Small Update news

A small update, nothing too exciting, just to let you all know how it's going.

Federation, Klingon, Romulan and Gorn AI is up and working. I haven't tested it against an "active" player i.e if I were actually running a fair game and seeing if I could win, but it works fine from a testing point of view. To test, I set all the AI production and cost settings as low as possible, so it can build instantly and at virtually no cost. Still takes a little while for the AI to get to the end of its routine, since its construction ships still have to move from place to place.

Before doing the ISC AI, I decided to do a little bug hunt and tidy up. The new PPDs (Plasmatic Pulsar Device) don't work exactly as I had hoped, from a graphical point of view, but they suffice. I've also been revamping some of the hardpoints and such for various vessels, currently the ISC. Basically, just tweaking where weapons fire from, changing some textures so that ships without torpedoes (i.e the Scout) and ships with heavy disruptors (the ISCs 'D' Refits) reflect this in their texture.

After discussing it with a long time supporter and internet correspondent, I have decided I am not happy with the QCB (Quantum Wave-carrier Beam) or GHRC (Graviton Harmonic Resonance Cannon) weapons. They are too overpowered, lowering shields and whatnot. I am not sure what to replace them with, whether to try and rework them into something else (a la the PPDs) or just remove them entirely and soup up the ships that used to mount them with something else. I could go the way of the "Grappler" Beam on the PiH-C and make them simply immobilise their target. I'll experiment and see what works best.

I am still debating whether to replace some of the older models with newer, albeit different, ones. For example, the new Federation models are of the same design as the old ones, with the exception of the Salazar which was my own kitbash anyway. Ditto with the Klingon Empire. However, with the Romulans, I have some models that are similar, perhaps even inspired by, the old designs, but different. I am not sure whether using these new designs would be good, or if it would be taking KA2 away from it's roots.

Anyway, that's another discussion for another day. My current plans are to do some new pods for the various research stations so we don't have weird angled boxes sticking out at bizarre angles. The Gorn are alright, their "Faberge Egg" design works quite well when scaled :) , naturally I'll also be finishing off the AI for the ISC and the Tholians, and after a bug spray and perhaps a rework (again!) of the various fightercraft, and we'll be ready for a release.