For some time now I was thinking about making my own mod. I consulted with Darkstar and following his recommendation I’m officially starting the developement of my own project. I already have all the graphics for the mod though there is a lot of coding I will have to do. I was reading about it a lot so I think I will be able to make all the work required on my own, though I am going to ask you guys a lot of noob questions in the coming days.
I don’t really have any name for the mod, but it will introduce one new race to the game. The new race will have about 7 new ships, one unique racial weapon and one subsystem. My aim is to make this thing as balanced as humanly possible, so don’t expect super-doom-laser, Ultra-nuclear-torpedoes or the unmatched and terrifing RAINBOW BEAM. I plan to finish the work on the ships in a week or two and than ask some of you for help with balancing about which I have no idea whatsoever. Anyways, I think it would be appropriate to include some eye candy in this post, so I uploaded pictures of the turrets I prepared and some of the ships (this pic is not from the game, I made it in gimp so it looks more or less as it would).
Enjoy
[size=85]
*I made the turrets using parts of the ships, which in turn I made using parts of ships from Angels Fall First Mod for Homeworld2, so the credit for the original artwork goes to the team that made them.[/size]
Will your racially-unique weapon and ship-system be available for both the frigate- and cruiser-sized ships? I do hope so.
Have you begun yet to consider what sort of bonuses your hulls will be blessed (or cursed) with? That’s going to have a big impact not only on the tactical handling of your race, but also its distinctiveness compared to the 9 official fleets; let alone other major mods. Since you’re introducing almost no new equipment with this mod, a future player using your mod must rely on the current range of official equipment. Therefore, those hull bonuses and penalties matter a lot for you.
Keep us posted on your progress. Your stated desire for balance above all else is going to be interesting to achieve.
Yes. The frigate size versions will be slightly weaker but cheaper than cruiser versions. (good idea?)
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I was thinking about creating a race with fast, agile ships and good reactor output but weak structural integrity and sligthly weaker shields. ( I hope I am being original)
My one bit of advice is not to force yourself to adhere to a set number of new modules. As you get into coding, testing etc., you may find that your new race is missing something to make it unique and well-balanced; don’t be afraid to add what it takes. Heck, right now my mod has almost twice the modules it started with, and I don’t think I’m quite done yet. That said, there’s nothing wrong with keeping the new equipment down to a minimum as well. Go with your instincts as to what feels right.
It’s good to see another modder jumping into the pool with the rest of us.
Remember, there’s no such thing as a bad question. (except some of the ones I ask) Most folk around here are happy to help if you get hung up on something. (If that wasn’t the case, my mod wouldn’t be anywhere as far along as it is.) Good luck!
This was probally one of the shortest “consults” I have ever done - Kalthaniell outlined this mod to me with his current ideas . . All i could say were things like yes / fantastic / great. He has everything in place for the game. The only thing that i would really like to see is some form of “story” to surround this ships
The name and the story will evolve over time as you get a “feel” for your new race. In the end if your having trouble you could always approch members of the forum to see if they have any ideas going spare
For example:
Run a competition “Name the Race”
PM Kalthaniell with your best Background / Story / Race Profie for this new race [Please note that the above is an example - wait for Kalthaniell to announce something if he decideds its a good idea.]
Very good idea - especially if your unique weapon doesn’t exist in the frigate range.
Example: Tribe have those annoying repair units
owwwwwww randyyyy!!! you little mot*********!! you and your ******* gimp! “·%&%!”#€@#~€|@4"!$&·"%@#~6ª!!! Stop with that, i’ve already said that i will learn GIMP and PS!! xD
@Randy - why dont you go back to your GIMP and finish that Rent-a-Wreck clogging your modding space. @Praetors - Go clean the plasma conduits on that Blazar Beam before i start working on it.
Lets get back to the topic at hand - Kal’s Mod
@Kalthaniell,
You have said you will not be introducing the unmatched and terrifiing RAINBOW BEAM
So how about the SPECTRUM CANNON ?
Also looking at those Screenies - while i am still offering my help, it doesn’t look like you will need it.
Keep up the great work
-But… those plasma conduits are at 8000 Cº!! Are you trying to kill me?! =O
-Go and do it!
-Okay =(… Ow holy s***!!! X.X
[size=50](oh and sorry for the offtopics Kal… Randys Fault!)[/size]
The latest news is, that I managed to prevail in my fight with coding. Although there were some initial difficulties I sucessfully coded the first hull, which is more or less operational. I will now move on to coding the rest :] I will have to change the engine trails and the ship exploding part as I had to use the code for fed cruiser in order to take care of the errors.
On this momentous occasion I would just like to say:
“This may be a small step for you guys, but it is a one damn big jump for me.” xD
Congrats! I know that putting together the ship text files was (and is) one of the biggest headache parts for me, including now when I know what I’m doing. Glad to hear you’ve gotten a hold on it.
Now that means that there will be pretty in-game pics, yes?
hehehe no screenies for now. I want to have the ships done and perfect when they are presented. I managed to code the ships into the game and spent a lot of time making small adjustments to the turrets positions. For some unknown reason they are all a bit off. Tomorrow I will put the turrets in game and finally start to make some real mod work on the weapons and ship’s statistics As usual I got a bit slowned down by new projects, to which I had to give priority, but overall I think I’m managing to finish everything more or less on time. I already know I will need help with explosion code. I tried over and over to make it work as I want to but apparently it’s beyond my noob skills for now.
The final number and role of ships is as follows (opinions and comments badly needed):
-Fighter Drone (fast, cheap, small, low firepower drone for anti smallcraft purpose).
-Assault Gunship ( big-three times bigger than an average fighter, multiple weapon, expensive and hard to kill attack bomber for dealing with frigates)
-Escort Frigate (cheap, fast, lightly armored, 3 weapon mounts and 4 system slots support ship)
-Frigate (fast, multipurpose frigate, 4 weapon mounts and 5-7 system slots)
-Destroyer ( heavy frigate and the backbone of every fleet, 6 weapon slots and 6-8 system slots)
-Light Cruiser (the main choice for a cruiser, 7 weapon slots and 7-10 system slots, with an average speed but good armor for a medium price)
-Battleship (designed for the heaviest engagements and defence against the most powerful enemy vessels, 11 weapon slots and 10-15 system slots, pricy but capable of standing it’s ground and delivering damage) armor and shields boost but no speed boost???
Like I wrote earlier I haven’t played GSB too much so I don’t really have an ‘intuitive’ sense for the ship’s statistics. I fear I might need additional subsystems slots as I coded the minimal nr for each ship. Looking at the other ships in the game I feel that even the low price won’t make it up for the general weakness of my ships. Plz help
As usual I got a bit slowned down by new projects, to which I had to give priority, but overall I think I’m managing to finish everything more or less on time. I already know I will need help with explosion code. I tried over and over to make it work as I want to but apparently it’s beyond my noob skills for now.