Aftermath 2.0 release imminent! As we are currently in final testing stages of our first Cycle 2 release, we are giving you all a clip on some of the new areas we have been working on over the last several months.
This development cycle (from 1.7 to 2.0) has been our most difficult to date but we have closed up development of 2.0 and are putting the final touches to the release. Aftermath 2.0 is our largest release to date and also introduces many new areas from the team. This is our first release where we have worked in the texture field. For our first venture into this area of Legacy we have yielded some very impressive results.
Many ships from ENT right through to TNG have been retextured by either ourselves or by means of gifts to Aftermath (some exclusive gifts which are only available in 2.0). Our ENT era Feds have been retextured (one of our exclusive gifts), TMP Feds have also had some visual work done to them (courtesy of the guys at TLG). Then we have our Borg, all completely retextured in-house. Not only have our ships gone under the knife but we have also got a few new weapon looks too (all gifts from OEM). Ships and weapons weren’t the only area to receive a new look, so do our explosions too and all done in house. We also have a few new backgrounds too.
Something else that gets a new look is our Cycle 2 interface, Ascension. Ascension will be a multi stage release though for 2.0 Ascension will be a skeleton. We have big plans for Ascension which will change the way interfaces are created for Legacy. Ascension is the first non-Federation interface for Legacy and it has many tricks up its sleeve…
We have also made graphic improvements to the entire mod (non-texture based improvements). Although we have decided not to go with the current trend and incorporate Shaders 3.0 into Aftermath.
And what have we done to gameplay?? Many things have changed. We have our ENT and TNG re-balances done for all races (TOS/TMP is planned for 2.2). These changes have resulted in more challenging oppositions and have limited the ‘god-like’ abilities of several ships/races. Something else we have done to gameplay yet again is our new AI. Aftermath 2.0 has a new build of AI that is more alert, smarter, cunning and much more.
Our AI is becoming more and more ruthless with each release we put out. Some of the things you will notice our AI do is make more use of special weaponry (cloak, sensors and self destruct), team tactics (ships team together to take down stronger enemies), advanced threat analysis. This means our AI is making better target decisions against enemies that it can take on and survive. If the chance of survival is low, watch the AI team up to take down enemies. Our AI are capable of a whole lot more from advanced fleet teams (ships group together on terms of payload and not type and stretch too multi race groupings). We have our lag-reducing AI back now too.
We have not one but three new game modes introduced in Aftermath 2.0, one being a return of an old mode after over a year of inactivity. The Survival mode returns to Legacy (though it never left as its first outing is in another mod). After 2.0, the Survival mode will be scripted. Our other new game modes are script based modes called ‘Earth Romulan Wars’ and ‘Starfleet Academy’. The later is a ‘learners’ mode that introduces players not only to the ships systems but introduces them to new tactics (the mode currently has only one mission for 2.0). The ‘Earth Romulan Wars’ is our first of many campaign-type modes we will be introducing throughout the Cycle 2 release. For 2.0, the mode sets out in the ENT era and creates its own path in the lead up to the Romulan wars.
We have much more in 2.0 ranging from countless scripting changes, tutorial updates, the entire Death Match map rebuilds and restructuring, brand new maps (Death Match, Co-op Wave, Survial, ERW, SFA, Historicals). Co-op Wave has had a small explosion in 2.0, we now have more than double the offerings for that mode as opposed to stock and any other mod. But that’s not all that’s started to change with Co-op Wave, we have the first set of new Co-op Waves which switch up their enemies depending on era and have incorporated the advanced map design principles of the Armada and Survival modes. We also have the very first Borg based Co-op ever made.
Last but not least, Aftermath will release with a full German translation (and one that actually works this time…). Our German players will now be able to play Aftermath just the same as the English speaking players. Our German counterpart is our most vital aspect to Aftermath’s international appeal.
Aftermath has changed…
