Sorry if my first post was a little ambiguous but to clarify I am in the process of creating UDM4. It is in its very early stages yet but I have been given permission by Thunderchero to continue this popular series of mod. After brainstorming some over the weekend here is what we can expect to see in this mod:
-an epic span of tech starts (from the 2140s (ENT) through 2380s (Nemesis) for a truly birth of the Federation feel leading to its darkest period of history, the Dominion War
-the five major empires will stay the same but with Cardassians more easily swayed by gifts and treaties to any empire (to resemble their backstabbing nature) I would like if specifically the Dominion could sway Cards easier but to my knowledge this kind of change is not possible yet
-AI Empires will be much harder (AI impossible might just be impossible)
-all new set of minors some more sympathetic to Dominion/Cards others to Fed/ Kling/ Rom
-minors will play a more crucial role with special buildings and high population and be harder to sway or conquer
-every minor will be able to build ships and since minor empires are not possible they will build a lot of ships some stronger than others to represent different "minor empires" strength throughout the eras
-new set of special structures of minors avaialble to specific empires (Bajor labor camps for Cards/Doms or Bajor Provincial Gov't for Feds/Kling/Roms)
-Techs 1-5 will focus on infrastructure and upgrading main buildings (expansion phase of techs)
-Techs 6-10 will focus on enhancing main buildings (no building upgrades but expensive structures that require lots of power to keep big systems competitive and yet smaller systems still can produce a reasonable output of resources (consolidation techs)
-Techs 11-15 a lot is still unknown so they will focus on tech bonus with no building upgrades or special structures: these techs will constitute 'philosophies' for each empire (i.e. Construction 11 or Weapons 12 is instead Free Enterprise and War Mongering respectively) (philosophy techs)
-the balance system for ships will be completely redone and each empire will have a clear advantage over another in a certain category
-Empires will have unique strengths more apparent as original game manual states (Feds- strong diplomacy and research and strong stand alone ships, etc)
-don't neglect an empire's weakest link and hope to win (Klingon intel structures may seem worthless (higher cost per level low output) to build compared to Cards (low cost high output) so don't build them and just build warships right? nope because you will handing those ships right to the Cards when they upgrade their intel with that extra level of building on tech 5, or build them and when the Monastery of Borath is built at tech 6 it will add +200% internal security! Keep them at bay and then assault their planets with you stronger troops
-GUI interface will not change much (graphics will be sharpened up (within 16 bit limit), territory colors changed and not be so hard to see on galactic map), new cursors added, new Empire and minor graphics will be added with completely new biography info (some needed with approval), new voice overs will be done for Dominion and minor races
-time permitting a canon map made for SP and MP from tech1 start (no teams) and a tech 5 start (with teams) all empires playable but that's a lot of work in its own
I would also like to use certain graphic files and models from different ship packs (requests will be coming via pm soon). But all that is a long way off. Well those are my ideas as of now obviously more to come and when a build is available I will let all try and see. So with all this said is there any feedback from the community?
And thanks Deks for breaking the ice here and posting first. As for your shield and weapon concerns UDM4 will have differently scaled models so shield impact, phasers, and torpedoes will all seem to be to scale as best as I can get it for better aesthetics. But IMO I believe the size of each rendered model (300+ kb some 400+) plus the fact of dozens of ships in a battle (even hundreds possible in UDM3) is what causes the slow battles. I've played MP games with dozens of ships on each side (actually about 160 combined ships). After an initial 30-45 second wait of both clicking turn the battle proceeds smoothly.