i also confirm minidump when i follow a ship. It crashes when its about to exit phase jump.

We will be releasing a patch to address this issue soon. thanks jay

Hmm, I've played several games with all races except borg over the past two days, and I haven't had a single minidump.  Frankly, I haven't the slightest idea what's causing them.

Oh, and I will be submitting some bugs.  Maybe I can even be guilt-tripped into fixing a few of them, but I'm on a Dragon Age II kick.  Trying to beat it on the "nightmare" setting is a labor of love.

Trying to build the Oberth(?) (fed diplomat) causes mini-dumps for me, several times.

Had a mini-dump as romulans but haven't been able to figure it out.

No problems with other races though, played a 3 player game with friends for about 8 hours without problem.

enjoying the updated mod thanks. Loving the progress that has been made.

just wondering, was the valdore taken out? from previous threads and the picture title in the main post, it looks like it used to be in the mod

It is.  It's just not called a Valdore.  No, I don't know why we're using a non-canon classification for a canon ship, but at least three different tards have given it a name without listing it on screen.  The CCG uses Norexan, which is what it is in game, there's a book that labeled it as a Mogai, and one of the producers for Nemesis has stated that it was always referred to as the Valdore class during production.

is the only reason to use virulents instead of breen cruisers is to take advantage of the aoe buffs that only work on jem'hadar ships? because it appears that the assault cruiser has better stats across the board

Well I don't know what was causing the earlier minidumps, but I haven't had a single one in a long time, even with watching ships come out of phase jump!

A couple of first impressions on the races for those who are playing:

Borg - Yes, the Borg are RIDICULOUSLY overpowered, which is the point.  In previous releases, it was actually possible to beat the borg single-handedly or with just an ally or two.  Try, like, a minimum of 5 or 6 now.  The most unfair thing about the Borg?  The tractor beam ability that all cap ships have assimilates its target, and it can hit cap ships.  It's even more reliable than the Unicomplex's cap-ship assimilate ability, since the buff cannot be dispelled!  (I've recommended a review of this on the bugs website).

Federation - Certainly the most well-rounded race there, the Federation plays very well (the AI plays it well too).  The Federation's advantages lie in its heavy cruisers (Intrepid for firepower and anti-bord, Akira for anti-starbase), its support ship buffs, and select cap ships.  You really can't go wrong unless you pick the wrong cap ships or stick to the simple frigates once the advanced ones are available.  A word of warning though - the cap ships are a mixed bag.  The Defiant packs a lot of punch for it's supply value, but isn't nearly as effective as part of an integrated fleet, and the Sovereign doesn't pull its weight as a cap ship.  The real value is in either the Galaxy class or Nebula class.  If you have a bunch of Nebulas, the Gemini effect can spam the entire field with bogus ships, reducing the damage to your fleet by huge margins (but be sure to build at least, say, five of them for this to be useful).  The Galaxy has four attack shuttles and also heals nearby ships, a huge advantage in large battles.  As an added bonus, the Fed economy is among the best.

Klingons - Another well-rounded race, though not so much as the Fed.  The Klinks have awesome damage, but lousy supply and economy.  The Fek'Lehr cruiser is pretty good for the money and supply (and is anti-borg), but the heavy cruiser (forget the name) is cost-prohibitive in numbers.  Cap Ships, similarly, are quite costly.  In fact, the only cheap ship is the D-12 Bird of Prey, which gives you a lot of firepower for the money, but only has moderate life (not very good in big battles).  The bottom line with the Klinks is that you can't let them get dug in and fortified or they are very, very difficult to take on.  Hit them hard and often to keep them off-balance.

Romulans - The Romulans are almost as well-rounded as the Fed, and also pack a wallop.  The cloaking device, combined with the Colonizer Cap Ship's special abilities, make them the best starbase destroyers.  The H'Viek warbird (heavy cruiser) packs a hefty punch for its supply and cost.  The Noraxen Warbird (AKA Valdore) is also among the best cap ships in the game.  Although it's HP and armor are moderate, its special ability (frontal assault) greatly increases its damage for a short period to be even more powerful than a borg cap ship.  Combined with the cloaking device, it's a dangerous combination (something I take some pride in pointing out, as I was the one who programmed the ability).

Dominion - The Dominion need some work, and possibly re-balancing.  Neither their economy nor ship lineup is particularly impressive, and they are heavily reliant on buffs to make their ships comparable to other races.  Cap ships, in particular, are a drag, being both slow-moving and slow to regenerate shields.  Only the Enslaver (top cap ship) really pulls its weight in battle, and it is cost and supply draining.  Also, the Dominion starbase has terrible shield regeneration, making it a sitting duck.

The "Valdore" was never taken out of the lineup.  "I" called it the Noraxan, because in the movie the lead ship was refereed to by name as the "Warbird Valdore". If that ship was indeed the "class ship" there was never any mention on screen. If the "official" designation by the powers that be call it "Valdore" then it is just a simple matter of a name change in the english string. That is the thing about "canon" unless it is actually seen, or heard on screen it is tough to weed out the bullshit "fanon".

The Valdore was intended to be "almost" as powerful as the D'Deridex, but not as tough since the ship is about half the D'Deridex's size. For the Rommies the D'Deridex is still the lead elite unit.

The Sovereign is the Feds top of the line ship BUT as seen in the 3 movies it was in it kicked Borg ass, but didnt do very well vs other races ships. It almost lost to the So'na, and the retard Shinzon. During the Dominion wars once the Galaxy, and Nebula class's were re-fitted for war they performed extremely well. Same with any dominion war refit of pretty much the whole fed lineup.

The Klingons were intended to be an economic powerhouse, and able to pump out cheap, weak hull, but powerful weapon attrition units faster than they can be destroyed. This theme was changed for balancing purposes

The Dominion was pretty much winged as we went along since there was so little "reliable" source material to go by.

and Yes, The Borg are supposed to be way overpowered in almost every way The balance comes from the speed at which the Borg tech up. If you allow the borg to fully tech up then you deserve to have your ass handed to you.

During the Dominion wars once the Galaxy, and Nebula class's were re-fitted for war they performed extremely well.

 

Would love to see some more research ingame portraying this kinda thing, Fed seem to be a good target for the team that needs to get its research done fast to keep up militarily, since the Fed's advantage compared to other races in cannon is their technical skills, I remember Dukat said as much during the Dominion assault on DS9.

One question.

There are certain 'chance to hit 1%' penalties given by things like asteroid fields. Would there be any way to add that to the smaller faster ships only during combat? like a b'rel is relatively fragile compared to a vor'cha, but  its much faster and more manouvreable, fighers would also benefit from such a bonus. I imagine it would be need a bit of convoluted logic to only apply to small fast ships though...though if possible it would benefit every team in some way, Fed Sabres, Dom dominators, klingon birds of prey etc.

Sorry if this is a stupid question, but is there a list with all the changes for the Diplomacy mod anywhere? I'm still playing the Entrenchment version and it would be nice to know what's new and different.

Cheers

Well, if Stress wants the Borg to be awesome, let no man call for Nerfing!

Seriously though, you only have about 20 minutes to start attacking them.  On a large map, it's guaranteed death.  You probably only stand a chance on a smaller one where you can get to them quickly, or with at least 8 opponents.

As I play more, I've realized the Fed is even more powerful than I thought.  To heck with the heavy cruisers (Intrepid/Akira), spam the heck out of the upgraded Excelsior class (w/ L2 refit, AKA Lakota refit) - it has awesome shield regen, DPS, HP/SP, and it even repairs fellow ships like the Galaxy Class!  Granted, nothing in the game currently compares with the Akira for station-destroying capability, but the Excelsior seems to be the best cruiser for the money.

I'm also warming to the Klingons.  As Stress notes, the cheaper ships in their lineup (such as the D-12 BOP) can be cranked out insanely fast (and very early in the game) and serve as wonderful cannon fodder while doing very respectable damage.  As you level up, the more powerful ships cost a fortune, but do insane damage with crazy HP/SP (see the Vor'Cha).

I fear a joint Fed/Klink fleet - with the Klingon's heavy cruisers and the Fed's support ships, they would be nigh unstoppable (Vor'Chas destroy everything, while being repaired by Excelsiors and w/ shield regen by the Saber Class between battles).  I can't think of any combination that would be more potent (except for the Borg all by themselves).

If you ever figure out the Dominion, they're that scary all by themselves on defense.

A few hints for successful domination with the Founders.

Trade ports are not a civic station.  They're a battle station.  Build them offensively, on the front line of your bullwark, mixed in with the rest of the fortifications.  They also serve as a resupply point.

Jem'Hadar are cannon fodder.  Cannon fodder needs to be numerous.  Put the combined might of a high level Leviathan, Devastator, and Enslaver behind a swarm of frigates, and you have an ungodly mess on your hands.  They can stand toe to toe with the Borg early on.

Your starbase is special.  It can't match the Unicomplex, the strength deficiency ends there.  It's ability based.  Get the two research unlocks, max them out, and you have a titanic battle station with immense active regeneration and damage potential.  Opening Salvo is the most powerful attack ability in the game, that includes the list of Borg specials.  24 seconds of an 18 target barrage dealing well over 5k damage.

Care and a long life go together, don't lose your capital ships, especially when running founder related buffs.  Trade port fortification on your new conquests serve as an excellent means of ensuring sustained firepower.  Never be two wells from a defensive line, you wont make it back if you have to run.  If you have to make a long distance fight, leave the founders at home unless you're sure of victory.  One wrong casualty and your fleet is lost.

when fighting a federation fleet, every single one of my jem'hadar virulents (around 20 or more i believe) suddenly exploded, leaving me utterly dumbfounded, while my breen ships and capitals were unaffected. does this have something to do with the "kill switch" in the description for "victory is life"? i had two enslavers with that ability at the time

also the dominion starbase take ages to turn and face a target when casting its torpedo barrage, i can't tell which part is the "front"

how often does the nor type station do damage with its passive ability?

how does the kimal's intercept missile ability work, and do they stack? do the torpedo-launching enemies, or the ships you're trying to protect need to be in the radius?

thanks

In game setup screen the game won't let you choose the icon for the team you want.

Be oh so careful with ships running abilities that imply the presence of a founder.

8 second interval, 4 targets, 600 damage.

It stacks to five, and it's on enemy ships.

thanks

but the founder command ship looks like it only gives 10% range and 5% less cooldown to the jem'hadar ships, isn't that a small reward for such a large risk?

nevertheless i really like how you reflected the story elements (like jem'hadar ritual suicide upon a founder's death) in gameplay

Hi im having trouble installing the mod for diplomacy....

i had no problem with entrenchment last year - i didnt do as per the instructions i just copied/pasted all the files into my entrenchment folder overwrote everything and it worked fine.

Tied to do the same with this version and it does not "look right" ingame the indicators at the side of systems indicating what ships are in a system seem bulky and the lcards menu systems font seems to be a bit off. 

running diplomay v2.0 btw

i dont understand the install instructions included - my sins is installed on program files/ impule game / sins / diplomacy 

- no mod folder listed so i created one but i cant see the mod listed in the options folder mod list. What am i doing wrong

running win7 64 if that makes a difference - 64 made no different for entrenchment

(also i was supried that you didnt change the romulan starbase - its still the vasari one and same for the dominion?) i didnt bother finishing my first game so i can install correctly i backed up my sins folder before i overwrote it. can someone direct me on how to get the mod selectable from the mod menu ingame please

anyway im looking forward to playing a game against the harder AI from diplomacy tomorrow because i uninstalled the entrenchment version after a few months cause it got to easy.

thanks in advance

Build that planetary shield generator thing (or whatever its called, maybe the hyperspace disruptor?) and watch your orbital defense platforms become insanely powerful.

Okay, psychoak has officially given me the intro education on the basics of Dom forces, but they still seem wanting to me.  Please don't take this as criticism, since it's more likely I still just don't understand the tactics (as psychoak previous post makes clear), but I guess I'm still a little skeptical that they can hold their own.  In particular:

1. I'll grant the power of the Dom starbase attack ability, which is as powerful as psychoak says.  Unfortunately, it takes six research stations and the range is abysmal - it's so short short of a range that most starships turn around for another attack run before they even get close enough to be hit by it.  This must be a glitch, since nobody ever entered attack range during a major attack against my station.
2. Even if the attack range is boosted, I have a counter, and it's called Mr. Akira.  Despite the fast shield regen, the total number of HP+SP is still not very high, and Mr. Starbase does not play well with Mr. Akira's little friend, Mr. Torpedo.
3. I now appreciate the power of the "trade" station attack (I had no idea that it had attacking abilities too - I was scratching my head at its cost and the weakness of the "defensive" structure until that was pointed out).  However, I strongly suspect this is only truly useful against the AI.  The AI tends to ignore the trade station, allowing the stations to decimate enemy forces.  However, an assault by a person who understands this error and adjusts accordingly would probably have a drastically different outcome.  Again, meet Mr. Akira.  It also makes it hard to defend asteroids with only a few logistics slots, especially if you need a drydock or culture station there.
4. I still don't fully understand how the assorted Dominion buffs work and where they come from.  Any chance that a tutorial is forthcoming?

I feel like I have a fighting chance with the Doms now since psychoak's comments, but it seems that there must still be more Dom strategy I'm missing.  It's almost like I need a decoder ring just to play as the Doms because they are so unique and complex.  

P.S. - One of the thing's I'm learning is that it may be a good idea to nerf Mr. Akira.  Although it is only average for a heavy cruiser (good HP+SP, but mediocre DPS), no defensive structure except a good Unicomplex can withstand its special torpedo attack.

P.P.S - I've figured out another reason I don't like the Doms - they're defensively based!  I hate playing on my heels, so maybe I'm just very uncomfortable with having to play a race with such a defensive orientation.  I greatly prefer evil offensive strategies, like attacking with multiple fleets on several fronts to keep people off-balance (one of the reasons I like the Roms).  So maybe my thoughts are just tactical bias on my part.  Ideas, anyone?

The ability on the Akira does 2500 damage and has 15km range.

Level 2 opening Salvo does well over twice that, and has 15km range.

The Akira has a slot count of 40, a relatively high foot print for the beefy, but overall low damage ship.  Being excellent at breaking fortifications is it's saving grace.

The station is the easiest to drop with a large fleet, but it's also impervious to small fleets.  Overwhelming firepower will neutralize it twice as fast as another starbase, while firepower sufficient to drop the others with singificant casualties will prove completely ineffective at stripping off the shield regeneration.  The cure is to never leave it open.  Always have trade stations and power distribution network backed orbital weapons platforms.  It's a very good idea to have shipyards on your outer rim as well.  When they go in for the kill, their weapons fire will spread out on the surrounding stations in advance of it, losing the initial volley, much of which will be rapidly absorbed.  Where it shines is in dishing out over 11k dps with the ability while rapidly replenishing shield damage from within a cluster of equally regenerative happy defensive structures.

Two Will of the Founders will make the turrets exceedingly powerful against the unfocused shots they absorb for the starbase. 2500 shield points, 40 point shield restore, 40% range boost, 200% firing rate boost on the phasers, 1000% boost on the plasma torpedoes.(after I fix it... some stupid bastard set them to energy after I set them up, me probably, so the torpedo boost is fubar)

Before you have the six labs needed for regenerative shields on your starbase, the key to survival is in trade stations.  They start off with 4500 hull points and 6000 shield points as well, they are not free kills.

I just did a test battle(these are fixed turrets, so there's about a 100 dps difference between them and yours) with 40 breen cruisers, max upgrades, against the starbase surrounded by turrets and supported by two trade stations and a shipyard.  No casualties, and the shields on the starbase never dropped below 4k.  A pirate raid popped into the well 30 seconds later and everything was fully restored.  Alone, you get two shots of opening salvo off, they strip your shields with the first pass, and do several hundred damage to your hull with each successive run.  If exceedingly lucky, you might kill half a dozen of them.  Fighter movement and numerous targets surrounding the primary make for a very hard kill.

There actually is a detailed explanation somewhere, but hell if I can remember where.  Since I wrote them all myself, no big deal to repost it though.

The Leviathan.  Founder Command Ship.  When you get this ability, the pertinent item to be aware of is that when it blows up, any Jem'Hadar frigate within 12k will promptly do the same.  Fortunately, it's a gravity well boost, 5% cooldown, 10% range, doubled for Jem'Hadar frigates.

The Devastator.  Glory to the Founders.  No kill switch.  It's another passive.  It's also self replicating.  The effect replicates, to a maximum of ten, for each Jem'Hadar frigate in range of it.  At max level, that means 50% energy weapon cooldown and 50% damage boost.

The Enslaver.  Victory Is Life.  It's an active, so you get to choose when to put your frigates in danger of suicidal tendencies.  The ability lasts 90 seconds, the same length as the cooldown.  The buff does not.  12k radius, just like the kill zone on the Leviathan, both for the suicide and the buff.  The effect is different though, 100% damage boost, 100% cooldown boost for 30 seconds.  Should the worst happen, they get a further 100% cooldown boost, and take 100 hull damage a second until they blow up.

Uncapped target counts, massive buff potential.  The stock Virulent is a pathetic ship, useless would be a fair remark.  75 dps.  You can break 400.

It's not so much that they're on their heels.  You should be able to walk all over the opposition, even hold your own against the Borg early on.  You just have to be careful about keeping an overwhelming advantage.  If you let them whittle away at you, they can retreat, restore their shields, and be back for round two before your shields have even gained 10%.  If you let them catch you away from home and outgunned, you've got a guaranteed casualty in your slow, extremely important future ship of doom.  That's why your trade ports are so crucial to your advance.  They function as a site for restoring your shields in a manner other than sluggish, as well as a defensive platform to retreat to when whittled down.  Get them leveled, and you can steamroll heavies with an equal number of Dominators.

I experienced a minidump playing as the Federation within the first minute of playing a new game after installing the mod for diplomacy. I had previously downloaded the mod for entrenchment and it worked reasonably well.

I had built a Connie and I clicked on it, I had zoomed out to send it to another system and I think that's where I experienced the minidump. Hope you guys release a patch soon because I really like this mod and I want to play it for diplomacy!

i still humbly maintain that founder command ship should grant a better buff, or have a secondary effect

the leviathan is pretty fragile once its shields start to erode, it's just disconcerting that the enemy can obliterate most of your fleet by destroying one relatively weak ship

i know that you can just avoid training the ability, but then you waste the last ability slot

You get the buff over the whole gravity well, in a fight where you can lose it, keep it near an exit.  Ketracel White is gravity well based too.  The same deal for starbases works for your ships as well.  Keep them surrounded by other targets and focused fire will be dispersed.