19 replies to this topic

[Phoenix Rising]

While adding brand new content wasn't the main focus for this release, there are, nevertheless, a number of new additions to highlight before they go live. Consider this a final role call for the Rebel and Imperial space rosters.

Starting with the Empire, the Preybird-class Starfighter has been added to give the Imperial faction some badly-needed, late-game Remnant flavor, having been pressed into use at the twilight of the Galactic Civil War. At 21 meters, this unique design is the biggest fighter in the game and takes full advantage of that fact while upgrading: it adds a gunner and a cockpit-mounted laser turret in the style of the Y-wing and features both a fore and aft concussion missile launcher, transforming it into a veritable nouveau blastboat. Series I is meant to represent the original SoroSuub specifications as seen in X-wing Alliance, while Series II is the heavier, pirate-produced Remnant model from Specter of the Past.

Another addition from the technologically-quiet post-Endor period, the Scimitar Assault Bomber is a refinement of the TIE Bomber that never reached its potential historically. Combining the ruggedness of the TIE Bomber with the agility of the TIE Interceptor and the firepower of the Xm-1 Nova Wing, the Scimitar is indeed a deadly foe. The design is based around 16 limited-capacity, ventral warhead launchers, which are brutally effective against starships because they can all be fired simultaneously. This specialization, however, leaves the craft totally vulnerable to being picked off by fighters, as it performs terribly in a dogfight.

The Delta-class DX-9 Stormtrooper Transport is the predecessor to the bigger Gamma-class ATR-6 Assault Transport and fills an intermediary role between that and the Lambda-class T-4 Shuttle. While the T-4 is reserved for important officers and dignitaries, the DX-9 is the real workhorse, ferrying about countless troopers across the Empire daily. Prior to the Sentinel-class Landing Craft's invention, the Delta-class served as the Navy's primary troop transport, but since finds more use in boarding operations than ground assault.

For some time, the Bayonet-class Light Cruiser was the smallest starship in use by the Imperial Starfleet, but it never really caught on enough to see widespread use. It was released as a Sienar alternative to Damorian's Carrack-class in the Republic era, but the initial success and popularity of the Carrack proved insurmountable, so Sienar abandoned the design. That preference continued into the Empire and saw the Bayonet relegated largely to patrol duties. Despite the business failure, it performs well in combat as the biggest corvette in the game and is capable of slugging it out with larger ships.

To the Rebellion, while they aren't new units per se, both the T-65 X-wing and B-wing have gotten makeovers in the form of new models, complete with animated s-foils. These staples were long overdue for a visual improvement.

On a similar note, the R-41 Starchaser and Marauder-class Corvette, although not new to the game, are new to the Alliance tech tree. The R-41 performs as a heavy interceptor with a sturdier hull than the Z-95 and A-wing and gives the Rebels a fighter with ion cannons. The Marauder provides some much-needed turbolaser muscle to a roster that tends to generalize its armaments.

From the Hajen-class Fleet Tender's model, I've also created the Sacheen-class Light Escort, which hopefully will keep New Class fans happy for now. As the latest-model warship in the game, it is a unit with few flaws: it's as nimble as a corvette, as tough as a cruiser, and carries a similar armament to the Imperial Carrack. It's a great escort for the Republic-class Star Destroyer. Unfortunately I wasn't able to convince anyone in the community to do the Defender Starfighter for it, so it's currently sporting antique Z-95s as complement.

Finally, a couple of Forces of Corruption ports to take note of. I've reintroduced a greatly pared-down MC30c as the Ardent-class MC30 Frigate for the Alliance. I've devolved the vanilla stats to get something that's in line with similar liner-turned-warships from the MC series to start with and upgrades to fill its FoC mantle. While a direct conversion yielded numbers that were off the charts for a frigate, I've kept closely to the spirit of the MC30: it's one of the fastest ships in its class; it has strong shielding, but a relatively weak hull; it mounts many lasers, but few turbolasers; and it upgrades to get proton torpedoes.

Although only available to pirates, I might as well take this opportunity to announce that I've similarly converted the Crusader-class Corvette that was previously in use by the Zann Consortium in FoC. Unlike the MC30, every one of the Crusader's stats - save for weapons - was converted directly against the CR90 Corvette in EaW. The armament was extracted from studying the original concept art. The end result is a no-expense-spared, quality corvette in true fashion of the Mandalorians.

[Casen]

Mmm, I'm excited...but curious, what does the Bayonet-class look like? The Wookiepedia article has no image.

[Phoenix Rising]

All stats and images are on the site, as always.

[slornie]

Sounds great

They Preybird will be interesting to see

Edited by slornie, 18 December 2008 - 10:25 PM.

[Tropical Bob]

Gah! Three more days to wait for such awesomnosity though.

[SpardaSon21]

So this means that Crusaders will now have guns, armor, and speed all in massive quantity? Corvette, yes. However Mandalorians can't resist putting massive amounts of guns and armor on everything they touch.

(Runs and hides from uber-powerful pirates with Mandalorian ships.)

[Kaleb Graff]

And just when I thought this version couldn't get any better, it does. I can hardly wait. If I knew how to model, I'd do the defender. Maybe I should try to learn over Christmas.

[Kitkun]

This is one of the most detailed mods ever. And awesome, too.

"CT-11 Light Gunboat"? The stats... wow.

Edited by Kitkun, 19 December 2008 - 02:49 AM.

[Casen]

I'm curious, will the CSA ever eventually get the IRDs? Because according to wikipedia, Mankvims were used in limited numbers, while IRDs were the mainstay.

[skie9173]

i think, not sure so don't hold me to it, that someone else mentioned this and it was stated that IRD were not going to be in the game yet do to the lack of a model at this point. then again PR might have finally gotten one and just hasn't mentioned anything yet.

Greatly looking forward to all the great additions to the mod, thanks for all the hard work to provide us this wonderful gaming experiance PR

[Ghostrider]

I'm curious, will the CSA ever eventually get the IRDs? Because according to wikipedia, Mankvims were used in limited numbers, while IRDs were the mainstay.

I believe that we could not get in touch with the owner of the IRD model to ask permission to use it, leaving it to be a grey area as to whether we can use it or not. So we prefer to wait until a formal arrangement has been made, enabling us to cite the correct acknowledgements for it's use.

We'd love to use it, but we really gotta have permission to do so!

[bob345]

If porting something from one game to another is illegal is porting something from a game to a mod, that took it out, for the game legal
please explain

I'm kinda wondering the same thing

Edit: Removed unnecessarily huge quote block.

Edited by Phoenix Rising, 19 December 2008 - 05:47 PM.

[Ghostrider]

If porting something from one game to another is illegal is porting something from a game to a mod, that took it out, for the game legal
please explain

I'm kinda wondering the same thing

Firstly I believe it's not so much illegal as impolite, secondly I think you will find that FOC didn't take anything out - when we say 'reintroduced' It just means the MC30 has been introduced to this mod with properly converted stats in the same way that all other ships have been properly tweaked - like the Marauder missile corvette for example.

Let me know if i've lost the plot though!

[Phoenix Rising]

If porting something from one game to another is illegal is porting something from a game to a mod, that took it out, for the game legal
please explain
thanks
sorry if this question seems stupid

Hmm, let's start from the basics. We're a mod for Empire at War: Forces of Corruption. A long time ago, I disabled the vanilla (i.e., from FoC) MC30, Crusader, StarViper, Zann Consortium, etc. in the mod. Recently, I ported their stats from FoC units to PR/XW units and re-enabled them in the mod, which is for FoC. So, no, it's not even close to being illegal. That would be like saying FoC can't use content from EaW because it's technically a different game.

"CT-11 Light Gunboat"? The stats... wow.

I wanted to add it as a joke. Read the good/bad againsts when you find it.

[bob345]

If porting something from one game to another is illegal is porting something from a game to a mod, that took it out, for the game legal
please explain

I'm kinda wondering the same thing

Edit: Removed unnecessarily huge quote block.

sorry
I don't know how to do smaller quotes

[coinich]

Oooh, I'm really interested now!

[Casen]

There's one more thing I must ask...will the Empire be getting the A-9 Vigilance interceptors?

[Ghostrider]

There's one more thing I must ask...will the Empire be getting the A-9 Vigilance interceptors?

Not this time. I honestly don't know what the plans for future releases are though.