New Battlestar finished, pictures and video uploaded news

Hi everyone,

As you may have noticed from the latest pictures that were uploaded, the B&C Jupiter class Battlestar has been finished and now coded into the game as it's own unit with icons etc. Final balance has not been finalised but should be soon and when that has been done I will be uploading an update which will include this new unit along with a couple of others I've mentioned before. In the rest of this article I will detail the new units and what their role is in game as well as how they interact with the existing units.

Jupiter class Battlestar (Galactica subclass)

So this ship is a variant of the Jupiter class Battlestar which you should all be familiar with. A few of the Jupiter class Battlestars were built with a much higher quantity of armour and weaponry than the standard model for improved survivability and firepower in offensive operations against Cylon Basestars. I have named this the Galactica subclass after the only canon vessel to be shown with this armament. In game these ships will be a tech level 5 unit and cost substantially more than a standard Jupiter class but they pack a serious punch! More turrets and heavier armour than a Mercury class means this ship is very formidable in combat. In addition to the small number of regular vessels buildable I will also be introducing a hero unit based around this ship which will be called the Battlestar Aurora and feature blue markings. This will represent a Galactica subclass vessel which survived the cutbacks and armament stripping that other Jupiter class ships suffered at the end of the first Cylon war and was instead progressively upgraded to remain top of the line. The Aurora will feature automated turrets and other features normally only seen on the newer vessels such a missile jamming field.

Jupiter class Battlestar (Columbia subclass)

Another variant of the basic Jupiter class, the Columbia subclass was built with heavier armour but retains the same basic weapon layout with the focus being to improve the already impressive survivability of the Jupiter class. This ship will be a tech 4 unit like the standard Jupiter class but cost more. These ships make great missile sponges and coupled with their good firepower this makes them an effective Colonial unit, especially when paired with other, more vulnerable ships such as the Apollo class support cruiser.

Something to note is that the basic Jupiter class will remain effective despite the addition of these new units due to the fact that it will cost less, be slightly faster and more manouverable and available in larger numbers in comparison.

In addition to these two ships I will be releasing the Sleipnir class Battlestar. This is visually very similar to the Arvak class which is already present in game. The Sleipnir class has more focus on support than the Arvak with and enlarged CIC and improved DRADIS capabilities. In game it has fewer turrets, a larger FOW reveal range and the ping ability shared by scout Raptors to allow it to scan for enemies. To partly compensate for its lower firepower there are 10 long range missile silos on the upper hull.

While the Cylons are not getting new ships, changes have been made to the existing stats to improve balance. The first war vessels like the Hades mk I and Chimaera have been given greatly improved health to improve their survivability and the currently broken regeneration feature of the new ships like the Hades mk II has been toned down to make it less ridiculous. These ships should now not regenerate at a rate that affects combat but enough to mean they will self repair. I will also be looking into how AI works to try and make the Cylon ships stand off rather than close to close range (similar to how the broadside cruiser will generally avoid getting in close.) This should hopefully improve the gameplay and make it more fun and fair. I will also work on adding some new and interesting Cylon heroes like Scar (using Darth Vader's hero squadron as a base) to give the Cylons some love.

Here's a final shot of this beautiful Galactica model for you to enjoy. if you haven't already go check out Jeroenimo's awesome EAW:Re mod, you wont be disappointed!

Thanks for reading.