Hello, my name is Rolfe Bergstrom. Thank you for downloading my first Wierd Worlds Mod. I started work on this in July 2007.

This is version 1.5. Work on this version began in January 2010. Needless to say, I'd learned a few things in the meantime.

Changes in this version: 
+ Changed the name of the Suslanik to the Sqslanik, so their language remains consistently honkish and unpronounceable. 
+ New graphics for all the Sgqwonk systems and weapons. Well, not really "new", just a better color overlay placed on the graphics from the main game. I didn't really know what I was doing way back then.
+ Fixed the silhouttes
+ Major debugging, top to bottom. 
.+ Found 6 typos that were likely the cause of crashes, including a mislabeled extension on a GFXP line that was certain to crash to the desktop.
.+ Increased the number of fleets and number of ships allowed in the game by 25%. Should help prevent the buffer overflow errors it had before.
.+ Deleted a horribly misplaced "FLAG homing" that probably did nothing given where it was, but you never know.

I've spent a good deal of the past two days playtesting it, and I've only run into a handful of problems. Namely:
* You can easily end up with too many passengers.  I had 6 in one game. This isn't a problem unless you're at a homeworld, and even then it's not a problem if stay calm and know what to do. While holding a passenger, click on any non-passenger item in your cargo bay. The game will try to swap them, and be unable to do so properly. Instead, you'll pick up the non-passenger, and the passenger will vanish. If you then hover the mouse over the homeworld's info screen, the passenger will suddenly appear there (and they may do so if you don't hover, it'll just take a few seconds).
* Upon arriving at a blackhole, I had the game crash to desktop. I was equipped with the shunt, but hadn't yet used it. In the previous game, I also used the shunt to travel around. In that game it was without incident, but in this game it caused a crash. I don't know why, but I note it was in the same game with 6 passengers, so there may have been a growing instability.

Other than that, the mod is relatively bug free. It's got a few inelegant or confusing quests, but it doesn't strike me as dangerous to your computer any more, which the 1.1 version had been bordering on.


-----------------------
This is version 1.1, which is buggy. I'm uploading it just so fingers can check it out and help me determine what causes the crashes I've been experiencing. 
New for this version:
+ Miscellaneous de-bugging.
+ Big sgqwonk picture at intro screen.
+ Urluquai fleets on the move.
+ The mantle's back, but fixed to not spoil the missions.
+ An annoying crash-causing bug in my code. Help!
+ Cool new music by Ace_Garp, aka Rick of Semihere. 

-----------------------

The point of this little mod was to showcase and introduce a cool new ship that can sometimes be rescued and added to your fleet: the Sgqwonk Retreat Ship. I was dissapointed that all the front-facing firearcs made Wierd Worlds / SAIS combat a straight-forward slugfest in most situations. So this ship has very different firearcs.  It is a bit tricky to use in combat. However, it has enough unique flavor to make for a cute and occasionally powerful addition to the game. 

That simple little initial mod plan blossomed into something larger.  Every piece of equip on the vessel has been tweaked a little from standard specs.  And the initial quest that generated the ship begged a larger context. 

Since the new ship performed best when enemies snuck up behind in an ambush, that told me which fleet they were against. Now the fate of the remaining Sgqwonk is in your hands, as they are pursued by the brutal Urluquai. So there's actually a lot in this little mod, but it all has to do with the peace-loving Sgqwonk and their nemesis the predatorial Urluquai. Eventually, that resulted in me needing a more combat-capable Sgqwonk ship, which in turn flew in the face of my original unusual fire-arcs idea. 

So then I started working on new Urluquai ships, a task which was proving more time-consuming than I wanted. Getting frustrated that the game crashed everytime my cloaking Urluquai fighter spawned, I gave up. The next day a browse of the Shrapnel forums revealed someone had done my work for me, and a mod full of Urluquai ships existed for me to copy. 

-----------------------

The Sgqwonk, their images, their text and their ship designs were created by Rolfe Bergstrom. Permission is hereby granted for the express purpose of making or promoting Weird Worlds, Strange Adventures In Infinite Space, mods for said games, or directly related spin-off programs and products. Just please make sure you give credit where it is appropriate. 

-----------------------

Soapbox Alert: Having a readme file in your mod is a great idea. I wish the rest of the modders out there would do so consistently. It provides an opportunity to spell out clearly for other modders what's been added and removed. Those of you who have readme files, thank you, you made it easier for me to debug my fledgling efforts and reverse-engineer some of your cooler bits. 

-----------------------

Here's a list of changes in this mod:
+ Added Sgqwonk race and ships, along with several small quests involving them, and a variety of modified equipment on the vessels.
+ Big picture of a Sgqwonk on the main intro screen.
+ Modified the Tan Ru to increase the importance of the Urluquai.
+ Urluquai invasion fleets.
+ Changed the items available at the Terran homeworld. They don't get used that often in my experience, anyway, and I thought a different set of early tactical decisions would be fun.
+ Changed the half-way and two-year messages, including an important package.
+ Added the Terran Assault Ship from the sample mod at the Modmaker's Guide. It replaces the science vessel, which just couldn't hold it's own against the Urluquai.
+ Added the Relief Supplies item, which is helpful for certain quests.
+ Deleted the Primordius and Kawangi mainquests. Came up with a new mainquest of my own. It's a little derivative, but supports the theme.
+ Modified the Mantle of Babulon, since an anti-Urluquai theme would be pointlessly silly if you could just throw on a cloak of charisma and make nice with them.

-----------------------

Many thanks to Digital Eel, Shrapnel Games, the person known as Fingers, and the Modmaker's Guide to the Galaxy. If not for those folks, this mod obviously wouldn't exist.

Additional help was found by perusing the forums at Infinite Space Federation and Shrapnel games. 

The Terran Assualt Ship was lifted from the sample Mod at the Modmakers Guide to the Galaxy. Thanks!

A number of the Urluquai ships appearing in this Mod were duplicated from the Even Wierder Worlds 0.85 mod, created by Phlagm on the shrapnel forums.  Thank you! Your ships are great! 

Huge thank you to Rick of Semihere, who's currently created the Sgqwonk theme song. 

Biggest thanks of them all to my wife, Sarah. Some guys are lucky enough to find a wife who tolerates their gaming. A few find a gal so cool she encourages gaming. Sarah actually partakes, and she helped with brainstorming, troubleshooting, and playtesting. And yes, I realize just how incredibly blessed I am.

