actually Volt_Cruelerz, DU rounds are very unique.

Here's how they work-

Yes, the USAF's A-10 Thunderbolt II aka 'Warthog' fires it's DU 30x173mm NATO ammo at supersonic speeds. However, the other thing is that it fires extremely fast (~4200 rpm), and that DU is pyrophoric. It is also self-sharpening.

Here's what I mean- upon impact with a hard (like steel or composite ceramics) target, the DU will begin fracturing at the tip, in such a manner that it always remains pointed, allowing it KE (kinetic energy) to enable it to continue penetrating a target. Upon reaching the interior of a tank, the fragments of DU that have shed off of the slug, will IGNITE (emphasis) upon reaching air. If the fragments hit fuel lines, hydraulics, or ammunition, then big boom.

Why Big Boom? The DU fragments are on fire, and are extremely high temperature. This will 'cook off', ammo, by causing it to heat up so that the propellant ignites and discharges. Hydraulics are flammable, so if the hydraulics lines are severed, and squirt all over the interior, then everyone inside catches fire and you have a roasted tank crew. If it hits fuel, then it's a little obvious that there will be an explosion.

Also, Railgun that fires slugs at 0.5-0.6c (max 60% light speed) will have much greater range than the DU rounds on the A-10.

The penetration of the GAU-8A Avenger, the 30mm weapon mounted in the Warthog, is as follows- 69mm RHA steel @ 500 meters range, 38mm RHA steel at 1000 meters range. Also, the accuracy for the weapon is as follows- 80% of rounds fired at 1200m from a target will hit within a 6m radius (12m diameter).

I got this off of Wikipedia, so I'm pretty sure it's accurate.

yeah, sorry for going off on a tangent, but I think that EVERYONE'S (emphasis) info should be accurate.

I think it's awesome that your mod thread has already got 4 whole pages, plus another that'll probably rapidly fill up.

I like the idea and the 3A one would look cooler, but the 4A would be easier to do...  I'll try the 3A one though...  Perhaps have the arms at 12, 4, and 8 while the weapon banks would be at 2, 6, and 10.  (the one at 6 would be forward facing and would hold the forward guns...

I think this would look cool...  As far as the superweapon goes, it would look best if the arms contained a ball of energy that then fired...

As far as research goes, the necessary things are:

Carrier and BS upgrades (Mk. II-V)

Flak Turrets (like normal turrets only they spray flak all over the place)

Some other things too...

Something I wanted to avoid, but may ultimately be incorporated would be additional races...  The book I am writing, The Dawn War, speaks of some "races" if you wished to call them that...  Incorporating them would require extremely vast amounts of work and time that we don't have, so unless we get a big team, it would be unlikely...  All the same, I'll put them down...

Extuli: Elite, genetically advanced offshoot of humanity.  Technically, they are Homo extuli.  At one point, this race ruled humanity in an empire.  Volt Cruelerz is one eighth extuli.

Playstyle: Though few in number, the high level of discipline of Extuli soldiers causes allegiance to be higher than any other race.  In addition, all ships are far more expensive, but are also far more powerful than their counterparts in other races.  They focus heavily on extraordinarily powerful ships including the battleship, "The Emperor's Crown" and the lancer "Emperor's Scepter."  In small numbers, they are a force to be reckoned with, but in large numbers, they are unstoppable.

G-Class: Also referred to as the Storm.  A race of sentient robots that ended the Extuli reign over humanity.  Designed by a brilliant scientist and made to be perfect, a criminal organization reprogrammed them before they went into mass production and once there were billions of them, these robots launched the Holocaust, a period of three hundred years in which more than 60 billion people died.

Playstyle: Quantity over quality is the name of the game here.  Their ships can be mass produced and can easily overwhelm opponents with far greater numbers.  Through a system that inhibits the use of credits, this race is very vulnerable to hired pirates and has no use for the Black Market.

United Human Republic: After the fall of the Extuli-run Human Empire, the scientist who designed the G-Class created a new government which pulled all resources together and the likes of which, he was the president.  Through a long battle of attrition, this was victorious over the G-Class...

Playstyle: Allegiance is a hard thing to come by as people are just starting to pick up the pieces of the civil war.  This race focuses extremely heavily on research and without the research in the "Labs of Xavios" (the ship upgrade research tree), this race has no ability to defend itself.  To win against them, you have to rush because late-game, they will win.  Researches here are more expensive, but have far higher buffs than normal.  This race is also good at creating an efficient economy with TP's at tier III.

Z-Class: Though the exact origins of this robotic race are unknown, it is known to be led by a Z-128.  Known to be highly dangerous, this appears to be an advanced version of the robots that caused the Holocaust.

Playstyle: Learning from the G-Class's mistakes, Z-128 began by building robotic mercenaries to join the rebels in the civil war.  Once the rebels were put down, launched a campaign, but did hire humans to do his work for him.  He had no use for credits, but the pirates did, so he found a use for them.  This class has almost no economy to speak of, but has Embargo like abilities on many of its ships, allowing it to passively sap resources from enemies.

Odds are, we will never get around to this, but if we do, it would be cool...  I'm just being hypothetical here...

you are certainly correct, its alot of work to make new races. i definitly think we should get this bit done first then move on to expansions...

i do have to say about your races idea, Volt...

1. all 4 of the races seem very... similar... as in, youve got advanced humans... then youve got killer robots... then youve got killer humans... then youve got advanced robots...

2. at least 2 of the races dont have much use for an economy... well... thats a game mechanic that would be very difficult to remove from gameplay...

however, the Extuli and some combination of Z- and G-classes could be good... perhaps we could create them as subfactions of each race? so, Advent have Extuli, TEC have robots, and Vasari have Vulcans? =P

no seriously, subfactions would be a good idea, it would cut the work required almost in half, as most of the coding/modelling etc would already have been done, so...

anyway, i posted in another thread an idea for scuttling planets:

i think it could be a nice thing to implement, though i dont think it would have that much influence on gameplay...

So i was thinking about a new cap ship class

the best name i have for it so far is the "Ship of the Line"

this is my idea to sort of incorporate the popular idea of a Flagship or Admiral's ship into the Mod. Naturally, this will be a very late game, incredibly expensive ship with lots of research pre-requisites (such as researching every permutation of at least 2 different Capital Ships). It would be very slow but with AMAZING firepower.

If destroyed, it causes a massive loss in fleet effectiveness: damage output reduced, refire rate reduced, AM/Hull/Shield regen reduced, speed reduced, Phase Jump charge up rate increased by 150%. If an enemy Ship of the Line is destroyed, all non-allied ships could get a 1-5% bonus in all the above mentioned nerfs.

oh, and Ships of the Line cannot seige planets (fire nukes etc at planets)

Atm im still tossing up between what abilities (if any) the ship should have, or if i want it to level up like a cap ship or a starbase, or something new entirely. BUT i do have basic model, armament/ability and lore ideas.

TEC: "Victory Class" Ship of the Line: The 'Victory Class' was inspired by research into ancient history, when humans would fight for wealth, for country and for freedom. The height of the darkness that was our violent past.

The 'Victory' has been built from the ground up, the embodiment of all Humanity's greatest scientific acheivements... and homage to our darkest nightmares. A tribute to all the destructive potential Humanity as a species can deliver, forged by the rage and sadness of all that has been lost, and fuelled by desperation after decades of war against not one, but two unrelenting, xenocidal empires.

The Victory is an iconic vessl. At twice the size of a Kol, it is an imposing sight no matter where you are in the battle.

Armaments:

(Fore)
2x Linked Beam Cannons (4)
2x Linked Heavy Pulse Laser Cannons (3)

(Port/Starboard)
2 Medium Missile Batteries
3 Medium AutoCannon Batteries

(Aft)
2x Linked Heavy Pulse Laser Cannons (2)
2 Heavy Pulse Laser Batteries

(Note: Pulse Laser Cannons are different to Pulse Laser Batteries. PLC's are seen mounted on the Kol Battleship next to the hangar, while PLB's are seen on all other TEC ships equipped with Laser Weaponry)

Abilities:

ECM: A Powerful Suite of Electronic Counter-Measures on-board the Victory interferre with enemy weapons guidance and targetting. 20% damage reduction to all enemy ships within a radius of 4000 (?)

To Victory!: Increases Regen and Damage output of owned and allied (?) ships by <Insert number here>. Also increases owned ship speed by <insert number here>. Both buffs have a range of 4000 (?) units  (Passive Ability)

Astrom Ion Cannon MkII: The Victory deploys an extreme range, extreme damage Astrom Ion Cannon, similar to the one deployed on the Astrom Lancer, but super-charged with power straight from the ships engines. Designed to cause massive damage to extremely large ships, it is considered one of the only weapons known to man that can concieveable counter another 'Ship of the Line'.

This is the general idea of how i want the ship, but with some differences... id model it myself but dont have the software so rather than try to explain it porly with words ill jsut use the below image for reference.

So, first off, the Meson Bolt Cannon will be mounted at the very bottom of the ship on that extrusion below Comm. Array (the tower at the top of the ship).

The Linked Beam Cannons will be mounted on the port and starboard sides of the 'prow' of the ship (the very front that looks sorta like an axe blade), as well as sticking out of the front of the winglets at the front of the ship. Each bank of 2 Beam Cannons will be able to engage a seperate target.
The forward three 2x Linked Pulse Laser Cannons will be mounted on the top of the prow, and beneath the winglets, respectively.

The 4 Port/Starboard Missile Batteries (2 to a side) will be mounted in the center of the ship (halfway between front and back and top and bottom)

The 3 Port/Starboard AutoCannon Batteries will be mounted at the back of the winglets, at the bottom of the ship under the Comm. Array (the tower at the top of the ship) and in the center of the section in front of the drive section.

The two Aft 2x Linked Pulse Laser Cannons will be mounted on the flat surface behind the Comm Array, and the flat surface between the Meson Bolt Cannon mount and the drive section.

The 2 Aft Laser Batteries will be mounted on the Port and Starboard sides of the flat surface where the lower Aft Laser Battery is mounted.

 (Note: its getting kinda late here, ive spent most of the day doing research and brainstorming... to the point that i actually ran out of time to write it all down. So, ill write in point form the next to ship details with some basic modelling/weapons layout info, and ill come back with abilities and lore tomorrow.)

Advent: "Ascendance" Persecutor: Frustrated by the continued failure of The Unity to exact their revenge on the Trader Emergency Coalition, and running out of resources on which to survive and maintain a war effort, The Advent turned to desperate measures. Venturing into science even their most radical scientists considered taboo and unethical, The Advent used genetic manipulation and psychic suggestion to create the most horrific creature The Unity had never dreamed about. Fundamentally flawed physically, with a mind tortured by images, thoughts and impulses that would drive any living creature to madness, this being, this... baby girl, died 17 agonising hours after being created, along with a number of the Psi Adepts used to ply her mind. But not before she gave The Advent the answer to their problem, for in those few long hours of existence, she had envisioned a craft that would scour the galaxy clean of all life unworthy to be a part of The Unity. She had given them: The Persecutor

Armaments:

(Fore)
4 Heavy Plasma Cannons
4 Heavy Pulse Laser Batteries

(Port/Starboard)
2 Psionic Surge Generators (the one on the Advent Starbase)
4 Medium Beam Cannons

(Aft)
2 Psionic Surge Generators
4 Heavy Pulse Laser Batteries

Abilities:

(I have ideas but im falling asleep, so ill write them in detail later. atm, just suffice it to say they are all passive abilities bar one just like the Victory)

The ship would look like a cross-section of a mushroom if you cut it down the middle. the front of the ship would be the 'stalk' of the mushroom and the drive section and 'wings' would be the 'cup' of the mushroom (the top bit). the 'prow' of the ship would look like a horses hoof (closest thing i can think of), maintaining a rounded triangular shape until it reaches the back of the ship where the engines are located and the wings sprout out, coming around in an arc towards the front of the ship, finishing in a flat surface parallel to the main hull.

(Fore)
Forward Plasma Cannons would be mounted on the flat surface of the wings parallel to the main hull, while the forward lasers would be built into the nose of the ship itself.

(Port/Starboard)
Port/Starboard Psionic Surge Generators and Beam Cannons would be built into the main hull of the ship, in front of where the wings begin to shadow the hull.

(Aft)
Aft Laser Cannons would be built into the hull at the back of the ship, a little bit wider than the width of the main hull. Aft Psionic Surge Generators would be built in to the top and bottom of the Main hull, in the center, simply aimed backwards.

ASoL Cannon (Anti-Ship Of the Line): will be mounted on a similar surface under the nose of the ship.

Vasari: "Vasurak" Harbinger:

i was thinking something that really embodies vasari aggression and oppresive nature and the tactic of instilling ear into their enemies or whatnot, so first i came up with something like this:

its more the fact that it has those funky pylon/arm things all over the place. i know its nothing like what the Vasai have atm, but i dont think it would be a stretch... anyway, the above design was just my first inspiration. i remember i knew anothe scary as all hell ship:

as if you WOULDNT shit yourself, faint, wake up, dance around like a crazy person, slap the guy next to you, and then run like a little girl after you saw that ship coming after you...

so, im definitly not saying lets make that model, cause thats plaigarism, and it looks WAY too complicated for Volt to model, but im definitly thinking something like that would fit the Vasari style...

anyway, i had a few other ideas but im seriously crashing here so ill be back on tomoz and ill finish this post then

ive seen it... not sure if that will fit with Advent style... if i remember correctly, those alien ships look alot like the Narada right? (the romulan mining ship in Star Trek)

yeah, I saw that movie, it was awesome. I think that there's a prequel/sequel miniseries or something that went straight to DVD. I saw prequel/sequel because I'm not sure which it is.

A little, its all crystaly and less scary. and the spikes are at the top. Also there are less spikes and it looks adventy.

Looks really nice, i love reading the backstory to your ideas Volt. It never ceases to amaze me how many creative and imaginative people are there in the SINS community. Certainly looking foward to this mod.

Also, for some reason reading about the TEC weapon reminded me of the MAC cannons that were added to the ships in the Halo books. Either way, cool stuff!

Lol im sorry i didnt mean to imply that it was taken from halo from my last post. I look foward to more of the backstory to the ships if you continue to add to it.

Hmm...  True...  I just want to make sure things are balanced.  The problem with super-caps historically (and I know from personal modding experience) is that they are either too weak and worthless, or they can singlehandedly change the outcome of the game...  I just want to make sure that someone comes up with something to prevent this...

I don't believe that it is possible to make a new armor class, but if that is possible, we could give this armor class to the starbases (rather than the normal "very-heavy" that they have now) and supercaps...  I'll have to check...

Well, they had better have some truly potent support abilities...

As for the one I was thinking of, this is the only pic I could find of it, but I'll keep looking...  Its just a pic of the bridge though, but if you've seen the movie, you may remember what the rest of the ship looks like...

http://forums.filefront.com/attachments/sw-eaw-modding-mapping-editing/47285d1141830627-serenity-firefly-mod-operative-ship_.jpg

to be honest we have been watching you guys as well

we agree you have some interesting ideas and would not mind sharing

I will let Nacey and Ue_Carbon know and we will see about working something out

ps try the EWS bombers for the Vasari with a Maraduar in your fleet. No fleet can run from you then

 Muhahahahah!