Some of you might know that some X2-Fans are working on a mod that we named X2-Pandora. This mod changes many aspects of the game and expands it in almost every part.
X2-Pandora has it's own (top secret) story that runs next to the original X2-story. Pandora is fully compatible with the vanilla-story. Therefore it uses a map based on the original one but widely expanded.
X2-Pandora developes the aspects of X2 way further than ever before. Those aspects affect graphics and gameplay. Fight, trade and think are more strategic and difficult. It won't be enough to fight with a single good M6, nor to build some stations somewhere in the universe that send some TS for trade runs The main issue we're having at the moment is that many of our ideas are still ideas that are written down on our to-do list. We're in urgent need of some more people helping out. That is one of the reasons why the development of the mod seem to take forever.
The Team:
Chris Gi (The mod's brain - Scripter)
Adlantis (Model maker)
Shadow dream (Model maker)
Gravemind (Forum-keeper and Model maker)
eescoto71 (Tester)
Lord_Dakier (Tester)
What we are looking for:
Experienced scripters who help us creating the commands
Moddel maker to make the ships from some races as Argon, Split, Xenon,...
Voices to give the guys in the Universe a new voice.
Texture-maker to bring a new life on the ships and stations
What we have done yet:
New Sectors
New Textures
Fully self-building map
Configuraions
New shipclasses
new stations
ID-Jammer
bailed-out pilots
Capturing pilots
New races
experimental Scripteditor
menu-extentions
shield/laser-extensions
Effects
Things that are planed or worked on atm:New Sectors: We have added plenty of new sectors. We have not worked on the map for a while but we're still going to extend this map.
New Textures: Many (maybe all) backgrounds have been replaced. Even planets and ships are more beautiful now. The aim is an optical better quality.
Fully self-bulding-map: Every new gamestart brings a completly new map! This point is very important to us since we don't like the fact that we get used to the map or even know it by heart. This will never ever happen again! The only things that won't change are the sectors themselves, the gate-connections and the stations that are needed for the plot to work.
Configuration: Since the sector content is generated it comes in handy to be able to control this build-up process. It enables the player to create the universe as he wants to have it. Further this is a way to adapt the univers to the computer-system. E.g. to build less stations or asteroids in a sector. Further you can change game difficulty or how the races behave (aggressive, trader,...)
New Shipclasses: Our ships are not "only" M1 or M3. We make a difference between police and military ships. The jobs for those are under development but the scripts already make a difference between them. Further we have added dozens of new models. Further we added a new trading-class: SuperFreighter. Contrary to the ones in X3 they are TL-like.
New Stations: We have added some new stations. This brings new wares to trade with. Additionaly we change at least the "big" stations (shipyard,...) and maybe even the "small" ones.
ID-Jammer: Pirates have developed further than in any X-game. It won't be easy to find them anymore, especially when they are flying a usual race-ship!
Bailing-out pilots: A bailed-out pilot is not just a ware anymore. You can decide what to do with them: either sell them as slaves or hand them over to the police, or bribe them or just let them go... and everything has it's consequences...
Capturing: In standard X2, pilots randomly bail out [i}only if[/i] the player shoots at them. In Pandora, pilots may leave their ship in every fight, whether the player is involved or not, depending on many things including the characteristic you assigned to a race. If a ship is given up, it belongs to noone. You first have to hack the ship system before you can board it to take it over. And you have to be fast since other races are interested in those ships too.
New Races: The ships are still under construction but the new races are added to the scripts and just need to be completed. Further they are attached to the plot -> there will be lot of fun and action.
Experimental Script-editor: This point will be especialy interesting for experienced scripters! We have ... modified the script-editor and are adding new commands as playing cut-scenes. But those changings are not only on script-base. For example we have added drifting as known from X3. There are much more things that we have added that I just don't want and can't name them all. At least there is enough to do!!
Menu-extensions: We have tailored the menu to our needs. This includes the weapons menu to display more lasers than usual. There's also a new, similar menu for shields...
Laser/Shield-extensions: We increased the number of lasers and shields to be able to use race-specific shields and lasers = each race uses it's own equipment. Therefore you can't install a paranid laser on a boron ship (by default). We still work on the balancing of lasers and shields, because we are complety reworking the fighting system (in the sense of which ship class can effectively fight against which other shipclass). Additionally we have added a small extension for the shields that allows a new type of shield (WiP).
New effects: The old effects have been changed or replaced. They look much better now. And after an explosion of a ship or a station debris floats in the sector - an easy way to get money?
Story
M0-abilities
M0-Laser
extended fighting scripts
Taxes
Own sectors
bubble-shields
race-specific abilities
and much more
Last but not least some screens we have made so far:Story: Pandora comes up with it's own story. Julian will have to face more quests that are not only based on fighting - you can't solve any problem with a laser.
M0-abilities: Obviously, M0 are not just big ships with strong lasers and shields. Therefore we plan to add special abilities as repairing docked ships or concentrate energie on shields.
M0-Laser: This is planed to be a planet-destroyer. This is more an idea than a must-have. Never the less we plan to add such a laser to offer the possibility. The way how we add this laser and it's conditions are unclear yet.
Extended fighting-scripts: The times when you could erase a sector only with your M2 are over. Pandora makes heavy use of fleets and wingmen. Even the AI will become more intelligent so that their ships won't try to attack an enemy it can't defeat.
Taxes: If you build a station in a sector you will have to pay taxes to the owning race. The price is different from sector to sector and can be seen in the galaxy-map. If you own your own sector, you can also raise taxes. If your taxes are low and if you provide a secure environment, other races will gladly build their stations in your sector...
Own sectors: The conditions to be the owner of a sector is set clearly. This way even the player could own sectors. On the other side this means that the AI is interested in getting sectors. But this is part of more advanced concept: Border-Wars / Race-Wars
Bubble-shields: We have found a way to use bubble-shields (StarTrek like shields) and are going to use them. You can look forward to more eye-candy.
Race-specific abilities: The aim is that Races have abilities others don't have. e.g Boron ships as semi-organic ships, should be able to regenerate hull.
and much more
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More in our Galerie.
Again: We really need Scripters and model-makers that help us finishing Pandora so that it won't take further 3 years until release!
(Changes in this post reserved to the Pandora Team)
Shadow