The ETNO-News: 2011-01-01
Experiments with illuminated bodys
Some time ago, pantoffelhorst experimented around with some different ways of modelling.
Although there were also some models which you could call 'unsuccessful', but there were also some models that were looking very great:
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This picture shows the Terraformer M1. This model also has got the 'bump maps' (without them, the model looks quite 'plane') and it has already got the illumintations.
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These two pictures show the first concepts of the new Sohnen ship.
Of course the Terraformer M1 and the Sohnen ship are still in the works.
Terraformer M0/M9
In the following pictures you see the Terraformer M0/M9, but its purpose isn't certain yet. It is more likely that the ship will be a M9 than a M0.
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Our balancing
The ETNO team has planned to change the balance a long time ago. Now we are going to present our ideas.
We will change everything, missiles, weapons, shields and ships are quite different to a vanilla game.
The weapons
We did many changes on the weapons. It can't be true, that a weapon works in a different way then it is said in the description, so we have changed that:
The weapons are working quite similar to that what is said in their descriptions. Debilating effects on the engines, lowering weapons energy or damage over time are now noticable very easily.
This will be very interesting, because there will be more challenges in combat. If you are travelling alone, you have to reckon to be destroyed. But of course the mod will still be playable, but it will get much harder. Who wants to attack a corvette using a fighter may be destroyed by flak-cannons.
But the player doesn't only get challenges, but also some tactical possibilities.
The missiles
The missiles are way better than in vanilla. The will chase and hit you. Almost no ship will be faster than the slowest missile, only the M5.
The ships
We will try that every ship an every shipclass has a reason for being, so that the player has got the choice.
There will be some surprises, but this part of our balancing still needs some time to be ready.
The shields
The shields have been changed completely. There will be many new things and also new possibilites.
For every shield type we have created different variants, so there is a standard shield, which is quite like vanilla, then there are shields with a very high recharge rate, but with a low capacity and there are shields with a high capacity, but with a low recharge rate.
So there are more tactical possibilities to equip one's ship.
There are also special shield versions, e.g. a shield with a low capacity and low recharge rate which needs not much cargo space and is quite cheap and which is buyable everywhere. So you can equip freighters acting in secure areas with shields without having a loss of protection and cargo space.
And there are now shields for space stations. No, there's no mistake, you can really equip your space station with other shields!
As you just read here, there are quite many changes, so the shields have got a new name, because otherwise you wouldn't recognize the different versions of the shields.
Now to the names of the shields
So, as mentioned before there are new shield names:
Type 1 shield: This shield is a shield produced for the M5. The standard version of this shield has got a capacity of 5 MJ. So the M5 are now better to use in combat, but they still have got a low fire power.
Type 2 shield: These shields have been developed for the M4. The standard version has got a capacity of 15 MJ, so M4 have good features in combat.
Type 3 shield: This shield is used by M3, TP and some TS. The standard capacity is 35MJ, so the M3 will have very good shields.
Type 4 shield: M6, TM, and most of the TS are using this shield, which offers a good protection.
Type 5 shield: The first shield for capital ships is used by TLs and M7.
Type 6 Schild: M1 and M2 will use this shield
Typ 7 Schild: Some M1 and M2 will use this powerful shield.
Typ 8 Schild: This is the strongest shield in the universe, which will protect stations which are placed in dangerous sectors.
The different versions of the shields:
High charging shield: This version has got the best recharge rate of its type. It is made for those pilots who want to have their shields recharged in a short time. But the capacity is quite low. This version is available for all shield types, but not for type 8.
Trading shield: This version doesn't need much cargo space, but it has got a very low capacity and recharge rate. This version is only available for type 3 and type 4 shields.
Standard shield: This shield is the average shield. This shield is good for you if you want no changes.
Blockade shield: This shield has got a very high capacity, but a low recharge rate. If you don't want to leave the combat area or can't leave it, this shield is good for you.
This version is available for all shield types, and for type 8 shields this is the standard version.
The standard shields will keep the price from vanilla, the trading shield will be offered almost everywhere and it will be very cheap. The new versions, blockade- and high charging shields will be very expensive and offered rarely, but they have many advantages.
Status
Our main goal is an alpha version, where we want to present the basic changes. In the following we will show you what we have done so far.
The map
The map is almost finished. Many new sectores, different backgrounds and many more will be waiting for you.
We are working on a dynamic universe, in which the races will be at war, and with a realistic economy. But to get there we had to take a drastic step:
We have killed GOD.
The GOD-module is for most of you only a squishy term. In general, it is responsible for the economy. It rebuilds destroyed stations or dismantles stations which don't make much profit. The latter may have been noticed by many players, when the GOD-module destroyed the terran economy.
That was something we couldn't let go on, especially because we want to add some independent companies, which will build or dismantle stations on their own. So we made it that GOD doesn't know anything of any stations any more.
(For those of you who are interested how it works: The GOD-module does only build or dismantle stations which are registered in the map file. So we freed the map of all stations and place them afterwards using the MD instead. Doing this by hand would mean an enourmous effort, so we made a little program which does this automatically within a few seconds.)
The user will see no difference, besides the fact that the GOD module doesn't take action any more. So your actions will have consequences.
'The scripts' or '
A never ending story'
This headline doesn't sound very hopeful, but somehow it is true: There is still much work to do. Our scripters (namely Draguun, ScRaT and Striker304) are also very busy in their real-life, so the work doesn't go on as fast as we would like to see it. In addition to that, assembling our ideas is sometimes quite difficult, because some things never existed before and so we often had to experiment.
As a sedation: Just before Christmas, we got two new scripters (namely Reacecor and h2o.AvA) and we are advancing - slowly, but also continously.
In our alpha version, the basic economic system will be included, and also some other scripts. But because we changed the trading system completely, the standard traders you know from vanilla game are no more available in our mod, but they have been replaced with our own creations. But another consequence is, that the trading scripts, e.g. the commercial agent, will have to be adapted to our trading system.
The companies and the race wars will probably only be available in later versions of our mod.
'The models' or '
pictures say more than a thousand words'
As you have seen in our news we have presented before, there will be many new models created by our modeller pantoffelhorst. Here are some more of them:
Ships from X2
As some of you might know, we use killerog's X2 ships (many thanks to killerog at this point). Now, pantoffelhorst did some work on those models, and here are the results:
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On the left you see a picture of a Teladi condor. The ship has already got some textures, but many textures are still missing. On the right you see a Split raptor with a texture of a Teladi ship. Both ships are not finished yet.
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These pictures show the Python. There is still much work to do on that ship.
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What you see here are the Argon ships Titan (at the top) and the Colossus (at the bottom). The textures are missing completely, and like the ships we have presented before, they are still in the works.
Comparison of the ETNO ships
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This picture shows the ETNO ships, and is also a good status report. Most ships are still in the works.
On the left there are the following ships (top-down): M7 Saggitarius, M7M Aries, M2 ISN, M1 Naminos.
On the right you see the following ships (top-down): TL Canis, TS Gemini, TP Cygnus.
And in the middle there are theses 3 ships (top-down): M3 Serpent, M8 Auriga, M6 Kapella.
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In this picture you see the M8, M6, M9 and the M2 of the ETNO. This picture was actually created in order to demonstrate the size of the M9 in comparison to the other ships.
Another screenshot...
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What you see here is an ETNO trading-station (on the left), the Argon M9 (at the top) and the ETNO M8 (at the bottom). The latter has already been changed, e.g. the red lights have already been removed.
The ETNO solar power plant
Some weeks ago, pantoffelhorst developed the first concept for an ETNO solar power plant (SPP in short form).
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These two pictures show the first concept, so there are no detailed structures.
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And here are another two pictures of the SPP.
So, that's it for today.
A happy new year and best wishes for all of you!
The ETNO team