Good afternoon loyal citizens of the Cardassian Union! Today I, your glorious leader have been tasked with delivering news to you. The Obsidian Order has intercepted several communications recently, and they have been deemed important enough to be disseminated to you, the loyal people of the Union.
Mod of the week at PC Gamer!
We've been incredibly fortunate and privileged to be noticed by the gents over at PC gamer, and they've done a short piece on our mod. We're so thankful for the attention and for the lovely review by Mr Christopher Livingston of PC Gamer. We certainly didn't expect it, but we're really glad of the exposure. We hope it'll bring more Star Trek fans to the Moddb group. This will bring us more reviews and suggestions from the community and will enable us to further improve the mod based on its users recommendations. See the link below!
The Problem Child. Balancing the Borg.
We've been unhappy with the Borg as a playable race for some time. To this end we're mid way through a large scale rebuild and re-balance. What does this mean for the player? Our initial focus was on redeveloping the look of the Borg. We really felt that the "First Contact" style Borg were both more attractive and more intimidating in their looks. To this end we're mid way through a re-skin. Let me know what you think.
In addition to the re skin we've thought long and hard about what we want from the Borg. We came up with this as an answer. We want the Borg to be more accessible to the human players. In order to achieve this we had to go back to the drawing board somewhat. We've looked into bringing the Borg, as a playable race more in line with the other playable races by re balancing both their vessels, and their research. This will bring their power much closer to the other races and make "no Borg" matches a thing of the past. After all, what's the point of a race that you can't play?
I can hear the boos and hisses from here. But don't worry! AI Borg will still be the horrifying challenge you all know and love to hate! Using pieces of AI only research we still plan to have those epic Borg multiplayer "Comp Stomps". After all, what's not to love about that? I feel that this way, we get the best of both worlds. What do you all think? Let me know in the comments below.
MVAM and Saucer Separaration.
We've done it, we've finally managed it! Multi vector assault mode has been perfected!
This is due in no small part to Lavo of the SOGE mod who worked really hard to help us get this working as we wanted. Here's a link to his mod: Moddb.com
Because of this you'll now see the Prometheus in game. We know many of you wanted it, and we worked hard at this because a big part of making a mod like this is actually providing what you want! In addition to this, with the help of WileyCoyote's beautiful modelling skills we're just about ready to implement the Galaxy Class saucer separation we all wanted in there. Below is a render of Wiley's model. Tell us what else you feel you really want in the mod. It seriously makes a difference to us.
Glory to the Founders!
Work is still continuing on the Cardassian Union and the Dominion. I'll post a much more detailed piece as and when i have more information in this. Suffice to say, there will be a faction split that allows you to choose whether you are a member of the Cardassian Union or the Dominion alliance. Each of these choices will open up unique vessels to that faction including heroes and titans.
Captain Shack's latest video
Captain Shack is midway through one of those multiplayer Borg comp stomp's we talked about earlier. We'd like to take a bit of time to thank Shack for the outstanding contribution and the consistent support he's given us on his youtube channel. Shack is a full time youtuber, who makes video's spotlighting mods, and modder's work in order to increase exposure. He's a gift to the modding community and we're fortunate that he's supported us so much.
Captain Shack is looking to expand his channel so he can do more for the community and create a professional website dedicated to the gaming and modding community. After all the support he's showed Armada 3, we'd like to plug him a little. He's recently opened up a Patreon option, that allows to give a couple of dollars a month if you like his work. We'd like to link it here, and we would be so grateful if some of the mod lover's out there could give a small amount to a man that's done so much for the community.
Some gents are trying to organize an STA3 tournament over on our Steam page. We love the idea, and will be offering prizes (that range from having a Capital ship with the name of your choice, including your own in-game, all the way up to a potential beta-tester spot up for grabs. Jump on to our steam group, and see who's in chat. Alternatively contact me, on steam or here, on moddb. My steam user name is technophobeus .
Thanks for your time everyone, and let me know in the comments below anything that you're wondering about. I'll endeavor to answer you!
Any chance you guys could put up some comparison pics for the current and new Borg?
Would be cool to see all the changes made!
Killa's going to be looking into doing a nice render of that for you all.
Not so sure on the other borg ships but the cube looks good, I think as long as there is enough green highlights you can go for that darker tone that your looking for.
I kinda like SOA idea that the Borg ARE overpowered therefore shouldn't be played by humans.
Why not both though?
You could always play off that the Borg are being hit by tech they can't 100% adapt to. The Federation in canon has such technology!
can't they just be 20x times as strong, while 20-30 times more costly, making them balanced for a Human player, and an AI with infinite resources very over powered..?
as a side note, cant the borg loose the ability to build research stations, and just get one random point for every world they Assimilate?
Besides I never play as the "bad" guys.
Can't fear a team you've played...if that makes sense.
i dont like the idea of "nerfing" the borg. they are supposed to be terrifying and unstoppable.. its what makes them the threat they are.
Maybe consider giving late game feds/klings/roms a buff to allow their ships to better deal with the borg? maybe some research high up in the tree??
As I said in the news article, when playing the AI Borg, they'll be very much as hard as they are now. It's playing against "Human" Borg that things will change more for.
Much of the reason for this was the "Rush the Borg" mentality we all had in MP games. Stopped it being fun for the Borg player who didn't even have a chance because we simply couldn't allow them to get to the unbalanced stage.
so are you guys goin to give the borg research for alliances? diplomacy options? pacts? I mean why would you play the borg with out those options if they are being nerfed for human players?
No, canon simply wouldn't allow for that in any legitimate way. The Borg will still remain powerful in a human players hands,but 1v1 is simply not an option at the moment. Where would be the fun in knowing you're going to lose as the non-Borg player when playing a Borg? Absolutely zero sadly. We did everything we could, but it's not satisfying at the moment. I'm sure you'll be satisfied with the changes we're planning to make, and you, when playing other people as the Borg will feel empowered, yet still feel like there's competition in the universe.
Actually, the Borg did resort to "diplomacy" - I wish there was a way to emphasize scare quotes - when their assimilation tactics were stunted. The Queen tried to talk Data into joining her willingly (First Contact) and Seven of Nine was appointed as a representative of the Borg (Voyager), amongst other such happenings.
You guys have done and are doing a terrific job and I hesitate to ask for more, but my modest suggestion for Borg Diplomacy research options would to make those available only after certain events, such as the enemy having researched certain Borg counter-measures, the Borg having suffered a particular devastating defeat, encountering a Titan ship, etc. Alliances with the Borg could even be temporary, e.g. lasting only until a particular enemy has been destroyed or a certain common objective reached. If summoning a Species 8472 ship would be amongst the Cardasians' capabilities in the upcoming expansion, encountering such a ship could count as a temporary-alliance-forming event. Such things would all by canon in my opinion.
At any rate, thank you guys and good luck.
As another side note, another possibility of keeping Borg strength canon without overpowering them could be to have them construct a Transwarp Beacon each time they want to bring in reinforcements from the Delta Quadrant. You could, for example, have the Borg start with one 'çanon powerful' Cube and replace their command center (the one that is now used for summoning Locutus and The Queen) with a constructable transwarp beacon to summon one additional cube. They'd perhaps need to assimilate another M-class planet before being able to do that, replacing logistics with assimilation and forcing the otherwise overpowered Borg player to be more strategic. Another user here suggested tying in Borg research with planet assimilation, which is a suggestion I wholeheartedly agree with, and would work with my suggestion of tying assimilation to logistics as well. To me, that would all be cannon AND keep the Borg as strong as they are now.
There's my two cents.
Star Trek Online did pretty well with the Borg. On the basis that a large amount of research and upgrades have gone into anti-Borg tech, a Cube for example is almost on par with the battleships of other factions, such as the D'deridex, Typhoon and Neg'Var.
Pretty sure that's what your aim is based on this article, but if not it's worth considering.
Something like a Borg cube will still be able to take an absolute ton of punishment. Trust me on that :)
That is what makes sto so bad. Any borg ship is a joke. Completely neuters them. A single ship taking out cubes takes everything away from them as a race and as a foe.
Any plans on adding the Galaxy Dreadnought seen in "All Good Things..."? I would think that if you implemented it, it would be at the very end of the research tree next to the sovereign. It wouldn't be a titan, but maybe it would be a buffed galaxy that costs more and has the lance ability? Just putting my thoughts down on paper.
How many Times?! This is set during the dominion war, 30 years before that ship would of existed. Also that was a version of the future that didn't persist, as the enterprise d was destroyed hence the enterprise e, in that alternate future the enterprise d wasn't destroyed hence the eventual galaxy x
Ahh, but for all you know the Galaxy X design originated from the necessity and experimentation of the Dominion War. After all the Galaxy-X nacelle phaser pads did come about.
How do you know that the gal-x didn't exist during the dominion war? Thats probably when the federation was doing the most research on weapons and ships, right?
I would LOVE to see this. Some may think she looked like a Frankenstein...but that phaser lance was amazing. I'd love to see her in game.
I will look forward to your changes optimistically :)
Best of both worlds, huh? I like what you did there...
I know this is extremely unlikely, as your staying canon, but I would love to have an option to research a Breen titan, the Breen don't get as much love from people as they should
Nothing like a good old asymmetrical death-dealer to spruce up the battlefields in the morning :P
Now me, I LOVE Breen ship design. I've always liked concepts of Breen ships, and fan-built work. Would love to see some of those zipping around in our mod, but sadly, the amount of Dominion ships is likely to be too damn high! This means we'll likely have to stick to canonical ship designs for the breen alone.
Oh well, one can dream :P as long as we at least get the Cruiser I'll be Elated :D
you will definitely get that! Damn, but is it a hard model though.
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You've got the Excelsior, Miranda, Constellation, Centaur, and Shelley Class in game. You gotta give us the Constitution.
The Enterprise-E got a refit between Insurrection and Nemesis that added additional weapons and shields, that could be a nice upgrade.
My favorite upgrade that you have included in your mod has been the Galaxy and Excelsior upgrades. I love that not only do they improve the performance, but their APPEARANCE updates. With that in mind, we've seen several iterations of the Miranda class...the Saratoga in STIV which had no rollbar, and the Soyuz version from TNG. Perhaps the Saratoga could be the base version as it has no rollbar, the Wrath of Khan Miranda could be an upgrade, and the Soyuz with its many extra gun platforms could be the pinnacle of the design that however leaves the vessel underpowered by placing too much strain on the tiny warp core.
With all the hangar bay doors on the Constellation, it could serve a role as a large shuttle carrier (which could carry 5-6) alongside the Shelley (which could carry 2). The Akira was also designed as a carrier with almost 1/3 of its saucer a hangar bay. Although it might not be a carrier, it should certainly have a shuttle capacity of perhaps 3 squadrons. It would be neat the see the equivalent to an aircraft carrier in the game.
One of the bigger gripes with the game is still the Pirate faction. Two of the pirate ships (one being the Ravager) are essentially the same ship just on its side. I'd like to see more variety. The Maquis raider would be fitting.
To give the game a better feel, Planetary defense forces should be more diverse. That would make it feel like different cultures are controlling these planets. Maybe one planet has a Breen fleet with STO's Chell Gret and Plesh Brek ships, another might have the Ferengi , Orion, Hirogen, Tamarian, Tholian, or Fek'liri ships from STO in orbit. Currently the pirates are composed of STO's Gorn and Naussicaan ships.
Thanks for the comments. We're actually working on improving the variety of militia vessels you'll see. However, it's likely the pirates will remain as is. Much of this is because there's only so much stress (so many different ship models) we can create and put in game. This is mainly due to the engine being 32 bit, and is already close to the edge of what we can do without it flipping out, but also because the game itself has a limit to the amount of things you can safely put in.
We're quite happy with the Pirates as are, as they're based on good concept models (correctly identified as STO models) with some notable changes for example Nausicaan symmetry, and also they fit the correct racial profiles of "piratical" factions. Upgrades you will eventually see are a new pirate base, and unique turrets for the pirates.
The Fighter count has been kept low in order to not affect the game in a negative way for performance reasons. One of the big things that leads to lag is pathfinding calculations (and fighters or freighters affect this a lot).
I hope this clears up some of the reasons we've avoided including certain things and the reasons we've had to cherry pick what we do include.
All seem like very good reasons and let me better understand why things are as they are. I absolutely love this mod, its one of the best things to ever happen to Star Trek games. Keep up the great work!
One last thing, i notice the computer voice sounds a bit jagged sometimes. When they say "new system detected" or things like that it sounds very choppy. Is that from piecing together different excerpts of Majel Barretts voicework?
you're exactly right. We often couldn't find the right phrase we wanted, so as a compromise Mindwipe spliced some things together in order to give us what we needed. Some of them are a bit hilarious, for example the Klingon "we have detected a new PLANET!" To be honest, we kinda like it that way lol.
We may, one day choose to get some fans in as voice actors and replace some of the in-game VO's. If you have a glorious silky smooth voice, watch this space :D
I love that it uses Majel Barrett's voice. It may be choppy but it maintains the feel of being on the bridge. Another actor would lose a little bit of that Star Trek feel.
In tng, voy, and ds9 not one single constitution class was seen, apart from one time travel event which is disregarded. In the 2260's there were only 13 in the fleet, and many of them were lost in that time period. There obviously aren't any over a century later so it don't belong in the dam mod! Also having delta quadrant races as pirates is also pure wrong, or pirate designs From 40 years in the future.
Trololololololo!
Actually Constitution class ships were seen in TNG in the destruction of Wolf 359.
there's definitely one potential isn't there? A destroyed one?
I will refrain from producing another long-winded explanation (using canon evidence) of why I believe the Constitution should be in the game. Though, it is difficult. :p
Textures Borg ships is incredible, cinematic precision!
PS. We are waiting...
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If I could wish upon a star it would be the Galaxy-X Dreadnought...
pretty please with a cherry on top? even if only a hero ship.
nope
Here are some thoughts I have on the Mod. Borg should have the ability to assimilate a planet instead of bombarding it. Maybe an ability to turn over the planet in the "as is" state with all uprgrades that have allready been purchased, if you know what I mean. And I like the Idea of them becoming more user friendly. Something that also buggs me is that the Klingons should have more Vessels that can cloak. Cause canon wise the Bird of Prey was not the only Klingon ship to be able to cloak, same for the Romulans. Of course if the Engine alows to do such things. And I definately want to see some cloak ability to cloak multiple vessels at the same time if this is possible. Are you planning to make the Promehteus a capital ship cause I feel like it should be one because of its MVAM ability. And maybe you could give the Klingons an ability to disable mines more efectively like you can do with the Intrepid class. I played against a Romulan AI that dug himself deep into a minefield on every planet. So it took quite a long time to Capture a planet. And the Faction Split of Cardassians and Dominon is a neat Idea.
Oh and an Idea for the Dominon. There should always be the need of a Vorta ship accompanying the fleet or the lower Jem Hadar ships would get nuts cause of beeing out of "Ketracel White". Maybe a counter that slowly increases when beeing out of range of a Vorta ship. And when the Counter is at 100 the ship should detroy itsself or something like this. The Vorta ship should have a certain range for supplying Ketracell White. Thus would it make interesting in fights with the Dominion to destroy the Dominions Capital ships to actually be able to defeat them properly. Or maybe a Ketracell White station where the Fleet has to stop occasionally to refill. Would make them have a more unique play style.
Greets Garga
There was always at least one Vorta on each Dominion ship, most likely more on the larger Dominion vessels. I do agree that white should be involved in some way with the Dominion even if its only a a type of ability at least.
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So will we still be able to play as OP-type borg against AI other factions?
Dominion eh? Please...for the love of the founders...give us the Jem'Hadar Dreadnought Carrier as the Dominion Titan Class Vessel. It's totally DS9 era.
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