INVASION OF CARDASSIA mod 2.0 UPDATE - a Napseeker production! IMPORTANT STUFF This game is a mod. In case you don't know, a mod takes an existing game and alters it in some way (i.e. modifies it!). This change can be as simple as tweaking the weapons to cause more damage to the enemy or as major as changing the entire look and feel of the actual game. Most mods are made for commercially-released games, but INVASION OF CARDASSIA is a mod for the freeware game, STAR WARS: THE BATTLE OF ENDOR 2.1. Installing this mod basically turns the Star Wars game into a Star Trek: Deep Space Nine game. So before you can play this mod, you need to download the original game first! The website for Bruno R. Marcos, the author of Battle of Endor, is located at: http://www.bruneras.com/ If that website is down for whatever reason, you can also go to: http://www.theforce.net/videogames/apps/boendor/index.asp Download and install the game. THEN install the Invasion of Cardassia 1.0 mod on top of it (i.e. in the same folder). You can get this earlier version of the mod from: 1) http://www.stcd.sgnonline.com/opensource.htm OR: 2) http://www.theforce.net/videogames/apps/ioc/index.asp It will replace the graphics, sounds, and music. (BTW, if you are also a Star Wars fan, Battle of Endor is a fantastic game! Give it a try before you install the mod). If you encounter any problems running the game, look at the readme.txt file included with Battle of Endor. I'm sorry but I probably won't be able to help you with any technical problems - if you can run the original game, then you shouldn't experience any problems either with the mod. Finally, you should update the 1.0 mod by installing the 2.0 update pack that came with this readme.txt file. This update will add several cool new features and fix some of the annoying limitations in the original mod. Once again, all you have to do is run the installer and install the update into the same folder where you put Battle of Endor (and Invasion of Cardassia 1.0). Now you're pretty much ready to go! The mod does require a decent computer system and video card to play on since it uses models with far more polygons and texture maps than BoE. If you feel that the game is a bit too slow, you can go into the Options menu and turn the "Endor" option to OFF. This will remove some cool eye-candy from the game (all of the nebulas, shipyard, dilithium moon and other stellar phenomena will no longer be displayed, just the plain outer space backdrop). If you enjoy this mod, please consider going to Bruno's site and giving him a donation via PayPal to encourage the development of more awesome freeware games like this. Also, I would appreciate it if you take the time out to rate the game and encourage others to download and play it. You can rate the game by going to http://www.stcd.sgnonline.com/opensource.htm, clicking on the mod or the mod update link and pressing the Rate button. If you would like to contact me regarding any bugs or additional information about the mod, my e-mail address is in the FAQ. You can also start a topic in the Armada Fleet Command forums (under the "General Modding" section) which I browse once in a while: http://www.armadafleetcommand.com/afc/modules.php?name=Forums Alternatively, TFNi also has a thread for IoC: http://boards.theforce.net/message.asp?topic=16951786 Disclaimer: this game is in no way affiliated with Paramount Studios or Activision. THE STORY The Invasion of Cardassia mod loosely recreates the final battle that took place between the Federation Alliance and the Dominion-Cardassian forces in the final Deep Space Nine episode "What You Leave Behind". While some of the events of that episode can't be reproduced exactly, the goals are more or less the same: stay alive, fight off the Dominion and Cardassian fleets, and help capture Cardassia to end the war. You are Captain Benjamin Sisko in command of the USS Defiant and armed with phaser cannons and quantum torpedoes. While your shields may not be as strong as the larger battleships, the Defiant is much faster and incredibly maneuverable. GAME DETAILS Aside from attacking the Dominion fighters and cruisers, you must ensure that certain ships in your invasion fleet are not destroyed: - Admiral Ross' tactical wing (which includes the USS Galaxy and several Shelley-class troop transports) - General Martok's B'rel Bird of Prey - Colonel Kira's Defiant-class The destruction of any of these ships will end the mission in failure. For the most part, they can take care of themselves, but be alert for any messages they send to you requesting help. In case you haven't read the original instructions from the game, here's a quick breakdown: Q - accelerate A - decelerate X - phaser cannon fire mode (single-fire / double-fire / quad-fire) Z - quantum torpedoes on/off R - sensors on/off ESC - pause game For every 5 Jem'hadar fighters or Galor-class cruisers you destroy, one quantum torpedo is awarded. Also, you can Hold down the left mouse button for continuous pulse-fire (this works best when you set either single or double-fire mode since quad-fire takes too long to recharge). MISSION BRIEFING The Dominion is quite aware of how powerful the Federation's quantum torpedoes are and have devised a countermeasure against them. Accompanying each Dominion cruiser are two Cardassian Keldon-class battlecruisers. These ships have been refitted with special weapons technology (borrowed, ironically enough, from the Romulans during an earlier alliance). The Keldons can project a shield-enhancer beam onto the Dominion cruisers, allowing them to withstand attacks from phasers and quantum torpedoes. So to destroy the Dominion cruisers, you must first eliminate their Keldon-class escorts. Attempts to target the Keldon-class from a safe distance with your torpedoes will fail. The shield-enhancer beam emits such a powerful energy signature that the torpedoes will mistakenly lock onto it and will miss the true target. The Defiant must fly in close and either destroy the ship with its phasers OR fire at the enhancer beam itself, disrupting the transmission (which will eventually cause a feedback that destroys the Keldon). SHIPS OF THE FLEET Below are the starships and fighters that can be seen in the game. Credits for the mesh and textures are given alongside each ship. My gratitude goes out to the Armada modding community; without their generosity, this mod would definitely not have been possible! Special thanks goes out to 9 of Nine since his excellent ships make up the majority of the models. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Federation: Deep Space Nine - mesh and texture by 9 of Nine Defiant class - mesh and texture by 9 of Nine Galaxy class - mesh and texture by 9 of Nine Nebula class - mesh and texture by 9 of Nine Excelsior class - mesh and texture by 9 of Nine Akira class - mesh and texture by 9 of Nine Sabre class - mesh by UNKNOWN (from the website Star Trek Federation Armada); texture by Napseeker Shelley class - saucer and secondary hull by 9 of Nine; struts and nacelles by P81; kitbash by Napseeker Steamrunner class - mesh and texture by 9 of Nine Miranda class - mesh and texture by Pneumonic81 (Rick Knox) The Klingon Empire: Negh'var - mesh by 9 of Nine; texture by 9 of Nine and Napseeker Vorcha class - mesh by Neon; texture by The Force Klingon D-7 - mesh by Bryan; texture by Napseeker Bird of Prey - mesh by Mad Dog; texture by Napseeker The Romulan Empire: Romulan Warbird - mesh by Neon; texture by The Force The Dominion and Cardassia: Jem'hadar Fighter - mesh by Dark Razer; texture by Napseeker Galor class - mesh by Mad Dog; texture by Napseeker and Mad Dog Breen warship - mesh and texture by Redragon (Luan Ngo) Jem'hadar Battlecruiser - mesh by Redragon; texture by Napseeker Jem'hadar V-Type Battlecruiser - original mesh by Redragon; texture by Napseeker Jem'hadar Dreadnought Battleship - mesh by Agroborg; texture by Napseeker Jem'hadar Strike Cruiser - mesh and texture by Napseeker Low-poly models (Excelsior, Vorcha, Jem'hadar Battleship, Akira, etc.) by Napseeker ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WHAT'S NEW IN 2.0 Version 2.0 features, fixes and changes: New ships added to the game: - Miranda-class (replaces the Akira, now optional as a "fighter") - Steamrunner - Shelley-class troop transport - Akira (scaled up in size and now part of the stationary fleet) - Keldon-class Cardassian battlecruiser (as the new special weapons ship, replacing the Jem'hadar Strike Cruiser from 1.0) - V-Type Dominion battlecruiser New features: - all Federation and Dominion ships now fire beam weapons (compared to the shorter phaser pulses in 1.0) - all Federation Alliance battleships can now fire their own phasers (Galaxy, Nebula, Romulan Warbird, and Negh'var) - Dominion battlecruiser now armed with four poleron beam cannons; two in the front, two at the sides - Dominion Dreadnought battleship now armed with six poleron beam cannons: four at the front (to target the USS Galaxy and its attack group), and two at the sides - new beam weapon models for the Dominion and Cardassian ships (Dominion ships now use the canonical "powder blue" colorized beam); brighter glow and a longer beam to increase the chance of hitting Federation targets - Dominion special weapons ship now fires a visible blue beam to enhance the shields of the Dominion cruisers; unlike in 1.0, players can no longer destroy the special weapons ship from a safe distance using their quantum torpedoes -- a rotating EM pulse generated by the Keldon-class will trick the torpedo guidance system into locking on to the wrong target. Gamers must directly attack the special weapons ship with phasers and put themselves into range of the Dominion's cannons! - Akira and K'tinga-class escort ships will now exhibit "battle damage" after their weapon systems are disabled by enemy fire (the hull can be blown away to show the fiery wreckage inside) - Galor now has new "glow" mesh on disruptor emitters and engines - Jem'hadar fighter underbelly "glow" mesh added - K'tinga has a new "glow" mesh added to nacelles, impulse engines and torpedo launcher - new, sharper and more detailed texture map for Cardassia Prime - new hi-res 512x512 texture map for the Dominion battleship (256x256 texture still available as an option for those with older video cards) - brand new dialogue and music created for the game ending; the new dialogue is unique from the TV show and features a final exchange between Sisko, Weyoun, Odo, and the female Founder - totally new "hit" sound effect played whenever your ship is hit by enemy fire; it now sounds more like a starship hull being hit by disruptors rather than the "tinny" fighter hit sound from 1.0 - new background elements added to the game map including: Cardassian sun, a stellar cluster, the Cardassian advanced shipyard, and a blue dilithium moon from Star Trek: Armada. Also from Armada are a variety of nebulas: Radioactive, Cerulean and Mutara. All of these can be toggled on and off during the game! - new "shield hit" shader effect added (used to mimic the same effect you see when shields are damaged in Star Trek: Armada) Fixes and other changes: - all of the Star Wars text dialogue (between Lando, Wedge and Admiral Ackbar) now replaced by DS9-specific dialogue - HUD identification of all ships in the game now properly display Trek ship names, not Star Wars (although some names had to be shortened due to character size limitations e.g. Jem'hadar fighter is identified as "Jem") - Score label now shows "DOMS" instead of "TIEs" (DOMS = "Dominion Ships") - TIE fighter fly-by sound has been replaced with canon sound of Jem'hadar fighter fly-by - no more upside-down Sabre and K'tinga-class escort ships - deflector dish glow on the Galaxy-class in the opening cinematic at DS9 fixed - Excelsior model scaled up by 1.5x - optional Akira model scaled up by 2x - Vorcha model scaled up by 2x - K'tinga scaled up by 2x - break-apart model for the Vorcha-class added (used when Vorcha is blown up) - low poly Excelsior and Vorcha models increased in scale by 1.5x and 2x respectively, emissive properties added to nacelles for glow effect - Jem'hadar fighter and Galor low-poly models now have "glows" added to nacelles, underbelly, disruptor emitters - Warbird nacelles and disruptor emitter glow added - UV mapping fix for the Jem'hadar battleship - FAQ and readme files updated Special thanks to Bruno for permitting the distribution of a re-edited version of the BoE executable. This was the only way to solve some of the issues from the 1.0 mod and the consent is greatly appreciated. In case anyone is interested, my opinion of 2.0 compared to 1.0 is that it is a much easier game to survive, but harder to score and maybe to win. Your invasion fleet is far more aggressive than in 1.0 and escort ships last longer against enemy fire - which means your own allies will reduce your chances at getting a higher score simply by destroying the enemy fighters faster than in the first mod. Whatever your peak score in 1.0, I would say that you can expect to get 100 points less in 2.0 unless you get very aggressive yourself at going after the enemy. My own peak was 432 points in 1.0 and at the time of writing this document, is only 340 points in 2.0. So think of it as a challenge to meet and beat your old 1.0 high scores. Check back to my website periodically in the next year to come for more mods and hopefully a free online issue of a comic book project that's been in development for (gah...) years.