[MOD iP] New Dimensions [Alpha 4.2] (Update 06/09/10)

[X2-Illuminatus]

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New Dimensions

X3: Terran Conflict. What's the matter of this game? Fast money by fight and build missions. Short ways due to the use of a jumpdrive. Strong weapons in the player ship. Stronger weapons in the player ship than the playership’s target. All those things could be seen as advantages. Advantages that simplify a start in the X-Universe. However, what would be if the accustomed player had to completely reconsider his known tactics? No fast money, no jumpdrive and a different fight behavior. The universe seems to be bigger, more dangerous and the accustomed player feels like a greenhorn again.

But those will not be the only things. A stronger competition in the trading section will cause a lot of new problems for the player. If the player wants to build a station, he don’t only has to look for the right place, but also has to be fast. Otherwise some of the market niches are going to be filled by competitors. On the other hand there may be chances to gain profits from the business competition, e.g. by purchasing already built stations.

How will that work? You are going to get a number of new possibilities, for example ships, which are build for longer flights. Freighters with more cargo space. The heavy freighters Argon Thelesto and Split Waran (both from the TriMod) are two of them. Also the ship data will get a few changes, so that the ships will better fit into the new universe. There will be other changes, which we either comment later or let the players discover themselves.

A modification lives from ideas and their implementation. To collect ideas and discuss them we have an external forum. So, good ideas won't be lost. Of course you're allowed to post ideas here, as well. But especially in larger topics it is difficult to keep track of all ideas.

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ALPHA 4.2 OUT NOW

Yes its out, and it will make even the hardest veteran look like he/she never had played an X game before. All possible strategies you may have, scrap them, they won't fit in New Dimensions' Universe.
We made some hard changes, most not visible to the eye, some not even noticeable at first glance (or second), but they will make you rethink the way you play TC as you discover them, like:

• No more Self-sustained Complexes! Mines and SPP are not connectible to complexes
• Only few "jumpable" gates left
• Jumpdrive only fits in Bigships
• Sun strength differs from sector to sector
• No real good asteroids in "sunny" sectors
• L1 Fabs can only be build in "specific" sectors (they are now "planet dependent")
• Ships are faster
• Ships Hull/Shield ratio changed (battles actually are fun now)
• Tweaked the relations between races (you wont be friends with everyone at the same time)
• 19 Bonus ships placed randomly throughout the universe in 19 different sectors
• 6 randomly generated and positioned sectors (more below)
• Increased sector size of most sectors
• Improved mission rewards

This is all based on Vanilla TC where all plots should work (exception is the HUB Plot which was removed), note though that this is just an alpha, more features and content to come in future and some thing may not be perfect yet.
That's where you come in, we need you to report to us as much feedback as you can, constructive and as precise as possible. That feedback is imperative to our development.

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Installation

• Extract the archive (.zip) into any folder.
• Start the NewDimension.exe and follow the instructions of the installer.
• Start NEW game
  NOTE: The installer installs New Dimensions as 12.cat/dat. So if you already have a 12.cat/dat you have to save them, before installing New Dimensions.

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Uninstallation of a previous version

• Start the removeND.exe in the X3TC main directory and follow the instructions of the installer.

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Compatibility:

• New Dimensions is compatible to Vanilla X3:TC 2.7 and higher
  Probably incompatible to most other modifications

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Testing guides:

• Please don't use scripts or mods that change the balance of ships and/or weapons, such as CODEA, MARS, etc. these would falsify the results of our changes making any feedback based on that useless for us.
• Scripts like CAG, CLS or cheatscripts can be used, but avoid cheating if possible.
• Feedback on economy, plots, non-plot missions, complex building or general building of fabs are the things you should be looking at mostly.
  
  Note: HQ Plot, Aldrin Plot and A new home won't start in A4.2.

Testing Random Sectors:

• After a minute or two you will get a message with all the coordinates for the sectors so you can have a look at those.
  Note that in next release the sectors will spawn over time instead of all being there at the same time, and there will not be any info to where they did spawn.
  Please have a look at them a report your findings.

Download:
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Download
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External Forum New Dimensions [Broken link removed - Gazz]

Pictures:

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What could that be?
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Credits:
SunBlade - Square Map bod

[xavierd]

Holy guacamole Batman!

Screenies look awesome, and some big names on the team, expecting big things from this!

[[Snipe] Bando]

Looks promising. Great stuff.

Good liuck with this. I'll follow this topic closely.

Thanks for the effort you guys put into this.

Bando

[Deadbeat_Spinn]

I admit I'm intrigued. The Argon Thelesto looks like a freighter version of a Heavy Centaur. Since it's a Heavy Freighter, does that mean it's capable of defending itself (i.e. heavy shields and weapons)? I don't know much about the TriMod though, since my knowledge of German is limited, at best. The sector background look good. On the fourth/fifth sector background, is the blue a sort of electrical planetary ring or a disortion in the universe like a tear in space/wormhole?

[Idea]

It seams that Greek mythology is coming alive

The TITANS are gathering

[Ketraar]

We are glad to announce that Alpha 1 was released for internal testing.

We hope to have more news in near future maybe even some new screen shots. In the meantime feel free to post your comments and possible ideas.

MFG

Ketraar

[Iifrit Tambuur-san]

We released Alpha 2 for internal testing last night.

What we have so far:

• overhauled map
• more challenging complex construction
• overhauled ship data und jobs
• new Superfreighters coming from the old TriMod for X3 Reunion
• Boron, Paranid and Split Trading Stations now with internal docks for Fighters
• several fixes for Vanilla stations

And as promised here are 5 new screenshots:

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1) Argon Quasar
2) Paranid Thesus
3) Boron Coelacanth
4) Split Ocelot
5) Teladi Cormorant

All those are TS Super Freighter and well shielded and armed.

And as usual, feel free to post comments and ideas.

[yokozuna]

Is there a way the jumpdrive removal to be optional?

[Ketraar]

Let me see... Nope.

Besides its not completely removed, just very, very, very ... limited.

MFG

Ketraar

[xavierd]

changed to XL or ST cargo class? something i'd thought of doing

[Ketraar]

Yeah probably something like that. But even those ships with jumpdrive wont be able to jump everywhere. Universe gets bigger do to this.

MFG

Ketraar

[[Snipe] Bando]

Looking great.
Hope the public Beta comes out soon.

I will give it a go as soon as it comes out.

Good luck to the team.
Bando

[MegaJohnny]

Those superfreighters look like I'd expect to see them in a vanilla game with that professionalism.

The backgrounds are good but perhaps a bit vivid? Maybe I've been playing too many modern 'lol needs moar brown+grey' games.

The market competition thing sounds very interesting. Dynamic station spawning? Not controlled by GoD? I like that a lot.

[X2-Illuminatus]

How could the week better starts than with posting some new screenshots which show another feature of New Dimensions!?

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[Ketraar]

And some more eye candy, hope its any good.

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MFG

Ketraar

[Thrandisher]

Nice list of people working on this! Good luck on this, ill be one to watch out and help break when a beta comes out!

[HalcyonSpirit]

I'll definitely be looking into this when it comes out! I might even volunteer for beta testing if you let people do so.

This sounds interesting, definitely. I'm currently playing my game forbidding the use of a jumpdrive on ships smaller than an M6, so the type of gameplay requiring more travel without a jumpdrive is right up my alley. The combat changes would also be a welcome addition.

Speaking of changes, have you considered making the average sector size larger? You know, not too much larger, but just enough to spread out the stations in each sector more. I really like the larger sectors in the game, they have more feeling to them and I'd like to see more of it.

Also, perhaps you might integrate the Formation Collision Fix into this if it reaches an acceptable level?

Man, so many good mods/scripts coming out for the game... can't wait!

[djrygar]

yeah, FCF is a must.

And I just love the idea behind this mod. Large, dangerous universe.
How will be The Hub handled btw?

And I have this idea into turning shipyards into regular factories - so ship availability would be connected with resources (silicon, ore, teladianium, nvidium, whatever) and weapons/shields. They could be 'produced like any other ware not available instantly in any quantity.

[X2-Illuminatus]

I'm currently playing my game forbidding the use of a jumpdrive on ships smaller than an M6, so the type of gameplay requiring more travel without a jumpdrive is right up my alley.

That's a good training for New Dimensions. Actually we haven't decided yet, what we do exactly with the jumpdrive. But as Ketraar already mentioned the jumping abilities of ships will be very limited. First step to do this, was replacing many of the normal gates with transorbital accelerators. So, the sectors are still connected with each other, but even if your ship can carry a jumpdrive, you can't jump to most of the sectors. This was also the first idea Ketraar came up with for ATAG (which is the abbreveation for Adding Think and Gameplay). See this thread.

and help break when a beta comes out!

I might even volunteer for beta testing if you let people do so.

Although, we haven't decided if we will release a public beta, it's good to know, that now already some people are willing to help testing.

How will be The Hub handled btw?

That's a secret, atm.

[Gavrushka]

I always feel like I am missing something when I jump, so well Usually I don't...

This will add a huge new dimension and added depth to the game for those that wish to genuinely immerse themselves and not just become invincible by the end of the first gaming session.

Watching this very closely...