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<facepalm> Damned apostrophe. I forgot to type that in when looking it up on my dictionary widget.
Nice story, by-the-way. So far the Axe-tails sound a lot like the Aurorans/Klingons. In fact, I'm willing to bet their storyline will end up being my favorite of EVN:UGF much like the Auroran storyline is my favorite in standard EVN.
Status Report: The ship DESCs and non-developer PERSs are finished. I'm getting ready to start mapping now. I'm reusing EVN's existing map, minus Polaris space (they've somehow been cut off from the rest of the universe by a hyperspace rift since 0 GSD).
I'm curious: has anyone written an application for Windows that can help with this?
This post has been edited by StarSword : 08 April 2010 - 11:49 AM
Here's the UGF preamble. Like the original Nova preambles, it has two sections.
Nice writing. It makes me look forward to this even more. <insert giddy emoticon>
QUOTE (darthkev @ Apr 9 2010, 01:26 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
Well, I like to think I'm a pretty good writer. Check out my DeviantART profile if you want to see more. I've actually got two in-progress novels in my gallery there ( Justice By Any Means is set in the UGF Universe, like EVN:UGF, while Silver Wolf is a Neverwinter Nights 2 fanfic), in addition to what little concept art for EVN:UGF I've gotten around to scanning. (I've also got a photo of my motorcycle in the gallery.)
EVN:UGF is probably going to be sidelined for a little while: the end of the semester is coming up, and you know what that means. If anyone, and I do mean ANYONE, wants to take a shot at a sprite for the Durandal, or any of the other ships I've posted, please, do so. You might just end up my sprite man.
Quick question regarding PERS resources: does the "Only show hail quote once" flag make the hail quote show up only once per PERS appearance, or only once EVER?
Another question: I remember seeing a screenshot of a galaxy map somebody made with a different app (not a the in-game galaxy map). I think he was making a Halo TC, but I don't remember if it was on this forum or the defunct EV-nova.net forum. Does anyone know what I'm talking about, and if so, who it was and/or which program he used?
This post has been edited by StarSword : 11 April 2010 - 06:28 PM
Status Report:
With some judicious use of Excel and a little creative GOVT class assignation, I managed to code the GOVT alignments in about 45 minutes of solid work. I also came up with a couple of ideas for events in the UGF string.
I also managed to find a link to the Windows EVN Cartographer application by Artanis, thanks to a message from Krugerusp. And I probably didn't spell his name right. :rolleyes: Anyway, you can find it at this link. This will save me a heck of a lot of trial and error in the mapping phase. Thanks, Krug.
No prob. Came across it myself just a few weeks back. If only someone were willing to code it into EVNEW somehow...
QUOTE (StarSword @ Apr 12 2010, 11:28 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
<snip> And I probably didn't spell his name right. :rolleyes: <snip>
I added most people's tags to my computer's dictionary to help prevent that. It's actually a quite useful thing to do.
This post has been edited by darthkev : 12 April 2010 - 03:35 PM
The UGF mission string is planned out. It's probably going to be longer than the Axe-tail string, but ought to be just as much fun.
Meanwhile, I've finished cutting out the extra systems from the galaxy file. Next I'll collapse the SYSTs so there aren't any unused numbers, and then I'll be ready to begin adding systems.
This post has been edited by StarSword : 13 April 2010 - 11:20 AM
Reading about the UGF string has me interested in one thing: what do UGF ships look like? Will they be variations of Star Trek ships, other ships you've seen, or something from your own imagination?
QUOTE (darthkev @ Apr 13 2010, 03:37 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
Hang on. I've got a top view of an Aegis -class command ship lying around somewhere. They don't look anything like Star Trek ships, I'll tell you that much. As I understand it, the rationale behind the bird-like design of UFP ships is that it grants warp efficiency, but since my theory of hyperspace is entirely different (hyperspace is the "other side" of the fabric of spacetime), ships can look pretty much like anything as long as they're spaceworthy.
UGN command ships are big and bulky, but streamlined, with long straight wings and a command tower mounted amidships (kind of like a cross between a wide-body passenger jet, a whale, and a star destroyer). The Black Knight has already been shown; it's in my galleries both here and on DeviantART (it's the ship in my avatar). Scallopshell bombers look like a cross between a fist and a fat scallop's shell.
This post has been edited by StarSword : 15 April 2010 - 09:20 AM
You have a gallery here?
<goes in search of StarSword gallery, finds nothing>
That was a bummer. As for your DeviantART gallery, I only saw three ships, the Durandal, E Wing, and the Black Knight. Anything else I'm missing?
QUOTE (darthkev @ Apr 14 2010, 01:37 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
Not yet. I'm working on it. I have a notebook full of concept art, but most of them aren't colored in yet. As for the gallery on the boards here, it's at this link.
QUOTE (StarSword @ Apr 15 2010, 07:20 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
StarSword's epic ship gallery.
How did I miss that? I've actually looked at that one before, but I never remembered it was yours... Well, hopefully you'll be able to expand on it in the near future and also be able to find a graphics person to make them.
In the event you can't find a graphics person, I suggest looking at the shipyards made by Meowx and Onyx. Their ships are in EVC/O format so you'll have to tweak the shipyard images so they don't look blurry, but making engine glows isn't hard (Onyx even gives a little tutorial in his shipyard). I highly suggest you take a look... you know, just in case.
This post has been edited by darthkev : 15 April 2010 - 12:26 PM
I'm having a problem with EVN Cartographer and EVNEW. To work on resources in Cartographer, you need to first convert the REZ file into TXT using the command line interface. That part goes fine. But when I try to convert back to REZ so I can work on the resources in detail, EVNEW locks up.
Huh. I haven't had that problem. Have you tried creating just a star map in Cartographer and then exporting it to EVNEW without prior stuff?
I think I figured it out. I deleted a bunch of duplicate systems and the entire Polaris nation (remember, they've managed to extract themselves from the known universe by unknown means) from the existing files, and when I added new systems (replacing the original resources), Cartographer added them onto the end of the file, rather than into the middle. I don't think EVNEW liked that. So I cut the SYSTs from 267 on out of the TXT, added new SYSTs 205-266 in proper numerical order, and pasted 267-X back into the TXT. (It also solved a Cartographer bug where it would try to reposition existing systems when I tried to create new ones.) I haven't tested the conversion yet, but I think it'll work.
I've mapped out the rough locations of the governments in the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies. In addition to the major governments, there's also pockets of independent systems, pirate-ruled worlds, and swathes of uninhabited space. The Wraith and Hyperioids are also still around: whatever the Polaris did, it didn't affect them.
The empty Polaris sector (referred to in-game as the "Polaris Rift," or just "the Rift") is ringed by a string of Galactic stations, much like the Federation rings the Romulan and Klingon Neutral Zones with observation posts in SFA. The stations serve two duties: resupply for spacefarers, and as a jumping-off point for scientific studies of the Rift's strange phenomena. There's also a pirate world deep within the Rift.
One more point about the Polaris' disappearance: nobody in the game actually knows what happened to them, so don't expect answers.
This post has been edited by StarSword : 16 April 2010 - 07:38 PM
In other words, the Polaris disappearing is your version of EVN's Kont. A mystery that no one ever learns more of throughout the game, no matter what.
If this is the case, I'm gonna start makin' theories 'bout how it happened. Maybe the Polaris moved themselves slightly out of phase with the rest of the universe, reverting to their xenophobic ways. Or perhaps a scientific experiment gone horribly awry. Ooh, what if the original makers of Kel'ar ly and Tre'ar Helonis returned and wiped out the Polaris, including every planet they had? Nah, that couldn't be it, they'd be destroying their own worlds. Although, they could be the ones who made the rift in order to gain more privacy...
My head is buzzing...
QUOTE (darthkev @ Apr 16 2010, 10:18 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
Well, if you're into theorizing, here's a tidbit you may not be aware of. As I mentioned in the timeline, the Polaris disappeared in the waning days of the United Powers War, about a thousand years before the start of EVN:UGF, where humanity (chiefly the Federation and the Aurorans), fought the Anz'kalarad Principalities. At the end of the war, the Auroran Empire, the Federation, the Principalities, and the Orion League* united to form the United Powers League. The Polaris, however, were nowhere to be found; investigators discovered a hyperspace rift had appeared, cutting Polaran space off from the rest of the known universe.
The likeliest possibility is, as you said, the Polaris somehow moved themselves out of the known universe. In the last known encounter between the Polaris and the rest of us, in -3 GSD, Iuso was mortally wounded while leading a Nil'kemorya force against the Anz'kalarads in the Fallen System. The encounter was a victory, but the Nil'kemorya lost over half the ships they committed to the battle. (This was largely because the Anz'kalarads outnumbered the Polaris by at least 8 to 1.) The Polaris may have decided that the only way for them to survive was to escape.
Kont remains virtually uninhabited, though it does host a Galactic military base (largely to help keep an eye on the Houseless).