Path to Victory (Alpha 0.0.7.1 - and an official good-bye)

[mololu]

Edit (7.6.2012): 7th Alpha Release and a final good-bye



Download Link:
http://www.moddb.com/mods/path-to-vi...ctory-alpha-71

ModDB Page: ModDB

Version: 0.0.7.1 (Final Release)

Path to Victory aims at enhancing Homeworld 2 gameplay by adding new races, factions for the existing races and a bunch of new ships.

The gameplay focuses around factions, choices and fast paced combat. Each race plays its own way and each faction has its advantages and disadvantages. Play to their strenghs and you'll surely win. Fail to do so and you will not succeed. As the old saying goes:

So it is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you can win a hundred battles without a single loss.
If you only know yourself, but not your opponent, you may win or may lose.
If you know neither yourself nor your enemy, you will always endanger yourself.

- From: The Art of War


Features:
- 5 Races
- Different factions for every race
- New ships for the existing races
- Reworked combat and physics system
- Every ship has a purpose
- A new Capital Ship Class: Cruiser

Races & Factions:

- Hiigaran
Kiith Soban
Kiith Manaan
Support Kiiths:
Kiith S'jet
Kiith Nabaal
Kiith Somtaaw
- Vaygr
Warlord Doctrine
Invasion Doctrine

- Keeper
Extermination Runtimes
Pacifier Runtimes

- Kadeshi
Garden Faith Tree
Kadesh Faith Tree
Sajuuk Faith Tree

- Turanic Raiders
No Faction selection. Available ships determined by what you can capture.

Team
Path to Victory Development Team

Additional Information & Credits
See Readme File

Images

[MatthCoFreak]

Welcome !
Nothing particularly new in your ideas, but new mods and new modders are always a good thing to see around here.

Shatter Missles

Did you mean cluster missiles (like the torpedo frigate) ? I don't really understand 'shatter' in this context (I'm no native english speaker).

[mololu]

My mistake, I was referring to the Concussion missiles (think missile corvette and frigates).

Will correct that.

[Siber]

Just thought I'd point out that, given the rather well established and well known Homeworld Universe mod, your chosen title might cause some confusion.

[MatthCoFreak]

Oh point, I thought about it, then forgot

If you don't know that yet, there is already a mod called Homeworld Universe. You'll probably want to change it.

[mololu]

Oh gods, dumb mistake.

I was actually not aware of that
Title to be changed immediatley.

[doci7]

Just thought I'd point out that, given the rather well established and well known Homeworld Universe mod, your chosen title might cause some confusion.

Funny thing is it already did. I came on and was like, 'Wow, HWU's updated from 0.0.8 to 1.1 since I've been on!?'

[MatthCoFreak]

Anyway to get back on topic, will there be any new models, or is it purely a ship-hod editing for now ?

[mololu]

I definitly plan on new models though for the moment I'm keeping to basic stuff like adding new geometry to existing ships.

An example of my horrible skills is the modified Vagyr scout. It always bothered me it didn't seem to have any sensor pods or anything.



At any rate, simple stuff like that, maybe new missile models, turrets etc. is where i'm starting until I get the hang of it.

Another development has been me playing around with different combat and speed systems. I'm not entirely certain what the final system will be. I don't know where the line between realism and fun is. Probably after some testing I'll be able to work this out.

[S110]

Mololu: I wouldn't be too worried about realism. What you need to ask yourself is this simple question: "Is it fun to play?"

That is all you should worry about. Realism... is not a major matter of importance in a space combat game. A SciFi novel needs to be more realistic than ever with the generally better education level of today's audiences, but in games... not so much.

Realism would mean many things common to space combat games wouldn't be.

I personally feel engagement ranges would be lower than speculated, due to the difficulty of locating anything within the enormous volume of any given solar system... especially if it does not want to be found.

I also feel that other than high speed single direction strafing runs, combat would take place at lower speeds. Fighters would be limited to a human's limits in the cockpit. Violent manouvers would be just as hard in space on the pilot as they would be in atmosphere, perhaps worse. Braking manouevers would be needed for any rapid course changes, signifigantly increasing wear and tear on the ship's structure.

Particle and radiation shielding would be an absolute must. Armour would need to be strong enough to resist micrometeor damage, as well as any strikes from normal impact weaponry. The only way around pilot limitations would be to use RPV or AI controlled units. RPVs would suffer from communications lag and enemy EW, so it's currently not too great a pilot substitute. AI pilots are not likely to be flexible enough to outperform a live pilot when the battle situation becomes fluid, as most usually will.

Any type of unguided ordinance would continue on as lethal for its full flight range as it would be at short ranges. It would likely continue along its course forever, until it struck something. If fired inside a solar system any shot would have a slightly curved path, perhaps getting altered enough by the star's gravity to follow an orbital pattern as its flight path grew longer. Even exploding ordinance would remain as deadly fragments cluttering up the sytem for an indefinite period of time.

Exploding ordinance could potentially be as deadly to the vessel that fired it as to its target, even if it made a direct hit. Backblasted fragments and explosion accelerated shards of the target could hit the attacker for nasty mayhem. Remember, there is neither a really strong local gravity nor a thick, energy absorbing blanket of atmosphere to slow down wayward fragments.

Energy weapons have some potential to aleviate these issues, but even there you are looking at dangers from exploding fragments and whatnot.

Bigger ships have much the same sorts of issues as fighters. They would possibly have a better survival rate, but no one has had a real war in space to collect data from.

Then we get into asymetrical design. The enthusiast crowd likes to quote that there is no atmosphere and no gravity to worry about, so ships in space do not need symetrical design. This is true to an extent. A ship can be made to move in a straight line no matter its shape and even manouever a little. What they fail to take into account is that even in space an object has mass. Mass is still subject to the laws of physics.

If you stick a ship together haphazardly and place a reaction engine on it without very very carefully calculating its needed position, your ship will tend to wobble violently, and without corrective thrust would launch into a rather erratic spin or eliptical path. Worse case scenario, but not unlikely: it will shake itself to pieces.

Viloent manouevers on a well planned asymetrical ship might be possible, but the unevenness in its mass distribution would require a much heavier and strongly reinforced structural design, further making both the mass distribution problematic, the ship more difficult to construct, and of course much more expensive.

While a bilaterally symetrical vessel is unlikely to be perfectly balanced either, it is much easier to design, build, and maintain. Kilogram per kilogram, the symetrical ship would be the most economical and sensible.

That said, you see lots of asymetrical designs, projectiles flying every which way, and ships flying victorious through the expanding gas and debris of the enemy. Why? because it's FUN.

[mololu]

Thanks for the post, I enjoyed reading it and agree on pretty much everything you've said. Some of them I've even thought about myself during mod desing and while writing some small scifi texts. It's exactly what I am talking about:

Which ideas can I implement and still maintain a positive fun factor?

For example, I figure fighters would actually fly slower than cap ships at cruising speeds in real space, so does that add an interesting game dynamic? Is it worth adding? Etc...

I am trying to figure out how to create something fairly unique without breaking the fun element in the game - hopefully even increasing it. And that really seems to be the biggest crux of modding or game design in general.

Another big problem is diversifying the factions and their ships so they don't all appear to be carbon copies of each other with differnt models and skins. I personally can't be satisfied with something simple but I don't want it to get so complicated no one can play it anymore either.

My guess is that after some experimenting and fiddling around I will be able to create someting interesting but it really takes a lot of time away from other things like improving modelling skills.

But the main point is it's fun and you end up learning a lot.

So, with a little luck there will be some interesting developments to report in the next week.

[mololu]

All right, I've come across a little speedbumb here, namely normals.

When I create a model from scratch the normals seem to work out OK but if I try and modify some existing model and re-export, the normals end up being skewed or messed up. As an example, the top of the new geometry is shaded dark while the bottom is normalized correctly. After several fruitless search efforts I guess I'll have to ask for some help.

Some more information, I've been using Wings to model and have pretty much no idea what I'm doing, though the basics seem to work more or less. I do know that the normals are exported to obj, though obviously I can't say if they are correct.

I guess the real question I'm asking is how does homeworld 2 determine how to normalize faces and what cruical piece of information am I missing here?

Sadly i can't post a screen of my issue at the moment given I'm at work.

*Edit* found the culprit - solved -

[Eagle1_Division]

Fighters having slower cruise speeds than capital ships isn't really realistic.

First, your speed isn't measured by a "max speed", since the only max speed is c, the speed of light, which is impractically fast for a combat environment. Your speed is measured in Acceleration, G, one earth gravity, is a good unit to use. (this is about 9.8 M/s^2, or 9.8 meters a second a second.)

First, Let's assume that whatever they're using for fuel in their engines has an incedibly high energy per kg of fuel ratio. If your ratio gets too high, then you start hitting the limit of human tolerance. Tolerance varies a lot, and can be raised with G-force training. Experiments have found that untrained subjects can experience several minutes of 17 g's without loss of consciousness or perminent damage. With pilot training, 17 G's may be possible as a cruise acceleration rate, though 16 or 15 G's would probably be on the safe side, as craft may accelerate for long periods at a time, assuming an extremely high energy per kg of fuel ratio.

Capital ships would be much larger, assuming people have bunks, cafeterias, etc. and walk around rather than sit in a chair the whole time. You obveously can't throw people against the wall, so the solutions are either
A. build the ship so the engines are the "floor" direction, or
B. limit your speed to a very low acceleration, say about .3 G's.
"A" would give you a max acceleration of about 1.2-1.5 G's.

Corvettes would be in-between. They would be like the inside of a heavy bomber or transport nowadays, like a B-52 or more like a C-130. While there would be plenty of room to walk around in (or float around in), it would be possible to have the entire crew seated for high-G maneuvers.

Now for that issue of Energy per kg of fuel. Because a set amount of fuel has a set amount of thrust, it can send a smaller payload much farther than a larger one. If the engines on a strike craft have 1/10 of the thrust of those on a capital ship, but the strike craft has 1/10 of the mass, then the two ships will have the same acceleration. Mass plays a huge role in acceleration rate, which is your measure of speed in space.

[mololu]

I know what you mean with the max speed and I guess homeworld poses quite some limitations there.

Now I guess maybe max speed was the wrong word... what I'm getting at is that a smaller craft wouldn't want to - or even physically be able to - achieve as high a speed as a larger ship. Mainly this would be limited by a) need to remain maneuverable and b) structural strength of the ship. So a fighter needing to turn often wouldn't go as fast as a capital ship which just has to move forward in to combat and has little need to maneuver.

But never mind that or reality now, it's an interesting idea and really changes the dynamics of the game because larger ships can respond better over large distances while fighters respond better at short ranges.

I've been making some progress in the modelling department, though as you will see, nothing wonderful.

This is the first part of several Vagyr ship reworks designed to focus them in to a more offensive force which is vulnerable to being out-flanked.

Assault Destroyer, now armed with a forward pointing laser cannon (essentially the same as the battlecruiser's trinity cannon but only one barrel).






It isn't much but for me at least it's a start.

[MatthCoFreak]

It looks really nice and neat

[mololu]

I've been thinking a little here and one thing I keep bumping across is beam weapons. In homeworld there were tons of ion cannons, being the main cap ship killer...

In homeworld 2 somehow all the beam weapons disappeared. Sure, the pulsar was added (a weapon I personally like a lot) but all the other weapons sort of disappeared. Only two ships are left with Ion cannons... which seems like a technological backtrack.

Now you can explain that away somehow but the real question I'd like to ask is: Do people think more beam weapons are needed? I guess it's more a visual thing than a real gameplay changer but I'm still interested.

Personally, I think a few more beams stabbing around a fight would look kind of cool. Any oppinions are welcome.

[doci7]

Take it from me, too many of any weapon is not very good. This comes from the experience of having made several original ships with similar loadouts; not very interesting. A few more beams wouldn't hurt; just don't overdo it and try to give the beams some variety. You'll be glad you did, probably.

[mololu]

All right, another model edit fairly analog to the destroyer's upgrade, the assault frigate.

The idea here is based on a general rework of the frigate system used. While the higaaran frigates are more task orienten: Anti fighter, anti corvet, anti captial ship etc, the vagyr frigates are classified by combat style.

The assault frigate gets in close and is capable of dealing with any threat, however excells at nothing in particular. It an essential component of any vagyr fleet, mostly due to its adaptability.

Armament:
1x Concussion Missile launcher
2x Flechette Turret
1x Heavy Laser cannon (main gun)

I plan on adding a barrel to the turrets as well but haven't had time to do that quite yet.

[SpardaSon21]

Go ahead and add more beams. Beams are awesome, just ask any fan of FreeSpace 2.

[S110]

It's not so much the number of any one type of weapon so much as how they are used and if they are all using the same effects. While Freespace 2 is an excellent game, it uses a lot of beam weapons. They are not all the same but there wasn't a lot of variety. It was how they were used that made them fun. They tended to vary in colour from race to race, and the missions were carefully planned so the firing of beam cannon added to dramatic effect; in most missions, the beams were carefully controlled to avoid overkill.

The problem with using Freespace 2 as an example is that it is a space-flight sim-type, not a strategic style game like Homeworld 1 & 2. It is viewed from the cockpit, which gives a totally different visual perspective. The view of the action is quite a different perspective when you can get a larger overview of the action.

All that said, I love the beams. It's like too much garlic in speghetti... no such thing!

[MatthCoFreak]

Seeing a beam from the cockpit of your fighter and seeing it from the control panel of a commander are two really different thing. Especially when you are dogfighting in a fighter between two giant capital ships beaming each other. As a player of FS, I can tell you that getting caught in an anti-cap beam is painful - and a very quick death.

So yeah, in FS you could have a lot of beam per ships, because you had rarely more than a handful of them on the map. Which is far to be the case in HW, and that would really turn into a giant spaghetti mess if you put too much beams.

[SpardaSon21]

Nonsense. You can't have too many beams. Besides, one of mololu's goals to create a more chaotic battlefield. What's more chaotic than a bunch of ion beams crisscrossing across space? Can you imagine being a fighter pilot in that mess?

(And yeah MatthCoFreak, I know about TAP for FSO, and I know you are part of its team. And yeah, I can't wait for TAP to come out so I can kill some Vaygr up close and personal. Avoid the ion beam and you won't get hit pilot!)

[MatthCoFreak]

If you want a chaotic battlefield, then that makes sense. Go ahead !

[Eagle1_Division]

What's more chaotic than a bunch of ion beams crisscrossing across space?

Hundreds of missiles crossing eachother's paths and dozens of missiles intercepting those missiles with more missiles intercepting the interceptor missiles and eachother and proximity detonation (flaK) missiles going for strike craft and strike craft firing missiles at capital ships, missiles, and other strike craft, then go ahead and replace every kinetic weapon with unguided rockets. Oh, and to make it more interesting, have almost all of the missiles except mabye the FlaK missiles MIRV one or two times.

My gosh... I almost want to make a mod just to see what that'd look like.

[doci7]

Yeah, but you could do all of that and still have a ton of beams everywhere. I mean, if you're going for the most chaotic appearance possible, you might as well use both, I guess.

[SpardaSon21]

You can't have just missiles, you need lots of exploding kinetic flak as well, and as doci said, beam spam.

[doci7]

I think the conclusion our community has reached can be summed up as: SPAM EVERY WEAPON IMAGINABLE.

[ajlsunrise]

Just PLEASE don't make it like PDS. That mod sucks.

I played all three races, all the different game styles, with 2 CPU players, both on easy, and I couldn't win AT ALL.
Not even CLOSE to winning.
Where's the fun in it if you can't even win ONCE?
I couldn't even win the "Tutorial" missions either.

PDS SUCKS!

Have I voiced my displeasure enough yet???

[Tristan Sjet]

I'll second that...

[Dim@]

Hundreds of missiles crossing eachother's paths and dozens of missiles intercepting those missiles with more missiles intercepting the interceptor missiles and eachother and proximity detonation (flaK) missiles ...

Yeah, but you could do all of that and still have a ton of beams everywhere. I mean, if you're going for the most chaotic appearance possible, you might as well use both, I guess.

That's all very well, and it would probably look awesome, assuming you can actually see anything. But, the main problem you would lag the game terribly....

[ajlsunrise]

Oh, that reminds me...

Beam-Flak-Missile Spam << Thanks Worf

[mololu]

Wow quite a discussion got started here, didn't see that coming.

After several days chaos and personal life I finally got some time to continue modding a little.

The question of how to make a space fight chaotic is really a good one and not really easy to answer. As someone pointed out, lag and the fact you still need some sense of overview limit the ammount of chaos you can really create.

One mechanic I've decided to use for kinetic weapons is a "hit/glancing hit/miss" system. Each kinetic round has a small chance of hitting (around 20% vs. the original 100%) and a small splash damage area when it misses, meaning that even shells that miss ships can do damage.
Direct hits on the other hand do around 3x as much damage, making combat more random. Also, using flak effects on the kinetic shells makes big ships firing at each other a little more interesting.

I'm looing in to the beam weapons and missiles a little more today so hopefully I'll have something to post a little later.

[mololu]

Okay, after some testing and playing around I have a question for the community.

As I have stated, I am trying to create a chaotic feel to the game and that means you require a certain number of ships around.

The original homeworld build system is just too slow for that. It takes way too long to get anything up and running, meaning your fleets are by default fairly small and orderly. So the question here is, what do you all prefer?

- a) A predefined fleet. Say you start your game with a bunch of capital ships. You can deploy anything up to frigate size at will but can not replace any lost capital ships

- b) Speeded up research and build times. You can deploy fleets faster while essentially retaining the homeworld style research and build system.

Both systems seem to have advantages and disadvantages and both lay out a different game.

[SpardaSon21]

I would prefer B), especially if you are increasing damage. If a battlecruiser can't be replaced and it will die fairly fast to enemy fire, I wouldn't use it in combat.

[KeyBored]

BBBBBB

[ajlsunrise]

b) Speeded up research and build times. You can deploy fleets faster while essentially retaining the homeworld style research and build system.

Looking at the homeworld 1 source code, having all six research labs doing one research makes the research take 27.777...% of normal.

real32                 labdec[NUM_RESEARCHLABS+1]=
{
    (real32)0.0,    // time decrement for combined lab research
    (real32)1.0,    // 1 lab = 1.0
    (real32)1.6,
    (real32)2.25,
    (real32)2.8,
    (real32)3.25,
    (real32)3.6
};
topic->timeleft -= labdec[topic->numlabsresearching];

[MatthCoFreak]

That's most likely 27,7% per research ship, which means 166,2% of the normal speed
So if I interpret this correctly, you have :

With one lab researching one tech, 100%
With 2 labs researching the same tech, 62,5% per lab, so 125%
With 3 labs, 44,4% per lab, so 133,3%
With 4 labs, 35,7% per lab, so 142,9%
With 5 labs, 30,8% per lab, so 153,8%
With 6 labs, 27,8% per lab, so 166,7%

Sounds logical to me, don't know if the game uses the same system when each lab research a different tech too.

[doci7]

Ya know, it always seemed like they should have done this with HW2. I mean, you can build a research module on any of your production ships; seems like if you wanted to invest in redundant modules you could get the added bonus of faster research.

[MatthCoFreak]

Yeah, but as most of the time people won't invest in more than one research module, it can make a good tactic to target the only ship carrying that module in the enemy fleet - especially if it's on a vulnerable carrier - not only to prevent him to from researching, but also cutting him some building options (especially production facilities). And if the game has gone for long enough, it is likely that the player won't have any available slot to build a new research module

[ajlsunrise]

Ok. I have 3 labs start research topic "SomeTopic" with research time of 90.
Every research update (every second) it decreases by 2.25 .
so it will take 90/2.25 updates (seconds) to 40 seconds, which is 40/90 or 44.4% of normal (which also means that it got sped up by 125%).

so:

nLabs   % speed up   % of normal
  1         0%           100%
  2        60%          62.5%
  3        125%         44.44%
  4        180%         35.71%
  5        225%         30.77%
  6        260%         27.78%

[mololu]

I really like the multiple research labs idea. Don't know if it will work but definitly something worth looking in to.

With any luck I'll give it a go this evening.

Edit: I can't see any simple way of implementing this. It is probably doable with a script but - alas - I haven't had time to look at that aspect of Homeworld modding yet.

Not having enough time on your hands is really annoying.

[ajlsunrise]

there is not a way, sadly.

[mololu]

Hmm, I still like the idea of multiple research modules doing something though. Maybe every ship with a research module builds faster?

That would replace the need for build speed upgrades.

[mololu]

Okay a small update - with no meaningful screenshots yet:

Higaaran Shield Drone:

Replaces the Higaaran Probes and functions as such. The Shield Drone is a small vessel built on the existing Proximity Probe chassis. It carries a small internal repair system which can be used to repair capital ships. It also retains the high-powered sensors that probes carry.
Additionally, it boasts a small defense field generator which protects the drone - and portions of any ship it is repairing. The downside of the Shield Drone is its large power requirements leave it with little space for thrusters, leading to a low speed.
The concept behind the shield drone is to give Higaarans an alternative to using ressource collectors to repair their ships when holding static positions while at the same time providing sensor data for their fleets.

Ressource Controllers:

Collector crews have been found to operate more efficiently when in near a Ressource Controller. Designed specifically for deep space mining operations, the controller uses high powered sensors to determine where valuable ressources can be found in asteroids, cutting down the time it takes ressource collectors to mine them.
Provides a 125% boost to mining speed in a small area around the controller.

On a side note the previously names "Ressource Units" have been renamed to "XUs" until I can find a fitting name for the mineral they mine.

Research Modules:

Uplinking to databases from forward fleets (higaaran) or task forces (vagyr) allows production ships to construct larger ships once the data has been relayed over hyperspace relay.
Fleet engineers have found ways to tie these construction blueprints directly into production modules, effectively shortening the time required to construct ships when a research module is present.
Shortens the build time of the ship they are attached to by 50%.

Edit: Trouble with turning all weapons into subsystems - avoiding firing arc colisions - has lead me to only implement large weapons as separate subsystems. The trouble here is balancing the weapons so they aren't knocked out 10 seconds into the battle, leaving all your capital ships with no guns capable of returning fire.

[mololu]

Okay, another development to announce: I've decided to add the keepers/progenitors into this mod. I know it's been done a hundred times but I love their ships and it adds an interesting third side to the fray...

I've also decided to change build tree/upgrade styles a little as well:

Higaaran: Will now have very little research but have the option to build a number of modules on their capital ships. Will also be the only faction that can use platforms. This forces higaaran fleets to stay in tight groups and use each other for support.

Vagyr: Will be based mostly on research. Capital ships will only have one or two module slots - for a research module or for a new "flagship" module which will designate the ship you build it on as your flagship. If this works, it will have a build limit of one.
Functions like hyperspace and cloak will not be modules but rather fleet wide upgrades (details still have to be decided).
This give the Vagyr the degree of freedom I think fits to their mentality.

Keepers: Not really certain here. I figure they'll have a mix of resarch and modules.

All right, now something visual since everyone loves those.

Mining Drone:




The little nozzle on the bottom is supposed to mine asteroids. Sadly I can't get the effect to play as described in another thread.

Swarm Drone:




It's worth mentioning that this model is the first one I've made entirely from scratch including texture (okay, i copy/pasted a lot of it...). I'm also aware the little gun on the bottom of the swarmer is waaaaaay too small. It will probably be reworked into some kind of pulsar/lance beam weapon when I get the chance.

Edit: Updated first post a little.

[mololu]

Progress is slow - mainly due to my lack of artistic skills - but I do have something worth showing here, the Progenitor Guardian:



Both the textures and goblins meshes still need some reworking but it's a bit of a start. About the ship, this is basically the progenitor version of the Ion Cannon Frigate (remember, I wanted more beams). It's one of the two frigate class ships I'm planning to add to the Progenitors.
It is however more expensive than the hiigaran version.

Good against: Anything that gets into the beam cannon's firing arc - including strike craft & corvettes.

Weak against: Anything not in front of it or anything coming in large numbers.

Edit: Due to me wanting to make some sort of progress, the Keeper race is currently on hold until the vagyr and hiigarans are finished and balanced. I may not end up including them at all. The reason was I found I was spendign too much time on the 'new' race and ignoring the existing ones.

[mololu]

I am getting ever closer to a release.

Progress is still slow but getting there bit by bit.

Still left to be done are several research upgrades for all sides as well as finding a suitable role for the Vagyr scout which is at the moment redundant (any ideas here are appreciated!).

A bunch of subsystems still have to be worked out, both conceptually as well as graphically.

Also several Keeper/Progenitor ships need to be added, among them a dedicated anti-strike craft frigate and a carrier of some form. Also missing are team colors for this faction. These are however secondary priority.

And last but not least an AI rework is needed as it really doesn't do what I'd like it to do. Given my nonexistential experience with AI coding this will probably take a while to get out and may only be included in a future release.

So, what's really new and worth reporting?

- Rework of Vagyr research & subsystems has been started.
Research Upgrades available:

- <HW Stock Upgrades>

- Frigate & Capital Class Hyperspace: Unlocks Hyperspace for the corresponding class.

- Frigate & Capital Class Cloaking: Unlocks Cloaking for the corresponding class.

Subsystems available:

- Flagship module: Designates the ship as a flagship, granting higher firepower, accuracy, speed and ship hold repair to all ships excluding the flagship. While any vagyr fleet can have more than one Flagship, installing command & control systems on a ship costs considerable ressources.

- Vagyr Scouts no longer have access to the EMP ability.
Instead the Missile Corvette now can be upgraded with an EMP Missile special attack.

- Higaaran Flak Figates can be upgraded to fire EMP Shells which supplement their existing weapon.
This is particularly important as flak damage is far less efficient against strike craft when they split on entereing combat.

- Higaaran Armor and Speed research have been completely removed.
Remaining research only affects weapons & abilities. Instead modifiers are granted using subsystems.

Availabe Subsystems are:
- Electronics & Nano Warfare: Grants higher EMP recovery as well as boosting health regeneration of nearby ships. Also acts as a Hyperspace Inhibitor.
- Fleet Command Uplink: Grants higher accuracy and damage (basically the same as Fire Control Module).
- Navcomputer Uplink: Grants higher speed and enables hyperspace.
- Defense Field Module: Replaces armor upgrades. Function should be self-explanatory.

It is worth noting that the Higaaran fleet can stack modifiers a lot higher than the Vagyr can using upgrades. The downside is you have to keep all your ships close together which isn't as simple as it sounds.

- Balcora Gate repurposed as Keeper Shipyard
(I know this has been done a million times and I'd love to have another ship to replace this but it works).

- Keeper Caretaker has been added
Basically their version of the Mobile Refinery. Unlike the Vagyr and Higaaran counterparts, this vessel is unarmed but otherwise identical.

- Keeper Explorer has been added
The Explorer is the Keeper's scout / probe unit. Unlike Higaaran and Vagyr scouts, the Explorer was originally designed as a deep-space exploration vehicle. Due to this heritage, it posesses an innate hyperdrive and a sturdy chassis.


Edit:

After a bit of thought I've decided that the feel I've been aiming for here needs a bit more description as I haven't conveyed it very well so far.

One main element has been my aim here: Chaos, which I've stated before. This has been implemented in a number of ways, most noticably the difficutly of maintaining ships in formation and the fast build speeds your fleet can achieve.

Take this as an example: You have a battlecruiser, some fighters and a few frigates. You move your fighters first as scouts. Hopefully you'll have a scout unit or carrier nearby to provide sensor data.

You issue attack orders. Your fighters accelerate straight away and will most likely be first on scene. Frigates come second but rather than the stock behavior of sitting still and firing, the frigates are constantly moving in combat, spreading your fleet around your target as they fire weapons into the enemy fleet.

Given the larger acceleration time for larger ships, your battlecruiser may be arriving by now. It will sit in one place firing. Giving it combat move orders is important to try and maneuver on the enemy. However due to the long acceleration times, your orders will be delayed. It takes the battlecruiser time to adjust to its new position.

While I've only played against the AI, you quickly notice that battles spiral way out of control if you aren't paying attention. On small maps (e.g. Shield), an engagement may quickly spread across the entire playing field as your ships engage and maneuver, accelerate and brake, constantly adjusting position.

Hopefully I've managed to convey something of the feel I've been aiming for.

[mololu]

Okay another model sort of worth showing.

I'm not certain it came out looking very keeper-ish but here's the Sentinel. You can think of it as the Keeper Assault Frigate. It's two plasma repeaters are effective at downing fighters and to a certain extent against corvettes and other frigates.

[doci7]

Ah, good! A Keeper frigate-- such has rarely been attempted. I especially like the engine.

[mololu]

Okay I screwed up and deleted my previous post by mistake.

Maybe that isn't even so bad. I've decided to add several subfactions to Path To Victory, simmilar to what you may know from Generals Zero Hour. At the moment this is still in the planning phase.

All the same, the following concepts stand for the Higaarans:

- Higaaran Defense Fleet: The Higaaran Defense Fleet is composed of ships from various kiith, united under Higaaran Fleet Command. Their tasks include defending Higaara and its outer colonies.
+ Well-rounded fleet capable of defense and offense
+ Embody the higaaran combat principle of operating as a single body
- No special traits

- Higaaran Expeditionary Fleet: Since the discovery of the Araan Hyperspace Network, the Council has sent various expeditionary forces through the gate to explore distant areas of the galaxy. The Expeditionary fleet is always ready to move and capable of sustaining itself for months on end without support.
+ Additional Corvette
+ Additional Capital ship
- Do not use fighters
- Do not use platforms

- Higaaran Strategic Fleet: The Strategic fleet is tasked with maintaining security on the far borders of higaaran space as well as holding strategically important points thoughout the galaxy. The Strategic Fleet does not often engage in offensive operations and prefers to hand over such tasks to other Arms of the Higaaran navy.
+ Operate from fixed outposts
+ Can withstand incredible punishment
- Do not use shipyards
- Do not use battlecruisers