Birth of the Federation II

[Red Shirt Ensign]

Even if they can't legally charge for it they can accept honest to goodness donations for say.... maintaining the web site

If the game is posted for free and is worth its salt then we should ALL make a donation to our favorite charities!!!

 

[SonOfMogh]

It will be completely free for all.

As the person with the highest post count on that site (currently) I can say that the main body of the work is complete. They're just adding the bits of graphics that correspong to the relevent bits of code.

 

[Ronald Held]

Has there been a post that tell us when we can download the game?

 

[ShamelessMcBundy]

Posted by SonOfMogh:
It will be completely free for all.

As the person with the highest post count on that site (currently) I can say that the main body of the work is complete. They're just adding the bits of graphics that correspong to the relevent bits of code.

Cool. Any info on a tentative release date?

 

[SonOfMogh]

They just keep saying things like "very soon". I chat to Gavin (the programmer) on MSN and he's adamant he's not releasing the game with any bugs at all. I think they want it fairly polished by the time it's downloadable, the beta will effectively be the finished game, just with less races etc.

A few key points;

*The game will be released with the Feeration only as a playable race, other races will be created later. As the whole point of the game is moddability, there will be a race creation program (basically, put race picture here, choose morale implications etc). A stoned monkey could create a new playable race and new ships will be downloaable all the time. So you can play as the Tholians if you want, or anyone else you or the official makers create.

*The concept of "range" has finally been scrapped. Each ship will have a fuel reserve and will need to refuel at starbases or shipyards. That means you can now enter a wormhole and explore space on the other side.

*The ridiculous "autoupgrades" no longer exist. When a new class has an upgrade available, you'll have to get individual ships back to shipyards for refit. This will be a challenge during times of hostility, (should I leave the border undefended for 10 turns while I refit, or leave an obsolete ship defending?)

*The smallest galactic map will be 4 times the size of the largest BoTF map, I shit you not.

*When you sign a non agression treaty, you'll still be able to enter another race's space, they'll be pissed if you get cought though.

*Build times will be far more realistic, maybe 10-20 turns for something like a Galaxy class, Starbases could take 40 or more overall.

*Ships will serve the functions they serve in the show. A Galaxy class will be faster than anything in the fleet when it's launched, it will also be powerful and have magnificent scientific abilities. It's cost will limit production in favour of smaller, more specialised ships, (eg Intrepid for scouting, Nova for scanning anomolies, Defiant for fighting etc).


Well they're a few of the bits I'm looking forward to, I honestly think we'll be playing it by Sept/Oct.

 

[McAvoy]

The smallest map is four times as large as the largest one in BotF? Wow! I wonder how big the largest one will be! Though I agree with this one though, it's one of the very few things I hate about the original, was the small map.

Also, the whole refit ship part is awesome as well. Though is it still like the original where you got one type of ship and a more powerful version or are we going to see for example the Excelsior class replace the Constitution class totally without the possibility of refitting?

 

[ShamelessMcBundy]

Wow, that's brilliant! I can't wait to play this game!

 

[SonOfMogh]

Posted by McAvoy:
The smallest map is four times as large as the largest one in BotF? Wow! I wonder how big the largest one will be! Though I agree with this one though, it's one of the very few things I hate about the original, was the small map.

Also, the whole refit ship part is awesome as well. Though is it still like the original where you got one type of ship and a more powerful version or are we going to see for example the Excelsior class replace the Constitution class totally without the possibility of refitting?

Oh no it's been programmed very differently from BoTF.

The Excelsior won't replace the Connie, so for a while you'll still be able to build Connies alongside Excelsiors. The Ambassador will completely replace the Constitution, at the time the Ambassador is launched, there will no longer be an option in the build queue to build Connies. However, at some point the Constitution will have a refit available, this will most likely be immediately prior to the Excelsior being launched. At any point, whether the Connie is buildable or not, you'll be able to send it in for a refit. I guess the logic is that if you've not refit your Connie by the time you've got Galaxies, it's probably cheaper to just decommission the ship and build something else.

 

[ShamelessMcBundy]

So if you just keep getting the Connies upgraded, then you can still have them in the fleet? I mean, once the Ambassador class is built, no more Connies can be built, that much i got. But the Connies that you have in active service won't just go away and be replaced with the Ambassador, right? So one could keep a Connie just for kicks as part of the fleet as long as it gets refits?

 

[daedalus5]

I can't help myself.

I'm getting kinda excited about this now!

 

[Holdfast]

Posted by daedalus5:
I can't help myself.

I'm getting kinda excited about this now!

I know, I've resisted so well for so many months since I first heard of this project, what with the track record of the other failed attempts.

But as this project nears completion, I'm slowly starting to hope we may actually get a cool game out of this! :thumbsup:

 

[kasper]

where one can find recent screenshoots of the game?

 

[Red Shirt Ensign]

Perhaps if we're REALLY LUCKY... they will be able to release some sort of mod programs to allow us to create our own player races!!! say you want to create Kazans... (Bad example since I hate Voyager but it was the first thing that popped in my head)

But first please GOD let this game come to fruition!

 

[SonOfMogh]

Shameless- That's right, the game's geared towards realism. One ship will replace another in the Build queue only, meaning you can't build any more. The Connie would get it's last refit available during the movie era, but unless you program it in there will be no further refits available. But yes, there's nothing to stop an old connie being around to cover a Sovereign's flank!

Kasper- Check out the link earlier in this thread, go to general chat and there's a thread entitled "screenie".

Red Shirt- The race creating program is being made alongside the game specifically so anyone can use it, there will however be "official" race packs which will obviously build up over time.

 

[kasper]

Posted by SonOfMogh:
Shameless- That's right, the game's geared towards realism. One ship will replace another in the Build queue only, meaning you can't build any more. The Connie would get it's last refit available during the movie era, but unless you program it in there will be no further refits available. But yes, there's nothing to stop an old connie being around to cover a Sovereign's flank!

Kasper- Check out the link earlier in this thread, go to general chat and there's a thread entitled "screenie".

Red Shirt- The race creating program is being made alongside the game specifically so anyone can use it, there will however be "official" race packs which will obviously build up over time.

Thank you, I found them here. It seems they got plenty of ship models to play with.

I am still concern about the gameplay. The screenshots don't show a lot of the (finished) work. I loved the main interface of BOTF1, specially the quadrant thing and maps, an improvement, not a radical departure from it, would be ideal. Remember, the galaxy screen is a 'grand' map with tactical items, almost icons only. Details such as ship orientation, too many graphics for stars, shoud be minimized if not avoided.

(I have fond memories of the Star Control II galaxy map :thumbsup

 

[SonOfMogh]

I think all he's done is just removed the "grid" effect to make the map look more like space. The star effects are slightly more detailed than the stars in BoTF, but they're still basic 2d graphics overlaid on a black starscape. The screen does look a little more lively, but it will be no less grand in scale. I a way must admit I'd prefer him to have stuck with empire symbols instead of actual pictures of starships, it could look a little armada like, which may take away from the 'high up military commander' feel of botf.

 

[Matt4511]

I agree, I liked the clean interface of BotF, particularly the empire symbols. They were sharp.

Does anyone know if there is a master list of all classes that will be included, at least for the Federation? If so, where can I find it? The lack of classes was a big disappointment for me with the first game. I once sketched out what I felt would have been the right amount, and there fortunately was a canon ship for almost every role, assuming a cruiser for TOS era, a cruiser for the movie era...

 

[firehawk12]

Weird question here... why not just mod something like MoO3?

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

Posted by firehawk12:
Weird question here... why not just mod something like MoO3?

Good suggestion but I, for one, found MoO3's gameplay to be utterly dreadful compared to its earlier incarnations. Kudos to the developers if they're coming up with their own game engine -- I presume it will be mod'able to other franchises (thinking B5).

 

[kasper]

Posted by firehawk12:
Weird question here... why not just mod something like MoO3?

As Deuterostome has mentioned, MOO3 was awful. It was like a fiasco. There are some attempts to mod MOO2 into different franchises, I know for sure the fairly good attempt to mod it to Babylon 5 universe. To do it for Star Trek shouldn't be that difficult. That includes mods for the technology, the races, the faces, etc (Not the ships because they are 'stored' differently). See this page for more detail.

There are clones of MOO2 and MOO1 that are being created with modding in mind from scratch. Kudos and good luck to them.