The Final Strike

[AdmiralZo]

Hmm well there is quite a lot left to do, so realistically, I'd give myself a month (that's if no procrastination occurs). I find I lose motivation quite easily when modding, especially if things aren't working.

Just keep pushing me and I'll work faster.

[relanat]

Then please consider this another push!

And don't forget my Number 1 modding rule, "When the code won't work, start a new forum topic". Or IRC or Discord the problem. There are a huge number of really cluey people in the community who are only too happy to help (plus I always learn heaps from other peoples questions).

Also if you want a tester for new versions, I heartily volunteer. I'm busy but would make time for The Final Strike.

[AdmiralZo]

Thanks for the motivation boost Relanat! I'll let you know if I need a tester.

Where can I get the transcendence discord? It says the invite has expired...

[AdmiralZo]

Time has flown - less than two weeks until my one month deadline. All the major components of this update are completed, but now a thousand small bits and pieces need to be tidied....all the stuff I chucked aside over these months like character names, item descriptions, prices, balance issues, snippets of story etc etc etc...

[AdmiralZo]

The Final Strike is super close to completion now. Just a scan through the code and a quick playthrough (yes it would be my first playthrough ). If you would like to help me test my mod, please send me a pm and I'll send you a link to my drive once I am done. I estimate 3 days max.

[Kourtious]

Everything good so far? I'm excited to see the release.

[AdmiralZo]

Yes things are going well and testing has just begun. If you want I can send you the link (all you have to do is look for bugs/possible improvements) or you can wait until testing is complete.

[Kourtious]

Yeah, I would love to try the game in my free time.

[relanat]

Wow! This isn't just an update. There is a heap of new stuff in there as well. Well done.

'Thermo splinter' sound good!
The ISM is an excellent idea.
New weapons, devices and items.
More missions.
Upgraded NPC ships. This keeps getting better and better!
The systems are excellent too. Great backgrounds and awesome designs. Some really original ideas in there.

Glitches:
Was getting a

Cannot create system IocrymSpace: No station created.

error which wouldn't let the game start.
Looks like the &stSvalbard2Encounter; station is annoying the game somehow. Commenting out this station in the SystemType "&ssIocrymSpace;" lets the game start but this means the second encounter isn't being created. I got around this by using 'sysCreateStation' in the debug screen when I got to Iocrym space and the encounter worked fine.
A random guess, because I haven't looked at the code, is to use <On(Global?)PlayerEnteredSystem> to create the encounter instead. Dunno.

Minor point: the massive octocarbide armor is 'too heavy' (10 tons for a 9 ton limit) for the Wolfen. Dock services cannot reinstall it if the player tries another armor.

The training mission station, Commonwealth Fleet outpost, comes up as an "Unknown Friendly". Could maybe identify that since we have been told what it is.
Same with the Fleet training beacon.

The Fleet training beacon remains highlighted after the agility traing is completed. Possibly the Fleet outpost should be highlighted then?

Typo. maybe. Not sure on this one.
Ranx.xml
&stRanxFortressMeeting;
<DockScreens>
Pane <Meeting6>
Line 499
a true
->
true

Not sure if it is intentional but the Cosmicwind autons will automatically attack the friendly Ranx ships. Sovereign/wingman stuff maybe?

There were two stargates in the Receptus system which led to Corvus. Both worked but this may be unintentional.

I went to the Haedus system to plant the Fleet beacon. The Rogue Fleet settlement was friendly and I was able to dock but the dockscreen was for a destroyed station.

Optional. According to a quick web search both are acceptable spelling but I've always known it as 'eerie'.
eery
->
eerie
Two occurences.
SideQuestDarkNebula.xml
&scSvalbard;
<DockScreens>
Pane <Escaped4>
Line 658
and
SideQuestHeretic.xml
&stSistersResearchHeretic;
<DockScreens>
Pane <Default>
<OnPaneInit>
Line 193

The mission to destroy the guards of the prisoner convoy didn't go very well. The Britannia wingmen wouldn't 'break and attack' the Deimos ships, just stayed in formation. They seemed to go after other ships initially but it was over too soon to get much info. More sovereign/wingman stuff maybe?

Loving it. Great stuff!

[AdmiralZo]

Thanks for the comprehensive list of problems relanat!!!

error which wouldn't let the game start.
Looks like the &stSvalbard2Encounter; station is annoying the game somehow. Commenting out this station in the SystemType "&ssIocrymSpace;" lets the game start but this means the second encounter isn't being created. I got around this by using 'sysCreateStation' in the debug screen when I got to Iocrym space and the encounter worked fine.
A random guess, because I haven't looked at the code, is to use <On(Global?)PlayerEnteredSystem> to create the encounter instead. Dunno.

No idea why it wasn't working. I was testing everything in 1.9 alpha 1, which worked fine, it wasn't until I tried it in alpha 4 that it threw the angry text at me. Fixed now.

Typo. maybe. Not sure on this one.
Ranx.xml
&stRanxFortressMeeting;
<DockScreens>
Pane <Meeting6>
Line 499
a true
->
true

Yep. Definitely a typo!

Not sure if it is intentional but the Cosmicwind autons will automatically attack the friendly Ranx ships. Sovereign/wingman stuff maybe?

Not sure about this one. I'll have to look into it more.

Optional. According to a quick web search both are acceptable spelling but I've always known it as 'eerie'.
eery
->
eerie

Apparently 'eerie' is more formal..better use it then!

There were two stargates in the Receptus system which led to Corvus. Both worked but this may be unintentional.

Impressive sleuthing. Yeah it's unintentional. There should only have been one StargateOutbound table lookup.

The mission to destroy the guards of the prisoner convoy didn't go very well. The Britannia wingmen wouldn't 'break and attack' the Deimos ships, just stayed in formation. They seemed to go after other ships initially but it was over too soon to get much info. More sovereign/wingman stuff maybe?

I think it's because the Deimos' are ordered to escort the friendly Ranx, so the Britannia think the Deimos are friendly too. Maybe order them to follow? But then the Deimos won't attack.

[relanat]

Oops. Shoulda said I was using 1.9a4.
I am really loving this. You have done really well and are extremely imaginative.
Great effects. Original ideas. And so many new missions.
I would say more but don't want to spoil the surprise for others.

Idea: maybe an Elysium type system that lets the player use the jumpdrive and gem to travel around the systems.

Query: is there a station that will install devices above level 11 somewhere? Glasser works OK now installation is possible.

Bugs:
Some details on a couple of bugs in the attached zip file.

Glitches and random thoughts:
The timing between plyMessages that remind the player of new ISM messages could be greatly increased. It gets a bit annoying when it appears continuously if you don't check it.

There isn't a <Nothing> pane for the &stIocrymSentinelWreck;. The <InitialPane> code defaults to a "Nothing" pane. I have seen a blank screen description but suspect this only happened because I debug-created the Svalbard encounter and it isn't critical but a default screen description would be advisable.

Typo.
SideQuestDarkNebula.xml
&stIocrymSentinelWreck;
<DockScreens>
Pane <Erebien>
Line 1130
entrace
->
entrance

Typo
PointJuventia.xml
&stPointJuventia;
<Dockscreens>
Pane <MissionSuccessHijack3>
Line1475
much %name%
->
much, %name%

The Ankylosaur remains highlighted after the player receives the mission reward. Probably should clear the highlight.

Minor one: the plasmaphore seed item icon is set at the top right of the image section in dockscreen lists. Maybe center it and/or make a bit larger.

Points Juno and Juventia, the CSCs and the Commonwealth Fleet outposts don't sell any of the SAR weapons that have been added to the game since the first version of TFS. Could maybe add them.

There is something wonky with ship broking at Point Juno at game start. The EI500 and Sapphire are worthless but the Wolfen gives a half million credits as a rebate when buying a Minotaur or Cent/X. Not sure what's happening there.

The EI500 playership cannot keep up with the Cents that destroy the training targets in Point Juno. All the targets are destroyed before the player gets there. It doesn't affect the missions. Maybe have the Cents form up as wingmen or have them wait for the player to start attacking?

Some way of getting some system and military map ROMs would be nice too.

The Corporate distributor stations would be better if there was also an option to see all the items for sale in one screen as per standard commodities exchange. It is a bit tedious going through all the manufacturers although useful for experienced players. Also a "Leave" or "Back" action in the manufacturer screen for mouse users.

&stRogueFleetFortress; could do with some <DockingPorts> xml. It has 8 docking ports but they are insdie the station perimeter. Looks odd.

Accepting the Aquila means losing all of the installed devices and armor on the playership. Maybe allow the player to come back for it later or add a free Aquila to the Point Juventia ship broker when the player qualifies for it? Then the installed devices can be removed before trading ships.

Possibly leave the armor repair items in the ship for the pteravore mission?

See image: the Penitent station in Heretic in this game was oddly placed.

[Kourtious]

I have been playing the game on and off for a bit.

I don't know how to look at error files so I am going to speak from a gameplay perspective.

Assuming the player did come back after 5 years with the Ancient Races, the player should be more powerful than the armament they are given. I suggest level 11/12 equipment from Part 2. This would make it mildly more realistic. Otherwise, you could say that you have "traded" in your ship to prevent too much suspicion. You then get to choose from one of Commonwealth's top single pilot ships.

The practice run at the beginning of the game doesn't make sense. You would be an incredible pilot by the time you came back since you were fighting even more deadly enemies. And whenever I die, repeating this initial stage can be tedious, especially destroying the targets. The player should have the option to not do target practice.

It appears that all Ranx Fortresses have the same set of equipment and they also do not provide any dock services. Why is this the case? Since it has been 5 years, it would be cool to see some Ranx innovation, especially on their dreadnaughts.

You also need to adjust what could spawn in Ringer Shipyards. I never saw a Gigantes or Lazarus II in a Ringer Shipyard but I saw plenty at Adventurer's Outfitter.

Dvalin appears in the game but tbh, he's very useless.

Same as before, if it has been 5 years, I assume some innovation has happened. What I'm getting at, is that it's inconvenient to spawn in with level 10 armor that most Commonwealth places aren't able to repair.

I will go explore and put more comments when I am free but overall, this mod is really fleshed out in comparison to others.

[AdmiralZo]

Thanks Relanat and Kourtious for the feedback.

There is something wonky with ship broking at Point Juno at game start. The EI500 and Sapphire are worthless but the Wolfen gives a half million credits as a rebate when buying a Minotaur or Cent/X. Not sure what's happening there.

It seems that the playership needs a 'level' tag before it works with the ship broker. The Wolfen was set to level="5" but the others were not. For some reason your ship doesn't become available in the ship broker after you sell it though.

Ooops, I forgot about the ROM delivery mission. It was only half written, when I left it and forgot about it.

The issue with the misc devices only occurs when the player has no more free device slots. Not sure why it happens, but probably due to recent code changes as you mentioned. I noticed this problem in The Network as well.

Hmm, I didn't know gTarget doesn't survive a reload. It's my lazy version of objSetObjRefData

Assuming the player did come back after 5 years with the Ancient Races, the player should be more powerful than the armament they are given. I suggest level 11/12 equipment from Part 2. This would make it mildly more realistic. Otherwise, you could say that you have "traded" in your ship to prevent too much suspicion. You then get to choose from one of Commonwealth's top single pilot ships.

Yes, realistically the player would have a mechanist or biotech ship but that would mean introducing more VOTG images and code. George has kindly let me use Plasmaphore images/code but I think this would be pushing the boundaries. Also, the player would not be able to repair/modify their ship. Let's just assume the player traded back his old ship or something.

The practice run at the beginning of the game doesn't make sense. You would be an incredible pilot by the time you came back since you were fighting even more deadly enemies. And whenever I die, repeating this initial stage can be tedious, especially destroying the targets. The player should have the option to not do target practice.

This is a good idea. I've made training optional.

[Kourtious]

When I destroy the CC training facility in the beginning of the game, it automatically gets replaced. Is this intentional?

Do you plan of putting the game on multiverse to be updated from there? Speaking of that, do you have a newer version that we can try?

[AdmiralZo]

The station gets replaced or the auton? There was a bug where the auton wouldn't be destroyed.

Yes, I will upload it to the Multiverse when I finish fixing the problems that you and relanat mentioned (which I'm still in the process of doing).