I'm well on my way to finishing this one

Yes. You heard me. What makes this different from all the other TCs-gone-Vaporware? I don't know, but I'm having fun playing this while I'm making it, so maybe the fun will be able to keep me through some of it. What stage am I at? It's been in the concept stage since a little before the poll topic I made (four days ago) and I started working on it shortly after that (about 3-4 days ago). A short time, you say? Perhaps. It's nothing ambitious; I decided to eschew a story in favor of gameplay. What kind of gameplay? Not just combat, but the pilot (you) is forced to make certain decisions throughout. It's very fun; I find myself having fun after just programming the last thing

OK, so you may be wondering, "What crack-brained idea has Zapp come up with this time?" It's a secret. Let's just say that I borrowed some ideas from what Josh would say about Colosseum (and I also took Shlimazel's idea about putting weapon info in the desc, which looks so cool!). For now, the background is a solar system that has been at war for three centuries (yes, solar system, not galaxy, I'm trying to keep this small). That's about it. Thinking about what's in this paragraph may lead you to some conclusions, but all I'm gonna say is what I said so far.

And what Josh said is true, EVC/O placeholder graphics can only be used for so long before they become monotonous. Case in point (hope this screenshot works):

This post has been edited by zapp : 24 September 2007 - 05:52 PM

Sounds nice. I don't think Super is the best name for an engine enhancement in a Sci-Fi world. "This tweaks the maximum plasma output to your MK-112 engines allowing for a tighter turn radius and faster nitrogen cooling. It's super!"

The actual desc reads:

"This is the best engine upgrade out there, dramatically increasing performance, though at a price. It takes fuel away from your jump tanks to increase your speed."

I'm not really pouring my soul into the descs just quite yet. And I just pulled super out of my hat.

Hey! You're using fuel-to-armor etc. stuff! I was planning on that for Nebula! Grrr...

Mind if I... well... steal it?

I'm taking the fuel-to-armor stuff overboard, my friend. It's insane, if it's possible, I've done it, but be my guest. Just be sure to say who did it first

There's a large but finite number of 'cool tricks' you can pull off using the Nova engine. It's innevitable that there be some overlap between the works of various people.

@otter, on Sep 17 2007, 05:49 AM, said in EV:Pax; my planned TC:

There's a large but finite number of 'cool tricks' you can pull off using the Nova engine. It's innevitable that there be some overlap between the works of various people.

Anathema said:

One of the advantages of the Scimitar's modular nature and versatility is that the energy is diverted from the ship's reactor to an "energy reserve," which automatically allocates a certain percentage to propulsion and a certain percentage to defenses. Because of this method of energy management, a skilled tinker with some time alone in your ship's reactor compartments can re-adjust the percents allocated to either task. While the adjustment does result in a small net loss, there is no energy drain on your ship due to the fact that the ship is simply re-distributing its own energy. This modification will reduce a ship's shield strength by around 8% and increase its performance by around 5%.

Yeah, I hear ya.

I like the concept though! A warring solar system actually sounds like a really innovative setting. That's one of the things I like about what I've heard of Ashen Galaxy is the smaller scale of the plug.

This post has been edited by Archon : 17 September 2007 - 01:34 AM

If you want to know what Colosseum's outfitters look like, replace all those screwdrivers with the green words "Placeholder Graphic", or simply blanks in some of the later outfits.

Is this for EVC/O or are you just using the interface for now?

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(and I also took Shlimazel's idea about putting weapon info in the desc, which looks so cool!)

Thanks! You are certainly welcome to make use of that idea, especially given all the help you gave me when I was starting out

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Is this for EVC/O or are you just using the interface for now?

Just for now, I certainly don't know how to make my own, but I figure if I finish everything but the graphics I can always recruit some talent to help. I'm going to start a progress log here later when I have some more time (about to go to orthodontist >.<).

OK, progress log (so far): I have 334 resources (not counting AM, EVC Essentials, and EVC Sounds), of which:

2 are Char
78 are descs
5 are dudes
4 are govts
66 are outfits
91 are picts
2 are ranks
9 are rle8s
12 are rleDs
13 shans and ships
10 spins
10 spobs
1 str#
6 syst (I'm done with these: this is all the syst resources I'm using)
12 weaps

Right now, I'm focusing on outfits (I need to put the EVC/O placeholder graphics, if only for my own sanity) and the descs that go with them. After that, I'm going to make all the ship variants (that's part of the fun!) and maybe a few 'Ferry Troops to <DST>' missions, maybe a little string for each side, kind of like "You wanna join our military?" or "You wanna join our trade group?" for you that want the 'Dragonfly' class Light Freighter instead of the awesome fighters.

If any of you have questions, feel free to ask, because I don't feel like keeping secrets about this TC.

Is this going to be fighter-based predominantly? That'd actually be really sweet.

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Is this going to be fighter-based predominantly? That'd actually be really sweet.

After the first hundred years, the conflict began to slow down. Most of the capital ships were destroyed in this time. Fighter combat rose up to fill the role previously held by Carriers, and Aegis Cruisers, though rare, were vital in such engagements. Soon the sheer number of fighters took down the already waning gunboat-type ships. It was now a fighter-to-fighter war. The war continued.

From one of the intro descs. The answer is yes, it is predominately fighter based. I am ATM pimping my Dragonfly freighter, but that's beside the point. There are three types of fighters, the Terran "Wildcat" Light Fighter, the Martian "Hawk" Light Fighter, and the Civvie "Guppy" Light Fighter (Pirate Commandeered version). I may add Heavy Fighters, named the "Bobcat", "Falcon", and "Piranha" respectively. Get the animal theme there?

If anyone's actually interested in any progress I'm making, here's a map of the solar system:

Yeah, you're definitely borrowing. That or it's a huge coincidence that I have three fighters with animal names (Coyote, Lynx, and Wolf) and you do as well.

Actually, originally it was the Terran Fighter, Martian Fighter, and Guppy, then I went to a pep rally and my school is the wildcat, which I thought would be cool, and my last school was a hawk or falcon or something like that.

In fact, you are obviously all copying from my plug, which also has three fighters at the moment (The American F-25, Soviet MiG-201, and Japanese Kawasaki Ki-400), and is thus far heavily based around fighter combat, just because humanity hasn't really progressed to the point where putting into space anything combat-capable and bigger than a fighter is practical.

Except perhaps for the fact Colosseum is on FC2 and has been in development for 18 months?

I love how it's realistic and requires faster-than-light travel to get to other planets.

@joshtigerheart, on Sep 18 2007, 10:42 AM, said in EV:Pax; my planned TC:

Except perhaps for the fact Colosseum is on FC2 and has been in development for 18 months?

Wait, you invented the scheme of naming fighters after animals? Sweet! Did you also invent the system of naming capital ships after mythical creatures?

awe