This set of plugins has been adjusted to all run together. The nice Star Wars sprites were seriously reduced in size, to be at least roughly proportional to the others in the EV/DeathStar environment. Note that I'm not equipped to re-render all the sprites, and just reduced them and "cleaned up specks" where obvious. Similarly, all hexfighter types were reduced further some. Weapons and ships have also been modified to allow more selections, many more bays, greater speed and power, ALL as tuned specifically for 3 distinct play levels in this DeathStar environment (see Levels below). These are NOT meant to be "upgrades" or "improvements" or "replacements" of the original plugs in any way, but just as the tunings developed in and for this particular game environment(s).
For those who like playing EV with the Star Wars ships and themes, the range of selections here grows to immense.. "Be careful, a few have gotten lost in outfitting and were never seen again." And the Star Wars ships fill a midrange between the standard EV vessels and the extremely powerful DeathStar ones.
First, a list of ALL the plugs I've been using in creating this environment follows. Anything not here, and the latest original versions of the plugs used, should be found at Jay Tingley's "Unofficial" EV Website, at 'http://www.globalnet.ca/ev/', among several others (and many include links). Note that only those included here have been "adjusted" to work together.
Recommend putting a blank in front of your EV Tuner's name, if you haven't already (so it loads first).
Complete Plug In Listing (blue = included in this package):
EV Tuner 408K, Standard, comes with EV 102.
EV DeathStar 2.0.1 1022K, Unmodified and NOT Included (must have or DL).
Gundrones1''\DS2 64K, Modified v1 with updated sprite, self contained.
Hvy Fusion Turret Mk. 27'\DS2 27K, With orig snd, and req'd by several others here.
M&D Space Rocks v1.0 276K, Indep & optional, NOT included, recommended (pretty).
ParrotsAtTauCeti''\102 3K, Indep, modified for EV 102, for max buckmaking.
Star Wars''\DS2, 520K, Orig set-up with reduced sprites in DS proportions.†
Velocity Plus 2.5'\DS2 182K, Adds ability to hasten DeathStars, and more.
~Corvette Bay+0.8\DS2 202K, For DS environs, adds Kestrel bay and much more too.††
~Star Wars' Add'ns\DS2 9K, "Heats" and adds bays for several SW ships.
~Star Wars' Blends\DS2 7K, Optional, further heats, blends ship weapons from all.
† - Smaller Star Wars sprites were stored in the orig plug, to save space and load time (over replacement). Other mods are in the SW Add'ns and Blends plugs.
†† - Corvette Bay also replaces a couple DS2 sprites with slightly smaller versions. On my system at least, there seems to be some difficulty in images and/or masking starting at 96x96 sprites and above, so these were reduced to 88x88 and work fine (here). Smaller versions of the DS fighter sprites are also included here, in line with the proportionality scheme. This plug is NOT built to run independently of this environment. It also contains a whole lot more than just a Corvette Bay ("in name only"), but that's still a good way to tell it's in, when you visit outfitting.
Info
All included plugs were modified for Pic and String "slice" archetecture (no lumped resources used, like Pict 5100 and 6100, STR# 5000 and 5004, etc). That way, they each load additively to EV Data's own versions of these resources, and then each other. So they can be included/excluded independently without knocking out any other plugs' data, subject only to their own inter-dependencies of course.
Except for Parrots and Gundrones (and the highly recommended Space Rocks), each of which can be included/excluded independenty, the items on the above list generally DEPEND on the presence of their predecessors in the list. That is, they can be "peeled off from the bottom" to try different playing conditions, and should still work fine, but that's all. The * one * exception is that Corvette Bay here presumes DeathStar and Velocity Plus are present, but can be run without Star Wars (though why would you want to). Takes a while to load, can't be helped. Pack a lunch. ;] IF you're having loading/bombout problems with these, I recommend going to a large Virtual. I'm running 32M on an 8M machine, with 22M for EV. Lots of room (uses less than half), and little impact from Virtual — play is generally fine, and sounds too. I also run with 512K (disk) cache, if this helps. In battles at the packed new Pirate systems that come with DeathStar, large numbers of ships and weapons firing can, of course, slow things down a lot. While this could be "worsened" by the heating (more and faster missiles, etc, etc), it still works okay over all, and this has always been the case with EV and very large battles.
Note: Be careful when "peeling down" levels and trying to open the same ship. If you have stocked items beyond the limits or not present in lower versions, things can get screwed up, and you may get a "created with a different scenario" rejection. It is best to strip off your higher items and outfit them again at the new level. Mainly, the SW ship bays enter at SW Add'ns. And there are lower limits on the various beam weapons in the Corvette Bay plug than in SW Blends also. To be safe, stripping off everything above the Kestrels for the Kestrel Bay in outfitting is a good general rule for this, as long as you're running up through at least the Corvette Bay plug. Below this, all bets are off (see Levels just below). No problem going up, of course. Also, as thrust, engine, and RCS upgrades are not reversable, increased limits are all in Corvette Bay, so this won't cause problems.
Levels: 3 different runtime "tunings" are set up in relation to the last two SW plugs (Add'ds and Blends): running with neither, just Add'ns, and both. Primarily the focus has been on the last two of these, where the additional SW bay options are availible. The battle play with fleets has been the primary intent. There are many variations installed, from low to med to hi in beam weapons usage on ships, the ship and weapon speeds and punch, outfit amounts availible, and so on. Most testing has been at the third, naturally, but the earlier ones are good and might help one "ease into it" better (and are good for comparison). Had primary and secondary versions of all beams, and turreted forms of each too, but due to room limitations (the EV Bible means what it says in selecting weapons only up to 191, alas!), I could just make the standard beams availible and added a couple turrets for Primary weapon supplements at the end. Note that you need an oütf resource if you put a weapon on a ship and want it to show up right in shipyard info. A good combination of beams and turrets for a Primary helps in thick fights.
Tip: Planet takeovers are a dream with a DeathStar (or other large ship), with some fighters/escorts out to chase stragglers, and sitting on top of the planet with a maxed load of Mk 27 Heavy Fusion Turrets to get them as they come out (hint: at least as long as they come out "hostile" so you can auto-target them instantly, or just spray them with a primary beam to get them mad fast).
Some large ships that carry fighters were reduced a little, to help offset the "too many ships out" problem when launched from your bays (ie, they tend to launch their own quickly when joining in battle). Not a major problem. Shipyard Info tells you what they've got. Also, there are several "heated" beam weapons around in the SW Blends plug, which adds to the fun. The DeathStar fighters are much more expensive and carry a lot of power, while the Star Wars versions remained in their lower price range and are considered "utility fighters," but they're also "heated" and larger ones carry some considerable added punch. The details are best seen with ResEdit, or browsing in Shipyard Info's.
Another point to note is that the fighters carried and launched by your "fighters" have blue, not green, dots on the radar display, show as "plain jane" ship names (no affiliation indicated), and are found NOT "immune" to your weapons (they'll get hostile if you hit them, too). So be careful with those beams in a crowd! I worry that they hit each other when I'm not looking. And then (it happens) shoot at me! :[ They also seem to be completely impervious to your commands (not just the "hard of hearing" we're used to where you have to repeat the command a few times, which may relate to their need to respond under fire at least to some extent, tho' too slow a sample rate could also be involved..). But this is total "deafness," like they're just getting targetting info and no command data. Like with "hold position" when you try to capture a ship — they often shoot it right out from under you, even after several "hold positions" commands without responses (indicating all are "with it"), and even when things are quiet and no one else is firing. It appears more effective to target something else "for them to chew on" when you can. You also can't control when they get rounded up, and they remain out when you take their mother ship back in, so this doesn't help. They are automatically "rounded up" when you jump to another system, which is good for "not leaving those loose ends around" (for EV's sake..?), but no help for a ship capture at hand. Retargetting when you can is the best solution I've found so far. Your "disabled" prey at least can't steal their attention by firing at them, which shooting ships often do with your own escorts and fighters. Just best-guesses here at this point.
The number of bays you purchase for a given ship does NOT increase the number of ships you can hold (this is an EV characteristic), but DOES increase the number of ships launched at one time, or "fighter wave size," at least as they are set up here. The tendency to just "max" everything will DECIDEDLY NOT serve well here. I had to accommodate different "major" leanings, so it's time to develop your judgement and recognize your flexibilities. By the time you get a DeathStar, you have many options and you have to make choices, of which type of fighters and how large large a waves you find convenient, or want to emphasize, what sort of beam weapons you want to use and how, and so on. These can vary with circumstances, and as you like, but at least you can get a good number of anything you want a good number of. If you try to just "max out," you will quickly get too many ships out and start losing them out of the bays (they decrease the number when you "fire," but no ships come out at such a point — you just lose them). Especially when trying to bolster up in a large battle scene, the worst time! Note that it is best to enter such a scene with your fleets already deployed, at least as best you can. You don't lose ships already out this way. I seldom use more than 2 of any bays, virtually never more than 4, but I test with several different types of fighters too. That's up to you. Hitting a bay 2 or 3 times just takes a bit longer, not usually so bad before you've jumped into that you-know-what-storm. You can always buy/sell bays (up or down) for any given purpose, even just testing things out. Note that a couple or few large ships which carry their own fighters is a good idea when an emergency is "sprung" on you, no jumping availible for it. You also have to watch what you select for your primary weapons, and again, your weapons will fry your fighters' fighters.
In the same line, many more Thrust, Engine, and RCS upgrades are also allowed, and you can easily add these to V Plus ship upgrades up to ridiculous and unflyable levels (which later you like). It's up to you to experiment and be careful: you cannot back these out, and must buy and re-outfit a new ship if you wish to reduce something. But you can't push your performance envelope if the game won't let you, right? ;]
These are the things you learn here.
If you use ResEdit with EV templates (recommended, with the proverb "always work on a copy.." ;] ), you can see these things directly. The res names for wëap and oütf differ in order to get the right things on the secondary weapons console and into shipyard info, respectively.
A few "Test Flight" files are also included, with different fleet mixes, just to give an idea of the sort of things one can tinker with. I test a lot by taking such a fleet to a Pirate infested planet and taking it over for a while. At Ripat, one sees Pirate Star Enforcers too. It is great to jump in and first knock out all the "distracting" Kestrels and Lightnings etc around, target such a fleet of fighters (ie, as are out when you open either Test Flight) onto a Star Enforcer, cruise in for a good seat, and watch the fireworks — running with the SW Blends plug especially. These also reflect experimenting with further ship upgrade differences, to give some idea. Trying to get less hi-speed "overshoot" in the thick battles, mainly. Look at your "extras" under cmd-P (or outfitting at Mirk) to see these. You'll be getting Bounty Hunters in those where some (hostile) planet takeovers have started. Nailing them killed my "good name" at several Fed planets, but sorry, I do return fire. Sooo, now thinkin' we be needin' a new Federation anyway.. ;]
Note that a deployed Star Enforcer (your fighter) launches it's own Xwings, while the captured escort does not. They're different ship types in the DeathStar plug. Also, I must have tried to capture over 100 more SE's at Ripat by now, and I never get over the 1% chance and attempt failed (with the 1 capture). Looking a lot more like 0%(!). :[ Anyone who gets around this somehow, please let me know how. I wanted to build up a few more before taking off after the Fed planets.
For the story line, I'm guessing the Millenium Falcons reflect a little gerry-rigging (and red tape mods) to suggest a smaller ship than it actually is, "typically"(!). Certainly they're larger than both the X-wings and other such fighters, which they "appear" to be comparable with (look at Shipyard Info). Well, they have "miraculously" also managed to be outfitted with Mk 27 turrets in SW Blends (the only other ship with these, so you know who you're hearing at work with 'em), and they now surpass Corvettes as fighters with far less crew. Sadly, you do still lose them sometimes, alas. But pretty tricky guys, eh?
There are a lot of good plugs out there. This collection creates one of zillions of possible play environments, and is but one example of what we should be seeing more of over time - large scale and "tuned" consolidations. We may see some problems, but this has been running pretty well here thus far. The Pic/String "slice" approach of EV102 (avoiding use of lumped resources that replace everyone else's) really helps facilitate creating these.
As before, all the availible Read Me's are included, with that nice icon from V Plus's shared among them. One should look them over for any unfamiliar plug. And I hope no authors are perturbed by what I've done here. I think it is the sort of "project" we should expect to have among EV developments. It should be taken as a promotion of one's plugs to see them so used (albeit, sans any attempt at "piracy" or taking credit for others' work, etc). It reflects support (or "applause") for the authors' original ideas. I expect in the future there will arise increasing needs to gather various "bits and pieces" from different plugs, to create these large composite environments within the EV limits. There is some work in this part too, but again, full credit for the originators should always be sustained.
One Wish: Be nice if EV shifted just a bit to include an "Install as Primary/Install as Secondary" option for guns and turrets. Would save a lot from having to create two versions wherever you might want this choice. Ran out of weapons slots trying to do this, and just had to settle for a last few "specials" instead.
So while this isn't perfect, the overal mix should be pretty good.
Disclaimer: I can take no responsibility if this combo whacks your machine, melts your potatoes, or fries your cheese. It worked here at least, and any glitches "should" be minor.. (heard that one before..? ;] ).
Whew! Lotta words. Hopefully it covers the bases well enough for those who could use it. Time for the good luck, and have fun. Should be a good wide range availible, from a New Pilot start to a long way onward. Still, it's just a scratch on the surface of the large scale EV environments "yet to come," I'm sure.
Best I can tell y'all so far..
Steve George
CEO and Primary Employee, Star Hackers'
("Where ya pay yerself by moving yer wallet from one pocket to another, and then the Feds wanna' tax it as 2 transactions each time!!")
