Star Trek - The Final Frontier (Beta 1.0)

[Rising-Sun]

Looking forward to this, when do you think you will have this done for us to download?

[rjord2021]

ORIGINAL: RisingSun

Looking forward to this, when do you think you will have this done for us to download?

I am hoping to have this out in the first quarter of 2017 as Version 1.0

[rjord2021]

The Galaxy Map is being modified as I am adding each system and each planet to this mod.

When you are in a specific area of the Alpha or Beta Quadrant you will have one of 4 different Galaxy Maps visible in the background

Map 1 - No Contact with either Romulans or Klingons and No Neutral Zones in place
Map 2 - Contact with Klingons Only and Klingon Neutral Zone in place
Map 3 - Contact with Romulans Only and Romulan Neutral Zone in place
Map 4 - Contact With both Klingons and Romulans and Klingon and Romulan Neutral Zones in Place


Below is an example of work in progress on Map 3 showing the Romulan Neutral Zone with Romulan Space in Top Right and Federation Space in Bottom Left


Playing as either the Federation or Romulans and crossing this Neutral zone will have repercussions for your ship and possibly even the Federation or Romulan Empire.

[rjord2021]

I just need some feedback from those of you following the development of this mod.

Would you like daily updates on how I am going with the mod, weekly updates or maybe an update once a month.
Am happy to do the daily updates if that is what you guys want.

Roy

[Dakkon7]

I'd recommend just posting an update when you feel like sharing some interesting new developments about the project. If you don't feel like posting an update for a certain week or month, don't bother. Keep it simple and flexible.

[Rising-Sun]

Wow no wonder you been so busy, didn't realize that you laying out the whole galaxy.

[rjord2021]

ORIGINAL: RisingSun

Wow no wonder you been so busy, didn't realize that you laying out the whole galaxy.

Yes... the entire galaxy with every system in the Alpha and Beta Quadrants

The Alpha Quadrant has 390 systems and the Beta Quadrant has 394 systems.
Each system has between 1 and 12 planets in the system
Planets known in the trek universe to have 1 or more moons will have them in the mod as well.

So in total there are 784 systems in the mod and assuming an average of 6 planets in each system there are 4704 planets in the mod and up to 1489 moons.

Each episode of Star Trek TOS is being added to part 1 of this mod

Species and stories after The Motion Picture are in Part 2 of this mod

Species and Stories which took place at the beginning and in the 5 years after the movie Generations will be in this mod.

Every time you play this mod you have an alternate version of Star Trek existing so in theory Khan may not be killed off in Part 2 and Kirk may survive through Part 3 of the Mod. This only includes the part of the movie prior to where we see the arrival of the TNG crew and tells what happened in the Kirk era assuming he did not disappear into the Nexus.

When playing Part 1 you will go on missions seen in the original TV series.

Example..... when you arrive in the Beta Tauri star system a roll of the dice may send you to the planet Taurus II where the episode "The Galileo 7" took place.

If it happened in the tv episodes or movies for the Kirk era it is being recreated in the mod.
Wait until you try the landing party missions which I am developing at the moment.

[rjord2021]

Kenneth Wescott.....the President of the United Federation of Planets from 2261 to 2268.

Wescott was the President during the first 3 years of the Enterprise's 5 year mission under the command of Kirk.

There has never been an image of Wescott as he never made an appearance on tv but he has a significant role in this mod and below is a preview of how I imagine him to appear when drama hits Federation Worlds.

Where possible the scenes will be more modern looking in certain areas such as this one but scenes on starships for example will be as they looked in the original TV series though a touch darker. The brighter colors as seen in the original series and the use of light on characters faces were a part of the show but I am toning that down a little adding a slightly darker look to the 60s version of the show.

I am creating this mod in a way to explain why Enterprise looked modern while the Kirk era had the 60s look and then TNG was modern again.

Sounds confusing but you will see what I mean when the mod comes out.

Edit: It took many goes and about an hour in photoshop before I got President Wescott's hair looking right for the scene.

[rjord2021]

One of my favourite characters in Star Trek 6 has now been added to the mod.....

General Chang had a huge part in the years covered by the Original TV series and he commanded the fleet at the Battle of Organia before the Organians imposed their peace treaty in 2267..... 3 years into the 5 year mission of the Enterprise.

In this picture Chang is seen before he lost his eye. More work is in progress to make Chang younger.

[Rising-Sun]

Cool, would like to see this setup as picard era, where the borgs invade. Wasn't sure if the galaxy is big enough for that whole setup.

[rjord2021]

I was not happy with the picture of General Chang so I have replaced it with a much better one showing Chang on the Klingon World.

[rjord2021]

ORIGINAL: RisingSun

Cool, would like to see this setup as picard era, where the borgs invade. Wasn't sure if the galaxy is big enough for that whole setup.

The time being taken on this mod is work on the graphics such as referring to High Def screencaps of Star Trek TOS and then photo-shopping them on new graphics. I need to cover different story lines and possibilities such as what would happen to Spock if Earth and Vulcan are not allies...would he still be on the enterprise and if not where is he......

A lot of time is being taken writing the Library Banks which replace the Galactopedia as well as setting up a trade system which works well in distant Worlds so you can go through this mod as a Trader of legal products or black market items.

It is a pretty big conversion but once finished there would be no problem implementing a Picard era version as well which would be significantly different enough not to be just a repeat mod of the currently existing Picard mod for Distant Worlds..

[rjord2021]

When this mod begins you will be introduced to 2 characters serving together on one ship.

- James T Kirk
- Carol Marcus

In the Trek timeline Kirk and Carol Marcus were in a relationship but Carol eventually resigned from Starfleet and went back to Earth after the relationship with Kirk soured.

In this mod this may not be the way events unfold and Carol could end up being with Kirk on the Enterprise.

As she is going to be in the mod in one way or another I need to get a younger version of Carol Marcus as she looked back in 2260.

The picture below shows Carol Marcus as she appeared in The Wrath of Khan and the comic shows how she looked with long hair before Kirk becomes Captain of the enterprise.

I have spent a few hours photoshopping together a picture of Carol on board the Enterprise as she appears way back in 2260...this picture will be revealed in the next post.

[rjord2021]

This is how Carol Marcus would look between 2260 and 2270.

This picture took about two and a half hours to do and shows Dr Marcus as she appears in the first part of the mod in her crewman's quarters on board the Enterprise.

[rjord2021]

Did you ever want to play a Star Trek game as a member of the Starfleet Corps of Engineers?

Instead of playing Distant Worlds Universe as a ship's captain or a pirate I have now added into the mod the ability to play as an Engineer sent out to fix engineering challenges such as the events which took place on the space station known as Vanguard where not only were all systems were malfunctioning and someone was killing Starfleet crew.

More news on this addition to the mid next week....

[Dakkon7]

[&o]

[rjord2021]

Preview Shot :

This is one of the event cards created a few months ago showing work in progress on a situation card requiring your action.

With this card reports are coming in to Starfleet of an attack on a Federation Miranda-class cruiser starship the USS Bombay commanded by Captain Hallie Gannon.

Starfleet is ordering all vessels in the area to provide immediate assistance to the Bombay and to determine who is attacking it.

When you reach the area where the Bombay was last reported you discover the ship has been destroyed with no survivors. You now have to scan the area to find any evidence of who destroyed the cruiser.

There are 6 different outcomes for this one card alone giving you additional command and scientific points if you find evidence. You will lose command and scientific points if you find nothing.


The picture below just shows work done on the picture being added to the card.
The card itself was designed later.

[rjord2021]

How does a situation card like the one shown in the prior post work with Distant Worlds Universe.

In this scenario you may be the captain of a scientific research vessel on a simple exploration mission.
When you arrive in a new system your Communications Officer may receive orders from Starfleet or you may detect a ship or anomaly in the area.

With the card about the USS Bombay you are being contacted by Starfleet and your orders are to leave this system immediately and answer the Distress Call from the Bombay in a nearby system. The system you need to go to will be decided by a dice roll so you go up, down, left or right. This can be dangerous if you are next to the neutral zone and the dice roll tells you to enter the Neutral Zone. If this happens you are open to attack by the Romulans or Klingons who will not listen when you tell them you are responding to a distress signal. Make the wrong decision here and you could start a war with the Romulan or Klingon Empire. As the captain it is your decision if you enter the Neutral Zone... but keep in mind that you will lose command points if you fail to answer and assist the distress call.

When you arrive in the next system you do not check for new orders as you are already on a mission to respond to the distress signal.

On arriving in the system there is no longer a distress signal being issued and it is possible that the Federation ship has been destroyed. Go to each planet and scan the surface for life signs in case survivors managed to get away on shuttles and reached a planet surface.

If there are ships in the area they will need to be scanned at close range . If you are attacked by any of these ships then you have found who destroyed the Bombay. Defend yourself from the attack.

If there are no ships in the system you will still need to scan each planet. Make a note of any Class M planet which has a warp capable civilization. Make a note in your Captains Log of the civilization and which planet it is on,

Make your report to Starfleet and then leave the system. Starfleet will send teams to the planet to investigate if anyone on the surface was responsible for destroying the Bombay. Your ship may be asked to return to the system to aid the investigation. If this happens and you have success you will get more command points.

Command points will determine the success of future missions. The more command points you have the more experienced a captain you are and the more likely you will succeed your missions.

When you first start the mod you will determine how many command points you have which will randomly effect the rest of the game.

How you play this mod in Distant Worlds will depend on how many Command points, Science points and Engineering points you have.

[rjord2021]

With the event card shown above you can see that the Tholians are the attackers as this footage was transmitted with the distress signal. If the distress signal does not show the attacker then the information may be found if a distress buoy was left in the area.

For cards where there is no evidence of who the attacker is, the picture on the situation card will indicate the atrtacker is unknown and will not show the attacking ship.

As you can see, with each mission or event there are multiple results that can happen requiring a different card and a different path of action.

[Wolf825]

Being a really knowledgeable Star Trek fan, I am truly amazed at the amount of work and accuracy that has gone into this mod.
I very recently bought Distant Worlds: Universe, but have yet to play a game. Coming from MOO, MOO 2, Spaceward Ho! IV, Armada 2525, and the Galactic Civilizations series, I've heard really good things about this game. Your mod is at the top of my 'must have mods' list! Very impressive!

I have several questions (and forgive me if these have been answered previously):

1) Will you be able to do anything dramatic, or universe-changing with the Guardian, the Organians, or similar powerful entities?
2) Does Q make an appearance?
3) Can you make an alliance with the Tholians? If so, can you employ their web technology?
4) Can you ally with the Romulans?
5) Can the Enterprise or other Federation vessels employ a cloaking device, as seen in Balance Of Terror?
6) Will the refit Enterprise-class Enterprise be available (as seen in the movies, such as the 1701-A)?
7) Will we have the Excelsior at our command, or the Dreadnought-class (as pictured in the Star Trek Tech Manual, a warship with a 3rd warp nacelle and advanced weaponry)?
8) Are any elements from the Star Trek Animated series present - like the Caitian race (which was also briefly pictured in the movies) or the Edoans?
9) Does the planet killer from the Doomsday Machine make an appearance?

P.S. - I would take Spock's Brain over that hippie episode any day!

Thank you in advance for your time and this amazing mod!