Dev Diary #46: Tankers, Wookiees, and brand new ships!
New background ships including some fan favourite designs, Easter eggs from the X-wing Alliance and Rogue Squadron games, and plans for a surprising playable faction...
Welcome to the Essential Guide: the ultimate players’ companion to Age of Legends, the total Star Wars Expanded Universe simulator for Empire at War. Subscribe or donate here to support the mod.
Age of Legends has always sought to make the Galaxy feel lived-in, alive, and populated by a huge variety of alien races. One way I’ve achieved this is via the Dynamic Galaxy System, in which ships including pirates, civilians, refugees, Black Sun, and other hostiles have a chance to appear during space battles.
This is also heavily inspired by the sheer attention to detail in the classic X-wing Alliance space sim, where you will observe a huge range of background ships and space traffic moving in and out of systems during your missions.
I’ve developed this over the years to the point where space stations like XQ1 platforms will draw in traders and spacers, with freighters, tankers and supply ships dropping in as part of the normal routine traffic of any given planetary system. The more developed the orbital economy, the more the typical space traffic you will see.
In recent weeks I’ve added the new Escape Pod and Ejector Seat systems, further populating space battles with realistic, immersive details, and in this week’s Dev Diary I want to talk (primarily) about some exciting new background ships coming - with brand new models never seen before in Empire at War - which pay homage both to X-wing Alliance and to the Rogue Squadron games, as well as the excellent work of EC Henry in uncovering lost background ships from the Original Trilogy.
So strap in for some gorgeous new models courtesy of Spy Lake Walker…
Golan Ribbon Tanker
This ship actually appears in The Empire Strikes Back in the Nebulon-B frigate Redemption’s small flotilla. It is used to transport volatile military supplies like Tibanna gas and fuel and is liable to explode violently if targeted.
Zero-G Utility Worker
These Zero-G workers are charged with conducting routine external maintenance, and will often appear around shipyards and starbases. They have a low repair ability.
KDY Cylinder Tanker
Exclusive to Imperial-themed factions, the KDY Cylinder Tanker shares some design language with the Nebulon-series. This ship appeared in the later Rogue Squadron games in missions like the Maw raid.
