Star Trek Supremacy...

[Iceman]

Thanks!
The next build will have Population Support implemented, fleets will not be able to move outside their range anymore (by their fuel reserves), and a few more fixes.
I'm also adding Intel PFs back to the game, but there's something escaping me...

[SeaBee-T]

I'm just super-glad that there's progress. Even if progress is small or slow, it'll become a full game one day.

[Iceman]

Yep, that's true. The next release will be interesting I think, some of the missing BotF mechanics have been added, and there's a few crash and bug fixes, and some more eye candy

[Hellcat]

Hi together!
I read much about ST Supremacy and its very amazing! But the official site get the latest update in 2010... Now I see its still in progress and this make me happy

I have got a few questions.
Where is Supremacy now? (something like an summary would be very nice)
Has it an AI for the other great and minor races? ( its imprtant for because its borring to play without other guys and there is no AI for the unplayed Races...)
I try to check out with the latest update... Are there other updates that have to be downloaded?

[Iceman]

Hi Hellcat
The oficial site hasn't been updated in years, we used to use the old forums to talk about the game and discuss development and whatnot. Unfortunately there were some overcharging problems and Mike decided to let those forums be closed.
Right now we're using this forum, courtesy of the AFC staff. It'll probably stay so as long as we're welcome here.

By where is supremacy now, you mean regarding development?
In that regard, it's progressing quite well. I just spent the whole weekend finding and fixing bugs, crashes and other issues. So the next release (probably xmas) will have diplomacy enabled and fixed, AI tweaks and fixes, Ship Experience implemented, combat improved, and whatever else I might be able to do until then.
There is an AI in the game already, yes. For both empires and minors. Thanks to Overlord, other civs are already doing something. It's still a limited AI, but it's a great starting point. It'll eventually be improved and expanded.

You shouldn't need anything else besides the game. There are a few pre-requisites that might be needed, depending on your system. I think they're listed somewhere in this forum. Try the game without them, and check if you need them.

Have fun! And any feedback is appreciated, of course.

[Hellcat]

Yes, thats was the thing i was looking for, thank you!

I checked out the latest udate, it looks very well!
whats going with Intel?
how can i scrap "old" ships?
What are surveyors used for?
and how can perons, like Archer, Mayweather or other can be rained?

[Iceman]

Intel as a Production category had been removed some time ago, to be "replaced" by Agents. Agents alone simply will not cut it, so I'm in the process of adding Intel back; there's something missing that I haven't figured yet, so I'm keeping it in the backburner for now because there's always something else that needs attention (and Intel isn't doing anything yet anyway). I'll have more free time this next couple of weeks, so eventually I'll address it.

To scrap ships, select them in the Task Forces panel, and then right-click on them in the "system" panel (lower right). It'll open the scrap selector. It's not very obvious, somewhat confusing even.
Somewhat related to this, I've been thinking that scrapping ships should probably only be possible at shipyards - that is, if you want to get any resources out of it. I've already disabled getting credits from scrapping, to prevent exploits. You would also have the option to Decommission ships at the Surplus Depot to get full resources (still to implement). What's everyone's opinion on this?

Surveyors will be able to Survey special "systems" in the galaxy map (X-Ray Pulsars, Neutron Stars, etc) to gain research points. This might eventually also be related to a scientific victory condition, when they're implemented.
They'll also be able to determine if wormholes are stable or unstable (have an endpoint or not), disclose the amount of duranium in a system before it is colonized, and even if that system has planet bonuses (food and energy) if we decide to hide those before the system is colonized.

Funny you asked about these, they're in my todo list. I've already implemented the Train Crew order, and was starting to think about Survey, Enter Wormhole and Decommission.

For now, only envoys (Diplomats) can actually be assigned; they don't do much yet, but that's one of the other things I'm working on, them improving relations with the civ they're assigned to.
Eventually, Spies and Officers will also be given some love. Officers will affect battles according to their natural skills (prevent damage, increase accuracy, etc).
Their stats don't increase yet, but they will. There will be an option for them to stay home training, increasing stats faster.


As you can see, there's still a lot to do, but we'll get there.
Now, back to coding and testing

[nightman1701]

I'm glad I found this forum. I have been a huge fan of BOTF and love the work being done on it to keep it alive and playable. I was excited to see a couple years ago that Mike was working on Supremacy. I always checked the site but I never saw any new news and thought the game was dead and then I find this forum and see that work is still being done to the game. Is there a link to be able to download and test the game in it's current state? The last time I played the game was back in 2010. Also is there a combat system implemented yet in it's current build? Can you tell me any new things that you are working on implementing in the near future? Sorry had to ask...LOL.

Thanks for keeping us updated on it's progress and if I can help test it and provide feedback in any way I will be glad to. I just wish I had coding/programming skills to offer.

[Iceman]

Hi nightman. I'm glad you found this forum. The old one unfortunately was lost due to some problems.
The official site hasn't been updated in years, not sure if it can still be classified as "official"

You can check new releases in a thread that was created for the effect:
viewtopic.php?f=300&t=3068&start=45

I uploaded a new release an hour or so ago, I was going to post the announcement now.
While there is a combat system in the game, it is not a graphical one. The game simply calculates and displays the results (system assault actually has a graphical component, space combat not so much).

Next there will be improvements to the AI, combat, diplomacy. I'm also looking into re-enabling Intelligence as a production category.

Any feedback is always extremely appreciated!

[nightman1701]

Hi Iceman,
I'll be sure to check out the new build. I love what you guys have done so far. Any idea on how combat will work? Will it be similar to BOTF and do you have an idea on when you will have a Alpha Build of it? I have knowledge of computer systems and some web design but I don't have much knowledge with programing but if there is anything I can do to help let me know. I'm open to learning so if you steer me in the right direction I would love to try and help out. Again thanks for all the work and I look forward to trying out the new build.

P.S. Do you have a place to report bugs/issues/ideas/feedback?

[Iceman]

Combat will most likely be very similar to BotF. There have been a few attempts at starting to implement it, but so far none has actually been successful. It'd be really great if someone would build a combat engine that could be integrated into the game. I have no clue what the best approach would be though. We should probably ask Mike what he thinks.

You can report any bugs/issues/ideas/feedback right here, in this forum. We can create dedicated threads for each type of feedback.
Alternatively, you can post (and check) issues in the BitBucket repo (though we should probably only post there the confirmed issues):
https://bitbucket.org/mstrobel/supremac ... tatus=open

[Flocke]

Combat will most likely be very similar to BotF. There have been a few attempts at starting to implement it, but so far none has actually been successful. It'd be really great if someone would build a combat engine that could be integrated into the game. I have no clue what the best approach would be though. We should probably ask Mike what he thinks.

I havn't talked him directly nor accurately analysed the code, but when Kenneth attempted to go for it and learn programming and got this SunBurn engine we had some talk and research on this.

From theory, there are mainly two approaches to integrate a combat system with Supremacy. Either make it a seperate runnable application that renders in a subwindow of Supremacy or provide Supremacy with a Direct3D Surface and implement some interfacing for the user input. Both can be done with pure C++ and doesn't need to be managed C# though C# ofc is easier to interface.
The first is the easiest and most compatible as it needs less interfacing with the game, just battle setup and results.
The second would allow for deeper integration with the Supremacy code and prevent possible resource conflicts. But by now I think such conflicts won't be too much of a problem. But it would help to have access to the engine's source and understand the Supremacy source as well to fix and interface stuff like user input where needed. The main advantage of 3D surfaces is it would allow to use the Supremacy UI System for the combat and allow it overlap. But I see no problem in using a seperate UI system for the combat.

A third and probably the best approach would be to port the whole Supremacy code to a different engine, but this would require alot fixing and rewrite I guess.
So you have an easy approach, a more advanced one and the tough one.
Some day I wanted to look into this but there's way too much other things on my list and then still a good combat system requires alot work to be implemented too.

[AlexMcpherson79]

Here's an idea: Use Star Trek Armada II or something

A game (RTS) within a game (Turn-based 4X)...

[nightman1701]

This might be a dumb question and forgive me if it is has I'm trying to learn about game design but I was starting to learn how to use the Unity engine but would it be possible to intergrate something like that into Supermacy? I know anything that has to be done to the game has to go through Mike first but I was just wondering.

Also on a side note and off topic has anyone seen the group who is designing a sequal to Star Trek Bridge Commander? They are trying to get a green light on steam and are taking donations on their site to help the game get done faster. Some people asked questions if it was legal for them to accept money for designing the game and according to them they aren't charging for it and it's going to be free to play so it is ok with CBS. I just don't see how they could add it to Steam if Valve isn't making any money from it being on there. I just found that neat the other night that a new Star Trek game was being developed and it was a fan project. They have done some nice work on it so far.

Thanks again

[Flocke]

This might be a dumb question and forgive me if it is has I'm trying to learn about game design but I was starting to learn how to use the Unity engine but would it be possible to intergrate something like that into Supermacy?

Well, Unity3D is pretty limited on this (unless they changed in the past 2 years or you have source access to compile the engine on your own).
See here: http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/embedd ... ion.74793/
As mentioned there the only way to actually 'integrate' Unity3D is to use ActiveX Webbrowser controls which honestly I'd not want to attempt or recommend, though this might be influenced by my biased dislike on ActiveX.
Unity3D is designed for stand alone applications, so you could run it aside Supremacy in it's very own window and mess with inter process communication or port the whole Supremacy code to Unity3D.
So yes in theory it's possible but I'd not recommend it, you'll get alot mess for sure.

Hm, found another strategy for embedding Unity3D referenced over here, last post: http://answers.unity3d.com/questions/32 ... otnet.html
That given you can actually run stand alone exe programs in another program's subwindows. An interesting approach but I'm not sure if that's advisable.

Edit: just typos