maybe you shouldn't suggest things then, i'm sure he already has a plan

Mod tool is based on the latest version probably, but I doubt much has changed between 6.5 and 7.0; sorry but I can't be of more help here, I don't have XSI 7 and so don't know what they changed.

And suggestions are welcome! Indeed I do have a plan on how to do the Titan, and yes, it does have multiple research requirements involving both the Civilian and the Military tree, as well as upgrading your fleet capacity so you can actually have one built.

how much fleet supply are the Titan's planned to consume? The current max on the vanilla races is 2000 supply points (across the board). I suggest Titans consume 200 supply points, which is 4x what current caps consume. That way you can still field around around 4 at the largest practicality, and still have a nicely sized, varied fleet.

Actually, it will be closer to 400-600 supply points, actual number pending testing and subject to change when the beta results start coming in. The idea is for the Titan to be a big tradeoff. You get this massive, extremely hard to destroy warship which not only can wipe out even the most heavily defended sectors (starbases won't help you that much either) but also stand its own ground against heavy attacks, unless those happen to be full of anti-fighter and anti-cap squadrons; however you have to give up a LOT of fleet capacity. In effect you focus your firepower around "bigger is better" doctrine. Alternatively, you may forgo building of a Titan in favor of having a full sized fleet at your disposal.

A Titan is meant to be really one of those immense investments which have an equally immense impact on the battlefield. Unless your enemy is fully prepared to defend their worlds, and I'm talking everything from minefields to starbases and a babysitting fleet, when a Titan comes calling, they are going to lose them.

I am working on a mod of my own that will include some Titan-sized ships, with comparable firepower to heavily upgraded SBs. I forget how much fleet supply the Titans are going to consumed, but there are also ships called Mobile Star Forts (MSFs).

The MSF is essentially a somewhat-slow-moving, massively armored, shielded, and armed warship, that consumes 200 fleet supply points, and is usable in a multitude of different roles.

The 'Titans' however, are massive, extremely expensive, requiring-extensive-research-type ships, that once unlocked, will provide a monstrous advantage, at the expense of being an equally monstrous drain on resources.

Also, the Xin look awesome. Is there anything up yet on the Hegemony? (or is it in the other 50 pages I'm too lazy to read/look through)

Nah, you won't see Hegemony art and models for some time, since they're scheduled for Episode III.

I'll be going a lenghty trip this summer in two weeks, after I get back I'll wrap up Episode I, and start work on the Episode II, which will feature the Clans Remnant..

But noooooooo! So we don't get this until the fall?

Unfortunately, I won't manage to get it ready within the next two weeks before I go on my trip. I am working like mad just to get the website ready, which should contain all sorts of new information, videos, even a special cinematic trailer if I manage to crank up XSI's particle system to do what I want it to do. There will also be official forums so you can all scream at me to finish the mod already while I'm away. That sort of thing always brings warm feelings to my heart.

This is why you don't announce deadlines with a mod... you just can't predict the circumstances and available free time. And since I'm committed to deliver the most polished and complete experience possible to you guys and gals, I just won't settle for releasing a half-finished, or even two-thirds finished product. I've spent too much time paying attention to details to succumb to that now.

The good news is that with all the expertize I've accumulated during the making of Episode I, Episodes II and III should be churned out in half the time. To tell the truth, I'm looking forward to shifting styles and making new awesome ships come fall (while you blast away with the Xin)!  *grin*

What's wrong with particle forge?

Well I guess new info and a trailer is better than nothing May I ask when you'll be back from your vacation?

In two months. Its a big trip.

Speaking of particle forge, its actually a robust system. The only thing missing is particle emitting particles (you can do all sorts of nifty stuff with that, such as smoking shrapnel for example) and some sort of a "blend" shader - smoke trails could use a lot less particles that way and look better. But all in all, good stuff.

Of course, compared to the cinematic quality of a full-render particle simulation...

Eeek.  Gone all of August and September!?!  Probably won't get to play this baby until Nov. or Dec. now.  I've actually penciled you in under upcoming games -- that's how fo real I think this mod is...

Maybe that's why we haven't heard anything from devs about the next two expansions.  You scared 'em off with the brilliance of LAST STAND!!!!

Man, you just need to turn this into a full-fledged game instead of a mod. I know would buy it

why turn it into a game and spend money on it?  he's giving us pretty much a free game, that's exactly like sins, oh wait, it is sins

Just a thought with the whole titan thing.

I wonder what would happen if it attacked a star with full Vasari Starbases, fleets, and capital ships.

It would very likely lose. A lone Titan only has its drone swarms to attack other ships direct... if you want to ensure success, you have to complement it with other ships, most notably Spider cruisers to help keep the enemy from fleeing.

If the enemy fails to destroy the Titan before it can fire its doomsday device, then it doesn't really matter how many of them are present in the battle... the more the merrier!

i love you

I do wonder how it will be constructed.

It doesn't seem like the sort of thing that you would build in a shipyard.

hey,

can someone post the url for the volumetric effects mod blended with bailknight's graphics mod for vanilla sins?

Thanks!

All titans will be constructed in a special manner. In the Xin case, you will have to deploy a Wormhole Catcher beacon, which will the open up a massive wormhole linking itself with the other end somewhere in the Xin held space on the other side of the galaxy. A Titan will then emerge from the wormhole.

The beacon will be extremely fragile, and it will take some time for the wormhole to fully form, so you will have to take care not to get the process interrupted, say, by a lone scout taking potshots at your beacon. They're quite expensive.

Flankers1010, here you go.

hey i thought you were dead, was following you on moddb....

anyway if your intending to keep vanilla races, are they going to see ALL of the new class archetypes... including titans?

EDIT:

"Man, you just need to turn this into a full-fledged game instead of a mod. I know would buy it"

oh most of these ideas are from a game called; conquest:frontier wars just google it or ign it

Hi Skullshaper, no, still here.

As for ideas, they might be simmilar, but to be frank I never heard of that game. But hey, I just started by thinking what would make a cool addition to Sins...

*edit*

As for vanilla races, no, they won't be seeing Titans added to them. I plan the mod as an unofficial expansion, but with a twist - when it comes to strategy games I like diversity, both in unit types and gameplay. SoaSE follows a more traditional "mirror" style, where each faction has basically the same types of units and the same way of using them, with minor differences in stats, production costs etc.

The Xin are an invading force. An utterly alien one at that. They won't have access to some units or buildings the vanilla races have, and will have some unique units/structures of their own.

For example they won't have culture or media centers to spread their "culture" around. When they want to spread around, they do it with lots of booms and bangs, not talking (not to mention that aside from the Consuls, apparently no one has managed to decipher their language... instead they will have a special "black market depot" where the unsavory traitors from local races can exchange all kinds of goods with them. Since the Xin won't be able to generate credits natively (but won't need them for much else than black market trading and paying off pirates), the depot will basically serve as a resource/money converter, a sort of an additional way for the Xin to balance their resources. Since the conversion rates are fixed, a potentially very powerful structure in the hands of a more subtle-minded Xin commander.

And so on. The differences may in some cases be subtle, in some cases not, but the overall goal is to make you feel like you're playing with or against a unique race, not a copy/paste one with different graphics and few math tweaks.

Any news ?

Hello...

First off those models look striking a great use of colour, texture and that bump looks fantastic.

All i want to ask, if your able to answer is what model did you use the largest amount of polys on and how many it was?

Currently the Vortex cruiser, not shown yet, around 8000 polygons. Most of my models are less than 4000 polygons though.

P.S. Here's a wireframe shot of the model for illustration purposes.

8k well I guess I understand that due to no smoothing of the polys but I suppose the bump does the smoothing for you. You mind telling me what program you use Maya, 3DS or other as my maya models dont look too good using 2k polys with smoothing its at 12k.

https://forums.sinsofasolarempire.com/361323