The Final Frontier Open Beta - now operational! news - Star Trek: Armada 3 mod for Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion

Greetings all,

The Armada 3 development team is excited to offer you access to our new open beta and to become official parts of the Armada 3 development process. Developing Armada 3, A Call to Arms and now The Final Frontier has been a great journey for all of us, and now we want to share that with you.

What will I need to do?
The basic function of a beta-tester is simple - test the mod, find bugs and notify us of them. We don't just want you to be basic beta-testers, though. We want you to be invested in the mod. As developers we've experienced the changes of The Final Frontier incrementally over time. Essentially we've become acclimatised to it. Keeping in mind that the beta represents a work in progress, what we want from you (in addition to finding bugs) is to hear about how the game feels - does the in-game galaxy feel bigger? Do you feel the urge to explore? That sort of thing.

Who has access?
If you're reading this, then you do. While we're sure to get a number of people using this as a chance simply to play the mod early, we want you to engage with us in a meaningful and ongoing way. We want to hear your opinions. We want to hear your views. We want you to become invested in this project as we are, and have a direct hand in helping to shape this mod for the better. After all, the mod is for you - the players. That's why we've chosen to make the beta open to any and all, rather than a small hand-picked team.

Do I need any particular skills?
Beyond basic computer skills, not really. You got CTA running, right? ;) However, I feel the need to advise you - testing the mod will take some of your free time. The only qualification you need to take part in the Armada 3 project is to have sufficient free time in which to test the mod, form objective opinions and talk about them with the dev team. Basically, all you need is time, objectivity and communication skills. :)

And, of course, you need the beta itself.

So how do I get my hands on the beta?
The mighty and terrifying Bane has put together a guide containing all the instructions you will need to get the TFF beta up and running on your computer. You can find a link to the guide in the description of this video Bane has kindly posted on YouTube. Watch the whole video for full updates on what's going on with GB Gaming, the gaming channel shared by Bane and Gul-Dukat.

As Bane says in the video, the guide CAN at first seem a bit technical. Be patient, follow the instructions carefully, take it one step at a time, and we'll see you on the other side. :)

Please be advised that the assistance we'll be able to provide will be limited - we're all pretty busy working on the mod and so we've decided to use the beta installation process as a form of litmus test - basically if you can commit to getting the beta working, you're in!

Remember, The Final Frontier will be the final instalment to the Armada 3 experience. We want you to help us send this mod off in style!

So what are you waiting for? Go check out Bane's guide to beta installation and we'll see you on the team!

-OrionSlaver

Bane's magical beta guide: Scribd.com

With Ironclad updating Sins of a Solar Empire Rebellion to 1.86 we advise players to re-apply LAA to their Sins.exe. Other than that we're not aware of any issues so you should have no problem running Armada 3 as normal. Thanks!