The Map Units

[Majestic]

Just me again,

Today I decided to take a small break from the Cardassians. You must think that's unlike me, well the honest truth is that I simply am having trouble coming up with or finding some good solid designs to complete the Cardassians. I have utilised every good design and I am even looking at the stock models now to see if there are any decent designs there.

Well anyway, a break is a good as a holiday as they say.

Not wanting to jump onto another race and getting lost there I decided to look at map units. I am not planning many in COE, since there is no campaign I thought there isn't really much point. All I really need is a Ferengi D'Kora Marauder to find off with the derelicts and I'm set. However there is one group that I really want in there, a group that really never got the attention they really deserved.

Spoiler: Image #1

Spoiler: Image #2

Yes as you can see the Maquis will be making an appearance in Clash of Empires. They will be placed on certain multiplayer maps and basically are a group that will attack you if you annoy them.

The Maquis have three combat designs they are:

• The Calvin "Cal" Hudson - Peregrine Class - Small dual seated fighter which is later used by Starfleet in the Dominion War.

• The Ro Laren - Condor Class - A larger vessel than the Peregrine class, that normally has a small crew and cargo space.

• The Chakotay - Raider Class - A larger version of the Condor, this destroyer sized vessel can carry a crew comparable to a Defiant class vessel and can be a considerable threat to small fleet vessels.

I also plan on building a asteroid base for them to protect on certain maps, which can if captured build their vessels allowing players to actually play as the Maquis if they so wish. I also plan to give all three designs a special weapon, my ideas are:

• Peregrine Class - Form Up - Forms a small attack wing to concentrate fire on priority targets.

• Condor Class - Stealth - Scrambles the sensors of vessels around allowing for the Condor to pass unnoticed.

• Raider Class - Give Power From Photon Launchers - As Chakotay did in Caretaker, gives a speed boost at the expense of photon launchers.

All three weapons are highly durable and doable using just stock weapon modifications.

All comments and suggestions are of course welcome as always, it's why I post after all.

 

[Dan1025]

Nice to see the Maquis being included, the only other mod I've ever seen use them is Future Wars, and who knows if that'll ever be released lol. The ships looks very cool, nice work there

As for the Cardassians, I've probably already said this at some point so forgive me if I repeat myself lol, but you're more than welcome to use any of the Cardassian stuff I released, whether you want to retexture or kitbash or whatever, it's yours to use if you want it

 

[dinosaurJR]

I like this, I like this alot! The Maquis really have been ignored by the A2 community up untill now... but come to think of it, they do make the perfect map unit... not many cannon designs, no real military power, just pirates and raiders...

nice one!

As for your special weapons...

I guess the form up is an integrator weapon, like the Species 8472 super beam? Or like the one used in B5Armada, with the Starfury fighters? I had a similar idea for H:FC...

The stealth and the extra power weapons sound great too!

I really cant wait for this mod

(hopefully I'll have my new Lappy by then, eh?)

 

[Majestic]

Nice to see the Maquis being included, the only other mod I've ever seen use them is Future Wars, and who knows if that'll ever be released lol. The ships looks very cool, nice work there

Thanks and yes, Future Wars I'll doubt will ever be released, it was supposed to be released like 2 years ago wasn't it? They were at the final stage and only needed to translate German into English.

As for the Cardassians, I've probably already said this at some point so forgive me if I repeat myself lol, but you're more than welcome to use any of the Cardassian stuff I released, whether you want to retexture or kitbash or whatever, it's yours to use if you want it

Thank you Dan, I'll have a look at your mod and see if there are any designs that fit into what I am after.

I like this, I like this alot! The Maquis really have been ignored by the A2 community up untill now... but come to think of it, they do make the perfect map unit... not many cannon designs, no real military power, just pirates and raiders...

nice one!

As for your special weapons...

I guess the form up is an integrator weapon, like the Species 8472 super beam? Or like the one used in B5Armada, with the Starfury fighters? I had a similar idea for H:FC...

The stealth and the extra power weapons sound great too!

I really cant wait for this mod

(hopefully I'll have my new Lappy by then, eh?)

Thanks, yeah and considering part one of the mod is set in the Klingon-Cardassian War era, the era that was the height of the Maquis Rebellion it seems only fitting. Also in fandom it is said that some Maquis did survive the Dominion attack and waged their own private war against the Dominion and Cardassians, so it kinda fits in the Dominion War as well.

As for the weapons, the fighter and raider classes use a variation of the fusion weapon used in stock by the Borg. The Condor class uses a sensor scrambler (originally in stock by the Romulans) just with no shockwave texture.

Well I am still a bit off, I still have some Cardassian designs to make (ships and stations) then code the coding into the game and make new maps and remove certain things from the game. But yes hopefully you'll have your new PC by the time r1, pt1 is submitted to MSFC.

 

[Katala]

I enjoyed watching you create them! I was watching the logo creation when Maj thought I was reading my book

 

[thunderfoot]

All I can say about Maquis as map units is, "schweeeet!" I've often wondered why the Community has done so little on the Maquis and I may have an answer. The Maquis are special ops/commando type units. There seems to be no formal command and control structure and little organization to them. Makes sense it would be difficult to portray or re create them accurately in an RTS game without giving them ridiculous abilities. Anyone remember the GDI Commando in CnC95? Using them as map units makes sense. I suggest the following:

1) Allow them to salvage(steal) ships a la the Ferengi.

2) Give the player(s) a serious point deduction per ship the Maquis salvage(steal).

3) Since desperate times call for desperate measures, I suggest making up about five or six ODFs per ship class, each with it's own unique special weapon. Even if you have to borrow one. Sure, it is a Chakotay class raider. But is it the one with the ability to tranfer power from its photon launchers or is it the one with the Dreadnaught Missile attached?

Just to keep the player guessing further about whether or not he should hunt them down this time, ignore any concerns about play balance. If that Akira captain is stupid enough to chase them into a nebula and the Maquis can open a gate to Fluidic Space, he probably deserves what happens next. Model the effect rather than the mechanics is what I am saying. The Maquis should be seen as being dangerously unpredictable.

But hey, what do I know? I'm just your average ebil Redneck who was busy giggling maniacally while watching his A2 LAN group get their heads handed to them by his Improved Single Player Campaign AIPs. Mua. ha. ha. ha. ha.

 

[Ryderstorm]

This is great!!

Oh Hell Yeah!!!

Yes the maquis have been overlooked/ignored no further!!
This makes me very Excited now to see someone doing something with the Maquis.



On a side note I would definitly make a few varients of the raiders that were UBER-Maquis....I love the Idea of the Maquis being an npc race...perhaps could even have the maquis shoot off the ferengi from scavenging.

 

[Majestic]

I enjoyed watching you create them! I was watching the logo creation when Maj thought I was reading my book

All I can say about Maquis as map units is, "schweeeet!" I've often wondered why the Community has done so little on the Maquis and I may have an answer.

I certainly thought so. Hell I wanted to make a full race of them and I still one day, albeit from a Parallel Timeline as I helped create for the Midway RPG that Hellkite is successfully GMing.

The Maquis are special ops/commando type units. There seems to be no formal command and control structure and little organization to them. Makes sense it would be difficult to portray or re create them accurately in an RTS game without giving them ridiculous abilities.

Yeah the Maquis was like the re-born Bajoran Resistance as many of their tactics and organisational structure was actually borrowed from them and in fact many Bajorans joined the Maquis as they wished to continue the fight against the Cardassians.

However you are right, it would be a big challenge to accurately or semi-accurately portray them in Armada without going to the extremes.

Using them as map units makes sense. I suggest the following:

1) Allow them to salvage(steal) ships a la the Ferengi.

2) Give the player(s) a serious point deduction per ship the Maquis salvage(steal).

Those are some really good ideas and I will certainly look into those, I especially like the deduction for the playable races.

But hey, what do I know? I'm just your average ebil Redneck who was busy giggling maniacally while watching his A2 LAN group get their heads handed to them by his Improved Single Player Campaign AIPs. Mua. ha. ha. ha. ha.

More than you give yourself credit for, the Physics Project, who would've thought of that or more importantly gone ahead and made one of the best modifications for Armada 2. I use it in all my modifications now. It's even going to make an appearance in Yesteryears, when I get around to completing it. I need to be in a TMP mood for that.

Oh Hell Yeah!!!

Yes the maquis have been overlooked/ignored no further!!
This makes me very Excited now to see someone doing something with the Maquis.

Thanks, I'll try not to disappoint.

On a side note I would definitly make a few varients of the raiders that were UBER-Maquis....I love the Idea of the Maquis being an npc race...perhaps could even have the maquis shoot off the ferengi from scavenging.

3) Since desperate times call for desperate measures, I suggest making up about five or six ODFs per ship class, each with it's own unique special weapon. Even if you have to borrow one. Sure, it is a Chakotay class raider. But is it the one with the ability to tranfer power from its photon launchers or is it the one with the Dreadnaught Missile attached?

Just to keep the player guessing further about whether or not he should hunt them down this time, ignore any concerns about play balance. If that Akira captain is stupid enough to chase them into a nebula and the Maquis can open a gate to Fluidic Space, he probably deserves what happens next. Model the effect rather than the mechanics is what I am saying. The Maquis should be seen as being dangerously unpredictable.

I'll answer/comment on both of these here, considering they are almost the same.

I do like the idea of different variants or variations. It would as you say Thunderfoot make them unpredictable and make the player think before actually engaging them.

Ryderstorm, I like your idea about shooting off the Ferengi for a salvage, however I don't know if it's possible in A2. If you or anyone else knows how, please let me know. Because I would certainly include it if it's the case and I am the first to admit I am not the most knowledgeable when it comes to the coding as I haven't done anything really extensive for a long time, bar a little bit in YY.

 

[Majestic]

I uploaded two new Maquis images to the MSFC COE gallery.

Also one here for your viewing pleasure.

Spoiler: Maquis