RE: Star Trek : The Return of Khan (TOS Era) (Full Version)

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rjord2021 -> RE: Star Trek : The Return of Khan (TOS Era) (10/16/2016 8:14:00 AM)

April 5, 2063

Zefram Cochrane launches the Phoenix, mankind's first manned warp-capable ship whose flight captures the attention of a passing Vulcan ship and leads to the historic First Contact between Humans and extraterrestrial life. This First Contact with the Vulcans ultimately results in Captain Archer taking the Enterprise on it's first space mission 88 years later.

Well that is how Starfleet history books originally told this story.

However something has changed and Zefram Cochrane and the Phoenix are destroyed before the ship can go to warp. The Vulcan ship does not detect any warp signal and continues on to Vulcan.

The untimely death of Zefram Cochrane means that it will be another 198 years before humans discover the secrets of warp drive and the Enterprise heads out into space under the command of Christopher Pike.

The human race have not met any extraterrestrial life and the question still remains...... are we alone in this Galaxy?

As they have never met the Vulcans their First Contact with them may be entirely different to how history originally remembered First Contact.
The Vulcans may not be as friendly towards Earth as they were in the original timeline.

Every new game in this mod will have different results depending on your skills at throwing the dice and events that have already happened.



[image]local://upfiles/44980/5A1521887C09483F94A05B8E53F55C66.jpg[/image]



rjord2021 -> RE: Star Trek : The Return of Khan (TOS Era) (10/21/2016 1:54:21 AM)

In 5 days time this mod will have being under development for 7 months.

As I head into the eighth month I want to take this moment to assure everyone that this mod is well and truly on track and will be released to the Distant Worlds community so you can see what I have done with this mod.

This mod is huge in scale and it would be easy to find the sheer size of it daunting and a hurdle impossible to climb over. There have being too many mods in the forum which we have eagerly being monitoring and waiting for its release... only to find that mod dying a slow death never to be heard from again.

This will never be the case with the Return of Khan mod.

Creating a mod for Distant Worlds Universe is a challenge in itself with adding in new ships, new species and new characters. Adding role playing on to this has made my mod a thousand times more challenging to complete and as a result of this I follow strict guidelines to make sure this mod will reach that day when it gets released to the community.

When you eventually get to play this mod you will believe that you have being thrust inside the Star Trek universe and playing a starship captain will be a challenging experience. Ever wanted to be in the shoes of Captain James T Kirk and face the same challenges on the bridge of the Enterprise? Make the wrong move and you and your crew could be dead or you face a Court Martial.

Using the gameplay mechanics of distant Worlds I have devised a way that Distant Worlds Universe and role playing can work together to create a unique Star Trek experience. And as I said before, this means the mod is a thousand times more challenging.



What development has been or is still required to get this mod out the door for you to play?

1. There has been well over 6 months work just collecting research on Star Trek just for the role playing side of the mod alone. For example:
- what is involved with getting a starship constructed, crewed and out into deep space on missions.
- what happens when your ship is damaged? What is damaged , how bad is the damage and what will it take to fix it.
- what happens when your ship arrives at a planet? Do you monitor the planet from the ship or beam down to the planet.
- Landing parties can be dangerous. You could be killed or set diplomatic relations back if you do a bad job.
- If you are currently not on a mission Distant Worlds will indicate the arrival of a new character at a world. Starfleet may ask you to pickup that character and transfer them to their new destination.
- Klingons or Romulans sighted. You may be sent to investigate that sector of space.

2. Stories seen in this mod are picked up combining 3 detailed timelines covering events seen on tv or in books. Every episode of Star Trek TOs is in the mod which is broken up into 3 sub mods covering the periods from the first pilot episode with Captain Pike to the end of the movie era with Kirk around the Generations movie time era.




To make sure this mod completes, I follow strict procedures.

- Do not get bogged down in creating details at the start. Get the raw basics out there..... rough ideas of ship designs, which species are in the mod. I started the mod 7 months ago with the images of characters, ships and species just being a blank image with text on it... eg "Captain Kirk."...adding his image in after the basics were all done.

- Once the basics are down, add in details and replace the images which are just text and names.

- The same process with each role playing card designed for the mod... the initial card had no graphics and was simply text in the image area of the card stating what the card was. When all the cards were designed then I can go into photoshop and design the images.....

This is the only way you can work on a huge mod such as this one and make sure you do not burn out a quarter way through trying to add too much detail to the mod in the beginning.

Start with the basics.... eg Text..... then add in the details eg Images later



rjord2021 -> RE: Star Trek : The Return of Khan (TOS Era) (10/21/2016 2:10:17 AM)

Attention to detail.....

Various scenarios have been considered in the role playing section of this mod.

Example. In the TOS series Spock is a Vulcan and serving on the Enterprise as Science Officer.In this mod what happens if starfleet has not had First Contact with the Vulcans yet?

Obviously the situation with Spock being on the Enterprise will not happen until Starfleet meets and becomes allies with Vulcan.... and when that happens the Enterprise will need to pick up Spock when he joins the crew of the Enterprise. Until that happens every role playing card which features Spock on the Enterprise will happen only if Spock is actually there. If he is not there.... then a replacement Science Officer is there in Spocks place. Who will that be?

Another scenario is when Spock is on the Enterprise....... if Starfleet and Vulcan go to war....does Spock stay on the Enterprise or does he return to Vulcan? If he returns to Vulcan, will we see him again or will his character just disappear? If Spock returns to Vulcan then the Enterprise will have to leave Spock on a neutral world to be picked up by a Vulcan ship.

All of this is handled by the role playing game mechanics.



rjord2021 -> RE: Star Trek : The Return of Khan (TOS Era) (10/21/2016 2:11:47 AM)

I also want to quickly thank the over 12500 views of my mod and thank you for the interest in my mod.



rjord2021 -> RE: Star Trek : The Return of Khan (TOS Era) (10/22/2016 10:35:47 PM)

A starship captain... enroute via shuttle to the Mars Orbital Shipyards.


A preview of new picture I created this morning for the mod.
To be used with RPG cards for new ships that are in dry dock waiting to be crewed.

As he looks out the window he watches as the familiar shape of a Constitution Class Starship appears out of the darkness.
The USS Enterprise...... Starfleet's new ship of the line ..... just hours away from her shakedown cruise.

James T Kirk looks over at Scotty whose face shows how proud he is of the ship he has helped to build. Leonard McCoy on the other hand clearly shows his nervousness from his seat just in front of Kirk ...he is not one that takes space travel lightly.

Kirk looks down at his crew personnel sheet, reading the name of his Science Officer who is already on board the Enterprise.
Guillermo Masada... a highly respected Science Officer on short term assignment to the Enterprise. Kirk was fortunate enough to have Lieutenant Masada on board for the next few months until the Enterprise received a permanent Science Officer.




[image]local://upfiles/44980/8345E45BD7BA4B3A928802C352CCCE8C.jpg[/image]



rjord2021 -> RE: Star Trek : The Return of Khan (TOS Era) (10/24/2016 7:37:23 PM)

Over the last few days I have purchased software which allows me to create procedurally generated worlds on ground level as well as in orbit.

This software will allow me to create the graphics for the mod a lot quicker and with much better quality.

Below is a picture I have created in the last 30 minutes of the Enterprise in orbit over a planet.



[image]local://upfiles/44980/EFA874D8BBCD489289C28F39B71BAD0C.jpg[/image]



Dakkon7 -> RE: Star Trek : The Return of Khan (TOS Era) (10/26/2016 12:14:04 AM)

Very much appreciate all the status updates you post about your mod rjord1. I look forward to the final product and from what you've been posting it looks like it will be pretty darn good. =)



rjord2021 -> RE: Star Trek : The Return of Khan (TOS Era) (10/30/2016 7:10:11 AM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: Dakkon7

Very much appreciate all the status updates you post about your mod rjord1. I look forward to the final product and from what you've been posting it looks like it will be pretty darn good. =)




Thanks Dakkon7.......

As a fan of Star Trek for 43 years I am putting a lot of work in to this mod so that players can immerse themselves into the Star Trek universe and play Distant Worlds Universe in a totally new way.




rjord2021 -> RE: Star Trek : The Return of Khan (TOS Era) (10/30/2016 7:15:51 AM)

Those who have played Role Playing Games know that they can be complex to play.

With this mod my aim is that Distant Worlds Universe is the primary game and role playing is an addon to Distant Worlds.
The role playing is designed a little differently from other RPG games in a way that experienced role playing gamers will still love the mod however it is has a unique RPG design so that it is role playing but much simpler and much easier to play.

This mod is designed so people of all ages will be able to play it and most of your time will be played inside Distant Worlds and not bogged down in the role playing side of the mod.




[image]local://upfiles/44980/C79621205EB348D38AA26DA8855834BD.jpg[/image]



rjord2021 -> RE: Star Trek : The Return of Khan (TOS Era) (10/31/2016 12:44:37 PM)

The following picture is a preview of the DY-100 Class Sleeper ship named the Botany Bay as seen in the episode "Space Seed".

As the changed timelines generated by this mod have the entire episode of Space Seed no longer happening, this picture is one I put together showing the eventual landing of the Botany Bay on a Class M world now that the Enterprise no longer intercepts the Dy-100 ship.

The picture shows one of the procedurally generated worlds I am using for the role playing cards and there are 4 different worlds that Khan will end up on.

As the timeline changed there is now no way that Khan will end up on Ceti Alpha V and for the purpose of this mod the world that Khan and his group will end up on will become known as Khan's World.


This picture is an example of the hundred or so pictures I have created for the mod so far.


[image]local://upfiles/44980/7EFE2BA525164713B17F16B3DAD13832.jpg[/image]



Rising-Sun -> RE: Star Trek : The Return of Khan (TOS Era) (11/16/2016 3:37:17 PM)

Looking forward to this, when do you think you will have this done for us to download?



rjord2021 -> RE: Star Trek : The Return of Khan (TOS Era) (11/24/2016 8:14:24 PM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: RisingSun

Looking forward to this, when do you think you will have this done for us to download?



I am hoping to have this out in the first quarter of 2017 as Version 1.0



rjord2021 -> RE: Star Trek : The Return of Khan (TOS Era) (11/24/2016 8:25:06 PM)

The Galaxy Map is being modified as I am adding each system and each planet to this mod.

When you are in a specific area of the Alpha or Beta Quadrant you will have one of 4 different Galaxy Maps visible in the background

Map 1 - No Contact with either Romulans or Klingons and No Neutral Zones in place
Map 2 - Contact with Klingons Only and Klingon Neutral Zone in place
Map 3 - Contact with Romulans Only and Romulan Neutral Zone in place
Map 4 - Contact With both Klingons and Romulans and Klingon and Romulan Neutral Zones in Place


Below is an example of work in progress on Map 3 showing the Romulan Neutral Zone with Romulan Space in Top Right and Federation Space in Bottom Left


Playing as either the Federation or Romulans and crossing this Neutral zone will have repercussions for your ship and possibly even the Federation or Romulan Empire.



[image]local://upfiles/44980/F75FE0A2E6F141BA9BEE13A3B9E9767F.jpg[/image]



rjord2021 -> RE: Star Trek : The Return of Khan (TOS Era) (11/24/2016 8:32:32 PM)

I just need some feedback from those of you following the development of this mod.

Would you like daily updates on how I am going with the mod, weekly updates or maybe an update once a month.
Am happy to do the daily updates if that is what you guys want.

Roy



Dakkon7 -> RE: Star Trek : The Return of Khan (TOS Era) (11/25/2016 1:40:18 AM)

I'd recommend just posting an update when you feel like sharing some interesting new developments about the project. If you don't feel like posting an update for a certain week or month, don't bother. Keep it simple and flexible.



Rising-Sun -> RE: Star Trek : The Return of Khan (TOS Era) (11/25/2016 7:55:05 AM)

Wow no wonder you been so busy, didn't realize that you laying out the whole galaxy.



rjord2021 -> RE: Star Trek : The Return of Khan (TOS Era) (11/25/2016 5:40:39 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: RisingSun

Wow no wonder you been so busy, didn't realize that you laying out the whole galaxy.



Yes... the entire galaxy with every system in the Alpha and Beta Quadrants

The Alpha Quadrant has 390 systems and the Beta Quadrant has 394 systems.
Each system has between 1 and 12 planets in the system
Planets known in the trek universe to have 1 or more moons will have them in the mod as well.

So in total there are 784 systems in the mod and assuming an average of 6 planets in each system there are 4704 planets in the mod and up to 1489 moons.

Each episode of Star Trek TOS is being added to part 1 of this mod

Species and stories after The Motion Picture are in Part 2 of this mod

Species and Stories which took place at the beginning and in the 5 years after the movie Generations will be in this mod.

Every time you play this mod you have an alternate version of Star Trek existing so in theory Khan may not be killed off in Part 2 and Kirk may survive through Part 3 of the Mod. This only includes the part of the movie prior to where we see the arrival of the TNG crew and tells what happened in the Kirk era assuming he did not disappear into the Nexus.

When playing Part 1 you will go on missions seen in the original TV series.

Example..... when you arrive in the Beta Tauri star system a roll of the dice may send you to the planet Taurus II where the episode "The Galileo 7" took place.

If it happened in the tv episodes or movies for the Kirk era it is being recreated in the mod.
Wait until you try the landing party missions which I am developing at the moment.






rjord2021 -> RE: Star Trek : The Return of Khan (TOS Era) (11/25/2016 11:11:36 PM)

Kenneth Wescott.....the President of the United Federation of Planets from 2261 to 2268.

Wescott was the President during the first 3 years of the Enterprise's 5 year mission under the command of Kirk.

There has never been an image of Wescott as he never made an appearance on tv but he has a significant role in this mod and below is a preview of how I imagine him to appear when drama hits Federation Worlds.

Where possible the scenes will be more modern looking in certain areas such as this one but scenes on starships for example will be as they looked in the original TV series though a touch darker. The brighter colors as seen in the original series and the use of light on characters faces were a part of the show but I am toning that down a little adding a slightly darker look to the 60s version of the show.

I am creating this mod in a way to explain why Enterprise looked modern while the Kirk era had the 60s look and then TNG was modern again.

Sounds confusing but you will see what I mean when the mod comes out.

Edit: It took many goes and about an hour in photoshop before I got President Wescott's hair looking right for the scene.




[image]local://upfiles/44980/247FE265FEB2487FA4F3429938BCCEC0.jpg[/image]



rjord2021 -> RE: Star Trek : The Return of Khan (TOS Era) (11/26/2016 1:01:32 AM)

One of my favourite characters in Star Trek 6 has now been added to the mod.....

General Chang had a huge part in the years covered by the Original TV series and he commanded the fleet at the Battle of Organia before the Organians imposed their peace treaty in 2267..... 3 years into the 5 year mission of the Enterprise.

In this picture Chang is seen before he lost his eye. More work is in progress to make Chang younger.







[image]local://upfiles/44980/73B57B70B62C411FB14D7746706DB2D3.jpg[/image]



Rising-Sun -> RE: Star Trek : The Return of Khan (TOS Era) (11/26/2016 8:05:51 AM)

Cool, would like to see this setup as picard era, where the borgs invade. Wasn't sure if the galaxy is big enough for that whole setup.



rjord2021 -> RE: Star Trek : The Return of Khan (TOS Era) (11/27/2016 9:40:06 AM)

I was not happy with the picture of General Chang so I have replaced it with a much better one showing Chang on the Klingon World.




rjord2021 -> RE: Star Trek : The Return of Khan (TOS Era) (11/27/2016 9:59:55 AM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: RisingSun

Cool, would like to see this setup as picard era, where the borgs invade. Wasn't sure if the galaxy is big enough for that whole setup.



The time being taken on this mod is work on the graphics such as referring to High Def screencaps of Star Trek TOS and then photo-shopping them on new graphics. I need to cover different story lines and possibilities such as what would happen to Spock if Earth and Vulcan are not allies...would he still be on the enterprise and if not where is he......

A lot of time is being taken writing the Library Banks which replace the Galactopedia as well as setting up a trade system which works well in distant Worlds so you can go through this mod as a Trader of legal products or black market items.

It is a pretty big conversion but once finished there would be no problem implementing a Picard era version as well which would be significantly different enough not to be just a repeat mod of the currently existing Picard mod for Distant Worlds..



rjord2021 -> RE: Star Trek : The Return of Khan (TOS Era) (11/28/2016 4:38:52 AM)

When this mod begins you will be introduced to 2 characters serving together on one ship.

- James T Kirk
- Carol Marcus

In the Trek timeline Kirk and Carol Marcus were in a relationship but Carol eventually resigned from Starfleet and went back to Earth after the relationship with Kirk soured.

In this mod this may not be the way events unfold and Carol could end up being with Kirk on the Enterprise.

As she is going to be in the mod in one way or another I need to get a younger version of Carol Marcus as she looked back in 2260.

The picture below shows Carol Marcus as she appeared in The Wrath of Khan and the comic shows how she looked with long hair before Kirk becomes Captain of the enterprise.

I have spent a few hours photoshopping together a picture of Carol on board the Enterprise as she appears way back in 2260...this picture will be revealed in the next post.





[image]local://upfiles/44980/1A02EE3D51CE4D8DB4645C21A5987D42.jpg[/image]



rjord2021 -> RE: Star Trek : The Return of Khan (TOS Era) (11/28/2016 6:04:04 AM)

This is how Carol Marcus would look between 2260 and 2270.

This picture took about two and a half hours to do and shows Dr Marcus as she appears in the first part of the mod in her crewman's quarters on board the Enterprise.



[image]local://upfiles/44980/F3B20A57427442E6892B465805A23743.jpg[/image]



rjord2021 -> RE: Star Trek : The Return of Khan (TOS Era) (12/3/2016 4:07:33 AM)

Did you ever want to play a Star Trek game as a member of the Starfleet Corps of Engineers?

Instead of playing Distant Worlds Universe as a ship's captain or a pirate I have now added into the mod the ability to play as an Engineer sent out to fix engineering challenges such as the events which took place on the space station known as Vanguard where not only were all systems were malfunctioning and someone was killing Starfleet crew.

More news on this addition to the mid next week....



Dakkon7 -> RE: Star Trek : The Return of Khan (TOS Era) (12/4/2016 7:51:34 AM)

[&o]



rjord2021 -> RE: Star Trek : The Return of Khan (TOS Era) (12/6/2016 10:20:17 PM)

Preview Shot :

This is one of the event cards created a few months ago showing work in progress on a situation card requiring your action.

With this card reports are coming in to Starfleet of an attack on a Federation Miranda-class cruiser starship the USS Bombay commanded by Captain Hallie Gannon.

Starfleet is ordering all vessels in the area to provide immediate assistance to the Bombay and to determine who is attacking it.

When you reach the area where the Bombay was last reported you discover the ship has been destroyed with no survivors. You now have to scan the area to find any evidence of who destroyed the cruiser.

There are 6 different outcomes for this one card alone giving you additional command and scientific points if you find evidence. You will lose command and scientific points if you find nothing.


The picture below just shows work done on the picture being added to the card.
The card itself was designed later.



[image]local://upfiles/44980/C7905E50AF114722BEE58B56E69918FF.jpg[/image]



rjord2021 -> RE: Star Trek : The Return of Khan (TOS Era) (12/6/2016 10:43:45 PM)

How does a situation card like the one shown in the prior post work with Distant Worlds Universe.

In this scenario you may be the captain of a scientific research vessel on a simple exploration mission.
When you arrive in a new system your Communications Officer may receive orders from Starfleet or you may detect a ship or anomaly in the area.

With the card about the USS Bombay you are being contacted by Starfleet and your orders are to leave this system immediately and answer the Distress Call from the Bombay in a nearby system. The system you need to go to will be decided by a dice roll so you go up, down, left or right. This can be dangerous if you are next to the neutral zone and the dice roll tells you to enter the Neutral Zone. If this happens you are open to attack by the Romulans or Klingons who will not listen when you tell them you are responding to a distress signal. Make the wrong decision here and you could start a war with the Romulan or Klingon Empire. As the captain it is your decision if you enter the Neutral Zone... but keep in mind that you will lose command points if you fail to answer and assist the distress call.

When you arrive in the next system you do not check for new orders as you are already on a mission to respond to the distress signal.

On arriving in the system there is no longer a distress signal being issued and it is possible that the Federation ship has been destroyed. Go to each planet and scan the surface for life signs in case survivors managed to get away on shuttles and reached a planet surface.

If there are ships in the area they will need to be scanned at close range . If you are attacked by any of these ships then you have found who destroyed the Bombay. Defend yourself from the attack.

If there are no ships in the system you will still need to scan each planet. Make a note of any Class M planet which has a warp capable civilization. Make a note in your Captains Log of the civilization and which planet it is on,

Make your report to Starfleet and then leave the system. Starfleet will send teams to the planet to investigate if anyone on the surface was responsible for destroying the Bombay. Your ship may be asked to return to the system to aid the investigation. If this happens and you have success you will get more command points.

Command points will determine the success of future missions. The more command points you have the more experienced a captain you are and the more likely you will succeed your missions.

When you first start the mod you will determine how many command points you have which will randomly effect the rest of the game.

How you play this mod in Distant Worlds will depend on how many Command points, Science points and Engineering points you have.




rjord2021 -> RE: Star Trek : The Return of Khan (TOS Era) (12/6/2016 10:59:04 PM)

With the event card shown above you can see that the Tholians are the attackers as this footage was transmitted with the distress signal. If the distress signal does not show the attacker then the information may be found if a distress buoy was left in the area.

For cards where there is no evidence of who the attacker is, the picture on the situation card will indicate the atrtacker is unknown and will not show the attacking ship.

As you can see, with each mission or event there are multiple results that can happen requiring a different card and a different path of action.



Wolf825 -> RE: Star Trek : The Return of Khan (TOS Era) (12/13/2016 7:38:25 AM)

Being a really knowledgeable Star Trek fan, I am truly amazed at the amount of work and accuracy that has gone into this mod.
I very recently bought Distant Worlds: Universe, but have yet to play a game. Coming from MOO, MOO 2, Spaceward Ho! IV, Armada 2525, and the Galactic Civilizations series, I've heard really good things about this game. Your mod is at the top of my 'must have mods' list! Very impressive!

I have several questions (and forgive me if these have been answered previously):

1) Will you be able to do anything dramatic, or universe-changing with the Guardian, the Organians, or similar powerful entities?
2) Does Q make an appearance?
3) Can you make an alliance with the Tholians? If so, can you employ their web technology?
4) Can you ally with the Romulans?
5) Can the Enterprise or other Federation vessels employ a cloaking device, as seen in Balance Of Terror?
6) Will the refit Enterprise-class Enterprise be available (as seen in the movies, such as the 1701-A)?
7) Will we have the Excelsior at our command, or the Dreadnought-class (as pictured in the Star Trek Tech Manual, a warship with a 3rd warp nacelle and advanced weaponry)?
8) Are any elements from the Star Trek Animated series present - like the Caitian race (which was also briefly pictured in the movies) or the Edoans?
9) Does the planet killer from the Doomsday Machine make an appearance?

P.S. - I would take Spock's Brain over that hippie episode any day!

Thank you in advance for your time and this amazing mod!



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