XenonArchitect7

Now that I spent the last year learning how to mod X3, and getting all of the SW assets into the game (with permission from MikSka) that I fixed, modified, and tweaked, I believe the mod is in a good position where I can start making some unique content. The repair ships were an easy-to-implement idea, since all of that functionality was already in the game. I have many other thoughts on what I would like to tackle in the future:

Finally Make a Decision on Thruster Trails (COMPLETE - Removed)

As of 1.2.5, all engine trails are removed. Vanilla ships still retain them, however, including Xenon. Prior to this update, SWLU had trails on TS, TP, and TM ships. Fighter drones and missiles still keep the trails. The removal should result in a small improvement to performance.

Remove Vanilla Ships (COMPLETE)

Update: Vanilla ships are no longer seen throughout the universe as of 1.1.1. All NPCs use star wars ships. However, there are certain remaining vanilla ships such as Mandalorian and Separatist TL-class ships that remain as Split Elephant/Paranid Hercules simply because there is no star wars equivalent to replace them with currently. These remaining vanilla ships are at the top of the priority list for removal, meaning we need to find a suitable star wars replacement for that ship's class. Does anyone actually know if the Separatists have a corvette-class ship in star wars lore? There is the droid gunship, but that would likely be a TP in SWLU rather than a M6.

Rename all wares? (COMPLETE - Done for Now)

Update: I have renamed a lot of commonwealth food, bio, and tech wares in 1.2.4. Terran wares have been renamed in 1.2.5. Upgrades, utilities (lasertowers, satellites), weapons, and missiles have not been changed as to avoid confusion (and since I am already familiar with the Litcube laser names). There are a few remaining wares, such as "Medical Equipment", "Water", and "Crystals" that retain their vanilla names, but these are pretty generic and I think they could fit in to the star wars universe. They can always be changed in the future if someone has a really good idea for it or if someone can find an in-universe meme rivaling Armiral Ackbar Cereal.

Balancing (About half done, but will always be ongoing)

A complete LU playthrough (where the player conquers Unknown Sector Omega and defeats the Phanon Corp. once and for all) takes about 100+ hours. Obviously, I alone have not been able to test or fine-tune the star wars ships balance-wise, so I balanced all ships based off of their LU counterparts as a starting point. I then made some adjustments based on SW lore (MonCal ships have lots of shields, etc.) but Wookiepedia has this habit of saying that all star wars ships are excellent and well-balanced. I also doubt that I kept the same balance mindset over the year I spent adding ships to the game one-by-one. As of initial release, there are probably many imbalanced ships in the game. Please message me with your opinions if you think something needs to be changed and it will require minimal effort on my part to fix it. Feedback is vital for proper game balance.

Update as of 1.2.5: M5, M4, M3, M6, M7 rebalance is done. I found a lot of wild miscalculations with my prior rough stats, such as ships with WAY too much hull strength, too sharp of a turning radius, or ships that were simply overpowered. I might get to the larger capitals and the transports in 1.2.5, or I might push that back to later.

New Ships and Stations (Top Priority after Balancing and Bugfixing)

With Tormox joining me to work on SWLU, massive possibilities have arisen that previously would have been impossible with just me. His skills in working with 3D models will allow us to take models from other games and media (EAW, Sins, etc.) and put them into SWLU. It also allows us to fix, refine, and clean up a lot of MikSka's old models that are already in the game. We have already begun to do this with SWLU 1.2.4. We can add animated turrets, animated guns, better engine effects, and anything involving hangars to any existing or new ship. Before, I was working slowly and painfully in NOTEPAD to fix up MikSka's models for SWLU 1.0.0, but with Tormox's skills, we can now properly fix them up to standard quicker and easier. We have already gotten permission from some EAW mod authors to use some of their models, and due to that game's colossal modding community, there are nearly unlimited ships and space stations at our disposal. I'm not sure how fast we will be able to do any of this, as we have been too busy to work on SWLU a lot as of late, but it is certainly exciting to know that it is all within the realm of possibility.

Video Tutorial Series

It has become ever-apparent that most of the player-base does not have a good grasp on Litcube fundamentals such as mobile mining, dock agents, the dockware manager, TUG and quickshuttles, MLCC, fleet management, or even basic progression. I GREATLY appreciate everyone that sends me save files to point out bugs, but I can't help but notice and judge everyone's games :\. Unfortunately, I know Litcube's scripts are very intimidating and not very intuitive. This combines with the fact that there is always an easier, although harder, more tedious, and manual way to do things in the game than the optimal Litcube method. So I assume a lot of players find their own way of doing things the hard way, and thus stop trying to learn about Litcube features that would do whatever they are trying to do MUCH easier, more efficiently, and automatically. One day I might find the time and motivation to do a full tutorial series on each of these topics to finally set the record straight on the correct way to do things, which station and autojump settings to use, and every little detail.

Star Wars versions of Phanon and OCV

Phanon and OCV are Litcube's replacements for the vanilla story and questlines, and serve as the driving motivation for the player to play to the endgame in the first place. However, these awesome foes do not use star wars ships (Phanon uses a mixed pool of vanilla and SW ships). Currently, the infamous OCV ships remain unchanged in the game, but I believe that they need to be some sort of Star Wars ships. This creates the problem of what faction to use as the OCV. All factions that there are ships for are already in the game, including the Sith Empire and Old Republic. I don't want the OCV to use ships that you can just buy at a shipyard somewhere. They need to be unique from what the player can obtain. I thought about the many "Ethernal" capital ships from MikSka's mod based on DLC for the Old Republic MMO game, but I really dislike their designs and don't think they fit into the star wars universe.

*Edit: Actually, I have found the perfect faction for the OCV. The Yuuzhan Vong would be the PERFECT OCV replacement. Just like the Vong, the OCV start far off in the outer reaches of the universe, gradually conquer their way through the map, and absolutely destroy the united X3 Commonwealth in the Omicron Channel sectors with their overpowered ships, just as the Vong were able to do the same to both the New Republic and Imperial Remnant in Legends lore. The only problem, however, is that Yuuzhan Vong ship models are probably extremely hard to find, as they have not made any appearances in any mainstream star wars media. If anyone knows of a good source to obtain textured models I can use, or if anyone is capable of creating them, please let me know.

*Edit 2: There is a really good-looking mod for Empire at War called "Yuuzhan Vong at War". Tormox can obtain ship models from EAW and import them into SWLU, and we can then make them work with X3 so it is possible in theory. We haven't reached out to the mod authors yet, as we are focusing on fleshing out the Separatists and other under-represented factions in SWLU with models from Sins of a Solar Empire mods and other EAW mods. This remains on the distant road-map as a possibility, however. It is certainly possible from a technical standpoint.

Missions and Campaign (Not any time soon)

While the OCV and Phanon serve their purpose well, I think that the pure-sandbox of LU needs to be more like X3AP with its campaigns. Anyone who has played through the endgame "Shady Business" plotline in X3AP will agree that it was awesome, creative, and memorable. Campaigns give the player a series of short-term goals and can help guide the construction of the player's empire. For example, a mission demanding 1,000 Particle Accelerator Cannons will ensure that the player is using Saturn Complex Hubs, and will help them feel like they are actually contributing to a war effort on a galactic scale. This can be followed by a mission in which the Rebels now have a MC75 cruiser full of fighters using your supplied guns, and you can help them in a massive battle. I could also make missions where the player must deliver hundreds of fighters to NPC shipyards, to ensure that the PHQ is set up and the player knows how to use dock agents, freighters, SCHs, templates, and the dockware manager. Of course, this will be followed by a mission where you get to actually see your delivered fighters in action as a part of a large battle where they are fighting to defend NPC fleets. Campaigns also serve as opportunities to create large, scripted battles that I can customize the fleet compositions for. In LU, those large battles that I made .gif images out of on SWLU's mod page can only happen because the player is 100 hours into a playthough and has mastered MLCC, or because they are a modder who knows how to set these things up quickly ;). Campaigns will expose the player to glorious LU battles early-on, as they will be scripted between NPC fleets where the player doesn't need to have a net-worth in the trillions. Of course, different outcomes for these battles can result in different branching storylines and plot points, but that would require me to actually be capable of writing a compelling star wars story (I am not).

The possibilities are endless with the mission director in X3AP. Everything I discussed can be implemented as well as custom voice acting (lol, that won't actually happen), and custom video cutscenes (that won't happen either). Each faction can even have its own storyline for the player to follow. Of course, the best part of the Vanilla X3AP plots were their super cool and unique rewards (HUB, PHQ, CHQ, UFJD, overpowered split M6, Aamon Prototype). A lot of these things have already been made available by LU or by me, so I could make up some "prototype" variants of star wars ships to serve as rewards for completing a storyline that could perhaps have enhanced laser compatibility, stats, and a unique thruster color or something. I do feel that a grand campaign guiding the player through general progression is needed, as LU can be EXTREMELY jarring to new players, especially with its combat rebalances that make flying fighters feel really lame because they can't single-handedly take on entire fleets anymore.

Working on mission-related content is what I would like to work on the most in the near-future, and I have already begun to learn how some of it works. The senate guard you get in the "Republic Senator" gamestart was created using the same type of HTML that the mission director uses. I have modified all "Buy Used Ship" missions to sell star wars ships. It is only a matter of time before I am able to create a grand campaign.

Edit: This has been pushed to the bottom of the priority list and future road-map, as we are going to be focusing on obtaining new ships and stations in the near future.

If you have played SWLU, I would love to hear feedback about any changes or features you would like to see in the future as I start to make the mod more unique.