Armada2Files MOD News

[Aerilon]

I would like to start this thread by firstly noting that throughout the past two months I have on occasion thought about cancelling the Zero Hour project.

The reason for this is quite simple. There isn't a lot of interest in this project, though I do thank those individuals who have shown interest, you people are one of the reasons I am still going.

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Additionally, unlike my last update in July, I actually have stuff to show for this one, though will get there a little later on. I wish to start by saying that the Xindi will not be making an appearance as a playable side. In actual fact, unless some modellers take interest in this project, it's doubtful the Xindi will appear as a non-playable side either.

Holding that thought, I'd still like to release this MOD and with it, eight individual sides. The standard five are as follows:

• Starfleet (The United Federation of Planets)
• Klingons (The Klingon Empire)
• Romulans (The Romulan Star Empire)
• Cardassians (The Cardassian Union)
• Borg (The Borg Collective)

In addition to the above five, I have high hopes of including the Dominion and the Breen. The Dominion I currently have only five ships for, and the Breen I have three - of which (for the Breen) all need poly reduction.

There are two Dominion vessels which I'd really like someone to work on (in regards to Poly Reduction) they currently stand at around 2500 - 3000 polies. Having those two will increase the Dominion ships up to seven individual vessels.

Whilst seven isn't the highest amount per side (I plan to have a maximum of 12 build-able ships per side), seven (for the Dominion) would do them justice and would enable me to include them as a definite 6th race. With luck, I also hope to modify the standard Dominion Bug, adding two alternatives increasing the Dominion Vessels to nine.

The Breen I could do help with two things. One being poly reduction, and the other being a head full of ideas to make some kit-bashed ships. Joel has already helped me a fair bit with ideas, unfortunately I haven't had the time to put them into motion yet.

In turn, alike the Dominion, I'll be happy if I can get the Breen ships up to seven. With an additional vessel for Map Usage (this vessel being one of the three I currently have).

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In terms of vessels for the standard five races, they are more or less sorted. The Federation with the full twelve (playable) and additional ships for map usage, the Cardassians with eleven, Klingons with eight and Romulans with nine.

Before I continue, the Luna Class: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...e/Usstitan.jpg

Spoiler:

This is one vessel that is supposedly "canon" yet has not been created. If someone (who can create models) finds themselves with some free time, and would like to help, then please could you create this ship, and keep it below 1500 polies?

Currently, I have the Constitution Refit and Miranda as the first two build-able ships in Zero Hour. The Sovereign is currently a non-playable unit. Should I be able to get the Luna Class, the Sovereign & Luna would make their way into the build list with the Constitution & Miranda being the map units.

On a side note with this, Achilles, can you please contact me asap. I need to know a few things either way. Thanks!

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Now for some spoilers.

First up, the Akira Class (this is what she is going to look like, just with a lower polied model). She currently stands at 2164 polies.

I had to redo and edit some of the textures and remap others. The textures on her are from two different models, and considering her look, I can't complain.

Spoiler:

Secondly, standing at 1427 polies, a Son'a Battleship.

The textures and parts of the model come from the Bridge Commander version (which was a good 6000 odd polies), so with a lot of hard work, I added parts of that ship to the Son'a Battleship already available for A2, added the new textures, and produced this:

Spoiler:

Thirdly, and final, the Kei'Veck Class Cruiser. Most will know it as the K'Veck, but I renamed her. This model stands at 1102 polies.

The original model was converted for A2 use by Major Payne for his VR project, but I was never too fond of the texture, so asked him to re-texture it for me. This he did and a good job he did with it, and a few modifications I made afterwards (visually, the under wings were left blank by him, and I felt they needed some light thus edited the texture to give that).

Spoiler:

I apologise in advance if these attachments don't work. There seems to be a problem with the Forum Upload Manager which hasn't been fixed yet.

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Additional notes, I've got some random ships for Map usage, a Ferengi Marauder (some of you will have already seen it), a Talarian Warship (those that keep up to date with the A2 PoTD will have seen that) along with a fair few other ships & stations.

Each "Map Race" will have an Outpost, and (in plan) a Shipyard. Additional Map Races (those on the bigger scale) may have a Research Facility and Weapon Defences too.

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Again, as it always is, I'm still looking for help, to be fair, this MOD isn't going to be released until I get it. There is so much I cannot do (especially in terms of modelling) that I need people to do for me.

Elevator Music is doing my GUI's, along with him and others who have offered their ODF services, though at the moment, it is the modellers and the like that I need. Freyr and others have offered their texture services (in relation to weapons), Ryan and Yacuzza have also offered help with Sprites and such.

The ODF files and everything else will come once the models are ready. My first priority is the models. I can't release this MOD without them, and until I've got them, I can't do anything else. So please, if you are able too, help.

I know there are many out there with their own MOD's, and others who just lurk in the background, if you don't wish to be known to the community and wish to stay in the background but know you can help, e-mail me (ashs87uk@yahoo.co.uk[/EMAIL">ashs87uk@yahoo.co.uk"]ashs87uk@yahoo.co.uk) and we can talk over e-mail or IM. Likewise, if you are known to the community, and can help, let me know.

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Now for something everyone can help with. The Federation Build List. - Everyone who replies to this thread (preferably only in your first reply if you comment more than once) I would like your view on this.

• Constitution Refit (Enterprise-A)
• Miranda (Reliant, Majestic Variant)
• Oberth
• Excelsior
• Constellation
• Excelsior Refit (Lakota Variant)
• Ambassador
• Nebula (Sensor Pod Variant)
• Nebula (Weapons Pod Variant)
• Nebula (Twin-Nacelle Pod Variant)
• Galaxy
• Galaxy Refit (Dominion War Refit)
• Sabre
• Steamrunner
• Norway
• Intrepid
• Nova (Equinox Variant)
• Defiant
• Akira
• Luna
• Sovereign
• Prometheus

These are all the ships that are going to be featuring in the project, it's just deciding which ones would work as Build able Units, and which for Map Units. The Prometheus is going to be a Map Unit, regardless.

The Constitution / Miranda or Luna / Sovereign choice was issued above:

Currently, I have the Constitution Refit and Miranda as the first two build-able ships in Zero Hour. The Sovereign is currently a non-playable unit. Should I be able to get the Luna Class, the Sovereign & Luna would make their way into the build list with the Constitution & Miranda being the map units.

As for the others, the choices are open. I'd like your opinions and thoughts to this.

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I think thats everything covered anyway, I still haven't decided on the eighth race as of yet, and if the Dominion & Breen fall through, then I'll have to reconsider my options.

I guess I'll sit back and wait for comments...

[Aerilon]

Another Update from the Front Lines. And I think I'm just going to jump straight into this, so here goes:
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I’ve made many modifications to the Federation units, I’ve managed to poly reduce a 7000 poly Prometheus model down to around 2500, and it still looks stunning. Other items of which some may have seen, is the alternative Sovereign Texture.

Within the Modification, various 'advanced' ships, such as the Sovereign are going to work a special way. You can't just select a shipyard and build them. First, you must build a prototype (left) which costs a fair amount of resources, and isn't all that powerful - I figure prototypes are 'testing' ships, to see what works and what doesn't.

Once you have a working prototype, you then are able to build standard vessels of that specific vessel.

In addition, the Norway from BI:VR (which was 2066 polies) I reduced (with a little help from Gavin) to 888 polies, and P81’s Akira, which was along the higher lines (I can’t remember what it started at), I managed to get to 1528 polies (which is perfect for her role).
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There isn’t much to report upon the Cardassians (I’m still waiting for some e-mail replies from Achilles, though I stand in hope with them). – The Romulans aren’t a top priority at the moment due to them not appearing straight away, thus I’m not going to be doing much work on them until I need to.
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The Klingons however, they have a fair bit to show for themselves. I’ve changed the Voodieh texture so it cuts away the red, and replaces it with green, just a small edit, but has a lot of effect of the model.

Additionally, the K’vek, Kron & Bekta (many of you will know them from BI:VR) have had a nice overhaul. I’ve changed the Bekta model slightly (there was a hole in the bottom), so I filled that in, and I’ve retextured from scratch all three models.

The K’vek (renamed Kei’Veck) I retextured simply because I wanted her texture to match the Vor’cha, same goes for the Kron (renamed Khron). Quite simply, they were going to act as cruisers, and I wanted them to have the same feel as each other.

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

The Bekta, I have added too, not only in model terms, but in textures (she looked a bit bland from VR) nothing on the under-wing, and not much going for her on the neck. I’ve also added two additional disruptor points for her, (she only seemed to have the one at the front before hand).

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

I’ve also got a nice Bird of Prey model which I’d been meaning to either poly reduce, or have poly reduced for a long time. This I finally got round to doing not that long ago, it was 1462 polygons (too high for a simple destroyer) and now stands at 851 polies.

Other Klingon ships, of which there are two can be seen over at my http://www.gamingforums.com/showthread.php?t=285337"]K't'inga Class Battlecruisers Thread[/URL]. I got them done a while ago, but didn't make them officially included.
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Plus, for those interested in this project, it may be worth keeping an eye on the Zero Hour: Storyline Thread in the next few days

[Adam_Atlantian]

An update for the Star Ocean Project.
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Firstly the name is changing to: Star Ocean: Executioner Assault.

Now to the ships.

The newest being the Transport Ship. In the Original Star Ocean 3 these ships sucked. Their shields couldn't hold up very well and they had weapons like a scout ship. So I increased the shields and made them an artillary ship.

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

Above are the ships i've created and pretty much perfected. The small ship in the middle is a Cutter. A scout vessel with a Gravitic Warp Drive.

The two ships in front of the cutter are called Calnus class vessels. They have a Positron Cannon and are like an Akira class.

The Two larger ships with the rings around them are called Combat Explorers. They have Electromagnetic Shields that can protect them from just about anything. along with good regular shields as well.

The ship in the very back is the Battleship. The backbone of the Pangalactic Federation. They have Creation Cannons and several phase cannons.

The two ships between the Combat Explorer and Battleship is a Crosair. They have four phase cannons and their special weapon (Phase Cannon Shower) fires lots of shots from all four banks.

Spoiler:

All the other races are being upgraded as well. First of all, the Federation will be given a number of new ships and all the old ships have been retextured. Some of the additions are: the Intrepid, Galaxy, Achillies, Delta, Excalibur, and Miranda class ships.

Spoiler:

The Borg have one new ship and i have replaced the original cube and sphere. The Number of borg ships will reduce slightly but the ones that remain are very powerful. Especially the Tactical Cube.

Spoiler:

I haven't decided what to do with the Romulans just yet. They will be replaced later by the Vendenni but that will not be for some time.

All of the Pangalactic Federations Stations have been completed. New Reserach Facilities

Spoiler:

Mining Station

Spoiler:

Gravitic Warp Gate Station

Spoiler:

Thus concludes the Star Ocean: Executioner Assault Update

PS to SSA and Joelteon 7, If there are to many pictures feel fre to get rid of some.

[Aerilon]

Done

[Adam_Atlantian]

Star Ocean: Executioner Assault Update.

Much progress has been made in the last few months. The Pnagalactic Federation has been completed. A new ship has come into play called the Fayt Carrier. It is a Star Ocean/Star Trek hybrid mixing the P. Federation's and Starfleet's designs and technologies together.

I have also been expereminting with a new form of lighting in Armada 1 that will allow for the Engines of a Federation ship to be lit with out having to add glows to the model!(The Shot of the Star gate by Major Payne is an example of the lighting)

I have on final ship to add to the Federation. The Typhoon. It fits inot the Era and will add more balance to the game as a whole.

The Borg are completed thanks a great deal to the Efforts of the Millennium Project and Alliances.

And all of the 4D Beings have been completed fully. Including the Universla Core from the end of SO3.

Upon realizing that no one knows anything about my MOD hardly i decided to create a site containing the basic info. Story, Races, and all the units of the game. It is best viewed in a full window at the 1024x768 screen resolution. Other wise the letters and picture get moved around.

http://staroceanproject.fateback.com/Star_Ocean_Home.htm

Pangalactic Federation and Veendeni Sites are still under construction.

The Veendeni are a new Race that will replace the Romulans. The Veendeni are very military oreinted. Their ships are soley for combat. They refused to join the Pangalactic Federation because of their advanced tech. And it is indeed advanced.

Production of the Veendni is coming along quickly. There are 4 stations and 3 ships left to make. Then I have to create the missions.

I cant make a full mod of Armada 2 because i only have the demo but i will be making two race mods for A2 (P Federation & Veendeni) once the A1 mod is released.

Enjoy the site!

Spoiler:

[Aerilon]

Done!

[DOCa Cola]

Our server move is finally done @ www.fleetops.net and we have some news too -> here

DOCa Cola

[Aerilon]

I'll be adding that to the A2Files Site soon.

Edit: http://armada2.filefront.com/news/;32813 - Looks very nice by the way

[DOCa Cola]

thank you
optec has posted an update about the mixed tech feature
http://www.fleetops.net/index.php?op...3&topic=3149.0

[Aerilon]

Another one so soon?

Done Anyway - http://armada2.filefront.com/news/;32833