Hello everyone,
As most of you know, I am Pestalence. I am currently undertaking a project which involves the entire SFC community as an experiment and a healing tactic in order to help out the SFC 3 game title in the area of game balance.
What i am proposing is that the community members all over the web who owns a copy of SFC 3 to come to my forums and start discussions and be willing to participate in testing the SFC 3 game title in balancing the Stock SFC 3 game...
This will not correct game bugs caused by the game exe file, however it will help balance ships across the board for all races by adjusting the *.gf files.
The Goal of this project is to balance the game to where the game should have been out of the box and to have the game as close as possible to Taldren / Activision game design without drastically changing items within the game.
My forums have simple rules...
#1, no flaming under any circumstances.. if you want to flame someone, do it by email..
#2, No Cussing.. hopefully we are all mature enough to hold rational conversations and not turn into street punks that have no education.. show that you have had a good upbringing and have self respect and keep your language clean...
#3, no personal attacks.. this falls somewhat under #1.. if you feel you have to personally attack someone, then keep it to email..
if i catch anyone breaking these rules.. 1st time will get a warning, the 2nd time, the will be shown the door.. if one makes an attack or a flame and someone retaliates.. then both will get reprimanded the first time and the second, both will be shown the door.. it takes 2 to tango and I could really care less who started what.. I do not play games when coming to the testing process and i take it seriously and professionally.. which is what I expect from everyone wanting to participate.. all conversations can be kept civil.. if you do not like an idea.. state that you do not like it and use examples in terms of game play to support your position.. it is that simple...
now what I intend to do is let you the community go into my Forums as a neutral area, which is the home forums for my fleet, the Elite Federation Force, and give free access to posting in the Starfleet Command III : The Next Generation forums for the purpose of the community to heal, get over grudges, and to come together to fix the game balance in the stock game...
What people will need to do is have a clean un-modded version of SFC 3 on their systems installed properly and in the correct game directory as listed by the patch v534_b trouble shooting step #10.
Everyone will need to be on patch v534_b to participate.
you the community will choose what settings to change and test.. you will choose who will host the testing server.. and everyone is equal.. those who have been playing since the game came out is no more important than those who bought the game yesterday.. everyone's opinion counts..
The boards have polls on them.. if you would like to see something change.. you choose who is going to edit the game file and host it and who will host the server with those changes.. Vote on a suggested change or host a poll for a suggested change.. the person selected to adjust the game files will make the adjustment according to the results of the poll.. the poll on a selection should run for 3 to 5 days before the change is implemented and people will need to be interactive and discuss things a lot..
now what i will not permit is changing races to fit one's needs.. as such if it is stated in the game manual, then that is how it stays.. like by Default.. Borg have no shields per game manual.. this will not be changed.. borg Regen Armor will not change (although strength of armor can be adjusted)...
AMM's were adjusted to fit the game manual.. i can see that they get a small tweak, but nothing over 25 as that makes them too powerful (especially game manual and damage charts state 20 damage).. I can see weapons changing damage points by 1 to 3 points for purpose of balance.. and heavy weapons by 2 to 10 points depending, however nothing over the top or extreme.. as such, i mean a PH X doing 8 Pts being changed to do 15 PTs is not allowed.. i can see 10 and I can see 6 but not a drastic jump...
now when the community is done and happy with the changes.. i will submit the files to kenneth Yeast and seek permission to build a V534_c patch containing your the communities changes for a balanced stock game...
now I make no promises on having a v534_c game patch.. i state that I will try to get permission for the patch.. however this will allow for a unified and community agreed upon stock game mod that addresses game balance at the very least, which allows the community to come together and heal..
this is my first and last attempt at trying to heal the community and i am doing it in a manner that players can help fix a game that they enjoy.. so take advantage of it...
If it works, i will endeavor to take things further and push for more stuff, but until I see the communities come together, forgive and forget, and just plain get along .. I will do nothing else to help SFC 3...
This is your game that you choose to play.. make the most of it.. I am giving you an opportunity to get things together and solve problems.... it is up to you to realize that this is just a game and that we are all here to be able to play it with each other without having personal problems with each other...
My forums are located at :
http://p079.ezboard.com/belitefederationforceforumsyou can post in the SFC 3 section...
just post what you think needs balancing in the game and why and what you think needs to be done to bring about that balance..then others will comment.. someone should make a poll if there are a lot of responses and the one making the revisions needs to change the file and host it while the server selected implements the changes for testing...
After you test the changes for a few days, then go back and post what you think.. and be honest (not crude).. if it doesn't work, don't give up.. just adjust the settings again ant test again..
now i leave it in your hands.. I will not get involved except to monitor the boards for the 3 rules i listed above..
you get to choose who will make the changes, who will host the changes and who will host the server.. you will have the power to get this done and it can only work if you all work together as a community....
If you do not have time to dedicate to the testing, then do not join the group as these changes and the work on it will need constant testing by players for a week at a time per setting until the next adjustment is implimented...
now a poll should be held after testing is done on a setting for whether or not that setting should be implemented permanently.. preferably a 2/3 vote by the community testing will make the setting permanent (so long as it is not OTT from the Taldren / Activison design of the game), however a 51% vote will carry the change or toss it out...
if you like, go and get started.. but remember.. if you go for the testing, please stick with it.. everyone's opinion counts... as such, if you don't like it state so and why, leaving personal feelings towards others out of it... the goal is to get the game fixed regardless of who's idea it is for a setting... keep an open mind to new ideas and try it out if it sounds reasonable...
it is your game.. I'm offering you to fix an aspect of it.. it is up to you to take advantage of it.. it will not be a short process, but at least it is something that will be fixed in time...
also remember, you are not modding the game.. as such, no ships being added and no adding tech to races that were not designed in game to have it.. like the Federation does not have cloak.. so no adding cloak to the defiant... the Feds do not have plasma, so no plasma on fed ships.. Roms do not have quantums, so no quantoms for Roms..
keep the game stock, this is to just adjust the game weapons, armor and so forth to where ships are balanced..
also remember, the Borg should be harder to beat than other races in comparative ships.. as such.. a Frig. Borg ship should have a even battle against any other races destroyer size ships 1 size up.
anyhow that is all i have to say about this.. you have my forum address.. you know what the rules are, you know what this is all about, and you know what is to be expected...
Thanks,
Pestalence