Excelsior HP by Shloader's

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   Shloader's Excelsior Class Hardpoint Upgrade
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-=General Info=-

Ship(s):	Excelsior Class from C2X's Excelsior Pack
Filename:	Shloader's_Excelsior_HP_Upgrade.rar
Version:	1.0
Date:		4/10/2005 (Yeah... Really late for doing this but ah well)
Author:		Shloader
E-mail:		[email protected]
Build Time: 	This file has evolved to fit my needs over the years.
		The main work toward making a neat releasable file took six hours.
		This is because of what I did with the... oh... read on.
Requirements: 	Excelsior from C2Extreme's Excelsior Pack

-=Ship Modifications=-

Note that this is an upgrade over C2Extreme's Excelsior which I believe was an upgrade over
P81's Excelsior. You will need to install C2Extreme's Excelsior pack (found on bcfiles.com)
mostly because of what the hardpoint points to different mesh and phaser file names. (Way,
way better phaser sounds I might add).

Modifications are :

* Aft Torpedo indicator icons overlapped each other. Fixed. 
  Also the indicator Icons were aligned a little better as well.

* One of the Impulse engines was indicated as being on the engineering hull. Fixed.

* Phasers were recharging at an insane rate for a ship of its age. I altered this because it
  made it unnecessary to role the ship through the firing arcs. Also I turned Single Fire on.
  You can alter it yourself but I balance all my ships toward the need of tactical finesse.

* C2X had it so the standard Excelsior was packing Quantum Torpedoes. Ehh... Ummm.... No.
  Use the Lakota if you need that Godship kind of Joy. 

* Shield Capacity Lowered a little. Too similar to most Ambassador mods yet to old to back it.

* Option to fire Dual Torps was removed since it didn't work anyway. Help on that would be
  appriciated. 

* The Big Selling Point - The Aft and Main Ventral Ball turrets now function. Since they
  are all single ball that means they have little over half the duration. This goes along
  with the idea that both turrets of a double bank are still used... just in a seamless 
  (unnoticeable) succession. A convenient idea... almost cannon like.

-=Bugs/Left to do=-

I believe some of the ventral saucer phasers, though they fire from the proper places, 
appear as being placed in the neck. I also noticed the same issue with the aft phasers
but to what I consider a very tolerable degree. Also I intend to modify the Saucer banks'
firing arcs to flow a bit better. Just can't role through them evenly as is. I will 
eventually release all these as a new release but I'll need help on the torpedoes first.



-=Installation=-
Unzip this zip in a temporary folder and then copy the scripts directories in your 
activision/bridge commander folder. If asked overwrite the old files and the hardpoints
will be updated. 

-=Credits=-
* Original Excelsior mod by P81
* Phaser sound improvements by C2X along with other 
  various improvements that would take me all night to find and list :-p
* Hardpoints tweaked be me.

-=Thanks to=-
P81 for all his modwork that he's done. He inspired a lot of other
modders. C2X for bringing his work to bcfiles. bcfiles and all their 
moderators for keeping this hobby going.

-=Other Info=-
This file has been modified over the years as I've learned more and more how the 
hardpoints work. NONE of my modifications have been done using the SDK simply because...
I don't know how to use it properly. Everything's been added manually using other ships'
hardpoints (Excelsior has nearly the same aft arcs as the Ambassador) as reference or 
other ship systems as placement reference points (Ventral phasers are very near the
warp core). I did the aft and ventral phaser work simply cause without them the 
Excelsior isn't much of a match for the Intrepid and it certainly should be. 

Plus it was fun. Tedious yet very rewarding when finished.

-=Legal=-

I'm not concerned about anyone giving me credit. If you learn something be reading 
into this harpoint then I consider it all worthwhile for me.

-=Still to Come=- 

Hardpoint updates for...

Lakota
The Akula
Miranda
K'Tinga
Warbird
Klingon BoP

I'll say what I'm going to do with each when this gets posted.

Plus I would be willing to help anyone out with hardpoints as I have time.