Star Trek Armada II: Fleet Operations 3.2.0 news

The next installment of Fleet Operations is now live. After 4 month of development 3.2.0 is here!
In this release we focused on smoothing out some features of the previous releases and straighten up the balancing based on a whole lot of testing from our beta testers and your feedback in the forums. Thanks!

The Romulans got two brand new models, the Norexan and the Generix class. Starfleet Command's warp in support got tweaked further and now has a third tactical option with a new ship available - the Teutoburg class strategic cruiser. For the Borg Collective new modules for the Scout Cube and the Adaptor were introduced, while the Adaptor doesn't rely on mixed tech requirements anymore. Additionally ten new community created maps have been added to Fleet Operations - Stardust, NeroDan, Boggz and Tryptic - Thank you!

You may remember that we integrated a new sound engine in Version 3.1.4. The new version now makes use of the modern sound formats supported by the engine which will result in an overall improved audio quality for you, as we don't rely on en- and decoding the sound content to save space in the installer anymore. Please remember to grab the new Multimedia Pack 3 from the download section, as previous versions won't work with 3.2.0.

3.2.0 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 module for the Scout Cube is available: The Peripheral Module
• The Adaptor is no longer a mixed-tech vessel and joined the regular Borg fleets with a new collection of modules! A dedicated Borg mixed-tech vessel will return in a future patch
• An all-new Norexan Class model is ready to hunt down its prey!
• Rare Warp-Ins are now available! Uncommon starship classes might respond to your distress call
• A brand-new Generix Class, including a new refit. Two additional refits will arrive shortly
• A new Warp-In option is available: Request Strategic Support. It acts similar to the experimental support (the Descent Class) and yields a Teutoburg Class strategic cruiser
• A new weapon range beyond artillery range has been introduced: strategic range
• Additional new visual and audio effects
• Defense Batteries are now highlighted during footprint placement if within the effect radius of a Singularity Transmitter
• Improved ship AI for vessels using transporter attack
• Engine
  • Sound output device and speaker configuration can now be set independently from system defaults
• New maps and map redos
  • Blue Skies by Stardust
  • Broken Borders by Stardust
  • Centauri Epsilon by NeroDan
  • Duel II by Boggz
  • Just a little Frontier Run by Boggz
  • Little Little Universe by Stardust
  • Nebula Stream by Stardust
  • Plasma Conduit by Tryptic
  • Star Traffic by Boggz
  • The Final Frontier II by Boggz

Changes

• "Advanced Game Options" dialog layout cleanup. "Default Settings" button available again.
• Lossy sound decoding from MP3s during installation removed. Voice-over sounds are now distributed in OGG format, sound effects are distributed in WAV format.
• As per Windows guideline for versions Vista and newer, no start menu entries are created on these systems anymore. Fleet Operations registers with the Windows Game Explorer
• General Gameplay
  • Beaming boarding parties to an enemy vessel now aborts if the vessel is cloaking and out of range of a cloaking sensor
  • New Veteran and Officer abilities were added or altered
  • Single Stage Energy Conduits now reduces the resistance against weapon disabling effects by 50 percent (bf.: 80)
  • Ablative Armor Plates now reduces the repair rate by 50 percent (bf.: 20)
  • Scouts are no longer selected along with your other military vessels if drawing a selection box
  • It now takes 25 seconds to deploy fighters (bf.: 18 seconds)
• Borg
  • The Beam Module for Scout Cubes got replaced with the new Peripheral Module, including a new special ability to activate bonus effects on nearby Scout Cubes with different modifications
  • A subsystem icon has been added to the Relay Module for easier identification
  • Reduced the hibernation time of Refresh Cycles to 10 seconds (bf.: 25)
  • Reduced the chance to cause subsystem failure while in a nanite field
  • Reduces the amount of crew assimilated per second by the Auto-Assimilator to 2 / 4 / 6 (bf.: 4 / 8 / 12) but reduces its energy costs to 50 (bf.: 115)
• Dominion
  • The Hyperspace Artillery has been changed to strategic weapon range
  • Cascade Feedback now drains 100 energy (bf.: 50) and deals 30 percent additional damage
  • T-15 Heavy Cruiser officer ability Implosion Field Device now deals 12 percent less damage
  • Tetryon Disruptor now deals 16 percent less damage
  • Coreblast disabling effect duration increased to 14 seconds (bf.: 10)
  • The native carrier increase in supply costs were not correctly applied to the B-5 Battle Cruiser. This has been fixed, resulting in increased supply costs (about 20 percent)
  • Slightly reduced the movement speed of the B-5 Battle Cruiser
  • Increased the C-11 Interception Destroyer movement speed, removed its weapon arc requirement and slightly increased its costs
  • Reduced damage dealt by the Hyperspace Artillery by about 10 percent and increased its supply costs
  • Workerships may now directly built in supply mining mode
  • Collide no longer requires active weapon systems
  • Captured Hyperspace Sensor Systems may no longer use Deep Scan if the capturer is not of the Dominion faction
  • Hyperspace Artillery damage to vessels has been reduced by about 55 percent, but damage against stations has been increased by about 25 percent. Also reduced the effect radius of the damage-over-time component. Supply costs reduced to 40 (bf.: 60)
  • Tetryon Disruptor now has a 20 second cooldown
• Federation
  • Sensor Synergy is now considered a Synergy mechanic
  • EC3M now also reduces damage bonuses of hostile ranged-based passives by 33 percent
  • Shield Reset is now disabled while the veteran ability Harmonics Burst is charging
  • The Steamrunner Class has been removed from Warp-In. It will be available in a different role in one of the next patches
  • Slightly reduced Ambassador Class movement speed
  • Tricobalt Torpedoes now deal 50 percent increased damage to stations (bf.: 100), but cause area damage
  • Sixth Generation Shield Generators resistance reduced to 6 / 12 percent (bf.: 12 / 24)
  • Reduced damage dealt by Proximity Torpedoes by approximately 33 percent against medium and 50 percent against large targets. Damage dealt is now considered torpedo damage
  • Hyper Impulse Drive now reduces the Offensive Value by 3 (bf.: 2) and has a slightly reduced chance to cause the Cover Fire effect
  • Nebula Class variants are now identified with a subtype name relating to their construction authority
  • Adjusted the chances at which warp-in vessels arrive. It is no longer possible to receive 2 heavy cruisers or battleships at once
  • Captured Starfleet Command stations may no longer use warp-in if the capturer is not of the Starfleet faction
  • Captured veteran Nebula Class vessels of the San Francisco Type may no longer use warp-in if the capturer is not of the Starfleet faction
  • Sensor Synergy and EC3M switched places. Sensor Synergy is now the level 2 ability and EC3M the level 1 ability
  • It is now possible to upgrade multiple Newton Class vessels by clicking on the refit button while the ships are selected
• Klingon
  • Klingon Cloaking Devices do no longer consume energy to be activated
  • Field of Fire now deals 50 percent increased damage compared to the normal Cluster Torpedoes
  • Compound Torpedoes damage increased by 20 percent
  • The Vor'cha Class now has a limited attack arc and its costs were adjusted slightly
  • Captured MoQbara' Stations may no longer use battle plan if the capturer is not of the Klingon faction
  • The BortaS abilities switched places: Attack Probe is now the level 1 ability, Advanced Cloak the level 2 ability and Ion Storm the level 3 ability. Reduces the energy costs of Artificial Ion Storm to 612 (bf.: 810)
  • BortaS Class defensive value increased to 26 (bf.: 22). Costs adjusted slightly
  • Adjusted the effect range of the ion Storm to better match the visual effect
• Romulan
  • Adjusted most Romulan construction times and costs
  • Multi Targeting Disruptor is now researched at the Tal'Shiar Academy
  • Vector Torpedo is now researched at the Tal'Shiar Academy
  • Generix Refits are now researched at the Upgrade Center
  • Generix Refits do now take a few seconds to be installed. Upgrading is only available while cloak is offline and renders the Generix vulnerable during the process
  • Unstable Plasma Torpedo no longer has a limited firing arc to be used and the engine disabling effects now lasts 8 seconds (bf.: 5)
  • Stealth Field now reduces damage received by opponents by 15 percent (bf.: 10)
  • Silent Resolve now deals 55% increased damage
  • Chain Reaction Charger damage reduced by 33 percent. In addition, Chain Reaction Charger now add a 20 percent reduced resistance against medium range vessels
  • Adjusted the damage dealt by Sensor Jammer against vessels with extreme sensor ranges
  • Increased the spike damage of the Radiation Array by 66 percent
  • It is no longer possible to transfer energy to the Intelligence Center by using special weapons like Energy Beacon
  • Captured Intelligence Stations may no longer use their abilities if the capturer is not of the Romulan faction
  • Metaphasic Disruptor now has a 10 second cooldown

Fixes

• Players were unable to join a game when a host player was in the map selection or advanced game options dialogs
• Map previews created in PNG format would not show up in the Game Setup screen
• Graviton Torpedoes are now correctly displayed on all graphic configurations
• Multimedia pack shell menu music would not play
• All units should respond with their correct voicesets again
• Fixed a crash when saving a game
• Fixed missing loading-tip images
• Command-line parameters passed from the launcher to Armada got truncated
• Loader should be more AV false-positive resistant
• No sound was played when a multiplayer chat message is received in-game
• Fixed a minor Armada 2 shell UI font rendering bug
• In some circumstances audio was muted after a new game has been started
• A blank preview image was generated when a custom map has been saved from the 'escape shell'
• "Hardware Vertex Processing" and "Bump Mapping" settings were not saved between sessions and always got reenabled
• Fixed a crash when exiting Fleet Operations
• Game Mechanics
  • Some passive abilities (especially defense oriented ones) yield larger resistances than intended
  • Newton Class vessels are no longer renamed when upgraded
  • Cover Fire will now only produce one buff icon
  • Warp-In ships built at the McKinley Yard do no longer costs supplies if destroyed
  • Some inconsistencies were removed which caused a few damage modifiers to not stack correctly
  • Some subsystem disabling effects lasted too long
  • The Cover Fire effect no longer resets the cooldown of the Hyper Impulse Drive
  • In certain circumstances, an area effect weapon could have missed a moving target
  • Singularity Transmitter Field now shows the correct range when its subsystem icon is hovered
  • Industrial Field Replicators system icon is now always displayed correctly
  • TaQ'roja's Heavy Disruptor on Kahless Stations can no longer unintentionally be manually controlled
  • Imperial Stance does now correctly grant +3 System Value as mentioned in the tooltip
  • The Newton Class no longer incorrectly counts as a medium range ship
  • Dominion Prototypes and some other vessels were not correctly affected by some special abilities
  • Shield repair capable repair ships no longer try to repair a cloaked vessel's shields
  • General Martok's Cho'naQ Class vessels now use the correctly reduced energy costs while Energy Buffer is active
  • B-5 Battle Cruiser prototypes had incorrect costs
  • The T-15 Heavy Cruiser was not affected by the Ablative Armor Plates repair rate reduction
  • The Newton Class is no longer considered a medium range vessel
  • Sensor Synergy did not obey the 5 second cooldown for special weapons
  • Space key may again be used to jump to recent events, like being under attack
  • Passive abilities which trigger an effect in certain time intervals are no longer reset when a ship ranks up or is promoted to veteran rank
  • Some subsystem icons were messed up while Last Ditch Assault was active
  • Allied repair upgrade could when queued be purchased several times on one shipyard
  • The fighters of Dominion Puretech B-5 Battle Cruiser are now correctly considered medium range for damage calculation formulas
  • Fixed a rare crashbug which could be caused while Newton Class vessels are being refitted
  • Rare crash fixed when changing team on a Ferengi Marauder
  • Breen S-2 Escort Cruiser no longer loses its avatar bonus if ranking up
  • It is no longer possible to call in Descent Class vessels via warp-in while the warp-in cap is full and to have them warp-out immediately after arrival
  • Cloaked ships now get properly decloaked when entering a shipyard queue in all circumstances
  • The extra footprint on Starfleet Outposts is now at the correct direction
  • The mixed-tech Talon Class now uses the correct repair rate
  • The Nova Class now has the correct sensor range
  • Officer Avalon Class Elite Squadrons do now correctly obey damage reduction from weapon range based passives
  • Fixed some overlapping subsystem icons at the Vutpa' Class

• Modding
  • The small blocking trigger no longer causes crashes
  • WormholeGenerator weapon can now be fired again