Re: Star Trek Armada 3 (Mod/TC)
omg omg omg omg omg omg Oh... My... God!!!!!!!111111oneoneoneone *squee* !!! :D
Eurrsk
SamRonin
Star Trek Armada 3 (Mod/TC)
Star Trek Armada 3 has been released now on ModDB.
This is a Total Conversion mod for Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion so you will need that first.
As of writing Sins Rebellion is actually 50% in the Steam Sale until the 2nd of January. It is on sale quite often so you may well see it cheaper again in the not too distant future.
http://www.moddb.com/mods/star-trek-armada-3 for the mod itself.
So is it really Star Trek Armada 3? Yes and no. Of course it uses the name but is still a fan project and I dread to think what Activision will do when someone sees it and brings it to the attention of their copyright holders.
It is about as good a balance between the 2 games as you can probably get. It still uses all the Sins fundamentals but with a nice Trek spin over the top.
As of writing this the Mod is officially 0.75 so is still work in progress but pretty playable none the less. You will see placeholders in parts, such as the refineries just have Temp over each icon. Many ships have either vanilla Sins icons or ones from other models temporarily. Classic case being the Envoy for Feds. Icon in build menu is a Nebula, but you actually get a Galaxy mod that is like half a Cheyenne class. One nacelle above and one below the Saucer.
There will be balance issues and other aspects worked on in time. Only minor quibble I had so far was with the Sovereign seeming weaker than the Galaxy. At least when fighting Borg Assimilation Cubes my Sovereigns die faster. But very minor quibble really.
In the very late game on Vast maps I am getting Mini dump crashes which are very annoying. These sometimes happen whenever a new version of Sins is released or new Graphics drivers. Usually updating the driver resolves the issue. Similar thing will happen with Mods. As Ironclad/Stardock alter bits in Sins itself it can make Mods crash more often. Although any good current modders will have patches and fixes out quite soon after. At least that has been my experience with Sacrifice of Angels 2.
If you already own Sins or the Steam sale tempts you then pick up this and also give a thought to the other big Trek mod. Sacrifice of Angels 2. You will find it on ModDB as well.
How to make it work?
Sins is very Mod friendly really. It will create a game folder within which is a Mods folder. The mods folder will be recreated any time a new version of Sins is released so you will need to move stuff around in the future.
The mod is downloaded as a Rar file and then simply needs extracting into the Sins Mod folder. With Armada 3 I found it works best to Extract it directly into the Mod folder itself. Prior Mods I tended to extract into the download folder and then just copy across. But that does not work quite right for Armada 3 seemingly.
Once installed the next time you load Sins it will begin as Armada 3 with their own little voiced intro. Enjoy.
If you want to change back to vanilla or a different Mod you simply go into the Options menu and under Mods you can enable or disable as you wish.
In case you are new to Sins I will give a brief run down of how it plays and how to get the Mod to work.
Basics:
Sins is a Pseudo 3D RTS cum 4X Lite game (Camera is full 3D but game plays out on a flat 2D plain). You begin in a single planet and must reach outward to gain new planets and with them the resources to create your empire.
But this is not Civilization. You do not spend a huge amount of time on the minutia or tax levels etc. You typically have 3 forms of resource and these are collected in simple ways.
Asteroids in planetary systems will offer up 2 of the resources so as you capture planets you slap extractors/refineries on and there you go. The more you have, the more you get. Simple.
The last resource is financial(or Latinum in Armada 3) and comes from your population, how developed their planets are and how content they are.
Developing a planet is simple as well. If you click on a planet you will see a green button and after clicking on it you will get a selection of ways in which to improve the planet.
The easiest mistake early on is to rush for planets and forget to develop their most basic stats. Then a player wonders why they can not make any money for more. Each new world you add has a cost attached for being new and will actually cost you money until it is developed.
Thankfully this does not take long and it is often wise to slap those developments onto each planet as soon as you have it. That way they add to your resource pool rather than draining it.
Each planet only has a certain amount of space around its Gravity Well which can be upgraded via this menu as well. But you will need to spread your choices over your empire as it grows.
Most planets can have a maximum of 24 slots for Industrial stuff like shipyards or research centres etc.
A similar system also applies for defensive systems such as Turrets and Hangers.
Research:
What RTS/4X does not have a research system? Sins is no exception. Theirs is broken down into Military and Civilian research branches and each of those needs a special research centre.
At the time of writing you will need 8 of each Centre to get the full tech options. When playing on larger maps it is often a good idea to restrict yourself to only 1 research station per system. This leaves room to build other useful stations that allow trade or spread your culture. Culture becomes more and more important as you build outward.
Building Stuff:
Each planet will come with construction ships automatically although their number will increase through development as well.
Building is as simple as going into the menu, select what you want to build and select where to put it.
For those who want to focus more on the Macro side there is also an auto place option so you just click what to build and the game will place it for you.
Building ships is nice and simple as well. You typically have 3 forms of Shipyard.
Frigates/Cruisers.
Capitals.
Titans.
You usually begin with both the Frigate/Cruiser and a Capital shipyard, and Sins will usually give you a Capital completely free at first. This should be one of the first things you build as they will get you through almost all early fights. Which capital you build comes down to personal choice and experimentation.
Personally I always make the ship that has the Colonise option on it. This allows the Capital ship itself to capture new planets for you.
You can also focus on more destructive ships and build colonisers seperately.
You will begin with a bare few basic Frigates but research will open up many, many more options.
Unit Cap is handled via the research menu as well. You can increase the amount of Capitals you can crew and a general cap for all ships.
Each Capital and Titan also acts like a Hero Unit in other RTS. In that they can be leveled up and gain new abilities as they level.
Typically they will have 4 main abilities that you can pick from depending on their fleet role.
Early play:
Just a very basic rundown on how to start your first game of Sins.
When you first appear you will have a single planet, shipyards and a couple of ships. The Construction ships are essentially npc and may as well be ignored. The others will be Scouts and best used to do just that. Clicking on each or drag selcting all. You will see an icon that has a planet and magnifying glass icon on it. Right clicking that will send the Scouts out and they will try to search all unknown systems for you.
Create your first Capital ship. It is the most powerful ship early on and will help no end. Create frigates to help escort the Capital and then see what is nearby.
Different planets will often need special research before they can be colonised and usually the better the planet, the better defended it is.
Each planet will have at least 2 NPC defenders. Usually just a couple of frigates for the most basic. This can scale right up to groups that will decimate you early on. So pick your fights. If you need certain research for the nearest planets then use your home system to make a couple of Civilian Research Stations and get that research done. Otherwise you will usually focus on 1 Military and 1 Civilian research station per system.
You wont really need any defences early on as you should be well spaced out. Although a single turret can help deter would be raiders. (in basic form there will be raider spawns now and then. These can be turned off though if they bother you too much.) Turrets are best used as planetary defence and are usually best kept near the planet itself. I used to try and coat the areas that ship might appear from at the system edge and would fail each time.
Frigates are nice early on but you want to be colonising systems and using them to build outward and research more technology. But do not get carried away with just getting new ships without buffing what you already have.
You can almost treble each ships effectiveness with upgrades to shields, hull, armour and of course weapons.
Capturing enemy planets will be a longer process than the neutral planets you get earlier on. You will need to bombard the planet first and only your capitals and select frigates can do this. Later on if you have a fleet of Capitals they will take over planets quite well by themselves. Otherwise you will want to add a group of the frigates to help out if you encounter the enemy before you have a large fleet.
Quite often you will see the NPC use a very Goonswarm style of attack. They often forego the Capitals but will swarm with a large number of Planetary Assault Frigates. Perfectly valid tactic as well, I personally just like seeing a fleet composed of Capitals and Support.
There is not much more to explain in a simple run down. You can gain victory through military domination, diplomacy, reaching specific achievements like launching a Titan etc.
If you have read this far and not lost interest then happy hunting and I hope you enjoy Sins and Armada 3.
This is a Total Conversion mod for Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion so you will need that first.
As of writing Sins Rebellion is actually 50% in the Steam Sale until the 2nd of January. It is on sale quite often so you may well see it cheaper again in the not too distant future.
http://www.moddb.com/mods/star-trek-armada-3 for the mod itself.
So is it really Star Trek Armada 3? Yes and no. Of course it uses the name but is still a fan project and I dread to think what Activision will do when someone sees it and brings it to the attention of their copyright holders.
It is about as good a balance between the 2 games as you can probably get. It still uses all the Sins fundamentals but with a nice Trek spin over the top.
As of writing this the Mod is officially 0.75 so is still work in progress but pretty playable none the less. You will see placeholders in parts, such as the refineries just have Temp over each icon. Many ships have either vanilla Sins icons or ones from other models temporarily. Classic case being the Envoy for Feds. Icon in build menu is a Nebula, but you actually get a Galaxy mod that is like half a Cheyenne class. One nacelle above and one below the Saucer.
There will be balance issues and other aspects worked on in time. Only minor quibble I had so far was with the Sovereign seeming weaker than the Galaxy. At least when fighting Borg Assimilation Cubes my Sovereigns die faster. But very minor quibble really.
In the very late game on Vast maps I am getting Mini dump crashes which are very annoying. These sometimes happen whenever a new version of Sins is released or new Graphics drivers. Usually updating the driver resolves the issue. Similar thing will happen with Mods. As Ironclad/Stardock alter bits in Sins itself it can make Mods crash more often. Although any good current modders will have patches and fixes out quite soon after. At least that has been my experience with Sacrifice of Angels 2.
If you already own Sins or the Steam sale tempts you then pick up this and also give a thought to the other big Trek mod. Sacrifice of Angels 2. You will find it on ModDB as well.
How to make it work?
Sins is very Mod friendly really. It will create a game folder within which is a Mods folder. The mods folder will be recreated any time a new version of Sins is released so you will need to move stuff around in the future.
The mod is downloaded as a Rar file and then simply needs extracting into the Sins Mod folder. With Armada 3 I found it works best to Extract it directly into the Mod folder itself. Prior Mods I tended to extract into the download folder and then just copy across. But that does not work quite right for Armada 3 seemingly.
Once installed the next time you load Sins it will begin as Armada 3 with their own little voiced intro. Enjoy.
If you want to change back to vanilla or a different Mod you simply go into the Options menu and under Mods you can enable or disable as you wish.
In case you are new to Sins I will give a brief run down of how it plays and how to get the Mod to work.
Basics:
Sins is a Pseudo 3D RTS cum 4X Lite game (Camera is full 3D but game plays out on a flat 2D plain). You begin in a single planet and must reach outward to gain new planets and with them the resources to create your empire.
But this is not Civilization. You do not spend a huge amount of time on the minutia or tax levels etc. You typically have 3 forms of resource and these are collected in simple ways.
Asteroids in planetary systems will offer up 2 of the resources so as you capture planets you slap extractors/refineries on and there you go. The more you have, the more you get. Simple.
The last resource is financial(or Latinum in Armada 3) and comes from your population, how developed their planets are and how content they are.
Developing a planet is simple as well. If you click on a planet you will see a green button and after clicking on it you will get a selection of ways in which to improve the planet.
The easiest mistake early on is to rush for planets and forget to develop their most basic stats. Then a player wonders why they can not make any money for more. Each new world you add has a cost attached for being new and will actually cost you money until it is developed.
Thankfully this does not take long and it is often wise to slap those developments onto each planet as soon as you have it. That way they add to your resource pool rather than draining it.
Each planet only has a certain amount of space around its Gravity Well which can be upgraded via this menu as well. But you will need to spread your choices over your empire as it grows.
Most planets can have a maximum of 24 slots for Industrial stuff like shipyards or research centres etc.
A similar system also applies for defensive systems such as Turrets and Hangers.
Research:
What RTS/4X does not have a research system? Sins is no exception. Theirs is broken down into Military and Civilian research branches and each of those needs a special research centre.
At the time of writing you will need 8 of each Centre to get the full tech options. When playing on larger maps it is often a good idea to restrict yourself to only 1 research station per system. This leaves room to build other useful stations that allow trade or spread your culture. Culture becomes more and more important as you build outward.
Building Stuff:
Each planet will come with construction ships automatically although their number will increase through development as well.
Building is as simple as going into the menu, select what you want to build and select where to put it.
For those who want to focus more on the Macro side there is also an auto place option so you just click what to build and the game will place it for you.
Building ships is nice and simple as well. You typically have 3 forms of Shipyard.
Frigates/Cruisers.
Capitals.
Titans.
You usually begin with both the Frigate/Cruiser and a Capital shipyard, and Sins will usually give you a Capital completely free at first. This should be one of the first things you build as they will get you through almost all early fights. Which capital you build comes down to personal choice and experimentation.
Personally I always make the ship that has the Colonise option on it. This allows the Capital ship itself to capture new planets for you.
You can also focus on more destructive ships and build colonisers seperately.
You will begin with a bare few basic Frigates but research will open up many, many more options.
Unit Cap is handled via the research menu as well. You can increase the amount of Capitals you can crew and a general cap for all ships.
Each Capital and Titan also acts like a Hero Unit in other RTS. In that they can be leveled up and gain new abilities as they level.
Typically they will have 4 main abilities that you can pick from depending on their fleet role.
Early play:
Just a very basic rundown on how to start your first game of Sins.
When you first appear you will have a single planet, shipyards and a couple of ships. The Construction ships are essentially npc and may as well be ignored. The others will be Scouts and best used to do just that. Clicking on each or drag selcting all. You will see an icon that has a planet and magnifying glass icon on it. Right clicking that will send the Scouts out and they will try to search all unknown systems for you.
Create your first Capital ship. It is the most powerful ship early on and will help no end. Create frigates to help escort the Capital and then see what is nearby.
Different planets will often need special research before they can be colonised and usually the better the planet, the better defended it is.
Each planet will have at least 2 NPC defenders. Usually just a couple of frigates for the most basic. This can scale right up to groups that will decimate you early on. So pick your fights. If you need certain research for the nearest planets then use your home system to make a couple of Civilian Research Stations and get that research done. Otherwise you will usually focus on 1 Military and 1 Civilian research station per system.
You wont really need any defences early on as you should be well spaced out. Although a single turret can help deter would be raiders. (in basic form there will be raider spawns now and then. These can be turned off though if they bother you too much.) Turrets are best used as planetary defence and are usually best kept near the planet itself. I used to try and coat the areas that ship might appear from at the system edge and would fail each time.
Frigates are nice early on but you want to be colonising systems and using them to build outward and research more technology. But do not get carried away with just getting new ships without buffing what you already have.
You can almost treble each ships effectiveness with upgrades to shields, hull, armour and of course weapons.
Capturing enemy planets will be a longer process than the neutral planets you get earlier on. You will need to bombard the planet first and only your capitals and select frigates can do this. Later on if you have a fleet of Capitals they will take over planets quite well by themselves. Otherwise you will want to add a group of the frigates to help out if you encounter the enemy before you have a large fleet.
Quite often you will see the NPC use a very Goonswarm style of attack. They often forego the Capitals but will swarm with a large number of Planetary Assault Frigates. Perfectly valid tactic as well, I personally just like seeing a fleet composed of Capitals and Support.
There is not much more to explain in a simple run down. You can gain victory through military domination, diplomacy, reaching specific achievements like launching a Titan etc.
If you have read this far and not lost interest then happy hunting and I hope you enjoy Sins and Armada 3.
Parker
Re: Stonewall Fleet Holiday Party/Pub Crawl
Thanks Eurrsk, Dex and Auntie Izzy! While I was only able to attend for some of it I had a great time! (travel days leave me drained emotionally and physically)
Thanks Dex for the lump of coal! :)
Great Music Eurrsk!
Thanks Dex for the lump of coal! :)
Great Music Eurrsk!
Voleron
Eurrsk
Re: Stonewall Fleet Holiday Party/Pub Crawl
[attachment=1847]HolidayPartyGalaxyPubCrawl.jpg[/attachment]
Hello, everyone! Just a reminder today that tonight is our Holiday Party Galaxy Pub Crawl Event!! :D
Event Times: 6 PM PST, 9 PM EST, 2 AM GMT (For you late night party goers in the GMT timezone ;)
Bar Crawl Locations will be at the following areas where members from BOTH factions can attend:
- Bar at Drozana Station
- Bar at Dyson Joint Command (Inside the giant command spire in Allied Space)
- Quarks Bar at Ds9
- Bar at Q's Winter Wonderland :) (It has a small bar at the beam in point)
calx
Unknown Person
Unknown Person
Re: Looking, New Series on HBO
Looks like it could be good. :)
Captain Archer is looking fine. damn fine.
Captain Archer is looking fine. damn fine.
Vidannotaredshirt79
NobitaNobi
Re: Looking, New Series on HBO
It sounds intriguing, full of diversity and positive queer Asian role models for me to identify with... oh wait, nevermind, was thinking of Margaret Cho's show.
Unknown Person
Re: Looking, New Series on HBO
I'd heard about it, I'll be watching it. It's been so long since Queer as Folk, it'll be nice to have another show like it on again.
Gravity
WhiteOnmyoji
Looking, New Series on HBO
There's a new series on HBO about a bunch of gay guys in the Castro, and one of those gay guys is played by ...
[Click me to find out]
[Click me to find out]
Unknown Person
Re: 20 Day Old Puppy Learning How to Howl!!!!!!
I saw this too, she's too precious, and this is coming from a cat person. :laugh:
Lars_Zandor
Re: Character Biography
I just wrote this backstory for my Liberated Borg.
I personally think it's very good, even though the end is rushed a bit (but that's because it's 2 am here now).
Amanda Amans (prefers Calanthe)
Career: engineer
Age: 35
Current ship: U.S.S. Caennaire
Born to Starfleet parents, Calanthe had always lived on starships or starbases. However at the age of eight, the ship she was living on was attacked by the Borg. The U.S.S. Arcus Pluvius, a science ship, had been almost destroyed by the Borg before they boarded. The took the girl, named Amanda Amans back then, and assimilated her.
Five years later a single Borg cube was sent to Earth. For some reason this cube had been cut off from the collective and the drones had become individuals. When cooporation between the now individual drones failed and they did not succeed in rejoining the Collective, they became anxious and violent towards each other. Eventually factions arose and after a while the most violent factions were obliterated.
By this time the survivors had developed a self preservation instinct and managed to agree to a cease fire. Negotiations between the factions eventually led to one simple conclusion: everyone wanted to go home. Or what was their home before they got assimilated.
However, with over a hundred different species on this cube, going home wasn't as simply as it sounded. Aside from the fact that the homes of some of these species were completely obliterated by now, some species were in war with each other. The Klingons (all three survivors out of 238 Klingons of them) wanted to go Qo'nos, the Cardassians to Cardassia Prime and so on. Almost another war broke out on the cube.
However, most of the former drones had memories about the Federation. Not necessarily their own memories, but memories nonetheless. Almost all of them suggested that Starfleet was always willing to help. Starfleet would be the place where they had the biggest chance at survival. Starfleet was the place that would see everyone home or at least a safe place to live.
The one who brought this idea on the table was Two of Five, faction leader (they didn't bother with faction names; they knew who belonged to who's faction). A course was set for Earth.
The following message was sent to Starfleet Headquarters and every ship around Earth by the Borg cube (now surrounded by a dozen Starfleet ships):
‘We come in peace. We request permission to send three drones to the surface for negotiations. We expect an answer in one Earth-hour.’
One hour later an answer was received by the Borg:
‘One drone is permitted to beam down on the grounds of Starfleet Headquarters.’
The former drones agreed and Two of Five was beamed down. When she arrived, a total of fifteen Starfleet officers surrounded her, plus a few snipers on the roofs surrounding her. An admiral walked to Two of Five and welcomed her.
‘I have chosen the name of Calanthe for myself, but I was known as Amanda Amans before I was assimilated. I am here to negotiate the safe de-assimilation of every remaining drone on the cube and a safe return to our homes.’
The admiral, visibly surprised, welcomed these negotiations.
By the time the de-assimilation of the drones was complete, Calanthe had already joined Starfleet, not knowing what to do else now that everyone was safe.
Let me know what you think about it!
I am thinking of actually writing this story as a fanfic.
I personally think it's very good, even though the end is rushed a bit (but that's because it's 2 am here now).
Amanda Amans (prefers Calanthe)
Career: engineer
Age: 35
Current ship: U.S.S. Caennaire
Born to Starfleet parents, Calanthe had always lived on starships or starbases. However at the age of eight, the ship she was living on was attacked by the Borg. The U.S.S. Arcus Pluvius, a science ship, had been almost destroyed by the Borg before they boarded. The took the girl, named Amanda Amans back then, and assimilated her.
Five years later a single Borg cube was sent to Earth. For some reason this cube had been cut off from the collective and the drones had become individuals. When cooporation between the now individual drones failed and they did not succeed in rejoining the Collective, they became anxious and violent towards each other. Eventually factions arose and after a while the most violent factions were obliterated.
By this time the survivors had developed a self preservation instinct and managed to agree to a cease fire. Negotiations between the factions eventually led to one simple conclusion: everyone wanted to go home. Or what was their home before they got assimilated.
However, with over a hundred different species on this cube, going home wasn't as simply as it sounded. Aside from the fact that the homes of some of these species were completely obliterated by now, some species were in war with each other. The Klingons (all three survivors out of 238 Klingons of them) wanted to go Qo'nos, the Cardassians to Cardassia Prime and so on. Almost another war broke out on the cube.
However, most of the former drones had memories about the Federation. Not necessarily their own memories, but memories nonetheless. Almost all of them suggested that Starfleet was always willing to help. Starfleet would be the place where they had the biggest chance at survival. Starfleet was the place that would see everyone home or at least a safe place to live.
The one who brought this idea on the table was Two of Five, faction leader (they didn't bother with faction names; they knew who belonged to who's faction). A course was set for Earth.
The following message was sent to Starfleet Headquarters and every ship around Earth by the Borg cube (now surrounded by a dozen Starfleet ships):
‘We come in peace. We request permission to send three drones to the surface for negotiations. We expect an answer in one Earth-hour.’
One hour later an answer was received by the Borg:
‘One drone is permitted to beam down on the grounds of Starfleet Headquarters.’
The former drones agreed and Two of Five was beamed down. When she arrived, a total of fifteen Starfleet officers surrounded her, plus a few snipers on the roofs surrounding her. An admiral walked to Two of Five and welcomed her.
‘I have chosen the name of Calanthe for myself, but I was known as Amanda Amans before I was assimilated. I am here to negotiate the safe de-assimilation of every remaining drone on the cube and a safe return to our homes.’
The admiral, visibly surprised, welcomed these negotiations.
By the time the de-assimilation of the drones was complete, Calanthe had already joined Starfleet, not knowing what to do else now that everyone was safe.
Let me know what you think about it!
I am thinking of actually writing this story as a fanfic.
Vidannotaredshirt79
LordWinslow
Re: Anti Gay comments with in Star Trek Online
Well everyone is an "Internet Badass" when they can hide behind a username and not their real name and location. We have to use Mods and Admins to track them down and punish them in game. It would be nice if we could just use our real names in game, it would cut down a lot of this crap language and nastiness. If they knew that they could be found out easier due to their real names being used in game, they would behave a bit more. But that is just my opinion on this, not sure how practical it would be to implement something like this.
Winslow
Winslow
Voleron
Re: [EVENT] Winter Trek Trivia!
The following tags can not be placed within a specific tag: center in b, hr in size
P R I Z E · D E T A I L S · A D D E D !
We've just added details of some of the fantastic prizes that will be available to be won at the Winter Trek Trivia event! View the first post in this thread for details!
Spread the word, and hope to see you there!
Eurrsk
Re: Stonewall Chat and Grouping Up
Well, it's always good to be polite announcing whether the team is full in fleet chat to prevent further confusion. At the end of the day, especially when we're winding down for the Holiday break to chill, play STO, and such, remember it's only a game. We're here to have fun! Miscommunications happen, especially within globally diverse online communities.
Who knows, maybe they're "X"ing for hugs? ;)
Who knows, maybe they're "X"ing for hugs? ;)
Dax_aussie_boy
Re: Stonewall Chat and Grouping Up
Very true! it doesn't take long to say 'were full'. And i agree/disagree about the requiring to be on ts, only for the reason that it makes startup easier on a bunch of stfs...eg kase where we have to set up whose doing what and ppl are just chomping on the bit to start without any patience lol :p
I do agree that everyone needs to have a little bit of patiences with everyone when starting a Private Queue for any PvE Event on STO.
If you have/had the patiences to build and level your character, take the time to be organised and negotiate with everyone you are teaming with on who is doing what roles in any STF run.
There's my 2 EC with interest of an extra slab of Gold Pressed Latium for Grand Negus Dex...