Where Do We Go From Here? news

Chris Brown songs aside, we haven't had a proper update in a while, and some of you will have missed the quick explanation we posted for the lack of a 1.1 public release when we said we'd release it, so I'll explain that first. The reason for this was largely my being busy through the end of December and the death of a family member in January, both of which prevented me from working on the mod.

Because of various changes that were made since we released the 1.1 beta at the end of last year, we decided to skip the public release of 1.1 and release another beta (v1.1.1) on our forums with those changes in it while we work on the next public release. This update is basically dedicated to outlining all of the major changes between v1.0 and the upcoming v1.2.

Minor Factions
The minor factions have undergone some significant changes over the last few months. The one that will most likely have the most impact on gameplay is the fusion of the Pentastar Alignment and Warlord Zsinj's faction into one faction, called the Imperial Warlords. This should make the minor factions more of a challenge, especially in Art of War. Previously they would put a lot of their resources into destroying each other and the other factions would have absolutely no problem taking them over. Now the entire northern third (or so) of the galaxy is more or less united, making them essentially the most powerful faction at the start of the game.

The second most important change is the removal of the Hutt faction. This is for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that we simply do not like them. They will be replaced by at least one other minor faction in the future, however not in time for 1.2.

The minor factions are also in the process of being given more buildings, which should make them more of a challenge as well.

1.2 Minor Faction Unit Lists: (New units only)
Hapes Consortium: Miy'til Bomber, Nova Cruiser, Star Home (Hero), Isolder/Song of War (Redone, Hero)
Imperial Warlords: Just combine Pentastar and Zsinj unit lists from 1.0

Playable Factions
A lot of the changes with the major factions since the release of 1.0 are the redone Empire of the Hand units, but there are some other things worth noting. The first major change is the removal of Starbases as you know them. Basically, the shipyards as seen in Empire at War are useless now that Golans and Shipyards are in the game, and often in the mod you're unable to put Golans were they should be (protecting the shipyards). Now, you will only be able to build one level of shipyard per planet, and that shipyard will be placed in the old position of the Starbase. Each shipyard will be able to be build the ships of its level as well as below, meaning with a Capital Shipyard you will be able to build ships that previously you'd previously also need a light frigate shipyard. The shipyard models have also been redone, expect pictures soon. Renders of the models have been posted on our forums.

1.2 Playable Faction Unit Lists: (New units only)
Empire of the Hand: Furion Bomber, Scarssis Fighter, Krsiss Interceptor (Redone), Syca (Redone), Chaf (Redone), Phalanx (Redone), Flame Tank
New Republic: Defender Starfighter
Imperial Remnant: A-9 Vigilance (Daala), Venator (Daala), Acclamator (Daala), Tector (Daala & Pellaeon), Dominator (Redone), Star Destroyer (Redone), Strike Cruiser (Redone), Knight Hammer (Hero, Redone)

General Changes
Along with the various general bugs that have been fixed, autoresolve no longer sucks more than it does in other games. The AI has also been fixed, although it still requires some tweaking. Enceladus' new moon and planet models and textures will be in v1.2, along with a new map made by him. Depending on time, I might make a new map as well. A multiplayer GC (The Thrawn Campaign) will be included in 1.2.

Moving Forward
There are certain things we've promised but will be unable to complete for v1.2. The Plasma Mortar Tank and Nirauan Star Destroyer for EotH will not be in it, neither will the redone Golans. These will be done in a future versions. We have a few other units that we will be redoing or adding in future versions, but we'll save that for another update.

We currently need an experienced XML coder (a LUA scripter would be nice as well) and texture artist. Please apply in the Recruitment board on our forums, or email me at ThrawnsRevenge@gmail.com (suject line should be the job title for filtering purposes).

-The Thrawn's Revenge Team