Abraham Lincoln vs. Prince Thrakhath (September 3, 2007)

[Bandit LOAF]

There's a new fan project on the way! Rasmus Lindegaard Christensen is developing a Wing Commander mod for Civilization 4: Beyond the Sword's space mod. He's in the process of figuring out how to get ships into the game... and he needs our help with some of the mechanical elements:

However, there is an even greater challenge of imagination. I seek help for developing the tech tree, especially the non-military branches. I figured that maybe you could pass on the question on the website, with my email, and ask the imaginative fan community for ideas.

You can contact him here. He also sent along some screenshots of a Yorktown-class carrier in action:

​

--
Original update published on September 3, 2007

 

[GreyViper]

This is indeed good news since Final Frontier looked and worked pretty good. As for tech tree thats a tough one. In my humble opinion this question should be also asked Civfanatics board they might offer ideas for balanced tech tree. I do hope this project wont stall because of that.

PS. On the side note I saw that some one converted WH40000 DOW Landspeeder for Civ4. That opens up some intersting options, more info at http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=177854.

 

[Chris Knudsen]

Hey, another Wing Commander fan project from Denmark!

 

[Fumle]

As for tech tree thats a tough one. In my humble opinion this question should be also asked Civfanatics board they might offer ideas for balanced tech tree. I do hope this project wont stall because of that.

I use the Civfanatics forums mostly for technical difficulties, of course there may be many suggestions to gather from there as well. The reason I asked the wcnews staff, is because I prefer some inputs from Wing Commander fans... Techs like "hydroponics" or "space port" are easy to fill in, but have very little actual reference to Wing Commander.

But I have a couple hundres of units to model and animate, so it will take a while before it will be a stalling factor .

 

[Bob McDob]

Techs like "hydroponics" or "space port" are easy to fill in, but have very little actual reference to Wing Commander.

Hehe, not really, actually. The Armada "Voices of War" manual has a mention of hydroponics stations on page 32, and there's quite a bit of technical information scattered throughout the manuals, most if not all of which are online, and the novels; the WCIV novelization fhas a paragraph on mass drivers (of the non-military kind) being used for ship construction. I think you could find enough quotes of the sort to get a rough understanding of the technological course plotted and to fill in the tech tree (doesn't Final Frontier actually do something of that sort?)

Anyway, good luck on your project. I've only managed to play the demo of Beyond the Sword, but I was very impressed and a well-done mod can only make it better.

 

[NinjaLA]

in wing commander academy, the cartoon series, you get a pretty good feel for what technology is like in a research station.

 

[GreyViper]

Anyway, good luck on your project. I've only managed to play the demo of Beyond the Sword, but I was very impressed and a well-done mod can only make it better.

Im playing it at moment and its rather good discounting mod or 2.

As for civilian tech tree I know this isnt quite what you want but I suggest using mix of technology from Alpha Centauri and MoO3. You dont have to copy paste thm just look for stuff that is already present or similar. I remember both haveing great tech tree. I guess some background can be gained from Privateer, what kind of minerals are used, luxury goods etc.

 

[Edfilho]

Well, It shouldn't be hard to make the combat-related techs. For instance, you can have Lasers, Mass-Drivers, Ion, Particle, Tachyon, Plasma, etc for the guns and DF, HS, IR and FF missiles, and these techs would actually give the player the fighters.
For instance, if you research lasers (and/or HS missiles), you should get the Hornet.
Mass Drivers should get you the Ferret and the Scimitar. so on, so forth.

Maybe it should be "Basic Fighter Weapons I" and include BOTH lasers and DF, and, therefore, the Hornet. Then "Basic Fighter Weapons II", with MDs and HS... Faster fighters would be like cavalry, slower, more powerful ones would be like Macemen and bombers would be artillery.

There's also shield techs and armor techs. Maybe even advanced engines (for the Dragon). I don't know, we can develop these ideas further.

 

[Fumle]

The Armada "Voices of War" manual has a mention of hydroponics stations on page 32

Okay, I'll grant you that it was a lousy example I just picked a tech I know is in every space game.

, and there's quite a bit of technical information scattered throughout the manuals, most if not all of which are online, and the novels;

My thoughs exactly, which is why this was a good place to ask... There are certainly more "educated" Wing Commander fans than me around who probably know where to spot small strings of text, and might even know them by heart .

in wing commander academy, the cartoon series, you get a pretty good feel for what technology is like in a research station.

Guess there is one more thing I have to look at again.

I guess some background can be gained from Privateer, what kind of minerals are used, luxury goods etc.

Very good suggestion, I never got around to playing the game, this seems as good chance, and of course it is the ideal place to find goods...

For instance, if you research lasers (and/or HS missiles), you should get the Hornet.
Mass Drivers should get you the Ferret and the Scimitar. so on, so forth.

Ahh yes, I like this idea much better than having a tech 1, tech 2, etc.

 

[floundericiousMI]

Very good suggestion, I never got around to playing the game, this seems as good chance, and of course it is the ideal place to find goods...

Here are the ones I can scrape out of my dusty innards:

Uranium
Plutonium
Iron
Tungsten
Wood

Advanced Fuel

Scrap Metal

Home Appliances
Food Dispensers
PreFab Housing
Plastics
Textiles
Robotic Workers
Computers
Communications

Books
Artwork
Movies
Plaything(tm)

Industrial Machinery
Mining Machinery

Grain
Generic Food
Luxury Food
Furs
Pets
Alcohol

***contraband****
tobacco
brilliance
ultimate
slaves

 

[Fumle]

Getting into Privateer has opened a neat bag of technology options as well as equipment and commodities...
Here is a little preview of a few days remoddeling:

I think I've seen a picture of a stormfire somewhere, at some time, anyone happen to know where that might be?

 

[floundericiousMI]

I'm not sure about stormfire ever showing up in Privateer..but there's a Fusion Cannon which could be added in there (particularly if you have Isometal Armor - the third armor tile on the bottom row - after plasteel and tungsten)

 

[Fumle]

No, sorry, I didn't mean from Privateer, I just think I've seen a picture of a stormfire somewhere, I'll grant you that it never shows up in privateer...

 

[Bob McDob]

There's a black-and-white rendering of a Stormfire in the WCIV official strategy guide (which I don't have on hand at the moment, sorry) and another one of a newer model in the Prophecy ICIS manual hosted online here...

...although, to be perfectly honest, I'm not sure why you would need either, since you have so many weapons already and the Stormfire, being a secondary weapon, isn't particularly significant even if you were importing every single ship into the game.

 

[Fumle]

I am following Edfilho's idea of making weapon discoveries open up for figthers etc. The weapon icons above are mainly for the technologies, and the Stormfire I want to use for my "ballistic weapons" opening technology...
Also I want to have the weapons available for optional parts upgrades...

 

[floundericiousMI]

OOooh...
So you'd have stormfire be the starting point for Mass Drivers?

 

[Dundradal]

OOooh...
So you'd have stormfire be the starting point for Mass Drivers?

I don't think they are related though. Stormfires are literal slugthrowers whereas mass drivers accelerate spheres of mass (?). I always imagined the stormfire being similar to a modern firearm and the mass driver being something quite different.

 

[Fumle]

Mass drivers are acutally somewhat advanced discovered in 2650 (according to WCKS manual), however, by the way the guns are said to work, and the fact that neutron guns are called projectile weapons, I figured that meson blasters are the first really advanced projectile weapons, or a hybrid between projectile and energy weapons (the way I figure it)

Here is most of the weapons tree the way I figure it, based on the way weapons work, and the date they are said to be discovered in the WCKS manual.

 

[eddieb]

This looks really interesting, have you found a way to convert existing ship models to civilization, instead of having to make them from scratch? When can we get a download, I'd like to try messing with the tech tree/buildings/factions, etc.