Legacy TC Status Thread

@darthkev, on 24 February 2013 - 11:14 PM, said in Legacy TC Status Thread:

Partial in what way?

i never did like things named after snakes.
except Solid Snake of course.

This post has been edited by daowei : 25 February 2013 - 12:04 AM

What about Cobra?

And Viper?

Work has come to a standstill. It started when I bought a new computer that had a larger HDD and more RAM than my current model. Unfortunately, after transferring everything over and deleting my account on the old computer, the new computer's logic board went kaput. All the data is fine, it just can't boot.

It's still being repaired, but until it is, I don't have any of my files with which to continue work. Hopefully it'll be back up and running within the month.

Edit: And after momentarily forgetting what today is, I feel compelled to ensure everyone this is NOT an April Fools joke.

This post has been edited by DarthKev : 01 April 2013 - 03:22 PM

My computer is back! All my data is again in my hands! Work shall resume!!

Wonderful. I'm looking forward to seeing this released. I wish I had the technical proficiency to lend a hand, but unfortunately I'm forced to sit on the side-lines. Best of luck though.

Okay, so the MBP proved a complete failure after the logic board failed a second time within 2 weeks of getting it back. I've since returned it and gotten a refund, though not before moving everything back to my trusty 13" MacBook.

Work continues at a moderate pace. Mostly hammering out some story details and background info and designing përs ships. Also some remodeling. I've finished most of the remodeling, but don't have pictures yet.

On that note, what I am remodeling is most fighter craft. As readers might remember, I was having trouble coming up with a viable method of keeping the player out of fighter craft without simply saying, "No, you can't fly fighters." In the end, EVWeb suggested I make all fighters AI controlled. This keeps the player out of them while still allowing fighters to roam space with their own Fluxdrives. So I designed a 'sensor node' piece and went to work adjusting most fighter craft, switching out their old cockpits with this new piece. Those are all finished, but some fighters kept their standard cockpits and are thus still manned. This is for 2 main reasons: First, they were large enough they could house multiple humans, and second, their designs made it very hard to add the AI piece without overhauling the model to begin with.

I also decided to remodel the Askan, Eros, and ELX ships again (again). Why? Because they looked too much like exact copies of Star Trek and Star Wars ships. So for Askan I've made most ships a combination of a few different ships, and added a new destroyer class for them which is mostly inspired by the Acclamator assault ship. The Longsword and Claymore have remained unchanged, along with the Machete. The new destroyer has been named Broadsword, and the ship previously known by that name is now Stiletto.

Eros ships have undergone a somewhat significant change. The Collector and Liberator are still the same, but I've changed the Avenger, Defender, and Vindicator. No longer are they based on Star Wars ships, technically. Instead, they are heavily upgraded Vulture craft. However, the Vulture does have a passing resemblance to Vulture Droids from Star Wars, completely by accident.

Still working on the last ELX ship, the Jupiter. The rest have been altered using the basic design principle of 1 or 2 nacelles, a saucer section, and an engineering section. A few actually have 2 engineering sections for dual deflectors. The Deimos, Phobos, and Uranus have remained unchanged as they're too small to remodel with the above principles in mind. The Deimos and Phobos, both fighters, are also some of the previously-mentioned larger fighters that have stayed manned.

If anyone is still reading this even after all this time, I thank you. It's been an adventure learning all the quirks of the Nova engine and how to use them to my advantage, and equally exciting learning to model. Eventually I hope to get the hang of using Bryce, though that might have to be an after-release graphics update.

Okay, I decided to try and stick to a schedule of monthly updates.

I've made a radical change to Legacy: the removal of fighter craft. Interdictors still exist, but are purely independent craft. Think of them as small gunships now. Their purpose is to act as a strike vessel when even a gunship or schooner would be too big or attract too much attention. This has brought about a change in carriers. They are now classed as 'command ships' from which battles both in space and on land are conducted. They do carry ground troops and atmospheric fighters en masse, but these are not used while in space.

This has also brought about changes to a few smaller vessels. The ELX Deimos and Phobos vessels are both interdictors now, as are the Askan Gladius, Sabre, and Spatha. The Malfost Hitman, originally a single-seat interceptor then later one of many AI-controlled fighter craft, is now the sole fighter in the game. It is still AI-controlled and is used for assassinations and various raids. Essentially an AI mercenary, and all funds spent to hire it are directed to the living owner of the vessel, usually a Malfost. It's simply another source of revenue for them.

I might also make a Hitman outfit that when purchased gives the player a small amount of credits each day as their Hitman does jobs. There would probably also be a crön that would randomly activate and 'kill' your Hitman, removing the daily pay. Instead of daily pay, I might also just make a few cröns that randomly give the player different amounts of money for full payment of jobs completed. Though I can't think of an easy way to allow players to buy multiple Hitmen to increase their income each day.

Then there's the Zodiac ships. Since I couldn't simply remove the few that were fighters, I had to remodel them into something else. In the end I took the old model for the Leo gunboat, enlarged it, and used it for the new Pisces, which is now an interdictor. The Leo is now a missile destroyer whose design is influenced by the Great Sphinx. I also enlarged the Gemini as previously it was a shuttle capable of being refit into a fighter. Now it is a courier capable of being refit into a gunship or corvette. Think of it as akin to the Clipper from EVC.

This has also allowed me to greatly simplify the list of weapons in Legacy. The fighters alone were about half the total weapon resources in Legacy.

On the topic of weapons, since fighters are no more, I've been considering making guns a thing of the past, as well. Instead, every ship uses turrets. The 'gun' slots would then be used for ordnance launchers. Beam weapons would still take up both a 'gun' and a 'turret' as I plan to keep them as somewhat advanced weaponry in Legacy.

Anyone remember a while back I was trying to come up with other alien races that lived among the Onli as part of their Conglomerate? Well, I came up with 3 new races. In alphabetical order, I give you:

  • The Dahlingay. Avian beings with a proud history of flight both within an atmosphere and outside. They have short black beaks, long necks, and wings/arms that can grow to great size when flight is needed or tuck into their bodies so as not to get in the way when walking. Usually green with white chests, though some are brownish or blue.

  • The Stal. Short mammals covered in thick, white fur. They come from a frozen world and make their homes burrowing into the ice and rock. They usually walk on two legs but can drop to all fours when speed is necessary. Facial features resemble a cross between a beaver and an otter.

  • The Thast. Felines with a somewhat honor-bound culture. Can range from long to short fur with a variety of colors from red to white to brown to vague blue/grey. They lack the claws of their Earth counterparts but retain enhanced vision in the dark, surpassing every other species in the galaxy, sentient or otherwise. Also have tails, the position/movement of which can be indicative of their mood.

Like in EVO, however, this leaves humans all alone in their area of space. As such I might come up with 2 more races that live as part of the Earth Empire. Not sure yet if I really will, though.

Alright, it's been a month, time for another update.

I've been working on outfits mostly. That is, coding the outfits in. I still need to work on outfit images. On that topic, I've gone ahead and switched most weapons to turrets. There are still a few guns, namely swivel versions of the most basic weapons and two versions of railguns.

That's pretty much it for now, actually. With BotK's open beta, a lot of time was taken up testing it. Plans for the next month are to finish outfit resources and hopefully, finally, model the captain's yachts/escape ships. We'll see what I have in a month's time.

So I had an idea for a new alien race and I'm hoping to get some feedback. I started wondering what kind of creature would not only be capable of eating desiccants, but might even require it in certain situations. I don't have a name for this race yet, just that they might be sponge-like and come from a very dry planet. They survived on their homeworld by absorbing any and all moisture they came in contact with, even in the air. Off-world, where there's even more moisture, their bodies don't know how to not absorb it all, so they eat desiccants to get rid of the excess water.

Thoughts?

@darthkev, on 02 July 2013 - 04:47 PM, said in Legacy TC Status Thread:

snip

squeeze?

DarthK3v knows my opinions on this. I personally dislike the idea, but we've decided to let you guys decide.

i think it'd be better to have a a race of squeeze juice boxes that, upon the age of assent, receive a neon colored power jewel in their navels that causes their juice to hence thereafter be a flavor that corresponds to the jewel.

purple will be grape,

pink will be strawberry

green will be apple

and white will be catfish.

what do you guys think?

edit: also, a neon black jewel might be neat. it would be garbage juice flavor.

This post has been edited by daowei : 03 July 2013 - 01:59 AM

@darthkev, on 02 July 2013 - 04:47 PM, said in Legacy TC Status Thread:

post

How would a race like that would evolve in the first place, let alone manage to make it to a level of technology that allows space travel? I realize that it's sci-fi, so not everything has to make sense (or in the case of EV, very little makes sense), but a desert/very dry planet still seems like a very unlikely location.

Alright, I get the idea. It's a no go. Do I at least get points for originality? 😛

@darthkev, on 04 July 2013 - 11:23 PM, said in Legacy TC Status Thread:

Alright, I get the idea. It's a no go. Do I at least get points for originality? :p/>

No, since dumb ideas are the oldest trick in the book. =P

@darthkev, on 04 July 2013 - 11:23 PM, said in Legacy TC Status Thread:

Alright, I get the idea. It's a no go. Do I at least get points for originality? :p/>/>

i think it's time i stopped giving you a hard time. you get points in my book.
but i must warn you, my book only tallies points that win you a ticket straight to Hades.

no, but actually it was at least very original.

edit: no but seriously, wasn't the juice box idea great? you guys should seriously do that.

This post has been edited by daowei : 05 July 2013 - 10:51 AM

Work progresses slower than usual. I recently started playing STO and that's soaked up a lot of my free time. And by 'a lot' I mean almost all. 😛

I did fit in some extra weapon testing, though. Eventually I will get this out, even if only for the sake of my pride. Even if no one's left to play it.

Unfortunately I got nothing done for Legacy this past month. Though, in my defense, work was insane with Back To School sales events and my bosses keeping me overtime. Between that and trying to relax and unwind after work, Legacy kinda got left behind. I will ratify that this coming month.

Sorry my next update is late.

So, I did get a little more work done, mostly modeling a few more weapons that didn't already have models. However, I'm noticing it's getting harder to get myself to work on Legacy lately. I'm just not inspired or motivated enough. I've decided to take a break from Legacy until further notice.