and never has been about building things, it's been about the consequences of losing them so building Battlestars from shipyards would just feel... wrong.

You don't need to build things with the tech tree, it works just as well if you start off with a full tech tree and then end up losing things. For instance, consider the civilian fleet around Galactica. Most of them can easily be given a plausible tactical purpose in Armada.

You can have the Tylium (sp?) mining ship set up like a species transmuter, which will let you do mining with other civilian ships or raptors. The resources from that can be used to have a factory ship slowly build small ships like mining shuttles, or Raptors/Vipers that you can use for scouting. As soon as you have a scout, the sensor range of the capital ships can plummet and I can see vipers and raiders clashing to deny the other information about where your fleets are.

Other ships can specialise in repairs, and even passenger ships can be used by transferring crew to Galactica (she always loses crew in a fight) while still other ships could be used to make munitions for Galactica to improve her fire rate (nick the death chant) and a refinery ship can improve the speed the jump drives charge at (via theborg special energy recharger)

Thus, each ship in the civilian fleet becomes valuable, and the game progresses by each side trying to kill off the civilian ships of the other (the cylon resurrection ship being a repair ship) to reduce each others combat capability.

Losing any ship involved in building raptors/vipers would mean you'd eventually lose the ability to shoot down raiders outside of Galactica's gun range which makes you more vulnerable to being found. Losing the repair ships would obviously be bad if ships were damaged before jumping, while losing the refinery to improve the speed of the jump drives recharging would mean you'd have to sit still defending the civilian ships for far longer before that emergency jump...

It's all really simple to program, and the models for most of these ships are out there already.

As I say, i'm not going to do it as I couldn't complete it without ships for the Cylons. I might figure out how to make this sort of gameplay work without the resurrection ship and finish this off one day, but I wouldn't hold your breath waiting. You'd probably suffocate.

Oh lol, I didn't mean auto install as in an exe, I meant I automatically include it in all my installs.

Ah. That makes a lot more sense now.

 

[Majestic]

I did promise Adm_Z I would be doing some Cylon ships after I get a few things done down the road. Namely the PRP and COE. You're welcome to use them too when I eventually get around to doing them.

No need to say about the Colonials I've done, since a hoard of them are in the downloads section already.