Star Trek - The Final Frontier (Beta 1.0)

[rjord2021]

The Romulan Star Empire was led by Praetor Vrax who originally ruled the Empire until 2279. Under his rule the Romulans expanded their Empire in directions away from Klingon and Federation space which is why the Romulans were hardly seen in this era.

However the timeline was changed by the unexpected assassination of Praetor Vrax in 2266 and many in the Romulan Empire pointed their fingers directly at the Federation.

With the timeline irrevocably changed Praetor Tahn took command of the Empire and listening to the speculation that Federation assassins had taken out Vrax he ordered Romulan fleets to change direction and head towards Federation space.


Praetor Tahn assigned a new sub-commander to lead the fleet and sub-commander Koval was given one specific order..... bring the Romulan Star Empire to the heart of the Federation.....Earth.



Below is a picture of sub-commander Koval who will lead the Romulan fleet towards Earth.

[rjord2021]

"We are the Borg. Your biological and technological distinctiveness will be added to our own. Resistance is futile."



While it is true that the species that was to become known as the Borg did move to the Delta Quadrant when their homeworld died, there were a few Borg colonies left in the Beta Quadrant.

Planet : El-Auria, Beta Quadrant
Species : El-Aurians - a humanoid civilization of "listeners" with extremely long lifespans.
Starfleet Note : Most El-Aurians were assimilated by the Borg in the year 2265


While the Borg is not having as big a threat to worlds as they are in the Delta Quadrant, they are in the Beta Quadrant and they will in a way be a part of the mod.

If you do not want to be assimilated do not go to the El-Aurian system

Note : Guinan from Star Trek TNG is an El-Aurian

Guinan was born in the 1600s and was among the refugees when the Borg destroyed it, though she wasn't a witness to the attack. Her young daughter was killed, and a despondent Guinan fled the planet aboard the freighter Lakul which came into contact with the Nexus.

Guinan as already stated in a prior post is also in the mod and her story is told in a modified timeline where her ship did not actually meet the Nexus.

[rjord2021]

How the role playing will work in Distant Worlds Universe


You will be playing either as Kirk and the crew of the Enterprise or as another Captain on a different ship. Depending on which of these you choose you will be using one of two card sets that come with the mod.



In this example the Enterprise has left a starbase to explore a distant uncharted system.

On warping into the system you are notified that you have arrived in Epsilon Canaris.
As soon as the Enterprise drops out of warp roll 2 dice and consult the Galactopedia for the system Epsilon Canaris

The Galactopedia will have 11 different paths that you can take (options 2 to 12) and the Galactopedia will inform you which card to look at for the system you are in.

I rolled a 3 and a 5 giving me 8

Option 8 for the Epsilon Canaris system goes as follows

"After dropping out of warp Communications Officer Uhuru informs Kirk that she is receiving a message from Starfleet."

Refer to the card below.






Roll one dice.

I rolled a 4 which means asking Doctor McCoy to report to the transporter room.

I then followed the Transporter Sequence where 2 dice are thrown which will randomly determine how long it takes McCoy to leave the Enterprise.

Results 2 to 6 Doctor McCoy is on his way to the transporter room <Wait one minute and throw 2 dice again>
Results 7 to 12 Doctor McCoy has beamed down to the planet.

After McCoy has left the ship prepare the Enterprise to leave orbit.
2 dice are thrown.

Results 2 to 6 The Enterprise crew are preparing the ship to leave orbit. <Wait one minute and throw 2 dice again>
Results 7 to 12 The Enterprise is now clear to leave orbit and a course is set for the next system.



Now as long as no other events occur the Enterprise leaves the system.
Mark down in your Captain's Log that you need to pick up McCoy at current time plus 30 minutes.

When you go to the next system you may either:
Have another event occur for that system.... or
The Enterprise patrols the system passing by each planet.
If time allows explore another system or respond to any distress calls.

After half an hour you can return to Epsilon Canaris III. Half an hour for you could be several days or a week in Distant Worlds Universe.

After McCoy has left the ship prepare the Enterprise to leave orbit.
2 dice are thrown.

Results 2 to 6 The Enterprise crew are preparing the ship to enter orbit of the planet. <Wait one minute and throw 2 dice again>
Results 7 to 12 The Enterprise has entered orbit and you can now contact Doctor McCoy.

2 dice are thrown.

Results 2 to 6 Doctor McCoy has not answered his communicator . Try again . <Wait one minute and throw 2 dice again>
Results 7 to 12 Doctor McCioy has answered his communicator and is ready to beam back to the ship.

I then followed the Transporter Sequence where 2 dice are thrown which will randomly determine how long it takes McCoy to return to the ship.

Results 2 to 6 Transporter room is still trying to lock on to Doctor McCoy <Wait one minute and throw 2 dice again>
Results 7 to 12 Doctor McCoy has beamed back to the Enterprise.

2 dice are thrown.

Results 2 to 6 The Enterprise crew are preparing the ship to leave orbit. <Wait one minute and throw 2 dice again>
Results 7 to 12 The Enterprise is now clear to leave orbit and a course is set for the next system.



This may sound complicated but the mod will have instructions on what needs to be done at a specific time.

- There is a sequence for beaming down one individual to a planet and another to beam back up

- There is a sequence for beaming down a landing party and how many will be in the party to beam down.
- When the landing party mission is complete.... collect or lose Command points
- Follow sequence for beaming the landing party back to the ship.

- There is a sequence for entering or leaving planet orbit.

Note down in your Captains log any change to your command points.
These will impact the success or failure of your next landing party you take down to a planet with you.

While you have people on the planet a Klingon or Romulan ship, or another unfriendly race, may enter the system.

- Do you leave the system?
- Do you fight?
- Do you call for assistance from any nearby Federation ship?

This is not chosen by you but is decided.... yes... by trhe roll of the dice making the decision for you.

You will notice that with this card there is no option that the Enterprise is not required and can leave the system at its own discretion.

I figured Bones would not want to simply leave if there was anything he could do... hence a landing party or sending McCoy down by himself.

Also note: For missions like this when you return to pick McCoy up you will determine the success or failure of his mission.

Same as you get or lose command points McCoy will gain or lose Medical points which will effect his future missions. Scotty has Engineering points to determine how quickly he solves problems... Sulu has Navigation Points and Spock has Science Station points.

Each of these need to go in your Captains Log when they change.

[rjord2021]

When you construct ships in this mod you need to do one ship at a time per dry dock instead of queuing up 10 ships at a time.

You use the Distant Worlds interface as per normal to construct the ship you are wanting Eg A Constitution Class Ship
You will then be notified by Distant Worlds that the ship has finished construction.

At this stage you go into role playing and prepare the ship to exit the dock.


First thing that needs to happen is that the Captain and the crew must beam over to the ship , take their stations and prepare the ship for departure. This is done by throwing a dice and rolling a 3 which means all personnel are on board and the ship is ready to depart. If you do not roll a 3 then wait a minute and roll again. This may be changed to 30 seconds after I test drive this a little more.

Once your crew is ready, the communication officer will contact the dry dock and notify them that the ship is ready to depart the dock. The dry dock will then give permission once all traffic in the area is notified that a ship is leaving the dock and that all dry dock personnel have left the ship as well as the dock and it is safe for the ship to leave the dock. Once you roll a 5 you have received permission from dry dock to move your ship out on impulse engines.

The captain then gives the helmsman the command to set course and take the ship out of dry dock. Moorings and clamps are released and the ship can move out once you throw a 1. For other result wait 1 minute...or perhaps 30 seconds...before trying again.



If this procedure is too slow I will change the card so that each step is complete for a range of numbers... eg 1 to 3

Will test and look at any need to change the card.



These steps are put in to slow down the manufacturing of ships to a more realistic speed. If the Klingons or Romulans have declared war on you or the Orion pirates are attacking your ships, you need to already be prepared with enough ships to handle the attacks.

Depending on the roll of the dice you may not be able to leave dry dock for 5 minutes and you cannot start building another ship in the dry dock until the existing one has left.

As you guessed for this to work this procedure must not be automated in Distant Worlds.

[Hattori Hanzo]

If you do not roll a 3 then wait a minute and roll again. This may be changed to 30 seconds after I test drive this a little more.

a) a minute of real time ?

b) or a minute of game time ?

[rjord2021]

real time

[Hattori Hanzo]

I'm concerned.. during that minute what you can do ???

a) nothing at all

b) do other things in the rest your galaxy domains

[rjord2021]

Believe me... there is plenty to do.

This mod is designed so automation is at a minimum and you need to control what is happening in the rest of the game....in other words play Starfleet as well.

I am still looking at what steps are automated.

For example... if the movement of ships is automated then there is no way they will stop crossing the Neutral zone which will be clearly marked. With the Romulans and Klingons hatred of the Federation your ships will be destroyed if they are not part of a fleet.

If ship movement is automated then you will need to keep an eye on ships near the Romulan or Klingon Neutral Zones. If they move into the Neutral Zones then you turn the ships automation off and send them back to the Sol system so the captain of the ship can explain to Starfleet why he took his ship into the neutral zone.

Diplomacy... that can be automatic.

I will reveal more of that in time but the development is my top priority with game play second priority



Some things you need to do:

- monitor what the Romulans and Klingons are doing as well as other races
- move your fleets to intercept them if they enter your space.
- cloaked Romulan ships will be hard to locate
- monitor the economics of the Federation and make sure you are still making credits
- make sure you have plenty of resources for building ships
- respond to increased attacks by Orion pirates.
- protect your bases from attacks by other races
-

- and the list goes on.

There will be times where you might not get back to your ship for 5 minutes.
I will have rules in place if this happens.

Also number of dice rolls for an event is limited to a specific number so you are not having to roll 20 times to leave orbit

Of course many things can change on how this works as the mod develops and at this stage everything is in the concept stage and not final

[rjord2021]

This mod will include a manual in pdf format showing details of how to play the Return of Khan in Distant Worlds Universe in Extreme Mode.

Every aspect of the game will be shown including some tips and tricks I have picked up over the years to make the game more challenging.

[rjord2021]

The map used in this mod is generated using multiple sources such as below with the white picture being a more detailed version of the sector.

Aldebaran is one of the locations mentioned in the pilot episode

[Hattori Hanzo]

when you roll the dices do you stop Distant Worlds game time ?

[rjord2021]

That is up to you as you can pause Distant Worlds any time you want.

I have not paused it personally with my testing so that other ships may enter the system I am in while I am trying to repair the ship, beam up a landing party etc.

If you pause the game while throwing the dice you will not get any surprises entering the system.... especially if you are near the Neutral Zone.

You may have to rethink what you are doing if a Klingon fleet warps in to attack your ship.

[rjord2021]

Graphics in this mod are being created specifically for the mod with new ships for each race that is playable and a new galaxy back ground for the map.

A lot of work is going into all the Role Play cards many of which require new pictures to be created.

For example below....

The first image is one I downloaded from the Internet.

The second image I photoshopped to add a warp field effect

The third picture is with the Enterprise added in but still needing work done to it before it is finalized.


At least 5 hours of work is going into the mod every day, mostly between midnight and 6am as I run my own business during the day, with priority being to get the initial version of this mod out as soon as is possible

[rjord2021]

Using the image I created in the last post I then create the card and add the image to the card.

The card as seen below is an early concept of cards you may see when in Distant Worlds your ship arrives in a new system. When you arrive in a system and drop out of warp there is currently an 8% chance that sensors will pick up a vessel or a threat near you and you will then throw a dice to see what event that system has for you.

Events are either those that you will see in any system in the quadrant or they are events that are specific to the system regarding a race or some event that occurred in the tv episodes or books.

The card below is a screenshot take from the card design software I am using.
It is still early draft and shows guidelines and such.

Depending on testing the card may undergo some changes before the mod is released.

[rjord2021]

As exploring new galaxies is one of the general themes of Star Trek..... a new galaxy needs to be added to the mod.

Preview of early version of the Background galaxy that comes with the mod...... may be tweaked here and there

[rjord2021]

There will be 8 different versions of the galaxy picture above in slightly different colors so you can choose which galaxy map you would prefer to play the mod with.

[rjord2021]

Below is version 9 of the Galaxy Backdrops that come with the mod

[rjord2021]

I am attaching below the galaxy background map V9 as shown in the last post if you would like to add it to Distant Worlds Universe and give it a try.

When you zoom in as far as you can go in the game before you get the black screen map you will see that the galaxy map has a huge number of stars which move
as you drag the map with the mouse. This simulates the infinite number of stars in the universe. I don't believe this is distracting to the mod and the stars are dark enough
to distinguish them from the systems in the map.

Below is the picture of the galaxy background.....
filename 4978C8FAA8D4E5BB1C8A2DAC200F21B.jpg which needs to be saved as galaxy_backdrop.jpg

Please make sure you backup the existing galaxy_backdrop.jpg file so you can rename it back to go to your original galaxy map

I simply copied and pasted the picture galaxy_backdrop.jpg to the same folder so my backup file is called galaxy_backdrop - Copy.jpg


To replace the galaxy map you need to have the attached file saved in the following folders as galaxy_backdrop.jpg.

For my mod The Return of Khan the file goes in this folder
C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Distant Worlds Universe\Customization\The Return of Khan\images\environment\galaxybackdrops

If you are not playing any mods and playing Distant Worlds Universe unmodded and after you backup the original galaxy_backdrop.jpg
C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Distant Worlds Universe\images\environment\galaxybackdrops

[rjord2021]

I went to see Star Trek Beyond 7 hours ago and considering that this is an alternate version of Gene Roddenberry's Prime Star Trek Universe it could be said that many of the things seen in Beyond would have existed in TOS Prime to an extent.

However the story seen in Beyond will not be seen in the mod but a version more fitting to the 1960's tv era will be shown.

The card below shows a preview of the original Enterprise I have added encountering the Swarm and I already have the story and cards started on adding aliens and planets from Beyond into the mod.

I have not added any detail to the card as I did not want to spoil the movie for those who have not seen Beyond yet.

[rjord2021]

The following picture shows the planning that goes into the making of the map for this mod.

The area shown below only covers 36% of the entire map for The Return of Khan