Since the announcement of the Alliance, I have seen many people asking what will happen to the Council in DotR 0.7: Divisions. Well, as promised, here is an article breaking down the Council rework, which will hopefully not only allay your fears, but make you even more excited for the Council faction!
New Ships
For every ship removed from the Council and moved to another faction, we have made an entirely new ship to replace it. Starting with the Turians, we have the Verrikan Frigate, a cheap, nimble ship with a powerful main gun that nicely complements any Council Fleet in need of more firepower. Then we have the Undaunted Heavy Carrier - the Turian answer to the Alliances large fleet of carrier. Unfortunately, the Turians aren’t very good at making either carriers or fighters, and so the Undaunted does not match up to the Einstein or Centurion in its role as a carrier. However, it makes up for this drawback with very powerful shields and a respectable main armament, while also serving as a colossal troopship able to take smaller planets on its own.
An Undaunted accompanied by a pair of Verrikan Frigates
Then we have the Asari, whose Nefrane class Cruiser is becoming a neutral ship instead of a Paragon locked ship. However, they are also getting a new ship in the form of the Cybaen class Dreadnought, which is locked to the Paragon faction and bridges the gap between the Nefrane and the Destiny Ascension. The Cybaen is one of the toughest Dreadnoughts out there, and will be a mainstay for the late game Paragon fleet. The Quarians and Geth remain unchanged, though have had improvements to their visuals.
The Cybaen class Dreadnought.
Moving on to Renegade, who were hardest hit by the removal of merc ships. We gave the Batarians a new frigate, the Tunerron class, which is armed to the teeth, if somewhat brittle. The Batarian ships remain in Renegade, as they are Hegemony remnant ships, not pirates. We have also moved the Salarians to Renegade. Lord_Set was not happy with the old Salarian Dreadnought, so a new one was made. The Mannovai class Dreadnought will serve the same role it always has - a Thanix armed stealth Dreadnought, only now it looks far more distinctive and advanced. We also have a plan for Salarian Cruiser and Frigates, however the complexity of Salarian models means these two ships will not be arriving for the 0.7 release.
The Mannovai class Dreadnought flanked by a pair of Tunerron Frigates, with a Har'Suuk class Dreadnought in the background.
On top of that, there will be a few interesting surprises down the line….
New Tech Flow
With the Alliance becoming a faction unto themselves and the Turians receiving many new ships, we wanted to adjust the focus of the early game for the Council. Now, you will begin with Turian ships unlocked, while the Systems Alliance ships they have access to are all locked behind a tier 3 tech. This, combined with the rebalanced costs and stats, should make sure that the Council always has a core fleet of Turian ships, only fielding Alliance ships when they need a fast response force or to bulk up on strike craft. Along with this, the tech tree has seen a moderate overhaul in general to cut down on Alliance and remove Merc related things, allowing me to bring in representation for the Council Associate races more prominently, ensuring the Volus, Elcor and Hanar are not entirely left out of the mod.
Magnificent!
hmm.. Why change Salarian to Renegade?
Is it reference to Salarian higher ups attempt to sabotage genophage cure?
It's largely to do with ensuring the ships are balanced between paragon/renegade.
Paragon gets Asari, Geth and Quarian.
Renegade gets Batarian and Salarian.
Turians and the SA (Their ships on the Council) are neutral.
While balance is a significant factor, it is indeed a reference to the Salarian desire to sabotage the Genophage. They held back their most powerful assets if you didn't sabotage the Genophage, and that was a decidedly Renegade option to take. Still, Major Kirrahe will be available to both sides, to represent the Salarian forces that joined up regardless of your decision.
Ships on first picture look somehow like from plastic. But others turians screenshots look normal. Maybe is it by light?
But nice job!
They still look to be a work in progress compared to other ships. :3
Pictures lack a lot of detail you dont see until your in game. Recommend you reserve judgement until you see it in person.
It will be interesting to look at it from other angles.
I'm looking forward. :)
I hope I did not offend you. I appreciate your work.
The model is cool, just the screenshot looks strange to me.
Keep up the great work. Awesome seeing this mod evolve and change. Can't wait for the release. :)
Beautiful.
This is brilliantly lore-friendly! I love the re-work! I think it matches up with the starting positions and later decisions made during ME3 expertly. Well Done!
This comment is currently awaiting admin approval, join now to view.
Do the Council not have a starbase yet? Also, where/how do you build the Horatio Bulk Cruiser? I can't find it in any of the shipyard buildings