The real attraction of this MR is however the Captain of the vessel, Jonathan Archer, who finally got an almost complete in-game appearance, thanks to the hard work of Croesus, our resident voice actor, proofreader, and character modeller. At the moment, he is working on one of the female members of the Enterprise crew - with any luck, we can shed light on his current task within a couple of months...

This concludes the short update on the mod's development. Thanks for your attention,

Back in the Enterprise: Temporal Cold War times, media releases were few and far between, but were packed with information and visual goodies. This time we aim to follow a different strategy: we strive to release small sneak-peeks more frequently to avoid keeping the community without visual updates for a prolonged period of time. So please consider this update also as test - we want to check how frequently we can make updates which show off something worthwhile, but do not take ages to produce a short article on them.

Our resident concept artist, Flanker, is really busy nowadays: besides designing the modification's HUD and some pickable equipment, he also designed the arsenal that the player will face during the upcoming teaser episode. While the specifications of these weapons are planned to be similar to their Starfleet equivalent, their appearance is different - after all, they are products of an entirely different culture.

The Anek Arms Sotraches plasma pistol is an old, yet still reliable sidearm produced by Anek Arms, one of the largest weapons manufacturer of the Tzenkethi. Although based off a roughly 100 years old design, the weapon's strength and accuracy is on par with the EM-33 plasma pistol still being in service among most M.A.C.O. military units. Due to its relatively cheap price, it is a common sight at Tzenkethi marauders as well.

Unfortunately, the pirates of the Berengaria sector have become rather well-equipped in the past months, and members of their boarding parties tend to carry more than just a single sidearm. Numerous reports originating from attacked Earth Cargo Service freighters suggest that the pirates operating in the area are equipped with more destructive armaments as well, including the Chyrophei assault rifle and the Kovolos heavy pulse rifle.

Both weapons are of Tzenkethi design, and are manufactured by Anek Arms: despite their age, their firepower and reliability is easily up to par with current Starfleet and M.A.C.O. arsenal.

These weapons currently only exist in concept arts: however, their modelling will soon start, especially because our coders are busy setting up the code repository for STE:M, after which actual coding of the mod's weapons could start.

While the coding positions are thus filled, we still have vacant positions in the developer team: we are still looking for talented animators and character modellers - if you think you possess the knowledge we need, make sure to contact me in PM, or launch a topic in our Recruitment section!

Finally, let us ask you to support us in the annual Mod of the Year contest, by visiting our ModDB profile, and voting for us just below the mod summary description to make it into the Top 100 list of modifications. Your help is very much appreciated!

Media Release 01: Flight of the Phoenix

PREVIOUSLY ON ENTERPRISE...

Five years ago CaptainSource (aka RogerRamJet) posted a weapon render on ModDB depicting a Phase Pistol - the iconic weapon of Star Trek: Enterprise. The first image was followed by countless others, and soon the experimentation grew into a full-scale modding project known as Enterprise: Temporal Cold War, aspiring to provide an unofficial continuation of the cancelled show that we liked so much, and which - in our opinion - did not have the chance to hit its stride.

The dedication was there, but we lacked the experience needed to correctly organize development, assess our resources, and attune them with our increasingly higher goals. The reasons of why and how we failed to achieve those should not be discussed here; what matters is that around 2009 we lost our footing, and had no other choice but to abandon E:TCW.

In the last two years some of us graduated and (if lucky) started working, others pursued non-gaming projects, but all of us tried to understand where we failed with E:TCW and learn the important lessons from the past endeavour. When the conclusion has been reached, some of us started to act: gaining experience in the previous incarnations of CryEngine, it was TripTucker who decided to pick up the abandoned project, re-assess its goals and resources, and re-launch it with a new name and scope, albeit with familiar aspirations.

This reborn project is Star Trek: Enterprise - M.A.C.O., the resumption of the Enterprise: Temporal Cold War Half-Life 2 modification, now utilizing CryEngine 3.

Set one year after the events of Season 4, the modification aims to portray the events leading to the Earth-Romulan War in a linear, story-oriented fashion. The story arc itself would be told in multiple one-hour episodes from the perspective of an operative of Earth's elite military organization known as Military Assault Command Operations, or M.A.C.O. Unlike its predecessor, STE:M aims to follow the footsteps of the Elite Force FPS-series in these episodes: gameplay would consist roughly 75% combat and 25% puzzle-solving, sometimes interrupted by free roam sections during which the player can explore the titular starship within reasonable bounds.

MEDIA

Our team is currently busy working on the first episode serving as an introduction both for newcomers and seasoned Trekkers. Some media has also been prepared to show off our progress on that episode - you can take a look at them both here and on our official website and forum!

Below you can see pictures of two furnished test rooms that TripTucker has put together and used them to test the capabilities of the engine - currently he is busy mapping the decks of Enterprise, each of them planned to contain several rooms furnished as nicely as these ones.

Albeit our current free roam map is in pre-alpha state, TripTucker still managed to prepare an obligatory corridor shot for you - we hope to populate such sections within the upcoming months.

Besides the interiors, we also take care of the ship exteriors as well - this test shot has been created for one of the few cutscenes that we plan to include for the upcoming episode. The ship models themselves were re-used from E:TCW, but all of them received a little overhaul.

Our concept artist, Flanker, was also busy designing some fanon weapons for the story - below a concept for an experimental Starfleet heavy weapon can be seen which may come handy for the player should they experience heavy resistance in achieving their goals.

Finally, TripTucker also prepared a present for you: he decided to share the desktop wallpaper he is currently using, depicting the in-game NX-01 from several angles.

RECRUITMENT

The dedication is there, lessons have been learnt, our goals are kept lower but closer to an achiavable level, and we have imported a great deal of the original model and texture assets to CryEngine 3 - this however does not mean that we do not need your help. We have vacancies in several departments of development, and are actively seeking talents who can help us finish our first episode. At the moment, we are looking for experienced

CHARACTER MODELLERS,

ANIMATORS,

AND CODERS,

who can support our project and complete the work assigned within a reasonable timeframe. Of course we may accept applications for other positions too - if you think you can help us out, do not hesitate to launch your topic in the respective section of our official forum!

CONCLUSION

Besides this media release, we already launched our new website and forum awaiting for you to register. Please do not hesitate to join our community if you wish to track the mod and want to receive periodical forum-exclusive media besides the regular media releases!

This concludes our protracted introduction - expect to receive periodical updates both here and on our forum from now on! Join us in our journey, live long and prosper!

Welcome to the Star Trek: Enterprise - M.A.C.O. website!

Star Trek: Enterprise - M.A.C.O. is the re-launch of the cancelled Star Trek: Enterprise – Temporal Cold War (E:TCW) single-player Half-Life 2 modification, now based on CryTek’s CryEngine 3 technology. By learning from the mistakes we made during the development of E:TCW and utilizing the majority of the modeling and texturing assets created for its predecessor, we are confident that production will move forward at a far greater speed than the last attempt.

Storywise, STE:M aspires to showcase the character-based storytelling format of E:TCW in small, one-hour episodes; gameplay-wise however, it embraces the formula used in the Elite Force series of video games offering both linear combat levels and free roam sections to let players explore the NX-01 Enterprise within reasonable bounds.

Our website and forum is awaiting the registration of new crewmen - so if you wish to follow our modification, make sure to check this website regularly and register on our forum to receive development information straight from the developers!

Thanks for visiting us - live long and prosper!