Well, I've given up on getting help with the Final Frontier Project. Maybe I'll revisit it in the future. However, there is good news with that: I can start work on version 2.0 of Star Trek! :) And this is the official preview thread. So here's the news so far:
-I've sent a PM to Jaydn about making the unit models for 2.0. I haven't heard back yet, but I only sent the PM a couple hours ago.
-I've replaced all of the leaderheads for the main mod (the buttons are still the same)
-I've replaced Decaren with Karr (the Alpha-Hirogen who took over Voyager in "The Killing Game"); this is simply a text/art change so far (I don't anticipate any personality changes, but traits of many leaders will change for 2.0)
-More news in the rest of this thread!

When you have the new models and arts, I would you offer the make a special scenario on a big map(180x!80 or bigger), that is scripted and follow the timeline from ENT to VOY with all important Wars, Peaces and events like the Foundation of the Federation.

That sounds cool. One thing I'm going to do for 2.0 is create a huge galaxy map with all the civs and a few more, even including wormholes (how to get the AI to use them I have no idea).

Great news indeed! (I don't know if this is comparable or not, but the AI in the Master of Orion game series had no problems using wormholes.);)

My map will be based on Alpha/Betaquadrant and few of the Gamma like my old map, but bigger and with some minor factions(Vulcan, Andoria and Tellar will be there in the first 10 years, latr also Maquis, Tholian and perhaps some other when we get new models). Borg will be only come with events.

I've released a second preview here (http://files.filefront.com/20+Preview+2/;12818683;/fileinfo.html). This one will break save games, and includes the following changes from 1.19:
-Added Inquisitive and Rebellious traits
-Adjusted building production bonuses for existing traits
-Adjusted traits given to each leader
-Adjusted health/happy values for buildings
-Updated civs/leaders page in manual to include civs/leaders that will be added in version 2.0

I've attached a screenshot showing the start of the new tech tree (to the left are the value techs). These techs don't do anything yet - all I've done so far is add them, set requirements, and set up the advisor.

Keep it up! :newyear:

I've done the tech tree and the new unit balance; those are included in preview 3 which can be found here (http://files.filefront.com/Star+Trek+20+Preview+3/;12838532;/fileinfo.html) (it includes previews 1 and 2 as well). I could use feedback on the tech costs and unit balance.

Note: For the unit balance, it should be known that I'm adding 2 units to the start of the game. The Warp 5 Ship will require Warp 5 Drive and have 1 strength, 1 movement, and the Warp 7 Ship will require Warp 7 Drive and have 2 strength, 2 movement.

The previews look great!

I've looked into the civs and leaders in the preview's readme, and I have a few suggestions:
-Include the Suliban and Xindi. You have included obscure Delta Quadrant species that have appeared in only one epidsode (Devore, Vaadwaur, Krenim), but not the two main enemies in Enterprise :confused:
-Adding Sloan as the third Federation leader means that the federation will have two "nasty" leaders and one "nice" one, which means that they will be "nasty" in two out of three games. In the series, the Federation are a utopian, peaceful coalition of races, not conquerors who constantly urge you to adopt Police State. I suggest adding the Federation President from The Undiscovered Country as the Federation's third leader instead, to have them acting more "in-character".
-My third suggestion is related to my first one: the Devore, Krenim, Vaadwaur, First Federation, Gorn and Tholians have all appeared in 1 or 2 episodes. They usually didn't do much, and since with most of these, only one type of ship has been seen, their unitart will get very monotonous, like the Devore have already. I don't suggest deleting them all from the mod, but rather include less of these "minor races".

I've looked into the civs and leaders in the preview's readme, and I have a few suggestions:
-Include the Suliban and Xindi. You have included obscure Delta Quadrant species that have appeared in only one epidsode (Devore, Vaadwaur, Krenim), but not the two main enemies in Enterprise :confused:
Good idea. The civ/leader list is finalized for 2.0, but the Xindi have been planned for 3.0 for quite some time. I've added the Suliban to the 3.0 list as well (glad I saved that spreadsheet with the leader traits).
-Adding Sloan as the third Federation leader means that the federation will have two "nasty" leaders and one "nice" one, which means that they will be "nasty" in two out of three games. In the series, the Federation are a utopian, peaceful coalition of races, not conquerors who constantly urge you to adopt Police State. I suggest adding the Federation President from The Undiscovered Country as the Federation's third leader instead, to have them acting more "in-character".
I've changed Sloan's favorite civic to state property. I feel this fits him better and it avoids the problem of having 2/3 Federation leaders having Police State as a favorite civic.
-My third suggestion is related to my first one: the Devore, Krenim, Vaadwaur, First Federation, Gorn and Tholians have all appeared in 1 or 2 episodes. They usually didn't do much, and since with most of these, only one type of ship has been seen, their unitart will get very monotonous, like the Devore have already. I don't suggest deleting them all from the mod, but rather include less of these "minor races".
Well, how "minor" a civ is is debatable. Especially with the Delta Quadrant races, they are major powers in their area but are only seen rarely because the characters aren't in the area. Unfortunately this does have the effect of limiting the unit art (I don't like it either, but I don't feel the unit art is grounds for not having them).

I think minor factions should be in , but unplayable. They are more realstic then putting all ships to the babarians.

:agree:

Good idea.

I've changed Sloan's favorite civic to state property. I feel this fits him better and it avoids the problem of having 2/3 Federation leaders having Police State as a favorite civic.

:hmm: But Sloane wasn't actually even a leader, just a plotter. (As opposed to a UFP President - although there was that admiral involved in the Phased Cloak plot... I forget his name, but he might be a better candidate than the elusive Sloane.)

When will you release the next preview?

I've changed Sloan to Pressman. After thinking about it, he allows me to have a Federation leader with a preference for espionage while being closer to the Federation ideals. I've also tweaked the favorite religion values for many leaders to lessen the dominance of Warrior's Code.

With minor civs, they would be tricky to implement for the main game, but I have decided to use them to fill up some space on the gamma quadrant in the galaxy map. I may use them for the delta quadrant as well.

As for the next preview, I have no release schedule. I hope to get to the new units/buildings next, and then the civs/leaders and some odds and ends. Then the scenarios, and after that the main release. I planned the next previews to be information and screenshots, but if I feel if something needs balance testing (such as the Exocomps) I'll release game files.

Also: let me know if there are any balance problems with the building/unit/tech costs.

you shuld have three star bases type, for the later part of the game like 50 combat is needed ,like final frontier upgrade star bases with bonuses

also give move 5 to ligth VI ,or 18 combat ,something so you don'have to make boring heavy II all the time

i like when you can contruct older ships

Well, unfortunately I don't have any time to work on this in the near future. I think I'll have more time at the end of January. In the mean time, I don't think I'm going to be able to get Mozza to create the flags (he hasn't logged in for months), so I was wondering if I could get you guys to create them for the 2.0 civs (I was thinking we could also do the 3.0 flags now to get them over with since 3.0 will only add four civs). I thought I'd decide on the player color first, so I've listed it with each civ (the background color of the flag is the player color) (the list also has each leader because I'm feeling lazy and just copied this out of my design document).
-Vaadwaur: Gedrin (Brown)
-First Federation: Balok (Dark Pink)
-Gorn: Slar (Light Purple)
-Tholian: Loskene (Light Orange)
-Terran Empire: Hoshi Sato, Spock (Dark Indigo)
-Alliance: Worf (Peach)
-Xindi: Degra, Dolim (Light Yellow)
-Maquis: Eddington (Light Brown)
-Orion Syndicate: Harrad-Sar (Dark Purple)
-Suliban: Silik (Pink)

I presume that since I haven't heard anything about the unit/building/tech costs that they are balanced and work fine?

EDIT: I'll give Light VI 5 moves and give Exploration VI sentry to try to keep them balanced with each other. An 18 strength Light VI is the Alliance UU. There will be a Starbase II that comes with Quantum Torpedo (as such, Starbase I will have a lower strength). :)

I can't offer any help with the flags, however I can do some XML for you if you like.

Well, unfortunately I don't have any time to work on this in the near future. I think I'll have more time at the end of January. In the mean time, I don't think I'm going to be able to get Mozza to create the flags (he hasn't logged in for months), so I was wondering if I could get you guys to create them for the 2.0 civs (I was thinking we could also do the 3.0 flags now to get them over with since 3.0 will only add four civs). I thought I'd decide on the player color first, so I've listed it with each civ (the background color of the flag is the player color) (the list also has each leader because I'm feeling lazy and just copied this out of my design document).
-Vaadwaur: Gedrin (Brown)
-First Federation: Balok (Dark Pink)
-Gorn: Slar (Light Purple)
-Tholian: Loskene (Light Orange)
-Terran Empire: Hoshi Sato, Spock (Dark Indigo)
-Alliance: Worf (Peach)
-Xindi: Degra, Dolim (Light Yellow)
-Maquis: Eddington (Light Brown)
-Orion Syndicate: Harrad-Sar (Dark Purple)
-Suliban: Silik (Pink)

I presume that since I haven't heard anything about the unit/building/tech costs that they are balanced and work fine?

EDIT: I'll give Light VI 5 moves and give Exploration VI sentry to try to keep them balanced with each other. An 18 strength Light VI is the Alliance UU. There will be a Starbase II that comes with Quantum Torpedo (as such, Starbase I will have a lower strength).



Great News.:)

I will starting my work for the new scenario as soon i have to new art files.
First Federation, Gorn, Tholian, Maquis and Orions will be in.
Suliban and Xindi I dont know, because there are some problmes with them.
I dont know where on my map the Delephic Expanse should be ???
What role they both played later ???
Are they just in the timeline, because of the temporal cold war ???
What did happen in the original timeline , where the Suliban dont play this role( attack a Klingon on Earth etc.) ???

@ deanej : Are you playing to make more building buttons ?
I think it would be a good addon to mod when there more uniqe
buildings like Ty'Gokor base or a special building called Homeworld.
That is just used in scenarios and gives a high production and
cultur bonus. That would allow it to seperate colonies and
homweorlds better. I have seen it in a old civi 3 Star Trek mod.
When you need somebody for making xml things i offer my help
also.

I Can Play
I Dont Have First Ship
Barbarian Apear To Soon Turn 47 In Maraton

Marathon Need 475 Research Porcentage
I AM USING PREVIEW 3

In 2.0 the following buildings will be added (for everyone):
-Exocomp Center: Requires Exocomp tech, provides free Advanced Repair promotion for units build in city, required to build Exocomp unit
-Geological Power Plant: slightly cheaper than Fusion Reactor, no resource requirement, small chance of meltdown (think Praxis).

In 2.0 the following buildings will be added (for everyone):
-Exocomp Center: Requires Exocomp tech, provides free Advanced Repair promotion for units build in city, required to build Exocomp unit
-Geological Power Plant: slightly cheaper than Fusion Reactor, no resource requirement,

Good news.:)

small chance of meltdown (think Praxis).

I think Praxis was not destroyed by a Geological Power Plant Explosion.
From Star Trek Generations , we know the explosion of a star is not much faster then the light speed ( the Enterprise-D moved away with a speed not over warp 2). A Explosion with the whole energy of a Moon or Planet ( Praxis)
can not have more energy then a star explosion, but several lightyears away from Praxis the Execelsior was hited by the explosionwave and that means that the explosionwave moved faster then the one in Generations or had more time to move. The second option is realy not the right one. The first option means that the explosion had more energy than a solar explosion.
So my opion is that Praxis was destroyed by a big explosion of antimatter or a kind of subspace based technology.

In 2.0 the following units will be added (I think the last two are the most interesting):
-Warp 5 Ship: Requires Warp 5 Drive, 1 strength, 1 move, 20 cost
-Warp 7 Ship: Requires Warp 7 Drive, 2 strength, 2 moves, 40 cost
-Starbase II: Requires Quantum Torpedo, upgrades from Starbase I, 40 strength, does more collateral damage than Starbase I (note: Starbase I reduced to 20 strength, requires Combat Shields)
-Exocomp: Requires Exocomp Center in city, max 3 allowed, can rush production (1/20 strength of GE)
-Sensor Station: built by Construction Ship, requires Long-Range Center, starts with Sentry and Tacheyon Detector (note: because of this I am considering reducing the cost of the cloaking device. Thoughts on this?)

yes more stuf for construction unit
good job thank you

As it is now, the TOS and Movies eras are over really quick. Perhaps you should increase the cost of techs in these eras.

I've raised the tech cost for the TOS and Movies era techs. I've also attached a screenshot of the new models for the Sensor Station.

Any feedback on whether to reduce the cloak cost or not? I was thinking of lowering it to 25 (from 50). It could help the AI as the sensor stations will make it much easier to detect cloaked ships (so much so that if used well the cloak is nerfed). However, the AI is probably oblivious to the mechanic and a lower cloak cost could be abused by human players, as well as making an AI that hoards its units in its cities worse.

levit as it is

When will 2.0 be near finished? I know you prob get asked that a lot but after playing the first mod...I gotta have me some more!!


Also..I noticed half the races are from Voyager... ever consider adding more traditional races from the Alpha quad? Like the Gorn...Tholians.. Vulcans.. and lets not forget the most feared race in Star Trek... the Tribbles!! :crazyeye:

No idea. It won't take as long as 1.0. Mostly what I have left is finishing the new civs, the new leaders, unit models, and game text, as well as the scenarios.

2.0 will add the Gorn, First Federation, and the Tholians, as well as a couple mirror universe civs. The only new Delta Quadrant civ is the Vaadwaur. After 2.0 is released version 3.0 will add four more Alpha Quadrant civs.

I think minor factions should be in , but unplayable. They are more realstic then putting all ships to the babarians.

I like this idea too! Birth of the Federation had a setup like this where you could "discover" minor races which each contributed something if they joined your faction.

These minor factions did *okay* in BOTF but in Rhys I have seen minor factions hold their own against the major civs in amusing fashions sometimes.

@deanjei:The new models lokk great pls give me them when they are finished.
@deadliver: I said this mainly, because I will need them for my scenerario( the factions who join UFP later.

I've raised the tech cost for the TOS and Movies era techs. I've also attached a screenshot of the new models for the Sensor Station.

Any feedback on whether to reduce the cloak cost or not? I was thinking of lowering it to 25 (from 50). It could help the AI as the sensor stations will make it much easier to detect cloaked ships (so much so that if used well the cloak is nerfed). However, the AI is probably oblivious to the mechanic and a lower cloak cost could be abused by human players, as well as making an AI that hoards its units in its cities worse.

I think cloak cost is fine as is; the problem is (was?) more that the AI doesn't seem to grasp what to do with it. At any rate, I still think Cloaking Device should be available to Romulans and Klingons, i.e. not attainable through combat (?!) or otherwise. Just my 2 cents.

No idea. It won't take as long as 1.0. Mostly what I have left is finishing the new civs, the new leaders, unit models, and game text, as well as the scenarios.

2.0 will add the Gorn, First Federation, and the Tholians, as well as a couple mirror universe civs. The only new Delta Quadrant civ is the Vaadwaur. After 2.0 is released version 3.0 will add four more Alpha Quadrant civs.

Sounds good (and from Preview 2.0 it also looks good)!:goodjob:

Those particular models are ported from Star Trek: Bridge Commander. I'm not sure how I'm going to get the models for the new races; I have the Tholians now as I used them in the 22nd Century scenario and the Terran Empire and Alliance don't need new models, but I'm not sure what I'm going to do for the others (Jaydn still hasn't replied to my PM and hasn't even been here in over a month; perhaps I should try email?). I did get the flags done, though (the first time I managed to make flags work properly, too!).

When you can convert Bridge Commander files. Why do you not use the graphics frome the Brigdecommander moddingsites this is big a http://bridgecommander.filefront.com/ ?
Just this site has over 100 models.

I may do that for the Gorn ships. However, as far as I know they don't have any ships for the First Federation or the Vaadwaur. In any case, conversions from Bridge Commander wouldn't have animations, as I have no idea how Jaydn did them. I could easily use the Swarm ships for the Vaadwaur though. Neither would be canon but their ships were small and barely seen anyways so it really doesn't matter (and it would put the swam ships to use).

I suspect the units may now be using the default Final Frontier animations but I'm not sure. I'll use the swarm ships for the Vaadwaur and see what I can do for the Gorn. Won't be able to do anything for the First Federation, though.

Here's a preview of the unique buildings:

Stasis Chamber (Vaadwaur, replaces Hospital)
Stores 50% of food after growth
Only 1 allowed per system

Cultural Exchange (First Federation, replaces Library)
+1 additional scientist

Heater (Gorn, replaces Recreation Facilities)
+1 additional health
+1 additional happy

Defense System (Tholian, replaces Planetary Defense Grid)
Units build in city can see cloaked ships
(note: because of this, the Dominion UU is being reduced in cost)

Agony Booth (Terran Empire, replaces Jail)
-75% war weariness, no spy specialist (but other espionage effects still apply)

Labor Center (Alliance, replaces Factory)
+1 additional engineer

I've also added another tech; I'll reveal it with the UUs since it would fit in better with that preview.

Let's just say that one of the civs gets this powerful tech instead of a UU.

I really appreciate the extended tech tree for the main mod.:goodjob: After several trial games I've noticed however that getting that 1st ship design is giving several civs some trouble. In 3-4 trials at least 1 civ gets annihilated within the 1st 100 turns (in my previous game even 2 civs didn't make it through the 1st 50 turns). I think you should consider this an issue, especially with Pirate Scouts being able to attack.

Those previews out don't have the new units and reworked barbarian spawning. Though I haven't really tested this, I don't think it happens in the version I have (at least none fell in the first 50 turns when I was testing the new options from the Assimilation mod).

Hi I've returned... I think, just got your PM. I'll discuss further what models are needed and start ASAP.

Hi.
I have some ideas for new models who could make the mod better:

K'Vort Class
Scimitar
Sabre Class
Steamruner Class
Oberth Class
Danube Class
Cruiser Class from ENT
Intrepid Class ENT
Jem'Hadar Heavy Battelship firstly shown in `Valiant`

Here's a preview of the unique units:

Fesarius (First Federation, replaces Exploration I)
+1 additional strength

Cestus (Gorn, replaces Light I)
Free Navigation I

Webspinner (Tholian, replaces Light II)
2 first strikes

Defiant (Terran Empire, replaces Light I)
Does Collateral Damage

Negh'Var (Alliance, replaces Light VI)
+2 additional strength

If you haven't guessed by now, the civ with no UU is the Vaadwaur. Instead, the Vaadwaur have the Subspace Corridors technology, which allows them to build the Subspace Corridors route (think roads/Warp Lanes from Final Frontier).

welcome back ships captain Jaydn

I've got two questions about the Terran Empire: 1st: will their ships be the same as Federation ships, but with the cool yellow sh*t? Even though we never saw a mirror-Galaxy or Intrepid, it's reasonable to assume they would have that yellow stuff as well.
2nd: shouldn't their UU replace the Warp 5 Ship? After all, In a Mirror, Darkly was set in the Enterprise era. You could make it as strong and fast as a Light 1, meaning the Terran Empire will become THE rush civ, which is consistent with their nature in the series, as the apparently conquered the Vulcans, Andorians, Orions and Denobulans within 90 years of their first warp flight.

As far as I know the yellow stuff was only seen on their NX class ships (but I don't have any screenshots from the remastered version of Mirror, Mirror so I can't verify this). For now I'm just using the Federation units but have mentioned the idea of a retexture to Jaydn.

The Warp 5 ship comes very early and I don't want to make the use of a UU dependant on rushes (which is why most of the 1.0 UUs were from the late game, and the ones from that early got free promos). They were still very powerful in the mid-23rd century so it still fits. I will be including mirror universe scenarios in 3.0 to better represent this.

I don't think the remastered mirror Constitutions have yellow stuff, but I always assumed that's because they simply followed the design of the USS Defiant in the mirror universe. Also, the yellow stuff looks pretty kick-ass on ships in the game Star Trek: Legacy. In the attachments I put screenshots of what the mirror Akula, Defiant, Yorktown, Miranda, Escelsior and Galaxy-classes look like in mods for that game.

retexturing the Federation ships to put "yellow stuff" on them would be quite easy

welcome back ships captain Jaydn

:agree:

Good to see you back!:)

If you haven't guessed by now, the civ with no UU is the Vaadwaur. Instead, the Vaadwaur have the Subspace Corridors technology, which allows them to build the Subspace Corridors route (think roads/Warp Lanes from Final Frontier).

I'd love to see the Borg with this technology as they use somewhat similar corridors in Voyager. I realize it would make the Borg that much more powerful but I like a good challenge. Plus I like playing as the borg :scan: If only there was as an easier way for them to assimilate UU and cultures into their own

it's call asimilation option in menu
scroll dawn to last option

I could remove the Borg UU and instead give them the subspace corriders tech at start like the Vaadwaur (that actually makes more sense than having one mega unit late game, especially since I'm tweaking the abilities of each unit class).

EDIT: Here are the new roles:
-Exploration: all would have ranged attack, no other units would (except Bajoran UU), possibly rename to Light
-Light: +25% vs. Heavy, +10% city attack, possibly rename to Heavy
-Heavy: +50% vs. Starbase, collateral damage, put cost and movement in line with light units (maybe slightly higher cost), possibly rename to Battleship
-Barracks: grant free city garrison in addition to free city raider, requires Phase Pistols

I could remove the Borg UU and instead give them the subspace corriders tech at start like the Vaadwaur (that actually makes more sense than having one mega unit late game, especially since I'm tweaking the abilities of each unit class).


That sounds good, though I would miss my über Cube.

Speaking of which, is the a way to keep UU's after they become obsolete?

I could remove the Borg UU and instead give them the subspace corriders tech at start like the Vaadwaur (that actually makes more sense than having one mega unit late game, especially since I'm tweaking the abilities of each unit class).



No, I like the Borg Cubes. (Though they should be even more powerful)

I tweaked the upgrades, so with the exception of Light I/II UUs they will last a bit longer.

I could remove the Borg UU and instead give them the subspace corriders tech at start like the Vaadwaur (that actually makes more sense than having one mega unit late game, especially since I'm tweaking the abilities of each unit class).

EDIT: Here are the new roles:
-Exploration: all would have ranged attack, no other units would (except Bajoran UU), possibly rename to Light
-Light: +25% vs. Heavy, +10% city attack, possibly rename to Heavy
-Heavy: +50% vs. Starbase, collateral damage, put cost and movement in line with light units (maybe slightly higher cost), possibly rename to Battleship
-Barracks: grant free city garrison in addition to free city raider, requires Phase Pistols

Sounds intrigueing, although:

- the Borg historically don't start with corridors, but develop the appropriate tech (and without a powerful ship design, what would they do with it?)
- you already reduced ranged attack to 1 square (and Scouts already have a sensor advantage; currently the barbs even use Scouts to capture colonies)
- if you replace Heavy with Battleship, why not replace Light with Cruiser as a name?

Some things I noticed while playing:

shot #1: Barbs took Cardassia and are now building Galors (they Assimilated it!)
shot #2: Can't build Factory (only 1 allowed per system?)
shot #3: Can't build Holodeck ???

I believe there is at least one ship with a range of 2. I'm not sure if I'm going to rename the units or not. It's put in as an idea, but I don't think I'm actually going to do it unless people want it (since I'm sure we've all gotten use to their existing names).

#2/3: Both were added to the list of buildings that can only have one per system by request a while ago. Is this not documented?

Is early game starbase capture too hard? That was my main reasoning for bringing the ability all the way back (and possibly nerfed, with the ranged strength being only half the normal strength). I should probably document the extra visibility too, and possibly increase it for probes (or make it only for probes?), if I could figure out where it comes from in the first place.

you don't need range bombardment if you give colateral damage promotion
like sea ships

The early game will need something (I don't plan on moving when the Heavy units come in). The barrage promos were changed in 3.17 to increase collateral damage by a percent, so if a unit has no base collateral damage they do nothing.

Well, I'm busy again, no idea when I'll have a lot of free time right now. I have to find out which sounds do/don't work anyways. For now I'm putting a description of the scenarios included in 2.0 here.

The Cardassian War
Tensions between the Cardassian Union and the Federation have risen to war. The occupation of Bajor is underway, and Cardassia faces enemies real and percieved on all sides. Can it survive, or will the war be the end of Cardassia?
Details will be based off of the Star Trek: Terok Nor trilogy

The Tomed Incident
Tensions are rising between the Federation and the Romulans, and it look like it could boil into open war. The Klingons have vowed to declare way on the aggressor. Can you survive these troubled times?
Based off of Star Trek: The Lost Era: Serpents among the Ruins

The Galaxy
This scenario is a huge galaxy map. It features a few tweaks from the main mod, including more powerful Borg, civ differences, and the ability to found the Federation.

Millennium: The War of the Prophets
The three Red Orbs of Jalbrador have been brought together, revealing a second Bajoran Wormhole. The Dominion has been annihilated, and the Bajoran Ascendancy has risen to power. The Federation is now involved in a bloody holy war. At stake: the universe itself!
Based off of the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Millennium trilogy

The Eugenics Wars
The year is 1992, and Earth is in the middle of the Eugenics Wars. Khan Noonian Singh is opposed by other genetically engineered supermen as well as Gary Seven and Roberta Lincoln. Who will come out on top?
Based off of the Eugenics Wars books

These sound like pretty cool scenarios, especially the Galaxy scenario (too bad it won't include the Mirror civs). You should watch out with the locations of civs Voyager met, however, as they made huge jumps every now and then. So the approximate distance to Earth of the Delta Quadrant civs would be:
Kazons and Vidiians: 70000 light years
Krenim: 56000 light years
Hirogen: 46000-25000 light years at least.
Devore: 46000 light years
Vaadwaur: 24000 light years

Starting civ placement is going to be interesting. The map won't be 100% canon with regard to distance (it would be WAY TOO BIG if it was), so regions that were never featured will be compressed (meaning anything that isn't the Alpha Quadrant and parts of the Delta Quadrant, particularly the region between the Gamma and Delta Quadrants). I want to make the distances still large enough to make the wormholes useful.

Unfortunately large maps get very slow very fast. I plan for a slightly larger than huge map based on the spiral galaxy map script (if I can figure out how to get denser solar systems I'll do that too).

To get denser solar systems, you can simply select that option while starting a game (though that often leads to the outer planets of two systems intersecting each others orbits).
Here's a site that could be useful to you when making this scenario: http://www.stdimension.org/int/Cartography/cartography.htm

I'll also make a scenario myself, which will be based on the 22nd century scenario, and will be about the mirror universe invading the normal universe.

I don't think the spiral galaxy script has that option.

How many poly's is too many for a unit model? I only ask because I've just finished First Federation and Fesarius is clocking in at 1200 spheres :) with only 10 poly's a sphere... down from 32 when I started making it. The whole NIF is only 2.3mb but that amount of models is scaring me.

I was having an aweful time with NIFviewer and shader libraries but I think I've worked out my problems, I'll try and upload a screenshot this evening.

I don't know. How does it perform compared to the other units?

Well, in the Unit Creation's forum, the modelers usually say it's best to keep units under 2000 polys. At least that's the number I've seen thrown around.

Well there's no way I can make Fesarius with only 2000 polys. I ran the game with 4 versions of the unit last night and never had any problems. It may be due to the fact that all the spheres are are composed of 2 sizes, many copies of each.

Regardless, everything ran smoothly, here is a screenshot of First Federation units... warning, its 1920x1200 resolution.

Urgh, honestly man I don't want to be negative about your work since you have created some beautiful models but those First Federation ships just look kind of ugly and dull. It's not your fault or anything you've got little to go on and all. I mean the Fesarius itself doesn't look too bad. The other ships seem a bit naked maybe more spheres? Whatever you decide I think poetic license is the key to making them look better. The probe looks fine but it's kind of an exhibit A as to why it might not be the best idea to included races that appeared in one episode of TOS and where never heard from again. Just uninteresting ships due to the limited budget and Special effects available at the time (heck, even the remastered version of the probe isn't all that interesting to look at).

I'm not insulted, I didn't really have much in the way of source material to go on. If deanej doesn't want to use them he doesn't have to, no big deal to me. The only ships actually seen in the one episode were Fesarius, the scout, and the probe, the others I just made up on the spot to fill holes.

Well, one thing I can say is that I do experience slowdowns with the Fesarius - is it possible to make the spheres in a texture?

I don't know, let me try and I'll let you know.

May 21st is my birthday, and version 2.0 of this mod is on my wishlist... Any chance you'll have it finished by then?

I've been very busy recently so I haven't been able to work on it. I don't know what next week will be like; could have a lot of time, could have none. I may be able to get one scenario done by then if everything works out perfectly.

That's a shame. :-(
BTW, do you have the main mod nearly finished? Because if you have, you could focus on the main mod, so you can release it soon, adding the scenarios later.

I have a couple things left to do with the main mod, one of which will make scenarios easier if I can do it. I base the scenarios off the main mod anyways (exception: the one I'm currently working on is based off of unmodded BtS) so I have to do it in that order. Towards the end of 1.0 I was able to do a complete scenario in a weekend but I had more time and had a process developed. Once I have time it shouldn't be too long.

I could remove the Borg UU and instead give them the subspace corriders tech at start like the Vaadwaur (that actually makes more sense than having one mega unit late game, especially since I'm tweaking the abilities of each unit class).
I like that idea a lot. The Borg Cube is a little overpowered as is (yes, I do remember every Borg episode, but there is a game to recall. Under the current rules, why ever upgrade Cubes to Light VI? No reason to.) Actually, why not expand the idea so that more races use Unique Techs instead of (or in addition to) Unique Units?
For example why not restrict the ability to research Cloaking Device to those races we know actually used them (Klingon, Suliban, and Romulan), allow the Federation to use Saucer Separation, give the Krenim Temporal Weapons, etc. This, to me, seems more useful than a single good unit since said units become obsolete. (Granted, Saucer Separation would mean the Federation gets a large number of "Unique Units" but these would probably be weaker than normal, not stronger.)

EDIT: Here are the new roles:
-Exploration: all would have ranged attack, no other units would (except Bajoran UU), possibly rename to Light
-Light: +25% vs. Heavy, +10% city attack, possibly rename to Heavy
-Heavy: +50% vs. Starbase, collateral damage, put cost and movement in line with light units (maybe slightly higher cost), possibly rename to Battleship
-Barracks: grant free city garrison in addition to free city raider, requires Phase Pistols
It's like you read my mind. I completely love this idea. Although technically Battleship refers to a particular classification of seagoing vessel, the extension into space vessels makes sense. Still, referring to the ships as Light and Heavy Cruisers is much truer to their use in show and movie.

I can't have that scenario finished today. I'll try to get it done ASAP.

Also, more discussion on the borg thing... I have opinions in two different directions here.

I like that idea a lot. The Borg Cube is a little overpowered as is (yes, I do remember every Borg episode, but there is a game to recall. Under the current rules, why ever upgrade Cubes to Light VI? No reason to.) Actually, why not expand the idea so that more races use Unique Techs instead of (or in addition to) Unique Units?
For example why not restrict the ability to research Cloaking Device to those races we know actually used them (Klingon, Suliban, and Romulan), allow the Federation to use Saucer Separation, give the Krenim Temporal Weapons, etc. This, to me, seems more useful than a single good unit since said units become obsolete. (Granted, Saucer Separation would mean the Federation gets a large number of "Unique Units" but these would probably be weaker than normal, not stronger.)

Interesting ideas here; I've mentioned limiting Cloaking Device a couple of times, I believe. I don't know if the Borg can possibly be overpowered. (Did you check out apenpaap's latest? The Borg there have stronger units than in deanej's versions, I think.)

Also, more discussion on the borg thing... I have opinions in two different directions here.

Well, that's bound to happen. Might be interesting to see response to the Borg as they are vs. apenppap's version.

In my version, if you play as the Borg, you have a very easy time. It's fun, though, if you're having a bad day and want someone else to suffer for it.
If you're playing against the Borg they are a huge, but not insurmountable, treat. Their units are very strong, but due to the increased costs they generally come with a low amount of them. Also, they are often universally hated, so it's very easy to get others to dogpile them.

Nice to know how they work in that version. I had planned to make them very powerful for The Galaxy scenario but this could allow them to be that way for the main mod as well.

I don't mean to say the Borg are currently overpowered in terms of being Borg, but rather in terms of being a remotely playable race in a fair game. The goal should be to give them something unique and distinctly Borg, but without making them more or less powerful than, say, the Romulans. Transwarp conduits may not be the way, but I think it's a step in the right direction....
Actually, I have an idea in that direction. Why not give the Borg their single most feared ability? Assimilation. This could be done in a number of ways. The first I see is by simply reducing the time it takes for captured bases to convert from their original race to Borg. The second is by using tech stealing: the Borg, and Borg alone, would be able to steal an enemy's technology after stealing an enemy's base. The third is enslavement: a defeated enemy ship would have a change of being captured rather than destroyed. Maybe even all three.
Assimilation would make the Collective a force to be feared in war without making them unbeatable in combat.

I like the idea of having the Borg assimilate ships; I'll add a poll here about the rest.

I like the idea of having the Borg assimilate ships

That most certainly seems like the way to go.;)

I've finally finished The Eugenics Wars scenario (only a week late). It probably needs some work especially with regard to tech rate (and I think I need to add more barbs at start as they just get obliterated within 5 turns and don't really affect the game).
Download here! (http://files.filefront.com/The+Eugenics+Wars/;13820129;/fileinfo.html)

That sounds cool. One thing I'm going to do for 2.0 is create a huge galaxy map with all the civs and a few more, even including wormholes (how to get the AI to use them I have no idea).

I have just thought of a way to make them understandable for AI, though it will not look pretty and both ends of the wormhole will have to be near the edge of the map:

First, you add a new terraintype called "Wormhole interior", with as properties:
Costs 1/1000th movement point to transverse (or something similarly low)
Can't build improvements or cities here.
Now you can make a wormhole by drawing a line from each of the exits straight to the edge of the map, and then connect the two along the edge of the map. To prevent ships from entering the wormhole halfway, put a layer of Nebula on each side of it. To show what I mean, I attached a drawing. Each of the red dots represents a solar system, the green stuff is the "Wormhole Interior" terrain, and the brown is nebula.

I've finally finished The Eugenics Wars scenario (only a week late). It probably needs some work especially with regard to tech rate (and I think I need to add more barbs at start as they just get obliterated within 5 turns and don't really affect the game).
Download here! (http://files.filefront.com/The+Eugenics+Wars/;13820129;/fileinfo.html)

I have tested it for about 20 turns as Khan, and it looks like fun. I have easily waltzed over arabia, which gives me some much needed oil. (You should maybe put an Oil resource in India, as Khan played by the AI may never become a threat if you don't.)
I haven't played any of the other playable empires, but it looks like they'll hav a pretty hard job, as they all start out with 1 or 2 cities. O, and America switched to slavery in the second turn http://trekbbs.com/images/smilies/rommie.gif.

They all start with units (Hunyadi and Morrison should have a good amount of units, but they might need more). Seven is probably the most difficult (Khan's naturally the easiest) if you play the way Seven would actually do it as he would (as in no conquering) it's probably the hardest but due to the transporter (and starting spies/great spies) if you do conquer with them it's probably very easy.

Balancing research could be tricky, as it's slow from the start but likely goes up significantly as cities get conquered. I probably need to increase the number of barb units as well as they should be causing mayhem in the areas mentioned in the intro. I hope it isn't too difficult to start an empire with the other leaders. Oh, and the space ship for the space race victory is supposed to be the Botany Bay but this isn't mentioned anywhere.

Some things on the map are technically wrong (such as the locations of Istanbul and Morrison's start) but were done to keep the cities from being too close together and chocking each other with culture.

WOW! I was playing the scenario, and nuked someone, and it razed the city! http://trekbbs.com/images/smilies/rommie.gif That's an awesome surprise.

I've just conducted a Romulan game on Lieutenant to try out the Star Trek mod. Here are some things I've noticed:

Captain Picard is misspelt in the Cloaking Device tech, as are the Tachyon Detector promotion and the Ideological Pluralism civic. B'Elanna Torres is missing her E as a Great Engineer.

Why are the barbarians called that? Couldn't they be pirates, as in Jeleen's MoO mod?

Why is Captain Picard a Great Prophet? I'm sure that Ben Sisko and any of the Vedeks/Kais would fulfil that role far better. You could take the names of the genetically-engineered experts from TNG's The Masterpiece Society if you wanted more names (if you haven't already). Perhaps Sloane could be a Great Spy?

The game seems to generate lots of Great Engineers. No complaint: just an observation.

There aren't that many techs, but I see you've got more for v2. Good :)

I've done the text fixes except the civic one (it seems to be spelled the same way you have it).

I think of the barbarians as misc hostile alien vessels (the "alien of the week"). In Final Frontier they were pirates (as that universe didn't have aliens in it), and they probably got carried over that way in MOO2Civ (or may be left that way deliberately).

I've tweaked the prophet names. I think of them as spreading their ideology rather than a religion so he still fit there, but like you said, Sisko fits better. He was already a general, so I just swapped the names. I changed a couple others as well.

Why not simply go with "Alien vessel" rather than barbarian then? After all, barbarians in Star Trek refer to people's culture, rather than their tech level!

I hope that good old Garak is in as a Great Spy and his hapless friend Julian as a Great Scientist :)

In Final Frontier they were pirates (as that universe didn't have aliens in it), and they probably got carried over that way in MOO2Civ (or may be left that way deliberately).

They probably did get carried over that way when NCCSavage started MOO2Civ; ideally, they should be transformed into the Antaran race and be referred to that way. (One of the many things on my To Do list...)

Scenario Preview: The Tomed Incident and The Cardassian War

These scenarios are both set the the era between The Undiscovered Country and "Encounter at Farpoint". The Tomed Incident is based on the Lost Era book Serpents Among the Ruins (if you haven't read it the only thing you may want to know is that Harriman did become a good captain after Generations) and The Cardassian War is based on the Terok Nor trilogy.

Would it be possible to rig this up like they did in FFH2 4.0, where you have the mod itself with separate scenarios embedded inside? I think it would really work for this.

I also do a lot more custom XML for scenarios than they do; they just have leaders, I have leaders, civs, units, techs (usually just for the units). Most of their changes from the epic game are done via python, while most of the ones I do don't use any more python than the rest of the mod (less, actually).

And I suspect the mod would break if I so much as tried to do it. I based it off of the Final Frontier mod (this is where the solar system code and all the space stuff comes from); I can't even begin to comprehend how the solar system code actually works, and it already breaks if some XML stuff is used (bNeverCapture, unique buildings without an XML hack to make the number of building classes and number of buildings equal, corporations don't work, some random event code doesn't work, etc.).

I think the genetically enhanced factions in the eugenics wars should get stronger units. I haven't read the Khan books, so I don't know whether they had genetically engineered soldiers or just generals, but I think either way would make the unit a lot stronger.

Also, the Serbian Augments' only city revolts to Europe sometimes, after which they are defeated.

I've made the following changes to the release version of The Eugencis Wars:
-Added Genetically Engineered promotion (immune to first strikes, can heal while moving, 1 first strike, +25% strength)
-Added Genetically Engineered trait (free genetically engineered promotion to all units)
-Gave genetically engineered to needed units and barbs
-Changed some units to the attack AI (was city defense (!))
-Some more barb units
-City flipping disabled
-Removed Khan's large stack of units at start
-Removed the large Chinese stack at start

In the books, Morrison actually ran a terrorist cell instead of an empire. He had regular people fight for him. I don't know about Hunyadi. Khan had a mix. I think it would be better for gameplay for them to have stronger units, though.

With these changes Khan is probably more balanced. The barbs are actually a threat now and should take cities (in my test Lima and Nairobi fell, Chengdu did not, this is the reason the Chinese stack was removed (they reinforced Changdu and destroyed the barb stack)).

That sound like some good changes. (Though it's a shame that I won't be able to immediatly roll over ababia anymore without the stack)

I think you also should add some modern unit models like the ones from the Nation in War mod.
They are verry great except the Bismarck, that I deleted.
Also some units like modern infantry( I hate the unrealistic mechanizied Infantry) would be great.
I also could offer to make a bigger world map I the next weeks, if you want( I started making a good one, but never finished)

Hey deanej, I noticed you installed patch 3.19; any trouble running Star Trek mod?:confused:

Probably due to all the DLL changes. I'm working on upgrading it; I should have a temporary patch out within a week at most, then 2.0 by the end of the month if all goes as planned.

I was afraid of that... Anyway, good news on the update and 2.0 release.;)

That's good news. 3.19 goodness and a mod upgrade :D

did you check babylon 5 mod
you should use oficers promotion like this look great

Scenario Preview: Millennium: The War of the Prophets

The three Red Orbs of Jalbrador have been brought together, revealing a second Bajoran Wormhole. The Dominion has been annihilated, and the Bajoran Ascendancy has risen to power. The Federation is now involved in a bloody holy war. At stake: the universe itself!

I'm not quite done with this yet but it's mostly done. I suspect that there will need to be at least one patch for it after release dealing with balance issues. The second screenshot is already outdated - the initial version of the map was so unbalanced that I reduced the Grigari stacks (one with 5 units and another with 10) to 3 units each, and their strength has been reduced to 9. Their cost has also been doubled from the initial version (their capital was able to produce one every two turns, which would then be immedietly teleported to the red wormhole). I'm hoping these changes will make it difficult instead of impossible for the Federation. My intent is not to make it so that the civs are balanced but to make each playable. The scenario is set between books one and two of the Millennium trilogy (in the second book the Federation existed only as a handful of ships and Utopia Planetia). Like DS9, this scenario has events tied to the calendar, listed here. All but one were described in the trilogy (I added some backstory for the position of the Romulans in 2400).

-2379: start of scenario
-2385: Grigari attack Earth
-2386: advanced technology to Klingons and Federation
-2387: that event with the Romulans
-2391: Tom Riker
-2393: Grigari attack the Klingon Empire
-2398: Project Phoenix
-2401: End of the Universe (or not, if you can prevent it)

And I just realized that I made a major error with the calendar (fixed with the posted list, but the screenshots show the old start date of 2378).

The Millenium books are WAY overdone, IMO, but they should make for an interesting scenario.

A few ideas on how units should look for civs:
The Bajoran warp 5 and 7 ships should be those space sailing ships from "Explorers" (I know they never went faster then light, but they're closer to the era then the Bajoran warpships)
The Romulan construction ships should be the Narada (It was only a mining vessel, after all).
The Hirogen starbase should be the hologram fighting station from "Flesh and Blood".

And one for the 22nd century scenario:
The "Unknown Ship" could be the ship we see in ENT's opening credits, just before the NX-01, for Earth.

All good ideas, unfortunately I don't model, and Jaydn is busy right now.

Personally, I'd rather see a scenario dealing with the TNG Relaunch and crossover books (Before Dishonor, Greater Than the Sum, the Destiny trilogy and its followup, and several others) that all deal with a major Borg attack on the Federation. The books are awesome, most of them excellently well written, and the event they deal with covers something many of us fans always wondered about: "Why do the Borg always send one ship? If they attacked en masse, the Federation couldn't withstand them." :)

Scenario Preview: The Galaxy
This is a huge galaxy map. By huge, I mean HUGE. With the fastest non-Borg ship, it takes 25 turns to cross it (probably more). This time can be reduced using the Bajoran and Barzan wormholes. It also includes the ability to found the Federation; Earth, Vulcan, Andoria, and Tellar can build the wonder Federation Headquarters, which will add them all to the same team. Screenshots are attached to this post.

Final 2.0 Changelog
This first set of changes is for the scenarios that came with 1.0 (version 1.22):
-Decaren changed to Karr (Hirogen Hunters scenario)
-Text fix for Deep Space Nine (fixes issue where Sisko would display as Archer)
-Changed location of Breen unit spawn (Deep Spce Nine)
-All scenario units (except Venator, Temporal Warship, Kazon Torpedo) have ranged attack ability (except Xindi Attack scenario)
-Slight speed improvements to Deep Space Nine and Xindi Attack (converted unit sound code to 2.0)
-Scenarios updated to 2.0 DLL file (to be compatable with 3.19)

This second set is the update to the mod overall. Any of these changes that involved the DLL are already in the 3.19 Star Trek patch. Some have previously been released in previews.
-Updated leaderhead art
-Replaced Decaren with Karr
-Replaced victory and defeat music
-Tweaked health/happy values for buildings
-Added Inquisitive trait
-Tweaked trait building production bonuses
-Added Rebellious trait
-Tweaked leader traits
-Added Value victory (need 75% of value influence and holy city)
-Added ten new technologies
-Tweaked tech tree requirements
-IDIC is an Enterprise era tech
-Universal Database is a TOS era tech
-Sentry requires Enhanced Sensors
-System Raider/Garrison 1 require Phase Pistols
-Starbase I requires Shields, only 20 strength
-Contruction Ship requires Warp 5 Program
-Colony Ship requires Warp 5 Program
-Light I requries Photon Torpedo
-Adjusted starting techs for barbarians
-Rebalanced existing units
-Changed start year to 2140
-Fixed issue with great person generation rate on normal game speed
-Added new era/diplo music
-Tweaked civilopedia entries for units from Final Frontier (Colony Ship, Construction Ship, Starbase, Anti-Ship Missile)
-Added Exocomp Center and Geological Power Plant buildings
-Removed 25% tech cost increase from Civ4GameSpeedInfos (now applied directly to base tech cost)
-Added Warp 5 Ship, Warp 7 Ship, Exocomp, Starbase II, Sensor Station
-Adjusted barb spawing for new units
-Raised tech cost for TOS and Movie eras
-Tweaked barb/Devore city lists
-Added new civilizations (Vaadwaur, First Federation, Gorn, Tholian, Terran Empire, Klingon-Cardassian Alliance)
-Reduced cost of Dominion UU (due to Tholian UB)
-Added Subspace Corridor route (Vaadwaur only)
-Fixed combat odds bug for units that can't kill other units
-Espionage Advisor now longer shows up when No Espionage is turned on
-Updated Assimilation Mod
-Increased building limit to 200 (does not affect gameplay, only modding)
-Fixed concepts in civilopedia
-Barbarians spawn until the end of the game
-Barbarians spawn time indexed to game speed (so it is later on slower game speeds)
-Probes: -1000% space defense
-All units lose bonus vs. probes
-Changed interception ability text
-Camp Khitomer government civic vote changed to Representation
-Text fixes
-Added new leaders (Pressman, Cretak, Damar, Weyoun, Sulan, Winn, Gedrin, Balok, Slar, Loskene, Sato, Spock, Worf)
-Tweaked unit upgrades
-50% increase in upgrade cost (except Starbase)
-Re-Added Barrage promotions
-Barracks also grants free System Defense 1 promotion, requires Phase Pistols
-Razed cities now produce wreckage, not city ruins
-Tweaked techs available from wreckage
-Added sounds to almost all tech quotes
-All Exploration ships have ranged attack
-Removed ranged attack from all non-exploration units except Bajoran UU
-Heavy units: cost and movement in line with light units, +50% vs. Starbase, does collateral damage
-Light units: +10% city attack, no missile bonus
-Light IV and above: +25% vs. Heavy, carry missiles
-Added Subspace Warhead
-Missiles can be captured
-Missile: reduced range to 5, only 10 strength
-Added victory movies
-Cities no longer start with any route on the plot
-Unit sounds now determined by unit combat type or special unit type where possible
-Tweaked Great Person names
-Tweaked Unit AI on unit types
-Merged in apenpaap's Borg modmod
-Renamed barbarians to hostile aliens
-AI player names are always read from XML
-Updated to BtS patch 3.19
-Building cost increase changed to be in line with Final Frontier
-Some Value text fixes
-Added SpiralGalaxyManyCivs map script
-Added new scenarios (The Tomed Incident, The Cardassian War, Millennium: The War of the Prophets, The Galaxy)

Sounds cool! 3.19 compatibility is just one more reason to upgrade :)

So the final 2.0 will be out soon right?
Looking forward to it!
I'm a long-time Trekkie! Live long and prosper!

I have briefly looked over vesion 2.0, and I really like it. I will try it this afternoon, but I've noticed these thigs:
The Dominion have a new song. I must say I like the old one better. Maybe you can do one of them for the female founder and the other for Weyoun.
The Terran ships all look exactly like the Federation ships. At least the NX should have the yellow stuff on it.
The Vaadwaur diplo musicdoesn't play in-game for some reason.

Luckily, these are just small things. It looks really cool.

Quite impressive, deanej! :goodjob:

I've done some pretty significant modifcations to my v1.0 XML files, particularly regarding the units. Will I be able to load my changes into the new XML unitinfos file, or will I have to start from scratch?
(I'm writing from work so I can't check the files, I'm just anxious...)


Either way I'm looking forward to the 2.0!

^I haven't taken a look at it yet (I have three modmods I will need to update to version 2.0), but I think it will just be copypasting your stuff into the 2.0 files.

I just noticed that you can get a Light I or Exploration I from goody huts when you don't have the appropriate techs yet.

So? Sounds like regular Civ to me.;)

I have briefly looked over vesion 2.0, and I really like it. I will try it this afternoon, but I've noticed these thigs:
The Dominion have a new song. I must say I like the old one better. Maybe you can do one of them for the female founder and the other for Weyoun.
The Terran ships all look exactly like the Federation ships. At least the NX should have the yellow stuff on it.
The Vaadwaur diplo musicdoesn't play in-game for some reason.

Luckily, these are just small things. It looks really cool.

-I believe the old Dominion diplo became era music.
-Don't know how to retexture them
-The Vaadwaur diplo music is really low (pitch, not volume) so it's possible that you aren't hearing it. I'll try increasing the volume via XML.

As for the goody huts: I'm thinking to changing the Light I one to Warp 5 ship; not quite sure about the Exploration I one (leave as is (getting an Exploration I before the tech is not as game-changing as the Light I)? change to warp 5? change to probe?).

Warp 5 might be good/better. I'd suggest leaving Expl. I as is. It's quite customary to discover a tech when exploring and finding more advanced units shouldn't be considered that extraordinary IMO.

If you make a Warp 5 ship come out of the goody huts instead of a Exploration I, it'll encourage more exploring with it.

My opinion would be to either have XP, credits, maps, or an enemy ambush awaiting in the wreckages. It's one thing to expect a small band of villagers to join your cause when playing on a terran map. It's quite another that someone would have a Constitution Class cruiser just waiting in the wing.

I have found another minor bug: if you start in a later era then the ENT era, you get the Subspace Corridors tech, even if you're not the Vaadwaur.

OK, fixed that. Also, listening to the Vaadwaur diplo again, it sounds more like a broken file than good diplo music, so I've taken the former Dominion diplo music from the era music and gave it back to the Dominion, while the current Dominion diplo will be reassigned to the Vaadwaur.

As it turns out it will be less work to just mod the new game for some files (unitinfos) and copy others. Will take awhile, but will be completely worth the effort. 2.0 looks great so-far!

Found an interesting bug/exploit/(feature?) in The Eugenics Wars, as the Aegis. This may be an intended feature, but no one's mentioned it so far, so:

The transport sequence unit is an invisible transport. It can move into enemy territory and over enemy units.

However, if I load a visible unit into the invisible transport, and, say, move it into an enemy city, the game tries to put a (loaded) visible unit and visible enemy units into the same plot at the same time, fails, and expells all the enemy units to a neighboring plot.

I then move my 15-speed unit out of the city, unload the unit, and take the city.

If you have enough units and Transport Sequences, you can do this to every city of a civ in one turn, defeat your enemy, and wipe out all their expelled forces, because they no longer control any cities.

Used this to (in one game) wipe out all three Eugenics civs in a couple of turns, (in another) to destroy a major civ in a turn.

Was this intended?

Nope. It probably results from the fact that the game was not coded with land transports in mind (much less invisible ones). The thing is, loaded units are supposed to be invisible, but I guess the game does not compensate for that. I don't have the expertise to create a custom DLL capable of fixing this. I posted this in the unofficial patch thread - maybe they will fix this.

I just played the Millenium scenario until 2387, and it's a lot of fun. I have found that the trick to winning is building two stabases next to the wormhole. This means you can weaken Grigori ships coming through to the point were a Prometheus or Sovereign can finish them off. I did this really early, meaning the Grigori were no problem, and I just had the Bajorans to worry about. I took the Bajoran systems one by one, and the attack on Earth came when I had captured Bajor, New Bajor, Cardassia, and another system from them. The system flipping cost me two systems, but it wasn't too hard to reconquer them (especially since I had built 4 starbases next to the wormhole by this time, meaning any Grigori ships coming through were immediatly destroyed (BTW, a Great Engineer came through at one point). When a certain event involving the Romulans came around, the popup text was rather funny: it said the Federation and Klingons were in no condition to provide help, but the Grigori and Bajorans were. At that turn, I had conquered all but two Bajoran systems, and the Grigori ships were blown up as soon as they left the wormhole, while the Federation and Klingons both had huge empires http://trekbbs.com/images/smilies/rommie.gif. Anyway, this means I have a new enemy, which mean I'll havce something to do until 2401.
The Hobus and Romulan systems were both OK, BTW. IMO, the Hobus system shopuld be replaced with a supernova, and the Romulan sysytem should be nuked.

Looks like I forgot to have those systems destroyed. Will also rescale Ascendacy ship strength.