[MOD WIP] Star Trek: Sacrifice of Angels 2 (updated 01/10/09)

Major Stress

Join Date 05/2006

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[MOD WIP] Star Trek: Sacrifice of Angels 2 (updated 01/10/09)

Featured (by a small mention) in the October edition of PC Gamer magazine

Candidate for Mod Database's 2008 Mod of the Year

This is the OLD "Work in Progress" thread for the Star Trek: Sacrifice of Angels 2 mod.

The new WIP topic is here https://forums.sinsofasolarempire.com/342747

The "Release" topic can be found here https://forums.sinsofasolarempire.com/322473

The mod is intended to be a hommage, and tribute to the original Sacrifice of Angels mod for Homeworld. It will use many of the same models, and effects created for that mod by the Trekmods team. Like the original SoA mod SoA2 is set during the Dominion War era of Star Trek. Using both canon, and non-canon units to recreate those battles with Sins "empire building" mechanic added. Like in SoA you can fight battles in SoA2 using hundreds of starships. Sometimes thousands if your computer can handle it

While the mod was not intended as a "Total Conversion". That is exactly what it is winding up being. There is much about the Sins engine, and mechanics that we still need to learn. There are some hard coded stumbling blocks we have to overcome.

The factions will be the Federation, Klingons, Romulan, and the Dominion (with Breen, and Cardassian ally units). The main factions seen in the Dominion War. With a "Surprise" as the Pirate faction.

Factions like the Borg "may" be added in the future. LokiGodofMischief is working on a very good 3rd party Borg add on for SoA 2. It is very possible his add on may be merged with SoA 2 at a much later time.

The current version of SoA 2 is 0.03b "The Second Dominion War". Look for it here https://forums.sinsofasolarempire.com/322473

0.03b only works with Sins versions 1.1, 1.11, and 1.12.

All previous versions of SoA 2 are obsolete, and will not be supported, or hosted anymore. All older version downloads will be removed.

We will NOT port SoA 2 over to Entrenchment until after Entrenchment is out of beta, and released. Along with proper forge tool updates.

I am working on the models mostly ALONE so it may take a while for any new ship model updates.

Darkshimmer is the Balancing guru, Code monkey, and Master at arms. We do have other contributers, and the best 3rd party work from the finest artists in the trek mod community to help make SoA 2 the best it can be.

Status of Demo 0.04 "The actors are in place"

Will update when i have news.

General Changes:

Manshooters Volumetric Explosions mod will be included as of 0.03a

May include Sins Plus (planets), but ill need to see how much that mod needs changing to incorporate into SoA 2.

SoA 2 0.03 and above is now patch 1.1, and better compatable. Sins patches 1.11, and 1.12 only address balancing, and online exploits, and have no effect on the mod.

Ships will have some anti stike craft weaponry.

Ships are still being added and balanced accordingly.

More re-balancing so that one faction is not overpowered over the other.

The Federation:

Faction is complete. Only structures left

The Klingon Empire

Faction is complete. Only structures left.

The Romulan Star Empire:

Faction is complete. Only structures left

The Dominion:

Faction is complete. Still needs balancing work.

Pirates:

They were going to be the Borg, but that idea failed. So we are looking into Random multirace ship spawns.

Planetary Defenders

Basically "Ships of the week" like the Maquis, Sona, Ferrengi, Tammarian battle cruisers and the like.

Balancing: Darkshimmer has the Federation, Romulan, and Klingon Empire, and Unified Dominion balanced.

Gameplay: We now have a working Cloaking Device! Check the ModDB page for the WIP video. Cloaking will not be fully implemented in the mod until version 0.04

Art: We are working on an LCARS style UI, adding proper icons, and pictures for all of the new units. The UI is going to take a while to do, because of all of the redundancy of the Sins UI. SoA 2 uses 2 sets of UI textures. Instead of the standard 4 textures for buttons, and 2 textures for icons. SoA 2 uses 8 textures for buttons, and 4 textures for icons which IMO is a major waste of resources, because sins loads all these textures at startup. Unfortunetly i dont see any other way to do it. What is kind of cool is that we dont have to use the same HUD for each faction. It is possible to have unique HUDs, but again the perfomance hit, because of the extra drain on resources could be big, and not worth it.

In Planning: (No promises, or guarentees, but we will try to add these if possible.)

Troop Transport effects.

Planetary invasion animations

Tractor beams. (need a code monkey for this)

Whatever else we can think of and are capable of doing.

Future Updates:

SoA 2 0.04 is now in planning, and will be focused primarily on Proper research trees, Ability's, and adding proper Structures. More than likely demo 0.04 will be the last demo. After that then the full mod should be ready.

SoA 2 0.05 will be the final spit, and polish of the mod. It will focus mainly on re-balancing if needed. Also final artwork changes will be made here. Which will include some ship model re-builds, and re-texturing.

The Full SoA 2 1.0 mod will be released "When it is Finished". We are doing this on our own free time. We aren't getting paid to do this. We have no set schedule. We have no time limit. I want this one to be good. So it wont go online until we feel it is ready.

*NOTE: Much about Sins as we are all now realizing is hardcoded. SoA 2 is going to be far from a perfect "trek" mod due to these hardcoded issues. However we will try to do the best we can with workarounds, and compromises to get it as close as possible. Like i said some things wont be perfect. Some things cannot be done at all. Enjoy the mod for what it is, and try not to be too "nit picky".

SoA2 will be hosted on Mod Database once it is ready http://www.moddb.com/mods/star-trek-sacrifice-of-angels-2

This main header will be updated when i have news to post.

modding

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Animage64
lordkosc

Hey Shimmer, just checking but, is the Suq'Jagh supposed to have less armor than everything else in the Klingon lineup? It's got 14 right now, but I've been applying upgrades this game (just now noticed it has less than the Predator), if it's supposed to then cool, if not, do you need it's base armor? And yes I am running on version 0.03c now lol.

guess you didn't read the readme in the other forums did ya....lol

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I'm on XP, and that exactly what I did.

I extracted the files directly to the "mods" directory.

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Quoting FOX2PRO,

reply 2

I'm on XP, and that exactly what I did.

I extracted the files directly to the "mods" directory.

in the mods directory you have to make a new folder name SoA 2 0.03c then put in the files from 0.03b and 0.03c

afterwards you launch Sins and load the mod.

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Pirates should be the Orion Pirates...it does make sense after all.

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Hey glad to see this mod is still comming along. i installed sins again just to play it. Just played it once as Romulans and i like it, tho having the Detrix (Romulan warbird) as a cap just dosnt feel right, i want to build a fleet of them and its the most expensive cap... maybe the cheapest Capitol ship or largest cruiser? just an initial thought from a Romu-fan

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Quoting lathorien,

reply 5

If they changed it's slot from cap or if they dropped the cost to build it, to maintain the balance it would have to be gimped. As the primary Romulan Warbird of this era, it should be the most powerful, hence the need for it to not be spammable.

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Quoting darkshimmer,

reply 3

in the mods directory you have to make a new folder name SoA 2 0.03c then put in the files from 0.03b and 0.03c

afterwards you launch Sins and load the mod.

Is the 0.03c a typo? I've downloaded the files from 2 different sources from the link provided above and they're both 0.03b.

Another thing. There is a note regarding a clean install and deleting the "Ironclad Games" folder in c:\documents... BEFORE starting a game. My problem is that the folder is not created until AFTER the game is started (sins 1.13). Is this also a typo in the instructions?

I'm a little confused. Please help.

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Quoting harcan25,

reply 7

Is the 0.03c a typo? I've downloaded the files from 2 different sources from the link provided above and they're both 0.03b.

Another thing. There is a note regarding a clean install and deleting the "Ironclad Games" folder in c:\documents... BEFORE starting a game. My problem is that the folder is not created until AFTER the game is started (sins 1.13). Is this also a typo in the instructions?

I'm a little confused. Please help.

0.03c is the newest patch for 0.03b, easily recognizable as it only has 3 files in it.

For the clean install they just mean delete the ironclad games folder, start a game of normal sins to get it back, thus creating a clean install (as vanilla as you can get without wiping and reinstalling).

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Quoting Dragoon4ever,

reply 8

0.03c is the newest patch for 0.03b, easily recognizable as it only has 3 files in it.

Where do I download the patch 0.03c? I keep getting the one labeled SoA 2 0.03b (modified Jan 10 2009, 255mb with a whole bunch of files inside the "SoA 2 0.03b" compressed folder... clearly not the 3 files you mentioned). I tried both ModDB and FileFront links provided. Nothing comes up on Google either.

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Never mind. I finally found the link on page 64 of this thread.

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The link to 0.03c is on reply #462 on the release thread.

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Dragoon & Jible, thanks for helpping in my absense. I'm working hard on the military research, if you can please be a bit patient. for some odd reason the files did not update to moddb, i'll get it up there soon.

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Quoting darkshimmer,

reply 12

Dragoon & Jible, thanks for helpping in my absense.

I figured you were hard at work on the mod, so even if I'm just answering questions, glad to be able to help any way I can lol.

Quoting darkshimmer,

reply 12

I'm working hard on the military research, if you can please be a bit patient. for some odd reason the files did not update to moddb, i'll get it up there soon.

Everything you guys have released is top quality work, so waiting for the next release is something I'm absolutely fine with.

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Thanks for all the hard work darkshimmer. Really appriciate it. Any idea when the major will be back.

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I noticed that all the frigates for the Federation(except for the steamrunner and the connie) do plasma damage instaed of beam damage. They shoot lots of little burst but no phasors. Is it just me or is it supposed to be that way. If it is thats fine. (I do have 0.03c) Thanks again.

-Jible

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Quoting Big_Jible,

reply 15

yes its suppose to be that way, Steamrunner actually uses a phaser array. Connie, excelsior and The Lakota have all been changed as well.

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Quoting Big_Jible,

reply 14

Thanks for all the hard work darkshimmer. Really appriciate it. Any idea when the major will be back.

Not seen or heard from him either, i'll try leaving anotehr message for him soon

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Thanks much for the reply.

-Jible

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I would like to play with more capital ships and larger fleet sizes. I tried changing the FleetSupplyData in the GameInfo/Gameplay.constants but it doesn't seem to do anything. Anyone here know what files I can modify to change this?

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Did you actually get the max upgrades or just check the tech? No matter what the fleet size is set to, the tech will always show max at 2000, not until you atcually research it will it show a difference.

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I'm currently playing a game set at Large Fleet Size. It shows a Current Fleet Supply of 2000. This is the maxed out research.

FYI... SoaSE v1.13, SoA v0.03c

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Quoting harcan25,

reply 19

I've been playing SoA2 and just noticed that my fleet supply size doesn't seem to change whether I choose "Small, Medium, or Large Fleet Size" in the options menu. I currently have my settings on Large Fleet Size. However, the maximum supply that I have is only 2000. Shouldn't it be at 2500? Because of this I tried another map on Small Fleet Size and checked the Fleet Research and saw that the maximum supply is also set at 2000. Is this because of the SoA2 mod?

I would like to play with more capital ships and larger fleet sizes. I tried changing the FleetSupplyData in the GameInfo/Gameplay.constants but it doesn't seem to do anything. Anyone here know what files I can modify to change this?

Sure. You just need to modify the "RESEARCHSUBJECT_MAXSHIPSLOTSPSI0" entities, where is says "ShipMaxSlots" change the perLevelValue to which ever number suits you, as this indicates how many ship slots will be added to the next upgrade. Adding 50 for example to each research level for a race will give you a max fleet capacity of 2400. If you've got the machine to handle such numbers add as much as you like. Incidentally all the races are used for the Star Trek mod i.e. Psi represents Dominion and Federation, Tech is Klingon and Phase is Romulan so you'd need to update all 8 enitities for each race, numbered 0-7, to keep things even for all races. You would use the same method for the capital ship research grouped together above the entities just mentioned. Of course you would probably need to be more conservative with the number increase here To modify these binary entities I recommend using this excellent sins editor

https://forums.sinsofasolarempire.com/336084 by jjz.

Hey Shimmer, had a good go with the new update and I'm finding the Dominion alot more formidable , also that's an evil little ship you put in the pirates base there. Was too distracted with the borg cube to realise what was really popping my ships left, right and center . However, I was wondering if you were thinking of changing the Enslaver ship stats still. Only because I tend to think that this ship is more like a titan rather than your average capital . It's just that for it's size it doesn't feel like a MoFo capital like it should. I do realise though that every race has to have one uber battleship including the dominion (although they have both the Devastator and the Enslaver) otherwise there will be balancing problems.

Anyway's, looking forward to your next news update. All the best.

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Hey darkshimmer I haven't been able to play the new mod 0.03c too long, but one thing hit me right away.

The torpedoes (or missle damade) for the Federation no longer make any sound. That can't be right. The phasers and plasma damage work fine. Also it might just be my problem, but I find the sound for the plasma damage to be incredibly annoying, especially because they are fired so often. Is there some other sound effect that could be used. If not, can you tell me how to get rid of it?

Thanks

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Quoting Ultimate_Trekkie,

reply 23

Hey darkshimmer I haven't been able to play the new mod 0.03c too long, but one thing hit me right away.

The torpedoes (or missle damade) for the Federation no longer make any sound. That can't be right. The phasers and plasma damage work fine. Also it might just be my problem, but I find the sound for the plasma damage to be incredibly annoying, especially because they are fired so often. Is there some other sound effect that could be used. If not, can you tell me how to get rid of it?

Thanks

i'll check on that from my end, see if i get the same thing. Anyone else confirm this please

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I didn't want to go that route with the enslaver, i had to make it formidable without breaking the balance, it was the only way i could get it work correctly. i still have plans to upgrade it more. Entrenchment will allow me to do that.

That little ship in the pirate base, well thats the Khan Miranda, my tribute to Ricardo!

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