[MOD] Wing Commander - Alliance - SOASE Rebellion 1.85

[Nomada_Firefox]

These are the type and amount of voices for a capital ship.

NumSoundsFor:ONATTACKORDERISSUED 4
SoundID "CAPITALSHIP_PHASEBATTLESHIP_ONATTACKORDERISSUED_0"
SoundID "CAPITALSHIP_PHASEBATTLESHIP_ONATTACKORDERISSUED_1"
SoundID "CAPITALSHIP_PHASEBATTLESHIP_ONATTACKORDERISSUED_2"
SoundID "CAPITALSHIP_PHASEBATTLESHIP_ONATTACKORDERISSUED_3"
NumSoundsFor:ONCREATION 1
SoundID "CAPITALSHIP_PHASEBATTLESHIP_ONCREATION"
NumSoundsFor:ONGENERALORDERISSUED 3
SoundID "CAPITALSHIP_PHASEBATTLESHIP_ONGENERALORDERISSUED_0"
SoundID "CAPITALSHIP_PHASEBATTLESHIP_ONGENERALORDERISSUED_1"
SoundID "CAPITALSHIP_PHASEBATTLESHIP_ONGENERALORDERISSUED_2"
NumSoundsFor:ONSELECTED 3
SoundID "CAPITALSHIP_PHASEBATTLESHIP_ONSELECTED_0"
SoundID "CAPITALSHIP_PHASEBATTLESHIP_ONSELECTED_1"
SoundID "CAPITALSHIP_PHASEBATTLESHIP_ONSELECTED_2"
NumSoundsFor:ONSTARTPHASEJUMP 1
SoundID "CAPITALSHIP_PHASEBATTLESHIP_ONSTARTPHASEJUMP_0"

And these are the neccesary for a fighter.

NumSoundsFor:ONATTACKORDERISSUED 4
SoundID "SQUAD_TECHBOMBER_ONATTACKORDERISSUED_0"
SoundID "SQUAD_TECHBOMBER_ONATTACKORDERISSUED_1"
SoundID "SQUAD_TECHBOMBER_ONATTACKORDERISSUED_2"
SoundID "SQUAD_TECHBOMBER_ONATTACKORDERISSUED_3"
NumSoundsFor:ONCREATION 0
NumSoundsFor:ONGENERALORDERISSUED 3
SoundID "SQUAD_TECHBOMBER_ONGENERALORDERISSUED_0"
SoundID "SQUAD_TECHBOMBER_ONGENERALORDERISSUED_1"
SoundID "SQUAD_TECHBOMBER_ONGENERALORDERISSUED_2"
NumSoundsFor:ONSELECTED 3
SoundID "SQUAD_TECHBOMBER_ONSELECTED_0"
SoundID "SQUAD_TECHBOMBER_ONSELECTED_1"
SoundID "SQUAD_TECHBOMBER_ONSELECTED_2"

If you have doubts understanding what is each sound. Just tell me.

 

[Nomada_Firefox]

More news. I have added the first capital ship, the Orca and the frigate shipyard. Other addition are the icons, it took me a lot of time today but I made the icons for all the last units added in the mod.

I am curious about a piece of information from the encyclopedia. What is the Kraken and what is the Tiamat? I feel a error with these two ships https://www.wcnews.com/wcpedia/Kraken-class_cap_ship_killer https://www.wcnews.com/wcpedia/Kraken-class_cap_ship_killer

 

[L.I.F.]

You know, this is an aspect of warfare that I have yet to see convincingly well-portrayed in any game or mod: the strategic differences between relying on few aircraft types, versus many aircraft types. If you look at WWII, for instance, you'll notice that the Allied forces tended to rely on many fighter types that were quite similar to one another, while the Axis (Italy excepted) seemed to generally prefer having fewer types.

The benefit of having many types is that you're able to push new technologies into battle faster, because while one fighter is being mass-produced, another fighter can be revised even with a pause in production, without significant disruptions to the flow of equipment to the front lines - and it is feasible to make bigger, bolder upgrades, without worrying about failure, because risks are spread out among more fighter types. The disadvantage is logistical - individual types are produced in fewer numbers, and it is harder to keep everyone supplied with spare parts, because you need to produce a bigger variety of parts, and you need to better coordinate which unit gets which parts. And of course, there's also the issue of pilots having to constantly change fighter types.

Conversely, the benefits of having fewer types are that you get to produce them in greater quantities, thus avoiding shortfalls at the frontline. And it's easier to keep everyone supplied, and your pilots can master their aircraft faster. But, their aircraft will also eventually be rendered somewhat obsolete, because it's harder to pause production for a major overhaul of a fighter (the Germans constantly had this problem: to change anything in the Bf-109, they needed to pause production for a few days, at a time when their frontline units needed thousands of aircraft every month just to keep up).

I'm just thinking aloud here, but I wonder if any of these games, whether it's SOASE or Homeworld, provide sufficiently sophisticated scripting capabilities to even try simulating this kind of thing with bonuses and maluses applied depending on the number of fighter types in service at any given moment. That could make for very interesting gameplay, where all of a sudden, introducing a new fighter that's better than the one you're currently using, but not hugely better, actually becomes a dilemma instead of a no-brainer.

First of all, Hearts of Iron IV actually gives you the possibility to manage industrial production lines, with some of the effects discussed in your posts, making it more profitable to centralize production towards single types of units and making it a viable option to keep producing a semi-obsolete model being constantly upgraded instead of retraining everyone to build the brand new thing.

As for what you are suggesting, I do not know if it would be doable, or, more accurately, enjoyable, with Homeworld. The problem is that each strike craft in the HWRM mod is somewhat specialized in its own niche, except for the Kilrathi who have two tiers for most niches, in order to encourage building the Bhantkara heavy carrier. Also, you hve to consider that while SOASE is a 4X, with a lot of strategic warfare, Homeworld Remastered is infinitely more tactical.

To illustrate the difference, a Sins' game will be won or lost on the territory occupation, the production and the position of the units, while a Homeworld Remastered game will be won or lost on the management of your units and the logistics/economy. A player can whack the other in HWRM with two or even five times less ships if they are used in a smart way, with proper formations and orders given at the right time during the game, which is going to be very tough to do in Sins.

What this also means is that the very specific stats and production rythms will matter a bit less and will not be as important to the game, so working out a way to do what you are talking about, which I think is possible - though not straightforward to say the least - would not be desirable from a design PoV.

Now, if, on the very long term, I manage to mod the engine far enough to give it a 4X feel for single-player only (or marathon multiplayer), then I guess this would be a design option. But such a thing would be literally years away from now.


On another matter, something I just thought about, as an experimental way of playing, would be to organize games with the two mods in cooperation. What I mean would be that two players would play the mod on Sins until they have large fleet battles, the threshold of which being defined before the game. At that point, the game is saved (can you save multiplayer games in Sins?) and they would play out the battle in the Homeworld mod. I think I could give out a program to create the required file for the starting conditions to be exactly what is wanted to copy the situation in Sins (it could even be possible to get the custom names in-game). The fleets fight it out in HWRM, then each player self-destructs his/her ships in Sins after the game to follow through the result. Then the game continues.

Think of it like a more modern version of Wing Commander Armada and its two layers, 4X and space combat.

 

[Nomada_Firefox]

I do not go to discuss what is the best game. Clearly Homeworld and SOASE are good games for their players. Each of them with some advantages against the other. Compare Hearts of Iron IV with these games have not sense for me. It is a deep strategy game with a complete lack of tactical combat.

For me. I have started this mod at SOASE Rebellion by simple and good reasons. First from all, SOASE is a good plattform updated with the past of the years and very probably, there will be new versions and updates the next years.

Second, at SOASE, I can make almost all and I can edit the game in a reasonable amount of time. Do not misunderstand me. I do not go to make the mod and forget it. I will make one acceptable first version at a small amount of time and after it, I will upgrade it with the past of the time. I have made it for years with other mods. I know how other people prefer to create a mod for years but I have not the patience or the time for to create some like that, specially the patience, the time, who knows, when you make these things with your free time, you can not know where you will be at one year, perhaps at one year, I have not time for modding any game and I can tell you how at less of one year, I will be editing other game because I am waiting the release from the Close Combat Bloody First but it is another story.

Third, at SOASE has a very good single player mode with a very good AI. There are thousands of maps and easily new maps can be created. A galaxy as the WC universe is not difficult, it is just a matter of time. It has a very good multiplayer but with the past of the years, I have forgotten the MP. It was one funny thing 16 years ago when the AI in games was very bad but now.......I am not too interested at this and I can tell you how I played a lot of MP games (of course with other older games), 16 years ago, I was a lucky man with a very good cable connection when most of the world had 56k. Had fun these old years.

I hope how this answer was not understood as to try put this game as the best game. Just it is a explanation about because I have started this mod.

 

[Quarto]

I am curious about a piece of information from the encyclopedia. What is the Kraken and what is the Tiamat?

The Kraken shipkiller is a very specialised capship - it fires that big gun you see in the WCP intro, and that's basically all it does. The Tiamat dreadnought, on the other hand, is everything-all-at-once supercapship. And yeah, the WCPedia entry for the Tiamat is messed up (hey, it's not little elves writing these entries, it's people - and their time is limited ). The good news is, while the description up top is just copied from the Kraken, the bottom half of the entry (the stuff from shipsalien.doc) is correct - use that for reference.

 

[L.I.F.]

I do not go to discuss what is the best game. Clearly Homeworld and SOASE are good games for their players. Each of them with some advantages against the other. Compare Hearts of Iron IV with these games have not sense for me. It is a deep strategy game with a complete lack of tactical combat.

For me. I have started this mod at SOASE Rebellion by simple and good reasons. First from all, SOASE is a good plattform updated with the past of the years and very probably, there will be new versions and updates the next years.

Second, at SOASE, I can make almost all and I can edit the game in a reasonable amount of time. Do not misunderstand me. I do not go to make the mod and forget it. I will make one acceptable first version at a small amount of time and after it, I will upgrade it with the past of the time. I have made it for years with other mods. I know how other people prefer to create a mod for years but I have not the patience or the time for to create some like that, specially the patience, the time, who knows, when you make these things with your free time, you can not know where you will be at one year, perhaps at one year, I have not time for modding any game and I can tell you how at less of one year, I will be editing other game because I am waiting the release from the Close Combat Bloody First but it is another story.

Third, at SOASE has a very good single player mode with a very good AI. There are thousands of maps and easily new maps can be created. A galaxy as the WC universe is not difficult, it is just a matter of time. It has a very good multiplayer but with the past of the years, I have forgotten the MP. It was one funny thing 16 years ago when the AI in games was very bad but now.......I am not too interested at this and I can tell you how I played a lot of MP games (of course with other older games), 16 years ago, I was a lucky man with a very good cable connection when most of the world had 56k. Had fun these old years.

I hope how this answer was not understood as to try put this game as the best game. Just it is a explanation about because I have started this mod.

I wasn't talking about which game is better, they are very different in focus. It would be like comparing either of them to Nexus: The Jupiter Incident. Yes, it takes place in space and there are ships fighting each other, but they're completely different genres altogether.

HoI: fully strategic, no tactics, large importance of logistics and industry.
SoaSE: large strategy, low tactics.
HWRM: reduced strategy, lots of tactics.
Nexus: full tactics, no strategy.

The post I was quoting was discussing elements that belong to a HoI type of game rather than the others, which is what I explained in more detail as to why they should probably not be implemented.

 

[Nomada_Firefox]

I do not understand because the Kraken is named Kraken when the Tiamat is more closer to one Kraken. I find it very curious.

Sorry if I disturbed you with my answer L.I.F. I did not understand you at first place.

 

[capi3101]

I do not understand because the Kraken is named Kraken when the Tiamat is more closer to one Kraken. I find it very curious.

If you're just going off the look of the ships, you're correct - the Tiamat looks more like what was called the Kraken in, say, the Pirates of the Caribbean movies (i.e. some kind of gigantic squid-like creature). But, the images you see in WCPedia are correct - the Kraken ship-killer is a simple rounded heptagon design (like all Nephilim ships) with one of those Independence Day ship guns up in the front, while the Tiamat dreadnought has those spindly arms...and the Independence Day gun up in the front too.

It may help to think of it this way - the name "Tiamat" is cognate with "Behemoth", which of course is the biggest freakin' gun in the universe...

 

[Nomada_Firefox]

Well, it looks as if these ships go to be very funny.

 

[Nomada_Firefox]

After a small weekend delay. I have continued with the mod. Today I have a new unit for the Nephilim. This time the Hydra, a capital ship. It will be as a heavy cruiser, very powerful. Crealy this week will finish the capital ships and Titan from this race and I will continue replacing space structures. It will be fast with most of them but I will continue with my plan from one or two models per day.

 

[Nomada_Firefox]

Today I have added two new capital ships, the Leviathan and the Kraken. The first is a heavy carrier without any anti-ship weapon and only anti-fighter weapons. The second is a big ship with a very powerful plasma gun which it can destroy any ship with one shot. Clearly the moment that you see one of these, you should destroy it with all your forces or only a group of bombers and trying put your capital ships far from this monster.

 

[Nomada_Firefox]

I have added a Moddb section http://www.moddb.com/mods/wing-commander-alliance but I will continue publishing news here and at other places. The Moddb section is only for publicity.

 

[Nomada_Firefox]

The Nephilim space units, without count the fighters are finished. Lately I added the 5º capital ship and the Titan. The 5º capital ship is named Quimera and it is a less powerful version from the Tiamat. Both of 3200 meters of lenght.

In the video, you can watch most of the units from the Nephilim. Now I will continue adding the fighters and structures from all factions.

 

[Nomada_Firefox]

Lately I do not go to publish anything new because I am depurating errors. It can take some of time. I leave you some screenshots from the mod.

 

[Nomada_Firefox]

After resolve some strange problems thanks to Blair Fraser from IronClad who he checks some minidumps (game errors which only him can read), I will continue the work with this mod. Mostly adding the fighters from the Nephilim and the structures from all factions. Probably the next week because I must finish other things from other mods.

This help from Blair Fraser is one of the good things because I like edit this game. The modding support is very good and they have not forgotten the game, the players and the modders after release it.

Here you can see one good feature from this game, you can set a friendly faction controlled by the AI and you can improve your relations with these factions with the diplomacy.

 

[Nomada_Firefox]

Today I have two new additions. The Capital and Titan shipyards from the Nephilim.

 

[Nomada_Firefox]

The last news from the mod published at WCNews say how I added the fighters from the Nephilim but it was not true because the Stingray is the scout ship, the Skate and Remora, yes, they are fighters but I did not add the main fighters before today. The screenshots speak by themselves.

 

[Nomada_Firefox]

I have added more space structures from the Nephilim.

The Military Research.

The Civilian Research.

The Defense Station

The Repair Station.

I will add more the next days, probably this week the Nephilim structures will be finished and with them all the race. The Nephilim and Confederation are easy thanks to the Star Trek Armada Wing Commander mod from Miklosgo because there are a lot of stations but there are not anything from Kilrathi and I will need to create new models. However, it will not be too difficult. I made similar things with other models before.

 

[Nomada_Firefox]

Another new space structure. This will be the communications satellite which it spreads the Nephilim culture around the planets.

 

[Nomada_Firefox]

I have made some additional new structures from the Nephilim. By the moment, I go to show you two more. The Hangar bay and the Hangar Bay upgrade. The upgrade version adds weapons.

Really I made four new structures today, one of them is the space cannon, I have made it as if it was a damaged Tiamat rebuilded as a orbital cannon. It is the super orbital weapon from the Nephilim.

The other is the Antimatter-recharger, the name says clearly what it makes.

I will add the starbase one day of these, this is another special structure builded into the game, and very probably I will finish all the structures from the Nephilim this week, starting the Confederation structures the next week.