Star Trek - The Final Frontier (Beta 1.0)

[rjord2021]

This afternoon the Edosians, Caitians and Remans were added to the mod.

I have spent several months on a suitable image for the Edosians who appear in Star Trek Animated and have photoshopped an image which I am now happy with.

The Caitans were also in the animated series and their new image is still a work in progress.


In Star Trek Nemesis I never got the feeling from the Reman that they were a nocturnal race who shunned the light and had telepathic abilities. I was not a fan of how they looked in the movie which is probably why Nemesis is the least watched of all Star Trek movies I have seen.

However the Reman , who are mutations of the Romulans, are in the mod and they have a new look which better suits a race that lives in the dark and relies on being telepathic. I think the Remans have more of a story to be told and perhaps this will happen with Star Trek Discovery which started filming a few weeks ago.

The Reman are likely to be as much a danger to the Federation as the Klingons and Romulans are and I will be designing their new ships sometime in the next week.

[rjord2021]

Completing the Caitian race in photoshop was harder than I thought but finally got the result I am looking for.....

In the mod the Caitian are a lot more aggressive than we see Communications Officer M'Ress who took over from Uhuru during the Animated Series.

The females tend to be small and delicately dainty while the males are likely to be more aggressive as shown in the picture below.

As first contact with the Caitian has not happened yet M'Ress is not on board the Enterprise at the start of the mod.

The Caitian are related to the Kzinti who are being added tomorrow.

[rjord2021]

Trelane has been added to the mod.... meaning that at times you could be dealing with two of the Q.

[rjord2021]

The episode The Corbomite Maneuver introduced us to the First Federation and even though I liked the idea of Balok using an alias I feel that the ending deflated the whole episode.

As the First Federation can be a deadly race to deal with I am adding them in to the mod with some changes.

The initial appearance of the First Federation appeared similar to what is shown below where I have remastered the effect seen in the tv episode.

Using the original picture of the puppet I have used FX to create the different views ... I have created 40 different images like this to represent the characters of this race.


Below is my remastered version of the First Federation race.

[rjord2021]

While picking up the less well known races for the mod I noticed in the episode Journey to Babel that there was a purple-skinned delegate with light brown hair in the background and in all the times I have watched that episode I have never seen her before.

After 4 hours of searching for which race she was from I then found out that she is a Violacean.

The images I was able to collect of her are all low quality so I am going to photoshop a replacement image for the Violacean.


There are more races being added today including four from the Journey to Babel

Laktarans
Makusians
Ithenite
Violacean
Taurean
Landrusian
Dayen or Ithenites
Sargonian
Anjurwan
Yiteran

[rjord2021]

Work is continuing on creating races like the Violacean.
However these will take time due to poor images quality of source images that I need to work with.

This afternoon I have started adding in other races that are destined to become members of the Federation council such as the Arcadians as shown below in my image produced for the mod.

[rjord2021]

A lot of time goes into creating characters for this mod and the character of the new Deltan for the mod is no exception.

Ilea from the Motion Picture is pretty much the only source for the new character and since we know that all Deltans are bald this will be the same with the new character.

Below is a screenshot of my process for creating the new Deltan character for the mod.

[rjord2021]

And just a little bit closer to the new character's face.

The hard part is to work out what to call her

[rjord2021]

And finally after an hour of hard work this morning the mod has the new character for the mod that you will meet when you encounter the Deltan race.

The mod will also have this new character in the role-playing side of the game where you will encounter V'ger as well as Kirk and Spock from the future.

The whole V'ger story had a lot of potential and I have a role play story telling how I believe it should have happened.

As you can see below the Deltan pictured here with the elder Spock and Kirk is not the Deltan we know and this Deltan is not to be trusted.


EDIT:
There have been a few cosmetic changes to the nose and some areas of the picture.
The final picture and her name will be seen when the mod is released.

[rjord2021]

Added a younger Guinan to the mod....she will no doubt be going head to head with the Q.

Tomorrow will be starting with an exciting project as I add Gary Seven and Roberta Lincoln.
The ancestors of Gary Seven were kidnapped in 4000 BC and Gary Seven has been living with the race called Aegis.

The Aegis will be interesting creatures to create as I think they will be the only ones in the mod who have tentacles.

The number of playable races from the TOS period and added to the mod is currently at 47 with more to be added.

[rjord2021]

The Borg have arrived in the mod and in last night's gameplay I received their identification .......

"We are the Borg. Lower your shields and surrender your ships. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Your culture will adapt to service us. Resistance is futile."


The appearance of the Borg in the mod is being scripted to represent how the Borg Collective were several decades before Captain Picard encountered them and the mod will show how the races in the Alpha Quadrant during Kirk's era will handle the Borg arrival in their galaxy.

I have just photoshopped a great picture of the Borg portrait which has now been added to the mod.

[rjord2021]

To separate this mod's 23rd Century Borg from the TNG's 24th Century Borg I have made one simple change in the mod.

Whenever you see the Borg the color that comes to mind is green as this is the characteristic color of the Borg.

This color will not be characteristic in this mod to reflect the different era and I have settled on a color which actually makes the Borg more intense and dangerous looking.

I will preview their new look in the next few weeks once I have the Borg Role Play cards completed.

[rjord2021]

Playable races in The Return of Khan is now at 68.
This will likely be the final figure unless I have missed any races that should be included.
Having a large number of races included means when you play this mod no game will be the same.

With Star Trek there were always surprises in the episodes such as duplicate Earths, time travel and meeting your counterparts in a Mirror Universe.

The same goes with the mod where you may meet a calm and peaceful race such as the Vulcans and then discover that they are the most hostile race you could imagine.

A folder will be included with the mod in case you would prefer each of the races to be their classic themselves rather than have random traits.


Following is a list of 66 of the races included in the mod that you will meet during gameplay or that you can play as.
2 races are top secret and will not be revealed until the mod is released.

Aegis and Gary Seven, Roberta Lincoln
Andorian
Arcadians
Ardanan
Argelian
Bajorans
Benzite
Betazoid
Bolian
Borg
Breen
Bzzit Khaht
Caitian
Capellan
Cardassians
Cheron
Deltan
Dominion
Edosian
Ekosian
Elasian
El-Aurian and Guinan
Eminarian
Fabrini
Federation
Fen Domar
Ferengi
First Federation
Flaxian
Fotiallan
Garidian
Gideon
Gorn
Halkan
Iotian
Jem’Hadar
Kasheeta
Kelvan
Khan
Klingon
Kzinti
Makusians
Medusan
Megan
Melkotian
Metron
Nausicaans
Organian
Orion
Reman
Romulan
Sarpeidon
Scalosian
Talosian
Tamarian
Tellarite
Terran
Thasian
Tholian
Trelane
Trill
Troglyte
Vian
Violacean
Vulcan
Xindi

[Lecivius]

That's...impressive [:D] And a BIG list.

[rjord2021]

Researched the Enterprise episode "Dead Stop" which showed the body of a Cardassian on a repair station and gave me an idea of skeletal features as well as the clothing being worn back in the 22nd century. Then it was just a matter of working out a halfway mark between the first time a Cardassian was seen in the Archer era and the next time in the Picard era.

In the 2009 film in the alternate timeline at date 2255 Uhuru ordered Cardassian sunrises at a bar...this suggests that in other timelines the Federation knows the Cardassian First Republic as it was known then.

So it gives me a starting point for adding the Cardassians in the mod.

Work in progress on the 23rd century Cardassian.....

[rjord2021]

A starting point for adding Star Trek Resources


Before heading off to work I have added 51 resources used in Star Trek TOS and these will be the starting point for resources you will find in the mod.

The next step is to go through the technical manuals and pick up other resources needed for construction of Starships.
If the Turbolift is made out of Corbomite I want it added to the list.

With the list below some of the resources may be removed with further research and other ones take their place.

I included Transparent Aluminum as this had already been invented 135 years prior to Kirk stepping onto the Enterprise.

[rjord2021]

With the resources in Star Trek a certain number of them are required for construction of your Starships.

At the start of the game there will be enough of those resources to construct several ships but you will need to manage your resources and mine them from your solar system or other systems and make sure you do not run out.

If you are playing the role playing side of the mod and you run out of resources and your ships cannot be refueled, then one of your traders can buy that resource from the local or black market.

The list above is by no means complete and I have not even looked at luxury items such as Romulan Ale.

[rjord2021]

Added 112 resources from the Kirk era into the mod.
Have also included 31 luxury items or Cusine Food Items for testing over the weekend.

Still more resources to be added but not until I do some testing with these items.

[rjord2021]

With the Enterprise it is clear that the most needed resource the Federation needs is Duranium.

Without Duranium the following areas of the Constitution class ships cannot be constructed:

Main Skeletal Structure
Hull
Main Bridge
Warp Engine Nacelles
Antimatter Containers
Impulse Engines
Navigation Deflector
Long Range Sensors
Communicators
Probes
Tricorders
Phasers
Photon Torpedo
Turbolift
Shuttle Bay Doors


What I need to do is run tests on modifying the components file in the categories of Weapons, Shields, Engines, Impulse and warp speed, Reactors and Environmental Systems.

I am not sure if any other mods have done an extensive re-write of the components file... I am sure there have been. I need to plan and put this project down on paper and do some tests to see how this can be done with over 60 races been added to the mod.

[rjord2021]

Gas Giants, Ocean Worlds, Marshy Planets, Continental worlds and so on have been removed from the mod....

.... or should I rephrase that...their terminology and descriptions have been removed.

The correct classification of these planets according to Star Trek has now been added to the mod.
When Mr Spock was scanning a newly discovered planet he didn't say..... Continental planet.
He would say Class M planet capable of supporting lifeforms.

So to make this mod a little more challenging when you arrive at a planet it will be listed as for example

Class M For Continental worlds
Class K For Desert planets
Class J for Gas Giants as shown in the picture below
...and so on.

I have also merged some of the planet classifications together and am doing testing on any effects over the weekend.

During gameplay if you need to recall what a class I planet is you can look it up in the Library Computer Banks...originally known as the Galactopedia.

Work is still in progress on changing the gas planets look to a remastered version and is not shown in the picture below.