Just want to jump in here:

Yes, I am on holiday (I'm in San Francisco right now), and will probaly be out of the game until around August. Which sucks a bit. But I'm still committed to a 2011 release (sans voice acting) of Acts 1 and 2. The FREDding is really close, and while I have very slightly feature creeped (I mean very slightly - I've been putting decent looking trees into the atmospheric missions - annoyingly I've lost the pics I uploaded) the big time eaters are still texs - the Orestes (my bad) and codename Spaceball 1 (VAs project, when he has time between Uni). Everything else (like the HTL Heimdall we recently received, new water textures etc. etc.) can be released with the main release if they're finished, or as part of an upgrade pack later on, so they will not delay release.



WRT the other stuff on the thread, as usual from him, VAs work on the harpy has been top notch. I'd like to claim the texture, but the truth is all the best bits are his, and the reason my parts look good comes down primarily to the shine and normal mapping he's done. The turrets are also cool (also all VA's work) - IMO, that rear dorsal turret is the best looking multipart beam turret I've ever seen.

Also, I can't believe I missed that fighter of yours when it was first shown off Also - it's awesome, looks like a heavy complement to the Leto, at the same level of quality (i.e. enormous ). If it ever does get finished, I'd love to slot it into Frontlines.

ZOMG is it done yet ? Seriously though how was California ?

California was great, very scenic. Saw snow for the first time in my entire life. The entire trip was cool actually, Iceland was a highlight, awesome geology. Same goes for a few other spots (Yellowstone, Grand Canyon etc.). But I'm back home in Australia again now, and back into TI. Currently, or at least, last I heard before I went off to work, VA was working on converting Blackwood Station, one of a surprising number of very near complete HTL models that just got held up by the need for (relatively) minor adjustments. My major project at the moment (as of tonight when my swing ends at least) is the Orestes texture job. There's a WiP on the internal at the moment, probably about 40 - 50 percent done with the diffuse texture. I'm hoping to finish it this break (i.e. Before wednesday). Since it's my last big contribution to the Act 1 modpack, once it's done I should be able to focus on FRED and the general housework of getting the campaign together.

Timeline wise, taking into account my work schedule and VA's patchy availability due to university related supervillain research, I'm hoping to have an internal alpha by October, a more or less finalized modpack and associated beta by November, and a release in December. I'm still committed to a 2011 release date for act 1.

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Iceland is one of my favorite places. I love the landscape, it's pretty in a very unique Icelandic way.
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Really looking forward to TI.

I eagerly await this mod, as I more or less have since I joined here. In fact, IIRC, TI is why I joined Sectorgame.

Some current WiP pics:

The Orestes (Model is finished, Textures are in progress) - Blackwood Station - currently in the process of being converted - [EDIT]Should emphasize here - both models are by VA, my only contribution here is the texture on the Orestes (and some very minor model tweaks).

These designs are uber cool. THey're like ":used future" FS ships. FS ships to me never really seemed part of a "used future" sinc ehtey all looked like they were straight off the assembly lines, especially the civilian installations (mainly because all of them looked exacatly the same), but this gives them some extra soul and interestingness

Blackwood Station is uber cool. Whole mod is awesome. Can't wait for the release .
BTW. Is this possible to release separated components of the station after the main release of whole mod? They would be very useful to modders as self-dependent stations.

Yeah definitely. (Do you mean with the Ganymede-connection struts or without?)

And yes, the uni busyness is still shocking. I'm designing/building a powered exoskeleton though, so supervillain research isn't all that far off!

Blackwood Station is uber cool. Whole mod is awesome. Can't wait for the release .
BTW. Is this possible to release separated components of the station after the main release of whole mod? They would be very useful to modders as self-dependent stations.

You'll have to talk to VA about splitting them up like that - I'm not certain exactly how the station's submodels are getting divided, but it might be a relatively simple task. [Ninjaed by VA ]

These designs are uber cool. THey're like ":used future" FS ships. FS ships to me never really seemed part of a "used future" sinc ehtey all looked like they were straight off the assembly lines, especially the civilian installations (mainly because all of them looked exacatly the same), but this gives them some extra soul and interestingness

Yeah, used future and the whole civilian world is a major focus in TI, especially in the first act. Actually, the entire Act 1 modpack includes no new fancy-pants GTVA warships at all. In fact, at this point, there're only plans for one new GTVA capital class all through the campaign.

Yeah definitely. (Do you mean with the Ganymede-connection struts or without?)

And yes, the uni busyness is still shocking. I'm designing/building a powered exoskeleton though, so supervillain research isn't all that far off!

Without. I'm currently planning to bring my second project called Ultima Cena to life, and I'm planning to use a lot of space station types. Civilian stations docked to Ganymede have awesome style and would be awesome addon to UC when TI is released. HTL Ganymede showed here is also pretty.

Kudos on the "patched together"-look of the station, gives it that little extra realism and grunge (as already pointed out).

I probably missed out, but what 's the role of the Orestes? Most of it looks quite armour-plated, but then there's the exposed thingies on top.

Actually, I was kind of hoping it'd look monimally armoured... :\

The Orestes is a repair and support ship cum capital vessel tug. You call one in when your capital ship's been badly damaged or disabled. It can do a little bit of in-field maintenance, refuelling etc, if a patch up job is all that's required, but generally it just docks on (with awesome animated docking clamps ) and drags you back to a drydock through subspace. Prevents the (rather silly) situation of having a tiny little argo dragging a great big corvette around. Also useful if you wanted to, say, stabilize a big ship in a decaying orbit, capture an enemy vessel without boarding it, move an installation around - anytime you need a lot of physical grunt and thrust to get the job done.

This is why TI is awesome. All these ships have a lot of thought going into them rather than just the "it'd be cool to have another superdestroyer" line of thought most people go with.