Good evening,
Due to the Mod of the Year award and several other factors, this monthly post is a little earlier than usual. First, the entire UEAW team thanks everyone who voted for us. We didn't expect this at all, and we're very happy about the confidence placed in us. We will do our best in the coming weeks to fulfil your expectations.
It's my pleasure to announce the publication of several new screenshots (see here), and the publication of a trailer within the next few days. Even if the trailer doesn't show a specific level of our mod's progress, we have recently Chris declared inactive, and put a remarkable amount of progress behind us.
Thus, we have implemented a complete sub menu system (for further explanation see later on this post) and implemented a new tech system. In addition, we have almost completed all the models now , so this is what remains before the release of V1:
· MP GCs
· AI
· Balancing
· Heroes (partly)
· Coding of the VA sounds into the game
· Some minor things to be fixed, bugs and various minor flaws in some models
· Perimeter outpost (sorry, created by Chris before he left, not uploaded)
This list was created by me to give a better overview of the mod progress
While Chris was more concerned about secrecy, I'm more inclined to be transparent about our progress.
Some information follows regarding the sub menu system and tech systems.
Sub Menu System
Since we wanted to bring a lot of new units into the mod, it was clear from the beginning that the 26 build buttons would not be sufficient for all the units we will add. The fact that in every era, more than 11 Special Structures are available in space, means half the available space is gone already.
With all the new heroes and space units, and the new tech systems (more on that later), the limit of 26 buttons has always been impossible for us to work with. So we had to opt for an alternative and we finally came to the Sub Menu system.
Chris wanted to implement this from the beginning, until he was declared inactive. He had uploaded some icons of this sub menu, but hadn't uploaded anything else. For this reason, we had to start from scratch and needed some time to implement the system. There are 3 subcategories: ship menu, structure menu, and research menu.
By clicking on each specific menu button, the other buttons are hidden and the relevant unit or structure buttons are shown. This system only works in Single Player mode, but there is no way to circumvent this problem and unfortunately there are no alternatives to this system. Therefore, as preliminary information:
The multiplayer is unfortunately somewhat reduced because of the FoC engine requirements, so the tech system we have implemented does not function in multiplayer.
Tech system
Now a few words about the tech system. In normal EaW research is linked, so that when the empire researches the components of Death Star (tech levels), they get lots of nice unrelated technology as a by-product. This isn't realistic. So we opted for a new tech system to try and fix this. Individual techs will be researched, specifically new ships, and only the researched technologies will be enabled. In early eras, this means that for the first corvette units (unlocking the Foray Class) , corvette technologies must be researched; or, to unlock the Thranta Class, cruiser techs must be researched. Researching each component will unlock further research. This system is also adapted for realism. It will cost a lot to research a ship class, more than the individual unit. The time per research has been increased. However, a special building for research is no longer necessary because the research is usually carried out on the planet's surface - so for V1 (as a space only mod), this is not relevant. The tech tree for era 1 (Light Side) can be viewed here.
One last note about a release date: We are now increasingly focusing on the recording and release of a trailer that also shows the internal team and fans that we are making good progress. A specific release date cannot yet be determined. Originally we planned a release for Christmas, but this will be unlikely to happen due to some problems lately.
What can be expected in any case, is a release no later than February and possibly even January - but I will not set a January date, as we may continue to experience problems - and nothing is worse than a disappointed fanbase.
I wish you all a beautiful first Christmas week
with best regards,
Shimrra
great news
you guys take all the time you need
Interesting to read about. Great mod!
Hey is it possible to have ships come hyperspace in at random altitudes? it would make it feel a lot more like space. And by random altitudes I mean like they'll be most likely to hyperspace around the middle but its possible to come in high or low every once in awhile.
Yeah this is possible, but the ship would remain at this level, during the whole battle.
That doesn't matter too much... unless its possible to figure out a way to have it go up and down, like maybe to attack a ship at a different level, then that would finally make a space battle realistic...
Thats the problem. Normally just fighters/bombers are changing their Z-Values during battle. It's impossible to force larger ships to change their Z-axis.
Oh... well can you force a ship to tilt over to shoot a broadside if the the turbo lasers are on the top side but the enemy is below the ship?
I can't force the ships to tilt in ANY way. The ship is automatically turning to the best position to fire the most of it's weapons.
Ok..... but the vanilla version of that is pretty suckish.... when you order it to fire it heads toward the target, starts firing, and turns around in several circles until the duel is over.... and that's not realistic.
Okay, so could you please rewrite the AI and send it to me? I'll use it then! =P
Yeah I'll have it ready in about 1,235,819 years =P