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« on: August 30, 2023, 01:31:36 PM »
What a day, what a day. I’ve been so anxious about releasing; I’ve just decided to go ahead and push out what I’ve got despite a few nuances I wanted to put in place. So, here we are! I suppose the first thing to bring out, is that I’ve reduced ship and weapon’s values significantly when compared to the 0.95.1 versions of Star Trek Eras. This makes it possible for some compositions of vanilla fleets to overwhelm the weaker ships of the Trek universe.
This however does not mean, that its apples-to-apples comparison. For those looking for a clean vanilla experience will be disappointed in this mod. It’s just not how I work or balance.
This of course puts pressure on me to make it possible for whichever Star Trek faction you play to feel the heat. So instead of my usual release parameters of one other faction, I’ve decided to go ahead and add two major factions to this release.
So, we have the Cardassians, which was built off the previous version of the Cardassian TNG mod. And now the Romulans. These two factions alone are enough to make life hard for any Federation captain. But it wasn’t enough. Like 0.95.1, I also to decided to put in place minor factions. Bajorans, Maquis, and Remans. (REMAN faction are included with the Romulan stand alone pack.) Bajorans vs Cardassains. Maquis vs Cardassians & Fed. Remans, allied with Romulus. Adds some interesting difficulty for Federation lovers. (Me, basically)
Obviously, I’m never satisfied with what I’ve manage to build. There’s tweaking that needs to be done. Some missing easter eggs that were supposed to be placed. And perhaps some missing sounds or descriptions that were missed in the testing process. But hey, I’m working and playing with it. I’m bound to find those little things, that really I’d be the only one to miss.
One said thing that is missing, on purpose, is the usual vanilla integration with creating a new game. I usually input a custom start in RULES to allow a player to start in a Star Trek ship when creating a new game for vanilla only. I’ve forgone this, since I didn’t feel like jumping into rules this time. Plus, most people know of Nexerlin. It’s so much easier to just use that for a custom start. It’s on my to-do list however… eventually. There might be that one person out there who says no to Nexy…
So what new features are making an appearance? ZERO! I still can’t write a single line of code without some major assistance. I honestly can’t find the time to sit down and learn. (Make time you say?) I’m being totally honest. If I had the time, I’d squeeze it in. As it is, it’s difficult to take time to make one ship and balance it against its contemporaries. If I ever… and I do mean, if I ever get time. I will place it as a priority.
FEATURES I’D LIKE: (Hypothetical… not happening!)
DEFLECTOR BURST to cripple shields
SAUCER SEPARATION for a Galaxy Class. The player pilots the stardrive section and the saucer is AI
ASSIMILATION: Borg tech that basically cuts enemy CR by 10% every usage
CLOAK: Star Trek’s traditional cloak, where the enemy disappears from sensors
SPECIAL OFFICER RECRUITMENT: Officers like Picard, Riker, Troi, and others with specializations. Nearly had but unfortunately, the Visual Studio Code IDE setup kept giving me error messages on export/compilation, with a snippet of code some allowed to borrow
SELF-DESTRUCT: A blast wave killing the user and possible disabling or destroying other ships in the blast radius
TRACTOR BEAM: Holds enemies in place for up to 10 seconds before flux overload. Useful for pounding shields.
BORG TRACTOR BEAM: Holds enemies in place for up to 10 seconds whilst doing flux damage on enemy shields
CUSTOM INDUSTRIES with CUSTOM Supplies/Demand: Such as Latinum, Phasers/Phaser Rifles, Deuterium Production, Dilithium Production, MACO instead Marines,
And of course a few other things that aren’t coming to mind at the moment.
But the most important feature it does come with, is the love & time I’ve put into it to try and get it right. You’re not getting just a Star Trek mod, but you’re getting the imagination that created this Star Trek mod and how it fits in the Starsector universe.
Starsector is beautiful for what it does and I just felt, instantly, that Star Trek would flourish within its engine in how it plays and works. So, I thank Alex for this beautiful idea that allows me to put some of what I love into it.
In finality to this long-drawn-out little message, have fun! If you come across some issues, let me know. I’ll fix them ASAP. I won’t be distracted by further development for the next few days. So use this time test and see.
As usual, you will find the download links on the first page. So check it out when you get the time!
