could you include consumer designed ships?

File attachments are working at the moment i'm sorry. We're working on the problem, but in the mean time, you can always use a file or image hoster to store the files for you.

Imageshack is a good free image hosting website, and Mediafire is a good free file hosting service. Obviously there are plenty of other sites out there but those are just examples.

Anyways, could you define what you mean by consumer-created ships? Do you mean ships that you design in the game, either by tweaking stats somehow or adding parts onto ships? Or do you mean can we have non-canon ships in the game (Ships that haven't actually appeared in the shows/films?

If it's non-canon ships, then it doesn't actually matter - the game is designed to be extremely mod-friendly so you can add virtually anything you want in there.

If it's tweaking stats or physically building ships though, this is almost certainly out of the question. Mike has a lot of work to do, and a feature like this would take a lot of programming. Besides, stat-tweaking is a feature that BOTE has, and helps to make it unique from Supremacy. Blending elements from the games too much would make it harder to distinguish the features and appeal of the games, bringing them into more direct competition. (However friendly )

Still, you never know what could happen in the future. Some of my own radical ideas - such as animating the galactic map - have made it into the game, so you never know...

ships that the plaryer created and designed such as my t-sian class Dreadnought!

CLASS: t-Sian <REFIT>
NAME: NRS. T-SIAN
TYPE: Dreadnought
First commissioned: 3212
Dimensions:
Length: 860M
Width: 688M
Height: 430M
RACE: unknown
SUBLIGHT SPEED: (MIN: 50,000 KM/H) (max: 1,500,000KM/H)
HYPERLIGHT SPEED: (CRUISEING SPEED: WARP 6.9 EQUIVILENT) (MAX EMERGENCY SPEED: WARP 23 EQUIVILENT SUSTANABLE FOR 13 HOURS),
SUBLIGHT ENGINES: 6- SORAIN MK. 2.7 {EXPERIMENTIAL TRANSPHASIC IMPUSLE DRIVE (W/HYPER-THRUST VECTORING TECH)
HYPERLIGHT-DRIVE: 2- SORION MK. 1.9 {EXPERIMENTIAL TRANSPHASIC HYPER DRIVE)
HYPER DRIVE CLASS: 0.075

WEAPONS: *all weapons are hidden in the hull*
• 26- NEUTRONIUM QUADPHASED POSITRON TURRETS
• 140,000- POINT DEFENCE TURRETS
• 22- PHASED ION CANNONS
• 24- torpedo tubes (magazine capacity 12,000 positron torpedoes, 40,000 PHANTOM torpedoes)

DEFENCES:
• ADV. QUADPHASED SELF-REGENERATING 12 TW SHEILDS
• PROTOTYPE MULTIPHASIC SHIELDS
• TRANSPHASIC CLOAK
• BIO-REGENERATING HULL PLATIND

COMPLEMENT:
SHIPS:
• 32 ECLIPSE CLASS GUNSHIPS
• 8 SHUTLES
CREW:
• 60- OFFICERS min 100-max
• 440- CREW max
• 80- Other people (non civilian)

HISTORY:
A vessel from another galaxy, it got lost when it crossed paths with a temporal/spatial anomaly.

as for the eclipes class intercepter/ fighter not finished

Something as complex won't be in the game. But i'll give you an idea of what can so you can change your ideas as necessary. Supremacy comes with its own editor, which is in your Supremacy folder. Try playing around with it - but if you want to make changes that you want to keep, make a backup of your Supremacy/Data folder, because every time the game updates itself it replaces all files that are different to what they *should* be - including any changes you have made yourself. I've had a few times now where I almost lost all of my updates because of that annoying feature.

Anyways, the file you're looking for is "SupremacyEditor2.exe". Load it up and you'll be able to play around with all of the settings in there. The editor can take anything up to a minute to load without anything happening onscreen though - click the file just once, then leave your computer for a minute. Only click it again if it has been longer than a minute or you'll end up with two editors onscreen lol.

Now, once it has loaded, click on the tiny down-pointing arrow underneath the ships icon at the top (The one with a picture of the Enterprise-E on it) to add ships to the game, then click on "Create a new ship". A small box will appear with two entries that you have to fill in: Identity and Name.



Identity is what the ship will be referenced as by the game and will not be seen by players. You can put anything in there, but whatever you type in this box will come out entirely as capitals. Our standard system is to start with the abbreviated name of the Empire it is for (Fed, Kling, Rom, Card, Dom) or the full name of the minor race that it is for. Next is the actual class type (NOT the name of the ship) so it would be things like "Science Vessel", "Battlecruiser" etc, and if it is part of a line of ships, it is marked by Roman Numerals. (1 = I, 5 = V and so on) Finally, we separate each word with underscores rather than spaces. Here's an example of what it would look like:

KLING_SURVEYOR_III
DENOBULAN_MEDICAL_FRIGATE

Name is again the class type of the object, so this would simply be "Science Vessel" or whatever. Do not put the actual class name of the ship, such as "Galaxy" or "Sovereign" in this box - there is another box for this later. I must warn you that there is a glitch in the editor though - ANYTHING you type in this box will be deleted! You will need to close the editor, then reload it. You will then see a blank entry at the top of the shiplist on the bottom-right of the editor. Double-click on this and you will be able to continue editing your new ship.

I'm going to show you how to create your ship. Here's what you box might look like:



Once you've entered the info, click on accept and you'll be taken to a new screen. This is where you actually enter all the different stats for your ship. As you can see, there's quite a lot of variables that can be entered, although perhaps not in the detail that you were hoping for. I've created some possible stats for your ship *if* it was implemented in the game. I assure you that it's generally better than a Sovereign. If you wanted to add your ship in the game, use my numbers of come up with something similar.

this is what it looks like
i hope attachment work

Hey Maxwell, did you make a model to go with it or is this just a sketch plan of a model you would like in the game?

If you've made the model, send a PM to CdrWolfe and ask him how you can put your model into his combat demo.

If this is a sketch plan, speak to someone who knows how to make models (Jigalypuff, Skeeter, Nemitor_Atimen, Fireball, Trashman, Zeleni...) and see if someone will make the model for you.

Why not make it public?

I decided to poke my head in after a year to see how things were going (Trashman got me curious about the site in 2006). When I first joined I didn't see any one "standard core type mod" so I decided to wait until one appeared before getting involved in some capacity.

Note I am not a modeler/texture/or coder, just a Voice Actor, but I have screwed around with modding FS2 for 5 years and A bit with SE4/5.

I was going to look into SOASE, but after buying it I was rather disappointed.

I still have questions I didn't find a FAQ to, so if you can point me to one I'd appreciate it.
From what I've read the modifications I will make will be for personal use and then when I am done I will let the head Dev here know and see what is useable and what isn't for the public mod...

After my list of questions I might have one or two suggestions as I just tried the demo.

A.) What is the absolute or average polygon limit of ships you try to get in game? (I ask that because I looked through the share folder and it took me a moment to realize poly reduction function was used on most of them.) Does it need to face a certain way? How do you choose where weapons are fired from? basic stuff.

Oh yeah I need to know if there are texture limits on meshes (number or size)
(We defiantly need more GORN love! I have just the ship. Just need to Credit THU11S..)
Can you use Glow or Shine maps like in FS2?
(I'm the Dev of the FS2 Trek Academy Mod and Robotech ModII so I'm used to minor messing with meshes...)

B.) Is there a limit to New Empires you can add to the engine used?

C.) I remember there was a BOTF modding tut somewhere. Are those procedures the same for this version? If so that might answer a lot of my questions and make going about this much easier.

For now I think those are my major questions, here are some minor ones.

D.) Is the Genesis Device (system reset for a populated one/all structures erased) or generic system creation for Empty space possible? It should take a LONG time to get that tech, but if used correctly could make "picket systems" you build up to help protect "core" systems or just for mass resource/ship/fleet building...

E.) I noticed you want to make Colonization a bit longer process: may I suggest a possibility to keep it uncomplicated?

1.) build a Science 1 and scout out some systems.
2.) In the system you want to colonize choose <Scan> option (a percentage system liek outpost building uses).
3.) When the scan is completed your empire knows where the optimal place to put a colony is. Regardless, a colony ship shuold be able to colonize any suitable planet BUT with a penaly (cause they are choosing almost blind) so they establish one but at a BARE MINIMUM. A proper Colony gets 5% start pop bonus or maybe a ongoing bonus to growth?

That way you know the staus of the survey and if need be make colonization ship also use the percentage system for Colony establishment if you want more than one turn. It shouldn't take longer than 2-3 turns for each process though IMHO...

I am glad you added the double click on map to get to system build nice!!!

It took me a little bit to get used to the interface but it's fine. I like the revamped science interface, no more guess work!

The rest I think I can figure out myself (or I'll come back and ask more!)
Like adding new systems (if there is a # limit) that might have been mentioned/notable in the series but not in game yet.

L8trs!!!!!

I'm not 100% sure of the answers as I don't work in all of those areas, but this is what I think they are:

A) 5000 polies for ships and bases (25000 for large, rare, or important ships and structures such as Borg Cubes, 8472 Bioships, Edo Guardian, etc etc) and 2000 polies for Orbital Defense Platforms. This is for the standard game though. People will be able to add in whatever ships they want. We are setting these restrictions purely to ensure the game remains playable even when a lot of ships are on the battlefield. All of the existing models are being altered where necessary by Kenneth_of_Borg to ensure they all face the same way. He's posted a guidance document in The Fleetyards to help modellers get their models facing in the correct direction. The weapons are going to be fired from hardpoints on the ship, which will eventually have their own firing arcs. I have no idea whether hardpoints and firing arcs have been implemented or even decided on yet. The texture maps that are being used on ALL ships are Self-Illuminating, Specular, and Bumps at 1024x1024 size - Strings made on thread on making them Here. The engine can accept files in the .psd, .jpg, .png, .tga, .bmp or .pcx format. Other texture maps can be used as necessary as well, but you'll need to ask CdrWolfe if they will be supported or not. The model database is far from complete so i'm sure there will be more Gorn ships in there eventually.

B) Depends what you mean by 'engine'. As far as I can tell, there are no limits on Supremacy - there are hundreds of races in there already. As for Wolfe's combat system, you'll have to ask him about that. We're hoping it wil eventually be merged into Supremacy, so it shouldn't be a problem.

C) If you want to mod BOTF, check out Armadafleetcommand.com - AFC used to be our parent site, but we found the servers were too unreliable so we split from them earlier this year. We are still on good terms with them, and in fact Jigalypuff is one of the admin on there as well. If you want to mod Supremacy, the game comes with its' own editor - look for SupremacyEditor2.exe in your Supremacy folder. The editor allows you to add/remove/edit ships and their stats, but doesn't allow you to edit stuff like hard points etc. I'm not sure what Mike's future plans are for the editor but I know he is making a new version of it. As for modding the combat system, i've never modded it myself, but I know that it IS possible to put in new hips. You'll need to ask Wolfe how to do that.

D) Technology will follow the preset advancement route that BOTF has, except that there will now be 12 tech levels instead of 10. You won't be able to create systems like you suggest. HOWEVER, I have created a massive list of random events, and some of those include the creation or destruction of entire star systems. The random events have not yet been implemented however, and i do not even know if Mike is going to use my list or create his own. I merely created it to give him ideas.

E) It is me that wants to make colonization more complicated. I'm not sure what Mike thinks about that idea. He's generally following the KISS method though - Keep It Simple, Stupid; the simpler it is, the harder it is for someone to break it or ask stupid questions. We'll have to wait for Mike to post his thoughts or release future game updates to see whether Mike intends to change the system in any way.

Thanks very much for that detailed post! I appreciate the time it took.

The good news is most of the models I have in mind to test will fit nicely. (almost none are even near that 25k soft cap!).

I'm glad to hear that it should be no problem to add more factions/races with ship and building sets... I defiantely might play around since my main project(s) have stalled and I need something to occupy my time for a while.

One thing, I am used to 3 maps types, a texture map (I guess that would be "normal"?), same with -Glow added, and -shine. Would those work as is for Supremacy? I guess i will have to get with Kennith sometime as I have never used a channel before. I use IRFRANVIEW to make or alter textures.

I bookmarked all the links you mentioned and will scour them more closely as time allows.

Example: Thu11s new modern Gorn I mentioned earlier and secured permission for, but he has an open use policy (credit only).



My first goal will be to add 1 ship to an existing faction so it shows up in game. I guess that will be good enough till the combat part is done.

Second will be to create a new faction or minor race (whichever is easier) and their custom ships or buildings (native/racial tech bonuses?) that make the unique from others.

Third will be to completely finish the races/faction that I can think of and then offer the additions I thought of as suggestions for those things you have "no image for" at the moment.

I made a folder just for that purpose and raided my old drives all the way back to SFA and KA as that was the very first things I thought of when I saw those words...

So that's my plan and intentions in a nutshell.

Some ideas for my personal alteration version include the resources I have available for Robotech, and maybe some SG-1 or Trek stuff, Gundam? Some various other anime items. (Maybe make a united faction like: United Planets Space Force). haha

I especially look forward to development of your new 12 tech levels.
I don't remember if Transphasic torps or Chronoton ones were in the original.

Or various levels of plasma weapons (ROM /GORN), or Assualt Phasers and "heavy" torps (both from KA). Or how about from Fanfiction "Phase Lances"?

I'm not a modeller/texturer in any way, but I use irfanview myself for image editing in conjuction with MS Paint. I love irfanview. (In fact that love emoticon I just posted was made by myself using irfanview and Paint)

Your Gorn ship actually looks a little bit like a Mirak Cruiser from SFC2, although with much heavier armor and Grey/Brown instead of Orange/Brown.

The 12 tech levels have already been implemented in Supremacy, and these relate to Biotech, Energy, Computers, Propulsion, Construction, and Weapons. (12 levels for each area) Researching the levels grants you access to progressively better ships and buildings, just like in BOTF, although the tech levels themselves don't really have much relation to weapon strength etc. In fact, the ship stats haven't even been implemented in the game properly and have only been worked out on paper, not in the combat system.

Different weapons will definitely be in the game, although precisely how they will be handled i'm not sure. Supremacy allows you to "name" the weapon, but there's no way to specify colouration etc, although you can specify whether it is a Beam or Torpedo; but there isn't a Missile, Pulse or Bolt setting yet.

I think you have found this

viewtopic.php?f=11&t=1760

information no our guidelines for models. Our SharePoint is currently down so I have started to re organize our models here

viewtopic.php?f=11&t=2424&start=0


I will note the models we lack in each section as work goes along. We are also starting to back the models up on this site. It would be best to check with Zeleni about "minor" races as he has done a lot of our work there.