[MOD] Sins of a Solar Empire: INVASION (new screenshots, May 28th, 2012.)

ManSh00ter

Join Date 02/2008

+92

[MOD] Sins of a Solar Empire: INVASION (new screenshots, May 28th, 2012.)

Previously known as "The Last Stand"

Sins of a Solar Empire: INVASION is an addon project aiming to expand upon the existing universe of the Sins of a Solar Empire, providing original and high-quality content on top of the original game. Aside from the new content, the addon will also include multiplayer-friendly gameplay changes as well as reworked or new visuals/sounds.

ETA: To Be Announced

Planned changes/content will include:

A new playable race, created to the highest quality standards. The Xin are a race of utterly alien origin, and the massive fleets of their living, semi-sentient ships have been ravaging the galaxy for millenia. Countless races have perished under their onslaught - and now TEC, Advent and the Vasari will have to face this terrible enemy and win - or die trying.
Assume the role of the defenders and try to stem the tide of death and destruction, or take command of the invading armada and destroy the impertinent insects wherever they choose to make their last stand.

Volumetric Explosions & Damage Effects, providing not only greater excitement to your space battles by transforming all explosions and persistent damage effect into true 3D affairs, but also better visual cues as to how the battle is going, enabling you to spot at a first glance the hotspots and even the level of damage on particular ships.
Dynamic Battle System, where each ship class' strenghts and uses are not determined only by its stats and abilities, but also by its flight characteristics. Certain ship classes will be able to move during fleet battles, which, coupled with the reworked stats of all ship classes should prevent "cookie-cutter" or "spam" strategies.
New Ship Classes for the new faction, ranging from specialist ships such as the Warmaster or Emperor Battlecruiser all the way to Titans acting as mobile superweapons capable of facing down an entire fleet on their own or even destroying an entire gravity well in one powerful surge.
Reworked Balancing, aiming to further focus various ship classes on their roles, removing any overlapping advantages which ultimately make one ship type or the other the ship to produce. Changes will also include increased gravity wells as well as greater class difference in turning rates and top speeds in order to further accentualize fleet placement, strategic positioning of forward bases and other such details which a great admiral make.
New Planet Types, which will also be visually enhanced, primarily by increasing their size in order to make them a true centerpiece of a given sector. New planet types will provide greater variety without providing game-breaking advantages to players.
Enlarged Gravity Wells which, coupled with the dynamic nature of space combat, will challenge players to an even greater level, requiring careful placements of planetary defenses and orbital structures, as well as fleets.
Unique Structures for the new faction, ranging from formidable Heavy Defense Batteries to deployable Outposts which will be capable of guarding even sectors around otherwise uninhabitable astronomical bodies such as stars or gas giants.

==MEDIA SECTION==

==SCREENSHOTS==

==TRAILERS==

DRONE SPOTLIGHT I

A short ingame exposition of the Scout, Assault and Siege drones.

==BACKGROUND LORE==

Pangalactic War Timeline

Clicking the above link will lead you to the download of a .pdf document detailing the rich and dynamic history of the factions which will play a major role in the Last Stand mod, so if you are into background lore, be sure to check it out!

==UNIT INFORMATION==

Pending.

modding

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Sobekeus
G_Bison
4rearo
Distorted Truth
brummyuk
Banthracis
starratt
The_Regicide

i really like ur mod so far and the direction u wanna go.

I have no modding experience, so cant do any gfx or coding but if u need someone for decent ideas and especially balancing then im ur man.

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we need artilary pieces! ships that can shoot to a close planet, and do dmg to units, also the titan ships, and electronic warfare make me think, of EVE lol dont tell me you people know of this game cause then you took 2 of the ship types... lol (joking)

any who make the titans roughtly half the size of a planet, but as long as its diamiter.

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any who make the titans roughtly half the size of a planet, but as long as its diamiter.

agreed. big ships = cool ships

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we need artilary pieces! ships that can shoot to a close planet, and do dmg to units, also the titan ships, and electronic warfare make me think, of EVE lol dont tell me you people know of this game cause then you took 2 of the ship types... lol (joking)any who make the titans roughtly half the size of a planet, but as long as its diamiter.

Bandw i think Mansh00ter actually plays eve lol

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Yes, I play EvE.

As for Titans, they are present in one form or another in *many* sci-fi universes and games, from Star Wars (can't get any bigger than that), EvE, Star Trek, Master of Orion, to name just a few.

Size-wise, Titans will definitely not be big enough to rival a planet, because that would defeat the whole concept of having believably larg(er) planets, plus it makes the whole thing look unrealistic. Even the Death Star was miniature compared to a planet.

But, a Titan will be big enough to dwarf a capital ship much as capitals now dwarf frigates (and then some). So don't worry, you'll have your XL ship to sow terror across the galaxy with, no doubt about that.

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DANMAN3712

Join Date 02/2008

+101

ManSh00ter,
Love the Master of Orion reference....bring it home man..bring it home..
Long live MOO.

....MASTER.....

DANMAN

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can't wait to see the titans ingame!!

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I myself used to play EvE, amazing fun game. When I played I had a very, very huge and Auspicious goal in mind. That was to get myself into a Titan at some point. I'm sorry, I just love huge ships that make other people cringe in fear. Even the 1 or so billion ISK price tag was not enough to deter me from my dreams of grandeur.

The thing that finally did reel my dreams back to earth and into check was the whole fact that in the entire history of the game, only two people had ever owned Titans. One person built it from scratch (which is way cool!), and the other person won it in a contest.

So ManSh00ter, lets just say by letting me fly and die in titans in your mod, is sort of letting a dream come true

. Keep up the awesome work!

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There are now several Titans now in EvE. Although, they're not as tough as when they first came out. They can be killed very easily with the right planning.

Put an interdictor class ship in the mod and I will jump for joy.

I hate the fact that there isn't a ship that just disables a ship's Jump Drive. There are ships the disable ships completely. But, then you can't attack them. Which, to me makes no sense at all.

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Jarquafelmu, I think pretty much anyone who played EvE had such a goal on their mind at least once. I know I did.
Then I lerned you need about half a year of making components, gathering materials and that there is a pretty big chance your whole operation will get an explosive visit from one of the big players like BOB... nowadays I just dream about owning a fleet of dreadnaughts and carriers. Though as a part time Minmatar freedom fighter, part time freelancer scavenger my wallet is not exaclty fat.

Back on topic, rest assured you will NOT need to spend six months of gathering crystal to build a titan in the Last Stand however!

Currently this is just an idea, but I am toying with tying titan production to very high levels of a certain capital ship, instead of making it a standard building procedure. That way the big toy would become a sort of reward for exellence of gameplay, and not as easily available. But all that is pretty much still on the drawing board.

Siath1970, interdictor ships are a big part of gameplay in the Last Stand, in fact right now I am working on the model for the Xin support cruiser which is also an interdictor (the vanilla races will get the ability added to their support cruisers as well).

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That sounds like it would make getting the titan in a medium / small map a very daunting task. I know personally I've had alot of trouble just getting a cap ship over 6, just not enough fights

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Currently this is just an idea, but I am toying with tying titan production to very high levels of a certain capital ship, instead of making it a standard building procedure.

you know, i agree with Jarquafelmu above. in many smaller, faster games i don't ususally get my capital ships all too high in level.

In long, epic battles, however, this mechanic would be necessesary in order to stop people from gathering huge resources and building a load of them before any combat at all. I would hate to meet up with my enemy for the first time and be butchered by 5 titans and a couple frigates. That would be a pointless game. it would turn into a race to see who could build the most titan class ships.

maybe a ship that is specialized in bombarding titans is in order. that would balance things out a bit, i think. maybe a special squadron of fighters that launch and start popping holes into the nearest titan to protect a fleet, because from the sounds of it, these titans will be able to truly take on an entire fleet of 30 ships and put up a hell of a fight, even if it loses.

although, overall, i like the idea of having to earn your titans. they would truly have to be pretty damn powerful though.

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And they will be. The Xin titan will have the potential to (given longish charge-up time) completely wipe out an entire gravity well on its own using the superweapon ability.

Which is precisely why I am faced with the dilemma you mentioned - what if someone decides to "spam" them to full fleet capacity... of course that would make that player vulnerable on other fronts, but the titan cluster would be very difficult to beat, especially considering the racial superweapons tied into them. I want Titans to be the oomph factor, but I definitely don't want them to be spammable.
There are several ways to go about it... one is tying them to capital ship levels, which is in my opinion the most "involved" delay tactic possible since it requires a player actively earn their Titans (and gives extra incentive to front-line capitals AND for others to destroy opposition's capital ships). Minus side is, as Jarquafelmu said, that it can be difficult to get them on small maps.
But, one can go at by other means... very slow research and build times for Titans for example, make it impossible to compete production-wise with a player who is producing common ships. Also, having a gaping hole in their defences would be a good way to ensure that solo or titan exclusive fleets get wiped out with greater ease than a classic fleet with a single or couple of titans in tow.

These are all just ideas for now. When the mod gets to that stage, they will be playtested and then I'll decide which one is more fun/less hassle.

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Well, if we can figure out how to have a specific building only produce specific units, you could make it so that there has to be a special Titan construction yard built before you can even think of production. That could slow down people getting the massive ship because you could set a big resource limit on it.

Or more simply, as was said earlier, is there a way to only produce a max amount of a certain ship?

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... Stupid no edit button

.

I just had the thought of maybe you could tie the max supported Titans in to research itself, because in order to support such a massive ship, there is going to be logistical nightmares, not to mention trying to figure out how to repair, rearm and keep them running.

You could do it something like the Cap. Ship crews, have a bar like that and have it tech up to maybe a max of two?

Another thought, you could also just stick the Titan research on the end of that bar. Because by the time you would even be ready to support titans you would need the best of the best crews.

Having it that way would still significantly delay the first Titan until a very long time into the game, but it wouldn't make it exactly impossible to get either in small games.

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ManSh00ter

man, lol. this is what i am imagining. I have my fleet waiting on a defensive asteroid, knowing that the enemy Xin will be attacking soon. Then my psidar picks up a fleet coming in 2 planets away. I zoom in to get a look at what they are sending and i see a titan. OH CRAP!! I quickly send away 160 of my 200 ship main fleet to the next planet away. My other 40 ships go out and greet the titan when it arrives. The Xin player think that he just met up with my undersupplied defense force. It unleashes its special attack and my 40 ships are instantly blown away. He laughs and relishes in my destruction. now the titan moves forward to colonize my planet, BUT, suddenly, i send back the majority of my main fleet and kick its ass!!

oh the possibilities and tactics that your mod will open. Anyways, really long build times sound good to me. it could have the firepower of 50 ships, but also cost as much, and take as much time to build as 50 ships. you know? that would keep things balanced. but, being a fan of cheifly long battles, i think the capital ship upgrade thing will result in a more appreciated titan ship. thought provoking, but you are the end decider.

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Jarquafelmu, there will definitely be a cap on how many Titans a faction can own. Most likely it will be tied either to fleet supply, so that a few Titans will tie up enough supply to make the Titan-exclusive player really deficient on the conventional fleet side, or even with capital ship crews as well, so that a Titan will tie up enough crews to man several capital ships.

Keep in mind that the concept of a Titan does not make it a pwnmobile. Yes, it will be able to obliterate an entire sector (gravity well) in one shot - but other than that its conventional firepower won't exceed that of several capital ships at best - which will make it vulnerable to a large fleet of small ships constantly pounding away at its armor and shields. A Titan without an escort is just a very fancy (and expensive) kamikaze at best.

Bss08380, that's certainly one possible tactic for countering a Titan. Of course, a savvy player won't just show up with a lone behemoth...

Oh, and to avoid confusion, the Ark Ship I mentioned earlier is a capital class vessel. Titans won't be able to colonize planets. They are warships through and through.

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Hm... would it be possible that we could see combat-role Titan class ships further down the road? Similar to having Capital-class ships that play a utility role, while having others play a combat role (Kol as an example), etc.

Also, just a thought, in a team-based multiplayer game, if one person on a team were to build Titan-class ships exclusively while the others built normal ships, they would have a huge fleet advantage over the other...

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Jacobwastaken, that is true - but two against one is a huge advantage no matter what. If its two against two, there is nothing stopping the other team from adapting their strategy, either by building more Titans of their own or by amassing overwhelming numbers of conventional ships.

As for combat roles, I am not sure I understand... as it stands Titans *are* as combat-oriented as possible. If you mean if there will be utility-oriented Titans, that depends. There already are utility capital ships and cruisers, it would be somewhat redundant (and expensive) to have an utility Titan as well.

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titans should kick butt, not fix butt. i see a titan as a flagship; something that is terrifying to see coming your way. i honestly wouldnt be so scared of a robotics titan....Historically, all of the largest vessels of any navy were combat oriented. Even today's aircraft carriers are still meant for war; to send out death and destruction rather than deal it personally. Everything from the Bismark of Germany, to the HMS Victory of England, to Darth Vader's Super Star Destoyer were all kickass mean machines. titans should mimic these. These should be the vessels that the generals want to ride in and use for combat while feeling confident that not much is going to be able to blow it up......unless Lando Calrissian comes along in the Mellinium falcon....then your just screwed.....

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As it is, I plan to have only one Titan type per new faction. Think of them as of mobile, slightly meaner and more expensive versions of racial superweapons. With guns. Lots of guns.

On a side note, I finally managed, with the apt suggestion of where to look by TFL BigBANGtheory, to alter the shield effects for the game. Now they are actually visible and in TechniColor!

Thus, visible shield effects are going to be included in the upcoming mini-mod, Carnage In Space!

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While I love the super weapon idea, I would love to see a ship that is capable of taking on a fleet at some point through sheer fire power. If, for instance, you made tech research a lot slower, you ould hypothetically provide say, three Titan options at the very end of the military lines, one with the super weapon, one that has huge armour and has many guns that fire lots, and something like a siege ship, perhaps that is able to jump to any planet, if that can be modded, or a moveable version of the current planetary bombarders, for instance. You could unlock all three, but only be able to field one, for example.

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The way I envisioned a Titan is following closely the examples shown by some of the most famous "Titans" to date, most notably the Super-Star Destroyer ships from Star Wars, Titan class ships of EvE Online and of course, the Titan class ships of Master of Orion.

This means that the power of such a ship will not be contained solely in its offensive potential. Although a titan will be quite deadly on its own, its conventional firepower will not exceed that of several capital ships put together; any more than that and you would simply have an overpowered pwnmobile which would literally be unstoppable.

However, don't neglect the advantage of its huge shields and armour. A Titan can take a serious pounding indeed - in fact the "charge-up" time factored in the activation of the superweapon is there so that it gives the opposition a chance to try and destroy a Titan before it can fire its superweapon. The fact that you need a whole fleet to do that in time speaks enough on how much shielding and armor one has to get through to blow up a Titan.

So the bottom line is that you get one VERY tough ship, with decent conventional firepower and an overwhelming one-shot AoE attack. The sole purpose of building a Titan is domination of a battlefield. This is something you would bring along to crack an enemy's otherwise impregnable bastion, for example.
And although a Titan is capable of fighting on its own and being good at it, in effect it is a support ship. I want it to bring the "ohshit" factor to the game (a bigger one than the one you get when you realize a massive fleet is headed for your planets which are defended by a handful of cargo ships), and its design and purpose will reflect that.

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hey man, sounds good to me. your making it, so you make it the way you want. i am sure regardless of what you create (as with all of the Xin craft we've seen), it is going to have one hell of an "ohshit" factor. i look forward to anything you throw into the fight, trust me.

but enough about titans, eh? how's the Xin coming along. they are the main star of this mod unless i am mistaken.

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I figured it was time for another little update, so here is the concept render of a Xin Support Cruiser, the Yarlok:

On other fronts, the Xin are coming along nicely. I already have the concept for the Swarmer Cruiser ready and should push it into production soon, some of the special effects like drone explosions have been completed, although I have to get the... bits... in yet. Yes, bits. There will be eyes and chunky cyber-meat-stuff flying around.

Research on the pretiness of shield effects continues. Following a recent breakthrough in actually making the shields appear, I am now trying to make them dance too.

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