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Author Topic: [0.96a] Halo - United Nations Space Command (UNSC) v0.4a - Update (06/02/2023)  (Read 184117 times)

quichwe10

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Hello! This is my first post here, and I hope you're still working on this. I've had a lot of fun running around the sector in a souped up Halcyon.

A few suggestions I have (and you're free to ignore me, it's your mod after all and you're doing all the work for our collective enjoyment):
1) Corvettes and prowlers could be used as a frigate sized ship for the faction in game. The Gladius-class does come with a MAC according to the wiki, but could instead be implemented as a particularly cheap destroyer. A Prowler variant of it could be made with a focus on mine laying and have similar detection bonuses on the system map as phase ships. That being said, I do agree with Captain Waffle's assessment that you really did nail the fleet compositions, and I'm not sure how this might screw things around.
2) Possibly adding the Phoenix-class (or a smaller variant, as you did with the Punic-class) as a large support ship with larger cargo and crew capacity? Something along the lines on if you put a Colossus and Valkyrie together into a cruiser/capital size. If made into a capital, then it could serve instead as the flagship of a more exploration style fleet, with greater emphasis on fighters, a mini-MAC equivalent that could function like the Strident's MAC but with more stored shots and less damage, and bonuses to salvaging resources and fuel? It was supposed to be a colony ship, and it'd be kinda nice to have something a little non-combat focused.
3) With regards to the relative weakness of point defense on UNSC ships and what seems to be a lack of utilization of the Marathon's fighter slot most of the time, a possible solution could be to introduce a new fighter that's utilized in an interceptor role. Sort of having them be like the mining pod auxiliary for the Venture-class. This suggestion mostly comes from my memory of Halo: The Flood, by Dietz, where during the space battle over the Halo Ring, there is mention of an officer on the Pillar of Autumn managing the ship's Longsword fighter screen. As you've already made the Longswords, my original thought was to use Broadswords for this, but then I realized that there's already a Broadsword fighter in game...

Still, I'm having a lot of fun with the mod so far, and I hope to see you flesh out the UNSC even more. I just hope that I can maybe provide some more food for thought you can use to expand out their roster. Thanks for all your great work!
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noname1208

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Ever since I started Starsector a few years ago now I've loved the idea of a HALO mod. I don't have the skill to make it myself so I stayed quiet about it. I'm so excited to try this that I'm booting the game up right now ^-^ Thank you for this mod Apple, I truly appreciate it!
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AppleMarineXX

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[0.95a] Halo - United Nations Space Command (UNSC) v0.3a - Update (11/6/2021)
« Reply #32 on: November 06, 2021, 01:42:23 PM »

Hey, time for an update out of nowhere! I'm still dead, though.
UNSC v0.3a - "0.95.1 Celebratory Update"



Patchnotes
Spoiler
Additions:
  • The Mako-class Corvette, a well armored, but undergunned frigate-sized escort/strike ship to flesh out the roster a bit.
  • A ship-sized Spartan Laser. Similar to the phase lance, gaining significant more alpha-strike potential at the cost of being very unwieldy to use. Why? I dunno, it seemed cool.

Balance Changes:
  • Various nerfs to fighter craft, they were quite overtuned.
  • Slight buffs to the Paris and Charon.

Fixes:
  • MAC's and fighter weapons should no longer drop as loot. Woops.
[close]

Ideas for the Future (Don't Expect Updates Anytime Soon Though):
Spoiler
  • Add more ships/fighters/weapons (Archer Missiles, Shiva Nukes, Prowler Phase Ship, Infinity?, Broadsword, Pelican, Epoch)
  • Custom Sprites
  • Rebranding to a Standalone, but UNSC-inspired Faction
  • Custom Super-MAC Orbital Station
  • Balancing
  • Fancy Custom Scripts for unique hullmods, ship systems, and on-hit effects.
[close]

Feedback is appreciated, as usual.

Responses to Comments:
Spoiler
I do hope to see the Epoch. Kinda disappointed stuff isn't more proportional to it's size, but beggars can't be choosers.

Okay after messing around a bit, I feel like the Paris and Charon should be smaller. Make them actually smaller. All the sizes feel wrong in the game.
Also I feel like the Marathon needs a stronger MAC that isn't a triple fire one. One more general purpose. Some Archer missile pods with 4 or 8 round bursts and an auto loader for anti armor work would be appreciated.

Yeah, I had to change it for gameplay purposes. I remember seeing a video of a super-star destroyer that took up half the map, it was kinda cool tbh. Archer Missiles are also planned, of course.

Not sure how I can really spice up the Marathon's MAC, though.


Hey love the direction of the mod!

I have something that might be able to help you with creation of more sprites for the mod.

back about make 5+ years ago there was a guy on youtube named Loudsoundmovies2 Link provided - (https://www.youtube.com/user/loudsoundmovies2/featured)

He created this game called Halo vs Star wars which was an RTS the focused on space combat he then added ground combat afterwards

he had the top down of pretty much all the ships from both halo and Star wars. Hes still active creating an RTS engine for his fan made Series. He also had the ships of the Covenant as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HiFK_3Lo54E Trailer

The download folder has every single sprite for all the ships including things like the MAC cannons which are pretty cool.

Interesting, I'll have to take a look at those. Thanks! I'm planning on doing custom sprites for the mod in the distant future (along with a complete rebranding), but those would certain help with outlines and stuff.

First of all about damn time! secondly, I personally think going in the direction of a HALO UNSC inspired faction adapted to Starsector lore would be better (though considering i love Descendants so much that`s a bit hypocritical) , in my opinion, since it would give you greater freedom in terms of faction lore and sprite work. In addition I really curious if a no shield faction could be made to work in Starsector maybe give them super good ECM/ECCM to balance out the resulting fragility?

Should say i recognize this is super early and rough though, really hope you have the time to put into this to make it shine!

(I don't really have time lel)

I tried no-shield ships at first, but unless I went the direction that the Luddic Enchancement Mod's going (replace shields with a Damper field), they'd get ripped apart instantly by EMP and Torpedoes. And don't get me started on High-Tech Orbital Stations...

I actually agree that it may be better in the long run for you to turn this into a faction based on the unsc.

Either way great work!

btw not sure if it is other mods (im doing a random sector nexerelin run with derelict empire active), however, no unsc ships spawn in their fleets and havent found any unsc ships anywhere either
do they just have a really low chance of spawning?  is a lack of heavy industry on their planet possibly the issue?

Yep, a re-branding is planned, whenever I can figure out how spriting works...

As for the that ship-less run, I have no idea, they show up on my end.

One way to accept UNSC shields is to have them all be equivalent to makeshift shields. The UNSC got pretty good at reverse engineering and make use of AI, so giving them all weak shields would be plenty lore friendly. From the sounds of it they already have small shield arms to go with their profile anyhow.



I look forward to trying this.

Yep, most of the ships already have pathetic shield efficiency.

Thoughts on adding the UNSC Infinity as THE capital ship? Or perhaps it's lost somewhere hard to get to and hard to find? I'd also love to see Condors as some sort of fighter, fragile units with really hard hitting spartan lasers. Regardless, awesome mod. Keep up the great work!

Maybe? I don't really know how to balance super-capitals in this game.

Hello! This is my first post here, and I hope you're still working on this. I've had a lot of fun running around the sector in a souped up Halcyon.

A few suggestions I have (and you're free to ignore me, it's your mod after all and you're doing all the work for our collective enjoyment):
1) Corvettes and prowlers could be used as a frigate sized ship for the faction in game. The Gladius-class does come with a MAC according to the wiki, but could instead be implemented as a particularly cheap destroyer. A Prowler variant of it could be made with a focus on mine laying and have similar detection bonuses on the system map as phase ships. That being said, I do agree with Captain Waffle's assessment that you really did nail the fleet compositions, and I'm not sure how this might screw things around.
2) Possibly adding the Phoenix-class (or a smaller variant, as you did with the Punic-class) as a large support ship with larger cargo and crew capacity? Something along the lines on if you put a Colossus and Valkyrie together into a cruiser/capital size. If made into a capital, then it could serve instead as the flagship of a more exploration style fleet, with greater emphasis on fighters, a mini-MAC equivalent that could function like the Strident's MAC but with more stored shots and less damage, and bonuses to salvaging resources and fuel? It was supposed to be a colony ship, and it'd be kinda nice to have something a little non-combat focused.
3) With regards to the relative weakness of point defense on UNSC ships and what seems to be a lack of utilization of the Marathon's fighter slot most of the time, a possible solution could be to introduce a new fighter that's utilized in an interceptor role. Sort of having them be like the mining pod auxiliary for the Venture-class. This suggestion mostly comes from my memory of Halo: The Flood, by Dietz, where during the space battle over the Halo Ring, there is mention of an officer on the Pillar of Autumn managing the ship's Longsword fighter screen. As you've already made the Longswords, my original thought was to use Broadswords for this, but then I realized that there's already a Broadsword fighter in game...

Still, I'm having a lot of fun with the mod so far, and I hope to see you flesh out the UNSC even more. I just hope that I can maybe provide some more food for thought you can use to expand out their roster. Thanks for all your great work!

Lucky for you, I have a corvette in stock. Prowlers are also planned - right now the faction fleet balance is 5-1-1 Warships/Carriers/Phase, so they should rarely show up. 

A support ship is also nice to have, I'll keep that in mind. As for interceptors, I'm thinking of adding in the Broadsword fighter in the future, and rebalancing the Saber with it so one's a strike-fighter and one's an interceptor. Of course I'll have to rename it, but whatevs.

Ever since I started Starsector a few years ago now I've loved the idea of a HALO mod. I don't have the skill to make it myself so I stayed quiet about it. I'm so excited to try this that I'm booting the game up right now ^-^ Thank you for this mod Apple, I truly appreciate it!

Good to hear!
[close]

JUDGE! slowpersun

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Funny, I have been meaning to ask where this mod's version of the Pelican drop ship is... but it seems to already be on the to-do list!  I guess that would basically end up being the UNSC mod's version of the Kite shuttle... but would be nice for whenever it eventually gets added to have some Nex invasion bonuses (although adding a ground support package might be too OP, so some sort of custom hull mod with equivalent but limited effect instead?).
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I wasn't always a Judge...

AppleMarineXX

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[0.95a] Halo - United Nations Space Command (UNSC) v0.3b - Update (11/6/2021)
« Reply #34 on: November 06, 2021, 09:06:01 PM »

There was a mysterious bug that caused a crash on startup. This should fix it.

Demonocolips

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a good mod. seems to be going in a good direction. only real thing i object to right now is the burst fire mode for the mac cannons. think they would work better with a standard magazine.
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AppleMarineXX

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Love the idea of the mod, but I'm still getting crashes to desktop due to something missing from the Charon.

Spoiler
21198 [Thread-4] INFO  com.fs.starfarer.loading.LoadingUtils  - Loading JSON from [DIRECTORY: C:\Program Files (x86)\Fractal Softworks\Starsector\starsector-core\..\mods\Torchships (data\variants\TADA_whirlwind_support.variant)]
21198 [Thread-4] INFO  com.fs.starfarer.loading.SpecStore  - Loading variant [data\variants\sabre_fighter.variant]
21199 [Thread-4] INFO  com.fs.starfarer.loading.LoadingUtils  - Loading JSON from [DIRECTORY: C:\Program Files (x86)\Fractal Softworks\Starsector\starsector-core\..\mods\UNSC (data\variants\sabre_fighter.variant)]
21200 [Thread-4] INFO  com.fs.starfarer.loading.SpecStore  - Loading variant [data\variants\UNSC_Frigate_charon_logistics.variant]
21201 [Thread-4] INFO  com.fs.starfarer.loading.LoadingUtils  - Loading JSON from [DIRECTORY: C:\Program Files (x86)\Fractal Softworks\Starsector\starsector-core\..\mods\UNSC (data\variants\UNSC_Frigate_charon_logistics.variant)]
21452 [Thread-4] ERROR com.fs.starfarer.combat.CombatMain  - java.lang.RuntimeException: Weapon spec [breach] not found!
java.lang.RuntimeException: Weapon spec [breach] not found!
   at com.fs.starfarer.loading.o00O.?00000(Unknown Source)
   at com.fs.starfarer.loading.SpecStore.o00000(Unknown Source)
   at com.fs.starfarer.loading.SpecStore.o00000(Unknown Source)
   at com.fs.starfarer.loading.specs.HullVariantSpec.<init>(Unknown Source)
   at com.fs.starfarer.loading.SpecStore.for(Unknown Source)
   at com.fs.starfarer.loading.SpecStore.?O0000(Unknown Source)
   at com.fs.starfarer.loading.ResourceLoaderState.init(Unknown Source)
   at com.fs.state.AppDriver.begin(Unknown Source)
   at com.fs.starfarer.combat.CombatMain.main(Unknown Source)
   at com.fs.starfarer.StarfarerLauncher$1.run(Unknown Source)
   at java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)
[close]

Here's the full thing, whenever you get the time.

Are you currently on the 0.95 version of Starsector? The Breach SRM weapon was added to the game in 0.95, and is equipped on that particular ship variant. If you don't have the weapons data for the Breach, either your copy of vanilla Starsector is somehow mutilated, or you're on an older version like 0.91 or something.

swatmore

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This is so based
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Pixel

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I absolutely love this mod, however I would like to ask if you do plan on adding smaller unsc ships like the smaller corvettes or the prowler to help round out the fleet abit, rn it just feels weird to have my Paris battle line backed up by kites
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BwenGun

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Want to add to those saying that this is an excellent mod, the MAC cannons especially are pretty much perfect and very fun to play with. I'm looking forward to seeing what else you're going to add.

If I had one suggestion though it would be to scale down the size of the ships. As it is the frigates, especially, feel very large and clunky for their intended role. Part of that is because the UNSC are quite deep ships, which means that a lot of their mass doesn't translate well into a topdown game which means that smaller escort vessels look comparatively larger than their design would indicate. In which case if the larger ships are going to stay their current size it might be an idea to diverge from the Halo canon a little to shrink them down a bit.

Though it might be worth shrinking everything down a bit if and when you start adding the larger classes in. a true Punic/Infinity class will take up the entire screen in combat. Let alone if Covenant ships turn up. But that's probably a design decision for later if you add any of the larger ships.
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Adventwolf

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Really like this idea for the mod. Not sure it needs to be an inspired faction instead of just a straight transplant faction. I like the idea of the latter better as it explains just why they think and act much differently than the normal faction without having the baggage of the Domain.

Now for some ideas for the fighters, you have the Longswords and Sabers already but the first is a heavy fighter and the latter a strike fighter. You are adding the broadsword which works as a normal interceptor/fighter but you can also add in the shortsword as a dedicated bomber just revamped for use in space. You can also split the Longsword into its two main variants the C709 which is very big and more of a gunship/heavy fighter and the C712 which is less than half the size and much faster for a normal fighter-interceptor. You can also add the F-99 Wombat drone fighter as the UNSC version of the Claw/Wasp.

For the ships add a fighter bay to every ship that doesn't have one except destroyers like the Halberd. UNSC ships are all carriers by lore except for the destroyers which is noted as being an outlier of the fleet. Also, the point defense guns need to be boosted as the UNSC had very powerful PD systems hence why their main weapon the archer pod is a multi-missile system. They weren't as strong as the Covenant PD pulse lasers but it was still very good.

The Punic should be moved up into the Capital slot and the fighter bays doubled as even downsized it would still be carrying a lot of fighters it would basically be the UNSC version of the Legion Battlecarrier. With the Halcyon having at least one if not two fighter bays same with the Marathon for fighters.

For new ships to add the Stalwart can be added as an actual frigate since it is smaller than the Charon and Paris. For other frigates like others said the gladius is on but also adding the Lancer which was well known for being the fastest ship in the UNSC and was used extremely effectively in the War. Then you have Scholte missile corvette for a punchy missile boat. You can also add the Anlace as a top-tier frigate with high flux ability and shields.

In the Destoyer slots adding the Mulsanne class as another option alongside the Strident for newer models. You could also instead of putting the Stalwart in the frigate slot put it here as a light carrier with two slots as its cargo bays already smaller than the Charon's would be remodeled for expanded fighter use instead of ground support. You could also add the ground support package to the Charon as that is its main role in the fleet.

For new cruisers, you can have new downsized versions of the Pheonix, Epoch, and Orion. The Pheonix can also be used to make the super freighter/salvage/survey civilian ship and its military support carrier version. The Pheonix can be given either a gun cruiser or missile cruiser loadout or given it the option with weapons mounts to use either type depending on how the players want to run them. The Orion can be given the Advanced Ground Support Package for ground use as it is a more straight-up fighting ship anyways. Both the Pheonix and Orion would only have two fighter bays as they are focused on other functions being more important than the carrier focus. The Epoch could have three fighter bays to show its more pure carrier focus with maybe the Dover Light carrier built in Hullmod for deploying more fighters per squadron.

In the Capital slots aside from moving the Punic you also have several options. Adding in the Autumn class as a new advanced heavy warship like the Strident and other post-war ships just make it a more durable and powerful version than the Marathon with better shields and flux. Then you can add the Valiant Superheavy Cruiser as the biggest and strongest ship in the fleet. Make it a block II using the same kind of upgrades the Autumn got to make it a new command ship and battleship for the UNSC.

With those added, the roster is expanded and the UNSC has a fully fleshed-out fleet. As for the Infinity, I wouldn't add it. Unlike the other ship it can't really be made and if it was it would not be in the hands of the Player but the faction itself instead. Plus super-capitals are broken, to begin with.

Now for new weapons, you already have the Archer but you can add the Rapier and Howler pods as more powerful missile weapons. Or make each of them more powerful against shields, armor, cause emp damage, or just do normal full damage to armor and shields with the others doing more to either or. Also having them shoot out multiple warheads per shot along with having very long-range or very good tracking either-or.

For normal weapons add the Mark 40 Spitfire and MArk 55 Castor Naval coil guns for the heavy-hitting ship to ship. The Sentry Autocannons are also ship weapons that can be added may be small-sized with the previous being medium-sized. For PD if you don't want to change the ones already in then make new ones that are better with higher turn, range, damage etc. You can use the Helix, bulwurk, and M85 Scythe along with M97 Lance missile for new PD weapons.

For new large weapons you can use the Mark 2488 Onager and the more powerful Mark 2551 Onager mini MACs. And because all ballistic ship weapons for the UNSC are coil guns they would all have much longer range than the Persean variants. As for the HAVOC and SHIVA warheads either built in weapons or the UNSC version of the reaper with a high EMP stat when it hits, or make a longsword fighter carry the nuke to the target and blow up like the UNSC did during the Fall of Reach.
« Last Edit: January 16, 2022, 08:04:08 PM by Adventwolf »
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jumpingmouse

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it would be really cool to add "dumb" AI hullmods for a ship, maybe 1 per ship unless otherwise specified like with pillar of autumn
examples might be,
 dedicated PD AI
ECM AI
Navigations AI maybe a burn speed/top speed boost
a cool ship system to add for any soon to be added MAC ships would be chemical thrusters. which would have charges that cause faster acceleration from side to side

 Despite how much material from HALO lore is crying out for implementation I'm already really happy with the mod as is and im glad that Archer missile pods are in the works
my biggest complaint is that the ship hull sizes are not consistent with their names
ie i was fielding Halberds for awhile thinking they were benefitting from destroyer levels of hull mods.
btw if anyone is playing with "better deserved hull mods" make sure you try out the built in expanded magazines hullmod. on halberds the bonuses it gives means that a halberd has three mac charge capacity as well as faster reload's, ive been putting auxiliary maneuvering jets on them as well so that they can have a chance at scragging frigates as well as everything else.
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Adventwolf

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For the normal base system the UNSC is generated in I think it is better if the Ice Giant is made into a normal gas Giant. That way if we use DIY planets and terraforming mod we can turn it into a brown dwarf to improve the system and make the UNSC stronger in their home system.
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Koranea

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Love Halo, would be nice to see some covenant ships eventually ^^
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Der Kaiser

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Re: [0.95a] Halo - United Nations Space Command (UNSC) Faction Mod - v0.1d
« Reply #44 on: April 10, 2022, 01:41:14 PM »

having them at all would be unique from my stand point

i will do some digging into covenant tech to see if i can come up with some ideas

really the biggest issue i foresee (not much of one) is the sheer size of the ships compared to UNSC ships

Well, for this mod at least, I threw canon sizes out the window. The larger UNSC ships would've probably taken up the entire screen, and the covenant supercarrier would probably take up the entire battle map. I just chose to arbitrarily scale ships to Starsector sizes for gameplay purposes.

the star wars mod maker has a work-a-round with the super star destroyers but if you want to know specifically what he did you could talk to him, but you dont need to have the largest ships take up entire map or screen, just most of it for the largest of the ships. i got two examples here they are the executor one is just the ship and one is has a ship to compare it to
https://www.deviantart.com/skarjj/art/Screenshot000-912639680
https://www.deviantart.com/skarjj/art/Size-Comparison-912639677
« Last Edit: April 10, 2022, 02:13:58 PM by Der Kaiser »
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