EVO Ship Variants

(for EVN port)

Eh, nt?

This isn't a very big project, clearly. My main aim is to give every ship in the game at least one variant but for many I'll be making three or four. I was initially just going to do this for myself. Although I've always tweaked things a bit in Override, I've never had anything that warranted sharing and this is the first time I've had a go at doing something with EVNew; it is extremely user-friendly and easy to figure out, thankfully. I started yesterday and it's going fairly well - I figured that getting dudes and flets to work would be a hassle, but it is really painless and it's nice seeing my variants flying about and behaving interestingly.

I've got about 20 new working variants at the moment. The rate that I'm going at, I think that I will be finished sometime around the end of next week and so would like a few beta testers to take a look at it for me, if anybody is interested that is. It needs Cold Fusion in order to work and the main thing I'll be wanting help with/feedback on is balance. I've tried to ensure that some of the ships are only encountered extremely rarely, such as the Voinian Minenleger which, while fairly weak itself, lays those lovely illegal space mines.

Ultimately, I'd like this to be the first part of what will eventually become something like the EVO version of the Nova Plugpack. If anybody is interested in working towards something like that then I'd definitely be up for collaborating.

I can beta test. Send me a link!

Huzzah! I started doing this myself, once, but quit because I decided I didn't have the time for it. I probably won't have time to test, but I hope it goes well! Good luck!

Just to give you a little update, I'm making good progress. Most of the variants have entirely new shipyard and hire descs and they are all are only available once you have completed the requirements necessary to buy their equivalent standard versions. If you can't hire a ship in the stock game, then you can't hire its variants either.

The Strands' Arada variants and the Zachit ships will now become available for purchase once the required missions have been completed. A number of actions such as freeing Huron and joining Freight-Express also grant the purchase of certain original variants (which then show up as dudes).

darthkev, I'll send you the file when I've got it as finished as possible which should still be around the end of next week. For a couple of variant groups I've used the Nova classing system, for example, the Crescent and Zachit Fighters span, respectively, classes A through C and classes C and D. Other groups I've done differently.

Anyways, I'll keep you updated on how things are going.

Sounds quite fun.

Alright, people. At long last, it is finished. I am the one announcing and posting its release because Gunsh prefers it this way. After a lot of work by Gunsh and only a little refining by your truly, we are proud to release EVO Ship Variants, a plug-in that adds variants of nearly every single ship in the game as well as a few 'extras'.

• Three new ships with their own graphics.
• A purchasable UE Cloaking Device after it's unlocked.
• Brilliantly written descriptions for every new and modified ship by Gunsh himself.
• One new outfit that should make life just a little easier.

One graphic was borrowed from Saber Studios and another from Onyx. Also, keep in mind this plug-in requires Cold Fusion for Nova to work as that is where the ship variants get their shän resources from. Because of this, I am including links for both EVO Ship Variants and CFN.

EVO Ship Variants
Cold Fusion for Nova

Enjoy!

This post has been edited by darthkev : 04 March 2010 - 10:16 PM

New update and bug fix. Use previous link.

For use with the official port, or Guy's port?

I tested it with Guy's port, though I do not know which port Old Thrashbarg tested it with. For that you'd need to ask him, but I do not think he's interested in this plug-in any longer.

I used the official port but darthkev has done a good bit of work on it since then, working off of Guy's port, so I'm not entirely sure if that'll affect compatibility with the official one.

In any case, great job finishing/fixing the plug. I do get bored rather easily

This post has been edited by Old Thrashbarg : 15 February 2010 - 06:53 AM

I've taken close looks at both ports and the resources are almost, if not exactly, identical. I don't see how there could be much, if any, conflict. However, not being an expert, it's always possible I am dead wrong.

I'm probably not going to be able to play it, but reminds me of a project I did a long time ago.

I added ship varients but it was for the Original EVO. (Nova wasn't even being worked on at the time)

Basically gave an arada to nearly everyone, and the strands got multiple aradas...
Also, the Emalgha got the plans for the UE fighter and Destroyer after the respective storyline.
The emalgha also got a carrier and a fighter bay...

And the Igazra could carry up to two igazra aradas in a bay...

That's pretty similar to what Thrashbarg did. He gave an Arada to the Zidagar who previously didn't have one, gave the Emalgha a carrier, and even gave them Human weapons. There wasn't any sharing of ship designs, though, besides all those Aradas and Crescent Fighters.

Interesting to see someone making variants for EVO, I too am kinda working on those as well, but unlike you, I've been going at it at a very slow pace cause I'm currently working on sound effects.

Looks very nice.

I think I'll make a few variants you can use if you want.

Also, there's a typo in the short name of shïp 192.

Edit: Is there a reason you decided to change the stock UE Cruiser, rather than simply introducing a new variant?

So you know, you don't need all those duplicate shipyard and targeting pictures for the variants (except the wholly new ones of course). If multiple shäns point to the same rlëd then Nova will use the targeting and shipyard pictures from the first one for all the ones that don't have their own. Look how Nova does it stock: variants you can buy, like Cheap Used Shuttle, have a shän but share the PICTs of the basic shuttle.

Here is my contribution: Q_EVO_Variants.rez.zip (2.97K)
Number of downloads: 7
UE Cruiser (stock stats)
Zidagar Fighter (stock but now purchasable)
Krait; missiles (no blaze cannons, only needle missiles)
UE Cruiser; mod (what you guys made, so now both exist)
Azdara; racer (no weapons, higher maneuverability, lower shields)
Zidagar Fighter; luxury transport (less weaponry, more cargo space)
Miranu Gunship; missiles (no SAD, instead four pursuit missile launchers, higher turn rate)

You are welcome to use or modify or ignore any and all of these. I believe for the most part I tried to keep the total free space (ie. after selling off stock outfits) of my variants equal to the stock versions. It looks like you guys did not, so if you want to change what I did to match your modus operandi that's fine. I also included dëscs, which again you can take or leave or alter. I did not make shipyard pics for the Zidagar Fighter.

This post has been edited by Qaanol : 04 March 2010 - 10:40 PM

I realized we could leave out the extra shipyard and target images rather by accident. I was adding in the Hinwar variants and forgot the extra pictures, and yet they worked just the same. Also, thanks for catching that typo.

I'll be sure to add your ships in, Qaanol. I feel I can since Thrashbarg told me himself he's not really interested in this plug-in any longer. He did it more for practice than anything else. I've even added a few more ships myself. Use the previous link.

I’m not sure what I was thinking with the cost of the Zidagar Fighter Luxury Transport. It should be cheaper than the standard version. Or it should get better stats. But I was going for cheaper.

Edit: Also, I haven't play-tested any of these. I think the missile kraits might be really dangerous. And they should use standoff tactics and run when out of ammo. I just fixed that and the price of the ZFLT. Re-uploaded. Use previous link.

This post has been edited by Qaanol : 04 March 2010 - 10:42 PM

Fixed.

Why does the alien variant of the Voinian Interceptor have three Salvo Rocket Turrets? :wacko:
I think it's supposed to have three phase cannons, but thats just me.

That's part of the alien tech. It allows something that small to mount weapons that powerful. No, seriously, that's why.