Fenris_Wolf

I've uploaded some texture changes to mod files, hi res starspheres (by Hunor), hi res solar textures (by Hrimthur), and new interface textures (by us). I've also added widescreen support (adoxa's hudshift).

WARNING: This update will be quite large when using the TekagisUpdater (it was actually designed for small patches not large), so instead of using the update server for this, you may want to re-download the base mod files from here  https://downloads.te...Treasure5.49.7z

you'll save a lot of time and bandwidth that way

Now that I've had some time to get my feet back on the ground, sift through the files in detail and
collect my thoughts, heres some spoilers on what to expect with the next major update:


    Weapons and Hardpoints:
Currently 95% of our equipment is useless. Most ships have class 10 weapon hardpoints, and weapons
of a lower class are rarely used, except when starting out. The weapon classes will be completely
redone. Instead of using vanillas 'class = weapon level' concept, classes will be redefined to a
system where 'class = weapon size and internal/external mount'. For example:

Class 1 Gun: Small emergency energy weapon, internal (think of the machine guns in the nose of a modern day jet fighter)
Class 2 Gun: Medium sized energy weapon, internal (approx the size of our current fighter guns)
Class 3 Gun: Large, internal
Class 4 Gun: Medium sized, external mount (this is our current common fighters guns)
Class 5 Gun: Fighter Missile Pod, External (our current fighter missiles)
Class 6 Gun: Fighter Missile Bay, Internal (our current missiles, but internally stored)
Class 7 Gun: Capship Missile Bay, Internal (same as above, but larger payloads and warheads)
Class 8 Gun: Gunboat/Destroyer Class Gun, Internal
Class 9 Gun: Cruiser Class Gun, Internal
Class 10 Gun: Battleship Main Guns

Currently Torpedos fill a role that is designed for missiles. These will be converted back into their original role,
a anti-capship/anti-base weapon instead of anti-fighters. Missile behavior will be revamped.

Ship hardpoints will be restricted, instead of the current 'class 10 lets you mount class 1 to 10', class 10 means 10 only.
The number of hardpoints per ship will be averaged out by ship type. For example a Heavy Fighter would have on avg:
one Class 1 Gun,
two Class 2 Guns,
four Class 4 Guns,
2-4 Class 5 or 6 Missiles,
one Cruise Distruptor,
1-2 Class 5 Turrets,
and one (optional) Class 2 Repair Turret

External Hardpoints will be the most numerous, but each item mounted will cause drag. It may no longer be ideal to mount all
the guns possible as each one will reduce your manuverability slightly.

Internal mount weapons will be much harder to destroy and cause less drag on the ship, but will come with cost. There maybe
limits on which weapons fit in which ships, and will have a smaller firing arc then external weapons.

This, and a rebalance of the weapon stats in general, will help ensure that 95% of junk we have actually has a use again.

    Ships:
Some hardpoints in the models need to be changed, all sur files rebuilt using modern methods for more realistic collisions.
Most of our models were built ages ago (some up to 13 years ago!), and the surface files are just resized vanilla ones that
dont fit the ships giving very poor collision detection, shots that pass through the ships, or hit when it was really a close
miss. Between this and redoing many of the hardpoints, this part is a massive job.
Choices in equipment will have a greater effect on ship performance, in a way that allows for personal preferences. Thanks to
adoxa's awesome FL modifications, equipment choices will cause drag and increase mass of the ship, mounting the strongest UH
may no longer be the ideal option for some players, as it will reduce ship manuverability more then a lighter UH would.
Expect npc pilots to be far more of a challange, AI will be tweaked to make better use of things like engine kill and straffing,
and their equipment will be more in line with what players use....space will get alot deadlier.

    Factions:
Currently we have 98 factions in teks, some with very little or no actual use or function in game. There is a shift in the
balance of power for several factions planned, and some will be removed outright to make room for Clan npcs (there is a RP
background story in the works for the changes, but no spoilers on that yet).

    Systems:
Our current system layout is horrible and without any sense of order or reason. Some routes from system to system take more
then the safe limit of 10 jumps (waypoints can cause server crashes). Systems in general will be resorted while attempting to
keep clusters together. Some jumpgates and holes will be relocated or removed, and some systems will have their position on
the navmap moved to make more sense and reduce clutter.
Some bases will be destroyed and left in ruins, new ones may pop up...many will shift factions due to the new balance of power
(part of the RP story). Eventually bases will be made destructable as well.

    File Clutter:

One part of my new modding toolkit generates a list of files in the mod that arent actually used...theres quite a lot of old junk that

was removed from game but still exists in the files. Now that I can actually see what these files are, they can be properly removed

or repurposed.

    Now that we're running FLHook instead of Flac, adding functionality is much easier, and we can actually add features
that were formally impossible but long time planned...like the wolf spiders or automated capture the flag games


    I know alot of this moves in a different direction then the v6 that was in the works, and alot of work had gone into
that (not only the technical mod work, but RP story), but having missed all of that with my absense, playing catchup and
figuring out v6's state is near a impossible task. We do have the v6 files (thanks rags!), but i'm afraid it will have to be
sorted through and anything from it added on a case-by-case basis.

    This will all be a major effort, and will take time before its done (no ETA), but the current version will stay up and running

til then and receive bugfixes as needed.