The TSN RP Community Mod - Progress! (OOC)

Over the past month or so, we have had officers of the TSN working on creating a TSN Mod (particular thanks to Allard & Fish for working on this!) Now, we have something working and ready for testing!

The aim of the Mod is simple - give more options and diversity by adding new ships and elements to the existing Artemis game. The idea is to add new ships that the TSN can encounter, including allied ships, neutral alien factions, enemy ships, as well as some new generic meshes to use in missions. The focus is mainly on non-player ships and generic meshes, however there is scope for developing specialist vessels for missions, for example a mercenary ship for undercover operations (think ST: Into Darkness - heading to Kronus).

The first tests of the mod have begun! Officers had the opportunity to encounter several new ship types, both allied and enemy ships, as well as use a couple of new player ship. I myself was unable to attend (I had very strong words with my ISP about that!) but from what I heard, the mod was well received. Since then, I have managed to get my hands on a copy of the Mod pack to take a look at some of the ships.

There were concerns that was raised with the Mod pack with regards to sharing and installing the mod; making it accessible to all users no matter their knowledge and expertise. I believe that both these barriers are no longer an issue as the people who attended the first test of the mod all managed to add it to their Artemis game with ease. After going through the process myself, I was surprised how simple the process was - it was just a matter of copy and pasting the files into the dat folder of Artemis. With our team of instructors, new recruits can be set up in minutes when they first join the TSN RP Community. Sharing should be little issue too. By putting the mod in a zip file, it can be uploaded to the TSN RP Community website and shared via a link. If the file gets too large, then Google Drive or Dropbox could be used to share the file, or even simply email people with it. For now, I think both concerns have been addressed and so development of the mod can continue.

Within the mod pack, there are a number of new ships and a couple of modified enemy ships to give more diversity. These are: TSN Privateer (player ship); TSN Missile Cruiser Mk2 (player ship); Crystal Ship (allied ship); Crystal Ship 2 (allied ship); Kralien Cruiser: Drone variant (enemy ship); Arvonian Bomber (enemy ship); Pirate: Arrow Class (enemy ship); Pirate: Axe Class (enemy ship). I have briefly detailed each below:

• TSN Privateer - this ship is designed for specific special operation missions. It is a light and fast vessel, and available as a player ship.

• TSN Missile Cruiser Mk2 - this ship is a more advanced version than the original missile cruiser. On board, it has been fitted with a point defense beam weapon, trading off some shield strength to allow the ship to deal with long range drone attacks. It is available as a player ship.

• Crystal Ship - the crystal ship is an alien vessel, belonging to the N'Tani, a nomadic alien species. It is lightly armed and armoured. It is available as a neutral ship.

• Crystal Ship 2 - this is another N'Tani vessel, larger and more durable, but still only lightly armed. It is available as a neutral ship.

• Kralien Cruiser: Drone - this Kralien Cruiser is a modified version of the standard Kralien Cruiser encountered by the TSN. It is equipped with two torpedo tubes and a light primary beam for defense. It is available as an enemy ship.

• Arvonian Bomber - similar to the Arvonian Fighter, the Arvonian Bomber is equipped with drones, allowing it to conduct 'bombing runs' against a target vessel. It is available as an enemy ship.

• Pirate Arrow Class - a light scout vessel used by pirate factions based in the Euphini expanse. It is available as an enemy ship.

• Pirate Axe Class - a heavily armed pirate vessel used by pirate factions based in the Euphini expanse. It is available as an enemy ship. 

There are other ships in development to be added to the mod, and the ships themselves are still being tweaked to get the balance right in terms of firepower and durability. However, the work that has been done on the mod so far is excellent, and I personally am looking forward to meeting these new ships in missions. New possibilities for mission ideas have been opened with this mod; future development will only make them greater!

The TSN - Duty and Honour

The recent departure of my two highest ranking officers, two individuals who I had held the utmost respect for and trusted immensely, has been a blow that has prompted me to reflect on the TSN RP Community.

What are we? Who are we? What is our purpose? Where are we headed? These are all questions that, although I think on them often, have taken on renewed importance. In thinking on these, the answers have been brought into a much sharper focus in my mind. So.. where to begin...

When I first set out to created the TSN RP Community, I wanted to create the best crews possible. I wanted to take the game to the next level. But what does this mean? To me, it is not about playing the highest level game possible, it is not about finding exploits or loopholes, or using tactics like monster baiting to destroy enemies in the quickest and most efficient way. I have heard about solo players play level 11, and beat it in a scout. And I have no doubt that it is possible. I have seen groups of 4 or 5 ships controlled by 4 or 5 players take on some of the most difficult simulations and win. I have played as part of a crew that are so in tune with each other that hardly a word needs to be said. The experience of the players is so great that the ship almost seems to run itself.

But it is not what I ever aimed to do with the TSN.

The focus of the TSN is, and always has been, on the crews. When it was first set up, a rule was outlined - 'no ship can run if there are less than 4 crew aboard.' This rule underpins everything, and I think clearly shows my intention. The crews come first, because it is about the people running the ships and their interaction.

The rank system was also established from the beginning, and for a reason. It isn't easy to advance through the ranks. Everyone begins at the same level, the lowest rank, and has to prove themselves over a long period to be able to become a higher ranking officer. In the past, crews have wanted to join as their own rank, or people, both experienced and inexperienced, have wanted to command a ship straight away. This has never been allowed. The simple reason behind it is because those who are in command, those who are the higher ranking officers, as those who have proven themselves capable, and shown their clear commitment to the TSN RP. Every high ranking officer is there because they have earned it and have proven experience.

This simply means, the people in charge of crews are the best. They know what they are doing and have been doing it a long time. It is easy to criticise or think they are doing it wrong, but everyone who has tried to fill their shoes soon discover that it is much tougher than they first realise.

What are we? Who are we? We are people who work together to make the best possible crews out there. 

In every duty shift, all crews and command officers work on developing their experience and tactics, yet some tactics are banned. Monster baiting has become somewhat of a controversial issue for example. Baiting monsters and using them to destroy enemy fleets is not a viable course of action. Other tactics, exploiting other aspects of the game are also not used. It is seen by me as a matter of honour. How could a TSN, that is built to protect vulnerable alien species, exploit a space dwelling creature? It is not attacking of its own will, it has been deliberatly provoked, almost coerced, into attacking. Surely this would stand against the principles of the USFP and the organisation given the honour and duty of protecting it. And that is where the problem lies. We are an RP group, set out to create a place where we can play as real officers of the TSN. Yes, there are tactics tgat can be used to decimate enemies. Yes, destroying that enemy that has surrendered, but you know will rejoin the fight, means they are out and will not be a threat again. But then what if other rules? If you want honour and respect, you have to take the tough line of not breaking those rules. It is much harder, but to me much more rewarding and challening, and how I see the TSN working. I want to be a TSN Officer, and to me a TSN Officer is the best example of a member of the USFP. Respected and held in the highest regard. And that must be demonstrated through the actions we take and how we behave in game.

What our purpose? To be the officers of the TSN. To build and uphold honourable principles that are in line with what it would be like to be a real TSN Officer.

So where are we headed? This is the final question which I ask myself. I have a commitment to this group. There have been times when I have considered walking away. I have been criticised by many people for decisions I make, for ideas I reject, or for not moving things on quick enough. But on every occasion, I have reflected on all the things I have done, the decisions I have made and the reasons for doing so. I do not intend to step down. I will not. My work and vision is too important, and I would be a betrayal to all those who have joined and made a commitment to the group. At the beginning, I started with few. We have evolved. What has been achieved so far is something in which I am proud, and to look back on this helps to give a direction on where to go next. There are protocols in place, procedures developed. The next step is having scenarios to test and extend these. A mod is one idea, to add new generic meshes, new possible ships for story lines, and ultimately to create new opportunities. With this, we can move the game to the next level, and the role play element. Port Arthur was an amazing creation by Fish Evans. To be able to have a better stock of generic meshes at hand for such creations would enhance the game even further. Perhaps rather than ask "where are we headed", the question should be "what do we want?" The answer to that would be to add to the game to enhance the experience and create more possibilities to take on the challenges of a TSN crew. It wouldn't be to change the base game, the player ships, or their function, but to add more elements that create more possibilities in story development and encounters.

The Final Word
This has been quite a long post. As it has been so long since I last posted, and with recent developments, it had to be. The TSN RP will keep going. It will adhere to the principles first set out, and the values and aims on which it is based. I will remain committed to running and developing it, with the assistance of those in whom I trust. Those who wish to join, to play as TSN Officers in as true a way as possible, and to be part of the best crews may do so.

New Developments - TSN RP Community (OOC)

It has been a while since I last posted. I had a couple of requests I think, so since I have some spare time I thought I might post an update on all the developments that have been happening so far, and some of my ideas for the future. These are all on the TSN RP Community.  I'll make another post about the TSN Sandbox.

The TSN RP Community is still growing, with new people applying weekly. It seems the recently (this week and last week) during the duty shift numbers have dropped a little to about 25-30 officers attending, but I am putting this down to the holiday season starting. Hopefully it will pick back up again, but even if it doesn't,  I intend to keep going! There is a core of regular officers, and even if it were just these turning up, the quality of play would still be high and worth keeping the community alive for. Besides, there was a similar trend last year I believe, and the community came back stronger.

In terms of new developments, there is a growing team of Game Masters, who have trained on the TSN Sandbox and are running missions and simulations regularly. Over the past month or so, the campaign team, run by a couple of officers, have been designing and running an extended war campaign. They have developed a pretty good storyline, and have added in news announcements that we listen to in the mess hall, emergency actions like having to evacutate the base suddenly and some really excellent scenarios. I want to continue to grow the team of those trained as Game Masters, and have started a thread on the TSN website in the GM forums for missions to be posted. These should give a good set of stock missions that could be picked up and run at relatively short notice.

I am not sure if last time I posted we had the website up and running. www.terranstellarnavy.info is now becoming more established.  We have a number of different  forums on the site for communications between officers, and all applications and communications are handled through there. There is still a lot of information on the wiki that needs transferring over, but during the summer months when I have more time, I want to do a little work on it. The site itself was set up by one of the senior officers, and I will have to make sure they show me the ropes before I start adding too mich in, just to make sure I am doing it right. 

I have been talking over with the command staff bringing back the TSN Corps. The initial idea didn't really take off, and the corps that did get started has stalled it would seem. My idea therefore is to relaunch them with a similar purpose, but less of them. There would be three corps - the Tactical corps, for helm and weapons specialists, the Communications and Intelligence corp, for science and comms officers and the Engineering corps for engineers. I want to hand the responsibility of coming up with role specific commendations to the officers in those corps. They would be required to design the commendation,  decide on specific criteria and then, after the commendation has been approved by the command staff, they would be able to recommend people to receive them. All final decisions would be made by command staff to make sure what is created is done to a high standard, and handing them out is managed. Such awards would be ones that are challenging to earn, and not handed out at the drop of a hat. The aim would be to make earning them all the more significant.

I have not finalised all the details for the new corps yet. I want to create something to track officers who join them, and make it clear how they are to be managed and run. Last time I just offered them out and left them open to be run however officers wanted, and I think that was one factor which caused them to stall. This time, command officers will be more involved, and I want corps to become part of the duty shift... perhaps a corps meeting on a monthly basis at the start, or a time where members of the corps must plan a training mission with  a particular focus in which certain skills are taught. 

And I think that is it. There is probably a lot I have missed out. I will try to post more often with other developments - I am going to use a separate post to talk about the TSN Sandbox mission script later on.

Overhaul Complete!

I have finally completed the work on the TSN RP Mission script (also known as the Sandbox mission script) to create automated Jump Gates and Nav Points. It has been a long and arduous process, and it required a re-write of a number of elements in the script. In the process, I was able to refine some of the script so that in the future, it will be easier to add in new systems and sectors to the map. The script is now all tested, and ready for use (although of course, I will always be adding to it and tweaking it here and there!)

The overhaul has removed the need for client key presses entirely. Although it is something I was reluctant to remove, it has been necessary to ensure that the script works properly. In tests, the client key presses were unreliable. As client keypresses were a requirement to use the script, when they didn't work the script was unplayable. 

The script focuses on the area in which the TSN 2nd Fleet operate. In total, there are 8 systems that can be accessed and two waypoint sectors. Each system has between 2 and 6 sectors, giving a massive number of areas to explore (the whole script has 27 sectors in total). Navigation is through Jump Points and Nav Points. The new jump gates are something I am particularly proud of. They are large rotating structures in space. As you approach, the gate activates, spinning faster until fully online. To enter, you have to fly in to it. The visual effect of such a large rotating structure in space is pretty cool. And all that has been used is generic mesh files and image files from the game folder itself. I have also designed a "Refuel Point" that floats alone, rotating on its axis. When a ship come close to the refuel point, it will begin transferring energy to that ship, almost like a station. It is an alternative to the Fuel Collection System which had to be removed because of the removal of client key presses.

The next phase is going to be adding more features to sectors in the script. I have already added a second sector to the Phoenix system. I am going to further develop the system to make it into a main trading port, with lots of traffic coming and going from neighbouring alien system. Using generic meshes, I will also be able to add in some different "bases" for both visual effect, and to act as points for ships to travel to and from. Osiris system is also going to have a number of additions and will be developed into a 'tourist destination'. From their, the Poseidon Rift can be accessed, a sector that I go into in more detail on the wiki pages.

I also want to start adding in the Mission Packs again. There have been requests for more missions in the Sandbox, and I have a few ideas about one to write. Originally, a crew was able to accept or decline a mission using key presses. Without them though, I am going to have to think of another way to allow crews to pick up missions. One option I am considering is having a "mission waypoint" that broadcasts a message when a ship comes new. The ship could then move into close range to accept the mission, or stay clear to leave it for another time. 

The mission script will be accessible on the Artemis Forums, under the Mission Scripting sub-forum.