Topic: UAW Questions

[IndyShark]

Chris, I've been playing UAW for a few days now, and I have a few questions.

1. Do Quantum torpedoes lose energy over distance? They look like seeking weapons.
2. I have noticed that some advanced ships never seem to lose speed even when heavily damaged. I assume you can't fix this due to how much energy their engines produce. Is that correct?
3. I can't seem to use batteries to charge weapons. I think that's because the engines are supplying energy so the batteries never have a chance. Is that correct?
4. They are a few background scenes that are "white outs". No detail, just white everything. I can't Tell which one or ones are broken. Do you have any way to identify backgrounds so we can fix them?

BTW, this is one cooool game!

[Chris Jones]

Answers..

1.  Orion Pirates did not come with Quantum Torps because the original game is based on SFB. So I used an existing weapon, changed the graphic and audio, and changed the in-game name to Quantum Torpedo. It is really a Plasma X.

2.  The high engine power is needed for all the weaponry. The side effect there is that a heavily damaged ship can sometimes still travel at speed 31.

3. In most cases yes  - again that is because of the high engine power needed for the weaponry. You no doubt have noticed that late and advanced era UAW is an 'Overload everything, reinforce, and go full speed' situation most of the time. People are loving it.

4. I know about some of the whte outs and am working to correct them in a patch. SFC uses mod files for the space background, with certain textures applied to them. When I imported the space mod files from SFC3 some were too big for OP to use and I had to cut them down in size. It is a bit difficult, but not impossible. I narrowed down and fixed a major white-out culprit  just yesterday, actually.

You might be able to help. When you see a white-out, make a note in your head of what other backgrounds you see in that map. After the game look in C:\Program Files\Taldren\Starfleet Command Orion Pirates\Assets\Models\Space, go to thumbnail view, and write down the name of the texture you saw in game that did show up properly. That would help.

There's another thread I'm starting showing screenshots of a Cardassian Total War.  I can't stop playing this game, lol.  My wife has noticed I can't stop as well. haha.

'Darling, are you still on that computer'?    'Yes, dear. Just one more Jem'Hadar to fry and I'll be off.' 


More word on a patch as we get closer to a release of it.

[IndyShark]

Ok, thanks Chris. Can I suggest that you make the quantum torpedo a direct fire weapon instead of plasma? I think it's a cool weapon and graphics, but it out to get there as fast as a photon torpedo but with more damage.

[Bonk]

I quite like them as plasma - devastating at close range in numbers - unlike photon odds...

[Age]

   What about useing Heavy Photons for Quantuams.

[Chris Jones]

I have gone back and forth on the Heavy Photon idea for Quantums and decided that they miss too much and don't have the damage power of a Plasma X. In beta testing for a long time we had Heavy Photons as Quantums and noone liked the Feds. At present we are unable to alter damage effects of weapons. I'd love to see a Quantum travel the speed of a photon and hit almost every time. Source code?   

[IndyShark]

I am sure I can get used to them. I have set up my hotkeys so they don't fire with the rest of the weapons. They are pretty cool when you have a ship coming towards you.

[FPF-DieHard]

I have gone back and forth on the Heavy Photon idea for Quantums and decided that they miss too much and don't have the damage power of a Plasma X. In beta testing for a long time we had Heavy Photons as Quantums and noone liked the Feds. At present we are unable to alter damage effects of weapons. I'd love to see a Quantum travel the speed of a photon and hit almost every time. Source code?   

Where is the balance in that? 

[Bonk]

I have gone back and forth on the Heavy Photon idea for Quantums and decided that they miss too much and don't have the damage power of a Plasma X. In beta testing for a long time we had Heavy Photons as Quantums and noone liked the Feds. At present we are unable to alter damage effects of weapons. I'd love to see a Quantum travel the speed of a photon and hit almost every time. Source code?   

Where is the balance in that? 

If Plasma X are set to speed 100 say, then any race that uses them will benefit, there's the balance.

I'm not saying I think its a good idea though, too specific a source modifciation (unless ini settable like PlasX=Quant...)

[IndyShark]

Chris, I am having problems with the F-VEN. When I start a mission, the screen is blank. I can power the ship up and the game crashes to desktop after about 5 minutes. I suspect there is a problem with the model. Can you help, please?

[Chris Jones]

It's a missing model. My fault. I am addressing that and a lot of other things in a patch sometime around the New Year.

Quick Fix for this one.

Go to C:\Program Files\Taldren\Starfleet Command Orion Pirates\assets/models/tng/new802. 
Copy the fgal folder to another directory and rename it to fvenxx.  Within that folder are two mod files. Change galaxy.mod to venture.mod  also change the galaxy_brk.mod.   Copy your new fvenxx folder to assets/models/tng/new602.   That will fix the F-VEN problem. by giving it a Galaxy class ship. The actual Venture class will be in the patch. Sorry.

[Nomad]

Where is the balance in that? 

That is another reason I play 3.4.

[IndyShark]

Thanks Chris!

I don't know if Santa has contacted you, but a UAW patch is on my Xmas list and there are only 3 shopping days left! LOL

[IndyShark]

Chris, I gave the VEN the Galaxy class model as you suggested and it still does not work. I'll avoid using that ship until your patch comes out.

[Chris Jones]

Ok..

I'll consider releasing little fixes that don't change the shiplist to address issues like that = here's one..

I was in a Borg Mission with Indy Shark tonight and he was telling me of white backgrounds. In knowing that in Dynaverse specific backgrounds are called up and him and I both had the same scenery, and I had no white outs, it confirmed what I thought was the problem. Here's a download to fix it. It'll install to the correct directory

http://www.stcd.sgnonline.com/~cjones/downloads/UAWWhiteFix.exe

Let me know if you see any whites after this..  Smiley

[IndyShark]

Thanks Chris! That's a HUGE fix. I really appreciate it. There is a hex on the UAW test server that always gave me whiteouts. I'll run a mission there just to check it out and let you know if it works.

[IndyShark]

Chris the white out patch works fine. I have found another potential bug related to planet models.

I flew three planet assaults on 20.6. The first was a "planet assault" with no planet. When I killed the defenders, the mission ended. The second was a "planetary assault" and after the defenders died, I searched the entire map and could find no planet. I had to leave the map. The final mission (persistant, aren't I?) was another "planetary assault" and there was a HUGE Borg planet and moon. I was able to capture it easily, but it was so big it made seeing the range to the target almost impossible. I wonder if a darker color would make the range information easier to see?

[Chris Jones]

Those planet mission problems may be the result of the way the shiplist is setup. There'll be an entirely new shiplist in the patch that should fix the problems. I know the planet model you speak of. Darker would be better. I'll fix it up. You are persistant, and helpful..

[IndyShark]

Thanks Chris. I am glad I could help.

Now can you do SOMETHING about the damn photons? I fired 14 TNG Photons at a Borg ship and I swear they all missed( although they were quite pretty spinning off into the distance...) ! I am thinking about mounting bottle rockets to my ship. They might scare the Borg. You never know! 

We need magic photons! LOL (j/k)

[Chris Jones]

PROXIMITY!!   all the time!  lol...