Status Reports

Bob McDob

Better Health Through Less Flavor
BOB: Due to a number of reasons, including increasingly limited free time, deterioating health and a desire to re-examine the focus of this mod, my involvement is postponed indefinetly. And when I say "indefinetly", I mean anything from the next few days up to a month. Don't expect much from me in that time period.

STANNUM: Stannum is the little-known superman modeller behind our most excellent Centurion mesh. He's currently undergoing a stint to convert all the Privateer player ships into high-powered meshs. You can find the latest fruits of his labor at http://wingcenter.ufosnetwork.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=578&sid=2a367ac9405adf8f71c403f1c4d6f849 . He's also in the process of looking for inspiration for our new splash screen.

Any other project members want to add their reports, feel free to do so here.
 
More progress. The build I've sent out to beta testers is the most recent and I haven't made too many changes since then. I will, however, begin a revamp of the current design. Plans:

- Weapon levels will be changed, so that you can no longer mount any gun on any hardpoint - a ship like an Arrow will only be able to support light and medium guns, while a Bearcat has no problem with four Fusion Cannons.

- The current power and shield system will be redesigned in regards to ships as well. Civillian ships will, in general, be able to mount less upgrades than military vessels, which will be used to justify their increased cost and level requirements.

- I'd like to change the mission pay structure so that, instead of having to visit different sectors to get different difficulty, missions will automagically scale themselves to your level.

- More random missions. This is the number one fan request, and also probably the hardest to implement. Short of some kind of mission editor appearing, random missions are, and will continue to be, a RPITA (royal pain in the ass) to implement, because the only programming tool is a confusing and obscure *.INI file. A few savvy people have managed to create "kill battleship" missions by replacing stations and depots with battleship models, but in the end that's small fries. The things people really want - courier missions, convoy escorts, rescues - aren't going to become possible in the near future, as much as I can tell. Of course, that's what I said about system designing.

- New systems. The real problem isn't a lack of ability, as there are various system editors floating around ... it's a lack of design. Anybody can (and does) make their own private system , complete with bases and encounters ... the problem is often they have no personality to them. The systems don't even feel as different as Vega Strike systems*, let alone Freelancer ones. You can tell that a lot of thought went into the various Freelancer systems, with having to hand-script encounters and the like. I'd much rather have one system overflowing with personality than a dozen ones that all feel the same.

Also, I'm still waiting for LOAF to make a map of the Sol System.

*This is no insult to Vega Strike.
 
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