The latest version has the new kazi graphic (excellent!) and the Ghost alien fades in and out. Plus some other minor changes:

Fangorodrim.zip (v1.55)

That's something that happens in the Alien Nest sector. Otherwise, there should be no color change in the rest of the sectors. I did that on a whim long time ago, I'll turn it off in v1.56.

Edit: I did find another place where it changed the kazi color everywhere. I'll disable that also.

agreed, the kazi looks much better now.

something about the asteroids doesnt look right, maybe they are too stretched, maybe too photorealistic, they doesnt seem to fit the game, graphically wise.

as for technically, i like this feature, how are they placed? randomly or pre existent? because i played 2 games where they werent on the same spot.

i think they can be even further away from the star.

as for the energy, i fear that the nebulas would be hard to read against the stars background.. maybe we should come up with something diffrent and maybe unique.

i did a verion of the mining station. tell me if you like the style, if you do, i could make the rest of the buildings as well with this style in 3d.

i think we can cheat here a little bit, look how the shadow helps to distinguish the mining from the asteroid and helps to define a false perspective.

you dont even have to match it with the 2 other frames for the build and research.

about the energy sources, i was thinking some sort of black holes as well..

i am in the process of creating the power plant and the def drone in the style of the mining platform, so i guess we could wait with the next version for them

ok, heres the power plant, i tried to stay as faithfull as possible to your power plant genreal contour while adding depth and details.

i must say i did the build and research frames quite horribly.

let me know what you think. btw - i am half way through the def drone.

the def drone.

how will the tutorial work? simple text or a scripted misssion type?

the mining factory looks good. the power plant is ok, i am thinking about removing the blue circlers and enlarging the energy tube, as they look too static when the animated effect in the middle plays and  the def drone needs  som work, it is barely recongnisable in game. maybe i'll enlarge the missile in the center.

the font looks good, i think the asteroid looks great ingame, maybe make smaller, seperated ones in a sector?

edit - after another game, i moved editing the formation editor to the top of my priorities list.

i also think we should examine an alternative to how the sectors map appears and refining the build and research interface, especially the text itself, as this yellow, heavy, san serif font isnt too clear.

btw - the background called background2 in the game images folder is a mighty fine looking one. i will add making some bakgrounds in the same style to my to-do list, altough, that will have to be at the bottom of the list..

heres the new formation editor, its exactly the size of the former, so you wont need to make any adjustments... i think.

i am not yet fully happy with it, but this will do for now.

-- edit -- just tested it in game, it is so much better now. one thing that bugs me now is the red overlay background, while it is really great under the blue transparent circle, outside of the editor graphics its just looks out of place.

show me the graphics of the black hole, maybe i could manipulate it.

i stumbled upon the fangorodrim thread in bay12, and i kinda liked the ideas that this one guy did the mocks up for. (well, more of a really rough mspaint mockups, but he got the ideas through non the less). i am talking about making the research more of a research tree type.

i will do a mock up of my own that will hopefully wont force a major change in the UI.

black hole attempt

Screenshot of v1.60 with blackhole:

I think the original goal behind resource zones have met expectations.

I did not get elite academy at all when I played this. I did not really see an immediate need for it.

You could raise the price for it and make it lower the time needed for research. If you wanted to go with the research tree, that would be a good idea.

i started to sculpt in 3d this alien ship for the victory screen, plan is to see it from below while 3 escort ships and the dread tearing t with missiles.

i think this B&W verison could look nicely in the story screen, i have started to dislike the alien there.