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More ships

292 (54.8%)

More weapons

108 (20.3%)

Something else?

133 (25%)

Total Members Voted: 533

[Lizzie]

Very nice job on the qianzi. Glad to see its not a greeblepear anymore.

[beaster9999]

Hi Getting a weird crashing bug when you save the game if you have hyperdrive 1.2 mod installed.
it says at least one class is marked as dontobfuscate hope this helps

[Sundog]

Hey, beaster9999. I have some questions for you about this crash in the Hyperdrive thread, if you don't mind.

[Speeda325]

Hi. the music running-dark is good but it plays to often. what about having it so when transponder is off or using the going dark ability it plays?
assuming that its not to hard to do. if so when what about having it play less frequently. or when in deep space. kinda weird having it play while beside jangala : )

[MesoTroniK]

Evening, and thank you for the feedback. The plan is, when time, eventually™... To have Running Dark play on a loop in the Shaanxi star system and to only play there, a star system theme

I am not sure when this will be done, perhaps in the next update and perhaps not. This remains to be seen.

[Luckspeare]

Love your work in this mod!

[Unnamed_Shadow]

i love this mod!

Hope the next update brings us a Legion Retrofit. Tiandong really needs a Big Carrier.

An Onslaught Retrofit would be the icing on the cake for such a fantastic fleet.

[Gezzaman]

An onslaught upgrade would be terrifyingly beautiful =]

[MesoTroniK]

Love your work in this mod!

Thank you!

i love this mod!

Hope the next update brings us a Legion Retrofit. Tiandong really needs a Big Carrier.

And thank you too!

A Legion retrofit is not on the table, unless someone wants to sprite it for me lol. Need is a strong word though my friend. But rest assured they will be getting more carriers in good time. Though how much they need them is very debatable since they also use vanilla tech.

An Onslaught Retrofit would be the icing on the cake for such a fantastic fleet.

An onslaught upgrade would be terrifyingly beautiful =]

Heh. Also, I would be hesitant to call the retrofits "upgrades". I try to make all of them sidegrades, though the Dingjun if I had to call out one? Is probably the only retrofit that is a straight upgrade over the original ship. But even then it has a few downsides that the Venture does not possess and costs more to operate as well.


As the next update of THI approaches ever closer to completion, I feel it once again might be a good time to show some of the reworked art.


The Tianshui, once a bulbous mass of impossible Z-axis shapes and noisy volumes. Has been cleaned up and redefined, also with changed weapon arcs and a new rear turret in addition to various stat tweaks. A moderate buff!

The Chengdu, once a simple death box, uh... Has become even more boxy, but much better looking overall. Also is that a new turret mount you see? Well, yes but also no. Wait and see heh.

The Wujun, kept its soul and spirit while becoming significantly less greebly but still remaining skeletal in nature.

The Luoyang, is no longer a silly conehead. And overall became more lithe and sharp in appearance.

The Laohu, had its overly noisy armor plating homogenized into a less nonsensical shape and became more monolithic and heavily armored in appearance. While also being painted in livery that is more bold than usual for THI. Laohu does mean Tiger after all.

[eidolad]

Returned after a year away from SS and am very glad for this mod.   The ships are solid and well balanced IMO.   In fact my favorite thing about this mod is how well is integrates with other well-balanced-with-vanilla mods.

Though I might be having trouble with

Spoiler

Zheng.  When i began my Nex campaign as a young THI captain, I spoke with her and she talked about a mystery in the sector.  I investigated and found that it was too much for my single ship.

After building up a small task group, i was able to address the situation and she was happy, but then said no additional work was available.

A few months later, I returned to her and same story.

It's been two years and I now have a three-cruiser-weight squadron, and a million credits.   Zheng still says:  no new work.

[close]

[MesoTroniK]

Hi and thank you eidolad.

Also thank you for stating the "trouble" without revealing any spoilers! Really, I appreciate that Anyways as of this point in time there is only a single mission offered by her. There will be more added in time.

[eidolad]

Thanks for the quick feedback!

This motivates me to write a quick thank you note on how your mod made me rush for the download button:

1.   flavor ships that have a consistent "company theme" and meta-mod/Nex aware?   OK I'm in.
2.   chunky fight and upgrade experience with them.   Check.  (Even a tactical siege ship built around a BFG.   Still gotta gets me one of them)
3.   ooh several spoiler/surprise flavor experiences I wasn't expecting.    More than a bonus...
4.  More on that last item...a quick review of my favorite portion of the THI mod:

Spoiler

That storyteller with the targeted bounties that appear to dip into many (all?) of the mod fleets in my collection of 20 some odd mods and compose fleets of them for optional hunting.    AND perhaps reveal the location of random derelicts that have mini-story lines?   AND the feature integrates with the Starship Legends mod and gives the random derelict ship/crew extra experience/history if the player recovers it?   Sheesh.

If I was to suggest a "path" for added lore/content to THI to make the corp fleshed out:  I would say that my preference is for "procedural stories that add various random content rather than a long static single-experience story".   As a player I tend to rush and gobble up the static story lines asap, as I have an insatiable hunger in SS for "lore and chunky stories to give me a reason to have this fleet...more than just having a colony that pays for my fleet".  So that means that a static story would need to be staged for a full multi-colony time period *and* remain fresh for multiple play-throughs.  That's a tall order.

That storyteller above is a perfect example:   it is a mod-flavored bounty and derelict mission experience...basically mod-worthy on its own.

_____

hmm if I could grab time away from Angular work and Unreal blueprints hobby coding...hmm  how would I add more THI procedural story goodness?

1.  upgrader bounties:

a.   THI needs the young captain to capture a progression of heavier (note:   perhaps specific hulls of advanced faction who are current enemy?) hulls and "sell them to the upgrader" as part of a corporate research initiative into a new line of hulls.

  - perhaps let the player, through a dialog choice..."choose" their factional enemy.   Gotta say that choosing "Luddic Path" as factional enemy and having the end-stage derelict compute to "Cathedral-class" would be...yikes.  I don't even know if that ship is ever a derelict.   But a Pandemonium class from the Diable Avionics mod faction would be no picnic to recover either and surely and end-game-worthy goal.

b.   storyteller (or Zheng?)  let's the young captain know from time when the next ship needs to be recovered.

c.   as each hull is sold to THI (not in the market, but in that upgrade ui as if the player is upgrading it), more "research progress" is made

d.  I'm not sure what the end result should be:
      - a custom ship from the class/role that the player chooses (could be a THI ship with new skin a two custom hull-mods?)

d.1 Or bigger bonus:   the ENTIRE THI line of available ships changes for the rest of the game  (not sure that is possible for a modder to do to an existing game/save).   And changes in a way that the player "influences" somehow in how they solve each level of the quest:  i.e. maybe the player would like THI to be faster (so the new ship line includes a 5-10% speed and maneuver bonus).

[close]

[MesoTroniK]

Evening again eidolad.

3.   ooh several spoiler/surprise flavor experiences I wasn't expecting.    More than a bonus...

I wonder if you found all of them? Or even in general how many players have found THI's semi-REDACTED fleets out there in the boonies or noticed the mercs escorting NPCs

Spoiler

That storyteller with the targeted bounties that appear to dip into many (all?) of the mod fleets in my collection of 20 some odd mods and compose fleets of them for optional hunting.    AND perhaps reveal the location of random derelicts that have mini-story lines?   AND the feature integrates with the Starship Legends mod and gives the random derelict ship/crew extra experience/history if the player recovers it?   Sheesh.

If I was to suggest a "path" for added lore/content to THI to make the corp fleshed out:  I would say that my preference is for "procedural stories that add various random content rather than a long static single-experience story".   As a player I tend to rush and gobble up the static story lines asap, as I have an insatiable hunger in SS for "lore and chunky stories to give me a reason to have this fleet...more than just having a colony that pays for my fleet".  So that means that a static story would need to be staged for a full multi-colony time period *and* remain fresh for multiple play-throughs.  That's a tall order.

That storyteller above is a perfect example:   it is a mod-flavored bounty and derelict mission experience...basically mod-worthy on its own.

_____

hmm if I could grab time away from Angular work and Unreal blueprints hobby coding...hmm  how would I add more THI procedural story goodness?

1.  upgrader bounties:

a.   THI needs the young captain to capture a progression of heavier (note:   perhaps specific hulls of advanced faction who are current enemy?) hulls and "sell them to the upgrader" as part of a corporate research initiative into a new line of hulls.

  - perhaps let the player, through a dialog choice..."choose" their factional enemy.   Gotta say that choosing "Luddic Path" as factional enemy and having the end-stage derelict compute to "Cathedral-class" would be...yikes.  I don't even know if that ship is ever a derelict.   But a Pandemonium class from the Diable Avionics mod faction would be no picnic to recover either and surely and end-game-worthy goal.

b.   storyteller (or Zheng?)  let's the young captain know from time when the next ship needs to be recovered.

c.   as each hull is sold to THI (not in the market, but in that upgrade ui as if the player is upgrading it), more "research progress" is made

d.  I'm not sure what the end result should be:
      - a custom ship from the class/role that the player chooses (could be a THI ship with new skin a two custom hull-mods?)

d.1 Or bigger bonus:   the ENTIRE THI line of available ships changes for the rest of the game  (not sure that is possible for a modder to do to an existing game/save).   And changes in a way that the player "influences" somehow in how they solve each level of the quest:  i.e. maybe the player would like THI to be faster (so the new ship line includes a 5-10% speed and maneuver bonus).

[close]

Whew, ever the dreamer and schemer just like me and I respect that.

Spoiler

Starship Legends and Sundog's mods in general are pretty great yea.

Personally I am a big fan of overarching narratives, storylines, and meaningful things that occur, changing things within the Sector at large. All is well at first, then foreshadowing occurs, and then the precipice of destruction and existential threat. But with a twist, a Big Bad can be so much more than that... After all the destruction usually comes from within.

Sure I could do procedural missions and stuff like that, but it can only be done so many times before one sees through the cracks. I would rather tell a Big Story with some branching paths so it has some replay value. But there will be *some* random stuff as well, but it will be finite in nature and not of the sort of scope of Sundog's work. Instead it would complement the hand made portions at certain points.


Well I can tell you right now, that a system like you described as you described it? Is a really hard sell. It would be a metric *** ton of work, and not very compelling. Since isn't like I can do retrofits from the choose your own enemy faction like you described. It would be wearing the mantle of infinity in terms of work. So in regards to it being not compelling? All I could do is generic rewards, or unrelated new ships being created.

And things like your "bigger bonus" suggestion could certainly be done, but I don't think that would be very interesting in terms of end result either. It would in effect just be grinding to enable power creep? Not a fan heh.

Anyways, some of what you said is actually very close to some of my own plans. Player captures X ship for THI, and then Things Happen. But it would be hand made events and rewards, and perhaps semi randomized in nature, and or *some* of them would depend on what other mods are running if they are supported.

[close]

[eidolad]

Holy crap NOPE still missing more secrets...I must find for the precious!

In regards to your feedback on my spoilery stuff:   agreed good stuff and yup easy to come up with ideas...hard to scope them correctly.

Some more feedback from my game 3/4s the way to my first colony in a Nex game with many of the major faction mods installed (THI, Diable, Dassault-Mikoyan, Imperium, Legacy of Ark, Mayasuran Navy, Underworld):

1.   I'm not very knowledgeable about how Nex determines how many markets each faction gets...but it seemed that THI got very few markets compared to other factions.   Especially goodness, the Imperium for example.   I joined THI early and based my operations from Shanghai and that system was well protected...but would love more THI markets.

2.  I think other players have commented similary:   I feel the need, the need for:   THI middle and heavy-weight carrier classes.  It's the middle game when I start thinking about having three middle-weight carriers around just to survive when Luddic Path or a Pirate Armada comes screaming out a hyperspace storm.

Or heck why not:  a dedicated cruiser with built-in flak and special system that could let it survive an Astral/Atropos bomber wing's combined salvo (but maybe not so much the 2nd or third if that Astra is targeting the flak ship  exclusively.  Perhaps the system has limited charges).  Oops there goes my scope creep again...

4.  Loving me those pair of large fwd gun emplacements on the Xu-class...LET'S GO FOR THREE and upgrade that fwd-middle turret mount or change the arcs of the first broadsiders to cover the fwd arc bwahahahaha.   Because with speed 40...I fight the Xu as a line-ship that stands its ground and dashes fwd for kills, rather than swooping in and turning to present broadsides.   So the broadside mounts tend to be empty of ship killers...

5.   Wuzhang-class:   fun, risky, human pilots only.  I cannot imagine the AI doing anything other than dying trying to pilot this thing.   I have yet to go up against a decent station in one of these...looking forward to it!  The knockback of the spinal mount shells is gratifying.

6.  Would like it if Shanghai had a heavy industry...want to sell them a pristine Nanoforge BADLY to up the quality of the THI ships for sale there...

[MesoTroniK]

1.   I'm not very knowledgeable about how Nex determines how many markets each faction gets...but it seemed that THI got very few markets compared to other factions.   Especially goodness, the Imperium for example.   I joined THI early and based my operations from Shanghai and that system was well protected...but would love more THI markets.

THI is by design, a minor faction. Both in colony count (not counting Nex Random Mode), and expansion speed when Nex is on. Lore wise, this is how things should be. They avoid destruction by being just useful enough, and non threatening enough to be worth keeping around in the eyes of most major factions.

2.  I think other players have commented similary:   I feel the need, the need for:   THI middle and heavy-weight carrier classes.  It's the middle game when I start thinking about having three middle-weight carriers around just to survive when Luddic Path or a Pirate Armada comes screaming out a hyperspace storm.

Or heck why not:  a dedicated cruiser with built-in flak and special system that could let it survive an Astral/Atropos bomber wing's combined salvo (but maybe not so much the 2nd or third if that Astra is targeting the flak ship  exclusively.  Perhaps the system has limited charges).  Oops there goes my scope creep again...

And players role-playing as THI, should do as THI does. And run mixed tech fleets. They don't *need* every ship role since they also use vanilla tech. But in time yes more carrier classes will occur but *need* is a strong word, and they will always roll mixed tech fleets even as their content gets expanded.

That vague cruiser concept, sounds a bit too... "Fancy" for THI.

4.  Loving me those pair of large fwd gun emplacements on the Xu-class...LET'S GO FOR THREE and upgrade that fwd-middle turret mount or change the arcs of the first broadsiders to cover the fwd arc bwahahahaha.   Because with speed 40...I fight the Xu as a line-ship that stands its ground and dashes fwd for kills, rather than swooping in and turning to present broadsides.   So the broadside mounts tend to be empty of ship killers...

The Xu is viable as front towards enemy while loading the sides with PD for days, or as a broadside ship. Entirely dependent on its perhaps to some, daunting loadout capabilities and overall weapon flexibility. No significant changes will be made to the ship, just some tweaks here and there.

5.   Wuzhang-class:   fun, risky, human pilots only.  I cannot imagine the AI doing anything other than dying trying to pilot this thing.   I have yet to go up against a decent station in one of these...looking forward to it!  The knockback of the spinal mount shells is gratifying.

The AI does OK with it, as long as it has enough allied assets to screen for it. It is fairly mobile after all.

6.  Would like it if Shanghai had a heavy industry...want to sell them a pristine Nanoforge BADLY to up the quality of the THI ships for sale there...

That has actually been considered, and still is being mulled over. But is unlikely to occur as I am rather happy with THI's campaign layer balance.

Code

        // TODO: Maybe we could downgrade to heavy industry and give it a corrupted nanoforge?