[MOD iP] New Dimensions [Alpha 4.2] (Update 06/09/10)

[X2-Illuminatus]

It's been a long time, since we were able to release new information on New Dimensions. But today we proudly presence the alpha 3 for open testing. We hope that you will have much fun discovering the described and the not described features.

ALPHA 3 OUT NOW

Yes its out, and it will make even the hardest veteran look like he/she never had played an X game before. All possible strategies you may have, scrap them, they won't fit in New Dimensions' Universe.
We made some hard changes, most not visible to the eye, some not even noticeable at first glance (or second), but they will make you rethink the way you play TC as you discover them, like:

• No more Self-sustained Complexes! Mines and SPP are not connectible to complexes
• Only few "jumpable" gates left
• Jumpdrive only fits in Bigships
• Sun strength differs from sector to sector
• No real good asteroids in "sunny" sectors
• L1 Fabs can only be build in "specific" sectors (they are now "planet dependent")
• Ships are faster
• Ships Hull/Shield ratio changed (battles actually are fun now)
• Tweaked the relations between races (you wont be friends with everyone at the same time)

This is all based on Vanilla TC where all plots should work (exception is the HUB Plot which was removed), note though that this is just an alpha, more features and content will come in future and some things may not be perfect yet.
That's where you come in, we need you to report to us as much feedback as you can, constructive and as precise as possible. That feedback is imperative to our development.

Please refer to the start post for further Test and download info.

[HalcyonSpirit]

Oh man, if only you had released this about a month ago, I would've had ALL the time in the world to playtest this. Now I'm in my final semester of college with so little time to spare...

... Ah well. What's another year in college?

In all seriousness, I'll try to playtest this as much as I can, but given that I'm hunting for jobs as well as running my design team, I can't guarantee much for a while.

But HOLY CARP, some of the changes you've listed are making me drool... Want. Want SO MUCH. My time spent not playing will be time spent in torture.

[X2-Illuminatus]

... Ah well. What's another year in college?

In all seriousness, I'll try to playtest this as much as I can, but given that I'm hunting for jobs as well as running my design team, I can't guarantee much for a while.

I know what you mean. Lack of time due to the so called 'real life' and the involvement in other projects was the reason for being less active on New Dimensions. But now we have a little bit more time, spending on ND.

But HOLY CARP, some of the changes you've listed are making me drool...

Hope you have much fun, playing New Dimensions.

[Gavrushka]

Downloaded last night, I'll do a fresh TC install later today and play it to destruction until Tomorrow night, and report.

I've been waiting a long time for this! WOOT!

*EDIT* - Played about a game hour now from an Humble Merchant start, and it is pretty frantic stuff - I'd never dream of using Autopilot to dock now - It's a question of request permission to land, and slam on the brakes at the last second to try and get the deal before some other trader does.

Even so early in the game, the feel is totally different - Far far more competitive, you see a potential to make a few credits you take it - No more buying for min and selling for max. I'll add some more detail tomorrow night, but I'd encourage everyone who likes a challenge to try this mod.

[X2-Illuminatus]

Even so early in the game, the feel is totally different - Far far more competitive, you see a potential to make a few credits you take it

That's good to know, because that was our intention.

Thank you for the feedback so far. Hoping to read more, soon.

[Gavrushka]

I managed to play 5 1/2 hours - It's great having a Mercury that does 225m/s. - I tried a couple of return ship missions, and the time allocated seems good. Got a shock when I was given an hour in CBSE to get a ship back from Heaven's Assertion until I found out 'the way'.

One suggestion I would like to see implemented if it can be... Selling lasers missiles and shields, IF it can be, should only be doable if that station is a natural stockist - I've always hated this exploit, mainly because I couldn't resist using it...

I noticed the Paranid Hades can carry ST cargo btw.

I haven't had a battle yet but noticed dogfights are not bang bang you're dead any more- And Hull damage happens very very slowly - Am I right in thinking there is both more hull to a ship and less damage done by lasers? All I can say is it works - When I can I'll try out combat myself.

The extra speed of the freighters seems to have a major impact on fixing the economy and is there some script running that has AI freighters wait for a price whilst docked - The reason I ask is a docked freighter never bought any Ecells until I decided to dock, the fiend! - And how I love the sparsity of SPP locations too - That works a treat.

It seemed that the economy only activates properly after a sector is discovered- I'll watch the economy develop next weekend.

One other observation - Paranid Military and Argon Military - are they on better terms now? - I saw the two fly through each other without engaging. - Perhaps it could be like that in Vanilla too, but I hadn't taken too much notice.

[Ketraar]

I tried a couple of return ship missions, and the time allocated seems good.

Note that we did not yet balance the missions, feedback on those is highly apreciated.

One suggestion I would like to see implemented if it can be... Selling lasers missiles and shields, IF it can be, should only be doable if that station is a natural stockist

This is a good idea, its an exploit which has been there too long, not sure if we can do something about it though. We'll sure will have a try.

I noticed the Paranid Hades can carry ST cargo btw.

Yes all ships above M6 can, its directly related with the possibility to install a Jumpdrive.

Am I right in thinking there is both more hull to a ship and less damage done by lasers?

We didn't tweak the laser yet, but you're right about the hull.

I'll watch the economy develop next weekend.

Please do so, having a good idea of how the economy works is one of the key aspects of this open alpha.

One other observation - Paranid Military and Argon Military - are they on better terms now?

This should be as in Vanilla, they tolerate each-other...

Thanks for the feedback, keep it coming

MFG

Ketraar

[Tenlar Scarflame]

This looks highly interesting.

My main question is this: what are the developers' plans for modifying the existing weaponry? I ask because I've done a weapons modification of my own (which is 95% complete,) the goal of which is generally to increase the duration and challenge of combat across the board, to make capital ship combat look more impressive, and to generally decrease "bullet spam" except for weapons where it makes sense. If the devs for this mod are interested in the same things, I'd be quite willing to provide my own mod to see if they'd like to reconcile it with this one.

[Nanook]

Looks great, and I'll probably be giving it a try. However, I do have one question. Have you gotten rid of that crappy 'fog' that ruins so many sectors of the game? I assume you may have, since you've created some pretty awesome looking backgrounds.

[Iifrit Tambuur-san]

Looks great, and I'll probably be giving it a try. However, I do have one question. Have you gotten rid of that crappy 'fog' that ruins so many sectors of the game? I assume you may have, since you've created some pretty awesome looking backgrounds.

That's one the points that are pretty unsure for the moment. But there could be a version without any fog if requested, too.

This looks highly interesting.

My main question is this: what are the developers' plans for modifying the existing weaponry? I ask because I've done a weapons modification of my own (which is 95% complete,) the goal of which is generally to increase the duration and challenge of combat across the board, to make capital ship combat look more impressive, and to generally decrease "bullet spam" except for weapons where it makes sense. If the devs for this mod are interested in the same things, I'd be quite willing to provide my own mod to see if they'd like to reconcile it with this one.

Keep it up.
We have done some rebalancing on the ships. We are looking for feedback on this. Our goal was to improve the dog fights and the capital ship battles. We just modfied the ships and the Missiles but we changed nothing in the lasers.
By playing this mod, you can see yourself if your modifications are suitable for this mod or not. Test it, post feedback and we will see.

[Nanook]

Looks great, and I'll probably be giving it a try. However, I do have one question. Have you gotten rid of that crappy 'fog' that ruins so many sectors of the game? I assume you may have, since you've created some pretty awesome looking backgrounds.

That's one the points that are pretty unsure for the moment. But there could be a version without any fog if requested, too....

I am hereby formally requesting that there be a 'no fog' version. If it hadn't been possible to remove the fog in both X3R and X3TC, I would still be playing X2, I abhor that fog so much. As it is, I haven't played an unmodded game since X3R v1.2, and probably never will, just because of it.

[Ketraar]

I abhor that fog so much.

Count me in, I'll second that request... oh wait...

Anyhow for the record, I'll hate the fog too.

MFG

Ketraar

[Galaxy613]

Does anyone LIKE fog?

[laux]

[...]
One suggestion I would like to see implemented if it can be... Selling lasers missiles and shields, IF it can be, should only be doable if that station is a natural stockist - I've always hated this exploit, mainly because I couldn't resist using it...
[...]

Yep thats a great idea. But its not possible to implement that without starting a new game. So we will integrate that to the next release version.

[Deadbeat_Spinn]

Does anyone LIKE fog?

Yes. But only if I have a massive complex in the sector, with heavy fog I can't see much, if any, of the complex so my FPS doesn't drop through the floor.

But this mod is one of several mods that I believe holds a lot of promise. Keep up the good work.


(Though I must admit there is a certain mod [in progress] that I'd love to try out)

[Tenlar Scarflame]

Keep it up.
We have done some rebalancing on the ships. We are looking for feedback on this. Our goal was to improve the dog fights and the capital ship battles. We just modfied the ships and the Missiles but we changed nothing in the lasers.
By playing this mod, you can see yourself if your modifications are suitable for this mod or not. Test it, post feedback and we will see.

Sounds good. I'm definitely looking forward to this mod.

[Gavrushka]

[...]
One suggestion I would like to see implemented if it can be... Selling lasers missiles and shields, IF it can be, should only be doable if that station is a natural stockist - I've always hated this exploit, mainly because I couldn't resist using it...
[...]

Yep thats a great idea. But its not possible to implement that without starting a new game. So we will integrate that to the next release version.

WOOT!!

The fog, is a bane to me, I'd likewise like to see it gone!

....

The economy is picking up well (I sneaked in an hour and a half last night) - However a couple of observations:

6.5 hours into Humble Mechant Start HOL & AP are totally devoid of energy in all factories but to the gunnels with all other goods - The surrounding sectors are all well stocked. - Do energy transporters favour lower tech factories first? - There were no Energy Transporters servicing at the time I stopped playing - I am assuming that they will be stocked next.

There were a fleet of three Boron Dolphin Energy Transporters in the Wall almost in formation(and within 500 metres of each other) and all with same destination of M size SPP in the Wall - I'm not sure if this is intended behaviour or not - I'll look out for this again next time I play.

I think the increased speed of ships may mean missions, such as return ship are a little easier - I took an average difficulty to return Octopus from HOL to CBSW with 48 minutes allowed - It took 17 from my Mercury. - And I got a supply Discover in Argon Prime from to Equipment Dock rated Very Hard with 40 minutes or so which took 3! -(BUT the reward did not seem to be paid - I'd been promised 70,000 or so but my credits after pay were around the same as before I bought the ship). - The supply ship mission like this used to happen in Vanilla mind (from time/location perpsective).

Purely an aesthetic observation - Much credit to the artists - The ships and the new sector I have seen are superb.

[googlemeier]

What about having a dark cloud, not the entire system filled with that awkward 'fog"?
You could hide in there but you'll lose shield energy, as it was intended at some early stage (I think)

[Scoob]

Hi,

Been giving this a go and liking what I've seen so far.

The new larger Freighters are great, exactly what the game needed. As is the speed boost and improved hull - I like that ships can fight on after shields are gone. I'd tried out a similar balance change myself, but came at it from a different direction - I lowered all weapons hull damage for the same effect.

Also must say I love the TOB jumpgate replacement, the universe is 'larger' now and JDs being limited to larger ships makes sense. One thing I'd like to ask if I may, now M5-M3 or TS class cannot have a JD will you allow TS docking at TL class ships in your mod? This would be a major enhancement in my opinion.

I've not played much yet so I'm sure there are many things I'm yet to experience, however I'd like to provide the following, hopefully constuctive, feedback:

TOBs - are great but they appear to have a larger 'avoidance' radius than your average gate, I've seen some odd 'I'm avoiding something I'm really not that close to' behaviour when ships have gotten near a TOB. Some sectors worse than others so may very well be down to general in sector clutter.

Certain TOBs appear to 'launch' ships entering the sector futher...an example would be Elena's Fortune, West TOB. I was hanging out there early game and noticed that many ships were coming through from President's End only to smash into the Asteroid near the West gate. I assume it might be a combination of extra speed + not enough rudder tunings.

Ok, a suggestion next...quite a large undertaking but worthwhile... Can sectors be spaced out more? What I mean is give the sector more room to breath. Faster ships have equalled more collisions in crowded (station & asteroid-wise) sectors. If each sector was arranged to that there was a fairly clear path between TOBs so large ships can traverse sectors more readily & new new faster (but not so manueverable) TS class don't ram things so often. Easier in-sector navigation would also reduce CPU load somewhat surely? Clean paths to 'large' docks such as Shipyards, Equipment Docks and Military Outposts would also be good.

Anyway, great stuff so far and loving the new ships - particularly impressed that several I've encountered are voiced by Betty.

Cheers,

Scoob.

[Gavrushka]

8 Hours in from Humble Merchant start:

More factories are running out of energy - There are 5 sectors around Argon Prime with no Ecells apart from the ones I deliver. There is little sign of Energy Transporters now - and the ones I do see are Teladi or Boron. The sectors out of energy are Herons, AP (I have resupplied myself here), HOL, Ore Belt, CBSE. GOD has thrown new SPPs in Argon Prime and two have appeared in Kingdom End I think? It is fairly easy now to pick up a decent deal on Ecells, but everything else has run dry (no energy therefore no products) - I'm going to follow a couple of the energy transporters to find out what they're actually doing another night.