Articles - Star Wars: New Order mod for Star Wars: Empire at War: Forces of Corruption

Test session opened

The mod was preparing for testing for quite a long time. Many changes were introduced into the game after years of heated discussions regarding the concept, the introduction of new gameplay mechanics, and the addition of new assets. At the moment, the test build is ready and posted on our discord channel. Each of you can join us as a tester and try our new build. Feel free to follow the link and rate our work:

Gameplay changes:

• Updates to era system

If you've played previous versions of New Order, you may remember that in Galactic Conquest we used eras instead of tech levels. Each era represented a time period from the Legends canon - from the Declaration of the Empire in 19 BBY to the end of the Yuuzhan Vong War in 29 ABY. When played in sandbox scenarios, the eras automatically changed for all factions after a certain amount of time had passed. This time varied from era to era, and the most content-rich eras flew by faster than the others. Also, there was a problem that the changes between eras were either too many or almost nonexistent.

We changed the boundaries of the eras, the current breakdown is as follows (dates are approximate):
Era 1️⃣* - Dark Times: 19 BBY - 3 BBY
Era 2️⃣ - Rebellion: 2 BBY - 4 ABY
Era 3️⃣ - Imperial Civil War: 5 ABY - 11 ABY
Era 4️⃣ - New Republic: 12 ABY - 19 ABY
Era 5️⃣* - New Jedi Order: 20 ABY - 29 ABY

Eras 1 and 5 are longer than the others, but with long intervals where nothing major happens. Also, in era 1 there was no unified Rebellion, and in era 5 there was peace between the Imperial Remnant and the New Republic, so conflicts between the two major factions are not possible there. We have ideas on how to deal with that, but that's for future development. For now we have excluded eras 1 and 5 from multi-era sandbox campaigns; they will return along with the introduction of new factions for those eras - the Separatist Remnants and the Yuuzhan Vong.

To wrap up the topic of eras, We'd also like to explain how they will affect Skirmish mode. Previously in space Skirmishes in New Order had a clumsy system where the progression of eras went along with the improvement of the station (bad idea, starting units could rush and destroy the enemy station in a few minutes and win), in ground-based Skirmishes eras were not presented at all. We are now introducing a new feature - Single Era Skirmishes: each Skirmish map will be tied to a specific era, the one that best fits the theme, and only units and heroes from that era can be used on it (if possible; for example, for Separatist Remnants, the set for eras 2-5 will be similar to 1). For example, the Endor map would represent Era 2. Tech levels will return to the Skirmishes, acting similarly to the vanilla game in this case.

• Updates to combat system

We won't go into the specifics of space or ground combat now (we'll go into more detail in future posts), just outline some general features - they're roughly the same for both. As always, the new system is designed to follow New Order's core principle of being fairly complex and varied, yet interesting and intuitive.

1. Units' health is calculated based on their volume. Plain and simple. Population capacity is proportional to unit health, so "fat" units take up more space and there are fewer of them on the ground in a single company. Shield points is a balancing stat, but it is also tied to health.
2. All units have armor class. Unlike some other mods, here armor classes are made straightforward - the higher the armor class, the less damage is dealt by lower level weapons. Think of it as the armor thickness of real warships. A few levels of class difference between armor and armament results in the largest damage reduction (up to 80% is absorbed), beyond that there is no reduction.
3. The shield does not have a class, the amount of damage it takes is only dependent on the type of weapon used (i.e. ion weaponry does more damage).
4. Weapons also have their own class. In an analogy to real warships, class is the caliber of weapons. In addition to penetration, it also affects base damage, range, rate of fire and weapon spread. This ensures the low effectiveness of large guns on small targets. Different types of weapons may be effective in different situations or against different targets, but within a type they obey the class rule.
5. Almost every unit has several different weapons of different types and classes. Usually, one of them defines the main purpose of the unit, while the others serve to cover its weaknesses. For example, the Imperial I-class Star Destroyer is armed with a main caliber of class 12 ion cannons and turbolasers (effective against other battleships) and secondary class 6s (moderately effective against cruisers, weak against corvettes and frigates, and a little more than fireworks against fighters and bombers).
6. Unit abilities are made to better emphasize the role of a particular unit. For example, many units armed with missile launchers have some sort of ability to fire multiple missiles at once for even higher alpha damage, but the overall DPM of missiles is lower than that of lasers.
7. Healing options in combat are much more limited: there are none in space, and in ground combat there are only medical bunkers in Skirmish and for defenders in GC.
8. As has been the case since the inception of New Order, units have no targetable hardpoints, and missiles and torpedoes can only bypass shields in ground combat.

• Ground unit classes

1. Infantry - land in large squads of 30-40 soldiers. Basically armed with blaster rifles, effective only against other infantry, but depending on the specialization of the squad can also have rocket launchers against vehicles and other heavy weapons.
2. Raid Infantry - in small squads of 2-8 soldiers. Can be used for pre-battle reconnaissance, sabotage, and support of main forces. Can land on enemy planets bypassing the fleet in orbit.
3. Light vehicles - in squads of up to 4 vehicles. Armor class 1-3. Fast but not very powerful.
4. Heavy vehicles - in squads of 1-2 vehicles. Armor class 4-6. Slow but tough.
5. Artillery vehicles - in squads of 1-2 vehicles. Armor class 1-3. Relatively slow, require deployment to fire, and have a minimal firing range, but have a very long range and are capable of indirect fire.
   Aircraft - in squads of 1-2 vehicles. Armor class 1. Very fast and cannot be attacked by most ground units, can explore the map quickly. Very fragile (any air defense will quickly destroy them) and cannot do serious damage to ground targets.
6. Buildings - Various base buildings that are required to produce units or improve faction's economy. They have a large amount of health but have no armor (they can be destroyed even by an infantryman with a rifle if they shoot long enough) and cannot attack.
7. Defensive structures - various turrets (anti-personnel, anti-tank, air defense, artillery), bunkers (infantry, turbolaser, repair, medical), turbolaser towers and surface-to-space guns (can attack enemy ships in orbit).

• Space unit classes

1. Snubfighters. Deployed in squadrons of 6 or 12.
   Fighters are effective against other snubfighters. Examples: TIE Fighters, A-wings.
   Bombers carry torpedoes that are effective against large ships. Examples: TIE Bombers, S3 Y-wings.
   Heavy fighters are something in between. They are versatile and can do both, but worse. Examples: TIE Defenders, X-wings.
2. Escorts. Armor class 1-4.
   Corvettes are fast ships for raiding, scouting, and support. Examples: Customs corvette, CR 90.
   Frigates are larger and slower, making them better suited for defending larger ships against snubfighters and corvettes. Examples: Lancer, Nebulon-B.
3. Cruisers. The most versatile category of ships. Armor class 5-8.
   Light cruisers are small and fast but have weak armor and weapons. They are effective against ships that are similar in size or smaller. Examples: Carrack, MC40a.
   Heavy cruisers are large, carry better armament and are better protected but slower. They are a menace to other cruisers, and in a group they can even be a threat to battleships. Examples: Dreadnought, Assault frigate.
   Medium cruisers are essentially heavy cruisers, but armed with numerous light cruiser or even frigate class weapons. Examples: Vindicator, Neutron Star.
   Torpedo cruisers carry heavy torpedoes that are effective against larger ships. Example: MC30c.
   Cruiser-carriers are capable of spawning large numbers of snubfighter squadrons, but have weak defense and armament. The only cruisers that can launch bomber squadrons. Examples: Gladiator, Liberator.
   Interdictor cruisers are poorly armed, but can create a gravity field that prevents ships from entering into hyperspace or dropping off new ships from hyperspace. Examples: Immobilizer 418, CC-7700.
4. Battleships. Large ships whose defenses can withstand many attacks, but they cannot effectively combat snubfighters and corvettes. Armor class 9-12.
   Line battleships are designed to fight other battleships with their heavy weaponry. Examples: Tector, MC90.
   Light battleships are faster, but have lower armor and health while weapons are either less numerous or tend to be more effective against cruisers. Examples: Victory II, MC80A.
   Fleet carriers can spawn a large number of squadrons and have battleship-level survivability, but their own armament leaves much to be desired. Examples: Venator, Endurance.
   Hybrid battleships carry both squadrons and battleship-grade armament, but each are less plentiful than on more specialized ships. Examples: Imperial I & II, MC80.
5. Battlecruisers and Dreadnoughts. The largest ships, essentially giant mobile weapons and/or carrier platforms. Armor rating 13-16.
   Battlecruisers are at the lower end of this size range, but still carry impressive armaments. They are close to battleships in mobility. Examples: Allegiance, Home One.
   Dreadnoughts have very low mobility and are vulnerable to surface-to-space guns, but carry huge amounts of weapons and snubfighters. Examples: Executor, Viscount.
   Supercarriers carry an amount of snubfighters that is comparable to that of a Dreadnought, but in a much smaller package. Example: MC80 Independence type, Lucrehulk in the future.
6. Space structures - stations ranging from fragile trading and mining Stations (armor class 1-8) to well-protected and armed Defense platforms (armor class 9-16).
   
   Factions are not symmetrical in the number of units of a given class. For example, the Rebel Alliance/New Republic has only one basic option in the Battleship, Battlecruiser and Dreadnought categories (compared to two for the Empire), but compensates for this with a more diverse selection of Bombers and access to the only Torpedo cruiser (MC30c).

New Order timeline spans from the birth of the Galactic Empire in 19 BBY to Second Galactic Civil War in 40 ABY. The whole timeline is divided into 5 eras of the mod (replacing 5 tech levels of the vanilla).

Galactic Empire and Alliance to Restore the Republic (New Republic and Galactic Federation of Free Alliances in later eras) are playable and CIS Remnants will become the third playable faction (for first era campaigns) in near future.

Follow us:

• New heroes and hero mechanics

Some personalities greatly influenced the history of The Galaxy. It is true for New Order too. Nearly 100 new heroes were added, which have many bonuses that represents this hero's skills in canon. In battle hero can be a skilled commander (increasing effectiveness of friendly forces) and/or skilled warrior (being more effective in combat). On the galactic map they could provide economic and espionage bonuses.

• Story scenario

Re-enact some of the greatest campaigns of Star Wars Universe with New Order. We decided to start with, mostly overlooked by other mods, pre-Yavin era. Operation Strike Fear, influenced by the great X-wing game, is our first addition, with more to come.

• Reworked space combat

New Order Mod currently has reworked space combat with ships having canonical (or close to canonical) stats. The current system dates back to 2010s and many flaws was found in it, so it'll be reworked soon to introduce better gameplay and performance.

• Reworked land combat

Disappointed by mostly primitive (and in some ways - stupid) mechanic of the vanilla game, we're proudly present a completely reworked land combat. New, more logical, damage system, new weapons, units, abilities, new shield mechanic, reworked turrets and a lot more.

• Secondary features

New graphics (particles, models, interface appearance), new audio (music, weapon sounds etc.), small gameplay and performance tweaks.

Some plans were already mentioned above. Of course, various new units, graphic and audio improvements and other tweaks will be implemented.

• Additional Story scenarios

More scenarios will be added: Reconquest of the Rim, Thrawn Campaign, Operation Shadow Hand etc. Some scenarios will require some specific factions (e.g. Yuuzhan Vong), heroes, units and mechanics that will be implemented.

• Story campaign

Campaign, recounting the life of Grand Admiral Gilad Pellaeon, is in the works. We plan on adding it divided by chapters, alongside same era scenarios.

• New game modes

Some people are asking for MOBA and survival modes in New Order, so some R&D is in progress to make new fun game modes.

Development is very slow because of very small team making mod. If you have any useful EaW/FoC modding skills, we'll be glad to see you in our team. Primarily, we are looking for Mappers and 2D & 3D artists, but any other assistance is welcome too. Also, we are in need of Testers. By the way, if you have some interesting ideas, suggestions or any other thing which could help to make this mod better, feel free to tell us.

Visual updates

Over the coming months, a huge amount of work has been done to improve the visual component of our mod.
From what has already been done, the following can be distinguished:

• New planet textures (taken from Shiny_man's free release pack or based on them), as well as new custom models for some unique planets.
• Providing some units with new models and textures made from a scratch.
• New animations.
• Minor visual edits (texture upscaling; adding of team colors, hit marks decals; other effects)
• HUD rework

The examples of completed works can be seen below.

Beta testing!

We are working on preparations for the upcoming test. This time, a large list of tasks will be provided for bug tracking. The main goals will be to check the units with their new stats and abilities, as well as the balance of power of the two main factions. A separate task will be to check the playability of new maps and identify bugs related to level design, and testers will also have to evaluate the tactical features of all new maps. If you are interested in helping us with tests and bringing the project closer to release, follow the link to our discord and sign up for testers.

Additional help needed

We are always looking for people for cooperation, since in fact our capabilities are not enough to implement all ideas to the fullest at the moment. At the moment we are in dire need of:

• 2D-3D artist;
• Level designer (mapper).

If you have no experience in either one or the other, but you have enthusiasm, then do not hesitate to contact us (me or Sudno). If you have a great desire to develop the project, we may well teach and show everything that we know within the framework of moding. Any other activity of yours can also help us, for example, in such less priority tasks as translating the mod (if you speak Russian and English at a decent level), writing descriptions for units, helping with the voice acting of units / characters or working with audio. We are also always open to interesting ideas and recommendations.

We are waiting for you, here or on our discord :)

Hello, everyone!
Recently, we were discussing the concept of heroes for the skirmish. Our thoughts were divided into 3 options, and most likely each of them has the right to be implemented into the mod. However, we need to decide which one to choose :)

1) ALL heroes are personalized.
The skirmish for each faction will have a list of specific heroes. You will be able to recruit Vader with 501 Legion, Maximillian Veers with Blizzard Force etc.

2) Some heroes are personalized and some are not.
The same option as the first one. However, some heroic units would not have a named leader as there was no mention of who exactly led these groups (Hitak Harriers for example).

3) All heroes are non-personalized.
There will be a set of overpowered units in the form of heroes, for example: abstract Jedi Knights or elite AT-ATs, but with an unnamed (generic) commander.
In defense of the latter option, I can say that it is so strange to see 2 Vaders fighting each other for the opposite sides. It's also worth mentioning that nameless heroes are much easier to come up with.

So, please vote for the best option in our poll linked below:

Moddb.com

Infantry Updates

As you should know, we are doing well with adding new infantry to the game. The first ones were stormtroopers in their classic form and some environmental variants. The upcoming types to be added will be army troopers and storm commandos (and maybe scouts too), all of them will be inserted in the nearest future.

After we finish the imperials, we will start to work on rebel soldiers, and we have some progress already. Basic rebel infantry were taken from Battlefront II, and other ones will be (or are being, at the moment) kitbashed to give them the proper look, with adherence to Legends canon. Below you can see highlights of recent works made for rebs.

Further plans

With the end of infantry overhaul the only things to be done will be some balancing tweaks, finishing maps for all major planets (which are necessary to update the galaxy map), bug fixing and beta-testings.

We have also posted a new poll with the most appreciated events to be added in galactic scenarios in future, don't be shy to click on the most demanded variant by your opinion. Maybe we will make a separate post later to describe our ideas concerning implementation of all of mentioned scenarios in the poll.

Moddb.com

And yeah, if you can't find there Thrawn's Campaign, this is because we've decided to make it one of the first Galaxy-wide scenarios ;) You can read more about our plans for campaigns and scenarios here: Moddb.com