The Ur-Quan Masters Discussion Forum

Game engine wise sc3 has a much more advanced system. So why has noone simply change the hated puppets and drab colours for a potentially great game?

I believe it's due to two things - first and most important - license.
Second - with the amount of work required, it'll be easier to start from scratch than to edit someone else's work.

To say nothing of the fact that it's so mediocre to begin with, and so many of the mechanics are disliked, that it never had much of a chance of attracting a modding community.

Lack of interest combined with the fact that the SC3 code is pretty hostile toward modding (both technically and legally) means that no one really knows how to mod SC3 effectively. For example, the last I've heard was that the sound format used for the voices is unknown (http://forum.uqm.stack.nl/index.php?topic=3010).

Also, the hardcoded rules are intrinsically limiting. Hyperspace bubble transport to arbitrary locations, all of which you initially have available, without natural clusters being present, just isn't that interesting. It's a stab in the dark each time, unless you know where to go already. Then you'd just jump to where you need to go and not worry about anything along the way.

If there was a limited sensor radius, that'd be kind of interesting. Your field of options would gradually expand.

It's worse. Some plot-relevant locations are simply not available until you get the right plot coupon.

Well, yeah. But if that were incorporated into a core exploration mechanic, it'd be tolerable.