The future of Fleet Operations

posted on March 25th, 2014, 11:35 pm

This news is a real kick in the teeth for me.

yea, exactly what i feel, its like someone spits on your face and tells you "dont worrie , its just rain... "

thx for "Great news"

posted on March 26th, 2014, 12:05 am

Eraldorh, Shadow24 -- most of the playing community would be lying if they said they weren't disappointed by the news that A2-FO v4 will not be released. It's natural. It's understandable. And being asked to be patient for another couple of years while this happens will make a lot of this community leave.

But the rest of us are choosing to deal with it with optimism. We hope that NX will breath new life into the project. We hope that everything comes together for the team in the way they have outlined. Until then, 3.2.7, perhaps with Tryptic's balance mod if he continues to make it, is what we have.

Question for the devs: will you at least be willing to put out a bugfix release if a Tunngle update breaks the API integration again?

[Xanto]

posted on March 26th, 2014, 12:25 am

Last edited by Xanto on March 26th, 2014, 12:28 am, edited 1 time in total.

Trying to release a modern game on a 10+ year engine is ridiculous... and anyone who tries to justify it doesn't understand game development. I am very happy by this announcement. This isn't Armada 2... if you want that you still can go play it... this is Fleet Operations and it is it's own game how the devs want it to be.

And I really don't think it will be years before we see the next version just because it's on a new engine now... (A) They already said they made lots of progress on this... (B) They got more team members now to help & (C) lots of what they had done for v4 (models and such) should still be usable with the new engine. So all were really talking about is coding. Shouldn't take that long.

Geez... this is an great announcement. Would it had been better to get v4 out before porting it to a new engine... yes but we don't know the technical issues behind making that happen.

posted on March 26th, 2014, 12:27 am

Wow eraldorh. Given something for free and you have the cajones to badmouth this much? I guess I shouldn't be surprised. I would expect nothing less from our culture in this day and age. I get the disappointment, but seriously? You must be one of if not the top players to say you're left with this crappy version of FO? You must dislike everything about it and I'm guessing you no longer play because it's such trash?

You must have your own game in the works that you've built up from scratch all on your very own that will totally blow this out of the water? No?

I so wanted to see what was coming in V4 as well and feel it's a pretty big blow to the work already done however, it's renewed excitement that the game/franchise is still even being worked on this many years later. For FREE. Keep up the work FO team and show us what can really be done from just a small group working on their own.

posted on March 26th, 2014, 12:41 am

NEW SHIPS:

• The Constitution II (a legend for the 24th century) ... http://bridgecommander.filefront.com/fi ... ass;112183

• The Century Class ... http://bridgecommander.filefront.com/fi ... iseF;82748

• The Excelsior II ... http://bridgecommander.filefront.com/fi ... efit;93828

• The Excelsior II ... http://bridgecommander.filefront.com/sc ... e/112195/2

• The Eclipse ... http://bridgecommander.filefront.com/fi ... 01G;108349

• Star Trek Online's Odyssey Class

OTHER IDEAS:

• Antimatter spread special ability for the Galaxy

• Upgrade to Venture Refit or/and Dreadnought (All Good Things) for Galaxy

• Saucer Seperation for Galaxy

• Upgrade Exceisor to Lakota standard

• Upgrade Ambassador to Yamaguchi standard

• Upgrade Nebula to Phoenix AWAC standard

posted on March 26th, 2014, 9:41 am

Firstly congratulations, while it's a bit of a disappointment that V4 won;t be released, it's still a step in the right direction as A2 is old and dated. However you guys should feel proud as you really extended the game's lifespan for many players and modders. I would have left the community years ago if not for FO.

I'd like to second what Shadow from AFC has said. Being a modder and modeler I'd like to know what the future for modders on this new platform is, will you support mods as you have in the latest releases of the A2-FO? Will it still be sod format, if not will it still be supported by Milkshape 3D (probably the most common 3D program used by modelers), what will the coding be like, as easy as odf files etc or vastly more complex?

My biggest concern is that while taking this new direction you could indirectly and totally unintentionally kill of modding as not everyone likes, or has a passion for TNG era, some do like TMP, TOS, ENT and even like to mod for other sci-fi genres like BSG, Babylon 5 etc.

Again congratulations and I look forward to more news in the coming months.

posted on March 26th, 2014, 10:46 am

Wow eraldorh. Given something for free and you have the cajones to badmouth this much? I guess I shouldn't be surprised. I would expect nothing less from our culture in this day and age. I get the disappointment, but seriously? You must be one of if not the top players to say you're left with this crappy version of FO? You must dislike everything about it and I'm guessing you no longer play because it's such trash?

You must have your own game in the works that you've built up from scratch all on your very own that will totally blow this out of the water? No?

I so wanted to see what was coming in V4 as well and feel it's a pretty big blow to the work already done however, it's renewed excitement that the game/franchise is still even being worked on this many years later. For FREE. Keep up the work FO team and show us what can really be done from just a small group working on their own.

Oh shut up, i knew there would be 1 at least 1 idiot that comes up with the make your own game then or its free crap. The devs are great but the sole reason iv never donated till now even tho this is by far the best RTS game iv ever played is that they don't make decisions based on what the majority of the players want and they never ask what the community wants before making huge decisions like this, do you think they are spending years making fleet ops just for the 3 of them to go skirmish with each other? somehow i doubt this they are making it for the fleet ops community and future fleet ops players yet never talk to them about what they want. Its always what they want. Like sticking to a story WHY???? there is no single player there has never been a need to stick to story or logic when it comes to muliplayer skirmishes why would the federation be fighting the federation in massive conquest battles but oh the cardies cant be there because of the dom wars. Well the dominion wouldn't be there either their fleets were decimated and whats left returned to the gamma quadrant and since the war the wormhole would be militarized to hell just as it was during the war and Germany was after ww2. So how then have they got a star base and constructor ship up and running in the alpha quadrant.

Also mad that 3 years ago they decided they would do a massive and complete redo that is or was supposed to be 4.0 even tho they said them selves this is something they do in their spare time so really the small updates they did before should have continued for their own sake as that worked we got regular updates and it kept people playing there was always some balance tweak that needed fixing but at least people kept playing and i don't think a complete redo would ever fix that anyway. But now that 4.0 we have all been waiting patiently for and checking everyday for news has been tossed out the window because its too hard and now they are undertaking something even harder and most likely twice as long if not more. How the hell will get get a license for star trek someone already mentioned you will need a license for this since its no longer a mod of another WITH a license. They could finish this project release it and get shut down over night. Or the 2 new people they are supposed to be working with could get big jobs and forget about a FTP game and vanish and the project gets shelved once again.

If their announcement was that the project is too much and they are ceasing dev altogether id have nothing to complain about its their life and their choice but when it comes to what direction the game goes into should the community not have some say in this, we are after all the ones who will be playing it. I have every right to be mad by their sudden choice to toss 3 years of work out the window and go in a completely new direction without speaking to the community first. Its not just a waste of time for them its a waste of time for us as we have been sitting here waiting for this release for a long time coming which has repeatedly been said is close to finishing.

posted on March 26th, 2014, 10:52 am

Trying to release a modern game on a 10+ year engine is ridiculous... and anyone who tries to justify it doesn't understand game development. I am very happy by this announcement. This isn't Armada 2... if you want that you still can go play it... this is Fleet Operations and it is it's own game how the devs want it to be.

And I really don't think it will be years before we see the next version just because it's on a new engine now... (A) They already said they made lots of progress on this... (B) They got more team members now to help & (C) lots of what they had done for v4 (models and such) should still be usable with the new engine. So all were really talking about is coding. Shouldn't take that long.

Geez... this is an great announcement. Would it had been better to get v4 out before porting it to a new engine... yes but we don't know the technical issues behind making that happen.

Any free engines are usually 5+ years old at least already, by the time this new project gets finished the new engine they are working with will probably be the same age anyway.

A2 engine has worked fine so far and everyone has liked what they have done with fleet ops using this engine thus far, for a 10 year old engine they have done magic tricks with it and fleet ops.

Source engine it self is 10 years old. You think devs care? it works and it works well.

posted on March 26th, 2014, 10:55 am

My two strips of latinum in reply to the negativity of a few previous posts:

- Is there some sudden change which says we can no longer play the current version of STO?

- Has there been any mention of anyone charging money for the FO version we can play right now? Or charging money for any future version?

- Please be aware Doca, et al. are doing this and sharing it all on their own. Just like everything else available here.

- People will wait for years for a major game company with massive resources to release a title and when changes to that title are announced, some people grumble just to remind the rest of us they're still here. What has been posted previously seems to go beyond this. In fact, it smells highly of disrespect for the hard work and effort and time which Doca, et al. have already generously donated.

- The posts I am referring to are very disappointing in tone and content. They are very similar in language to various "I quit" posts I have seen on other game support forums. If someone is going to leave over this subject, I personally wish they'd hurry up and do so. They'll not be missed.

- The negative attitudes displayed in the posts I am referring to are the reason why I stopped sharing my mods with anyone. I mod for my fun and entertainment. Not anyone else's. If I think it is good enough for release, then I do so. But if all some people are going to do is whine and complain I'm not doing what they think I should be doing, then they can bloody well learn how to mod for themselves.

- To come to the FO Community website and throw a public hissy fit over the subject of FO Devs announcing a change for the better is ill-mannered, disrespectful and in poor taste.

posted on March 26th, 2014, 1:50 pm

thunderfoot ist right. If the Devs want to make a new engine, than it`s their choice.

And to all who think negativ about the "new game/engine": How do you know? Maybe it`s better than before. Just relax and let the Devs do.

posted on March 26th, 2014, 1:54 pm

A2 engine has worked fine so far and everyone has liked what they have done with fleet ops using this engine thus far, for a 10 year old engine they have done magic tricks with it and fleet ops.

The whole point of moving engines is that the A2 engine is not sustainable. The devs had to modify it just to get it to run on modern systems. Not to mention all the performance issues it displays even when heavily modified such as rampant OOS and massive slowdowns when ships are cloaked, even on high end systems.

Source engine it self is 10 years old. You think devs care? it works and it works well.

The Source engine has been continually updated and modified by the original dev team since it was released and it is still showing it's age. Quite frankly, it can't handle the number of lights, shaders, polygons, and objects that a more recent engine can. Valve is the only major company that uses it anymore, the rest are indie teams that don't have their own engine.

The 'if it's not broken don't fix it' approach should only be taken when you have a lot of things that need fixing.

posted on March 26th, 2014, 1:59 pm

Although I'm sad that a new version isn't around the corner, I feared that FO maybe on its death bed with so long without updates. This is great news as the engine is certainly dated when you look at games such as Sins of a Solar Empire. Even better than this, vanilla Armada II was trash. Fleet Ops made the game incredible. However, if your game disc breaks and you have to order a new one, be prepared to shell out upwards of a hundred dollars to find one. A few years ago our home was broken into and we lost everything. With the insurance money I replaced Armada II specifically so I could keep playing Fleet Ops, IT COST $180. Going to a free engine without a CD is a blessing in disguise.

Naturally there is disappointment V4 isn't coming, but a longer life span of this project is even better. NOBODY can seriously argue that sticking with a 10+ year old base was a smart move. I think you guys did what was best not only for the community long term but greatly expanded your options and abilities. I look forward to what you guys are going to create. Who knows, maybe you'll catch the attention of some big names and your team will be behind a real, official Star Trek Armada III. Ya never know, stranger things have happened.

And I agree with the previous post, to come on here and throw a hissy fit for a group that is sacrificing their own time for free for everyone else just to give them the best game they can deliver...its selfish and childish. FleetOps team, please know the majority of us appreciate your actions and want to support you guys as best we can.

Live Long and Prosper

posted on March 26th, 2014, 2:19 pm

I just want to clarify some points I got poked a lot in the last few days via IM and mail.

Will NX still be free of charge?
Absolutely. As with any other version of Fleet Operations, there will be no fee, no DLC you have to buy, no services that cost you money etc. Not a single polygon you have to pay for. That being said, you can still support development via donations.

Will there be modding for NX?
Aye. Obviously, we feel a strong link to the modding community. You can expect NX to be much more modable than A2. We want to get in touch with the modding communities soon to collect ideas.
About Majestic's Question on the SOD format: That's not yet decided. The current dev version uses SODs. I'd favor doing our own format, which we probably will, but if so, we will supply a specification and exporters. We plan to maintain the capability to use SODs to carry over your A2 work.


We will probably have a few more "techy" news posts in the future, as well as discussing modding etc. See you in engineering.

posted on March 26th, 2014, 2:38 pm

...
Source engine it self is 10 years old. You think devs care? it works and it works well.

They do care, that's why they released plenty of updates to the engine, also the next source one is already a WIP.
Besides: they got the source code to fix bugs. FOPS devs don't have the A2 source, so every fancy improvement you see took a lot of effort - even the most simple ones...



With all the issues A2 has, i'd welcome any other engine. Doubt it will postpone 4.00 by that much anyways.

posted on March 26th, 2014, 4:02 pm

Optec wrote:

SOD format: That's not yet decided. The current dev version uses SODs. I'd favor doing our own format, which we probably will, but if so, we will supply a specification and exporters


Just a suggestion / thought, if you provide an exporter think of one for Blender also.
The development of Milkshape has stopped with Version 1.8.5 beta so there will be an incompatibility problem in the future.
I doubt that Milkshape will work with the newer Windows Versions, Blender would than be a good alternative.Not everybody can afford 3ds max.