Distant Worlds XPanded (X-Universe) 1.0b

[Mansen]

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[center]Distant Worlds - Xpanded (X-Universe)[/center]

This is a total conversion mod that introduces the X-Universe into the world of Distant Worlds. The aim will be to make the mod as immersive and correct as possible within the scope of the game - no space complexes, sorry [;)]. Take off as one of the many race empire (or pirate factions) and set for the the stars - Xplore, Xpand, Xploit and Xterminate

Current Features:

- 8 Mayor playable races (With basic playability - No special policies or templates)
- Shipsets for all 8 races


Planned Features (For 1.1 if possible) :

- More fleshed out races - better racial balance
- Compatibility with DW: Extended (if possible)
- Shipsets for minor factions taken directly from the games. (Pirates, ATF, OTAS etc..)
- Characters from the universe (Plot critical and generic)
- Commodities from the X-Universe
- Graphics and Sounds matching the X-Universe atmosphere

Previews :
All images are thumbnails with full versions available (click the images)

[center]An early ingame screenshot showing off the Terran shipset.

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[center]A quick preview of some unfinished Race/Character portraits.

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[center]A selection of Cruisers in their raw format - They probably won't look as big ingame due to engine restrictions.

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Downloads :

Version 1.0b
https://mega.co.nz/#!o5dUkTJZ!nw9xXFeWw ... 4ZZAysOBMc

DW: Universe compatible version. No other changes - Thanks to Insigar for his work

Version 1.0
https://mega.co.nz/#!kktRBaBT!ihRoQn4xU ... mCmV75jCt0

This is an initial version with all of the basics - There is still a lot of tweaking and balancing required, but it's playable. [8D]



Changelog :

1.0b - Universe compatible version available.

1.0 - First Release!

Current Development Status and upcoming goals :

02/06/2013 : Version 1.0 released!
29/05/2013 : Added some preview images.
25/05/2013 : Currently setting up initial development infrastructure and pooling resources.

Mod Team :

Mansen
JustOneGuy

Other credits:

Egosoft - For creating such a great series of 4X games and not pursuing legal actions against the mod.

[dostillevi]

I'm all in favor of this! I was just thinking today of other games that could use a little DW love and thought of one of my all time favorite games, X3: Reunion. Its too bad so many of the ships are long and relatively boring from the top, as they're designed to fit through the gates. I might fire it up and see if I can come up with some screenshots for the ships. I also have the Xtended mod and there are a ton of ships in that too. Plenty of material to work with!

[JustOneGuy]

Your offer of help is very much appreciated!
However, we have gathered all the sourcematerial we need and in fact also completed most of the shipsets, due this mod already beeing in development in Legends times. Mansen and I just found out yesterday though, that we both were developing a X mod, and decided to pool our resources.
I sadly am not able to post any images, due to that 10 post forumrequirement, but Mansen surely will soon upload a few screenshots of what we have done already!

Hang in there guys, soon you can make profitssss with the Teladi!

[dostillevi]

Awesome, can't wait!

[Mad Igor]

oh,i want this shipset
i want whole X shipset for DW [/mad]

[Mansen]

JOG is coming along nicely with the shipsets. In the meantime I'm working on race and character pictures. Still a short ways to go before an initial release.

[Mansen]

New update with some preview images.

[joeyeti]

Nice one!
I love X2 (and started dabbling into X3) so having this one will be great!

I presume you are working on a Shadows version?
I am not sure if from the graphical side of things much has changed (at least the resources haven't), so will have to try it afterwards myself.

[Mansen]

Yeah this will be natively developed for Shadows. [:)]

The gameplay hasn't changed terribly much from X2 and the 3 later releases. I can highly recommend jumping straight into Albion Prelude if you're looking into getting back into the games.

[joeyeti]

offtopic/

Heh, my current machine (just a notebook mind you) cannot handle more than X2 (pretty flawlessly) and X3 Reunion (just so-so). But in the future, who knows?

I might even check out Limit Theory, when it is finally ready (resembles the X series quite much, but not sure about its economy yet).

And if there were any similar game with less demanding graphics (read deep economy, ability to control your own ships and give them trading/combat/exploration/etc., your own business empire...), I would definitely check that also!

/offtopic

[Mansen]

Had my first prototype test game last night - Still have two shipsets left to do and some initial race theming and balancing.

Was quite fun to see the Argons naming their home system "Argon Prime" - Artificial intelligence is awesome. [:D]

[joeyeti]

Nice! Keep it up!

[dostillevi]

I'm pretty excited about the Paranid ships.. I think they'll be a great addition to the game.

[Mansen]

They don't look quite right due to how the engine (still) handles big ship images, but they look pretty menacing all the same.

[TanC]

Nice...looking forward to giving this a spin when it's completed. Love the X series, can't wait for Rebirth!

[Mansen]

All of the race statistics files are done - Only need slight tweaking for balance (Yay beta testing...)

We've still got two mayor shipsets remaining as well as some slight tweaking - A hopeful prediction would say that a weekend beta release is not impossible. [:)]

[SVWGiant]

Great Mod pictures! Im a fan of X3TC and its nice to see all the Terran ships in DW
Good luck with the beta tests ans after that with the release!

[Mansen]

And we are a go! [:)]

[Igard]

Really nice work!

[dostillevi]

Awesome! Downloading now!

Edit: Top notch artwork on the ships! That 50 shipset limit is really hurting now!