Star Trek Armada II: Fleet Operations 3.2.3 news

Now after 3 weeks of hard work, here is the next version of Fleet Operations. Introduced in 3.2.0 the Romulans received an upgraded Generix class and as announced, this patch includes the first of the two promised additional refits - the Singularity Refit
On the technical side we got another cool feature I have posted about in length. Many of the core file functions of Armada have been rewritten.
In combination with a new 'archive system' for object definition files, this gives a significant decrease in overall loading times. Additionally this rewrite allows the use of Modification Modules that give modders the possibility to create nonintrusive game modifications that are easy for the player to use and switch between. We are currently in the process of expanding the modding section of the Fleet Operations guide accordingly.

Back in March this year I posted about a open position for a programmer in the team on the site. Shortly thereafter Megadroid contacted me. You may have heard of him if you are active in modding as he is the developer of the MMM - Megadroid's Mission Mod. If I had known he'd be interested in joining the team I for sure would have asked him a lot sooner as we had some interesting conversations about Armada coding before. He is not just the helping hand I expected when I opened that position, but a very capable programmer with good ideas who quickly found his way into the depths of Fleet Operations' source code. He already has begun working on the "heavy stuff". So, our work force on the loader has been practically doubled, which of course is a very good thing.

3.2.3 is a full install. A previous installation of Fleet Operations or Armada II is NOT required. An incremental patch from earlier versions of Fleet Operations is not available.

Changelog:

Additions

• A new Generix Refit is available: The Singularity Refit
• Installing two Interception Modules into a Dodecahedron now adds the ability to engage Axial Assault patterns in order to perform attacks against multiple targets
• A resource load bar for freighters is now shown on mouse hover
• Engine
  • Tremendously reduced Multiplayer Asset checking time
  • Improved overall loading times
  • Simplified crash report sending by removing the mail client requirement
  • Updated FMOD Ex sound engine to 4.34.04
• Modding
  • The ODF folder has been converted into the new FPQ container format.
• New/Updated Maps
  • Duel II by Boggz

Changes

• Adjusted the available player colors for better diversity
• Time in the Admiral's Log is now expressed in real time
• General Gameplay
  • Reduced the hull and shield reduction units suffer while being refitted or upgraded
• Borg
  • Increased the cooldown between Auto Adaption Scanner sweeps to 5/10 seconds (bf.: 4/8 seconds)
  • The Auto Adaption Scanner now also scans and adapts to hostile Borg vessels
• Dominion
  • Dominion Workerships now reflect their current operation mode in their class name
  • Reduced the construction time of B-8 War Frigates slightly
  • Passive Probes no longer produce a blocking footprint for station construction and are no longer selectable to better blend with the environment and make spotting them harder
• Federation
  • The Fleet Supply ability of the Rhode Island Refit Nova Class is now called Extended Fleet Supply and is considered a separate weapon, which means that buttons will no longer stack
  • The Distortion Field no longer affects stationary objects. It will attempt to affect maneuverable targets first
  • Reduced the construction time of the basic Platform, but upgrading now has a construction time
  • Starfleet Command construction time increased to 140 seconds (bf.: 120 seconds)
  • Reduced Akira Class construction time and costs
  • Reduced the offensive value of Nebula Class vessels of the San Francisco type to 18 (bf.: 23), but Full Scan now reduces the offensive value by 15 (bf.: 20)
  • Excelsior Class offensive value reduced to 16 (bf.: 18)
  • Increased the defensive and system value of Platforms to 23 / 10 (bf.: 12 / 5)
• Klingon
  • Slightly increased the construction costs and time of Sang' Class Bird of Prey
• Romulan
  • Adjusted the chance of the Arlterium Disruptor to drain special energy slightly
  • Reduced the visual size of Plasma Torpedoes fired by the Generix Class. Just the visual size!
  • Unstable Plasma Torpedo duration increased to 10 seconds (bf.: 8 seconds) and it will no longer miss
  • Phase Plates damage reduction reduced slightly and added a 30 second cooldown

Fixes

• Fixed several typos and added some clarifications to tooltips
• Auto-Assimilator energy costs are now correctly displayed in the tooltip
• Defense Batteries are now correctly highlighted again if placing their footprint near a Singularity Transmitter
• Fixed a rare crash in the sound engine
• Fixed the overlapping hotkeys for Workerships
• The Borg Dodecahedron is now considered a Support Vessel in the Admirals Log
• Admiral Mayson's Avatar Bonus is now correctly displayed when upgrading to a Pulse Platform
• Double-clicking a vessel could sometimes select all vessels on screen but vessels of the same type
• Game Mechanics
  • The additional ECM scramblers secretly installed on Centaur Class vessels built at the McKinley Yard were discovered and confiscated
  • The chance to disable weapons with the Arlterium Disruptor no longer decays upon level up
  • The Secondary Buffer System officer ability now yields its defensive value bonus correctly
  • The Specter Generix can no longer be promoted to veteran if there are too few free slots available
  • Veteran Norway Class vessels now deal correct damage
  • Fleet Supply now also correctly affects artillery and strategic range vessels
  • The Metaphasic Disruptor now obeys its cooldown as intended
  • Only Borg vessels may now benefit from Adaption Scanners as intended
  • Removed special energy from units which do not have a way to use it. Obviously, those units are also no longer affected by energy restoring or draining effects
  • General Martok's Cho'naQ Class vessels no longer lose their avatar bonuses when promoted to veteran rank
• Modding
  • Height post drawing now correctly influenced by the DISABLE_HEIGHT_CHANGE rts_cfg.h option