Star Wars Fleet Operations Beta

[Majestic]

Zax, I think your original set-up for these two ships is great, gives them a specialized role but also a bit of flexibility.

 

[Adm_Z]

So you think anti fighter weapons for the arquitens then?

As an update, I spent all day getting back into GUI. Took me a while but I have the ships buttons, miniimages, and backgrounds added.

 

[Adm_Z]

Saw some more detailed pics, so I messed around with the consular's engines again. IMO they look much better. I mostly just changed scaling of the front, but also added some detail to the middle one.

 

[Majestic]

That ship is getting better and better mate.

As for anti-fighter weapons for the Arquitens, I agree though I think the Consular needs to be the more anti-fighter focused unit, more effective against fighters than the Arquitens. Perhaps have the Arquitens have a higher miss chance than the Consular.

 

[Adm_Z]

I think that is what I am going to do.

Found another detail I had neglected. Added the foil like wing to the engines rather than the solid block it had before. A moderator can merge or delete my previous post. I made a mistake and couldn't figure out how to delete my post.

 

[Majestic]

Only staff can delete posts here. Merged for you.

Looking great, the model is getting better and better.

 

[Adm_Z]

Alright guys, update time! I have done lots of work over the last week getting the support ships in and balanced. I have also adjusted the credit system so fighters gain more credits per kill, and actually shoot eachother. I found a problem with the v wing that probably prevented it from shooting other fighters. Helps when your fighters work...

Anywho, if anyone has seen my tease over at flops, I am indeed very close to a beta 2.0. whether or not I get past a beta any time soon is another question, but I will be making a release within the next week or two, assuming nothing comes up.

Just as a list of things I have done, I updated/fixed all LOD's and dropped the resolution of my fighter textures (and have experienced a serious fps increase), added the support ships to the game, added loading screen tips, worked a lot on a secret project with Jetfreak, added voiceovers, and fixed several weapon sound effects to be more movie accurate.

 

[Majestic]

Sounds great Zax, looking forward to seeing some ingame action shots.

 

[Adm_Z]

Just because you asked.


I just happen to have not posted these, but they are a bit old, so the lod's aren't in effect, and the support ships aren't there yet.

 

[Majestic]

Nice look forward to seeing the support ships in the mix.

 

[Adm_Z]

Thanks maj, I'll try to get some shots next time I run a test.

In the mean time, I"m trying to revamp my cursors. Anyone got any ideas? I have attack, and potentially move, but I need ideas for special weapon, and standard cursors. I have tried a star destroyer, and it didnt work, and I would like to avoid a lightsaber, though I'm not completely apposed to it. Ideas would be awesome.

 

[Starfox1701]

How about a simple flashing targeting grid.

 

[Adm_Z]

Huh, I'm not quite sure what you mean by target grid. I have tried small lines moving around before but they were too hard to see. Do you have a refrence image or something I could look at to get an idea of what you mean?

 

[Majestic]

I think Starfox means a targeting crosshair.

 

[Adm_Z]

Tried my hand at making a video today. Just a teaser for the guys at flops who haven't seen my stuff yet. Not to difficult to do, but I will have to record FO in wondowed mode, and CamStudio adds some kind of mouse lag to the recording. If anyone knows of a better piece of free software, I would love to know about it.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/029ye9xsr0fjq24/SWFOBetaTease.wmv


edit: oh, and I decided to go with a lightsaber. It doesn't look too tacky, and its easier to use than the cross-hairs I was using before.

edit2: I also took some pics for maj.

 

[Adm_Z]

Finished the trailer! I would love some feedback on this as I'm still new to video making. I wish Thunderfoot was still active... I'm sure he'd have some advice.


Watch here

Edit: Now that I think about it, the credits for this trailer aren't quite accurate, and I forgot to credit the FO team.... It isn't worth editing, so just consider these additions to the credits: Enviroment/Engine - FO Team, Weapons - Starfox1701, Physics - Thundefoot.

 

[Jetfreak]

Superb stuff man! It's all coming together now.

 

[CptBenSisko]

I dig the trailer so far... I have one small request..hopefully its not too late..or maybe could be added later. I was thinking with the Imp StarDestroyer battlefleet...instead of using ISDs and Acclamators...that it should be ISDs and Victory Class StarDestroyers..as they are part of the more modern Imperial Fleet. And will we have access to SuperStarDestroyers in this mod?

 

[Adm_Z]

Thanks guys! Though I'm not apposed to adding more ships, the intent of this mod is that it is the late Republic vs the very early Empire. As such both factions have identical ships. However, I can always add the victory as a purchasable unit. Because the base units are exactly balanced, adding more is pretty easy, and Amateur has already modeled it, so it just needs texturing.

The problem is, I dont think the republic would have ever had those.

 

[CptBenSisko]

if you read the new essential chronology...sometime during the clone wars, a little bit before anakin becomes Darth Vader..the republic launches the victory star destroyer.. And honestly we never see any ISDs in episode 3 or Victory SDs either...but its your mod... it was just a suggestion from me LOL

 

[Starfox1701]

Actually all of these ships plus the Dreadnoughts and Victory class SD would be appropriate for large capital ships at this point in history. Dreadnoughts where patrol cruisers that actually predate the clone wars. The Victory is a line breaking SD with heavier guns then the Venator and massive anti-ship missile batteries. Dreadnought could be an early option for a tough fighterless cap with marginal firepower while the Victory is literally an artillery ship in the MK1 configuration.

Overall man you have done good work keep it up.

 

[Adm_Z]

What exactly is the dreadnought?

@Capt.

Please don't take my reasoning as a denial of your request. Like I said, it would be a simple matter to put her in, and if, like starfox said, they could exist, then by there is no reason I couldn't. I might put her in at a later date if people feel there is a need for more ships. Honestly, I think the lack of ship diversity isn't the issue as of yet, ist how to get credits. I think I might have to add some kind of mining into the game to prolong battles, but we'll see. There are a lot of features i could add, but I"m not sure if they are necessary, or would mess the system I already have up too much.

Anyway, I think I can say that I should be able to get the release out this week. Remember, its just another beta, but hopefully, with a flops release, I will get some more feedback. I just have a few things to check and such before I pack her up and send her off.

 

[Majestic]

Great work on the trailer Zax, done very good and was fun to watch. Also many thanks for the screenshots.

In the trailer you had captions that displayed information in the middle of the screen, such as during the avatar selection part. Is that part of the trailer or in-game information?

Also great work on the music and voices, they really gave a feel of Star Wars especially when the capital ships started to attack and the alarm went off.

As for the Dreadnought have a look here:
http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Dreadnaught-class_heavy_cruiser

I have also done a model of it myself but it's one of the many Star Wars models of mine that needs texturing. I think they were in Star Wars Fleet Command for A2. I got the permissions to use whatever I want from that mod back in 2006 as long as I credit them and so if you want to use them you could.

 

[Adm_Z]

Thanks Maj! The annotations were part of the video recording program, I just did my best to match them to my UI.

Also...Not a fan of the dreadnought.... It just doesn't match the rest of the ships already in the game, and to be honest, it is kinda ugly. It looks kinda Mon Cala, and I"m really not a fan of those ships at all.

Anyway, Victory, maybe, dreadnought....no.

Also, I have a few really cool features already planned for the 1.0 release, and depending on how much feedback I get, it could be done this summer, though I make no promises.

 

[Majestic]

Anyway, Victory, maybe, dreadnought....no.

Yeah it is ugly, I always thought it belonged more with the CIS and Rebel fleets rather than the Republic and Empire. There is a lot in Star Wars canon/lore that I feel just doesn't fit. Just personal tastes really.

With your summer being my winter, I don't know if i'll be able to help you much going to be rather busy, making a big move sometime this year, it's expected to be August and I'll have to fly over and find a rental in July. But if I can give you feedback I'll certainly will.

Looking good.

 

[Adm_Z]

The file has been sent in!

 

[CABAL]

Fire up your archive management programs, because Beta 2 and the music pack are now available to download!

 

[CptBenSisko]

Fired up the mod... quite impressive overall.. a few things i would possibly change

in the physics..id eliminate the roll, or make it much less noticeable especially for ISDs..they turn without rolling..they arent Trek ships...

Id also increase the Map depth a bit as alot of the ships espec the bigger ISDs have pathing issues

 

[Adm_Z]

Thanks Capt, I will try and adjust both.

Also, I have gotten a lot of feedback from the guys at flops, so here are some things I have found and some solutions I am purposing.

Movement - I think it is clear that the ship physics are a bit of a pain. YWD noticed something I was experiencing myself in that ships can take too long to get to a battle making them almost useless when it counts. Here are a few solutions I could have for these problems besides simply adjusting the physics themselves.

1) An idea I have been working allowing ships to retreat.(needs a good name) I think it is an important skill in the game to know when to leave a battle, but the current physics and targeting bugs make that nearly impossible. This ability would allow you, at any time, to remove your ship from battle. When doing so, it could do one of two things. A, it could remove your ship entirely and give you some money back for the ship. B, it could return your ship to your outpost in the same condition it was in. The problem with A is that this ability could be abused to make quick money and just discard ships when they are no longer useful. B isn't super helpful imo because it could produce turtling and guarding. in a pvp match I think it would be a bad idea. I am personally in favor of simply removing the ship completely from the map and getting like 1/3-1/2 of its worth back for saving the ship rather than letting it be destroyed.

2) A hyperspace jump ability with a significant cool-down that will allow ships to jump from one location to another. on the map. This one has obvious drawbacks in terms of abuse, as I don't like people just throwing ships at eachother and letting them die. I would prefer to let people actually try to save their ships. Also, my unreleased BSG mod already uses a very similar FTL system and I don't want them to be too similar.

3) A range increase on the outpost purchase. I will probably add this no matter what, but being able to purchase an unlimited, or maybe tiered, upgrade to increase the range at which you can buy ships might solve at least half the problem. Again, I don't want people to simply throw away their ships, I really think being able to save a ship is a key factor to a game like this.


Fighter selection - Though it isn't as much an issue for me(I have been playing much longer. ) I definitely see there is an issue with fighter selection. Here are two solutions, however a button to simply select all the fighters isn't possible in A2.

1) I can switch the selection priority for fighters and capital ships, that way, when you drag-select you will ignore capital-ships and only select fighters. This will make selecting them really easy, but capitalships harder. Capital ships will have to be selected individually, but I don't think it will really cause problems because they are so big. This will not, however, help with targeting enemy fighters if you had problems doing that. I usually just hit 'K' with my fighters though, so they kill anything they see.

2) I can make the selection bubble around fighters be as big as their indicator overlay. The problem with this,is that selecting capital ships will, again, be harder, but in a different way. It will be very difficult to micromanage capital-ships if you have a bunch of fighters flying around them. This selection bubble will also apply when you are really close so they will have a large area around them that could get in the way if you are trying to click somewhere else.

Gameplay - As I saw in earlier pvp tests, gameplay is still too short. I think mining is a necessary feature I need to add. What will happen is that you will be given maybe two mining freighters to start with, and they will be set to mine moons. They won't do it at a very fast rate, but it will be constant if I can make it, like the planet mining stations from stock a2. These will be simply be sent around the map and will mine raw materials that can be used to fuel fighters, and can be sold at your outpost for credits. I might find more uses for the material later on, but for now that would be it. They will obviously have to be protected, especially from support ships and fighters. I think it might add another small boost to gameplay making it last a bit longer and feel a little more full.

Additions - I will probably be adding some purchasable items to the outpost like upgrades and maybe ships in the future, however, I would like to get the base mechanics working first. That being said, give me all the ideas you have. I will use what I can.

Also, I got another request for the Victory class, so I think we have a good chance of seeing her in future versions.

 

[Majestic]

I unfortunately haven't had a chance to play yet, preparing for the site upgrade among other things. Once the upgrade is over I'll be sure to give it a shot.